notes: Some more familiar faces make an appearance! This was another unexpected thing that came about as I was writing. Someone actually guessed one character appearance like a day after I decided they were going to be in this story. How? I wasn't even aware of it? The next chapter will be back to Uraraka's POV starting right after they stepped through the warp gate, so buckle up!

"Don't forget who your heroes are, what they mean to you, and why they mean that to you."
― Gale Harold

When they got to UA, Bakugou straight up ignored Tsuyu as he stormed into the building. He knew that it was rude and he didn't care. She'd done exactly what he hadn't wanted her to do and now he was pissed. He didn't like the fact that he'd aired any of his shit. It made him feel open to attack, vulnerable in a way he rarely let himself be, but mostly it just made him feel unsettled that he was so easily read.

How could she have known so much? For the most part, whenever he and Uraraka had hung out, it had been just them. He'd liked it that way, preferring smaller groups anyways. Sometimes, they'd gone out with their groups of friends and happened to be there, but it had never been together, like a friend's birthday party at a bar or something like that. They'd had their separate group of friends, although she'd gotten closer to Ashido and Kaminari later on in school. Uraraka had always been like that though: friendly in a way that drew people in.

It had worked on him after all, hadn't it? Even if they hadn't grown close until after Deku's death. He didn't even know how it had come about. They had been sort of friends before, caught in a weird stage that all of Bakugou's friendships started, but it was like they'd been snapped together afterwards. He could remember Ashido talking about how down Uraraka was and how nothing seemed to bring her out of that dark cloud that had surrounded her and the next thing he knew he'd gone to her apartment and dragged her out into the sunlight.

I failed Deku; I'm not going to fail you.

Maybe it had been selfish of him. By the time he'd realized how much he liked being around her, how she had pulled him into the sun as well, it had been too late.

Those clouds were back though and this time the storm was more like a natural disaster waiting to happen.

The conference room was mostly filled by the time Bakugou and Tsuyu reached it. She broke away from him to explain why All Might had not come back with them while he headed directly for Aizawa, who was talking with a woman that he vaguely recognized. When he reached them, she turned around and Bakugou was met with a face that he hadn't seen in person in years. Her face smacked him with some unpleasant reminders even if she hadn't been the cause of them herself.

"Bakugou!" Mandalay exclaimed, a sympathetic expression on her face. "I'm devastated that we have to meet again under such circumstances."

He knew that he should at least try to be pleasant, but the trip to see Deku's mom had bled him dry of the ability and he felt so worn through that he couldn't be bothered. "What are you doing here?"

"Considering Midoriya's state and that Shinsou believes Midoriya is being brainwashed, we thought one strategy might be to bring in anyone with a quirk related to the mind," Aizawa explained in his usual matter-of-fact tone. Neither one of them looked put out by Bakugou's blunt nature and in fact appeared as if they'd expected it. Good. He wasn't planning on wasting any time or energy trying to be nice.

As for Aizawa's explanation, it might not have been a solid plan, but it was the best one they had so far. Mandalay's telepathy quirk could only go one way, but if she could get into Deku's mind, there was a chance that she might be able to unlock something. It would be a delicate procedure most likely done under extreme duress. There was no saying how Deku might react to another voice clanging around in his head.

Bakugou glanced around, taking note of other heroes in the room, along with Shinsou, who was clearly not excited at being roped into this battle but accepted it nonetheless. Everyone must have had mind-related quirks as well. Most of them he didn't recognize, but it looked like they had come from other countries. Aizawa must have been considering that Deku was brainwashed for a while now to have assembled them so quickly. Bakugou had right from the start. No way was Deku a villain just because they hadn't found him first. He wasn't that petty or he would've tried to kill Bakugou long ago.

"Any updates on the jackass that took the video of the fight?" Bakugou asked.

Aizawa shook his head. "He's still unconscious and in critical condition." He glanced back at Midnight, who was talking to two heroes that Bakugou didn't know. "Midnight questioned him thoroughly alongside the police and she's not one to miss something in interrogations. Whatever this villain's quirk is, it must be capable of erasing memories along with manipulating them. We checked the quirk registry, but there wasn't anyone that stood out. It's possible that he's from another country that isn't so strict about it."

Bakugou grunted and folded his arms across his chest. "How overpowered is this person? We don't even know who they are."

Without warning, the door that Bakugou had come through was kicked open. All the heroes went on high alert, including Bakugou, but the only person in the doorway was a young boy. Bakugou found himself flabbergasted. It was undeniably Kota, Mandalay's nephew, but Bakugou hadn't seen him since since the UA Camping Trip where he'd been kidnapped. Kota was older now, taller, with a sharper edge about him and Bakugou somehow knew instinctively that he'd developed his quirk more. He didn't know how he knew; he could just feel it.

The most jarring aspect about him was that he wasn't wearing a hat for once. Bakugou had never seen him without his trademark hat, but that had been years ago. Instead now, his dark hair stood up on end and he was tightly wringing a green, white, and red hat in his hands in front of himself. His eyes were wide with shock, but filled with tears that signified grief and Bakugou's stomach dropped. He couldn't handle this kind of disappointment again.

"Is it true?" Kota asked in a quivering voice, all the heroes hesitating in the room. "Is Deku really…?"

Mandalay was the first one to break free of the trance that had taken hold of everyone else, running towards him and grabbing him by the shoulders like she was afraid he wasn't real. Of course she would though. This was her nephew. Heroes were taught how to deal with emotional distress and how to handle victims, but this was something else entirely. Deku had single-handedly saved Kota from being killed by a villain at the UA training camp. Before that, Kota had despised heroes and the students wanting to become them after the death of his parents, unable to understand what it meant to be willing to give up a life to protect someone else's.

And now that hero was on the television acting like a hero. Kota's whole world was probably flipping on its end.

"I told you to stay in your room!"

"I got bored," Kota replied, sounding mechanical. He tilted his head up towards her. Give it a few more years and he would be as tall as her. He was still in middle school, but it wouldn't be long before he could decide what high school he wanted to apply to, whether or not he wanted to be a hero. The tears that had built up in his eyes began to spill down his cheeks. "And so I started walking around and it's summer break so most of the students are gone, but then I saw two of them staying at the dorms watching something on their phones and I got curious and I…"

"Oh, Kota, I was going to tell you," Mandalay said in a soft, pained voice.

"Don't lie to me! I'm not a little kid anymore." Kota twisted the hat in his hands. "Deku can't be a villain, can he? He's…"

He's my hero, were the unsaid words. Bakugou wanted to turn away, but he couldn't.

"It's him," Mandalay told him and Kota let out a whimper that would embarrass him later, "but it's not. He's under the control of a villain." She gave him a smile, the kind adults gave when they knew everything was wrong but they had to smile anyways. Bakugou had recognized it as a child and he saw it now. Judging from the way Kota looked at her, he knew it too, but he didn't fight it either. "We're going to save him."

The poor kid looked so crestfallen. His eyes dropped to that hat. "I tried calling Uraraka, but she didn't answer. The UA students said that he took her."

Mandalay took a sharp breath. Ah, he hadn't watched the entire video. Most likely he had seen enough of it to form a view and had come running to his aunt, who he would believe had the most information on the situation. After all, she had come here on such a short notice and brought him as well. The kid wasn't stupid. He could do simple addition and he knew that something was wrong.

"We're going to get her back too," Mandalay said with more conviction than Bakugou expected. She fondly ran a hand through Kota's messy hair and then took the hat from his hands. Bakugou found himself shaken when it hit him what exactly that hat was: it was a pro hero Deku hat. Kota had been wearing a hat that the news now considered a villain. The kid must have felt shaken to his core. "That's what heroes do."

"I want to help," Kota insisted. "I can help!"

As if knowing that he would say this, Mandalay sighed, "The best thing you can do is stay here."

"But-"

"No buts!" Mandalay said sharply. "You're still in middle school. This is a pro heroes job."

Kota swallowed. "Of course." But there was a look in his eyes that Bakugou recognized as very fucking dangerous and he went on high alert. All the warning bells went off in his head. He knew that look. It was the kind of one he made before he jumped headfirst into a fight, explosions blowing from his palms, the kind of look he made before he did something incredibly reckless. He narrowed his eyes at this kid. What was going on in his head? He couldn't be older than eleven now and yet he was already conspiring.

Don't do anything stupid, kid.

Mandalay guided Kota further into the room, knowing that he wouldn't just go back to his own. She sent him over to Shinsou, who he somehow knew, and then she returned to Aizawa and Bakugou, looking more exhausted than she had been seconds ago.

"You brought him with you?" Bakugou questioned hotly.

"I couldn't leave him alone," Mandalay shot back. She looked down at her hands, which were now being held in front of her. "Besides, his safety was a concern."

Bakugou stepped closer to her, forcing her to look up at him. "What does that mean?"

"Kota was in close contact with Midoriya before his…" Ah, yes, before his not-death. Mandalay's gaze turned to her young nephew, who was currently listening to whatever Shinsou had to say to him. "They emailed each other all the time. Midoriya didn't have to do it, but he was genuinely excited about Kota's progress with his quirk and he truly cared about Kota's wellbeing and how he was accepting his parents' death."

Aizawa put a hand on Mandalay's shoulder. She was clearly shaken up. "We're concerned about anyone that had a close relationship with Midoriya."

"I know he's under a villain's quirk control, but if he were to somehow contact Kota or get a hold of him…" It didn't need to be said. Mandalay tied her fingers together to make one fist and held it in front of her face. She was clearly more of a nervous wreck than she had let on, if only for her nephew. "Kota would've followed him to the ends of the earth. He was devastated by Midoriya's death, but he managed to persevere because it was what Deku would do, in his own words. I tried to hide the video from him, thinking it might protect him, but now I don't know."

It was never a smart idea to keep someone in the dark, but then, Kota was still a child. He might have been taller and stronger than he had been the last time Bakugou had seen him, but he wasn't even in high school yet where he could learn to protect himself better with his quirk should he want to. Back when Bakugou had seen him, Kota had hated heroes and what they stood for after the loss of his parents. If anyone understood the sacrifices heroes had to make - the sacrifice that Deku had made - it was him. Mandalay should've told Kota upfront about the situation, in Bakugou's opinion, mostly because Kota clearly idolized Deku so much.

But that Deku wasn't the Deku that was here now.

"I trust Kota," Mandalay said, "but I've still been monitoring him. I keep worrying that Midoriya will contact him and I'll be too late in finding it."

"Deku hasn't mentioned him, so there's that," Bakugou put in. That was about as close to comfort as he could give right now. Mandalay seemed to get it though as she nodded her head and allowed her hands to fall back down to rest against her stomach. "But then we still don't know his or the League of Villains plan." He turned to Aizawa, who was watching Kota and Shinsou with something akin to suspicion. Most likely he had noticed Kota's off reaction as well. He would seeing as how Bakugou's class had been chock full of those. "We can't go to them if we don't know where they are, so we'll have to bring them to us. I'm not waiting for him to kidnap someone again. This time, we need to take control."

Aizawa glanced back at him. "How do you propose that? Bait him?" Bakugou nodded his head. "How?"

"I've got an idea." Bakugou looked out the window to where various people, vans, and their equipment were camped outside the school, feeling a burning, uncomfortable sensation in his gut. This was one of the last things he wanted to do. They couldn't communicate with the League or Deku without them opening a line first - at least not directly. Leaking the video to the news had given Bakugou an idea though. The video hadn't been just to stir the pot; it had also been a smack in the face to every pro hero and UA, which had helped produce Deku.

So it was high time the heroes smacked them right back.

To be honest, Bakugou wasn't a huge fan of the whole getting a microphone shoved in his face thing, but it came with the package of being a pro hero. As soon as a fight was over, reporters would come rushing onto the scene almost as quick as first responders. They were so damn needy and overwhelming with their desire to report on the news immediately. Seriously, there was almost nothing more ruthless than a reporter trying to get a story. Some of them were manic.

There had been plenty of times when Bakugou had stepped out of a fight and right into what felt like another, except it was questions being lobbed at him instead of punches. It still took him off guard, especially when his first instinct was to always snarl and shove people out of his way. He wasn't that great on camera. He knew that it was something he had to improve, but he found it difficult to give a shit.

Kirishima got onto him about his bad attitude with reporters, probably because he was so beloved by them. He actually sent some of them small gift baskets and in turn they were always kind to him, giving him the space he might need after a fight or rescue. One of the last times Bakugou and Uraraka had hung out before this whole mess, they'd just finished eating dinner at his place when the news showed a clip of a reporter trying to interview Bakugou after he'd taken down a villain. Uraraka's wild burst of laughter had almost made Bakugou drop the plate he was cleaning. She always got such a kick out of seeing his sour, snarling face on the screen.

Willingly facing the reporters now sounded about as fantastic as getting socked in the face, but it was one of the few options that they had. They knew that the League was watching the news, seeing as how they had managed to leak the video of Deku's fight to the media. It was a classic fearmongering technique and it backed the pro heroes, UA, and the police into a corner. Not only did they have to admit that Deku was alive, but they couldn't deny that he was a villain now as well. People had already connected the prison break to Deku's reappearance and many had started to turn against well-respected hero agencies and the school.

After all, UA was supposed to produce heroes, not villains. They'd helped create a monster.

It grated on Bakugou's nerves to the point where he was probably grinding his teeth an unhealthy amount, all this blathering and questioning. Deku wasn't a monster. Sure, he was capable of monstrous things now (Bakugou flexed his left wrist and then fingers), but that wasn't who he truly was. Bakugou was going to drag the hero right out of him into the open for everyone to see again. He didn't know how and he didn't know when, but it would happen.

With his back to the blocked off entrance of UA, Aizawa at his side, and a mob of reporters just a foot away from him, Bakugou felt like he was in line to get shot by a firing squad. The questions and demands being thrown at him almost felt like bullets. He did his best to remain as impassive as Aizawa, who took it on another level compared to Todoroki, but knew that he couldn't hide the heat from his eyes no matter how hard he tried. Camera flashes nearly blinded him and he found himself glaring into each lens accusingly.

When Aizawa held up a hand, all of the questions finally stopped and he pointed at a female reporter at their ten o'clock. She practically jumped to ask, "Is the video true? Is that the formerly thought-to-be dead pro hero Deku or is it the work of a villain?"

Both, if they were being honest, but they couldn't just air everything right now, so Aizawa said, "It's him," and then pointed to another reporter directly in front of them.

"How can this be? He was pronounced dead almost a year ago! Is he a villain now or was he always one before?"

"Izuku Midoriya was a hero from the very beginning," Aizawa answered in a flat voice. "It's true that we have very little to go on about how or why he is consorting with a new League of Villains, but we have reason to believe that he's not entirely a lost cause." There was only so much they could say without showing their cards entirely, but they couldn't lie and they couldn't hold out too much. The public needed some sort of reassurance, even if it was a bland version of it. "Rest assured, we will get to the bottom of this."

A woman shoved her way forward, nearly knocking a cameraman over. "Does Deku's reappearance as a villain have any connection with the prison break?"

It was a question they had hoped to avoid, but knew that they would have to answer if it came about. Still, Aizawa did not look pleased when he said, "Yes." It sent a shock through the mob of news people. This opened up a whole new line of questions and fears. Were any of the other villain prisons a target? Had there been a specific person they had wanted to break out? Then why not break out All Might's nemesis or could they be building up to that?

"What about the string of villain murders?" the same reporter demanded before Aizawa could pick someone else. That created a ripple of confusion and many of the reporters began to mumble with their cameramen and at each other. Even Bakugou was slightly caught off guard. With Deku looking so much like a villain in that video, he hadn't thought that anyone would piece together the kills he'd done to impress Uraraka. "They were in Uravity's section, after all, and the ones done this past week after the prison break were all her collars."

Someone had done her homework apparently. Bakugou didn't like it. He hated it when people thought they knew something when they didn't know the half of it.

"It does appear as if he has a connection with those deaths," Aizawa admitted.

"If he's a villain, then why is he killing villains?" another reporter managed to edge in.

No way were they going to tell these news idiots that Deku had killed people to impress his girlfriend. It was bad enough when people began to idolize villains and twist their behavior into something to romanticize about. There was nothing romantic about killing people, even if they were bad. He knew that the conclusions would eventually be drawn online by people that had way too much time to think about such things, but he wasn't going to give Deku the satisfaction of saying it out loud.

"We're unsure of his exact motives at this point," Aizawa merely said, which wasn't exactly a lie. They knew part of the reason why he had killed those villains - to impress Uraraka - but he had implied that there was another reason as well that had made it simpler to carry out. They didn't know what that was. Aizawa was really good at this sort of thing. He was good at shutting people down. "Next question."

"How do you intend to protect the city when so many pro heroes, including the number one hero, Endeavor, could not stop him?"

"That is something we cannot discuss just yet."

"Do you even have a plan?"

Aizawa gave the reporter such an unimpressed glower that the man actually backed down. "Heroes are not in the business to air out their plans for everyone, including villains, to hear."

Bakugou folded his arms across his chest. A few of the reporters glanced at him nervously. In most of his hero costume, he knew how threatening he came across. It was purposeful. This wasn't just some interview for tv. This was a declaration of war.

"Has there been any updates on the two pro heroes kidnapped?" a reporter shouted from the crowd. Bakugou tensed up at the question. They'd lost two of their own and had no clue where they were or what was going on, but they couldn't admit that out loud. What little faith the people had in them was tenuous right now as it was.

"Are we even sure that both of them were kidnapped?" a guy at Bakugou's right asked. When Bakugou zeroed in on him with a furious gaze, the man hesitated, but didn't back down entirely. "The video made it look like Uravity went with the villains willingly. Her relationship with Deku was well-known. Could she be in on this?"

Fire flashed in Bakugou's eyes and he ripped the microphone away from the guy so violently that he actually stumbled backwards in shock. "Listen up because I'm only going to say this once," Bakugou snarled, staring right into one of the large cameras aimed at him. "Uravity is a damn hero. She saved our lives that night, as she has done countless of times before. She saved my life." He hated admitting that he needed to be saved, but she had done it. He would not take her sacrifice away from her even at the expense of his pride. "I'm not going to tolerate any of you assholes speculating about her integrity. You don't know a damn thing about what she's gone through. She is stronger than any of you know and she has and will do everything in her power to save everyone."

No one moved for a few seconds. Maybe they didn't even breathe. The intensity with which Bakugou had growled into that microphone had everyone reeling. The second that asshole had accused Uraraka of being complicit, he had lost his cool and gone straight for the attack. It was unexpected, but helped set the trap in a way. He didn't think Deku would like anyone questioning Uraraka as a hero either, not when he'd helped her in his own messed up way and still seemed enamored of her quest to save people.

"As for the first question, no, there have been no updates," Aizawa said, setting the stage.

"Yeah, because they're scared," Bakugou snapped, shoving the microphone back at the guy. "We defeated them before and we'll defeat them again."

"How can you say that so confidently when you were beat just days ago?"

Bakugou snapped his eyes in the direction of that reporter, who visibly shrunk back. "We didn't know what we were dealing with then, but we know now. It's clear that the League is relying on Deku's strength, so what does that tell us? Besides him, they're weak. They're nothing but a bunch of cowards who barely have the ability to keep Deku completely on their side. Take him out and they'll crumble." He pointed directly into the camera, a fiery look filled with determination and promise. "And I'm going to take him out. Mark my words. Your time is coming to an end and I will get Uraraka and Todoroki back." He sneered. "Unless they're too afraid to come out of hiding."

With that, the gates opened and Bakugou turn on his heels and left them. Aizawa stayed back to answer a few more questions, but as far as Bakugou was concerned, his part was done. Sure, shoving a stick in a hornet's nest was one of the most dangerous things they could do, but he was made of all fire right now. Any hesitation in him was gone. There was nothing holding him back now. Uraraka was gone. Todoroki was gone. Deku was gone.

And all Bakugou felt was dangerous.