"It's a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains. I know it's impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say hello. And besides, isn't this a fitting place for All Might, the symbol of peace to die? He was supposed to be here today and yet I see no sign of him. There must have been some sort of change in plans we could not have foreseen. Ah, well, in the end, I suppose it doesn't matter. I still have a role to play."
These villains were dumbasses.
It was kind of pathetic, really.
"You live up to your school's reputation, but you should be more careful, children. Otherwise, someone might get hurt."
But feeling sorry didn't stop Ryuko from unleashing her pent-up frustration, anger and tension on the nearest available punching bags.
Especially since the foggy bastard warped her straight to the fire zone.
Where everything was on goddamn fire.
"You three! Get out of the way! Right now!"
The first couple of villains never saw her knuckles coming.
Neither did their friends.
In fact, by the time she finished kicking ass, Ryuko realized she'd never used her Quirk.
Which made their 'invade the USJ' plan that much more pathetic.
"I'll scatter you across this facility to meet my comrades! And your deaths!"
As the foggy bastard's words echoed inside her head, Ryuko let the tiger-like villain she'd pummeled into unconsciousness fall to the ground.
"You really that stupid?"
The last villain, bald and with bird-like claws, stopped dead in his tracks. She didn't need to turn around to realize the bastard froze. Not from calling him out, although that would've been nice. But from her Quirk activating by the time her arm swung backwards, leaving him staring at an exceptionally sharp blade aimed squarely between his eyes.
"What's your boss planning?"
She grabbed the asshole's shirt, pulled him closer and shifted the angle of her sword relative to his face, "Start talking or I start stabbing! First your shoulder, then your balls."
Instead of answering, the hardened criminal's eyes rolled backwards.
It happened so quickly and without warning that Ryuko blinked twice before picking the much larger villain off the ground and violently shaking him, "God damn it! I wasn't finished!"
"Don't bother, blood bank."
Katsuki Bakugo wasn't angry.
That would mean these thugs were worth his time and energy.
"They're nothing more than small fries."
The two-bit villain who'd thought it was a good idea to ambush him the moment that smoky bastard warped him across the USJ had seen better days. Burnt, unconscious and all four arms dragging along the street. He had no clue which direction was north. And didn't care. They were inside the USJ, which meant eventually he'd reach the edge of the burning city and find the exit. That blood bank was the first person from his class he stumbled upon was nothing more than coincidence.
"You used your head instead of beating the shit out of somebody?" Ryuko snarked, unnecessary, perhaps, but the blond punk's restrained growl was worth every penny.
"I'm not an idiot," the half-dead, heavily bruised and burnt yet miraculously still breathing villain fell from Bakugo's fingers onto the road, "If a bunch of villains break into school, like hell I'm going to let them run away without answering questions!"
"Geez, chill out, Kacchan."
A metaphorical tempest, followed by a hurricane of curses and death threats, detonated against her back with the force of a nuclear explosion. It was annoying. And boring. But kind of creative. All of which she ignored, "I'm agreeing with ya," her knees popped as she stood up, blood rushing into her head, and clenched her sword a little tighter, "Don't need these morons telling me the obvious to know something ain't exactly right."
It was hot inside the fire zone.
But the intense heat seemed distant compared to the weird chill brushing against her neck, "Like how the hell did they plan on killing All Might when they're so…so…freaking weak?"
"They stole All Might's schedule," ignoring the fact she might have asked possibly the stupidest question in the world, Bakugo addressed the matter clearly and concisely. They were fighting real villains, not some wannabes or actors. Of course, to Ryuko, he sounded exceptionally angry, "They probably thought he'd be easy to ambush," shoulders slouched, hands balled into fists and an expression of pure annoyance plastered on his face, he forced himself to approach Matoi, "But none of these punks holds a candle to All Might."
He stopped.
But before Ryuko could say anything, he grabbed her collar, miniature explosions detonating between his armored fingers, "And if you call me that again, I'm going to beat your ass!"
Anybody else would have apologized to him.
She simply rolled her eyes, slapped Bakugo's hand and walked away.
"That dinosaur-looking bastard with the crazy teeth and brains looked pretty strong," sweat dripped down her arms, legs and every other surface of her body, staining her PE uniform and making her fingers slippery, "I bet that homeless freak with the hands thinks he's strong enough to go toe-to-toe with All Might."
"That warpy-bastard's the real threat. He's their way in and out," Bakugo spat out the side of his mouth, "If I cut off their escape route, they'll be stuck here and have to pay for what they've done!"
"Oh yeah?" now it was her turn to scoff, "I know your memory's crap, but we literally tried that!"
"I know what happened!" he snapped back harder, "But if I hit him fast enough, he won't have time to use his Quirk! And you're going to help me!"
"Me?"
"Once we get out of this place, you'll attack the bastard head-on," his frustration settled into an annoyed simmer. At himself for failing to figure it out sooner. At the rest of the class for being too slow. At pretty much everyone and everything, "When he tries warping you again, I'll surprise-blast him with all the sweat I've built up in this crazy heat."
She blinked.
Then glared at Bakugo like he'd said the stupidest comment imaginable, "Did you seriously call me bait!?"
If Bakugo cared in the slightest about her opinion, he did a damn good job of hiding it, "When we attacked that smoky bastard, I saw something! And so did you! Somewhere beneath that smoke is his actual body! A real target! Something we can hit," his irritation turned into a snarl as he turned aside, staring in the direction he thought the rest of their class might be, "While he's dealing with you, I'll smash his real body with an explosion so powerful he'll never get back up!"
"Oh, is that so?"
The voice whispered in their ears.
Yet when they turned around, nobody was there.
A breeze.
A whisper on the wind.
Ryuko saw her first.
Standing down the street, wreathed in flames and wavering heat, was a young woman around their age. At least, Ryuko thought she was. As the villain stepped through the scorching fire and flames without trouble, her eyes drifting towards the costume. A multilayered pink dress with feathered folds ending halfway down her thighs and armored creases alongside a purple corset. Pink boots adorned with hearts and tied by salmon-colored laces disappeared somewhere underneath her dress. Long blonde hair sculpted into twin ponytails almost reaching her waist. A matching umbrella twirled between manicured fingers. And a white porcelain mask resembling a rabbit complete with weird patterns around its eyes.
"Sorry about eavesdropping."
The villain casually sauntered towards them, each step accompanied by a soft pitter-patter audible despite the flames. Even inside the USJ, surrounded by thugs and criminals, there was something different about this woman, "But you were talking so loudly, it was hard not to overhear you."
"Who are you?"
Bakugo immediately didn't like the rabbit cosplaying villain, "Since you're hiding behind that shitty mask, I'm guessing you're the real boss of this operation, not mister handsy."
"A woman never reveals her secrets," pressing a finger where her mouth would be, the villain stopped her approach, "But since you heroes like names, just call me ~Couturier~."
"Couturier?"
The word clung to Ryuko's tongue like two-day-old food, "That some sort of stupid rabbit?"
"Don't be jealous just because you're uncultured," amusement accompanied the young woman's saccharine tittering as she briefly looked somewhere to her right, "I'm sure you have a great name. Oh, that's right, you students still haven't picked your hero names yet, have you?"
Bakugo didn't let the villain finish before smashing his hands together, fingers curled into claws and teeth bared as several grams of nitroglycerine spontaneously ignited. The resulting explosion engulfed Couturier mid-question, enveloping her and most of the street in a massive blast heard outside the fire rescue zone while accidentally knocking away Matoi. And despite a cold sweat and a whisper that beating the blonde villain had been a little too easy, he grinned, "Got her!"
"Are you ~sure~ about that?"
A painful breath caught in his throat.
He hadn't seen her move. Hadn't heard anything. But standing over his shoulder, finger tapping against her mask and one foot curled against her thigh, Couturier released what could only generously be called a sigh, "Because between you and me, I think you might've missed."
"DIE, YOU CRAZY RABBIT BITCH!"
His attempt at grabbing Couturier's face and hitting her with a point-blank explosion vanished when she hopped backwards.
"Gosh, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" feigning disappointment, Couturier giggled, "Well, with a weak Quirk like yours, I wouldn't want to kiss you either!"
His mouth convulsed.
"Weak, huh?" he was deadly quiet, so far beyond angry that a certain calmness caused his left eyebrow to twitch. This bitch wasn't Deku, but even if he didn't know how that weakling got a damn Quirk, she was going to die. He was going to kill her. No matter how long it took, he wasn't going to let anyone else have the honor of smashing that smile off her masked face, "Then I guess that makes you even weaker since you're too goddamn afraid to fight me!"
"Hmm…"
Bakugo didn't know why the villain's humming sent a shiver racing down his spine, but he prepared himself for whatever her Quirk could do, "You want to fight me?" halfway through her question, she tittered, "Alright – if you insist," he blushed, involuntarily despite everything, when she reached into her dress and withdrew a purplish-red sword resembling those dressmaking scissors his dad used at work, "Just don't go crying to mommy when I send you home in a body bag!"
She moved as fast as possible.
Hell, she moved faster than possible, if that made sense.
But it was like trying to hit a freaking ghost.
Half-pivoting, half-skidding and stumbling after whiffing, Ryuko seethed, "How the hell is she so goddamn fast!?"
"Quit whining and use your head, blood bank," angry yet levelheaded enough to keep his temper in check, Bakugo snorted, "She hasn't attacked, which means her Quirk is probably similar to four-eyes'. All speed. No power," he kept his voice down, if only to make sure Couturier or whatever her shitty name was didn't overhear them, "If we could stop her from dodging, there'd be nothing stopping me from hitting her point-blank with a blast."
"An interesting plan!"
Standing behind them, purplish-crimson sword pressed against the small of her back, her fingers curled within its grooved handle and flames dancing on her mask, the villain sounded downright amused, "Only one ~small~ problem – you have to trap me first!"
"I don't give two shits how fast you are," Bakugo's glare intensified, "If you're dodging, that means you're fragile!"
"Fragile?"
The porcelain mask conveyed neither emotion nor expression, but that didn't stop Couturier from laughing obnoxiously, "Boy, and here I already thought you were stupid," a perfectly manicured finger playfully wagged back and forth, "Well, if you must know, the only reason I'm dodging is because I don't want to get your sweaty fingers all over my new dress! Not that a punk like you would understand!"
"You bitch!"
"Eugh," while Bakugo's temper reached critical mass, Ryuko announced her disgust in a different way, "Are all villains this chatty?"
That word, more than anything, earned a new reaction from the villain, "Hmm, I suppose I ~am~ talking too much."
A giggle like broken glass.
An unseen smile.
And then Couturier lurched into motion, immediately making it painfully obvious she wasn't taking their fight seriously. Instead of moving fast enough to be considered teleportation, she merely sprinted at an impressive speed that would have made Ida green with envy. She was fast. She was quick. And she was mocking them. But undeterred, Bakugo, acting upon instinct and the burning desire to smash her face into the pavement over and over and over, thrust his hands forward and released every scrap of sweat built within his bracers.
"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
Explosion after explosion.
But she was too fast.
"STOP DODGING AND DIE!"
Another volley of explosions.
"Why would I do something as stupid as that?" responding to Bakugo's demand by closing the distance separating their bodies to mere inches, Couturier delicately traced a finger up his bicep, "Hey, remember what I said about your mom?" his eyes widened, but it was too late. With a titter, she pirouetted on her heel, raised her sword and enthusiastically swung towards the blonde's neck, "I was super ~wrong~! Because it looks like she's going to need more than one body bag!"
CLANG!
She might not be as fast as Couturier.
But she was stronger.
Blocking the attack shouldn't have driven her sneakers into the pavement. But it did. It shouldn't have almost dislocated her shoulder and break a finger or two. Yet it did. Desperately gripping solidified blood with one hand while propping her other palm against the same crimson blade for additional support, Ryuko couldn't ignore the minute cracks spreading out from the point of impact. Spider-like hairline fractures glowing with a red light impossible to recognize as anything other than the same color in her hair. Her eyes widened, confusion overwhelming frustration and driving anger to the furthest depths of her mind while an overwhelming and deafening clang left her ears ringing.
"Oooh…"
Couturier's laughter pulsed in rhythm with her trembling arms, "Talk about embarrassing! I ~honestly~ didn't think you'd be fast enough to stop me!"
Something inside Ryuko's soul twisted.
More blood reinforced her sword, leaving it good as new.
But draining her body.
"Shut..." a grunt escaped her throat. She clenched her teeth, sweat trickling down her face. She tried holding her ground, but the dizziness and the masked villain's physical prowess steadily pushed her arms in the wrong freaking direction. Out of answers and with little, if any, time to think, Ryuko reared her head back, breathed deeply and instinctively smashed her forehead into Couturier's stupid-looking mask, "…UP!"
The damn thing didn't break.
But it bought her time.
Viscous rivers of crimson flowed between her fingers, reinforcing the blade already singing for the blonde psychopath's blood. Her choice of weapon shifted into something compact yet deadly, thinning around the middle while forming an actual handle. Breathing in, then out, blood trickling from her forehead and down her face, Ryuko chewed her cheek, stomped her foot and swung for the fences.
"Boy, you sure are fast!"
The blonde villain's expressionless mask betrayed unmistakable exhilaration as she blocked, dodged, parried or otherwise danced around her haphazard yet powerful swings, "Today's just full of surprises!"
Over and over they clashed.
Again and again and again and again.
Dozens of strikes in half that many seconds.
Ryuko threw everything at the psychopath, hoping something would break through her annoying defenses.
But nothing worked.
And worse, in the back of her head, something felt familiar.
"Who are you!?" skating on the soles of her sneakers, one final clash brought her face to mask with the unrelenting villain. A trickle of blood dripped over her lips, caressing her chin before splattering against her shaking wrists, "And why the hell do you sound so – "
Her heart stopped.
And everything…every little detail…fell into place.
"That's right, ~Ryuko~" the villain's laughter echoed in the darkness as she remembered everything – her dad slumped against the wall, his blood on the ground and a blonde figure escaping through the broken window, "I'm the one who killed your dear old dad!"
"You…"
Her voice trembled.
Her blood burned.
And she screamed, "…BITCH!"
"Aw, huffing and puffing isn't enough to kill me," rather than feign surprise at the outburst of pure hatred, Couturier leaned forward, nearly pressing her expressionless mask against their clashing weapons, each struggling to kill the other's owner, "Your Quirk is really fun, but unless you take it up a level, you're never going to make me sweat!"
"That right!?"
He'd been ignored like a pathetic extra.
Yet he'd waited.
And listened.
And at the opportune moment, blasted back into the fight.
"Nice try," yet contrary to Bakugo's intentions, Couturier wasn't ~stupid~ enough to let him grab the back of her head. Dancing around his outstretched fingers while pushing Ryuko away, her smile was dangerously audible, "But I wasn't born – "
SLAM!
Caught between one second and another, floating midair next to a sociopath, Bakugo twisted his wrist mid-launch. Lightning lurched down his arm as the abrupt change in momentum fractured his forearm. It hurt like a goddamn bitch. But bolstered by the sudden explosion twice as powerful as what he'd used against Deku and hearing every word the bitch gloated to Matoi, he spun counterclockwise, teeth bared in a snarl and smashed his other hand into the back of Couturier's head before her stupid-as-shit Quirk let her escape like the coward she was.
"You want sweat, huh?"
If it were villainous to take satisfaction from smashing the masked villain's face into asphalt, Bakugo would earn extra credit for smiling malevolently, "Fine! Have some of mine!" and then matriculate for pushing down even harder, ensuring she couldn't move a freaking inch as he pulled the pin in his Grenadier Bracer, "NOW DIE, YOU BITCHY VILLAIN!"