An Explosive Arbiter

by Anonymuss45

In a wide, wide, galaxy, change can come at the drop of a hat. In Bakugo Katsuki's case, it came in the form of an explosion. With an entire galaxy to explore and dangers at each and every turn, it's a race against the clock to fix his mistakes with a small group of idiots who attached themselves to him at the hip.

7. Of Limits and Strength

An Explosive Arbiter

Chapter 7: Of Limits and Strength

"Bakugo."

Bakugo lifted his head from the small, cramped bed in his equally small and cramped cell on the One For All.

"Half and Half. The fuck do you want?"

"To apologize."

Bakugo snorted.

"I was there when the... incident happened. I was part of the team, and yet, I failed to assist you. You left U.A before I was ready to apologize for it."

There was a long pause.

"Yeah, yeah, what the fuck ever. I don't give a damn about your apologies. I would say that it's all water under the bridge, but that bridge has already been burned to the ground."

Icyhot was quiet.

"If you're just gonna stand there and gawk, then go do it from the other side of the cameras! I don't want to look at your stupid ass face!"

"...Bakugo. We really...We could have used you, as a hero. You had a lot of potential."

"Don't give me the same goddamn speech that I've heard from Deku a thousand fucking times. If you have anything to say that won't piss me off, then say it."

A firm scowl set on Icyhot's face, and Bakugo rolled over in his bed, facing the wall.

"...I've always admired you, in a way. You had a determination that I could never hope to match. Your strength was unparalleled in our class. When compared to me, whose motivation for becoming a hero only ran skin-deep...You outranked me, and that helped me learn humility."

Bakugo didn't respond, but he didn't turn over, either.

"Midoriya wasn't the only one affected by you leaving."

The soft clapping of shoes on tile accompanied Todoroki to the door.

---

Bakugo Katsuki wiped some dirt off of his brow as he pushed out of the crashed Ground Zero, pushing the old memory to the side. He didn't need the fucking past to be messing with his head now, of all times.

The ship itself wasn't necessarily totalled, but it certainly wasn't looking good. The engines were just destroyed, and the hull had mostly fallen apart in the crash.

Bakugo growled. "Fuckin' seeking missiles. Those things are way too fucking expensive for those ships."

Seeking missiles honed in on their targets, locked on and ruthlessly hunted them. They had extremely advanced targeting, and even the best pilots with the most elusive of ships would be hard-pressed to dodge them. They were the second most powerful missile in the galaxy- next to missiles that literally altered probability to make it more likely for them to land. Only one ship had those.

"Oi, you three shits still moving in there?" Bakugo yelled back into the ship.

Several long, extended groans were his response, followed by some mild coughing.

"Hey, Kaminari, you alright?" Bakugo heard Shitty Hair's voice ask.

"Not doing the greatest right now, man." Pikachu's voice came out, softer than Shitty Hair's, followed by a sharp inhale.

"If you can move, get out here. We don't have all day, you know!' Bakugo called back, annoyed. He cast a look over the area.

Raxus was just as described- giant piles upon giant piles of trash, mixed in with plenty of smoky, ashy atmosphere. The smell was overwhelming, and not for the first time, Bakugo found himself missing his hero outfit.

He just needed to get to Musutafu, and that outfit was good as his.

"Ow- alright, we're good." Shitty Hair said from behind him, and Bakugo cast a sharp look at him.

Pikachu was leaning heavily on Shitty Hair, his left leg matted with blood with a shard of metal protruding from it. Behind the two of them, Raccoon Eyes pushed her way out of the ship, looking as tired as the rest of them.

Damn it.

Pikachu was hurt, which meant that he was a liability. Bakugo needed to get this ship repaired, and a pair of hands was a pair of hands. The other two wouldn't just leave Pikachu here, either.

Bakugo carefully allowed some small explosions to ignite in his palm. When nothing happened, he let out a small sigh. The air wasn't combustible, then. Good.

"We're getting Pikachu to an outpost. Those come with their own medical stations. Shitty Hair, we're relying on the fact that you're half Rock to get us through this one. Raccoon Eyes, go check the beacon details and see if we landed anywhere close to anything. I'll keep guard out here." Bakugo quickly and succinctly gave out orders without looking at any of them.

"What do you want us two to do, Bakugo?" Shitty Hair asked from behind him.

"Get Pikachu's leg wrapped us as best as possible. Make sure to clean the wound before you do anything, got it? I don't need to be lugging around a piece of useless trash with an infected leg." Bakugo spat, feeling anger well up inside him.

It wasn't their fault, he knew, but he couldn't help but feel angry in this situation. No, this one was his fault. By all rights, he should have been more careful, more alert. He had become somewhat complacent in his time with these three idiots. All the more reason for him to leave as soon as possible. The four of them shouldn't even be on this planet right now.

And now, Bakugo was going to have to work to get them off the planet.

Scavengers would soon descend upon the spot. Different native species that hadn't quite mastered space technology, or perhaps Rocks looking to make a quick buck. It could even be humans, although they tended to stay away from planets like this one.

"Bring it on, you fucks."

---

Kaminari winced as Kirishima dumped him carefully onto their improvised bed. Behind him, Ashido rushed to the console, bringing up the starmap.

"You alright, man? What happened?" Kirishima fretted, hands hovering over the small piece of metal jutting out of his leg.

"Don't remove it yet! Kiri, you handle this. I can help him out!" Ashido said quickly, eyebrows knotted in frustration as she pushed off of the console and grabbed an old shirt.

Outside, Kaminari could hear faint explosions, and felt somewhat reassured in the fact that Bakugo, insane as the man was, was protecting them.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Kaminari asked, pain jolting through his leg anew as Ashido grasped the metal.

"Here, bite into this." Ashido commanded, shoving the shirt into Kaminari's mouth.

"Hey, what are you-mmph!" Kaminari complained, not able to resist Ashido's surprisingly strong arms.

Then, his leg exploded in hot, firey pain. Electricity crackled around him as his teeth slammed down.

"MMMPHHH!" Kaminari screamed, his teeth digging into the shirt without him even realizing.

"Sorry, Kaminari, it'll be over soon. I promise!" Ashido said faintly, her voice sounding like static in the background.

Kaminari merely panted in response.

Dimly, Kaminari could register the sound of the mini fridge opening.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to see Ashido holding a bottle of water over the red.

His eyes slammed shut as the wound erupted in pain once more.

The shirt was removed from his mouth as soon as he stopped biting, and without wasting any time, Ashido melted one sleeve off and quickly wrapped the wound, Kaminari wincing at every small movement.

"This is all I can do for it right now. We need to get you to somewhere with proper equipment. Kiri, how's the search coming?" Ashido asked, turning away from Kaminari with laser focus.

All he could do was watch in wonder.

Was this what made the heroes so great? Their ability to efficiently complete one task that helps the citizens the most before moving onto one that would accomplish their task? Both Kirishima and him weren't the greatest at that. They often got lost in the details, too wrapped up in one thing to focus on another.

Was that part of the reason why they didn't make it as heroes? Why his fa-

"Kaminari? You alright? You kinda spaced out there, man." Kirishima asked from where he stood at the console, Ashido hovering over his shoulder. His face was plastered with a concerned look.

Kaminari blinked, feeling the pain in his leg bring him back down to reality. "Yeah, it's just...this." He said, gesturing to his leg.

Kirishima's mouth folded into a small frown that spoke volumes, but he nodded. "Just hold on. There's a Federation base only a few miles out." As he said this, Kaminari could faintly hear some more explosions and laser fire coming from outside.

The bridge was quiet for a moment. "Do you think he's going to be alright?" Kaminari asked, looking at the door worriedly.

Kirishima just laughed. "C'mon, haven't you seen him? He'll be fine. We're gonna get you there." Kirishima reassured with a bright smile.

Kaminari wasn't quite as positive, but nodded anyways.

Slowly, over the course of a minute, the explosions outside subsided. The bridge was tense all the while- Kirishima and Ashido watching the marred entrance like hawks while Kaminari was trying his best to stay awake through the blinding pain..

Finally, after it became clear that the explosion were only slowing instead of stopping, Kirishima stood up from where he had taken a seat.

"Alright, we need to get out there. Bakugo needs our help, and I'm not gonna let a friend bleed out on my watch!" Kirishima proclaimed, clenching a fist.

"Woohoo! That's what I like to hear! Let's do it!" Ashido jumped up alongside Kirishima.

"Kaminari, wrap your arms around my neck!" Kirishima said with a confident look, moving over and crouching down in front of him, his back turned.

Kaminari blinked in confusion, barely comprehending the words, but complied.

Kirishima slowly stood up, stumbling slightly as Kaminari was gently moved off of the bed with Ashido's help. As soon as Kaminari was securely hanging on his back, Kirishima began to move.

Kirishima was only a bit taller than Kaminari. Kaminari's feet touched the back of Kirishima's shins.

This meant that every time Kirishima took a step, white-hot pain was sent flaring through the throbbing wound in Kaminari's leg.

Kaminari passed out before they were out of the ship.

---

Carefully stepping out of the ship, Kirishima shot a glance at the area around them. It was dirty- huge piles of trash surrounded the ship, made up of everything from plastic to metal. There was a lingering, putrid stench in the air that had Kirishima's nose wrinkling and his stomach churning. Luckily, though, the trash seemed to have slowed their fall enough to where damage to the ship was mostly directly from the missile or from entering the atmosphere.

Kirishima's eyes squinted through the haze that had settled over the area. He registered Ashido stepping out of the ship behind him in the back of his mind.

The second Ashido's feet hit the ground, an explosion burst out from somewhere above him, and before Kirishima could blink, someone dropped like a rock to the ground in front of him. Looking up, he was met with an awe-inspiring sight.

On top of a large, mostly stable pile of trash, stood Bakugo, trembling with his arms clenched and an ecstatic fury on his face. The area around him was drenched in smoke, some still billowing from his palms. A fight was evident- there were scorch marks in the trash that didn't have quite the same mark as Bakugo's explosions would leave.

Bakugo's head swivelled to meet the three of them, and his red eyes seemed to be alight in the smoke.

"What TOOK you assholes? It's not like it's hard to look up where a station is!" Bakugo complained from his perch.

"Sorry, had to get Kaminari patched up!" Kirishima replied cheerfully, unperturbed by the explosive man's shouting.

Bakugo let out a small noise of discontent. "Pikachu gonna be alright?" He asked abrasively, but surprisingly, there was a small hint of...worry, in his tone.

Kirishima blinked in surprise, looking up at the man, who seemed to grow more impatient the longer he went without a response.

"Don't just stand there and stare at me, asshole! If he's going to be useless, then fucking tell me!" Bakugo raged, and Kirishima smiled to himself. That seems more like him.

"Yeah, he'll probably be fine. We just need to get him to the station. You coming?" Kirishima called up playfully, already turning to walk in the direction that was given.

"I'm not fucking sticking around in his hellhole, that's for sure." Bakugo grumbled, jumping down from his perch, aided by some well-timed explosions. He quickly fell in step with Kirishima and Ashido.

"There's no more of the scavenger fucks around." Bakugo said casually, acting like he hadn't probably murdered at least ten people.

"Are you sure?" Kirishima asked, adjusting Kaminari on his back slightly.

"What, do you fucking doubt me? None of those fuckers are going to be getting back up. I've dealt with their kind of scum before. Bunch'a spineless bitches." Bakugo grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and sporting a comically outraged face that broke a grin from Kirishima.

"So I guess that means that you've been to a lot of planets like this before, huh, Bakugo?" Ashido asked from Kirishima's left, leaning over to look at Bakugo.

Bakugo's eyes widened in momentary surprise, but his expression quickly smoothed itself out. "It's not like it's fucking easy to avoid the scum. If you don't know 'em, you can't fuck 'em up. Doesn't mean I've gotten buddy-buddy with any of the fuckers." Bakugo defended, looking slightly indignant.

Ashido snorted, hiding a laugh behind her hands. "Typical Bakugo, accidentally making friends and getting all flustered about it." She jested, poking the bear.

"Hey, fuck you! I don't fucking need friends!" Bakugo protested, jabbing a finger in Ashido's direction, accidentally poking Kirishima in the process.

"Then what do you call the three of us?" Ashido pushed, a victorious smirk on her face, and Bakugo's expression froze, although their pace was never interrupted.

It took Bakugo a long moment to answer.

"...Not fucking friends. You're tapeworms. Don't fucking forget it." He mumbled, refusing to meet either of their eyes.

Ashido hummed in acknowledgement, a knowing look on her face.

"It's alright, Bakugo! You're my friend, no matter how many times you explode!" Kirishima proclaimed earnestly, giving the explosive man an honest look of encouragement and a thumbs-up. It was met with bewilderment and mild disgust.

Bakugo didn't respond for a long while, and the conversation seemed to come to an abrupt close. Kirishima was content with that- carrying Kaminari and trying not to trip while on the haphazard path was trouble enough. It wasn't until a good ten minutes later that Bakugo finally said something back.

"How are you so...positive all the time?" He asked, a mild note of exasperation in his voice.

Kirishima blinked at him, not really understanding. "Well, it's not really that hard. There's so much sadness, and fighting, and anger in the galaxy right now. All that just didn't really sit right with me- whenever I got angry, I always did something stupid that I would regret later, and whenever I got sad, everyone else around me noticed, which made them sad, too. And I've never met a true man who goes around making his friends sad! So, I decided that it's better to look at the world with a happy perspective. Plus, I figured, if I try and be more positive around the people that this galaxy has hurt, then I could help them out! Anger only causes more anger, right? So, by being happier, I can be a hero in my own way." Kirishima explained earnestly, pulling the reasoning from his heart.

The two behind him had stopped walking, and Kirishima turned to face them, confused.

"Kiri, that's…" Ashido began, a lost expression on her face.

"That's naive. No one's going to listen to you if all you spout is sappy crap." Bakugo spat, walking past Kirishima with a hard, stony look on his face.

"The only thing the galaxy does for that kind of childish bullshit is chew it up and spit it right back at your face." Bakugo continued, his voice steadily growing harsher with his back to the pair.

Bakugo...What the hell hurt you this badly?

"Come on, Bakugo, don't you think that's being a little harsh? That kind of view is really common with heroes! Heck, some of the most loved heroes in history thought that way!" Ashido reasoned, sounding exasperated.

The name that they were all thinking went unsaid.

"I'm not being harsh. Not at all." Bakugo said, refusing to face them. His voice had taken on a dangerous edge. Kirishima found himself looking warily at Ashido, trying to silently communicate to her to not do anything stupid.

"Why the hell should I be happy, put up a fake fucking facade, for a bunch of fuckers who will only talk shit about me behind my back? The ungrateful bastards who live in this galaxy are fucked, and I'm not going to waste my time for someone who doesn't deserve it." Bakugo essentially spat, shoulders tense and light explosions bursting from his palms.

"But Bakugo-" Ashido began.

Bakugo moved before Kirishima could blink. One second he was in front of Kirishima, and the next he had slammed a hand into the pile of trash with a loud explosion, cutting off Ashido instantly. She yelped, and even Kirishima jumped and instinctively hardened, dropping it when Kaminari whimpered in pain.

"I'm not talking about this any fucking more." Bakugo seethed, a wild look in his eyes and a deep-set rage in his face that sent fear coursing through Kirishima.

Ashido nodded slowly, and Bakugo extracted his arm from the wall to shove both of his hands in his pockets, stalking forward ahead of the pair.

Ashido walked just a bit closer to Kirishima, whispering to him as she talked. "Some metal got into my arm." She admitted, holding a hand over a red spot.

Kirishima blinked, worried and still a bit unsettled and disheartened from Bakugo's outburst. "Are you alright?" He asked softly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Acid, remember? I'm a bit more worried about Kaminari right now, though." She said flippantly, diverting his attention to the weight on his back.

Kirishima glanced at his friend. He was enough of a man to admit that carrying him was making Kirishima tired. The planet was already hotter than most, and trudging through hot metal and plastic for what felt like hours with a heavy and hot weight on his back hadn't done good things for his stamina.

Kaminari seemed to be doing worse than he had on the ship. His face was matted with a thin sheen of sweat, and every now and again, tiny sparks would float around his body. Kirishima had even heard him mutter some unintelligible words into his ears. Kirishima was pretty sure that they needed to replace Kaminari's bandages at some point as well, but they didn't bring anything with them and Kirishima was not about to strip.

"Don't just fucking lollygag! Get moving!" Bakugo called from up ahead, looking agitated.

"Right!" Kirishima called out wearily, forcing himself to move with Ashido right by his side. He hadn't quite noticed how tired he was getting before that moment.

Kaminari...Just hold out, man. You still have that score to settle.

The rest of the walk was filled with uncomfortable silence. Occasionally, Ashido would make a joke in an attempt to clear the silence, but it fell flat half the time and the other half, Bakugo just snapped at her. Kirishima was growing a bit too tired to hold conversation after a while, and Ashido eventually noticed.

"Kiri, you alright?" She asked, concerned.

"He's...heavy." Kirishima panted out, limbs beginning to feel a bit leaden.

"Here, let me carry him." Ashido offered, holding out a hand imploringly.

Kirishima nodded, too tired to dispute it. Crouching down, he slowly eased Kaminari off of his back, feeling his arms groan in protest. Ashido seamlessly grabbed Kaminari and moved him onto her shoulders in what Kirishima recognized as a fireman's carry.

"Come on, we don't have all day!" Bakugo snapped, looking back at them with an annoyed look. Kirishima met his eyes with an equally annoyed look.

Kirishima understood that Bakugo was in a bad mood, but he didn't need to be so aggressive with them. They were all trying to help each other out, and there was only so much verbal abuse Kirishima could take before he snapped back.

However, upon meeting Bakugo's eyes, Kirishima was surprised when annoyance wasn't the only thing that he saw.

There was a hint of worry in Bakugo's eyes. Not quite concern, but more of him asking Kirishima if he could keep moving with a look alone.

Kirishima gave a small nod, forcing himself back to his feet.

"We should be close. Just up this hill!" Ashido encouraged, jetting forwards towards the huge mound of trash.

Kirishima smiled. Yeah, they're both giving it their all, so I should too!

Kirishima pressed forwards, rejoining the pair as they began to work their way up the pile.

---

Cresting the hill was a simple matter for Bakugo. Several well-timed explosions sent him flying up the mound of trash, a wild grin on his face as he passed Shitty Hair and Raccoon Eyes, one of whom was tired and another who had to lug dead weight.

Landing lightly on top of the plastic pyramid, Bakugo watched numbly as an empty bottle of water, filled with sunflower seeds, tumbled down the hill from the top. It bounced once, twice, and a third time off of Shitty Hair's forehead, who tumbled back down the hill to the bottom.

Bakugo snorted at Shitty Hair yelled up in annoyance.

Bakugo turned his attention forwards- and froze.

The scene in front of him was a warzone.

They had found the Federation base, alright- but so had the Rock rebels. Lasers were flitting around the pristine, white base, shockingly out of place in the dull oranges and silvers. Even from here, almost a quarter mile away, Bakugo could see plenty of people taken down on both sides.

Isn't there supposed to be a hero here? How did the situation get this bad?

A snarl overtook his features, and Raccoon Eyes and Shitty Hair clambered up next to him.

"Whoa...What the hell?" Shitty Hair asked breathlessly, a confused look on his face.

"They're attacking the station! We have to stop them!" Raccoon Eyes suddenly declared, a determined look on her face.

"Are you sure we should get involved? This more seems like their problem." Shitty Hair reasoned, an almost panicked look on his face.

"We don't have a goddamn choice. We can't help Dunce Face if we don't get any fucking help, and if they destroy that station, the Rocks aren't going to help us out. Pikachu won't make it off the goddamn planet if that station goes down." Bakugo cursed angrily, watching the battle with stormy eyes.

"But we can't just go charging into battle with him on one of our backs, and we can't just leave him alone out here! One of us will have to stay behind." Shitty Hair pointed out after a moment of deliberation, eyes shining with new determination.

"I'll do it." Raccoon Eyes offered simply, an easy-going look on her face.

Bakugo blinked once, and Hair for Brains stared at her, dumbfounded.

"T-that easily?" Hair for Brains sputtered, throwing his hands out with a worried expression.

"Yeah. My Quirk isn't the greatest against the Rock. It takes a while to break their shell, and, to be honest, my Quirk isn't the most compatible with either of yours. Plus, and this is nothing against you, Bakugo, but I would prefer to avoid fighting alongside you. Your explosions are loud and you don't really work well with others." Raccoon Eyes said neutrally, a content smile on her face.

"HEY! What the fuck did you say about me! I can work just fucking fine with others! Come on, Kirishima, let's go kick some ass! We're gonna roast these damn nerds!" Bakugo raged, grabbing Shitty Hair by the arm and firing off an explosion behind him, propelling the pair forwards.

Kirishima, huh? His heart sang, and Bakugo inhaled sharply.

That one had been an accident. The first time he called Shitty Hair by name was on purpose- he needed to make an impact, needed him to understand exactly what stakes he would face if he wanted to be a hero. There was none of that this time, however. This time, the only thing at stake was Bakugo's pride.

He had called him by name, and it had felt more fitting than the jeering nicknames he assigned everyone else. That's not to say that he hadn't learned their names- he knew who they were. He'd talked with them and he wasn't socially dead like Deku. He could learn a name.

But to acknowledge that he knew it…?

He might be getting too attached to this group.

Bakugo growled, putting more force into his explosions and propelling himself forwards far faster than before.

Shitty Hair was tough. Stupidly so. Him being part Rock made him resistant to fire and gave him naturally harder skin, and his Quirk took that trait and amplified it to an extreme. Raccoon Eyes was quick, above anything else, and she could throw a mean punch. She was also good at leading the idiots- better than he was, anyways. He wasn't a damn people-person. Pikachu was useful, even somewhat reliable. His Quirk was strong, although he didn't have the brains or the brawn to follow through on it most of the time.

All of them would have had great potential as a hero, and Aizawa would be a damn fool for thinking otherwise. They all had their downsides- Shitty Hair had a pretty fucking obvious confidence issue, although it wasn't nearly as obvious as Deku's was. Raccoon Eyes couldn't stand up for herself against someone who was too aggressive, either verbally or physically. He wasn't sure when she picked that up- he either hadn't noticed it when she was in class with him or she got the problem later. Pikachu wasn't the smartest and he ran over his limit a lot, and if he wanted to use his more useful powers, he needed to be protected.

And yet, all of these things could have been worked around. All of them could have been fixed, with enough training. They all could have been near the top if they were in the hero course, and the fact that they hadn't even been given the chance was another reminder of how flawed the system was.

Bakugo's mouth set in a hard line.

This wasn't the time to be thinking about this. They had been spotted- and the sheer sight of Bakugo barrelling towards them, holding Shitty Hair like a battering ram, must have been terrifying.

"DIEEEEEE!" Bakugo roared, hurling Shitty Hair like a javelin at the nearest Rock, propelled with an explosion.

This is going to be fun~.

---

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu snarled, coating his arm in iron before breaking the guard of the Rock attacking and launching a flurry of punches.

Within seconds, the iron punches eroded the defenses of the Rock, and the attacker was sent flying into a wall. Tetsutetsu spat on the ground, panting.

He had been fighting for half an hour now, pinned down in the front entrance of the Federation base on the planet. The stream of Rock soldiers attempting to breach the base had seemed infinite, and with their numbers came a huge amount of tenacity. Tetsutetsu had been forced to push himself to his upper limits just to stave them off once or twice.

He was one of the last lines of defense for this base. If he fell, then so too would the base, and evacuation just wasn't in the cards with the veritable war taking place in the atmosphere.

Looking around, Tetsutetsu sighed in relief upon seeing that no one else had seen fit to try and breach the entrance. Maybe there were other heroes were holding them off? The base had soldiers as well, and a decent amount of them. Nowhere near the amount of rebels, though.

Reinforcements should have arrived by now...What's taking them?

Tetsutetsu sighed, glancing around the area. There were several Rock rebels knocked out around him, and behind him lay the door to the base. He could take a five minute breather, get some rest.

These rebels were clearly just normal workers. None of them had any combat experience, although they had a shocking amount of laser guns. It was genuinely worrying how they managed to get so many in so short a time.

"That must mean...there's someone behind this." Tetsutetsu murmured, running a hand through his hair. He dimly noted how it was growing longer.

"But what kind of man would go and start a riot? Just seems stupid. It draws attention to you, and it's not like it wouldn't be obvious that they were involved. Come on, man, I'm not the brightest and even I can tell that!" Tetsutetsu complained, wishing for all the world that he didn't have to quell a civilian riot.

"Unless that's what they were after, but I don't think that that makes sense. Why would someone want to have attention on them? It ain't the League, and there ain't really a point to fighting one hero." Tetsutetsu continued musing aloud.

He heard a small crunch sound come from outside, and instantly, Tetsutetsu was on his feet. Someone was coming closer.

I can worry about the 'why' later. For now, I need to deal with this.

The footsteps got methodically closer, and Tetsutetsu's eyes narrowed. This wasn't normal. It certainly wasn't the same as the rebels, blindly charging in without a second thought with looks of intense pride in their burning red eyes. The footsteps also weren't as heavy as before, which meant that this wasn't a Rock.

Finally, the person behind this.

The door separating him from the outside world opened, and a man stepped through.

He seemed fairly average- silver hair, a lean build, and few physical imperfections. He had on a casual expression which remained unchanged as his gaze swept around the room.

"I had heard that reinforcements had arrived, but I didn't know that it would be Real Steel. This day just keeps getting better and better!" The man cracked, an easy smile vertaking his features.

Tetsutetsu blinked, surprised, before settling into a more defensive battle stance. "You've got no idea who you're up against if you think that's good, you idiot!" Tetsutetsu goaded, carefully watching the features of his opponent.

"Well, we'll just see about that then, won't we?" The man asked, his smile shifting from easy and controlled into deranged. Tetsutetsu would have faltered, but he had seen that same smile too many times to be bothered by it.

"Oh, how rude of me. I'm supposed to introduce myself, aren't I? That's somewhere in the Villain Handbook somewhere, I think." The villain continued, watching with an amused expression as Tetsutetsu activated his steel.

Wings unfolded behind the man, and Tetsutetsu's eyes widened in surprise.

Steel wings.

"You can call me Mercury."

---

Bakugo leapt over Shitty Hair, firing a large explosion off at a Rock fighter that was charging the red-haired idiot.

The past ten minutes had been chaotic at best- laser fire came from seemingly every direction, and Bakugo had seen some close calls, shots whirring past his ear. The Federation soldiers seemed overjoyed at their arrival; the fighting had gotten a lot more intense over the past few minutes. Bakugo had traversed the minefield of a battlefield three times over, hopping around like mad, while Shitty Hair had hunkered down in one spot and took any and all of the hits.

It was impressive. Bakugo hadn't fought against him yet, and the time when they fought the League couldn't be counted. Shitty Hair just refused to go down, even more so than the normal Rocks. He was stupidly strong.

That didn't make him very fucking useful, though. Their opening move, throwing Shitty Hair like a goddamn javelin, was most of the damage that the red-haired loser had done. He could take a hit like nobody else, but when it came to range, Shitty Hair was shit out of luck.

Fortunately, that's where Bakugo came in.

"DIIIEEEE!" Bakugo screeched, grabbing Shitty Hair by the arm, firing an explosion off with a free hand, and spinning.

When the world became a kaleidoscope of color, Bakugo let go.

He wasn't sure where Shitty Hair went, or even if he hit anything, but damn, did it feel good.

Bakugo placed two hands underneath him and fired, propelling him upwards before he had finished recovering from his dizzying attack. It turned out to be the smart decision, as a laser flew past where he had just been.

Bakugo grinned savagely, and with a new target acquired, began flying forwards at breakneck speeds.

Some people said that war was hell. Bakugo could see where they were coming from; war was an asinine thing that only served to hurt people.

But if war was hell, then Bakugo was Satan himself.

A panicked look overcame the face of the Rock, a species known for being stoic and unmoving. The grin on Bakugo's face only grew.

"DIE!" Bakugo roared, throwing his hands in front of him mid-flight and firing a large explosion that engulfed the area in smoke.

He didn't have time to think about whether or not the fucker lived. He was sure that the blast was strong enough, so he just began to fly away, directing his explosions in another direction.

Which was why he was so surprised when he found himself redirecting himself mid-flight, instincts kicking in to dodge a flying piece of metal.

Bakugo allowed himself to fall to the ground, controlling his flight with explosions.

So, they do have some asshole leading them. I thought that this seemed a little too organized.

The smoke cleared, and Bakugo's red eyes narrowed on a new opponent.

Standing unharmed from Bakugo's attack stood a well-built man with red hair, tousled and unkempt. He looked like he had ran all the way to this spot, although that might not have been entirely false given what this planet was like.

"This planet is teeming with waste that needs to be destroyed." The man said, a long, dramatic sigh ending his words.

Bakugo glared at him, unimpressed. "That's because it's a fucking trash planet, asshole."

"It's a metaphor." The man responded, unperturbed.

"Shitty fucking metaphor," Bakugo said under his breath. "Give me the fucking spiel already so I can kick your ass and fix my ship. I don't have all damn day." Bakugo called out, staring at the man.

"Very well, if you insist." The man said, placing his hands on the ground.

"My name is Vulcan," The villain stated, staring at Bakugo intently. Something seemed to melt upwards from the ground around Vulcan's arm, which quickly spread to the rest of his body.

"And I have come to this planet to kill you."

A suit of armor, forged entirely from plastic and metal, had formed around his opponent sans helmet.

Bakugo grinned sadistically, feeling rage blossom in his stomach. His eye twitched, and he brought a hand up and fired off a few experimental explosions.

"Then why don't you fucking try it?"

---

The battle between Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Mercury had transitioned from a small, enclosed space to just outside the base.

The villain in front of him was trying to wear Tetsutetsu out. He stayed just out of range, flitting around and sending glancing blows at Tetsutetsu, making horrible screeching sounds as steel met steel over and over again.

Tetsutetsu was getting annoyed. His opponent wouldn't just fight him, damn it! He was goading him, trying to make him make a mistake. He didn't want to make this a war of attrition- he still needed to defend the base after he beat this guy up. He didn't have time for this!

Tetsutetsu roared, rushing in closer to Mercury, who let off a short laugh and flitted into the air for just long enough to avoid getting hit. Tetsutetsu's fist crashed into the ground, and an annoyed frown grew on his face.

"Aren't you supposed to be smiling while you fight me, hero? That face just doesn't look good on you." Mercury goaded, an easy smile on his face that morphed into a deranged one.

"So how about I TEAR IT OFF OF YOU!" Mercury roared, rushing in towards Tetsutetsu.

Tetsutetsu smirked.

Mercury lead with a right kick, emboldened by the speed of his flight and a flap of the wings. This kick was dodged by just a hair, Tetsutetsu twisting out of the way and following up with a punch.

"Don't think that you've won just yet!" Tetsutetsu roared, smiling in satisfaction as his punch landed on Mercury's leg, sending the man flying across the ground in an uncontrolled manner, rolling gracefully to a crouching position.

Mercury's face had some scrapes on it, marring an otherwise perfect visage. He looked mildly surprised, his face contorted in an expression that betrayed more emotions than Tetsutetsu could count.

Mercury tried pulling himself to his feet, crumbling upon trying to put weight on his right leg. Tetsutetsu frowned.

I hadn't been trying to break it. I didn't even put that much effort into the swing...I wanted to make him realize how outclassed he was, not injure him.

Mercury's eyes met Tetsutetsu's, and in that moment, Mercury's face was completely wiped of emotion and pain. Eerily quickly, the moment of weakness was dispelled, and that same easy smile was resting upon his face.

Mercury's wings flapped out again, and he took to the skies once more. Tetsutetsu watched his movements, his guard high.

But this time, Mercury didn't attempt to launch a direct attack. Instead, he just kept going up...and up...and up.

Tetsutetsu didn't realize what he was doing until he began to dive.

Is he insane? At that speed, he'll destroy himself! Tetsutetsu thought, panicked, looking around for a spot to take cover.

He couldn't intercept that. Mercury would crumble, completely crushed, if he dive bombed into Tetsutetsu. He was just too immovable in this case. He didn't want to kill this man.

There's nothing. This area is too flat.

Mercury was almost at the ground now. He was beginning to pull up.

Three seconds.

Tetsutetsu carefully looked at Mercury's wind-swept face, trying to gauge where he was going.

A look of sheer insanity had crossed the man's face. A heavy feeling settled in Tetsutetsu's stomach.

Two seconds.

Mercury was barrelling towards Tetsutetsu now. He placed his hands on the ground, carefully watching the zooming villain.

One second.

Tetsutetsu moved in a burst of speed. He activated his Quirk in his fingers and feet alone, and in one titanic motion, flung himself forwards and at Mercury.

A single moment. That was all that he had.

In one motion, he flipped over and activated his Quirk all throughout his body, hardening himself almost as much as he could.

He dropped like a rock, and Tetsutetsu felt the wind pass by his face as Mercury passed overhead.

He breathed out a breath of sheer relief, and Mercury pulled himself upwards, spiralling high in the sky before flapping his wings outwards and slowing his descent, gracefully landing.

Tetsutetsu dropped his iron and pulled himself to his feet, locking eyes with Mercury.

"Always a hero, huh? Can't even kill a villain like me. More people could get hurt because of me, you know." Mercury said, a calm and troubled look present on his face. Tetsutetsu didn't buy it for a second- almost all of the man's emotions were mere ghosts of the real things, created to inspire sympathy or fear.

"I don't need to kill you to beat you here, you idiot! You've got a broken leg, and I'm not letting you leave without a fight." Tetsutetsu proclaimed, forming a fist as he glared at the villain.

"I'm not leaving no matter what happens. You'll either kill me, or I'll kill myself fighting you." The villain stated, a completely neutral expression on his face as he spoke as though he were talking about the weather.

Tetsutetsu faltered. "So you have a death wish? Why the hell are you using me as a way of doing it?!" Tetsutetsu asked angrily, a surprised, righteous fury in his gut.

"Oh, a face as pretty as mine wouldn't want to die. But I'm being realistic. I know how strong you are. I know how strong Bakugo Katsuki is. And I know that I don't measure up. That's my partner's job." Mercury explained, stalking closer step by step.

"Bakugo? He's on the planet?" Tetsutetsu asked, alarm shooting through his nerves.

He couldn't afford to fight Bakugo right now. He couldn't let him go, but he wouldn't win a fight as he was.

"Oh, you didn't know? How unfortunate. I suppose I'm just stalling for time until Vulcan kills him, then." Mercury replied, a nonplussed expression crossing his face.

Vulcan, huh? So they're basing themselves off of the gods...That's so unoriginal! Who the hell came up with that idea?

Then, Mercury's words fully sunk in, and Tetsutetsu barked out a laugh as the absurdity of it truly hit him.

Tetsutetsu was almost doubled over in a manly guffaw by the time Mercury got curious.

"Something funny?" He asked, an eyebrow arched.

"He he...You think that you can kill Bakugo, huh? Here's a quick news flash for ya- Bakugo's only gotten stronger since the Sports Festival eight years ago, and he beat Cryo Flame as well as me. If you think that you're going to be able to even hurt him, you better be able to get through me first. And I ain't gonna let anyone take me down." Tetsutetsu proclaimed, a fire burning in his heart. His body solidified, steel covering his skin as a proud grin crossed his face.

And for the first time that day, anger crossed Mercury's face.

It looked like a quiet rage- not even comparable to Bakugo's. But it was a change from the easy smile or the creepy emotion shift that Mercury had gone through before.

"Don't underestimate Vulcan. He's stronger than I am." Mercury said, but the normal confidence that dotted his voice was wavering.

As if on cue, Tetsutetsu heard a distant explosion, and he smirked.

"I don't like my work being done for me, so I'll just have to beat you down here and deal with that later. Now, are you coming at me, or am I coming at you?" Tetsutetsu goaded, feeling fired up.

"I...I-" Mercury started, a panicked look crossing his face. But, just like before, all emotion was wiped within an instant.

"I don't have time to waste here. In order to get victory, I have to beat you." Mercury stated, voice hollow as he entered a more battle-ready stance, leaning heavily on his left leg.

Tetsutetsu smirked as Mercury's wings opened up once more.

Mercury came soaring towards him, and Tetsutetsu's skin became steel once more in preparation for the battle.

---

"DIEEEE!" Bakugo roared, firing off his Howitzer Impact on the shit-eater in front of him.

Vulcan was sent flying from the force, and Bakugo grinned a savage grin as he went through a wall of the Federation base. The structure made a strange groaning sound, but otherwise remained intact. Bakugo eyed the man-sized hole, waiting for the exact second the fucker returned.

There was movement inside, but still no sign of his opponent. Bakugo's eyes narrowed. That hadn't been enough force to kill him. The armor hadn't withstood the impact- it had been destroyed, but Bakugo had still seen the makeshift armor shifting around on the man's back. He was still kicking.

There was a flurry of movement and a familiar crackle of electricity, and Bakugo's arm shot up with an explosion out of reflex, dodging out of the way. His eyes locked onto a spear made of metal, crudely formed and with electrical wire wrapped all around it, flying away due to the force of his blast. The spear fell apart after flying a certain distance, breaking into chunks of metal and wire.

Bakugo's eyes narrowed. This bastard's Quirk is better than I realized.

Vulcan came flying out of the base, shiny white metal coiling around his body like water. He rocketed forwards, fist extended, aiming towards Bakugo's head.

Bakugo sighed.

He dropped to the ground, facing the sky with his palms on the ground. In one fluid motion, Bakugo kicked upwards, sending the villain sprawling while he did a graceful flip.

"You're fucking boring to fight. Don't you have any fucking original moves? You're just a goddamn poser. I'd just fight a robot based around Endeavor's fighting style if I wanted to fight you. At least then I could kill it without anyone getting pissy with me." Bakugo snarked with a yawn, looking at Vulcan as the man spat out a tooth, a look of disgust on his face as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Bakugo Katsuki...We underestimated you. Your power must have been increased more than we imagined." Vulcan said, a menacing look on his face as he completely ignored Bakugo's taunts. Bakugo's eyes narrowed, and he almost jumped when Shitty Hair stepped beside him.

"Bakugo, how strong is this guy?" He asked quietly, barely audible.

Bakugo snorted. "Fuckin' weaker than me, although that's not saying much. Hell, you could probably kick his ass. His Quirk has a limit, though I'm not positive on what it is." Bakugo responded, his voice a low rumble in his chest.

"Let's just take him out here, yeah? One final attack?" Shitty Hair suggested, giving Bakugo a blinding smile. Bakugo's eye twitched in irritation.

"I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you, heroes." Vulcan suddenly snarled, drawing Bakugo's attention back to him.

"Ah, shit, here he goes. It's so fucking annoying when they monologue." Bakugo grumbled in annoyance as Vulcan opened his mouth.

"Why do you let them do it, then?" Shitty Hair asked quietly as Vulcan began to rant, proclaiming that he would destroy the two of them.

"It's a waste of their breath, gives me a breather, and usually gives away their plans. They're dumbasses. Never met a villain who didn't like to do it." Bakugo responded, just as Vulcan seemed to realize that they weren't listening.

"Bakugo Katsuki...Do you know my Quirk?" Vulcan asked, an angry expression twisting his features.

A long, awkward silence stretched between the three of them, and Bakugo quickly realized that he actually expected an answer. "Don't ask a fucking rhetorical question and then wait for an answer, you bastard!" Bakugo yelled, his eye twitching in irritation.

"My Quirk is known as Environmental Manipulation. I can use materials around me and form them in any shape that I wish, but my control weakens the further those materials are from me. It's only through my good graces that I haven't killed you yet- I wish to have a good fight, although you are beginning to anger me." Vulcan monologued, a hateful look beginning to burn in his deep brown eyes.

Bakugo squinted at him. "Why the hell are you telling me this? You know that I can just beat the shit out of you now that I know this, right?" Bakugo asked, a sinking feeling in his gut.

Vulcan smirked, and that feeling only worsened. "I can tell you because my victory is already certain here. You will not be leaving this planet, Bakugo Katsuki." Vulcan roared murderously, a glint of madness in his eyes.

Bakugo had felt killing intent being directed his way before. Some people had even made him take a step back with how intent they were on assuring his death. The mild fear always faded within moments, though. The man in front of him didn't even come close to the likes of those who had genuinely worried him to fight.

Six years ago, he had fought someone with the type of killing intent to worry him. His name was Rappa- he had apparently killed several high-level pros, including Fatgum. The fight that he'd had after that was enough to bring fear even to him. He hadn't won, only managed to retreat. Vulcan wasn't on Rappa's level, and Bakugo could beat Rappa with general ease now.

"You're not strong enough to kill me." Bakugo stated. It wasn't arrogance- it was a fact, an observation. Vulcan simply wasn't good enough.

"I don't need to be." Vulcan shot back instantly, a malicious look on his face.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bakugo pressed, anger starting to well up in his gut. He hated it when these bastards didn't get to the point!

"Your precious base is now set to explode in a few minutes." Vulcan responded smugly, and Bakugo's heart stopped.

He...What? Vulcan had only been in there for a few moments. What the hell could he have done?

"When you sent me into the base, I didn't only get armor. I found the generator through my Quirk. Wonderful thing they are, reactors. Strong enough to generate enough energy for a base for months with a single fuel capsule, and strong enough to destroy that very same base with a mere few misplaced wires." Vulcan gloated, a look of pure rage and madness entering his face.

"God fucking damn it." Bakugo snarled, throwing his arms behind him to fire off a few explosions.

He came to an abrupt halt as Shitty Hair grabbed his arm.

"Bakugo, hold on! Think about what you're doing! You can't beat him and fix the base at the same time! You just can't! There's not enough time!" Shitty Hair pleaded, and Bakugo sent him a hateful look.

"Remember that I'm here, too! He said that there's only a few misplaced wires, right? I wouldn't know how to fix a reactor- hell, I don't even know how ours works! But you do. I can fight him! He's not going anywhere while I'm here." Kirishima proclaimed, slamming his hardened fists together with a smirk.

Bakugo lowered his eyes, his hair falling over them.

Shitty Hair didn't say anything for a long moment, and Bakugo didn't respond.

"...Don't you fucking mess this up." Bakugo muttered, firing explosions off behind him and flying forwards to the hole in the base, where a Rock rebel was climbing through. With a loud roar and a rough toss, the Rock was sent sprawling out of the base.

Fuckin' Shitty Hair...It's not my fucking job to rescue people! I'm not a damn hero!

Then why are you doing it? His heart sang, and Bakugo grit his teeth in annoyance.

Don't you fucking contradict me.

Bakugo cast a glance back out the hole, eyeing Shitty Hair. The man gave him a thumbs up, and Bakugo's eye twitched in irritation.

Yeah, he'll be fucking fine. I don't have time to waste here.

---

Kirishima grinned as Bakugo gave him the middle finger through the hole in the base.

"I have no quarrel with you. Allow me to kill Bakugo Katsuki, and I will allow you to leave this planet alive." Vulcan stated, face completely neutral and level, a stark contrast to the expression he wore a few moments before.

"No way in hell. Bakugo's my bro, and there's no way I'd let anyone hurt my friends." Kirishima stated, a fire burning in his heart at the thought.

"Hmph. Then how about this- allow me to kill him, and your yellow friend won't be killed by one of our friends." Vulcan proposed, nodding in the direction of the Rock rebels. The battle still raged around them, but both sides seemed to know to not interfere. It was either that or they were too busy shooting each other to shoot Kirishima or Vulcan.

Kirishima snorted. "I believe in Mina. No one's getting past her!" He shot back resolutely. Such a cheap tactic wouldn't work on him.

Vulcan sighed, seeming to put on a few years. "Then you leave me no choice."

Vulcan's hands slammed into the ground, and Kirishima hardened his entire body in anticipation.

It saved his life.

Seven spikes of plastic and metal arose from the ground, slamming into his hardened skin with an ungodly screeching noise. Vulcan hadn't taken his eyes off of Kirishima.

With a single burst and swipe of his arms, the front spikes were broken apart, and Kirishima took a step forward.

Vulcan smirked, and Kirishima quickly hardened his body once more, glaring at his opponent. It proved to be unnecessary, however, when the ground rose up around his body.

Within moments, he was standing on a pillar of rusted metal.

"What...the hell?" Kirishima breathed, looking down at his opponent, who let out a breath. A bead of sweat went down Vulcan's face.

Kirishima started when he felt something warm climbing up his leg, applying a harsh pressure. Looking down, he was shocked to see the same metal he was standing on snaking around his leg and crawling upwards.

He wants to crush me! Kirishima realized as the metal reached his knee.

Another bead of sweat went down Vulcan's face, and Kirishima came to an abrupt realization- he had to exert force to keep this up. Almost unbidden, Kirishima remembered something that Bakugo had said during idle chat while they were making their way across the galaxy.

"Quirks are like muscles. They can only work as far as you can push them, and the more you push them, the more they can do. My Quirk was good when I got it, but it wasn't as perfect as it is now. I had to put in countless hours of work to get it to where it is now. And if you don't do the same, you'll find yourself tired and weary when it counts."

This...Vulcan must be exerting himself farther than normal in order to trap him. Kirishima just had to get past this, and he could win! But, saying that, he was getting a bit tired himself. He had been fighting for a good while now- it was getting more and more difficult to draw breath.

Kirishima raised a hardened fist, slamming it down onto the encroaching metal. When nothing happened at first, he slammed it down again. And again. And again.

"What the hell?" Kirishima exclaimed as he noticed the metal still moving.

"You can't destroy matter as I manipulate it. I can mold it around your fist every time." Vulcan called up to him, sounding almost bored. There was a slightly forced air of calm to him.

Kirishima glowered, worry starting to creep up on him. How could he even get out of this situation? The metal had almost crawled up to the one place on his body that he couldn't harden- the most painful place!

Wait- he was hardened right now! He could use this!

It was really his only choice. It was risky. He wasn't sure exactly what degree of control Vulcan had over the environment, but he had to hope that his reaction time was lower than Kirishima's speed.

Kirishima took a deep breath, eyeing the metal. It was getting dangerously close.

I have to have faith. Bakugo is relying on me.

He could feel doubt and worry creep up on him. What if it all went wrong? If Vulcan had better control than Kirishima imagined, then he would lose, right here.

But if he didn't do this, then he lost anyways, and Bakugo would be trapped in a maze of wires and metal. Bakugo was strong, but against an opponent like Vulcan, who could attack from a short distance without your knowledge…

Kirishima took a breath, and he took a leap of faith.

He slammed his hands down on the side of the metal, which continued to grow, and he dropped the hardening in his legs. In a single second, he vaulted over the crushing metal, barely avoiding having his thighs being crushed by the encroaching rusted metal.

Kirishima smirked as Vulcan's eyes widened.

Pushing off of the metal, Kirishima flew from the pillar, carefully avoiding touching the metal. He crashed to the ground and rolled, being careful to avoid being in one spot for too long.

"Sneaky child!" Vulcan roared, a vein bulging out of his forehead.

Kirishima couldn't afford to get caught again. As long as Vulcan's hands were touching the ground, he could manipulate the materials around him, and Kirishima could get stuck in the same situation.

Moving in a more serpentine pattern, Kirishima pressed forward, determination blazing in his heart. Vulcan seemed just as determined as he was, though.

After three steps, twelve spikes came jutting out of the ground in front of him. Kirishima destroyed them with a roar and a punch. After seven steps, a wall made of plastic and metal rose up, shifting in a way that told him that Vulcan was manipulating it. Kirishima frowned deeply- he was sure that he would get stuck if he tried to attack it. After an extra four steps to go around the wall, he realized that Vulcan might be getting more tired than he realized.

The second he looped around, he saw Vulcan breathing laboriously, trembling somewhat. Still, though, the look of rage continued, and Kirishima felt himself waver somewhat.

Why did this man want to kill Bakugo so badly?

Kirishima shook his head, focusing back on his goal. He needed to be strong, resolute- just like his Quirk.

Three more steps and the ground rose only slightly to trip him up. He jumped over it with a roar, and Vulcan panted once, a look of worry crossing his face.

Kirishima reached Vulcan before he had a chance to form armor around himself, and with a hardened punch to the area that Bakugo's Howitzer Impact had landed and a loud cry, Vulcan was sent flying through one of the trash mounds and through the other side.

Kirishima grinned as he watched Vulcan fly, letting out a short pant as he felt the effects of how tired he was sink in. He would have taken a break, but he was still currently in the middle of a warzone.

I don't know if he's down. I can't risk him getting away. I told Bakugo that I would take him down, and I'm going to stick to that.

---

Tetsutetsu blocked another blow from Mercury, noting with a frown just how desperate his opponent was getting. Tetsutetsu had stopped using his iron when Mercury wasn't attacking with his wings- he had noticed just how frail his opponent was after he punched Tetsutetsu's iron and came away with broken fingers.

It must have been a byproduct of his Quirk. Birds required weak bones in order to fly, so it would make sense if his were weak as well.

Tetsutetsu was beginning to feel bad for his opponent, honestly- he was trying so hard, but Tetsutetsu was just too good.

He ducked under another blow from his opponent, catching the follow up fist. Grabbing onto the arm that had overextended, Tetsutetsu flipped his opponent, throwing him down on the ground.

"Give up." Tetsutetsu said, taking in a deep breath. He wasn't tired, but the constant holding back that he'd been forced to do was beginning to grate on his nerves.

"I can't!" His opponent yelled, rolling back to a standing position a few feet away from him.

"What could be so important that you need to kill Bakugo for? Is it money? Fame? What the hell do you want from him, anyways?" Tetsutetsu pushed, exasperated. This was beginning to annoy him.

"You could never understand the plans that our leader has!" Mercury spat blood with this proclamation, staring up at Tetsutetsu defiantly.

Tetsutetsu froze. "Your leader? So this isn't just an isolated incident. You have a group!" Tetsutetsu accused, pointing a finger at Mercury, who only laughed.

"That's right. And you won't be able to beat Jupiter. He's faced all of us at once and won. Not even Deku can stand up to him!" Mercury declared confidently, following it up with an insane laugh.

"Who the hell do you think Deku is? He's the Symbol of Hope for a reason. He's constantly getting stronger, and he hasn't been beaten by a villain so far." Tetsutetsu countered, confused.

"Jupiter is no ordinary villain! He's more heroic than any of you! He helped me learn to fend for myself, helped me gain confidence! He's helped me far more than any hero has!" Mercury spat, anger resonating in every word. It caught Tetsutetsu off-guard- it was the most passion the man had displayed so far.

"It doesn't matter how good of a person he is if he can't fight! What makes him special?" Tetsutetsu pressed, trying to get information out of his enemy.

Mercury let out a bitter laugh. "What doesn't make him special? None of us even managed to scratch him. He's invincible."

Tetsutetsu frowned. 'Invincible' was such a vague term. People had referred to Deku as invincible, but that was only because they saw how strong he was and decided that no one could hurt him. No one ever thought to look at his fighting style, see if they could pick out a weakness.

"What's his Quirk?" Tetsutetsu asked softly, not really expecting an answer.

Mercury opened his mouth-

And a man came flying out of the mound of trash off to the right.

Tetsutetsu jumped, firing up his iron in preparation. He hadn't even noticed that mound before. Had their fight really moved that far?

The man bounced once on the ground and came sliding to a stop, face-down.

"VULCAN!" Mercury suddenly cried out, a look of pure concern on his face.

Within moments, Mercury was at the downed man's side, flipping him over. From his short distance away, Tetsutetsu could see that the man was still moving, struggling to get up with Mercury's help.

Tetsutetsu didn't want to approach for several reasons- he wasn't one to attack someone who was down, and he didn't know what Vulcan's Quirk was. He'd been taken down several times before because he's rushed in head first, and he didn't want to make that mistake again. Kendou had lectured him several times because of it.

"Vulcan, are you alright? Did you lose? What about the backup plan?" Mercury asked, firing question after question. Alarm bells began to ring in Tetsutetsu's head. Backup plan?

Vulcan coughed, looking at Mercury. "I haven't lost yet, but there's a hero after me. Our prospects don't look too good. Our backup might be foiled." Vulcan delivered the information quickly and succinctly, and Tetsutetsu had to hold himself back from taking them down that very second. It was a coward's tactic, and he wasn't a damn coward!

Wait...did he say that a hero was after him? That must have meant that someone other than Bakugo was on-planet! Reinforcements had arrived!

"Vulcan...You're stronger than I am. We have to win. We can't let Jupiter down." Mercury stated, placing Vulcan's hands in his.

"Mercury...You're not suggesting-" Vulcan started, being quickly cut off by Mercury.

"You're the only one who can do this. I'm not strong enough to. So, please, win." Mercury pleaded, staring imploringly at Vulcan.

Vulcan nodded after a long moment of silence, and before Tetsutetsu could even react or say anything, Mercury's back suddenly arched and he let out a long, piercing wail that had Tetsutetsu closing his eyes and covering his ears.

When he opened his eyes once again a few moments later, Mercury was lying on the ground and Vulcan was standing in a stark reversal of their positions.

Tetsutetsu could have said that everything was normal- that Vulcan simply had some energy transferral Quirk- if not for one single fact.

Steel wings had unfolded behind him- the same wings as Mercury's, which were now suspiciously absent on the younger male.

Can he- can he steal Quirks? Or is he like Monoma? What the hell is this guy?

There was a loud crashing noise behind Vulcan, which the fiery-haired man ignored, instead boring his eyes into Tetsutetsu. However, Tetsutetsu saw fit to ignore his newest opponent entirely for the man who had just crashed through the wall of trash.

It was a man with red hair, black jeans, and no shirt. But something about him seemed to spark familiarity within Tetsutetsu- something unexplainable. From the look on the red-head's face, it was the same situation for him. Was this the hero that was chasing Vulcan?

"Now there are two of you. But I am twice the man I was before. I feel ten years younger." Vulcan stated, bringing his hands closed in a fist with a look of hatred on his face.

"For bringing me to these heights...I shall crush both of you."

Vulcan moved, and Tetsutetsu could barely bring his arms up in time to block the quick strike. It was followed up by a strike using his new wings, which was then supplemented by a kick, which Tetsutetsu dodged.

"Don't let his hands touch the ground!" The red-haired man suddenly shouted, running up behind Vulcan.

In one fluid motion, Vulcan's fist shot out and sent Tetsutetsu sliding backwards and his foot slammed down on the ground in the direction of the red-haired man.

Spikes shot up from the ground- several, in fact, and Tetsutetsu's eyes widened as they got closer to the red-haired man. He was about to cry out when something happened to his skin.

It hardened, and the skies bounced off with a horrible grating noise, only to double back and strike once more. Each time, the man winced, but was unmoved.

Taking advantage of the situation, Tetsutetsu rushed up behind Vulcan, who broke concentration to glance Tetsutetsu's way. It was enough to stop the assault on the red-haired man, however, and that was enough for Tetsutetsu. They were both heroes, but that didn't mean that Tetsutetsu was going to let the other man take all the punishment.

Tetsutetsu's fist landed on Vulcan, who rolled with the punch and followed up with a kick to Tetsutetsu's head, which was mitigated by quickly-formed iron.

The red-haired man reached Vulcan, and in an impressive move, grabbed his head and did something that looked like a wrestling move- he slammed both of their bodies to the ground, with him hardening his own, preventing himself from taking any damage.

The red-haired man pulled himself to his feet quickly and quickly backpedalled to stand a few feet away from Tetsutetsu.

"What's this guy's Quirk?" Tetsutetsu asked shortly. He had a few guesses, but he needed to be sure.

"He can manipulate the environment around him. Makes armor, weapons- hell, he almost crushed me with it. It flows like water when he's doing it, and he doesn't have a huge range. It tires him out, although I don't know how long that lasts. It's a pretty manly Quirk- he really won the lottery on it." The red-haired man responded quickly, giving out a short and sweet explanation.

"Thanks. My name's Tetsutetsu, but call me Real Steel. What's your hero name?" Tetsutetsu asked as Vulcan pulled himself to his feet.

"Um- well, uh...Red Riot! My name's Kirishima Eijirou, but call me Red Riot!" Red Riot exclaimed joyfully, pumping a fist. Tetsutetsu nodded, just as Vulcan's feet slammed down once more.

As spikes shot towards them, Tetsutetsu readied his defenses, and he could hear Red Riot do the same next to him.

His job was a lot easier with someone that could defend themselves. Now, he could go all out.

And that meant that Vulcan would lose.

---

Time remaining until explosion- Six minutes.

Bakugo grit his teeth as he blasted another Rock with a powerful explosion. The rest seemed to be getting the hint- three of them had already turned tail and ran the way Bakugo had came. He didn't stop them.

At some point, the Rock rebels had infiltrated the base. Bakugo had seen destruction aplenty while going through this maze of a base. He had gotten sidetracked so many goddamn times because he didn't know the layout or one path was blocked by a fuckton of debris that he couldn't safely blast his way through.

He'd probably been in here about five minutes just searching for the reactor. One would think that it would be in the center of the base, or making an obnoxious whirring sound, but sometimes, the Federation just seemed to fucking hate him! He could only move so fast, goddamnit!

"DIEEEEE" Bakugo roared, blasting another Rock. His anger fumed.

He turned, looking around for some hint of where to go. There had to be something, right?

His eye zeroed in on a wall. It looked like it had been damaged by a blaster shot, but there was some kind of legible map on it.

"Fucking finally." he grumbled, glancing around the map.

So the reactor was at the fucking bottom left corner of the base, in the basement. He could get there within two minutes, reasonably. There was a second floor, but he was on the ground level right now.

He didn't have any time to waste here.

Explosions propelled him as he raced down the corridor, a sense of urgency embedded in his brain. If he didn't hurry, he would die. He couldn't waste time. Every second could mean the difference between his life or his death, and he wasn't fucking dying because of this dumbass.

He'd gone by more than one dumbass worker here who wasn't even injured and fucking asked for his help, like he was a fucking hero or some shit. He'd just told them to get the fuck out of his way and run when they saw a Rock.

Finally, after turning down one more hallway, he saw the sign for Employees Only. Fucking took him long enough to reach. Just beyond this door was a ship maintenance area with stairs leading down to the basement level, where the reactor was.

His Quirk stalled for a moment when he heard a noise. He skidded to a stop, sending an annoyed but wary glance around.

There was a hallway off to his left, leading deeper into the base. It had been taken through hell and back, though- the wall had crumbled, and it looked like a fucking bull had gone through it. A couple support beams were cutting through the ceiling, too.

There weren't any dumbasses around who were stupid enough to attack him, and the noise hadn't happened again. Growling slightly, Bakugo pressed a hand against the door once more, opening it slightly.

He heard the noise again, louder this time. There was no denying it- there was some fucking thing making noise. The last fucking thing he needed was a distraction.

And then, it happened again, and this time, it fully registered to Bakugo what the noise was.

"Help!"

Bakugo, for the first time in what felt like years, hesitated in what he was doing.

He didn't have time to help. He just didn't. He didn't know what kind of time limit he had, but something told him that it was running short.

But if he didn't, what would the repercussions be afterwards?

It was a little girl's voice. He recognized that much.

He heard her cry for help again, this time much more desperate, and with an annoyed snarl, he broke away from the door in front of him.

Damn it, damn it, damn it! Bakugo cursed himself as he pushed his way past a crumbled section of wall.

"Oi, brat! Keep making noise! I'm coming!" Bakugo yelled as loud as he could, waiting for some sort of feedback. After a small moment, he could hear something- crying.

He checked the structure of the building around him, exploding a small piece of drywall even as he cursed his luck. Damn hero complex. This might actually get him killed. Why the hell was he getting involved?

He moved carefully, but quickly- the ever-looming explosion was in the back of his mind at all times, but that didn't mean he could bring the fucking roof down on his head. As he moved, the crying got closer and closer.

Rounding the corner, he saw exactly where the brat was.

She was stuck where she was- the floor had crumbled to pieces in front of her, and it was a fucking miracle that the section she was standing on wasn't gone, too. On top of that, this place seemed like a fucking jungle gym of beams. Her deep brown eyes were completely welled up with tears.

He locked eyes with the brat, who instantly seemed to brighten up. Something about her entire frame just seemed to brighten- it almost fucking hurt to look at how hopeful and happy she was. Her green hair seemed to bob with how much she was vibrating.

"Don't fu- don't move, brat!" Bakugo ordered, catching himself just in time. Idly, he wondered why he was even fucking bothering to censor himself.

The beam above the brat shifted, and Bakugo's eyes widened. Instantly, his explosions were propelling him forwards, bouncing across the walls and hanging beams lithely.

The kid watched his every movement with awe, completely unaware of her incoming death.

Three seconds. Twenty meters.

One second passed. Bakugo's senses heightened- he needed to focus entirely on this, or else he'd never get there in time.

Two seconds. Twelve meters.

Bakugo snarled, pushing even more strength into his explosions. His arms were beginning to ache with how much he had exerted them recently.

One second. Two meters.

Don't you fucking die.

Bakugo's hand wrapped around the girl's waist, and the other desperately fired off a powerful explosion, just barely sending the pair away from the falling support beam, which crashed through what remained of the floor on that side. With a few more carefully times explosions, Bakugo maneuvered to safer ground.

Bakugo set the brat down, glowering. He didn't fucking want that to take that long.

"You alright, brat?" Bakugo asked, kneeling down to her height and attempting a soft voice.

The brat immediately burst into tears.

Bakugo sighed. "Well, damn, if that's how-" Bakugo started, only to be cut off completely as the little girl hugged him fiercely.

"Thank you thank you thank you! I thought I was gonna die! I was on a ship with mommy and daddy's friend and we were going to go see mommy and daddy but then we got shot at and then we landed and then-" The kid rambled into his shoulder, crying all the time while Bakugo awkwardly pat her back, feeling incredibly out of his element.

Eventually, though, it became too much. "Brat, I get it! Let go so I can stop this place from going boom-boom!" Bakugo almost yelled, annoyed.

"Like your power?" The girl asked, sniffling while still not letting go.

"Yes, like my fucking power, now let go!" Bakugo raged, losing control over himself as the seconds ticked down.

"Daddy said not to swear, mister." The girl chastised, finally letting go.

"I don't give a damn what your fucking father said, just get the hell out of here!" Bakugo fired right back before returning the way he came, a renewed sense of urgency filling him.

If he didn't put everything he had into stopping that meltdown, they were all dead.

That distraction might have cost him his life.

Time remaining until explosion- Two minutes.

---

Kirishima blocked a hit from Vulcan's wings as Real Steel blocked his punches from the front.

Both him and Real Steel had similar Quirks. They could both harden their skin defensively, although Real Steel's changed what his skin was entirely.

They shared a similar Quirk. That gave them something of a manly bond!

Kirishima grinned ferociously, punching in a flurry in an attempt to get past Vulcan's wings. The man was easily repelling his attacks, wings moving around rapidly in both an offensive and defensive manner, even while he fought Real Steel from the front. It was beginning to worry Kirishima with how much stronger he seemed to have gotten.

Whatever Vulcan had done had made him much more powerful. Where Kirishima held the upper hand in close quarters before, Vulcan now had control with more speed and defense. It wasn't anywhere near Kirishima's or Real Steel's, but it was still more than before.

"Red Riot! Behind you!" Real Steel suddenly called, and Kirishima blinked before catching on, hardening and diving to the left, narrowly avoiding getting impaled by a spike.

He had been avoiding hardening as much as possible to save his energy, and it seemed like Real Steel knew that. He was taking the brunt of the attacks, and it stung Kirishima's pride a bit to know that someone else was doing what he prided himself on.

Unfortunately, Vulcan now knew that he was getting tired, too.

Before Kirishima could react, he was on the defensive, Vulcan switching targets to mercilessly pound on his defenses. There was a sort of sadistic glee in Vulcan's eyes, tinted with madness, that told Kirishima exactly how much he was enjoying the fight.

However, even though Vulcan had found his second wind, something still seemed off.

The more Kirishima defended, the more he saw. He saw how quickly Vulcan was attacking, but he also noted that there was a sort of pattern- a flurry of quick punches followed up by a few strong ones and occasionally a kick. But something else stood out to Kirishima- Vulcan wasn't actively using his Quirk nearly as much as before.

It could have been because there were now two people fighting him, one of them an actual hero, but it might have gone beyond that.

Kirishima grunted, his thought process interrupted as one of Vulcan's fists smashed directly into Kirishima's face hard enough to dent his armor. He was forced back a step, feeling panic begin to well up in his gut.

His armor had never been broken before. How strong was Vulcan? Should he swap out with Real Steel? But, wasn't it his job to take hits? He couldn't back down!

"Why are you so persistent? There is no reason to defend Bakugo Katsuki in this manner!" Vulcan bellowed with a manic look in his eye as his armor became like liquid. Real Steel's eyes narrowed behind Vulcan as he landed a solid hit.

"I'm defending him because he's my friend! He's a man that the galaxy has been brutal to, and he's still strong! As a man and one of his friends, I can't let him down!" Kirishima roared, out of breath as he barely blocked a fist.

Vulcan's armor suddenly shot forward in the form of spikes, and Kirishima's eyes widened. He quickly hardened his chest, moving his body in a pure panic to avoid as much damage as possible.

Seven spikes shot out. Kirishima dodged four of them, two of them scraped against his armor, and he was forced to grab the last one with his left hand or risk impalement.

Vulcan grinned a manic grin that spoke of just how far gone he was. "Die."

Kirishima's eyes widened, and he glanced behind him. The spikes that he had dodged were looping back around.

He inhaled sharply. He couldn't dodge. He was completely surrounded by the metal that used to make up Vulcan's body armor. His hardening wouldn't hold up to a spike- just the two of them scraping against his skin left small marks.

Time seemed to slow down for Kirishima as the spikes drew closer.

He was so proud of his strength, too. Was he really this damn useless?

Kirishima slammed his eyes closed. He didn't want to see it happen.

And yet...He didn't want to die, either.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Vulcan's smug face, leering down on him imperiously while Real Steel seemed to quadruple his efforts, hits landing without resistance against Vulcan's back. There was an equal sign of desperation in his eyes- he didn't want to let Kirishima die.

Almost unbidden, a mental image of his friends came to mind. Mina was making fun of him for something stupid while Kaminari laughed. Bakugo was sitting in the captain's chair with his feet up and an incredibly peaceful expression on his face, taking a nap. He didn't even remember what the problem was, but he remembers exaggerating, making a big deal of it.

He wanted to have those moments again, moments where he could have simple fun around his friends. Around those people that had slowly begun to take an irreplaceable place in his heart.

He couldn't die here. No chance in hell!

Kirishima gripped the spike that he still held in his hands and pulled.

The piece of metal, still jutting out from Vulcan's armor, pulled the man himself forward from the titanic force. Kirishima's muscles screamed as he heaved his opponent towards him in one last-ditch effort.

Kirishima's fist slammed into Vulcan's face, sending him flying away from Kirishima. He felt something cold press into his back- and stop.

He let out a long, shaky breath, quickly ducking away from the metal that threatened to end his life. Real Steel looked equally shaken, giving him a concerned look.

"You alright?" Real Steel asked, a troubled crease to his brow.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Yeah." Kirishima panted, resting his hands on his knee. He couldn't quite believe how close to death he had gotten.

A short distance away, Vulcan pulled himself to his feet, wiping his mouth. From where he stood, Kirishima could see that his hand came away red.

"Let me take it this time. You've taken enough of the burden so far. I'm no hero if I just let a new friend take all of my troubles!" Real Steel roared, slamming his fists together. Kirishima was in no place to argue. He wasn't sure how much longer he could fight such a protracted battle. The only positive was that Vulcan was having the same troubles.

He was glad to have such a manly hero on his side.

Sweat was beginning to drip down Vulcan's face, mixing in with dirt and blood from several sustained attacks. He was panting, although not nearly as heavily as Kirishima. Vulcan's fiery hair had gotten a lot more messy.

"You brats...I'll kill you all!" Vulcan roared, bringing himself to his feet and bringing up several spear from the ground, which floated in the air ominously.

Kirishima sighed, bringing himself back into a combat stance. Real Steel did the same next to him.

"Bring it!" The pair roared at the same time, as the floating spears began to descend upon them.

---

Time until explosion- Twenty-five seconds.

Bakugo roared as he slammed the door to the reactor room open. Just from a single glance, he could see the danger there was- the reactor looked more ready to have a meltdown than Deku did before the U.A entrance exam.

He couldn't have much time left. He needed to figure out the problem, and he needed to figure it out two minutes ago. He wasn't even sure that undoing the damage would fix it at this rate.

Bakugo's eyes shot around the room, searching desperately for some way of fixing this. He wasn't going to fucking die because of this bullshit.

Bakugo's eyes zeroed in on a spot of red, and his eyes narrowed. There. The emergency shutdown button.

"Reactor meltdown imminent. All personnel evacuate." A robotic voice droned, and Bakugo rolled his eyes. Whatever the hell that asshole had done had disabled the alarm for the rest of the building, so Bakugo was the only one who knew that they might fucking die.

Bakugo shoved a piece of nearby debris into his pocket, launching himself upwards with his explosion. He needed to time this just right, or else he would fuck it up. The button was in an office overlooking the reactor- probably the fucking chief engineer, or whoever the fuck they assigned there. There was probably another button on the bottom somewhere, but Bakugo did not have enough fucking time to find that.

Bakugo's flight brought him up to the level of the room, protected by the glass. One explosion in front of him broke the glass, and another behind him kept him from flying away. One quick glance down at the reactor told him that he was almost out of time. A few seconds away, at most.

Bakugo's hands grasped the debris in his pocket, and a ferocious snarl overtook his features. "DIEEEEE!" Bakugo roared, launching the small chunk of rock like a missile.

The room went pitch-black.

Bakugo sighed, firing explosions as he fell to keep himself from having a harsh landing.

That had been too close. Far too close. He fucking hated leaving things up to chance like that.

The only light in the room came from his explosions, small fireworks in a sea of black. He landed softly, bringing his hand up to waist level and letting out small explosions to make sure he didn't fall on his ass.

Now...Without the distractions, he could go back and kick Vulcan's ass.

Bakugo grinned savagely. It would be fun to kick that asshole's teeth in.

---

Tetsutetsu growled, jumping backwards from where he stood to narrowly avoid being crushed by a fist of metal, not for the first time that day.

Vulcan was annoyingly persistent. Tetsutetsu had fought plenty of villains, and most of them went down with a few well-placed punches after they realized that they couldn't hurt him. Vulcan, though, was perfectly in his element- surrounded by plenty of natural materials and with a quick formation time on anything he wanted to make. For defensive fighters like Tetsutetsu and Red Riot, he was the worst type of enemy. He controlled the flow of the fight, and it was frustratingly difficult to change that.

Vulcan himself had adopted a more defensive strategy- he was relying more on his Quirk and less on close combat. Sweat was starting to pour down Vulcan's face as well, mixing in with the blood, dirt, and whatever the hell else was on there. It made him look a lot uglier than he did when he started fighting the pair.

"FIGHT ME!" Tetsutetsu roared, punching a thrown spear to pieces. Red Riot and him had been slowly working their way forwards, but Vulcan was adamant about blocking them. Vulcan's new wings had also been suspiciously still.

Vulcan grimaced and sent another three spears his way.

Tetsutetsu snarled, pressing forwards and letting the spears skid off of his armor. He needed to know something- something that might mean victory for the pair. And, although Tetsutetsu would never admit it, he was starting to get tired, and he knew that Red Riot was, too.

Tetsutetsu dodged a fourth spear, Red Riot just a few feet off to his left. The other man's presence made him feel somewhat more confident. Vulcan's face clenched in concentration, growing slightly red. Tetsutetsu glanced around him- no immediate change in the ground, or around Vulcan.

It was risky, he knew- but he had to know the degree of control that Vulcan had, so Tetsutetsu pressed on instead of backing off. He wasn't a hero who shied away from danger, he was one who fought it head-on, one who searched for experience with every action! Skill was what allowed a hero to fight effectively- experience made them dangerous.

Tetsutetsu had both in spades, and although it was clear that Red Riot wasn't quite as strong in either of those areas, he had a strong, reliable Quirk with the knowledge of how to use it and plenty of tenacity to back it up.

Which might have been why he didn't bother to worry about Red Riot as he raced forward, fully intent on watching his own back and making sure he didn't get crept up on by any spikes or spears. Vulcan had good control, and could turn the tide of battle with ease in that manner. Tetsutetsu couldn't let him.

He was only a few meters away when Vulcan's expression levelled out from pained to triumphant.

"Not so fast, Real Steel. You might wish to check on your friend." Vulcan suddenly gloated, a victorious expression on his face.

Tetsutetsu ground to a halt, quickly noticing that Red Riot wasn't behind him anymore. His head snapped behind him, muscles taut in anticipation.

Red Riot had gotten trapped in metal, his entire body hardened as the writing mass of shifting iron melded itself around his body in a makeshift sarcophagus. One of his hands was slapped over his mouth while the other struggled feebly to keep the metal from advancing.

One look into his eyes told Tetsutetsu that Red Riot was exhausted- his eyes were drooping when they weren't fluttering shut as his body took long, shuddering gasps of what limited air was available.

That's his limitation. Tetsutetsu suddenly realized, hand curling into a fist in outrage. Using his Quirk makes it harder for him to breathe.

"I think that's solid enough." Vulcan mused quietly, lifting his hands from the ground and wiping his forehead. Vulcan's eyes narrowed in determination while Tetsutetsu's narrowed in rage.

"Can you both rescue and fight at the same time, hero?" Vulcan taunted, raising a fist. Tetsutetsu cast a look at Red Riot- the man was clawing at the metal and plastic meld that was holding him in place, trying but unable to free himself. He had dropped his hardening as well.

Tetsutetsu looked back at Vulcan- and was forced to raise his arm and deflect a blow.

"Focus now, hero! You can't take your eyes off of your opponent!" Vulcan roared, delivering a quick and devastating hit to Tetsutetsu's arms. He was forced to take a step back because of the blow- and then another, and another. Slowly, Vulcan gained ground, and Tetsutetsu felt weariness well up in his gut.

He couldn't focus on Vulcan. He had to get Red Riot out. He had no other option as a hero; regardless of what he did, he couldn't let anyone die. A hero's job was to both protect the lives of those they protected and to ensure that they could live safe and happy lives.

Tetsutetsu snarled as the man landed another kick, this one backed up with a flourish of the wings. Steel danced against steel, and sparks flew as the pace of the fight increased. Tetsutetsu felt himself backing up, step by step until his feet pressed against something solid. Glancing back, Tetsutetsu found himself staring into the eyes of Red Riot.

The determined eyes of Red Riot.

The hero behind him wasn't scared, or worried, or even uncertain. His eyes were hard, and not just because of his Quirk. It was the sort of strength of will you would see in the best of heroes. Without a word, Red Riot seemed to be talking to him.

You gotta win. Don't let me get in your way.

Tetsutetsu grinned ferociously, and nodded. And when Vulcan reared back for another strike, bellowing all the while, Tetsutetsu dodged and watched with a smug satisfaction as Vulcan's fist slammed into the metal surrounding Red Riot, even as pain crossed the hero's face.

Tetsutetsu latched onto Vulcan's arm, and while keeping a solid grasp on the arm, his leg shot out to trip up Vulcan's left leg. As the man stumbled, struggling to keep balance, Tetsutetsu used the arm that he was grasping as leverage and hurled Vulcan for the nth time.

Tetsutetsu chuckled. It was always fun to do that.

Vulcan recovered a lot more slowly than he had the last couple times. He took his time in getting to his feet, slowly rising, and Tetsutetsu used the time to have a quick snack.

"You...Hero. You are a nuisance- what are you doing?" Vulcan suddenly cut himself off, voice radiating bewilderment. Tetsutetsu paused in his eating, mouth closed awkwardly around some of the metal holding Red Riot in place.

With a loud crunch, the metal gave way, and Tetsutetsu chewed for a long moment before swallowing, feeling a bit of his energy return to him as Red Riot inhaled deeply, hands finally free to rip the metal around his mouth away.

"It ain't fair that you're the only one who can get a boost mid-battle, wouldn't ya say? So I'm grabbing a quick snack." Tetsutetsu explained. Really, was there any reason that he shouldn't do this?

"You- STOP THAT!" Vulcan roared, anger radiating off of his figure as Tetsutetsu took another bite of metal, specifically the piece that Red Riot had torn off. The hero in question was giving him a weird look, but he wasn't questioning it.

This...is some of the worst iron I've eaten in a while.

The texture was awful, the rust didn't add it's usual crunchiness, and there was something strange about the metal that left an awful aftertaste in his mouth. It might have been because of all the plastic that it was sitting in, all the time.

Tetsutetsu swallowed the piece of metal languidly, ensuring that he ate as loudly as possible. He forced a smile on his face.

It seemed to have the intended effect. Vulcan's face twisted in rage, even more so than before. Tetsutetsu smirked to himself. Now was the time for this battle to end.

It was on all of their faces- they were tired. This battle had been a long and protracted one between two heroes who had to withstand a relentless assault for a long period of time and a villain who wasn't used to said assault failing to destroy his opponents. It had to end soon, or else someone was losing the war of attrition, and Tetsutetsu didn't want it to be them. He was goading Vulcan- he needed the man to waste as much of his energy as possible. Tetsutetsu would also have to defend against that output, but he wasn't worried about that.

There was nothing that Vulcan could throw at him right now that could break his armor.

And that was a fact.

Tetsutetsu slammed his fists together and raced forwards, and the battle began anew.

---

Bakugo snarled as he pushed his explosions faster, flying down the dimly lit hallway. Light from outside was filtering through the hauntingly empty and quiet halls, signs of destruction in all of them.

The backup generator would be online soon, hopefully. The Rocks seemed to have already cleared out, along with the workers. He hadn't seen very many bodies, but there wasn't much that he could do about the ones that he had seen.

It was creepy, Bakugo noted in the back of his mind, just how fucking quiet it had gotten. He heard the occasional laser fire from outside and he had his explosions, but that was all of it. All of the fucking peasants who worked here had actually listened to his goddamn advice, it seemed.

Bakugo fired an explosion to his left, sending him flying down another hallway, safely above some of the fallen wreckage. Bakugo grit his teeth- this place better still have a damn medical room, or so help him-!

Movement flickered in the corner of his eye.

Bakugo's arm swung out in an automatic response, already firing up an explosion from several years of trained instincts, when he locked eyes with who was attacking him.

Bakugo's explosion stalled, his eyes widening. Quickly, he fired another explosion away from the person, forcing him backwards and away even as he cut as much power as possible from his explosion. He hit the wall with a harsh thump, feeling his back protest the action.

Bakugo landed face-down, exasperation and annoyance building up in him. He raised his head, staring at the person while giving a long-suffering sigh.

"Brat, what the hell did I tell you? Why the hell are you still in the station?" Bakugo asked, exasperated.

The same little girl from before looked at him, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. Bakugo cringed- he really didn't want to deal with crying brats right now.

"Well, first, I tried to go, but then there was this big metal thing, and then it got all dark and I got scared, and then I tried to hide and some people ran past me, and I tried talking to them but they kept running, and-" The brat rambled, unable to fully keep the tears from spilling. Bakugo let out a long groan.

"Kid, I get it. Just get out of here." Bakugo groaned, unable to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

The brat blinked once, eyes still red and puffy. "But I'm scared." She said in a small voice, worry emanating off of her.

Bakugo put his head in his hands. Of course she was scared. Of course she fucking was.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it, kid? I'm not your fucking babysitter." Bakugo mumbled the last part, which the brat either didn't hear or chose to ignore.

"Will you...carry me?" She asked shyly.

Bakugo's eye twitched.

"My mommy and daddy always carry me when I get scared, and you're a cool hero like mommy and daddy. Not as cool as they are, though…" She trailed off, looking miserable.

Bakugo chose to ignore the fact that he was called a hero. "I'm not one of your parents, kid. Go find someone else." He sighed, pulling himself to his feet and beginning to walk.

"Wait, don't go!" The girl yelled fearfully, running over much quicker than he thought someone her size could and grabbing onto his pant leg.

"Kid, let go." Bakugo grumbled, continuing to walk and dragging her along with him.

"No! I can't!" The girl yelled back defiantly, clinging to his leg even harder. Bakugo toyed with the idea of just kicking her off.

"Please, I can't! I just want to go home! I want to find my mommy and daddy!"The girl continued, full-on bawling at this point with desperation clear in her voice.

Bakugo paused.

The girl didn't stop crying, but something that she had said earlier suddenly fully registered with him.

She didn't know how to navigate the station well. She had gotten separated from her parents. She said that she wanted to go home.

Her parents were heroes.

Bakugo closed his eyes. He could at least give her this before she found out, or maybe she already knew. This girl was still young. The galaxy could use less bitter assholes in it, so just this one time, he would help.

Bakugo leaned down, removing the girl from his leg with ease. The crying begun anew. She probably thought that he was going to leave her.

With a long sigh. Bakugo settled her on his shoulders, and the crying came to a shuddering halt for one long, blissful moment. Bakugo could revel in the quiet that he had found eerie just moments before. He finally had a break from the massive headache that this child was.

"Thank you thank you thank you-" The girl began blubbering, and Bakugo let out another sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't fucking fall. And don't fuck with my hair, either!" Bakugo snapped, feeling a harsh tugging feeling on his spiky hair.

"Sorry!" She quickly apologized, letting go of his hair.

Bakugo let out a small noise, feeling a deep resignation settle in him.

Vulcan was going to fucking wait, if Shitty Hair hadn't kicked his shit in yet. Bakugo didn't doubt it. The villain fought like Endeavor- entirely aggressive, except he was a lot shittier at fighting and wasn't threatening at all. At least, not to Bakugo. If Shitty Hair hadn't won by the time Bakugo got out there, he was going to be royally pissed.

---

Tetsutetsu grunted as a kick landed on his cheek, throwing him off balance. He retaliated with a kick of his own, hearing a satisfying crunch as the blow landed and he was on both feet again.

Tetsutetsu grimaced- his iron was growing weaker. He hadn't planned on fighting such a long battle today. He had some tricks up his sleeve if Vulcan refused to go all out, but he would prefer not to use them. They hurt him too.

Tetsutetsu jumped away from a wave of spears, which embedded themselves in the ground and fell apart. Loose metal had started to fall around the battlefield like this; he had almost tripped a couple of times.

Vulcan was breathing laboriously, his eyes glazed over slightly. It was getting harder for the two of them to continue.

Tetsutetsu let off a ferocious grin. "Come on! Are you going to let your friend give up his Quirk for nothing? Give me your all, or else you'll have no hope of fighting Bakugo! I'll beat you down right here and now if you don't!" Tetsutetsu roared, slamming his fists together.

So he said, but he wasn't sure if Vulcan could even muster any full attack right now. He'd worried about this becoming a battle of attrition, but the villain in front of him hardly seemed to be on his feet anymore.

"You want...my all?" Vulcan panted, a hateful look, tinged with defiance, in his eyes.

"You got wax in your ears? You wouldn't even have beaten Red Riot if not for your friend's Quirk, so show me some spine for his sake!" Tetsutetsu goaded, hopping from foot to foot and beckoning with a hand.

"Don't tell me that you think that you're even gonna walk away from this station if you don't give me everything that you have! Because at this rate, I'm gonna knock you into the ground! I have your number now, pal! You can't use both of those Quirks at the same time, can ya? Ya can't kill me with either of 'em!" Tetsutetsu boasted, slamming a fist into his chest.

Vulcan's eyes slowly closed, and opened once more.

And then, with a loud roar, his hands slammed down onto the ground.

Slowly, with an almost mesmerizing air, the metal that had been so casually tossed around all battle rose from the ground, quickly whirling around and shedding more and more metal. In no time at all, Tetsutetsu could make out a distinct shape.

Two large metal spirals had rose from the ground, each one about twice as long as Tetsutetsu was tall. It didn't resemble anything else that Vulcan had created; these spirals were refined, pristine, and imposing.

"Hero...you asked for my all. So I shall use the one creation that can pierce any armor!" Vulcan roared, any semblance of sanity gone from his voice.

The spirals began spinning, and Tetsutetsu finally understood what he was doing.

"It's a drill! You can't take that head on, it'll tear right through you!" Red Riot called from where he was still trying to free himself from his metal prison.

"If you run, it will hit your friend, hero! Now DIE!" Vulcan bellowed, and the drills reared back for one short moment.

Tetsutetsu crossed his arms in front of him.

Red Riot's right- I can't take that head on. Not with what I've shown them so far. But I don't have any other choice. I need to take this until I can't any more or Vulcan stops, or else Red Riot will die.

So, I need to go above and beyond. I need to show Vulcan the stonewall of class B, the defense that is my pride and soul!

"It's over." Vulcan stated, and the drills flew forward.

Both drills impacted on Tetsutetsu's steel- and paused, a grinding sound filling the air as Tetsutetsu's thoughts became laser-focused.

Vulcan made a strange noise of discontent, and the drills increased in intensity, bearing down on Tetsutetsu's steel with a strength that normally would have broken him.

"How...how are you not dead! Your steel shouldn't be able to withstand this!" Vulcan bellowed, rage in his voice.

Tetsutetsu smirked, feeling the strength of the drills pressing down upon him in every moment.

"You can't break me...You ain't strong enough!" Tetsutetsu proclaimed, closing his eyes to protect them from stray sparks.

"You can't break me because I have people that I need to protect! I have people who are waiting for me back home, friends who want to see my face again! You'll never break my steel because I need to protect them, even as they protect me!"

"I'm the unbreakable wall from U.A- the hero with the hardest defenses! Even now, every time that you break my steel, it reforms, coming back tougher than tungsten, and then coming back harder still! No drill can break past the strength that comes from my pride!" Tetsutetsu bellowed, opening his eyes to glare at Vulcan with laser-sharp strength.

"Try all you want, but right now, because of those around me that have pushed me to become a better man, for those that believe in me, rely on me, I'm the strongest foe that you will ever face!"

"THIS is the peak of my power, my unbreakable will! This is Real Steel: Ironclad!" Tetsutetsu roared with pure determination etched into his heart.

Vulcan had a look of boiling anger on his face. "You insolent fool! No armor can last forever, especially not one as weak as yours!"

Tetsutetsu grinned. "Then let's test that! Which will fall first, your drills or my steel?" He goaded, a wild feeling soaring through his body.

At the start of battle, he could have maintained his Ironclad mode for five minutes before he began to get light iron fatigue. Right now, he probably had forty-five seconds before he had to start using the iron in his blood to maintain his Quirk, which would only last so long.

But from the look on Vulcan's face, it might get pushed to that limit. He was already weak enough as it is. If he ran out of time, the steel in his body would be completely spent, and he would be out of commission.

Push it to the limit, Tetsutetsu. Red Riot is counting on you.

You can't let anyone else die here.

---

Kirishima slammed his fists into the metal twisted around his body, tearing off even more of the annoying material.

He had just heard the manliest speech of his life, and yet Kirishima was stuck. He couldn't do anything to help. Right now, he was a burden, and he still hadn't caught his breath yet! His arms felt like lead weights.

The droning sound continued, and Kirishima struggled even harder to free himself. He couldn't just let Real Steel take all of that burden! The man had boasted a lot earlier, but even Kirishima could see how he was trying to use his Quirk as little as possible. His back was completely unprotected. Whatever the downside of his Quirk was, it was hitting him hard.

Come on, you stupid piece of junk, just move! Kirishima felt like screaming.

Vulcan was persistent. The drills hadn't stopped drilling into Real Steel, even as Kirishima struggled to break free. As long as he could get clear, he could hit the guy while he wasn't looking! Sure, it wasn't manly, but neither was dying!

Kirishima felt something budge near his feet, and he looked down in surprise. The bottom of the metal pillar holding him was beginning to fold.

Hope flared into him one more time. Kirishima began repeatedly punching the metal, hoping, praying for some way out, some way for him to stop dragging Real Steel down. And with enough hits, that chance was provided. The metal caved, giving Kirishima just enough room to move.

"Alright!" Kirishima whooped, carefully lifting himself above his metal encasement. The edges chafed against his sides mildly, and he let out a small grunt. Kirishima's feet cleared the metal, and he landed on the ground, finally free to rejoin the fight.

"Real Steel, I'm-" Kirishima began to cry out, looking at his newfound friend.

An audible crack rang through the area, and Kirishima froze, dread creeping up on him like ice.

For several long, haunting moments, nothing happened- the drills continued spinning, and Real Steel remained in place.

And then, another crack resonated through the area, and another, and another, and like a domino effect, they continued. Kirishima was almost frozen in place, not wanting to move but feeling as though he needed to.

With one final boom, the two drills holding Real Steel in place splintered into a thousand pieces.

Kirishima covered his face, blocking random shards of metal from hitting him. Real Steel was likely equally as protected, and Kirishima could see Vulcan sloppily throw an arm up to shield his eyes.

The dust settled, and Kirishima saw Vulcan almost completely on the ground. He was held up by a single hand, and Kirishima could see the sweat drip down his face from where he stood.

Real Steel wasn't doing quite as well. After a long moment where he stood completely immobile, he fell backwards, feet giving out on him. Kirishima raced forward, barely catching him before his head bounced on the hard metal.

"Is he... Did I win?" Real Steel asked quietly, face pale. He had withstood that assault for over a minute. He deserved some rest.

Kirishima was quiet for a long moment. He wasn't sure if he could harden very much anymore, even if he wanted to. His body protested his every movement. Vulcan was likewise not making any moves, but his body drew long shuddering gasps.

"Not yet. But I can take care of him. You're a real man, through and through. I won't let you die. Rest." Kirishima said softly, eyes trained on Vulcan.

Tetsutetsu didn't respond with anything but a head nod, the movement felt against Kirishima's abs.

Vulcan, after a long moment, placed another hand on the ground. With tremulous effort, he pulled himself up, placing one shaky foot on the ground, and then the other.

Vulcan's arm was trailing blood, metal sticking out of it in all places. His red hair was completely disheveled and dripping sweat. His eyes were hazy and unfocused. Most damning of all was the fact that the wings that he had stolen from his friend were completely gone.

And yet, he still rose.

What amazing tenacity. Why didn't he become a hero?

"Hero...I...must kill you." Vulcan spat, some sort of focus returning to his eyes.

Kirishima wanted to let out a long sigh. Instead, he just gave him a weary look. "We've fought long enough. Face it- you've lost. You were beaten by us." Kirishima said quietly.

This would make for three of the celestial villains that they had taken down. A fourth of the way there.

"No. I can't accept this. You have to die. Bakugo Katsuki has to die. You all have to die." Vulcan spouted, stumbling on his feet.

Kirishima did sigh, this time. "There's no point in fighting anymore. If you keep it up, I'll stop you myself." Kirishima proclaimed, narrowing his eyes and carefully laying Real Steel on the ground, rising to his feet.

Vulcan said nothing. Ungracefully, he fell to his knees, barely managing to stay upright. His head sunk, staring at the ground below him.

Vulcan's hands rose into the air, and Kirishima paused. Was he surrendering?

"I'll kill you...One last hit. That's all I need. Then, I'll kill Bakugo Katsuki. And then, Jupiter will kill me, and we will control the galaxy." Vulcan rambled, hands still in the air.

Geez, this guy is even more messed up in the head right now than I thought. How does that logic even make sense?

"One more spear. I'll kill Real Steel. I'll kill Red Riot." Vulcan chanted, and Kirishima raised his arms, preparing to defend himself.

Vulcan's hands moved downwards, and Kirishima began searching for the direction that the spear was coming from.

But it never came.

Something white shot past both sides of Kirishima, startling him. Before Kirishima could even blink and before Vulcan's hands could touch the ground, they were pressed up against his body, completely wrapped without hope of escape.

Kirishima's breath caught in his throat. Vulcan was restrained. He wasn't a threat anymore. They had won. He felt like whooping for joy.

But instead of doing any of that, he turned in the direction the white thing had came from.

Not even ten meters away stood a lanky man with dark hair with spiky ends and strange looking elbow. His arm was folded back, and he waved to Kirishima with a big smile on his face. But he wasn't who Kirishima was worried about.

Standing next to him was Ashido, who was supporting Kaminari, who gave him a thumbs up.

"You guys...Why are you here? Kaminari, are you alright?" Kirishima asked, barely managing to keep his voice steady. Ashido and Kaminari slowly worked their way over to him, the lanky man slowly keeping pace.

"I got worried when you were down there for a while. I saw that guy over there," Ashido nodded to Vulcan, "attack you guys. I would have come down and helped, but I didn't want to leave Kaminari." Ashido explained lightly, adjusting her grip around Kaminari's shoulders.

"What about him?" Kirishima asked, looking at the unfamiliar man.

"Hey, I've got a name, you know!" The man complained good-naturedly.

Kaminari let off a weak grin. "That was me. I woke up just a bit ago, saw how things were going. So I sent out a signal with my Quirk, and this guy answered. Good thing I did." Kaminari said in a strained voice, looking over the mangled remnants of the battlefield.

"So who are you?" Kirishima asked, looking at the man, who gave off a broad, toothy smile.

"Name's Sero Hanta. Call me Sero. Or Hanta. But call me Sero. I'm an up-and-coming bounty hunter." Sero bragged, a look of pride entering his face.

"That pretty much means that he's new to it." Ashido said with a knowing grin, and Sero coughed into his hand once, a look of indignation crossing his face.

"Hey, I'll have you know that I've bagged plenty of targets! You're just jealous." Sero pouted, turning his face away from Ashido.

"Mm, whatever you say, big guy. What's that guy's deal?" Ashido asked, completely ignoring Sero and the squawk of indignation that he gave off and instead gesturing at Real Steel.

Kirishima's eyes softened as he noticed that Real Steel was unconscious. "He's a hero. He helped me fight this guy. I'd be dead without him."

Ashido made a humming noise. "So is Bakugo inside? He might know where the infirmary is." She pointed out, placing a finger to the corner of her mouth as though in deep thought.

"Wait, Ba-" Sero began, only to be quickly cut off by Kaminari.

"Bakugo Katsuki, yeah. Renowned thief, giant bounty. The very same." He pointed out, casting a look at Ashido and Kirishima. The message was clear- if Sero tried anything, they'd be forced to stop him.

Sero let off a small snort. "And you're friends with the guy? Heard he could be a real dick." He said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, he's...abrasive, but he's really manly when you get to know him!" Kirishima responded, defending his friend.

Sero grunted. "Whatever you say. I'm just here to refuel, collect the credits that I was promised, and not get exploded by the king of 'em. You got the money, chief?" He joked, throwing an arm around Kaminari's shoulders in a friendly manner. Kaminari paled even more and a bead of sweat rolled down his face from the pain, but after a short few seconds of digging into his pockets, he pressed a credit chip into Sero's open palm.

"Thank you kindly. I would refuel here, but…" Sero glanced around, and Kirishima couldn't blame him. He wouldn't want to refuel here either.

"Well, my job's done. Give me a good review, will ya'?" Sero joked, before something white shot out from his arm, attaching to the top of a nearby junk pile, bringing the bounty hunter with it. Tape, Kirishima quickly realized.

Kirishima decided, very pointedly, to not say anything at Sero's strange exit, instead bending down and gently picking Real Steel up. After a long moment of his muscles protesting at him, he managed to get the man into a more comfortable position. Kaminari weighed much less than this guy.

"Let's...just find the infirmary in this place, yeah?" Kirishima managed to ground out, feeling the literal lead weight in his arms begin to put a strain on him.

Ashido nodded, and Kaminari made a noise of grateful agreement. "Yeah, I like that idea. Let's hope that Bakugo found it, yeah?" Kaminari said wearily.

Kirishima nodded, feeling his body protest the simple action. He had to hope that Bakugo found something. They were relying on it.

---

"Shitty fucking door!" Bakugo yelled, kicking in another door and finding nothing.

"Shitty fucking door!" The girl on his shoulders echoed, ecstatic.

He'd been searching for almost ten fucking minutes at this point, and he hadn't seen anyone. Vulcan hadn't attacked him yet, which meant that Shitty Hair had either taken him out or they were still fighting. Even if they were, Shitty Hair wasn't going to lose. He didn't deserve to be on the crew if he lost.

Bakugo growled in annoyance, scanning the empty janitor's closet. Where the hell was the fucking infirmary? And where the hell was the backup power? It was standard fucking issue, and he had seen that bullshit on the basement level! He shouldn't have to use his explosions to light the way anymore!

The brat cheered as Bakugo tore down the hallway in annoyance, one hand extended in front of him for a light. Bakugo bit back a loud yell as he felt the brat tug his hair again as she giggled for no fucking reason.

He fucking hated kids. Why the hell was he even still putting up with her?

Reaching a small intersection, Bakugo glanced around. It had to be around here somewhere, right?

The hallway in front of him was dark, with eerie shadows dancing across the ground as the light from his constant, contained explosions lit the large area. To his left was another turn that Bakugo was sure he had come across before.

But to his right, Bakugo spied a faint blue light coming out from a door. The hallway was clear of debris, looking oddly out of place in the wrecked base. But in an area as dark as this, any light wasn't going to go unnoticed. Not to him. It was a surprise that these Federation assholes even had one room running. It had to be high-priority.

Which meant that he might be able to kick the teeth in of anyone who was incompetent enough to let this base get destroyed this easily. He would have beat the shit out of the hero that was here, too, but he knew how that story went.

Bakugo stomped up to the door angrily, hands shoved in his pockets. He didn't have all fucking day. No sense in wasting time trying to find the infirmary if he could just beat the information out of the commander of the base.

Bakugo grabbed the handle of the sliding door, throwing it aside violently. Harsh red eyes stared into the bright light of the room-

Green suddenly filled his vision, and Bakugo violently snapped his head to the left, bringing his body with it to press against the wall to the left of the door. The laser that had been fired at him sailed into the wall, which had several similar markings, now that he looked at it.

The girl on his shoulders let out a yelp at his sudden movements. Bakugo angled his head up at her. "You alright?" He asked gruffly.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay, mister Hero." The girl said, gripping his hair slightly more harshly. Bakugo still didn't say anything. He was an asshole, but even he knew when it was alright for other people to be scared. People who weren't heroes.

Bakugo nodded. "Hey, assholes, I'm trying to help you! Don't fucking shoot at every person walking into your goddamn door!" He yelled around the corner, still refusing to take any risks. Scared people were stupid people.

"Yeah!" The brat said after him, sounding both immensely brave and proud of herself.

There was a small silence before anyone responded. "How do I know that I can trust you?" The voice of the woman who responded was hesitant and wary.

"I'm-" Bakugo began, before being quickly cut off.

"He's a hero! He saved me and he stopped the building from going boom-boom but it was already kinda going boom-boom on the inside and he can make his own boom-booms that look like fireworks!" The brat on his shoulders happily listed off, sounding chipper as all hell just to be there.

Both Bakugo and the woman who shot at him were quiet for a long moment.

A long sigh echoed from within. "You know what, just come out. I'm not going to shoot you right away." The woman said, sounding tired.

Bakugo snorted. "Right away, huh? You know that I'll kill you if you try it." He said, stepping out into the light anyways.

It was a small room, looking like a waiting room at an infirmary. A bunch of chairs had been shoved in a corner with a clear line of sight at the door, which is where the woman was now.

"That doesn't sound very heroic." The woman, who he was just now seeing for the first time, retorted.

The woman had on a white lab coat with a laser gun levelled at his head. Her brown hair was tied back in a bun, and she had blue gloves on with what was clearly blood on them.

Strangely, she had really fucking pointy ears. Part of her Quirk, he had to guess. Shitty fuckin' Quirk.

Bakugo rose an eyebrow. "Is this the infirmary or are you gonna try to fucking stab me?" The woman's eyes narrowed.

"Are you sure you're a hero?" She asked dubiously.

"Does it matter? I'm not about to fucking attack injured people, and I have a goddamn child on my shoulders." Bakugo pointed out, pointing to the brat.

A tense silence settled over the pair, one that even the brat knew not to break. The woman knew very damn well that he wasn't a hero, but the real question here was if she had the balls to do something about it. Hell, she might even know who he was.

After a long, heavy moment, the woman sighed and lowered her gun.

"Welcome to Raxus Station #17. This is the infirmary. How may I help you, hero." The woman intoned in a flat voice, completely devoid of emotion with a large emphasis on the word hero.

Internally, Bakugo grinned. Looks like he didn't have to kick anyone's teeth in to get information after all. They could get off this godforsaken planet faster now.

"I'm not the one who needs any fucking help. One of the dumbasses on my ship got himself hurt as we crashed. Piece of metal got stuck in his leg." Bakugo told the woman, narrowing his eyes.

The woman snorted. "He'll have to get in line. Come see it for yourself." She said, pushing out of her barricade of chairs and opening up another sliding door to the right.

Bakugo's eyes widened slightly upon entering.

It looked like a fucking bomb had gone off in the room.

There were papers scattered on the floor, people frantically rushing about, and above all else, he could hear orders being shouted as people moved from room to room. What chairs weren't being used as a barricade were being used to hold people with clear laser wounds. There wasn't even a fucking place to sit.

Bakugo let out an aggravated sigh, and the girl on his shoulders whimpered slightly.

"Motherfucker. Yeah, I see what you fucking mean. Never getting off this damn planet…" Bakugo mumbled, fishing in his pockets and turning around to leave the room.

The woman snorted. "You think this is bad? Should've seen it half an hour ago when it all started. Our poor teleporter has been pushed into overdrive." She said, letting out a weary sigh.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, how the hell does this part of the station have power but the rest of it doesn't? I've been wandering around in the damn dark." Bakugo grumbled as the brat played around with his hair.

"The infirmary has priority power. If the power is ever shut down, for whatever reason, the infirmary gets power after oxygen. With the teleporter constantly active, this area has been overtaxing the generator. Or, at least, I think that's what's happening. I'm not a technician." The woman explained dryly.

Bakugo nodded, a surly look dominating his features. The brat tugged his hair again.

"Kid, is something wrong?" Bakugo snapped, feeling his built-up annoyance get the better of him.

The brat was quiet for a second. "Can I walk around? I'm kinda bored." She said shyly.

Bakugo's face froze as he began to bite out a seething retort. Don't fucking explode the brat. Don't fucking explode the brat. You've put way too much fucking effort into this kid to kill her now. Don't fucking explode the brat.

"Sure, why not?" Bakugo said in a stilted voice, barely getting it out through gritted teeth.

And then, before he could even go to pick her up off of his shoulders, she tumbled backwards.

Biting back a shout, Bakugo quickly twisted in an attempt to grab her, with his hands just barely grazing the top of her shoes as she fell, head first. He hadn't been expecting that, damn it!

And yet, just as she was about to hit the ground, the girl clasped her hands together and her body slowed to a standstill.

Bakugo froze.

The girl clasped her hands together once more, and her body hit the ground with a small grunt. She looked happy about it, but that did nothing to soothe Bakugo's seething rage.

"Come on, brat, don't just fucking jump off of my shoulders without giving me a goddamn warning, or telling me about your fucking Quirk! You almost gave me a goddamn heart attack! How fucking old are you, anyway? Didn't your parents-" Bakugo began to rampage, cutting himself off before he delved into sensitive territory.

There were tears in the girls eyes.

Fucking hell…

"I'm sorry mister hero, I just...I just thought that I could show you my Quirk and that it would be cool and that you would be all proud of me and-" The girl began blubbering, her words becoming nonsense the longer she talked.

Bakugo let out an aggravated sigh, crouching down to look the brat in the eye and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Kid, look, I don't really give a damn. Just don't be a fucking idiot about things. One of these times, your Quirk might fuck up, or you might fuck up, because there's always going to be some asshole out there who can mess up your Quirk. Don't fucking rely on it to save you like that." Bakugo scolded, watching with a certain sense of satisfaction as the brat nodded along, looking as though she was clinging onto his every word.

"Go do your shit, just don't leave the room." Bakugo instructed, standing back up. There was still plenty of room in the waiting room for the brat to explore. She'd probably find some loose Credits.

Standing back up, Bakugo locked eyes with the woman, who wore an amused expression.

"What?" Bakugo barked out, irritated.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were that girl's father with how you were acting." The woman said, bemused.

Bakugo's rage flared up. "Fuck no, I fucking hate kids! They're annoying pieces of shit who never shut the fuck up!" Bakugo raged.

"Reminds me of someone I know." The woman mumbled.

"You want to fucking go?" Bakugo challenged.

"Oh, of course not. Not against the great Bakugo Katsuki." The woman taunted, clearly expecting a reaction.

"Damn right." Bakugo snorted, refusing to give her the satisfaction. So she did recognize him. And if she tried anything funny, Bakugo was gonna kick Aizawa's ass.

The brat's head poked up, a look of interest on her face. "Kats- Katch- Katchuk- Kacchan!" She declared, pumping a tiny arm in the air.

"Don't fucking call me that." Bakugo grumbled, watching with growing anger as the amused face on the woman's face grew.

"Kacchan, Kacchan, Kacchan!" The brat chanted, completely ignoring him.

Bakugo was about two steps away from killing someone.

"I'm going out to tell my friends where this fucking infirmary is. Don't fucking try to talk to me until then." Bakugo grumbled, stomping towards the door with his hands in his pockets, fury etched into his face without even the smallest of efforts to hide it.

Slamming the door shut, Bakugo dug out his comms.

Nobody fucking called him Kacchan. Nobody, and the next time Bakugo saw Deku, he was kicking his fucking face in for all the times that he'd done it.

Bakugo opened up the comms channel. "Oi, Shitty Hair! You still alive, or what?" He called, leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Bakugo, you're alive! I was worried for a sec-"

"OF FUCKING COURSE I'M ALIVE, YOU IMBECILE! I'M NOT GONNA BE TAKEN DOWN BY A NO-NAME NOBODY!" Bakugo yelled into the comms, infuriated.

"...Okay, I see that you've been having a bad day. Is there any good news, or…?" Shitty Hair asked, sounding like he was poking a wild bear.

"The station's power is shut down, and I found the infirmary. Good fucking luck getting there, though. It's pretty fucking far away from the entrance. They have a teleporter, but the power's still down in the rest of the station and without a teleporter cuff, you're not gonna be able to even fucking use it." Bakugo listed off, glancing down the hallways.

"I'll make some noise for you. Just follow the explosions. You're not gonna fucking miss it." Bakugo said with a grin threatening to split his face.

"Why do you say that like you're planning on killing someone?"

"No one's gonna die unless they get in my way!" Bakugo shot back, irritated.

"Right, gotcha. I got some good news, too, man! We took out Vulcan and Mercury!" Shitty Hair exclaimed joyfully as Bakugo's nose wrinkled in confusion.

"Who the hell is Mercury?" Bakugo asked.

"One of the other guys in their alliance thing. He wasn't really dangerous. Real Steel almost took him out on his own." Shitty Hair babbled.

"Real Steel, huh? That guy's on planet?" Bakugo asked, confused.

"Yeah! You know him? He got pretty beat up while we were fighting Vulcan. Turns out that Vulcan was holding back a lot and even took Mercury's Quirk. I've got Real Steel right here." Shitty Hair explained.

"Yeah, I know him. Kicked his ass in the Sports Festival at U.A. Bastard was the only one strong enough to take any of my hits." Bakugo scoffed, looking down at his hands.

"Great! So you're friends?"

"No."

"...Okay, got it. I'll tell you more 'bout Vulcan and stuff in a minute, just trying to get to you right now." Shitty Hair said.

"Don't fucking trip and die." Bakugo warned, clicking off of the call.

Bakugo was motionless for a long moment until a large, sadistic smile crossed his face.

Bakugo slowly opened the door, the smile never leaving his face. "Cover your ears if you wanna fucking keep em."

The woman snapped a glare at him. "What are you planning?"

"I'm gonna make some noise." Bakugo said, licking his lips as a giddy laugh escaped him and explosions arced up from his arm, illuminating his face in a haunting orange glow.

The colour quickly drained from her face. "Th-This is a Federation Base. You can't-"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about the fucking building. If it has a goddamn foundation, it'll still be standing." Bakugo said maliciously, anticipation building up in his whole body.

"...Oh my god, you're actually doing this. I hate my job. Why did I agree to be shipped out here?" The woman mumbled, quickly moving from the room to go into the infirmary proper.

Something tugged at his pant legs, and Bakugo glanced down to see the brat beaming up at him.

"I wanna see it!" The girl exclaimed cheerfully, green hair bobbing as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Bakugo glared down at her. "It's gonna be loud." He warned her, watching her face.

She nodded. "Yup! But it's gonna be really cool!" She beamed, smiling up at him with an immensely happy face.

She has freckles. Like Deku. God damn it, if this kid reminds me of that shithead any more, I might just fucking punch something.

Bakugo snorted. "Don't come crying to me if you lose your hearing. Cover your damn ears." Bakugo ordered, pulling back out into the hallway with the brat on his heels, both hands on her ears.

Bakugo gripped his right arm with his left hand, staring down into it and letting out a few small experimental explosions.

He hadn't tested this yet. It was all theory. There wasn't going to be a problem if he messed it up, but he wasn't a damn loser who needed five years to master a simple Quirk like Deku. He'd get it right on his first try.

Slowly, Bakugo reached into his pockets and pulled out a pair of earplugs that he had picked up at the last station. He had a feeling that they would be useful here.

But he only had one pair.

The kid was still watching him hopefully, an expectant look on her face. Her hands were still covering her ears.

Sighing, Bakugo put the ear plugs in his own ears. He couldn't have his hearing failing him- not when he needed it sharp for the rest of his journey. If even the slightest factor went wrong, then it could mean his death.

He sent a glare at the brat, and she seemed to catch his meaning, pressing her hands down even harder.

This better fucking work.

"Volcanic Blast!" Bakugo roared, the noise numb to his own ears, and bent his explosions to his will.

The move was simple- it created a loud noise. A very loud noise. Loud enough to cause nearby metals to vibrate. It was like his Stun Grenade, except this one could cause pain and destruction.

The explosion billowed outwards, barely anything to it but noise and smoke.

It sounded like nothing but a light ringing, and some mild discomfort crossed the brat's face. The metal around him rang slightly. Bakugo frowned. It wasn't the effect that he was looking for, but he would take it.

Slowly, Bakugo lowered his hand and removed the ear plugs.

"You alright, brat?" Bakugo asked gruffly. The girl nodded, her eyes practically sparkling.

"That was so cool! You get to name all of your things! Do you have more?" She asked, getting worryingly close to him.

"Of course I do! Who the hell do you think I am? You're no hero without a special attack!" Bakugo replied, outraged.

"Whooooaaaa...When I become a hero, I'm gonna make a bunch of em and I'm gonna beat up the baddies! Like- hya!" The brat exclaimed, punching the air with form so bad that Bakugo almost cringed.

"...Right. You, uh. You do whatever the fuck you want, kid." Bakugo responded awkwardly, not sure how to tell her that her Quirk probably wasn't the greatest for being a hero.

The girl plopped down on the floor, while Bakugo remained standing. "My mommy and daddy always tell me that I don't gotta be a hero like them, but I wanna! They're really cool, and I wanna be like them!" She complained, looking like she was about to cry.

Bakugo was quiet for a long moment, as the girl stewed in her thoughts.

"...Hey. If you want to be a hero, then don't think of it like that." Bakugo said after a long pause. The girl looked up at him, confused.

"If your goal is to be cool, then fucking stop now. You're not gonna get anywhere if that's your only idea. You have to be a hero for a reason. You can't just half-ass it and expect to beat the people that really want the top spot." Bakugo lectured, feeling distinctly out of place. This would be a conversation that the girl's parents should have with her. It wasn't supposed to be his job. Hell, this wasn't even his kid.

"Hmmm... I don't get it." The girl decided after a long moment. Bakugo let out a long sigh, feeling frustration bubble up inside him.

"Okay, clean the wax out of your ears and listen. Imagine you want an ice cream cone, and you have enough credits for the ice cream cone, but suddenly, this other dumbass kid who really wants some ice cream comes and takes the last one before you can get one, and you don't get any ice cream. It'd be shitty, right?" Bakugo tried phrasing it another way. Based on the fact that the girl's brown eyes lit up, he'd say that she understood.

"Oh, I get it! It's kinda like when I want to build a sand castle but this one meanie keeps kicking it down!" The girl declared.

Bakugo had never felt more irritated in his life.

This is going to take a while.

"No, goddamnit, it's closer to-"

---

Kirishima panted, feeling exhaustion creep up on him again. He needed to get to this infirmary, and quickly. It wasn't like it was going to be hard to find. Bakugo had made it abundantly clear which direction it was in, and they'd been searching for what felt like hours but was probably closer to half an hour.

Whatever he did, it was loud. Everything about Bakugo was loud, but this cranked the scale up to eleven. Just as Bakugo said, the infirmary was pretty far away, but did he have to let the entire planet know where it was?

Ashido and Kaminari were slowly walking along behind him, with Ashido melting occasional holes in the wall to give light. Kaminari was too tired to give off electricity after calling down that bounty hunter, so this was their only way of seeing.

Whatever happened to the base looked pretty major. There was debris that Ashido had to melt through, and some hallways were just impossible for them to get through with two injured people.

Kirishima let out a long sigh. "How's your leg, Kaminari?" He asked, worried. They had just turned down another hallway. They had to be pretty close by now. He just wanted something to fill the silence.

Kaminari let out a shaky laugh. "It's, um, as fine as it can be. Hurts like hell." He admitted, leaning a bit more heavily on Ashido, who provided as much support as possible.

The group turned down another hallway.

"It should be alright, Kaminari. We should be getting close to the infirmary. Some recovery gel will have you feeling better in a jiffy!" Ashido ventured bravely, giving Kaminari a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, I sure-" Kaminari began, cutting himself short instantly as a strange look crossed his face. The group slowed to a halt.

"Something wrong?" Kirishima asked, glancing around in anticipation. Nothing seemed to be wrong…

"Do you hear something? Like a popping sound?" Kaminari asked quickly, shushing Kirishima.

Kirishima went quiet, straining his ears.

And then, he heard something. It was quiet, but definitely there.

"How did you even hear that with our conversation?" Kirishima asked slowly, amazed. He couldn't quite make out what it was, but he hadn't even noticed it.

"Ah, you know, I just...listened…" Kaminari said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and wincing at the action.

"...Right." Ashido said, equally as awkwardly, giving Kaminari a strange look.

Kirishima shook his head. "Let's not worry about that and follow the noise, yeah? It could be the infirmary!" Kirishima said excitedly, breaking out into a light jog with Real Steel in his arms.

Kirishima pulled around the turn in the hallway, the sound became louder and more and more distinct. As he went, a broad smile began to brew on his face- that was definitely Bakugo he was hearing. He was probably using his Quirk to give them an idea of where the infirmary was. At this rate, he'd be glad to just sit down.

Kirishima turned around the next bend, hearing Ashido and Kaminari's heavy footfalls behind him. There was a small amount of light in this hallway, illuminating two figures.

Kirishima's shoes almost screeched as he slid to a stop. Bakugo locked eyes with him.

There was a burning fire in those eyes. One that said mention this to anyone and you die. And this threat was one that Kirishima believed that Bakugo would fully follow through on.

Bakugo was sitting against a wall, a small child curled up in his lap. A little girl with green hair, specifically, who was clutching his pant leg and snoring lightly.

The only sounds in the hallway, now that Bakugo had extinguished his explosions to glare at Kirishima, was the sound of Kaminari and Ashido catching up, feet plodding along on tile- although even that stopped when they reached Kirishima's side.

Before now, Kirishima didn't think that he had ever seen so much negative energy directed his way. It almost caused him to stagger and drop Real Steel.

Glancing over at Ashido, he found himself suddenly stuck between two forces of intense emotion. He had never seen such an adoring and giddy look on someone's face before. When the little girl suddenly leaned into Bakugo, grasping at his shirt, the look of pure joy and happiness on her face only intensified.

Kaminari, on the other hand, looked like he was trying his absolute hardest to hold back a laugh, even as sweat shone on his face, likely from pain.

Kirishima let out a quiet, awkward laugh, making sure to keep his voice down. "Um, so, hi?" He started out, praying that the right words would reach him as he spoke. They didn't.

Bakugo's eyes narrowed, and Kirishima gulped. Bakugo held such an intense expression that Kirishima felt rooted to the ground.

"...Get inside. I don't have time to deal with you." Bakugo said, turning that frightening gaze away from Kirishima and the group. He breathed a small sigh of relief. He hadn't been worried about Bakugo doing anything, but the sheer threat of it was enough.

Kirishima walked carefully forward, making sure to not jostle Bakugo. Ashido and Kaminari limped along behind him, making sure to keep careful pace.

Kirishima carefully opened the sliding door, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. When his eyes started taking the scenery in, he blinked, his eyes falling on a woman who managed to look unimpressed but concerned at the same time.

"I take it that this is another person to add to the pile?" The woman asked, gesturing to Real Steel. Kirishima nodded, letting out a short pant.

Something in the woman's eyes softened. "Here, let me get him off of your hands. And you need to rest as well, young man. You look like you've ran a mile." She scolded, carefully removing Real Steel from his arms. Kirishima didn't dare protest, finding no problems with sitting down.

The woman carefully lowered Real Steel onto a nearby waiting bench, his legs sprawled uncomfortably over the edge. Kirishima almost fell into one of the adjacent benches as Kaminari and Ashido walked in.

The woman glanced up at the pair, her eyes narrowing. "You must be the one that Bakugo was talking about." She assessed, voice a harsh contrast from when she addressed Kirishima, this time full of disdain.

Kaminari winced. "I-"

"I don't really care whether or not you had good intentions here or not, acting like the heroes that you aren't. I know your kind- villainous scum who do anything to get what they want. You may be able to get away with it when Bakugo is around, but none of you scare me. If you cause trouble here, you'll regret it." She threatened, raising a laser gun out of seemingly nowhere.

The atmosphere of the room intensified, and Kirishima's shoulders tensed. He should have expected that these people would know of Bakugo. They were starting to see the consequences of being wanted by the Federation. They weren't the primary government for nothing.

The room was quiet for a long moment, the three of them thrown into stunned silence.

Until Kaminari spoke.

"Oi, don't go around dissing people like that. You can insult me all you like. I can take it. But don't you dare go around insulting my friends just because of something that they did in the past. If you go around dissing my mates, there's nothing stopping me from making you shut your trap." Kaminari countered in a low, quiet voice that could be heard easily in the quiet room. His eyes, burning with resolve, bored into the woman's.

Electricity quietly crackled around Kaminari, just barely avoiding Ashido.

After a long moment, the woman sighed, lowering the laser gun.

"I suppose that you did help us out. I heard reports of three heroes fighting for us. I'm going to assume that it was those two," she gestured to Real Steel and Kirishima, "and Bakugo."

"As thanks, it's only right that I give you an examination and try to help out as best as I can." The woman said with a sigh, pulling her gloves down lower on her hands.

"Take a seat. I'm addressing those who fought first. Your wounds may not be critical." She said, gesturing towards Kaminari. Slowly, he lowered himself into one of the non-taken seats with the help of Ashido, who rolled her shoulders.

"Man, Kaminari, you're heavy to try and carry for that long! You should probably eat less." Ashido said cheerfully, stretching out.

"Hey, are you just gonna say that after I defended us?! Come on, man!" Kaminari complained half-heartedly. Ashido gave him a cheery smile.

The woman rolled her eyes, crouching down near Real Steel and placing her head on his chest.

"Um...What are you doing?" Kirishima asked, mildly alarmed.

"My Quirk can let me listen to the blood flow of a patient's body. It's useful in identifying problems." The woman explained shortly, a cross look on her face. Kirishima went quiet, not wanting to disrupt her work.

After several long seconds, the woman let out a relieved sigh and lifted her head.

"He's going to be fine. His blood is moving in such a way that suggests an iron deficiency. The only thing that can really help him here is rest and supplements to help him get back to a normal level or iron in his body. He must have overdone himself with his Quirk." The woman diagnosed rapidly, hands on her hips.

Kirishima nodded rapidly, clinging to every word.

Something in the woman's gaze softened. "You fought alongside him, right? Don't worry, Real Steel will be fine."

"How did you know his name?" Kirishima immediately asked. His tired brain couldn't quite keep up with everything that was happening.

The woman rolled her eyes. "My son loves heroes. He wants to be one when he gets older, so I've heard all about them. He could probably tell you what type of breakfast Deku eats." She explained, a soft smile gracing her lips.

"Now, I still need to check you. There's no telling what the internal complications of such a crash could be." The woman quickly transitioned to Kaminari, now resting with his leg out in front of him. Kirishima took notice of the fact that the shirt that they'd wrapped his leg in was wet, and he doubted that it was water.

The woman repeated her process on Kaminari, the man looking increasingly uncomfortable the longer it went on.

She lifted her head from his chest and raised a finger in the air.

"You have minor damage to each arm in addition to several small pieces of shrapnel in your leg, not too far from the major wound. In all honesty, you were lucky. Any worse and you would likely need surgery before we attempted to heal you." The woman lectured, lightly chopping Kaminari on the head. The man winced but nodded.

"The best that I can do for you is to remove the shrapnel. It'll be painful. Once I do that, the healers here might have room for you." The woman explained gravely, fixing Kaminari with a look that meant serious business.

Kaminari paled. "Pull out...the shrapnel?"

An evil look crossed the woman's face, one that sent dread down Kirishima's spine.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

---

Tetsutetsu's mind felt like it was in a fog.

Vaguely, he could make out sounds in the background, but his limbs were sluggish and his eyelids didn't want to open. And yet, he still felt the need to wake up. His body had been resting for far too long now. He was a hero, and he had a job to do.

Slowly, Tetsutetsu opened his eyes, wincing when he was met with blinding light.

He blinked a few times, rolling his head away from the light that seared his eyes. Slowly, he began to take in his surroundings.

He was in some sort of waiting room. It looked bland. That was all he could really say about it.

A hand rested on his shoulder and Tetsutetsu jumped, not having seen anyone. "Whoa, easy there, buddy. It's just me. Red Riot." A somewhat familiar voice filled his ears, and Tetsutetsu relaxed a bit.

"What happened?" Tetsutetsu asked, mouth dry.

"We won. You're in the infirmary at the station. The battle's over." Red Riot explained soothingly.

Tetsutetsu let out a long sigh, bringing his arm up to shield his eyes.

"We even got him captured, and we've reached a sort of peace with the rebels. So there's no more need to fight!" Red Riot explained excitedly.

Tetsutetsu hummed, feeling a satisfied sort of exhaustion set in.

His shoulder and side hurt. It was a harsh, dull pain that distracted his thoughts and sent his mind into disarray.

WIncing, he moved his left arm to lift up his shirt.

An angry purple and green bruise was beginning to form. He let out a long sigh. He was going to need recovery gel if he wanted to go back to work quickly.

"Metalhead. You're awake." A familiar, grating voice reached his ears, and Tetsutetsu tensed, his head snapping to the side and his eyes widening.

Not five feet away from him sat Bakugo Katsuki, his signature smirk on his face.

It had been a while since the two had spoken. A very long while. The two of them used to spar, with the reasoning being that Tetsutetsu had been able to take a hit without complaint. On Tetsutetsu's side, Bakugo had been a great test of the limits of his strength.

Hell, Bakugo had been the inspiration for his Ironclad mode, so it was like seeing an old friend who had stabbed you.

Tetsutetsu rolled over, refusing to meet Bakugo's eyes. "I ain't gonna talk to a man like you. Go the hell away." He said, completely resolute.

Bakugo snorted. "I ain't going anywhere until my ship's repaired, which means that I'm gonna be here for another few hours. Better get used to my face, Metalhead."

Tetsutetsu froze. His ship was damaged? So that must have meant that he was dragged into this by the space battle that Tetsutetsu had barely circumvented.

But, in this situation, one too many things weren't adding up.

Rolling back over, Tetsutetsu casted a glance at Red Riot.

"You. While we were fighting with Vulcan, you said that Bakugo was your friend. Are you a hero or are you aligned with him?" Tetsutetsu spared no time in asking the question that had been on his mind for a while.

Red Riot paled, and Tetsutetsu closed his eyes with weariness.

There was silence for a long moment before Red Riot answered, voice shaky. "I'm travelling with Bakugo to do some good in the galaxy. He's got a manly spirit, and he's more of a hero than some of them out there. I may not be a hero, but I want to help people!" Red Riot proclaimed, voice steadily gaining confidence.

Tetsutetsu thought back to the downright murderous expressions that Bakugo tended to wear, his catchphrase of 'die', his aggressive nature, and all of his other villainous qualities, and found himself unable to agree.

"Plus, he tried to leave, but he got attacked, so it's my duty as a man to help out my friend until he's safe!" Red Riot finished, sounding completely sure of himself. Tetsutetsu rolled back over to meet his eyes, noting how uncomfortable the waiting room bench was.

There was no doubt in his eyes. Whatever Bakugo was doing, Red Riot truly believed that it was the right thing to do.

Tetsutetsu sighed. "You know it's illegal to use a Quirk against other people without a hero license? I could have you two arrested for vigilantism." He monotoned, not much bite behind the bark.

"You're not gonna do shit. You'd be dead without our help, and it's not like I can't beat the shit out of everyone in this base, including you." Bakugo snorted, and Tetsutetsu glanced at him, annoyed.

That was when he saw the little girl clinging to his arm.

Green hair. Curious brown eyes. Freckles.

Oh no.

Did he...did he know? He couldn't. There was no way. But did Tetsutetsu want to take the risk?

"Mister hero, he's looking at me kinda funny." The little girl stage-whispered to Bakugo, and Tetsutetsu had never heard stranger words before.

"That's because he's a fucking idiot. And get the hell off my arm!" Bakugo snapped to the kid, anger crossing his face. The girl beamed back at him, but let go anyways.

"Okay, mister hero!" She said happily, dropping to the floor with a light thud. She rolled backwards twice, neither of them needed to land.

Bakugo glanced back at Tetsutetsu, an ugly look crossing his face. "Don't you fucking dare telling Deku about this until I'm off the planet. The last thing that that fucker needs to be focusing on is me right now." Bakugo warned.

Tetsutetsu paused, watching the girl roll around on the floor. Why would it be bad for Deku if he focused on Bakugo? He knew that the two had a complicated relationship, but how bad could it really be?

Watching as the girl hit her head against the wall and Bakugo began yelling at her to stop being stupid, Tetsutetsu let out a long sigh. This was going to be a long few hours.

---

They had almost made it out of the base when they got ambushed.

"Let go of my leg." Bakugo ordered.

"I don' wanna."

"Do it or I'll blow you up." Bakugo tried again.

"No!" The brat complained.

Bakugo let out a weary sigh. "Why the hell are you being so difficult?"

"You're really nice and you have a cool Quirk because it's like pretty fireworks and-" The brat began to babble, and Bakugo's eye twitched.

"Stop." He ordered harshly. The girl went quiet with a small whimper, but she clung even tighter to his leg.

Exasperation welled up in him when he glanced at the three idiots. Raccoon Eyes was taking pictures with her comm, Shitty Hair had a huge fucking smile on his face, and Pikachu...was about passed the fuck out from the recovery gel.

"Look, kid, do you have a comm?" Bakugo asked, annoyed. He didn't expect her to, but he knew better than to assume shit nowadays.

The girl blinked and stared up at him, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. "Y-yeah…" She said, unsure. Bakugo raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"Let me see it." Bakugo ordered.

The girl didn't even think to question his orders, just digging around in her small jacket and digging out one of the latest models of communicator. Hell, it looked better than his.

"Fuckin' heroes…" Bakugo grumbled, putting his newest comm number in it. Handing it back to the girl, he let out a small sigh of annoyance when she didn't let go of his leg.

"I put my comm number in there. You can call me now, or whatever the fuck you want to do with it. Don't fucking call me late at night, though, you fucking got it? I like my fucking sleep." Bakugo lectured, making sure that the girl understood. Something in her entire demeanor seemed to change- she went from despairing about him leaving to being absolutely overjoyed.

After another long minute of her hugging his leg and making grateful babbling noises that Bakugo couldn't even make out, she carefully let go with a sniffle.

This damn kid gets attached way too fucking easily. I'm not exactly a damn role model. Fucking hell, couldn't she have just fucking latched on to Shitty Hair? They'd be best fucking friends. Basically the same fucking person.

"Good. Now, what do you do when someone's an asshole to you?" Bakugo asked, quickly making sure she had understood the lessons he had tried to teach her.

"I gotta kick em in the shins, then I gotta punch em, and then I gotta yell 'Get fucked, you piece of shit', tell them to die, and run?" The girl recited, steadily becoming more and more uncertain as she recited it.

Bakugo smiled a sinister smile. "That's damn right. You're starting to learn, you little brat." He said, patting her twice awkwardly on the head.

"But mister hero, my daddy said not to swear. He does it sometimes, though…" She trailed off, curling a finger on the bottom of her lip.

"Well, I'm a hero. I'm giving you permission to swear from this day forward." Bakugo played along, standing up straight and fixing her with a serious expression.

The girl looked uncertain for only another moment.

"Fuck." The girl said, testing the waters and clenching her fists.

Bakugo almost wiped a tear from his eyes.

But he didn't, because he wasn't fucking crying, and anyone who told him otherwise could suck it.

"So long, brat." Bakugo said his final farewell, turning away from her.

"Goodbye, mister hero." The kid responded sadly.

Bakugo never stopped walking, rejoining the tapeworms whose eyes held a thousand questions. They turned to walk with him, just a few paces in front of him.

But before their band of misfits set out for their ship, which had been fixed by drones and carried by Tugs all the way to the front of the base, Bakugo decided to give one final goodbye.

He wasn't the sentimental type. This encounter didn't mean shit for him. The only thing that happened was that he babysat a kid for a few hours and taught her to swear.

But it still didn't feel right that he left like that. Hell, he probably wasn't even gonna see the kid again.

So he raised his hand in a peace sign, refusing to turn around but knowing that the kid saw it.

After a few long seconds, he lowered his arm, and Shitty Hair turned to him, a confused look on his face. "Bakugo? You do something?" He asked.

"Nothing. Shut the fuck up and walk behind me, you asses." He sneered, pulling ahead of the pack.

"And stop fucking looking at me like that, Raccoon Eyes!" Bakugo snapped, finally allowing himself to fully express his anger.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Bakugo." Raccoon Eyes responded innocently.

Bakugo snorted. "Look alive, Pikachu!" He yelled, slapping the man in question on the back of the head. Pikachu jumped, completely startled.

"I'm alright! Don't worry about me!" Pikachu instantly reassured.

"Then don't fucking fall asleep standing up. I know how that stuff feels, but we're almost at the fucking ship." Bakugo reprimanded.

Pikachu nodded, eyes still drooping a bit.

Bakugo put some more emphasis in his step, throwing open the door that lead to the outside.

Parked a small distance from the base was their ship, looking good as new. Bakugo's lip curled, feeling a sort of satisfaction in actually having someone else doing what he would normally have to.

And all of it for free. The Federation were grateful for their help, and for a damn good reason. Some recognized him, but it wouldn't really fucking matter when they were just people without good combat Quirks against two assholes who knew how to fight like heroes. They would have all been dead without their help.

The ramp lowered, and Bakugo's eyes narrowed as they approached.

"Wait here. Something isn't right." Bakugo muttered, eyes narrowing.

Something about the ship felt...off. He didn't know what it was, but his gut instinct was telling him that something was wrong. Bakugo knew better than to not trust his instincts.

"Bakugo, what's wrong?" Raccoon Eyes asked, worry in her voice.

"Got a bad feeling." Bakugo responded warily, stomping up the ramp with the tapeworms only a little bit behind.

Stomping forwards, Bakugo kicked open the door to the bridge and stepped through, eyes roaming.

But before he could react, something was wrapping around his body- something sticky. He couldn't move his arms.

"Haha! Got you! Never thought it would be this easy. Your bounty is mine, Bakugo Katsuki!" A voice laughed, sounding very overconfident.

Bakugo turned to look to his right, unimpressed. Standing there was a man with really fucking weird elbows and the plainest face and hair that Bakugo had ever seen. Like, goddamn. His hair looked like someone cracked a fucking egg in half and colored it black.

Experimentally, Bakugo tugged his arms. Nothing. He could only move a little bit, so he wasn't completely immobilized.

"Now all I have to do is bring you in and I'll be sitting pretty for years!" The man (bounty hunter, Bakugo realized) bragged, throwing his hands behind his head.

"Hey, jackass. Did you even read up on me before trying to take me out?" Bakugo asked, slightly amused. It was kind of adorable, how clueless he was.

"Of course! You're Bakugo Katsuki. Quirk: Explosion. Your bounty is ten million credits. I'm not so stupid to walk in unprepared." The man explained, cracking his knuckles.

Bakugo stared at him for a long moment, and turned his palm upward.

With a single explosion, carefully fired upwards, the tape blocking his arms from moving caved, and with another explosion, Bakugo's right palm met the face of the bounty hunter.

"DIE!" Bakugo roared, firing off an explosion in his face. Egg-head fell over with a yelp, and Bakugo let out a laugh.

"Come on, you're not the first asshole to try it. I've fought and destroyed people who were a lot smarter than you." Bakugo said, rolling his eyes.

Stepping over the groaning body of the idiot, Bakugo sauntered out of the bridge, looking out past the lowered ramp.

"It was just some bounty hunter asshole. Come on." Bakugo called, disinterested.

Stalking back into the bridge, he leered down imperiously at egg-head. "Get the fuck out of my ship before I blast you to kingdom come." Bakugo threatened, voice a low rumble. Slowly, and with a groan, egg-head pulled himself up. The door to the bridge opened up once more, and the three idiots walked through.

"Sero? Why are you here?" Pikachu mumbled in a haze.

"You know this fucker?" Bakugo asked, narrowing his eyes. Egg-head groaned, gingerly touching his cheek.

"Yeah, he's a bounty hunter. I hired him to help out with Vulcan. Why is he here, though? I thought he'd be off-planet by now…" Pikachu mumbled, eyes glazed over.

"Hey, I'm right here, you know!" Egg-head complained.

"No one cares, Egg-head!" Bakugo shouted, temper flaring even despite the protests from Egg-head.

"Give him a second to talk, Bakugo. Why are you still here?" Shitty Hair asked jovially, giving a smile and a small wave.

"I figured you'd be off-planet by now. It isn't smart to try and take on a big job as a novice bounty hunter, you know! They have that bounty for a reason." Racoon Eyes chirped, sitting down on a chair and swinging her legs

"Don't worry about it, though. Bakugo's really strong, so you probably couldn't have beaten him even if you got stronger." Shitty Hair continued unperturbed, and Bakugo sneered.

The bridge fell silent, all eyes on Egg-head. An unknown emotion was on his face- a strange mixture of broken pride, confusion, and fear.

"You guys...Are really weird!" Egg-head suddenly exclaimed, letting out a short laugh as his face twisted into a smile.

"THE FUCK YOU SAY ABOUT ME! I'LL KILL YOU!" Bakugo roared, feeling rage burn hotly in his gut.

"I was only still here because my ship was stolen after I went back to it. I tried to pick up some easy credits, but you all saw how that went." Egg-head continued, completely ignoring Bakugo and adding a touch of derision to his tone.

"Your ship was stolen? The fuck did you do, just leave it out there for the taking? Scavengers do whatever the fuck it takes to get a ship, so it's just fucking gone to the wind at this point." Bakugo pointed out, snorting.

Egg-head let out a long sigh. "Yeah, I know, and it's not exactly like I'm buddy-buddy with the Federation. I don't even have the money for a new ship, and I don't want to be stuck on this scrap heap for any longer than I have to." Egghead explained, shoulders slumped and gaze downwards.

Shitty Hair nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, you're not alone in that. We're sort of getting chased by them right now."

"What do you mean sort of?" Egg-head asked somewhat nervously before glancing at Bakugo.

"Oh, I get it. I still don't have a way off the planet, though. You guys at least have a ship." Egg-head pointed out, although he didn't look too impressed with what he saw.

"Wellll, your Quirk has something to do with tape, right?" Raccoon Eyes abruptly asked, leaning forwards with a devious look in her eyes.

Please, for the love of fuck, no.

"Uh, yeah? I can shoot tape from my elbows and wrap it around things. But if I use it too much, I get dry skin." Egg-head happily revealed, telling Bakugo just how fucking stupid this man was.

"So what you're saying is that you can immobilize other people and fix up a ship, right?" Raccoon Eyes continued.

The switch finally clicked for Egg-head, just as annoyance fully built up for Bakugo.

"Wait...You wouldn't-" Egg-head began, a look of wonder in his eyes.

"No." Bakugo said instantly.

The bridge was quiet for a long second.

"Wh-What? Why not? His Quirk is useful, and he seems like a nice guy!" Raccoon Eyes complained, and Bakugo's eyes narrowed.

"Exactly. His Quirk is useful. And if he's with a bounty hunting guild, they probably had him place trackers in here. They would expect that I would be able to take him out, but they sent him in case I decided that he could be useful. We can't keep him because he's a threat and an unnecessary drain on resources." Bakugo reasoned.

"Bakugo, there's no way he could have known that you were here! He didn't even know about you until after his ship was stolen, and he's wearing pretty casual clothes! I'm sorry, but as a man, I can't turn away someone who needs my help!" Shitty Hair proclaimed, slamming his hand into a fist with a look of blazing determination in his eyes.

Bakugo narrowed his eyes at Shitty Hair, who stood resolute.

Bakugo looked at Egg-head, who looked nervous.

Glancing at Raccoon Eyes, he saw that her hands were staying flat by her sides, but she looked ready to drop into a stance fit for fighting.

Pikachu was staring into the distance, but his look wasn't quite as hazy as before. Bakugo was certain that if he tried to touch him, the bastard would accidentally shock him.

Bakugo let out a long sigh, firing off a series of small explosions in his palm. "Egg-head. How long have you been a bounty hunter? And if you lie to me, I'll kill you." This time, it wasn't an empty threat. Egg-head would die if Bakugo found his answers to be suspicious.

"U-um, just over a month, now. I started it to earn some cash. Gotta put food on the table somehow, right?" Egg-head responded, looking anywhere but Bakugo's eyes.

Suspicious, but understandable. Bakugo was someone to be scared of.

"Did you plant anything on, around, or inside this ship?" Bakugo asked, making sure that his question was clear. One asshole had tried avoiding his questions by answering in half-truths. Bakugo had kicked the man through a wall to get him to stop talking in riddles.

"No. I don't even have anything to plant. I usually just catch people with my Quirk and bring them to the nearest Fed base if they're a criminal, or the nearest Guild if they're a hero or civvie." Egg-head responded, looking like he had found his rhythm.

Bakugo fired a louder explosion, and Egg-head was thrown off again. Good. The more scared he was, the more likely he was to not give him any bullshit.

"Did you actually get your ship stolen or taken by scavengers without your knowledge?" Bakugo asked with a sneer.

This time, Egg-head met his stare. There was fear in his eyes, but there was also a calm determination.

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't." He responded with some confidence.

Bakugo sighed, and he stopped his explosions.

"If I decide that you're useless, I'm kicking you out. If I decide that you're a threat to any of these assholes, I'm going to murder you. Do you understand?" Bakugo prompted with a whoop of joy from Raccoon Eyes.

"Don't sound so fucking happy about that! It ain't like we got room in this fucking ship for him. And you- if we get into a space battle, make yourself fucking useful. We've got sensors. No asshole around here is going to be sitting around on the Ground Zero!" Bakugo roared, pointing towards Egg-head with a frightening look on his face.

A frightened look passed over Egg-head's face for a second before he gave a lazy salute. "Sir, yes, sir!"

"Now let's get off this shitty rock!" Bakugo roared, slipping into the pilot's seat.

As the ship's engines roared to life and Egg-head made his introductions, Bakugo let out a small sigh. This better be the last asshole on this ship.

One more person and then they're liabilities.

The ship entered the atmosphere, and a relieved feeling filled Bakugo's heart. They were finally off of this shitty rock.

"All for One...I'm coming for you." Bakugo muttered under the incessant chatter in the background.

This planet would serve to be the first big hurdle in his journey, but it certainly wouldn't be his last.

---

"Hey, Midoriya! Mission successful!" Real Steel said happily, an easygoing smile on his face. Midoriya smiled, relieved. Even through a video call, Tetsutetsu managed to keep spirits up.

"That's great. Did you encounter any resistance?" Midoriya asked. He knew that Tetsutetsu would have been in a fight, but he wanted to know if there was anything extra, out of the ordinary.

Tetsutetsu's eyes slid away from his own for a moment, and worry began to grow in Midoriya's heart.

"Uh...Yeah, there was some resistance, you could say. I fought two villains who seemed to be behind the attack. One of them is comatose and the other refuses to answer any questions." Tetsutetsu responded, looking slightly bashful.

"You put someone in a coma?" Midoriya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No! Not at all. He- look, I'll explain it in the mission report. There's a couple more important things that you need to know." Tetsutetsu rapidly explained.

"There's a new group of villains around, and it looks like they're using the theme of the Roman gods. They don't seem overly dangerous, but there's something you should know- they're after Bakugo." Tetsutetsu explained, donning a serious look.

"Kacchan? Why?" Midoriya pondered aloud, curling a finger around his chin.

"Don't know. They think that killing him will give them the power to rule the galaxy, though. Speaking of Bakugo- he was on-planet. I was too weak from my fight with one of the villains to try and apprehend him and his friends." Tetsutetsu explained, lowering his head and clenching a fist in shame.

"His friends?" Midoriya ventured cautiously.

"Yeah. He had a few people with him. A girl with pink skin, a guy with red, spiky hair named Kirishima Eijirou, and a guy with yellow hair with a streak of black in it like a lightning bolt. Kirishima called himself Red Riot and helped me in my fight. I never got the names of the rest."

Midoriya lowered his head in earnest thought, curling a finger around his chin. Kacchan never managed to make friends. If he ever talked to anyone, it was because he respected their strength, and he only talked to them to ask for a spar. But what would be so different about these people that would make him tolerate them, and vice versa? Kacchan isn't the nicest person- he's always been a bit of a bully. So does that mean that he's forcing these people to be around him? No, that doesn't make sense either. Kacchan flew solo even as a thief. So are they forcing him to stick with them? That doesn't make much sense either. Whoever these people are, they would have to be strong enough to force him to stay, and Kacchan managed to hold off the entirety of the League of Villains at once for over ten minutes, even while All Might fought All For One. So did they reach an agreement, then? But what terms would be so dire that Kacchan would accept working with other people? It can't be a villain. There's no one who's directly strong enough to hold out against Kacchan for long enough to make him worry, unless it's someone like Muscular or Rappa. But then again, Muscular was broken out of Tartarus, as well as All For One, and Rappa is still imprisoned from after Todoroki fought him. But how would Kacchan know that? From the security footage that survived, we know that Kacchan raced straight for the ships. But we never saw what he left in, and only know the classification of the ship from Jirou's reports, and in that report, she mentioned that there was a man with yellow hair with Kacchan. That means that he stuck with them for this long, despite there being a large amount of time to leave, which means that he most likely plans on sticking with them out of some form of necessity.

"Deku? You're muttering again." Ochako's voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and he looked up, blinking. Tetsutetsu had an amused smile on his face, and Ochako was giving him the same sweet look she always did. Midoriya reddened.

"Ah, sorry!" He apologized frantically, waving his hands in front of him.

But there's something that I know for sure. Kacchan knows that All For One is out of prison, and he probably wants to fight him.

Midoriya let out a short sigh. "Don't worry about it, Tetsutetsu. Kacchan is just too strong to fight directly. I'll send some people out to investigate those villains. Do you have anything else for me?" He asked, mentally mapping out what resources he could put where.

Tetsutetsu's face instantly shifted from relieved to worried again, and Midoriya prepared for some bad news.

"Uh. Your, um. Uh. Yeah, um, your kid is here." Tetsutetsu said, an extremely awkward look on his face.

Midoriya froze, feeling fear creep up on him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ochako don a worried expression.

"And Bakugo taught her to swear."

The bridge was silent as Midoriya processed this, keeping a careful eye on Ochako for her reaction. Her face was an unreadable mix of emotions, but Midoriya gave himself about twenty seconds before she exploded.

"Alright thanks for telling me you should probably go now before you get yelled at, bye!" Midoriya rushed out in one quick breath, instantly ending the call before Ochako could do anything.

He took a deep breath, only a little bit worried for his daughter. She was only four, and she'd just discovered her Quirk a week ago. It was the same as her mother's. Still, though, it sounded like Kacchan had talked to her and that she was alright. Besides, Tetsutetsu was there. He could watch out for her.

Still, though…

Midoriya let out a small laugh. That sounds just like something you would do, Kacchan. Didn't you say that kids should be able to look out for themselves?

I feel like she'll be just fine.

---

And that's a wrap for Chapter 7- Of Limits and Strength!

I apologize on the delay on this chapter, as well as the length of it. Last chapter, I believe that I said that I would have this out in a few days. At the time, I already had about 9k words done on this one. I planned on making it 15-20k words at the maximum, and I figured that it would only take me a few days to get it out.

And then a week sent straight from hell descended on me. I had several important, future-determining tests at school back-to-back, sports matches, and a myriad of other things happened. I would often come home weary and tired, and if I didn't, I had homework to do. I didn't have the chance to write for a while, and I didn't want to write if it wouldn't be good. And so, I decided to make this a big chapter. A really big chapter, by the end. I try not to go back on my promises, but this is a way of making up for the delay.

If you're actually reading this author's note and already plan to review, then let me know if you prefer longer chapters like this one or shorter chapters like the last one. If I do write longer chapters, it'll only be an extra 5k or so words, though. It won't be anything drastic.

As for this chapter- Sero has joined the crew in a roundabout manner, and a rebellion was quelled. However, turmoil is still spreading through the galaxy, and All For One is still on the move. In the next chapter, the crew of the Ground Zero encounter troubles in space while two well-known heroes begin their own search for the Roman God villains- and making good progress along the way.

Until next time,

Anonymuss45, signing off.