There was hardly any light in the alley. The tall buildings blocked out most of the sun and the rest of its rays were smothered by a combination of smog and the constant overcast sky. The bright flashes of Katsuki's quirk would attract too much attention- he knew the sound wouldn't: he still could hear gunshots echo across the city. His palms let out smoke and he smirked.
Sometimes he liked the old fashioned feeling of beating on someone with just his fists.
There was three shady people at the end of the alley. A big guy (Katsuki's seen bigger), a slim boy (he didn't look much older than Katsuki), and an ugly girl (she was missing an ear). The extras were standing in a huddle, playing with knives, smoking: they looked like they were waiting for something. The girl had a backpack half-on (one of the straps had torn at the seam).
The boy extra was especially nervous, with shifty feet and eyes that darted everywhere. Not that it mattered, since he was still too dumb to see Katsuki. "Ya sure the Bat won' find us?" Boy extra stuttered out some nonsense that Katsuki deemed too stupid to figure out what it meant.
Big extra responded. "You believe that shit? The Bat hasn't been seen fighting drug dealers in ages. He only goes for the rogues now-a-days." He grinned. It wasn't a nice smile, ugly, but not nearly intimidating enough for Katsuki to be impressed. "You should be more worried about-"
"Shuddup." The girl snapped, chewing on a cigarette butt. "If I get jumped because of you shithead losers gossiping, I'll put the fear of-"
Katsuki took that moment to kick a tin can. It hit the brick wall, ricocheted and spun uselessly at the feet of the thug extras. It wobbled to a stop. He stepped out from his observation -not a hiding you asshole- place. Their heads all snapped in his direction.
"Who the hell'r you, kid?" Big extra sneered. "from Ghost Dragon? They only sent one?"
Kid extra was leering at Katsuki. "We coul' take 'em. Ge' the stuff without payin'."
"Idiots! That's how you start a war." Girl extra yelled. "Sides, he's not got anything on him."
Bakugou Katsuki's eyes glinted.
"Eh?" Big extra grunted. "You're right, he doesn't have it."
"What's lil kid like you doin' in the bad part of town?" Girl extra cooed. "Did a rich kid like you lose your mommy?"
Bakugou smiled, wide enough that All Might would have strained a muscle and deranged enough that the knife vampire slut would shit herself. "I'm here to punch a bitch." He said in english. His hands let out a wisp of smoke.
"Sounds like fightin' words." Big extra snorted. He pushed himself off the wall. Boy extra straightened up and squared his shoulders, like some dumb animal trying to assert dominance. Katsuki didn't feel like spending any extra brain power on some dumbass kid about to die. "I've been gettin' pretty antsy waiting around all day. You'd be a nice toothpick."
Katsuki scoffed but shifted into a better stance. He rolled his right shoulder and flexed his hands.
"This isn't a tv show." Girl extra smirked. "Striking a pose isn't gonna save yo-"
Bakugou Katsuki's fist met her face. She reeled back. Rolled her jaw. Glared.
Big extra whipped out a empty bottle and smashed it against the brick wall. The sharp edges glinted in the dim light. He charged swinging the improvised weapon over his head with a shout.
Katsuki stepped to the side, caught the arm, and flipped him, slamming the extra into the ground. Pebbles bounced up. He laid there, groaning. No bite to back up his bark.
Katsuki whirled and disarmed the skinny extra, the shank flying from their shaky grip. He tried to throw a punch. Katsuki didn't even need to dodge or form a proper block, he just smacked it away. It was weak. Katsuki buried his fist into the extra's gut.
He made sure to dodge the spittle.
The kid extra crumpled to the ground, like a wet paper bag that got stomped on.
Katsuki scoffed, frustrated. Even if these guys were grunts without quirks, they were weaker than he expected. He thought the big extra at least could take a few hits, but he folded over like an old grannie recovering from a spine surgery. Weaklings.
Girl extra's eyes were blown wide. "Wha-what the fu-"
Katsuki charged, grabbed her collar and threw her on the ground. She slid back, but scrambled to get up. Like she thought she could escape Bakugou Katsuki. She lifted herself, but Bakugou grabbed her face and held it against the ground. Because she was apparently fragile enough that she'd die if he slammed it.
"What do you want!" She gritted out. "The boss's location? Money? Drugs? I'll give it to ya'!"
Not only was she weak, but a slimy coward too. No backbone. The only reason she had those scars was because she probably turned tail and ran after the fighting got too deadly. "You're gonna tell me what I want to know, extra." He growled. "All about the gang territories around here and what to watch out for. You're gonna give me whatever's in that fancy ass bag of yours. You never saw me, got it?"
She nodded vigorously.
"And if you or your boys snitch, I'll kill you." He wouldn't, but they didn't need to know that.
Bakugou let her go half an hour later, after learning about all the gang inter-politics and what to really avoid (Black Masks, Clowns, destroying any plant, Penguins, etc), and he left with a bag of cash, since he apparently walked in on a small drug deal that was about to go down. The other extras must have been late.
. . .
After Izuku had the revelation that Kacchan was probably on the fast track to get a broken arm from a guy in a batsuit, he panicked, just a little. Then he abruptly realised that it was daytime, and Batman was only recorded to come out during nighttime - maybe he was a vampire? - save for extreme occasions. Izuku didn't know what constituted as 'extreme circumstances' considering the state Gotham city was in constantly. But he could make a good guess, considering the rogues- another word for supervillain- apparently enjoyed bombing the city with various gaseous substances (he didn't enjoy reading that particular article. It was important to know, but nonetheless... horrifying).
Either way, that led him to create a whole new list of things they needed to survive this Hero forsaken city. Water bottles for a safe drinking source. Gas masks for safe breathing. Shelter, communication, some sort of armour to protect from stray bullets- because those were common enough to be an issue. As strong as Kacchan was, Izuku doubted he could blow a bullet out of the air. And Izuku wasn't strong enough to be impervious to bullets. Yet.
Izuku shoved his hands into his pockets. A chill ran down his spine. He-he didn't have any money. How was he supposed to buy stuff if he didn't have any money?! He also didn't know the relative worth in American dollars of common items: how was he supposed to know he wasn't getting scammed?! What if he tries to buy a water bottle and they charge him a thousand? Is that realistic? He didn't know!
He turned back to the computer to start researching that, only to find the pointer wouldn't move on the screen. The computer crashed. Izuku gulped and bent down to hold the power button. It didn't do anything for a minute, until the fan abruptly stopped whirring and the screen shut off. He could feel the heat emanating from the dying husk of a computer. He hoped that the librarian won't kick him out. But considering the way she seemed dead tired, Izuku wasn't sure if she even noticed him at all.
Staring at his reflection in the powered off screen, Izuku abruptly realized he had no idea how he was supposed to find Kacchan again. They split up without making a place to meet up again. His phone didn't have any service, probably because the service provider he was signed up with didn't exist here. And the phone model and company probably didn't either. So it was useless: he had a charger (never left home without it) but that didn't help if the only thing he could do with it was take pictures, videos, and play offline games he already downloaded that probably also didn't exist here.
Kacchan could probably find the library, so if Izuku just stayed here... Then he could just. Keep researching.
There. Problem solved.
Not really, because the sun wouldn't be out for much longer and that meant he was definitely going to get kicked out of the library. The streets were dangerous at night. Scratch that, they're dangerous all the time but they're deadly at night. And there was also Batman, and his whole bat colony, to be concerned about.
...But Izuku has a quirk, has faced situations that could be considered arguably worse, and has enough determination to tear down a mountain range if it meant saving one person.
He had at least one person to save now, no matter how much said person would want to set him on fire if Izuku even hinted that he needed help.
. . .
"Die!" Katsuki shouted, sending a can flying from an explosion. He scowled and his palms itched to fire off another, even bigger explosion. Damn Nerd was probably thinking stupid shit.
To the side, the extras he rounded up looked like they were about to shit themselves.
Katsuki grinned.
"Listen up, extras!" He yelled. "I'm in charge here. I tell you what to do and you listen to me! You'll end up like that can if ya don't!"
Someone audibly gulped and Katsuki's face twitched at the sign of fear. It was a good thing they feared him, they were criminals and they were failures at that too. These dumb "Gold Dragons" had only ever owned a few streets at a time and they always had cat fights with an equally pathetic group called the "Ghost Dragons." They're overcompensating and it wasn't working. Everytime a dangerous group came around they had to cough up money or hide like cockroaches. Might as well be civilians at that point.
They folded like a wet paper towel once they realized he was a meta. Katsuki scoffed. Them being weak yellow bellied idiots took away the challenge of taking over a gang. he might as well take over the other one just to get them to stop fighting, since apparently "Ghost Dragons" were the only people who gave a damn about the miniscule gang he just took over. Hardly even twenty people and half of them were probably gonna get arrested in the next two days.
"From here on out, ya'll will go out and work jobs. I don't care if they're legal or not! But if you go and take money from this neighborhood and I'll fry your face off! These people have less money than you pathetic extras. If you want to make money actually do crap!"
There were a few grumbles.
Katsuki glared.
They shut up.
"There's also this kid, green hair, eyes. Looks constipated from crying or determination. Probably around a library. If you find him, you tell him Bakugou wants him and you bring him here. Got that?!"
Silence.
"I said, Got that!?" He punctuated the air with an explosion.
"Y-Yes Boss!"
