Notes: This chapter was a pleasure to write, especially considering I hadn't planned on updating it this week.

Meeting Todoroki in the parking lot of a fried chicken joint wasn't at the top of Bakugou's list of things he wanted to do, but that was the address Todoroki sent to him for the rendezvous point and he wasn't in the position to complain. If the stupid shit actually came through and showed up, it would be saying something. He wasn't known for letting people down, but the two of them didn't exactly have a good history. They had worked very well together; they had also fought each other a lot. If he didn't try to kill Bakugou on the spot, he would owe Todoroki a lot more than that.

The fact that he wasn't luring Todoroki into a position to kill him was already a shock, seeing as how he'd been fantasizing about their next encounter for a while now. For the longest time, Bakugou had imagined that the next time he saw Todoroki, he'd be pointing a gun at him. Quite frankly, he wasn't too certain he wouldn't be doing that now, even though he had been the one to call him. Todoroki was...unpredictable. Calculated. Cold. Clever.

But he was the last person that Bakugou would've expected to turn on the CIA and he had done it.

In the passenger seat of the car, Special Agent Midoriya looked out the window of the car, an anxious look on his face as he bit at his fingernails. He wasn't handling this well, but then again, Bakugou hadn't expected him to. It was one thing to say that they would do anything to help save a friend. It was quite another to outright defy the government, lie to his superior officers, and break the law in a hundred different ways in order to do so.

The CIA had trained Bakugou to break the law. It wasn't so bad now. It was a bit like breathing.

Mr. Top Notch FBI Agent was struggling though and it showed. It had been one thing leaving the safe house without alerting their team. He'd put the feed on a loop so it looked like they were watching a movie, but, according to him, Agent Shinsou would figure that out soon enough. Going to Kirishima's arms shop and loading up on weapons had nearly made him faint, but he had handled it, perhaps only because Kirishima was a good salesman and had dialed up the charm. Calling up another hitman to help them out had him bouncing on his feet, but he hadn't disagreed that they needed backup.

Apparently, out of all the things, stealing a car was what finally crossed the line. It was perhaps the least of their crimes and worries, but Midoriya hated the idea of involving a civilian in their daring rescue. Someone might really need this car. It might be all they had. This was too much. He had so many damn complaints as he had watched Bakugou break in and hotwire the thing. The only reason he was sitting in it silently now was because Bakugou had pulled out a wad of cash and stuffed it in the mailbox. It was more than the price of the car. That shut Midoriya up quickly enough. Kirishima had told him to pay him back later, so he had plenty on him.

"What if he isn't coming?" Midoriya asked, his green eyes shining with alertness.

"He's coming," Bakugou reassured him as he picked at his blunt nails with a knife.

Midoriya made a nervous sound. "But what if he's on their side?"

"Then I'll have to kill him," Bakugou simply replied.

"So much for honor among killers," Midoriya muttered dryly as he surveyed the parking lot for the hundredth time.

There was one thing that Bakugou would admit about him: nothing got passed him. As much as Bakugou hated to admit it, the FBI agent was clever, perhaps too much for his own good, and he was brave. He hadn't expected Midoriya to do this - to go so far to save his partner. Feds weren't supposed to be like that. They had sticks up their asses - they were all about the rules - and here he was, in his loafers and cheap suit with his tie still too damn short, breaking his oath to the US government.

The driver's side mirror suddenly exploding caught them both off guard. Okay, maybe a few things got passed him, but Bakugou had begrudgingly been equally surprised. Before Midoriya could panic and try to bolt, Bakugou locked the doors and the fed gawked at him incredulously. He glared back at him. Only when there was a polite tap on his window did he look away and connect eyes with a familiar mismatched gaze outside the glass.

Upon rolling down his window, Bakugou was greeted with Shouto Todoroki asking, "Have you tried their hot chicken here? It's criminally good. I'd pay a lot more than they're charging for this."

"Fried chicken isn't exactly on my diet plan," Bakugou shot back.

Todoroki stared at him with a blank gaze, a drumstick held in front of his mouth. "You didn't go vegetarian again, did you? That worked out so poorly for you last time."

"It was for a cover, you bastard!" Bakugou snapped.

"Whatever the reason was, all you did was whine like a baby," Todoroki responded, completely ignoring the way Bakugou was steaming in the driver's seat. He took a bite, chewed on the meat thoughtfully, and then leaned down to look further into the car. "This the Fed?"

For his part, instead of cowering in fear, Midoriya demanded, "Did you have to shoot off the mirror? We're borrowing this." He still sounded a little nervous, but that was only to be expected. Through trial and error during his time at the two safehouses, Bakugou had found that Midoriya was emotional and got nervous easily - but he also wasn't a pushover and would fight back if he felt pressed enough. With Uraraka's life on the line, his career down the drain, and in the presence of two hitmen, this was definitely one of those times.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Todoroki's face as he looked back to Bakugou. "Oh, he's so green. Do you remember when we were that naive?"

"I was never that bad," Bakugou insisted. The truth was that he didn't remember. Surely there had been a time - he hadn't been a natural born killer from the start - but after years of brutal training and missions that brought him so far down that he eventually had to cut ties and go off on his own, that time in his life was gone. As far as the CIA was concerned, when it came to people like him and Todoroki, who were in so deep that they weren't even technically a part of them, it was easier to not remember. It made them better at their jobs.

And Bakugou was damn fucking good at his job. So was Todoroki.

"Well, you brought him, so you're accountable for him," Todoroki declared before continuing to eat.

"I can take care of myself," Midoriya declared.

Todoroki fixed him with a flat look. "We don't even know what we're getting into. For all you know, there could be an entire army waiting to ambush us because Bakugou was emotionally compromised." Bakugou immediately tensed up at the implication, but before he could argue, Todoroki continued, "There could be no one watching her. There could be a single guard. There could be traps, cameras, you name it - all of it just waiting for someone to spring them."

"I know that," Midoriya grumbled.

"Then know this," Todoroki said in a harsh tone, "we're expendable. They need Bakugou, not us. We'll be killed without a moment's hesitation. We're not a priority; we're an obstacle." He plucked what looked like a jalapeno popper out of his bag and took a large bite. "Now should they kill us? No, we'd be much more useful alive. You're a fed, so that goes without saying, and if Bakugou is willing to work with you, then you're smart."

"And you?" Midoriya asked suspiciously.

Todoroki finished off the drumstick and dropped the bone in the bag. "I'm a former CIA agent turned worldwide freelance vigilante. I should hope I'd be useful to anyone."

"Still got that ego, I see," Bakugou sniped.

"I know my worth," Todoroki responded. "Yours just got too big, hence why you had to go to the Feds." He shook his head and folded the top of his bag, apparently done with his food for now. "Why did you have to cross them? You know that's a stupid idea. That was the number one rule. We were allowed to leave and do what we want, but we were to never cross them."

Bakugou glared up at him. "It never bothered you that it still sometimes felt like you were attached to that leash?"

"Of course it did," Todoroki said, "but I never let myself think that I was any better for leaving."

He didn't like it. He hated the way Todoroki thought, spoke, acted - the whole nine yards. He mostly hated Todoroki because he reminded him of himself and his own issues. It wasn't that they were alike. They were miles apart and always would be. There was something about him that always dragged Bakugou back to those days when they had worked together. It wasn't their freelance work together after the CIA that he saw when he looked at Todoroki. It was when it was them and the mission and that was it.

Todoroki would've put a bullet in the back of his head had their superiors told him to do so. Bakugou might've done that now, but he wasn't so sure he would've done the same, at least not without some hesitation. Did that make him a better person or a weaker one? He didn't know.

Even worse, the only thing he could think was that he wanted to ask Uraraka. Would she think it was good of him? Would she consider it a sign of weakness? Had her boss told her to kill him, would she have done it? No, he didn't think so, but what did he know? What did he really know of her? She had told him a few things about herself, begrudingly so, and he had guessed some others that she copped to, but outside of her suit, did he really know anything about her? Did she really see him as anything more than a job at the end of the day? He wanted to think that she did, but it was stupid. It was so fucking stupid.

She's too good for you, the voice in the back of his mind scolded him. How can you ask her if she thinks you're capable of being a better person when you will never reach her level?

Even if she was too good for him - even if none of this mattered because Uraraka was the sun and he was a pile of mud at best - that was why he had to do this. It wouldn't prove that he was a better person. It wouldn't even prove that he was a decent one because more than likely he was going to have to kill a few people in order to save her. And quite frankly, he didn't care. He should care - Uraraka would care - but he didn't. The fact that Todoroki was able to eat some fried chicken and sides so casually showed he didn't care. Midoriya might've been conflicted, but he knew damn well that they weren't going to come out of this clean if they survived.

By doing this, Bakugou was indirectly proving that he wasn't a good enough person for Uraraka. He had to live with that - and he would. He was okay with it. At this point, all he wanted was for her to be alive. He couldn't let anyone else innocent die because of him, least of all her. She'd only been dragged into this mess because his interest had been caught and he'd been too obvious about it. He never should've let her in. He never should have made it a game to tease her in order to find more about her. She was a fed and she didn't matter and she…

She was what he wanted. He hadn't wanted someone or something that much in so long. He'd forgotten. The CIA was good at stomping that desire out too.

"So are we really doing this?" Todoroki asked.

Bakugou scoffed. "You think I'd meet you in this shit place if I wasn't serious?"

"No, I was just waiting for you to work up the nerves to actually go," Todoroki said, which only pissed off Bakugou even more. Midoriya wisely stayed silent for once. Normally he was ready to talk at a moment's notice, but this whole thing had put him highly on edge. "Do you have a plan?"

"I'll figure out something," Bakugou grumbled.

"Which means you don't have one at all." Todoroki sighed. "We'll talk about it on the way there."

When Todoroki turned and walked away, Bakugou leaned out of his head out of the window. "Oi, you ever stop and think that I might actually need that mirror to check shit?"

"I figured you'd just stick your head out of the window and give them a clear headshot," Todoroki responded without looking back, lifting a hand up.

Bakugou scowled and pulled his head back inside the car. Fucking asshole. It irritated him to hell and back that he had been put in the position to call him asking for help. For some reason, it pissed him off even more that Todoroki had come anyways. He had to put aside his pride (and his dignity) if he was going to save Uraraka. That was all that mattered at the end of the day.

Feeling eyes on him, Bakugou turned to glare at Midoriya and barked, "What?"

Midoriya held up his hands in surrender and didn't say anything in return, but he didn't have to for Bakugou to know what he was thinking. He'd really gone fucking soft for a Fed. Unbelievable. If someone had told him a few months ago that this would happen to him, he would've laughed and then shot them in their face. There was no possible way he would give a damn about a fucking Suit. No way in hell. First of all, he didn't do feelings; and second, he didn't do law enforcement. That was a rule.

A rule that Uraraka shattered and scattered into a thousand pieces over his life.

"It's okay, you know," Midoriya said in the silence. Bakugou didn't look over at him. He started the car, put it in reverse, and swung out of the parking spot. "To be scared, I mean."

"I'm not fucking scared," Bakugou snapped, forcing the car into drive and jamming his foot down on the gas. It forced Midoriya to slam back into his seat, but he seemed to have expected it. He wasn't scared. He refused to be scared. He couldn't afford to be. Scared made people do stupid things and stupid things caused people to die.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly with one hand as he fished his phone out of his pocket with the other. Todoroki was right about them needing to come up with at least some sort of plan and the easiest way would be to do it over speaker phone. They could pass information and ideas as they drove to the location where Uraraka was being held. They couldn't afford to waste anymore time. She didn't have much.

You don't even know if she's still-

No, he wasn't going to think like that. He couldn't. She was alive. She had to be. If she wasn't… No one was going to come out of this alive if she wasn't. He'd make damn sure.

Uraraka's eyes snapped open behind the blindfold when she felt a hand on her cheek. She tried to jerk her head away from the touch, but then the hand gripped her roughly by the jaw and kept her face forward.

"Calm down," Shindo's voice told her. She went still. At least it was him. She had heard a few other voices, all of them male, and had feared it was one of them. So far, while a few threats and laced comments had been hurled her way, none of them had touched her. She wondered if they had been ordered to listen to him or if there was someone else that had instructed them not to harm her.

Well, severely harm her at any rate. She had no doubt that would come soon enough. Would Shindo do the honors or would he have someone else take a go at her?

Sitting obediently still, when her blindfold was pulled off, Uraraka was forced to close her eyes upon being assaulted with a bright, glaring light. She hadn't been able to see for a while and it took time for her vision to adjust from going suddenly from darkness to light. Once it was no longer painful, she blinked and found Shindo watching her very closely with a guarded but curious expression on his face. Even if her mouth hadn't been taped shut, she would have stayed silent. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of listening to her ask questions.

"They're starting to get antsy," Shindo stated. She furrowed her brow. Who was getting antsy? Which government or criminal had paid him off to get him to betray his own country? His friends? His honor? "They're worried Bakugou might not come for you."

He won't, Uraraka thought, hoping Shindo could read the declaration in her glare. Or at least he wouldn't if he was smart - and Bakugou was very smart. It was what made him so dangerous. She couldn't possibly mean that much to him. She was just a prettier-looking Suit. He wouldn't come save her.

(Would he?)

"I think they need to be patient," Shindo proclaimed. "He'll come." He smiled, one that she had seen a hundred times from him and looked so normal and kind. It nearly made her shiver now. "After all…" He lifted a hand to run his fingers through her hair before gently sliding a hand over her cheek. "I'd hate to see someone as pretty as you get uglied up for no reason. It wouldn't be right. He wouldn't like that either."

She jerked away from his touch, repulsion rolling around in her gut. Every time he touched her, she felt the urge to get sick or snap at him. He seemed almost sad sometimes, but that was his own damn fault. He had been the one to betray everything for a stack of cash. What right did he have to be sad over what was happening? Maybe he didn't like that he had to kidnap her - that she was the lynchpin in the plan - but he had still done it. He had still bound, gagged, and blindfolded her.

He would probably still let her get tortured if Bakugou didn't come and they needed information. He just might not be there to watch.

"We could make this much easier on the both of us," Shindo pointed out. Uraraka narrowed her eyes at him. If he thought she was just going to talk, he had her pegged all wrong. He should know her better than that by now. They'd worked together for a while now. He picked at the edge of the tape over her mouth. "If I pull this off, are you going to scream?"

Uraraka shook her head. She wasn't going to scream, but if his fingers were still close to her mouth, she might bite. A second later, he peeled the tape off her mouth. It stung, but she didn't care as she took in a gulp of fresh air. She leaned her head back against the chair, gasping shakily as she tried to steady her breathing. Being gagged forced her to breathe in through her nose and she couldn't get enough air.

"There," Shindo said, almost fondly. "That's much better, isn't it?"

"Oh, go fuck yourself," Uraraka spat out.

Shindo tsked. "You've always had a surprisingly dirty mouth. It's actually one of your more attractive qualities."

"Thanks," Uraraka muttered dryly.

He knew she didn't mean it, but it didn't stop him from teasingly replying, "You're welcome." He dropped the piece of tape on the ground and stood up straight. "I don't want to do this the hard way, Uraraka - and I don't want you to get any more hurt than you already are."

"Like I'm going to come out of this alive either way," Uraraka said. She wasn't delusional. Kidding herself into thinking that there was any outcome where she didn't leave this place in a bodybag was foolish. There was no way she would be able to leave alive. Maybe it didn't matter if she'd seen Shindo's face since he wasn't planning on sticking around anyways, but they wouldn't want any loose ends. "You're stupid for thinking that you're going to be left alone too. What's keeping them from killing you now? You've done your part."

Shindo shook his head. "I've got my insurances. Besides, I'm still on the clock. Our team is none the wiser yet." He chuckled. "I've already got a call about you missing. I'm doing everything I can to find you."

"You're a bastard," Uraraka growled. "They're going to figure it out soon enough."

"Probably," Shindo admitted, shrugging like it was nothing. "Shinso has never particularly cared for me. I think he was disappointed when he couldn't find anything on me when they did a check for a mole after the attack on the first safehouse. It helps that I'm not the one under such extreme scrutiny at the moment."

Uraraka frowned suspiciously. "What does that mean?"

"It appears as if the golden boy of the FBI isn't so golden after all," Shindo explained. "Midoriya went awol shortly after I sent that photoshoot of you to his phone - along with Bakugou. There's been no word from him since. For all intents and purposes, it looks like he's absconded with our favorite hitman."

Midoriya what? Despite the fact that she was being held captive, horror finally began to creep up on her. Uraraka didn't know what to think about that. She didn't want to consider the implications. Sure, so Midoriya had some unconventional methods when it came to the job sometimes that their superiors didn't always approve of, but it wasn't like him to completely go off the radar, especially with someone as volatile and suspect as Bakugou. The two of them didn't get along.

Had... Had something happened to him? Had Bakugou decided the FBI couldn't keep him safe and was forced to go through Midoriya in order to escape? No, he wouldn't do that. (Yes, he would. He was a murderer. A paid killer. It would be nothing to him to get rid of another fed, especially one he didn't like.) Or had Midoriya figured out that there was a mole on their team and decided to go off the grid to keep Bakugou safe? Yes, yes, that sounded more like him. It would infuriate Aizawa and his higher ups, but if he didn't know who he could trust outside of himself, then it made sense for him to keep everyone in the dark about Bakugou's new whereabouts.

"Midoriya must have moved him to another location," Uraraka said quietly, half to herself.

"I've considered that," Shindo replied. "More than likely, he knows there's a mole, but he's not sure who. That's what the others think he's done - he's gone into hiding. I don't think so though." Uraraka peered at him. He and Midoriya had worked together too. He knew Midoriya's habits just as well as her - and they both knew that Midoriya could sometimes be very unpredictable in order to save someone. "I think he teamed up with Bakugou to save you."

"No," Uraraka insisted, shaking her head. "He wouldn't do that. He knows I'd kick his ass. The job comes first."

Shindo tilted his head. "Do you really think that?" She bit her lip. Yes. No. Maybe. It was hard to say. What would she have done in his position? Would she have trashed her career and forgot the job to save him? "Midoriya is too good of a person to leave you to be tortured and killed. It would eat away at him. As for Bakugou, well, you somehow managed to warm that cold heart of his. There's no way he's letting you go. No, they're coming here. I know it."

"If they are, you don't stand a chance," Uraraka swore vehemently.

"Two against all of us?" Shindo laughed. "Bakugou is good, but there's no way he's that good."

"He is," Uraraka declared. "You better get running now. Because if he doesn't kill you, I will make damn sure you pay for this."

"That's what I like about you, Uraraka," Shindo said. "You're so full of grit and determination, even in the face of so much awful shit." He looked at his watch. "You better either hope Bakugou shows up soon - or you're gonna be facing a little more than just talking to me. The others aren't going to be as nice."

Uraraka didn't respond. She knew what he meant. At Quantico, they had been briefly trained on how to handle being tortured. There wasn't a lot they could do that wouldn't be inhumane or cruel. The FBI wasn't like the CIA where they probably tortured recruits in order to toughen up intelligence officers. For the most part, they were taught that torture wasn't a good source of information. Most of what was gleaned from it wasn't very useful. Shindo knew that. It didn't stop people from still resorting to it when they wanted answers. He knew that as well.

The clock was ticking. If she could just get a little loose from her restraints… Shit, she didn't know. She needed to get out of here. Bakugou and Midoriya couldn't come here. She hated to agree with Shindo in any way, but they couldn't possibly win with just the two of them. All she could do was pray that they had run away and hid, but she didn't know. Fear was starting to trickle in, drip by drip, and it was making it difficult for her to focus on escaping.

Uraraka took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Now was not the time to panic. She'd need her strength for the torture. She couldn't lose it now, not when they depended on her too.