A Little Demonstration

by AnonymousTwit

When a small, cheap hero school starts promoting themselves as U.A.'s rival due to their close proximity, Nezu decides to humor them for a day. Now, after causing nothing but trouble for the heroics students, these sad excuses for future heroes will have to survive a fate worse than death: All out war with the Beast of Class 1-A.

2. The Consequences

Standing before Ground Beta in her hero costume, Uraraka felt oddly conflicted.

The entirety of U.A. was present for this class, the heroics classes waiting at the site itself while the rest of the school and a select few news crews watched on screens from the main building. Apparently, this whole spectacle with MCH was a pretty big story, information of the event rumored to have been leaked by principal Nezu himself.

It was a relatively warm day for this time of year, several of her classmates choosing their summer costumes in celebration of the comfortable weather. As much as Uraraka wished that today had been a more enjoyable day overall to lift their spirits, at least there was something that she could be happy about.

Standing here with the majority of her class, she was really starting to get worried about Todoroki. Ever since he'd met back up with everyone for heroics classes, he'd been quiet, which wasn't unusual for him. No, what worried her was his reaction to hearing about what happened in the cafeteria after he left, though to be fair to him, she was just as mad.

"Boil." Yano had explained to her, near tears. "It's Shintani's quirk. Anything he touches with all five fingers almost instantly rises to its natural boiling temperature. He's unintentionally caused a lot of damage in the past because he wasn't careful and melted something. I'm so sorry I didn't say anything. I knew he was up to something when he stuck his hand in that glass, but I didn't think he would-."

Uraraka had stopped her there, pulling her into a tight hug and gently rubbing her back in reassurance, because by the looks of it, literally no one in that room had been expecting the guy to take a breakable glass of scalding hot water and hurl it at Bakugou like a molotov cocktail.

When Todoroki found them again and Deku, expression still blank, explained to him what happened in a monotone, deadpan tone that Uraraka might be hearing in her nightmares, there was an emotion that flashed across his heterochromatic eyes so fast that she didn't quite catch it. However, Uraraka could safely say that she saw something follow that she never thought she'd see, and that was Todoroki manifesting the iconic Baku rage aura. Deku had told her once before that Todoroki's own burn scar was from being scalded, but he'd refused to say anything more. For now, he simply let his unreadable expression finally slip away and joined Todoroki in his spiraling descent into silent rage. Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido followed along soon after. Kirishima, meanwhile, had disappeared altogether.

She'd heard that Aizawa had nearly straight up canceled the whole rest of the visit and kicked them all out when he found out about everything that had happened during lunch. The reason why he didn't had yet to be seen.

"So," Tetsutetsu's voice suddenly cut through the air. "Have any of you guys been told anything? 'Cause Teach hasn't said a word about what this class is gonna be about."

"You too?" Kaminari asked. "Aizawa's also been pretty tight-lipped about it. We have seen some of the MCH hero costumes, though."

"Yeah, man." Sero piped up. "They're actually not that bad. I bet they got them done professionally since they don't have any support classes."

Kaminari grinned. "I guess that would explain where the rest of their budget went after they splurged on that bus."

Ashido smiled for the first time since lunch.

"Oh, shit!" Jirou suddenly exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

A commotion followed, Uraraka turning to find Kirishima and Bakugou making a surprise appearance, both clad in their hero costumes. Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido were all immediately at their feet, Deku making some kind of squeaking noise and a few others watching on in unspoken concern.

Uraraka did not miss the fact that Bakugou was wearing his winter costume.

"Pardon me if I sound belittling," said Yaoyorozu. "But are you really well enough for heroics classes? Burns and scalds are no laughing matter."

"Yeah, you good?" Kaminari questioned.

"Burns are serious injuries, Bakugou!" Iida exclaimed. "If you are not at one hundred percent, then you shouldn't force yourself to come to class!"

Bakugou scowled dangerously at them, his eyes sharpened and bright against his dark mask. "I'm fine, you extras. As if such a cheap shot like that could keep me down."

"He let Recovery Girl heal him." Kirishima explained. "He was a bit drowsy a moment ago, but he's pretty much good to go. Said something about a shit list that he needed to attend to."

Bakugou grinned. "Exactly. Look, it only left scars around my shoulder and upper arm, and we got there fast enough that Recovery Girl took care of most of the damage, so don't worry about it. She said they might even go away eventually."

"Promise?" The sound of Todoroki's voice made Uraraka jump, the dual quirk user suddenly appearing next to her and watching the ash blonde intently. Bakugou glared at him, baring his teeth, but reached up and pulled at the fabric hiding his neck a moment later, revealing healthy, burn-free skin. Todoroki scrutinized him for what felt like minutes before he nodded to himself and turned away, wordlessly lumbering over to his original spot off to the side and sitting down by himself.

"Weirdo." Bakugou mumbled to himself, though the usual bite wasn't there.

"So, everyone's here." Tokage suddenly said as the entirety of class 1-B began to migrate towards where 1-A was. "What happens now?"

"Your guess is as good as ours." Jirou admitted with a shrug.

"Whatever is in store for us," Iida spoke up, chopping at the air. "I do hope that we finally have the opportunity to give class 1-A of the Musutafu Conservatory for Heroics a lesson in manners and respect!"

"Wow, you hear that?" Sero chuckled. "Even Iida's sick of these guys."

"Even I can only tolerate so much." he admitted solemnly.

"Oh, you think that's impressive?" Kendou laughed. "Monoma's actually been clambering for a truce with you guys."

Half of 1-A, Uraraka included, either choked on nothing or spat air.

"Why do we need a truce? I don't understand!" Yaoyorozu said in exasperation.

"Don't worry about it." Jirou sighed, patting her shoulder.

"Okay, listen!" Monoma shouted from behind his classmates. "I have had it up to here with these people and I am willing to accept an alliance with the lesser of two evils and take on the common threat that is..." He suddenly swiveled towards Bakugou. "What was his name again?"

"Shittani."

"Thank you! Best thing you've ever said! Now, who's with me?"

The majority of 1-B and a few of 1-A just looked scared.

"Look, I wouldn't worry about it." Bakugou said, a threatening smirk on his face. "I think Aizawa has everything handled. I'm honestly pretty excited."

"Wait!" Ashido yelled. "Do you know what's going on!? Tell me!"

Sero raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not at all concerned about how ominous that just sounded?"

"AAAAAAALRIGHT, LISTENERS!" An overwhelmingly loud voice screamed through the speaker system, leaving Uraraka's ears ringing and everyone wincing harshly. "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEEEE!"

There was a scuffle, causing the mics to squeal and whine before a familiar tired voice drawled through the speakers. "U.A. students of class 1-A and class 1-B, there are bleachers prepared for you in the facilities located in the outer walls of Ground Beta. Please take a seat and make yourselves comfortable."

The group all looked at each other in confusion, slowly shifting towards the direction they were pointed in. Before they could ask any questions, Nezu's voice boomed across the field. "Today's heroics lesson will be featuring a school that has thrust itself into the public eye as of late. According to their records, they have risen as our rivals, their school's location being in close proximity to us, and we've happily invited them to our beloved campus to experience our lifestyle and to challenge their students to keep up with the same standard as we do. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Musutafu's heroes of tomorrow, Class 1-A of the Musutafu Conservatory for Heroics!"

"Nezu out here, hamming it up." Sero chuckled. Uraraka smiled.

Gathering in a familiar-looking control room, where some nice seats had in fact been prepared for them, Uraraka could see a diagram of Ground Beta popping up on the giant screens, illuminating the room in a soft bluish hue. Nezu's voice became a soft crackle rather than the wall of sound from the outside speakers. "Now then, today's exercise will be simple. Our ten guests of honor will be playing the role of the heroes, trying to protect the city from a large scale villain attack."

"Dude, this is nice!" Kaminari said excitedly. "Can we just stay here and eat snacks while we watch those jerks face off against our teachers or something? I would love that!"

"Dude, that would be sick!" Tetsutetsu laughed.

Jirou snorted. "Man, I wish."

"I would enjoy that, too." Todoroki added.

Nezu continued. "The heroes will be tasked with protecting as many civilians, represented by dummies, as possible and minimizing collateral damage while defeating the villains. All destruction done and lives lost will result in losing points."

Uraraka could practically hear the amusement in Nezu's voice. "Meanwhile, our own U.A. students will be playing the villains. Their ultimate goal is to defeat all of the heroes in the city, earning points with every person they defeat. They have no restrictions on death or destruction of property, nor will they earn or lose points from it. They have completely free reign to do exactly as they please, so long as they can take down all of the heroes. Specific winning conditions are as follows."

Bullet points appeared on screen. "The heroes must defeat all villains with as little property damage and as few causalities as possible. Failure to minimize either will result in a loss of points. Heroes also have the option to leave the site whenever they please, which will allow them to keep whatever amount of points they have, but take them out of the match. For the villains, all they must do is defeat all heroes by any means necessary."

The screen changed to security cameras, looking over Ground Beta before the destruction about to take place absolutely demolished it. "Now that the rules have been explained, I would like to give the mic back to class 1-A's homeroom teacher, the underground hero Eraserhead, for a moment."

Confusion washed over the heroics students, sharing matching looks of uncertainty as Aizawa's voice came through. "Ms. Kyoya, or should I say, the Ringing Hero: Tinnitus, we've known each other for a while now. We worked in the same office some years ago."

A moment of silence, a microphone being handed off to the irritating heroine. "What about it, Eraser?"

"From one acquaintance to another," Aizawa said. "I would like to propose a challenge."

"Oh yeah?" she asked haughtily. "And what would that be?"

The grin was so apparent in Aizawa's voice that a shiver ran down Uraraka's spine. It was like thunder. "Ten v one."

A hush fell over the crowds on U.A.'s campus and Uraraka's eyes widened, glancing around the group of young heroes surrounding her.

"Ten heroes, one villain." Aizawa explained. "Your so-called prodigies versus one of our best."

Uraraka finally realized that Bakugou was no longer there.

Tinnitus, the MCH teacher, huffed. "So-called? Those are fighting words, Eraser."

"Just know that you brought it upon yourself." Aizawa responded. "Do you accept?"

"Bring it." was her reply, and suddenly, Uraraka's heart was pounding.

"They're dead." Kirishima's voice cut through the silence like a butcher knife. "They're all dead. Bakugou's not here."

Ashido gasped. "So wait, we're getting our show?!"

"Where's the fucking popcorn!?" Kaminari yelled.

"Dear lord." Sero breathed, smiling wildly. The excited chatter began to rise as the others connected the dots of U.A.'s master plan.

All hell was about to break loose.

---

"Lose this match of all things and I will actually expel you."

Bakugou laughed despite himself, a toothy grin on his face and hands on his hips as he sauntered down the road towards his assigned starting point alongside Aizawa, slouched and stifling a yawn to hide his obvious anticipation for the absolute war about to take place.

And that's what this was to them. All out war.

"So this is what it's come to." Beta had sighed, the ten of them lined up to face him while Aizawa squared up with Nurse Dumbass. Tinnitus, was it? Never heard of her.

"Tch. Not my fault you fucks acted all high and mighty and now you're all gonna get your asses kicked on livestream."

"Oooooh." Fancy Pants cooed, earning a nasty glare. "And you just said that we're the high and mighty ones, yet you're already trash talking like a barbarian."

"I don't want to hear that shit from you of all people. You've been doing nothing but trash talking this whole time." Bakugou snarled. "And I'm pretty sure I've earned my right to make fun of a bunch of egotistical wannabe sidekicks."

His eyes zeroed in on Muted Red, watching on in utter disinterest. "And you?" he grinned. "I'll be sure to send you home with a few burn scars of your own, courtesy of U.A.'s Beast of Class 1-fucking-A. This is war."

Overlooking his competition, with only a couple of notable exceptions, he was pleased to see that most of them had an idea of what they were up against. What they didn't seem to realize was that he had no intention of taking it easy, and that was fully cemented when Doe Eyes of all people came up to him afterward, just before he left to take his position. "Hey, um, we're friends, right?"

Bakugou had eyed her skeptically as she wrung her hands and stared at the ground. She suddenly seemed a lot smaller than she actually was, and the girl already only came up to his shoulders. "I was wondering if...maybe...since I don't really want to be a hero, could you...you know...go easy on me?"

"Absolutely not."

She'd seemed genuinely stunned by both his reply and the speed he'd given it, running after him as he stormed off. "W- Wait! Did I say something wrong? If I somehow offended you, I'm sorry!"

"Can it, Doe Eyes." he grit out, turning to face her. "You didn't offend me, and I have nothing against you, but I do not and will not give anything less than my best for any reason whatsoever. I've never done things in halves and I ain't starting now. The best thing you can do for yourself is to do the same."

And he walked away. He didn't look back, so he never saw her reaction, but she didn't chase after him that time.

Now here, striding alongside his homeroom teacher towards the starting line, he couldn't help the grin overtaking his face, excited energy coursing through his veins like fire.

"Don't lose your head." Aizawa warned. "Intimidation is a power that you can abuse to your heart's content, but collateral damage is a means to an end. Your goal is to defeat all 'heroes' in the vicinity by any means necessary. The quicker, the better. The goal is efficiency."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

Walking out in front of the main gate of Ground Beta, Aizawa shook his head. "I know you do, but a reminder never hurts."

"I said I got it. Don't worry about it."

Aizawa rolled his eyes. "The communication device in your ear is for you to contact me in case of an emergency, and only an emergency. Wait here until you're given a signal. You'll have a minute head start to do whatever you want before the others come looking for you. I'll let you figure out what that might be."

Bakugou simply nodded, rolling his shoulders as Aizawa made his exit. "Don't screw this up."

"I won't."

He thought he saw Aizawa smile, but it was probably just his imagination.

---

At first, Bakugou had honestly considered just going on a rampage and watching the world burn, but he ultimately decided to take a more tactical approach. The goal is efficiency.

So he flew around as much of the cityscape as he could, mentally mapping out assigned building functions such as banks, hotels, restaurants, etc., as well as dummy locations, a.k.a. civilian density in certain areas. He knew that realistically, he wouldn't be able to see his entire environment, but he might as well get a better understanding of exactly what he's working with.

He just so happened to be near the hero starting point when his minute was up, watching from a distance atop one of the shorter skyscrapers as the MCH students filed in. Bakugou couldn't hear them from where he was, but he could see them just fine, and he was curious how their team dynamic worked. After having it pounded into his skull for so, so long, he'd started becoming subconsciously aware of it in those around him. It was unbelievably annoying, but he couldn't help but wonder.

As it turns out, they had exactly none, immediately running off in ones and twos.

Perfect.

As much as he'd love to destroy them all at the same time, and he knows he could, this would be quicker, less of a hassle, and would ultimately make him and U.A. look better with the whole tactical approach and such. That, and despite Recovery Girl's help, his side was still sore from Shittani's earlier stunt.

He knew quite a few of their quirks, knowing Doe Eyes's, Knife Fingers's, the Harpy's, Tentacle Hair's, and Beta's, and having an idea of Muted Red's, Sideburns's, and Plastic Girl's. Fancy Pants and String Hair were completely unknown, which was lovely because they are literally among the last people that he'd want catching him by surprise.

With a huff, Bakugou took to the sky with a loud boom! Might as well get this shitstorm started.

Wind whistling past his ears, it didn't take long for someone to follow the noise, a streak of black feathers zooming through the city a few streets parallel to him. From what he remembered, their bird man had never particularly irked him. Sure, he kind of screwed with Bird Brain apparently, but the things he did were pretty tame compared to others. He could have a quicker death.

The figure was gone in a flash, vanishing behind one of the buildings. Bakugou was immediately on high alert, not slowing himself down as he spun around and eyed the harpy now directly above him dangerously. His opponent attempted to dive out of the sky and dropkick him, but Bakugou easily dodged him, flipping himself around before starting back on his trajectory.

"Ha! You think you could knock me out of the sky with those puny legs of yours?! They'd snap like twigs before you did any damage!"

The harpy let out some kind of noise of offense, reorienting himself. "You will not outwit me, Raid Boss! I will be a hero!"

"Whatever you say, Chicken Legs!"

There was an annoyed squawk as Bakugou made a sharp u-turn and zipped right past him, throwing his opponent's balance back off. It was easy to maneuver around these buildings at high speed, but he had to say, he was still impressed that Chicken Legs was keeping up, darting around and staying just behind him. With a smirk shot back at his pursuer, he suddenly dropped down, twisting and turning through the lower streets and around both obstacles and dummies alike. Every time he heard a yelp or curse from behind, he couldn't help but smile.

And then he mentally slapped himself for being distracted and almost getting smacked out of the air by a long tentacle.

He barely twisted himself out of the way, shooting himself upward as it made a grab for him. He hadn't even known that she could extend those things, and pretty stupidly far, too. At this speed, it was hard to see where Squid Girl was, but he'd rather not get grabbed by her of all people, thanks. After the whole display she'd made of herself in the cafeteria, he felt safer with Dabi's hand around his neck.

Head back in the game, Bakugou smirked, diving straight forward. Both pursuers maneuvered away as he plowed straight through an office building, painlessly tearing through the glass windows and destroying the cubicles inside. There was a spray of debris and dummies as he shot out the other side, a wild grin on his face as he flew straight up.

He was having too much fun here. He needed to get a few takedowns in before he got distracted again.

Just as he'd hoped, Chicken Legs was flying up after him, a look of unbending determination in his eyes. Even Bakugou had to admit that the guy had guts. They were high above the facility when Chicken Legs finally realized that maybe he couldn't quite keep up with this, beginning to flail and whine in displeasure.

Bakugou never let his grin fall. "It really is a shame, Chicken Legs! From what I can tell, you don't have a stand out personality! Just a gimmick that you barely use while you follow a crowd of jerks! How forgettable!"

"Shut up, you-!"

"Also, you know what you normally don't do against a raid boss?"

"Huh?"

"Go in solo!"

And with that, he suddenly blasted himself backward, his well-toned body mostly accustom to the violent whiplash, and swung back at Chicken Legs so suddenly that he barely even had a chance to react. The resulting explosion wasn't one of his biggest, but it was enough to cause some damage. The harpy's head shot back, his body careening back down towards the ground as Bakugou allowed himself to begin to fall.

As the wind picked up around him, Bakugou suddenly realized that Chicken Legs wasn't moving. Did he actually knock the guy out? It was that easy?

Huh. He's not sure how he feels about that.

Shaking his head at the Deku-esque voice in his head demanding that he save the poor guy from falling to his death as quickly as possible, Bakugou launched himself forward and pulled the unconscious hero wannabe out of the air, holding him securely under his arm as he flew towards one of the Ground Beta exits. His landing was sloppy with only one arm, but he did the job regardless, skidding across the ground and unceremoniously dropping his cargo before flying back off into the fray.

One down, nine to go. If they're all that easy, this shouldn't take long at all.

He's sure he was only in the air for five seconds before Tentacle Hair tried to ambush him again, her small frame only appearing in his peripheral for a moment before her tentacles came flying up after him. The way he had to twist and contort his body to slip past her at the speed he was moving was uncomfortable, but not impossible.

Honestly, as much as he hated to admit it at all, this girl was being pretty serious about this whole thing and might have been a possible candidate for a high ranked upcoming hero if she wasn't actually batshit crazy. And not like his own personal brand of crazy.

No, like, uncomfortable crazy.

He doesn't want to deal with her right now. He'd prefer to fight her on his own terms.

Flying over the suburban area of Ground Beta, Bakugou flipped through the air and fired downward, sending a spray of small explosions over the landscape surrounding Squid Girl. She seemed to panic as houses began to collapse, diving down into one of the buildings and pulling a dummy out of the way of a falling roof in order to save points. He was out of sight before she could even look back up.

---

It was only a minute or so later that things started to get interesting.

He came across Knife Fingers on a roof further into the city almost immediately after escaping Tentacle Hair, the idiot all too eager to try and start a fight with him with a manic grin on his face. Bakugou was sure they fought for about thirty seconds before he turned tail and ran. What a wimp.

Irritated that the fucker was running away from a fight that he'd clearly asked for, he chased after him on foot, Knife Fingers cutting some dangerous corners in his attempts to get away and regroup. It was easy for Bakugou to bypass several of his shortcuts by making his own, blasting through wall after wall in his pursuit.

Of course, Knife Fingers would end up getting lucky this time.

What angered him the most out of everything was that he really, truly, honestly didn't see it coming, only felt the impact against his back that knocked him out of the air, and he could feel his blood boiling dangerously just below the surface as he realized that fact, hitting the street with a thud. He was quick to scramble to his feet, eyes darting around and open palms outstretched to either side as he surveyed his surroundings.

The crunch of glass underfoot caught his attention. He spun on his heel, closest hand thrown forward, and his eyes fell onto his newest opponent.

Of course. Of fucking course. The first person to catch him off guard, the first person to land an actual hit on him, and it just had to be fucking Fancy Pants.

With a hair flip, he smiled at him seductively, waving his fingers at him. It sent shivers down his spine as more glass crunched under his boots. Bakugou ignored the strong feelings of discomfort and held his expression, a dangerous, no-nonsense scowl while he held his hand out steadily. Even now, he still had no idea what this guy's quirk was, which was putting him at a disadvantage.

He was at a disadvantage.

Unacceptable.

"Yeesh," Fancy Pants grimaced. "Keep making faces like that and you'll get wrinkles."

"Yeah, well, keep showing your face in front of mine and you'll have a lot worse than just some wrinkles."

"Well, aren't you charming."

He suddenly heard movement behind him, a bizarre sound like a mess of wooden blocks being lightly hit together, and he instantly had his other hand up, firing before he even saw his threat. The result was a spray of wood, plastic, and burnt strings as the thing, or things rather, fell to pieces.

Bakugou's brows furrowed. Puppets?

Something slammed into his shoulder with enough force to make him stumble. Vengeful heat roared through his body as he caught himself and faced back towards Fancy Pants, the smuggest look he's ever seen painting his face as he held his hand out and twitched his finger.

The powerful blow against the back of his head actually made his vision blur, though it was red with anger a moment later. He let out a frustrated roar, his arm reeling back and palm crackling with hot, burning energy, and swung towards the overconfident asshat. Fancy Pants, in turn, seemingly reached up and grabbed the open air in front of him.

And suddenly, Bakugou's arm was frozen in place.

There was a single, solitary moment where a dose of panic infiltrated his senses, setting them on fire as he stared in stunned silence at his completely immobile arm, held in the air by seemingly nothing.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Fancy Pants cooed. "Were you expecting to defeat us so easily?"

Well, yeah actually, and he was still going to, thanks.

He breathed slowly, forcing his pounding heart to calm down and his blood to cool. Moving blindly wasn't going to help, so if he just took a moment to get his bearings, he'd be out of this mess in no time flat. Plus, Fancy Pants over there seemed to be on a particularly high horse, so not only was he also not being careful, but taking him down was going to be that much more satisfying.

Bakugou didn't believe that he was going to lose for even a millisecond.

The wooden clanging sound returned, alerting him to more of those puppet things. He turned to face them, his eyes only slightly widening at the unexpected numbers. There were dozens of them now, all hollow-looking with creepy blank expressions and held up by seemingly invisible strings. They all jittered around, moved by hands that he couldn't see.

Of course, if he hadn't seen them, he probably would have connected the dots eventually, but a certain two were nice enough to just give him the answer and save him the trouble.

This was String Hair's quirk.

She sauntered out into the open gracefully, walking like a runaway model with a superiority complex that outshone the sun. She almost reminded him of Uwabami, if she was stupid and more openly selfish. Trailing her was her sister, her skin shining against the afternoon sun and her eyes as dead looking as a real life doll. There was no visible emotion on her face or body language that he could decipher, but he supposed that it didn't matter at the moment.

String Hair scoffed. "You're outnumbered, buddy. You seem pretty overconfident for someone who's about to be defeated."

"Defeeeeeeeated..." Barbie droned expressionlessly.

Bakugou couldn't help but smirk. "I'm overconfident? I would've figured it out eventually, but it was really nice of you to reveal both your quirk and your location."

He felt a tight squeeze on his arm. Fancy Pants must be getting annoyed. "Just swarm him, Hitonari. My arm's getting tired."

String Hair smiled. "With pleasure!"

The crowd of puppets leaped at him all at once, their wooden mouths wide open in voiceless screams. If nothing else, he would willingly admit that they were somewhat creepy. Bakugou grinned, swinging his leg upward and uppercutting the first puppet so hard that its head flew clean off. His leg froze as soon as his foot hit the ground.

His grin never left. Exactly as planned.

With one swift motion, he grabbed the arm of the next puppet that came within reach, twisting his body around and flinging it behind him at incredible speeds. Fancy Pants shrieked, stumbling back and falling flat on his ass to avoid the incoming projectile sailing over his head. Bakugou let out a devilish laugh of glee, his frozen limbs now freed, and used his momentum to spin back around and fire an explosion that sent a wave of the puppets flying through the air. He barely noticed Barbie fluidly stepping in front of String Hair to shield her from the spray of burning wood flung back at her.

Fancy Pants snarled, his earlier confidence gone with the wind. "H- How?! How did you know that-?!"

"That your quirk is controlling shadows?" Bakugou said smugly. "Well, not exactly that, but I get the idea. Maybe if you hadn't stood around gloating the whole time, I wouldn't have looked around and connected the dots."

"Why you-!" Fancy Pants's hand flew up, his shadow grasping onto the shadow of a box. In one swing, the box's shadow flew across the wall to his left, though now that he could see it, it was easy to leap right over it, the impact knocking several more puppets into the air.

"Watch it!" String Hair shouted.

"Waaaaaatch..."

"Shut up!"

Fancy Pants yelled in frustration, darting towards Bakugou's shadow below him. Bakugou wasn't sure if Fancy Pants could freeze people in the air with his quirk, but he didn't feel like finding out.

With a fire in his eyes, Bakugou shot his hands down. "Stun Grenade!"

The world around him lit up like a fireworks show, Fancy Pants and String Hair shielding their eyes while Barbie just kind of stared somewhere else. Fancy Pants let out a curse as Bakugou propelled himself downward, his boot slamming into Fancy Pants's face with a loud crunch. It was effortless to backflip off of him, watching with smug satisfaction as his boot threw the jerk's head backward violently, knocking him to the ground. Bakugou stood with well-earned confidence as the idiot actually forced himself back to his feet.

"You..." he growled, genuine fury behind his words. "What did you do to my face!?"

Bakugou snerked. "I fixed it for you. You're welcome."

He screeched in rage, immediately running at him like a complete moron with a look in his eyes that just screamed a desire for murder. Bakugou rolled his eyes before letting off another explosion like a flash bang, darting forward and swinging his fist into the other boy's stomach as hard as he could. He never thought that the sound of gagging could be so beautiful as Fancy Pants practically fell limp against his arm, wheezing.

"That was for using the word 'hideous' incorrectly." Bakugou growled. "Get your eyes checked, loser."

And with that, he threw him off, using an explosion to send him flying. He slammed back first into a building hard enough to leave a dent, falling bonelessly to the ground with nothing but a twitch. Bakugou let out an annoyed tch. If these guys ever want to be heroes, they need to learn how to take some punishment.

He heard movement directly behind him, not wooden, and he calmly sidestepped Barbie of all people attempting to attack him from behind. She seemed surprised, a silent 'o' escaping her lips before he turned and clotheslined her, earning a strangled yelp as she was flipped in the air and onto her back. It almost sounded like a hollow tube falling to the ground.

"So, you think you're tough shit, huh?!" String Hair hissed, surrounded by an army of creepy wooden puppets.

"I'm pretty sure I am, yeah." he smirked, eyes burning.

From what he could remember, this was the first time that String Hair seemed nervous, surrounding herself with a sea of puppets in a desperate bid to protect herself. It was like she was trying to shield herself from a bomb with drywall. He simply grinned, slowly approaching the horde with his hands tensed, open palms crackling with energy. The dozens upon dozens of puppets running at him were nothing but toothpicks to him, a single powerful swing of his explosions sending them careening through the air.

"Are these wooden dolls all you can make?" Bakugou scoffed. "Talk about useless!"

"Shut your damn mouth!" she yelled back. "You're just jealous! Yeah, that's it!"

"Jealous of what?" he laughed sadistically, now standing almost directly in front of her. "What could you possibly have that I don't? What could you possibly have at all?"

"Everything, you son of a bitch!" she screamed, swinging an open palm towards his face. It was a clearly futile effort as he caught her arm, pulling it away as he lifted his own hand and swung, the back of his hand connecting solidly with her cheek. She crumbled to the ground, clutching her reddening cheek as she quickly scrambled back to try to gain some distance.

"You're a monster!" she shot at him. "How dare you! How can you do this with a good conscience, you lunatic!?"

His smile was downright menacing, wild and uncontrolled like a forest fire. "I'm supposed to be playing the villain, remember? And villains aren't all that lenient in the real world. Take it from someone who knows."

She stumbled to her feet, doing everything in her power to make distance between them. Despite her clear terror, she held a look of determination, her puppets surrounding her once again. Bakugou could only roll his eyes as he followed.

The feeling of something suddenly pressing against his throat genuinely startled him, an explosion going off on reflex as he grabbed at whatever was grappling onto him and trying to choke him out. String Hair was laughing about something, but it was short-lived as Bakugou ripped the person off of him, watching in confusion as Barbie rolled across the ground, her arm literally detached from her body as it bounced out of her grip. With a startled cry, she lunged for it, and Bakugou suddenly realized that he needed to hurry it up. Any longer and he just might make the same idiotic mistake of giving his opponents time to regroup.

Not a chance.

He jumped back, several of String Hair's puppets chasing after him as he hopped from wall to wall, building to building, watching in amusement as the number of puppets just kept growing. String Hair could make a dizzying number of these things at once, but they were just so weak.

"Where do you think you're going?!" she screamed. "Are you running away!? Are you scared!?"

She was actually losing it.

He'd distanced himself quite a bit from her horde at this point, a sea of wooden toys crawling through the streets of Ground Beta like pests. Bakugou couldn't help but grin. The streets weren't narrow, but they weren't all that broad, either. A powerful explosion would cause some serious damage, alongside destroying her little toy soldier army.

Well, since he's playing the bad guy in this scenario, he might as well go a little overboard.

Launching himself back into the air, his hands burned with the power of his quirk, throwing and spinning him around in the air as smoke encircled him. Barbie seemed to stiffen, the most emotion he'd seen from her, before she jumped up, detached arm forgotten, and threw herself on top of her sister in a protective manner. Despite the obvious act of self-sacrifice that was quite strange to see from anyone in this group, he wasn't deterred in the slightest.

Let's see what kind of punishment you can take, Plastic Girl. "Howitzer's..."

String Hair squirmed in her sister's grip, eyes wild. "You maniac! Animal! You're no hero! You're nothing, you-!"

"IMPACT!"

His hands hit a surface. Whether it was a puppet or the street was beyond him, and the blast was so loud that it left his own ears ringing. Fire and smoke engulfed his vision, and he reveled in the feeling of intense heat against his face, almost suffocating. The sky practically showered wooden limbs and broken bodies as he sauntered through the flames and rising smoke.

He didn't know what he looked like as his silhouette began to materialize through the smoke, but he heard a terrified gasp as he broke through the surface, a toothy grin and beady red eyes painting a terrifying picture.

And String Hair was on the verge of tears, sitting on the ground covered in soot and hair blown far from her face. He'd never felt such utter glee from a non-villain showing such pure, unadulterated terror towards him in so long. He almost missed seeing it in that moment.

Villain face on, he aimed his glowing palm towards her, watching in satisfaction as she shrieked, fighting to get to her feet as she ran as fast as she could towards the nearest exit from Ground Beta. He had to fight to not laugh out loud, his body practically vibrating with excited energy.

He had a feeling he might be enjoying this way too much, but he doubted that anyone really cared this time around.

Dropping his demon smile, he glanced over at the unconscious form of Barbie Doll, left behind by String Hair in her frantic scramble to save herself from a fiery, painful death. Her back was somewhat singed, but nothing too serious. One of her legs had been knocked off of her body as well, stuck in a store window off to the side. There were glass and dummies scattered all over the whole length of the street as he took off running, deciding that it was best to take his leave now. All of that noise was going to attract more of them to him, and he'd rather not be caught by surprise again.

Four down, six to go, and in all honestly, they're making this way too easy. He's curious if any of them will actually be able to present a challenge.

Well, he'll find out soon enough.

---

"Caramel corn, anyone?"

Kaminari and Ashido were the first to start screeching excitedly, the rest of the class lighting up at Satou's offered treat. Midoriya couldn't help but smile as Uraraka ran over with the two to be among the first served.

"I made a lot." Satou announced. "There's enough for everyone."

"Alright," Tokage smiled. "That's more like it."

"Popcorn!" Tsunotori cheered, joining the slowly growing crowd. "Thank you, Mr. Sugar Man!"

Satou smiled happily as Tsunotori got her serving alongside Uraraka, who ran back to her seat and curled up between Midoriya and Iida in a way that had Midoriya trying to hide his reddening face and avoid embarrassing them both.

"This is so clever, Satou!" Yaoyorozu praised. "Considering that the natural scent of nitroglycerine is extremely similar to that of caramel, it seems so thematically appropriate!"

Satou stared at her blankly for a moment, blinking dumbly at his beaming classmate before shaking his head wildly. "Uh- Yeah, yeah! That was it! Haha! Gotta show my support somehow, am I right?"

Midoriya heard someone snort in response, but no one said anything further. From there, he was almost completely invested in what was happening on screen, Kacchan stretching his arms and back before taking off from what had been a puppet war zone less than a minute ago.

Midoriya was still reeling from the number of emotions he'd experienced, starting from the moment Kacchan had stopped his little scouting lap around Ground Beta and used a particularly loud explosion upon takeoff. A camera had zoomed in on a plumb of smoke and a flight trail that appeared not even a second later. To Midoriya at least, it was clear bait, the smoke such a dark color in contrast to the buildings around it that it was impossible to miss, and that wasn't even mentioning the volume. From that vantage point, Kacchan probably had a fantastic view of his opponents going their separate ways, which meant that he knew they were split up. Not good for MCH.

Midoriya watched in amazement as the student with the harpy quirk flew after Kacchan. It was exhilarating to watch the way they danced around each other, Kurotori, yeah, that was his name, growing impatient and nervous while Kacchan remained completely confident. In fact, he almost seemed like he was having fun.

Half of the class had either tensed up or let out some sound of surprise when Mizukami's tentacles shot up after him from below, like a predator springing a trap on its prey. The fluid motion in which Kacchan slipped past her looked almost effortless, but Midoriya knew from experience that contorting your body in that fashion could be both difficult and painful. The speed at which he was moving probably didn't do him any favors, either, and yet, he didn't even break a sweat.

Kacchan really was amazing.

Easily shaking it off, he literally took a swan dive through an office complex as if it were a swimming pool, the spray of glass making several people curl up, and suddenly shot himself upward so fast that it was like watching a NASA rocket launch. Midoriya found himself feeling bad for the harpy quirk user as he desperately flew up after him. Uraraka had put a hand on her neck in what was probably sympathy as Kacchan almost instantly changed his direction, flying backward and slamming his palm into Kurotori with a decent-sized explosion that earned some strong vocal reactions from his classmates.

Midoriya felt his own face contort in confusion as they both continued to fall, Kacchan seemingly just as confused. He then launched himself forward, grabbing Kurotori and shakily flying them to the edge of Ground Beta. He dropped what Midoriya suddenly realized was an unconscious body by an exit before almost immediately taking back off.

"Wait, that was it!?" Tetsutetsu had exclaimed. "He was out in one hit!"

"That was literally less than a minute." Jirou commented, watching as Kacchan made another painful maneuver around Mizukami's tentacles. Midoriya was surprised to see that instead of going after her next, he chose to retreat and regroup. An inkling of unexplainable pride had blossomed in his chest.

"It was oddly cathartic, though." Tokoyami mumbled mostly to himself, Shouji patting him on the shoulder. Somewhere on the other side of the room, Midoriya was pretty sure that it was Kuroiro chuckling to himself.

He was already scribbling wildly in his notebook, jotting down points as his classmates discussed MCH's approach to this match among themselves while on screen, Kacchan was fighting Tateno, the knife finger guy. It was true that going after Kacchan alone was a bad move, which was why splitting up confused Midoriya to no end, but that made him curious as to what Kurotori's plan was in the first place. He was obviously fast, being able to keep up with Kacchan like that, and though he wasn't as agile, likely due to his wingspan, he wasn't that far behind. Did the fact that his arms are his wings have an effect on that, rather than being on his back? Maybe the wing density? His weight? And if he could handle that kind of wind resistance, how come Kacchan's explosion took him out so easily? Was that also a case of whiplash? Inertia? What if-

"Deku, you're mumbling."

"Ah!" Midoriya fumbled with his notebook, dropping his pencil. "My bad!"

Uraraka giggled, Midoriya's face heating up as he curled into himself, his notebook clutched against his chest and knees raised up.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Kirishima's voice suddenly rose above the chatter. "What just happened!?"

Midoriya's head shot up towards the screen, eyes widening as he watched Kacchan scramble to his feet after being knocked out of the air. He only looked slightly scratched up from the rough landing, arms out and palms open as if scanning for his enemy. Whatever had happened, the blonde never saw it, and that made Midoriya's heart squeeze uncomfortably.

He knew he'd pull through, but it was still an unnerving situation.

Midoriya had honestly been somewhat impressed with Akasako. Even Midoriya himself had found it difficult to pinpoint what his quirk even was, frantically brainstorming ideas and theories as if that would actually be of any help to Kacchan. Now that the speed of the battle had paused, banter could be heard, Ashido looking especially frustrated and about two seconds from screaming at the screen like you would at a character in a horror film.

And then the Hitonari sisters made their appearances, which greatly confused Midoriya. From the looks and sounds of things, the string sister's quirk involved the puppets surrounding them, but it seemed like such a perfect ambush quirk. Why would you reveal your position, and your quirk in the process? It wasn't hard to figure it out when he knew almost everyone else's quirks already, but he hadn't known where she was until she'd shown herself. Such a strange decision.

And it turned out to be their undoing. At first, Kacchan's first attack seemed to make things worse, his leg being held in place like his arm, but Midoriya realized his thought process only a moment later, when he realized what Akasako's quirk was. From the looks of things, he could make 2D shadows interact with the 3D world, the thing that originally knocked Kacchan out of the air being the shadow of a crate. The shadow of Akasako's hand was what was holding Kacchan's arm in place, his other one reaching out for his leg after he'd kicked that puppet's head off.

As it turned out, that was a bait, both of Akasako's hands occupied so that Kacchan could attack without worrying about being stopped. He'd both thrown Akasako back and taken out a large majority of Hitonari's army in one or two fluid motions. Obviously, Kacchan had figured everything out just fine on his own.

From there, it was a matter of keeping Akasako away from his shadow, Kacchan using a stun grenade to blind him before dropkicking his face with enough force that Midoriya was impressed it didn't knock him out.

"You... What did you do to my face!?"

"I fixed it for you. You're welcome."

Ashido and Jirou both let out some kind of victory screech, several 1-B students and Kacchan's friend group all bursting out laughing as Akasako lost his temper, charging at Kacchan as if that was ever a good idea. One more explosion and a bullet punch to the stomach later, it was pretty much over.

"That was for using the word 'hideous' incorrectly. Get your eyes checked, loser."

The applause had been deafening, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero all dragging Ashido into a tight, jovial group hug.

Hitonari had lost her mind after that, uselessly throwing her puppets at him and shouting every insult she could hurl at him. A couple of them found themselves digging under Midoriya's skin and making him squirm, but Kacchan was completely undeterred. Even Midoriya had to admit that Kacchan straight-up pimp slapping her was kind of satisfying. He knows that Ashido and Jirou were absolutely losing it.

A Howitzer's Impact might have been a bit much, but Midoriya understood what he was trying to do, a show of dominance rather than a genuine attack against her, and in a way, running away like a coward was more humiliating than being beaten into the ground.

In any case, it had been an absolute massacre. Meanwhile, the rest of them are all here eating some of the best caramel corn that Midoriya's ever had in his entire life and enjoying quite a display.

"Man, I'd been kind of jealous that Bakugou got to be the one to fight them," Tetsutetsu cheered. "But this is too good!"

"I think that's why the teachers chose him alone, even though ten of any of us would be considered fair." Asui mused aloud. "Consider this: What would make a school of heroes look worse? Losing against the same number of people or losing against one? It's like how we were all defeated by Mirio, except that it's someone in their year instead of a third year and their heaviest hitters are there, too, kero."

Sero laughed. "Hey, I'm all for just sitting back and watching Blasty wreck some fools. I'm not even worried. This has been sick!"

Midoriya heard Monoma scoff. "Of course, they would immediately choose someone from class 1-A for this. Anyone from 1-B would do just as well, I tell you!"

"I mean, you're probably right." Tokage said.

"No one said he wasn't." Jirou shrugged. "Anyone from 1-A could probably do it, too, but you know what Bakugou doesn't have that the rest of us do?"

Everyone looked at her questionably while Jirou smirked. "Mercy. I'm willing to bet that all of us in this room would have too much of a heart to fight them like how we'd fight each other, especially when some of them are clearly not at our level and would get absolutely destroyed." She pointed at the screen. "Meanwhile, he literally just went at a girl with some puppets for a quirk with a fucking Howitzer's Impact."

"She makes a valid point." Tokage admitted with a shrug, though Monoma only grumbled to himself.

Midoriya simply stuffed his mouth with caramel corn and pulled out his notebook again, waiting for the next encounter. He found it curious that through the entire simulation so far, he hadn't seen Shintani or Yano once.

---

It was literally seconds after takeoff that Bakugou spotted Beta trying to spy on him. He wasn't sure what good that would do him, but that's what he seemed to be doing.

Beta hurriedly disappeared behind a building, a floating gray platform fading away just behind him. Bakugou was quick to give chase, Beta's face morphing into that of terror as soon as he looked back and realized he was being followed. He had to admit, out of every weirdo he'd had the displeasure of meeting from this class, Beta confused him the most, constantly flip-flopping between a peacekeeper and a catalyst.

Wasn't this the dick that tripped Deku down the stairs? Considering that you could easily die from breaking your neck in a fall like that, he's not even sure he'd have done that back in middle school. That would have destroyed his permanent record, had it gone wrong, and he wasn't stupid enough to risk that. He was a bully, not a murderer.

Still not good, but easier to live with.

Running along the high building rooftops after him, Bakugou had to try really hard not to laugh as Beta ducked around different buildings and dove across alleys as fast as he could, as if that would help him whatsoever. He could only use his quirk to walk across open spaces. He wasn't even that fast.

And he looked absolutely terrified, like he finally realized his mistakes, or at least what kind of people he was antagonizing from the beginning, and was running from the consequences as if his very life depended on it, a personification of karma just a few steps behind him and out for blood. The feral grin splitting his own face in two probably looked demonic.

He was pretty sure he'd landed on the roof of a cafe of some kind when he felt the entire building lurch forward and almost throw him over the railing.

"Oi!" Beta suddenly shouted, looking over the edge of the building across the street from him with a panicked expression. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The building shook again, and Bakugou ran to the edge and peered over. What he found was what looked like a bipedal wolf, with the exact head of one, giant hands with claws the size of his tusk-like teeth, and so much fur that his hero costume was partially hidden under all of it. Judging from the color of his fur and the way it wove around his face, Bakugou was pretty sure this was Sideburns.

And he's a werewolf, apparently. Fascinating.

"Where is he!?" Sideburns roared, the foundations of the building giving out and forcing Bakugou to jump to the next one before it could topple over.

"Kiga!" Beta screamed. "There are people in there!"

"So what!? They're just toys!"

And with that, the building crumbled to the ground. Bakugou was almost impressed with the show of strength, but at the same time, almost in shock at the display of apathy towards civilians. Bakugou himself didn't have all that much room to talk, but toys or not, at least he didn't kill people. Also, being caught in a building collapse wasn't fun. He and Ashido could tell this prick all about that.

The rooftop shifted again, Sideburns tearing at the next building he'd found himself on, and before Bakugou knew it, he was leaping from building to building as they fell to the ground behind him in his pursuer's rampage. Each collapse behind him both sent shivers down his spine and was music to his ears. The subtle thrill in his veins put a smile on his face.

"Kiga!" Beta continued to scream. "Kiga, you're killing people!"

Beta paused, pressing his hand against his ear, and Bakugou suddenly realized that they actually had communication devices. He blinked dumbly at the realization, stunned, almost impressed even, with how uncoordinated they were in that light. Even without that advantage, he and his 'squad' as they loved to call themselves were usually on the same page while on the field, depending on his mood. It was the same with Deku, weirdly enough.

"Are you sure?" he heard Beta yell into his device, another building biting the dust as the force field quirk user made his way towards street level. For a moment, Bakugou couldn't help the confusion that painted his face.

And then the roof suddenly caved in.

It happened so fast that he only had time to react after the fact, throwing his momentum forward as the many floors below him succumbed to the increasing weight being dropped on them. With barely any solid ground to stand on, he broke through a window on one of the upper floors, finding himself several stories above a small alleyway, windows shattering and walls eroding and crumbling around him. The air was polluted with the dust of the buildings falling behind him.

Vision compromised and adrenaline running high, he reacted purely on instinct when a shadow flew past him, sending a small explosion in the direction it disappeared in. It was small, possibly a bird or drone, but the hairs on the back of his head were standing on end, because something in his very heart and soul was screaming at him that he'd just flown into a trap.

And then something coiled around his ankle and the first thought that ran through his head was 'fuck, I really should have taken out Squid Girl first'.

He couldn't see anything and he had absolutely no clue where she was, so rather than firing blindly as the tentacle yanked him downward, he threw his arms over his head, guarding himself to the best of his ability as he was pulled into and thrown through another building, feeling several impacts against his body before he hit a wall back first that didn't give way under his momentum.

He was dizzy from the unexpected whiplash, but not enough to be completely thrown off of his game. He could make out broken tables and chairs scattered across the room, only one or two dummies with him and a distinct lack of cameras. Obviously, not every nook and cranny in Ground beta could be monitored, and apparently, this was one of those spots. The destroyed furniture made a perfect pathway painting his descent, the wall he'd broken through barely holding up the ceiling above him. To the right of it was a huge counter, surrounded by broken bottles and glasses.

Bakugou's eyes only widened minutely. He was in an old rundown bar. What were the chances?

The tentacle around his ankle disappeared, replaced by two wrapping tightly around his gauntlets. He couldn't help but wonder if he should get them upgraded as he was pulled up to his feet. Maybe some way to slip out of them in emergencies, like when an accident, or even better, a villain, has him pinned and he can just slip his arm through and launch a surprise attack. Maybe a button? Or a switch? Something that he wouldn't hit accidentally, so that they don't suddenly fly off of his arms during a fight. That might be a good future upgrade.

Speaking of his gauntlets, he hasn't used them yet. They're full right now.

The floorboards creaked, Bakugou turning his attention from his trapped gauntlets currently forcing his hands above his head to Squid Girl standing in front of him, the smuggest look on her face as she bounced on the balls of her feet. He didn't miss the fact that she was sweating, the air around them slightly warmer from the heat radiating off of his body due to the constant use of his quirk. He had to fight to not grin.

"You seem pretty confident," she said. "For someone in your position."

Bakugou shrugged. What was it with these guys and commenting on his confidence? Jealous much? "Yeah, well, to be completely honest, you're no real threat to me, so..."

That was actually somewhat of a lie, but as if he'd show any weakness in front of this whack job. He'd rather openly cry in front of Deku.

Squid Girl hummed, inching closer to him. "I like that. I think confident guys are really hot."

Oh... Wow. Okay, fuck that.

"And I'll be honest, I'm totally into the whole 'bad boy' thing, too."

Fuck that in a million ways.

He didn't know if he should be relieved or horrified that there are no cameras.

He masked his discomfort, putting on a bored scowl instead. "Hate to break it to you, Splatoon, but I'm not into creeps."

She pouted childishly at that, but she then smiled sweetly and stepped even closer. "So you're hard to get, then?"

She was directly in front of him now, sickening smile, uncomfortable giddiness and suffocating atmosphere. Somewhere in his mind's eye, he was still in a bar, dimly lit, hands encased in front of him and a girl with sharp eyes and matching teeth always hovering around somewhere in the dark, looking at him as if he was her favorite midnight snack.

He involuntarily shivered.

He was pulled out of his haunting memories by the feeling of a tentacle rubbing against his neck and trying to force its way down his shirt.

Yeah, no. Absolutely not. Fuck that and fuck this bitch in particular. She's about to die within the next five seconds and it's going to be glorious, and he will cherish that moment. He'd gained strong grips on both of his pins, since the idiot didn't bother holding his arms further apart, and he could already smell the incoming scent of charred seafood.

Using their proximity to his advantage, he threw his leg forward and twisted his foot behind her knees, knocking her forward. He ignored the nausea rolling in his stomach as soon as she fell against him, hiding it under a confident, toothy grin.

"This close enough for you?" he growled, yanking both pins from his gauntlets.

The explosion was deafening, sending the ceiling above them flying into the air. The rest of it and the walls around them toppled to the ground, sunlight streaming through the billowing dust and smoke. Bakugou basked in the familiarity of the rising heat, relishing the sound of coughing and gasping a few feet in front of him.

Squid Girl had been sent to her knees facing away from him, having been blown back by the shock wave. Her entire body was drenched in sweat, causing dust and soot to cling to her damp skin. She gasped against the intense heat, her hair somewhat shriveling up in the uncomfortable atmosphere. She crawled for the nearest exit, her head below the layer of smoke as she coughed.

Bakugou only snorted at her, nonchalantly raising his hand and firing a weak shot at her back, throwing her forward with a scream. "I don't know what it is with you guys and celebrating early, but that's the second time today. Not a good look for you."

He glanced to his left, hearing wild howling in the distance, before he looked back at the shaking girl now curled up on the floor one last time. "Also, do yourself a favor and learn some damn self control. I should not have to explain why."

And with that, he ran for the hole in the wall, skidding to a halt and looking back for a moment. There were at least two dummies in the room with them, both having somehow missed the majority of the damage. With an amused snerk, he ran over and grabbed both of them, throwing them under his arms and not bothering to watch where he was going as his boot dug into Tentacle Hair's back on the way out.

---

"BOOM! We're back in business, baby!"

Aizawa's head snapped back towards the screen at Mic's voice, the underground hero letting out an aggravated sigh as his student reappeared, two dummies under his arms and his signature smirk firmly plastered on his face.

"Well, there he is." Midnight huffed. "Where did he even go? He vanishes without a trace for almost a minute and then suddenly, explosion?"

Aizawa hummed, eyes never leaving the screen as Bakugou found Kiga, waving the dummies at him and claiming he had hostages while Kiga just screamed and charged him anyway. Bakugou made sure to drop a dummy as he dodged his attack, watching with sadistic glee as the dummy and that many more of MCH's points were torn to shreds. Aizawa had to fight the twitching in the corners of his mouth. The kid was actually having fun with this.

"It's more likely than you think." Nezu said coolly, sipping his tea. "Always one step ahead of the enemy. You can all thank me for my genius now."

Midnight and Present Mic both laughed, but Aizawa was too fixated on a small detail on screen to pay much attention to them.

Mizukami, the squid hair girl, stumbled out of the destroyed building that Bakugou had just emerged from, looking as if she'd swallowed a grenade, and fell to the ground after only a few steps, practically unmoving. If he remembered correctly, that was the girl that-.

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, remembering her interaction with Todoroki. "Nezu."

The principal looked over at him with his usual blank smile. "Yes, Aizawa?"

"Are there any hidden cameras in this particular district?" he asked. "Specifically that building right there."

Nezu tilted his head. "They're not broadcasting, but there should be something recording in there. Why?"

His voice was low as he eyed the unconscious girl. "I want to see that footage."

"May I ask why?"

He chose not to look him in the eye. "From what I already know of that girl, something tells me that she isn't going to be allowed a hero's license, and that I'm going to have something to do with it."

"Oh? And how will you achieve this?"

"Don't worry about it."

Nezu simply shrugged, taking another sip of his tea as Mic nearly burst out laughing at Bakugou treating his match with Kiga like a bullfight, using the dummy as the cape and jumping out of the way just in time. "Why is he doing that?! I thought he was the no-nonsense type!"

"He's toying with him on purpose." Aizawa drawled, watching as Kiga drove himself right through a building. "He's aggravating him by acting as if he's not taking him seriously, something that would make Bakugou himself just as angry, were their roles reversed."

"It's a legitimate strategy." Nezu spoke into his cup. "Keep his enemy from thinking straight while causing damage in the process. This will definitely hurt MCH's score severely."

"Also entertaining." Mic giggled. On screen, Kiga finally destroyed the other dummy, snarling as Bakugou smirked darkly, gesturing for him to come at him. "And also, this Kiga kid? He ain't getting a license either."

"Nope." Nezu agreed.

"Not a chance in hell." Midnight added.

"I would rather die than see that happen." Aizawa said matter-of-factly.

Kiga ran at Bakugou with absolutely no self-preservation warning him that maybe, just maybe, that was a bad idea. Bakugou positioned himself for an AP shot, but aimed down at the last second, sending a spray of cement and dust into the air as the shock wave threw Kiga flat on his back. Quickly, Bakugou jumped on top of him, pressing his hand against the werewolf's face and setting off a massive explosion that cracked the asphalt under them.

Aizawa grinned as Bakugou stood up, stepping away as Kiga weakly swatted at him. After distancing himself several feet and giving a disinterested look-over, he wordlessly sent another AP shot next to him, hurling him into another building. Present Mic and Midnight couldn't help but laugh out loud while Nezu just looked smug.

"Hey," Mic laughed. "You think I could convince Bakugou to guest star on my radio show after this?"

"No," Aizawa responded bluntly. "But I won't stop you from trying."

Present Mic only laughed harder, Midnight now rolling her eyes while Nezu finished his tea. Aizawa glanced at the timer and smirked. At this rate, this match will be over in less than fifteen minutes.

---

Turning away from the smoldering remains of Sideburns with his hands on his hips, Bakugou looked up at the city skyline in annoyance. Beta had already fled like a coward.

He kicked a pebble down the street, watching it skid and bounce against the rocky, uneven asphalt before letting out a long sigh. The most irritating part about this was that the more of them he defeated, the less likely it was that he'd just stumble upon another one, and now they were getting skittish.

And above everything else, Muted Red hadn't made a single appearance yet, let alone a move. It actually amazed him how dumb that was. When he'd come into this thing, he'd been expecting to fight them all at once. Maybe if they hadn't all run off and done their own thing, they would have stood a better chance and wouldn't have completely humiliated themselves and their school like this. He didn't even realize that they had communication devices, they've been so disorganized.

Idiots. All of them.

Well, okay, Doe Eyes is alright, he supposed, but he was not above saying that she wasn't hero material.

With a long sigh, he looked out over the city, preparing to take off and find the rest of the cowards when he barely noticed movement to his left fast enough to lean out of the way.

The plastic arm grazed the tip of his nose and bounced down the street to the sidewalk uselessly, a dull, hollow sound against the broken concrete. Bakugou couldn't help but stare at it in confusion, chancing a glance in the direction it came from with a raised eyebrow.

Thinking back, Bakugou didn't think he'd ever seen Barbie by herself, always following after her absolute bitch of a sister like a dog on a leash. No emotion, no remorse. Just a dead, blank expression, practically a corpse made of plastic that seemed to thrive in someone else's shadow. Seeing her now, still singed and somehow standing after being a little too close to his Howitzer's Impact and her eyes shining for the first time that he was aware of, he was starting to wonder what this girl's deal even was.

Not that he particularly cared, but the question was still there.

Without prompt and a battle cry escaping her lips, she charged him, Bakugou easily sidestepping her sloppy punch. She swung around again, eyes moving across his form and her posture improving as she went, and he dodged and weaved as she continued to attempt to strike him with her three remaining limbs.

There was something in her eyes now, something that had never been there before, that was catching his attention. With another sidestep and a strong nudge, she was on the ground, quickly pushing herself to her feet and turning to attack again when he lifted his glowing, sparking hand as a silent threat. She seemed to get the message, stopping to think about her options before taking a few steps back, her face the most expressive that he'd ever seen it.

She looked frustrated.

Despite her lax posture, her hand was still in a tight fist, feet squared apart. She remained silent, simply watching him and quickly glancing at his outstretched hand every so often. Looking her over, every sign pointed to her wanting a fight.

"You're serious?" he asked incredulously, brows furrowed questioningly.

Barbie Doll, with a deep breath, raised her clenched fist, her face set in a determined scowl. "Serious..."

He eyed her carefully, scrutinizing her stance and face before he let out a long sigh, stepping off to the side where her arm had been thrown to. It must have been the one that she'd lost when she jumped him during his fight with String hair, since it seemed more damaged than the rest of her limbs, black with soot and scratched up from scraping against rocks and glass.

He realized how light it was when he picked it up, barely anything in his grasp. He unceremoniously tossed it to her feet, returning to his spot in front of her with a dangerous snarl. If she wanted a fight, he'd give her a fight, and she better not regret it, because she's bringing it upon herself.

She seemed to understand, picking her arm up and popping it back into place like it was nothing. She winced only slightly, but it was barely noticeable as she flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulder. With raised eyebrows, Bakugou just accepted it, squaring his feet and raising his fists to face-height for a serious all out fistfight. Looking over his form, she wordlessly copied his stance almost perfectly, face set back into that uncharacteristically determined scowl that she seemed to have just discovered.

He moved first, surprising her with his speed and nailing her in the face. It was an odd sensation, feeling his fist collide with plastic and not have it splinter or crack under his knuckles. Perhaps this plastic shell of hers was stronger than it looked. Whatever the case, the hit didn't throw her off as much as it should have, enough of her wits together to dodge his next jab with practiced ease, as if she hadn't only just seen him dodge the same way a couple of times less than a minute ago, and she threw a punch as hard as she could into his midsection.

And there was the problem.

She was light, almost as if she was completely hollow. The girl could probably be blown away in a wind storm. There was just no weight behind her attack.

He barely even felt it.

A smack from his gauntlet and she was easily thrown to the side like a toy, rolling across the ground and slamming against a building with that light plastic tube noise. And yet, Barbie Doll actually scrambled back to her feet, yanking her arm back out of its socket and stomping on a small slab of rock to throw a few large pebbles into the air. With practiced precision, she flipped her arm around so that she was holding her own hand and swung it like a flimsy bat, sending the stones flying back at him.

They were small, most of them easily blocked by his gauntlets alone, but he didn't miss the scratch now lightly bleeding on his cheek.

He shot an explosion at her, her light body easily launched into the air from the force of it. What he didn't expect was for her to be able to redirect herself, calculating and moving just in time to be in a position where she could use the momentum from his own explosion to fly at him instead of away. She swung her detached arm down at him like an ax, barely nicking his ear.

The problem was that she was now wide open, receiving a powerful uppercut to the jaw. Of course, the Barbie seemed to be full of surprises, because he was not expecting her head to just pop off of her body like a bottle rocket.

Distracted by that small moment of what the fuck did I just see, she threw her leg up, kicking him in the chin. Unfortunately for her, again, it didn't hurt and there was no weight behind it. She did cleanly dodge his next jab, though, apparently still able to get an idea of where he was in relation to her even when her eyes were now all the way down the street.

She swung her disconnected arm again, Bakugou easily blocking it and knocking it out of her grip. She leaped back, her headless body stepping to the side before charging him again, once again wide open in her assault. It was easy to just curbstomp her at that moment, the power behind his kick apparently strong enough to pop both her other arm and one of her legs out of her body.

And just like that, it was over, her torso with its one leg flailing uselessly without any other appendages to help it get back up. Bakugou sighed loudly, rubbing at his scalp. In all sincerely, he was actually somewhat disappointed.

In a rare show of remorse, Bakugou collected the three detached limbs in one arm and the rest of the body in the other, dragging them over to the lonely head lying sideways on the ground. Her eyes were dead again, but there was a watery glaze over them that shone brightly in the sunlight. He dumped the rest of her body by her wordlessly, deciding it best to leave her here like this. If she can't put herself back together, then she's as good as defeated.

"I'm not..."

Bakugou's eyes snapped to hers, brows above his hairline as she fought for the foreign concept of words. "I... Not a puppet."

Her breath hitched, but no tears fell. "I am...human."

Bakugou couldn't claim to have a single clue what she was talking about, nor could he claim that he cared, but with whatever understanding of normal human interaction he'd picked up over the last several months of his life, he responded anyway. "No one said you weren't."

Nothing in her expression changed, staring at nothing with far off eyes. Bakugou groaned in irritation. "Listen, I'm not one to throw around words of...encouragement or whatever, but out of every single fuck in your class, from your awful sister to that failure of a class rep and even the blonde-haired girl, who is somehow a decent human being, you are by far the most qualified I've seen out of you lot to be a hero. I don't know what that means to you, nor do I care, but it had to be said."

He turned away, not bothering to gauge her reaction. "If you want my advice, stop following String Hair around and go be your own damn person."

He left without looking back.

---

This wasn't even fun anymore. Bakugou was ready to just end this for good.

If he had to make a guess, he'd say that that coward Muted Red was hiding somewhere obvious, waiting to confront him himself after the explosion quirk use had been 'tired out' by his teammates, whom he basically left on their own to get slaughtered one by one.

Four Eyes was a way better leader. Deku was a way better leader. He'd rather let him call the shots any day.

For the sake of being petty, Bakugou made sure to destroy whatever storefronts and crowded areas he came across, smirking as dummies and debris flew through the air and scattered along the streets behind him as he walked. These guys have pissed him off enough for an entire lifetime, so making extra sure to drop their points beyond saving was worth it, even if Sideburns probably already did the job for him.

Before he knew it, he found himself in a city square in Ground Beta, a large, colorful building standing almost directly in front of him and close enough to the nearest exit from Ground Beta that any coward could easily hightail it from here. It was such a cliche location for a final battle, the top floor seemingly built only for viewing purposes as if this was a real city with the need for tourist locations, that there was no way that this wasn't where Shittani was hiding all this time.

In fact, he could see Beta peering through the window at the top from here. He grinned and waved, reveling in sadistic glee as Beta blanched, vanishing from his sight. It was practically a hop, skip and a jump, launching himself into the air and crashing through the giant window in a crouching position that he knew looked just as badass as he felt doing it.

The slow clapping took the fun out of it, only serving to remind him of the people he was dealing with. He stood and crossed his arms, glaring at the two boys on the other side of the room. Beta looked rightfully nervous, hands near his face and expression grim while Muted Red stepped forward.

"I'll be honest," Muted Red said. "I didn't expect you to get this far."

"That just goes to show how up your own ass you are." Bakugou responded coolly, his hands itching for a fight. He couldn't even remember the last time he wanted to sock someone in the jaw so badly.

Muted let out a tch. "Cocky as always. Arrogant with no self-control, just like the kid I saw at the U.A. sports festival."

Bakugou wordlessly shot an explosion at him, watching with a bored resting bitch face as Beta stepped in front of him and blocked it with his force field. Surprisingly, it seemed to be an effective move.

"My point exactly." Muted said with a shrug. "Only a true villain could manifest such murderous intent."

"I'm supposed to be playing the villain, you fuck," Bakugou snarled. "And I know you're just trying to get a rise out of me."

Muted ignored him. "Maybe you should have stayed with the league."

Bakugou clenched his teeth dangerously, canines showing and eyes practically glowing with ferocity. He held his tongue, not willing to give him the satisfaction, and began to step forward, hands crackling with blistering hot energy.

And Muted Red grinned. "This is the end. NOW!"

"I'm sorry!"

Bakugou's eyes widened at the sound of Doe Eyes's voice, gaze whipping around in time to see a glaring light nearly blinding him. He hissed, covering his eyes and turning away from the gates of heaven opening up in front of him and shining directly in his face like a spotlight on high. His entire world, even behind his eyelids, was bathed in white.

"Rikiya, go!" Muted Red yelled, two pairs of footsteps scattering to opposite sides of the room. Bakugou didn't know what they were planning to do next, but he wasn't keen on taking his chances and waiting to find out.

He knew where Doe Eyes was, but she was close to a window, so firing an explosion at her could easily send her flying out the window and to her death. Blindly running at her might not help either, since even though he couldn't see, and the other two probably couldn't either, she could.

He didn't know how much more light her eyes could handle compared to normal, but he had a feeling that she had a limit.

"I don't always have the best control over it. My emotions always get the better of me, you know?"

Two could play at this game.

Slightly adjusting his mask to cover his eyes, he stepped back, away from where he'd heard footsteps last, and threw his hands forward. "Stun Grenade!"

Even with his mask covering his eyes, the world was blinding, Doe Eyes's quirk amplifying the light from his attack to impossible levels. All three opponents let out shouts and expletives of pain, Doe Eyes sounding muffled against the hands likely covering her face. In an instant, Bakugou leaped forward, elbow out in order to maintain momentum despite not knowing Doe Eyes's exact distance from him.

He collided with her stomach, a pained gasp escaping her lips as she heaved, knees giving out as she collapsed in a heap.

And just like that, the lights went down. Bakugou put his mask back on straight, his vision spotty from the assault of light rendering him almost completely blind. From what he could see, Doe Eyes was on the ground, unmoving. He honestly wasn't surprised that she went down so easily, as uninspired as she was as a hero.

He hoped for everyone's sake that she wasn't forced into it in the end.

Vision returning to normal, Bakugou couldn't help but love the look of frustration and anger on Muted Red's face, like he'd thought that his plan was foolproof and was about to have a tantrum like a spoiled brat who wasn't given a bike for his birthday in the exact color he wanted.

"Dammit." Beta muttered, rubbing at his bleary eyes while trying to gain as much distance from Bakugou as possible. At least it could be said that he had some semblance of common sense.

Muted Red grinned.

Bakugou wasn't sure why his mind immediately zoned in on that, but his adrenaline spiked when he felt an impact against his shoulder, a sudden cold sensation washing over it. He winced at the sharp pain that followed, his hand reaching back and feeling three small metal objects buried in his flesh.

With an annoyed growl, he glanced behind him, eyes landing on a figure on the roof of the building next door, and suddenly, he realized that he'd actually forgotten one. He'd actually forgotten about Knife Fingers, with his wild, crazed smile, and apparently, he could detach and shoot those knives of his from his hands like a fucking skink's tail.

Not that it mattered. It was only a mild distraction.

He didn't know if the guy had actually believed that a couple of needles stuck into his skin could stop him, but Beta must have suddenly had a surge of confidence, rounding on him with his shield out in front of him. It was embarrassingly easy to swing around and catch his arm mid-swing, eyes wild and grin feral as Beta seemed to realize his mistake a moment too late.

Backed by the power of his explosions, Bakugou's fist plowed right through the shield, colliding with Beta's face hard enough to break his nose and knock out a tooth or two as he bounced across the floor and skidded to a stop, his face a bloody mess.

Within the next second, Bakugou had already turned, hands positioned for an AP shot as Knife Fingers seemed to realize the danger he was in and turned to run for it. Bakugou's aim held true, his shot exploding the edge of the building and the shock wave sending the idiot flying into the air. From the looks of it, Knife Fingers's head slammed into the staircase door to and from the roof hard enough to knock him out.

Two down in three seconds flat. He just couldn't help the shit-eating grin that took over his face.

The footsteps behind him set his blood on fire. He spun around so fast that he even surprised himself, grabbing Muted Red's outstretched arm and jamming his knee into his stomach. The sound of gagging was literally music to his ears at this point as Muted stumbled back, clutching his stomach in pain.

"You wanted a fight, didn't you?" Bakugou taunted, leaning forward with his arms outstretched. "What do you think you're even doing? Come on! Hit me!"

The look of genuine anger painting Shittani's face was beautiful as he tore at him. Fists clenched, Muted swung at him with admittedly decent posture, barely nicking Bakugou's cheek before taking a metal knee guard to the chin. Bakugou then slammed his gauntlet into his side, sending him rolling on the ground before he regained his stance and jumped up with practiced speed.

Muted spat to the side, his expression set in a determined scowl and hair hanging over his face. Bakugou barely noticed the distant sound of ringing as Muted straightened up, stance squared in preparation for a real fight. Bakugou somehow doubted that this would last very long.

The ringing hit a crescendo and suddenly, Bakugou was nearly deaf.

He cringed harshly at the sound suddenly making his headache from that morning flair up with a vengeance. His vision slightly blurred as he covered his ears, almost stumbling as he stepped back. Whatever was happening right now, it was making everything hurt and the ringing was so loud.

He didn't miss the movement in front of him, blocking the first punch that came at him and dodging the second, but the third came through, striking his temple hard enough to make his vision go spotty for a moment. In a necessary bid to gain some distance, Bakugou jumped back, aiming an explosion almost directly at his feet. It was enough to both send him skidding backward on his feet and throw Muted into the wall behind him.

Hand on his forehead, Bakugou exhaled slowly, his head pounding and ears still ringing. He couldn't exactly place what was happening, but he didn't give a damn. This would only be a minor inconvenience.

He'd make sure of it.

---

Kirishima's eyes widened. "Something's wrong."

Looks of concern were exchanged across the room as Bakugou seemed to stumble, clutching his head and wincing in pain. Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido were all standing when Shintani actually got a really decent hit in, forcing Bakugou to make some distance between them.

"What's going on?" Kaminari demanded. "This came out of nowhere!"

Jirou grimaced. "Is he having a migraine or something? Maybe from Yano's light?"

"Has Bakugou ever been prone to migraines, Midoriya?" Iida asked worriedly.

Midoriya's brows were deeply furrowed as he scrutinized the scene before him. "Not that I'm aware of..." he responded, his voice tapering off.

The freckled boy began to fumble with his notebook, skimming through pages with a set face. "None of them have any quirks that could cause something like this, unless Yano really did trigger a migraine, but I somehow don't feel like that's the case."

"I do hope he's alright." Yaoyorozu thought aloud. "He looks like he's in a lot of pain."

"And the fact that he's showing it is a really bad sign." Jirou added.

Kirishima bit his lip, watching anxiously as Bakugou collected himself and prepared to continue the fight anyway, whatever was happening to him of little concern in his mind. Several of his classmates were on the edge of their seats in anticipation.

And then the silence that fell over them was broken by a notebook loudly hitting the floor.

"Deku?" Uraraka asked carefully, all heads turning towards him and his silent, stunned look. His expression was almost blank, wide-eyed as if he'd just had an epiphany.

"Midoriya, are you alright?" Iida questioned, Todoroki and Asui leaning over to see for themselves.

"I..." Midoriya mumbled, staring up at the screen in shock.

And then his face shifted into anger.

Uraraka and Iida both leaned back in surprise, others around them showing open concern as Midoriya scrambled for his dropped notebook and suddenly shot up from his seat, leaping over several rows of chairs and sprinting for the exit despite the shouts behind him.

Kirishima and Uraraka were the first to react, chasing after him out into the hallway as he ran off. Kirishima got there first. "Midoriya! What's wrong?! What's going on!?"

Midoriya barely stopped as he turned the corner. "No time to explain! I need to see Aizawa-sensei right now!"

He was gone before they could question him any further.

---

As much as Bakugou absolutely hated giving Muted any credit whatsoever, he really wasn't that bad of a fighter.

With whatever was going on with his head, setting off explosions was slowly becoming more and more painful, which was giving Muted a huge advantage as well. Without his quirk, it was down to hand to hand combat, Muted throwing well-aimed punches and kicks that were slowly becoming harder to dodge as time went on.

Unfortunately for him, Bakugou was just better.

Using his gauntlets to block his attacks, Bakugou nailed Muted with a roundhouse kick to his side. It only took a moment for Muted to regain his balance, grabbing a fallen pole from the ground in a fluid motion and nearly beaming him in the head with it. The fast, whip-like movements Bakugou was doing to avoid all of Muted's jabs and swings were making his head spin, but he just grit his teeth and dealt with it, reaching out and grabbing the pole mid-swing.

He could already hear the sounds of bubbling molten metal before he yanked the pole back and let go, throwing Muted towards him, and curbstomped him in the chest as hard as he could. Ignoring how the now melted pole sunk right through the floor like Ashido's acid, he focused on not giving Muted a chance to breathe as the coward backflipped away. Muted landed smoothly, kicking up a wave of dust in an attempt to blind him. Bakugou simply leaped to the side, charging him from a different angle. Muted attempted to kick him, but Bakugou easily caught his leg and threw him to the ground.

It really was a shame that Muted rolled out of the way of his fist slamming into the floor, but blocking Muted's next punch and uppercutting him in the jaw felt amazing. He wasn't sure what came over him in the next moment, but he'd only remembered seeing it done somewhere before. Latching onto Muted's arm before he got any distance, he spun around and tugged him forward, flipping him over his body and slamming his back into the floor with a resounding, satisfying crash.

Wait, wasn't that the move that Deku used on him in their first heroics exercise?

Shit.

Muted was back on his feet almost instantly, but not fast enough to avoid a punch to the gut and a followup to the face, earning a sickening crunch as soon as his fist collided with his nose. That was two broken noses now. Such a beautiful sound.

Bakugou faintly realized that the ringing had stopped.

Muted clutched his bleeding nose in pain, his face scrunching up before his eyes fell back on Bakugou in genuine, seething rage. "You think you've bested me?"

"Well, yeah, actually." Bakugou retorted with a smirk. Muted swung at him again, Bakugou easily blocking it with his gauntlet. "Face it, Shittani. You've lost."

Muted Red's eyes were wide with anger. "Like hell I'm losing to a villain!"

"The feeling's mutual."

There was a moment of silence, Muted doing everything in his power to keep himself under control. Bakugou couldn't see his eyes, but he was shaking, open disbelief on his shadowed face.

And then he smiled. "Okay, then. Let's end this."

There was a sizzling, bubbling sound, and suddenly, all of Bakugou's instincts were on fire. The world opened up to him, every sound and sight in his vicinity clearing and screaming at him. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end and his body was filled to the brim with nervous energy, twitching, convulsing, fidgeting.

It hit him a moment later, exactly what was happening. Muted's quirk, the placement of his hand, the bubbling sound, his gauntlet.

Bakugou was in his winter costume. It was warmer, causing him to sweat more. His gauntlet wasn't completely full, but there was still a decent amount of nitroglycerine in there.

The outer shell of his gauntlet is melting.

"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE!?" Bakugou screamed, both stunned and almost impressed at such a reckless act. He immediately jumped back, throwing Muted off balance in the process, and tore off his gauntlet. He could already smell caramel by the time he turned towards the windows, away from the other two MCH kids left in the room out cold, and threw it as hard as he could.

It was barely passed the broken window panels when it exploded.

The light was blinding, as if Doe Eyes had pulled herself from unconsciousness and activated her quirk again. Muted shouted in surprise, as if he hadn't realized that recklessly setting off nitroglycerine was a bad idea, and dove back as part of the ceiling began to collapse.

The resulting crashing grew louder, and the building rumbled dangerously. From the sounds of it, the ceiling hit the spot where Muted's melted pole ate through the floor hard enough to break through, causing the floor to start falling apart under them. Bakugou felt a spike of fear shoot through his chest, his hand flying to his stomach on reflex as the floor shook threateningly.

"Look what you've done!" he heard Muted shriek at him, but he couldn't have possibly cared less as the floor finally caved in.

The last thing he saw was the lifeless forms of Beta and Doe Eyes before they were all falling.

---

Ashido screamed.

Jirou wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but she knew better than to just let Ashido run off and suffer by herself. It was an automatic response, grabbing Ashido's arm and pulling her into the tightest hug she could manage.

"Hey," Jirou tried. "I'm sure he's fine. He's tough."

"But- But-."

"It won't be like then." Yaomomo suddenly appeared, joining in their hug. "Even if he's not okay, our teachers will save them. It'll be alright. You'll see."

Kaminari and Sero were there a moment later, joining their impromptu group hug as images seemed to flash across Ashido's eyes, memories that Jirou both wished she could see and was grateful that she never would. Kirishima, Uraraka, Iida, and Todoroki were all at their feet, ready to throw caution to the wind and book it for Ground Beta if they deemed it necessary.

And Jirou could do nothing but calm herself with her own heartbeat, an unyielding bass in her chest for her to follow, breathe to, and tap along with. Everything would be fine. Everything was just fine.

The lack of genuine uncertainty in her proclamation helped to put her at ease.

---

"Bakugou. Bakugou, can you hear me? This is Aizawa. I need a status report now."

"Fucking hell..." Bakugou groaned, pushing himself up from the dusty floor. From the sounds of it, the building was still falling, so he must have only been out for a few seconds. He lifted his hand to his communication device. "Yeah, I'm here."

Bakugou ignored the relieved sigh that came through and continued on. "Damn idiot boiled my gauntlet. I tried to get rid of it, but it detonated too quickly."

"Nevermind that. Are you alright?"

Bakugou stood, arching his back and testing his limbs. Despite the soreness, nothing seemed broken and the only blood he could find was from a shallow cut on his side and the puncture wounds on his shoulder from Knife Fingers's attack. "I'm fine. From the looks of it, I only fell a few floors."

Another sigh. "Good. In any case, Shintani is currently fleeing the sight and heading for the nearest Ground Beta exit. You've won. A perfect score."

Bakugou grinned, a knowing look in his eyes. "Did you expect anything less?"

"You have enough self-confidence. You don't need me to inflate your ego anymore." Bakugou rolled his eyes and snorted. "Can you get out of there on your own?"

"Shouldn't be a problem." Bakugou responded coolly, looking over the side of the ledge he'd been lucky enough to land on. From here, he could see about three to four floors above him and several below. Looking back up, his brows suddenly furrowed. "Is Shittani the only one you saw get out?"

"We haven't seen Yano or Rikiya leave the premises, no." Aizawa responded.

Bakugou's body was still practically vibrating with fidgety energy. "So, wait, you're telling me that he just left his teammates to die? Not even I do that!"

Aizawa seemingly ignored his comment. "We're sending paramedics over there now. If you are able to find and evacuate them yourself, please do so."

"Yeah, sure. And hey, can you let the others know I'm okay? I don't need Ashido losing her shit, and I'd rather not get jumped by a crowd of morons as soon as this is all over."

"I will, but I can't make any promises about any of that."

"Right..." he muttered, scanning the destroyed floors below him. It wasn't difficult to climb his way down, as precariously balanced as a lot of the rubble was. There was smoke beginning to flow through the openings, slowly becoming thicker as he continued to climb lower and lower.

"Lots of smoke. I think there's a fire." Bakugou spoke through the device. As he descended, each floor remained more and more intact, effectively trapping large amounts of the polluted air in the lower levels. "Send someone to take care of that, too."

Midnight's voice was the one that came through. "Understood."

There was a groan to his right, debris shifting as Bakugou carefully made his way over, crossing dangerously unstable ground. He could barely see Beta's form in the storm of dust, but he recognized his boring appearance regardless, his tired voice calling for help.

"Chill out, Beta." Bakugou responded, ignoring the way Beta's body tensed harshly. "I'm gonna get you outta here."

He seemed to relax somewhat as Bakugou pulled debris off of him. His right leg looked broken and his head was bleeding, but he was alive and breathing, so good for him. Muted won't get slammed for his buddy dying.

"Keep your eyes open, and hold your shirt over your nose." Bakugou demanded as he hung him over his shoulder. "Medics are probably already waiting outside."

Beta hummed in understanding as Bakugou continued his careful descent. With Beta balanced over his shoulder, Bakugou pulled the fabric around his neck over his own nose as he found himself in the midst of the fire creating all the smoke. It was hot, hotter than even he was used to, and his eyes burned and watered from the heat and smoke invading them. He could hear Beta coughing.

He wasn't expecting to find Doe Eyes so easily, but there she was at the bottom floor, somehow having miraculously ridden down with the rubble in a way that didn't result in instant death. He ignored the way his shoulders felt light at the realization, and he swallowed the festering dread in his stomach when he realized that she was up too high on the pile of rubble, right in the smoke where breathing was near impossible.

Inching up onto the pile to avoid jostling Beta, Bakugou carefully reached for Doe Eyes, pulling her still form close enough to collect her under his arm and pull her away from a fiery death. The ground was rocky and uneven, forcing Bakugou to move through slowly in order to avoid tripping and causing more injuries than Muted's stupid move has already.

Apparently, luck was on his side for once in his life, the front entrance of the building still being accessible and allowing for an easy escape. He was blinded for the third time that day, squinting at the sunlight assaulting his vision, and he eventually made his way away from the slowly crumbling building.

He couldn't see any paramedics yet. He'd been hoping that they'd be faster.

Setting Doe Eyes on the ground first, Bakugou shifted to lay Beta down so he could stretch his own sore muscles and wait for medics to take care of the rest. Beta coughed, groaning in pain as he clutched his head.

Doe Eyes was coughing a lot, and it didn't sound good.

"I said keep your eyes open." Bakugou snarled, Beta flinching as he pried his eyes back open.

"Can Yano breathe?" Beta asked drearily, slightly catching Bakugou off guard. His eyes fell back on her still form, limp against the ground. The fact that she'd stopped coughing had alarm bells going off in his head.

Silently, he rolled her over, fingers shoved against her neck and his face by her mouth. Exactly what he remembered being told. He could feel a pulse. There was a heartbeat and blood was circulating. That was a good thing.

He didn't think she was breathing, though.

That's...not good.

With a grimace, he looked around again, seething at the distinct lack of medics in the vicinity. They were taking too long.

Fuck, he's gonna have to do this himself.

"I want you to teach me CPR."

Kirishima had jumped at his statement, long, loose hair tied back and displaying his stunned expression perfectly. Homework forgotten, he blinked at him dumbly. "Uh... What?"

"Did I stutter?"

"Sorry, I just..." Kirishima rubbed at his scalp. "I wasn't expecting that is all. That kinda came out of nowhere."

"Okay," Bakugou said. "So, teach me."

"I..." Kirishima watched him with a look that Bakugou couldn't quite decipher. "Uh, why? We have classes on it."

"Yeah, but it's still basic. I want to know everything."

"I mean, alright, if you want me to."

"I do."

"Can I ask why?"

Bakugou scowled at him. "Do I need a reason? I'm training to be a damn hero, idiot."

By the look Kirishima was giving him, he knew there was more to it. That didn't mean he needed to know the number of times he'd wondered what would have happened if their roles had been reversed that day, when the earth had swallowed him whole. He didn't need to know that it wasn't just Kirishima that he wondered about, either.

But Kirishima didn't question him. He only smiled and accepted it. "I guess you're right."

He supposed that that was one of his favorite things about Kirishima Eijirou.

He was really glad he asked, er, demanded.

Bakugou ultimately decided that compressions in this situation could be more detrimental than not. Her heart was still beating and he didn't know the extent of her injuries. For all he knew, he could end up shoving a rib into one of her lungs.

So he made sure she was flat on her back and tilted her head, plugging her nose and blowing air into her lungs. Her lips tasted like soot.

Ignoring any sound that came from Beta, Bakugou went between checking her breathing and breathing for her. This went on for what he assumed was less than a minute before she started coughing, her voice hoarse and clogged. Bakugou immediately rolled her to her side, grimacing as she coughed and hacked, forcing air to go into her lungs and keep her alive.

It didn't last for as long as he would have liked. Soon enough, she couldn't breathe again, forcing him to go right back to it, blowing air into her lungs.

Because he was a hero, dammit, and heroes save to win. Win to save.

"And there's the problem. You're getting better at it, but rescue's still really important in heroics. It's kind of the point even."

Yeah, Sero. He gets it.

He got her breathing again by the time paramedics finally arrived, Recovery Girl hot on their heels. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Bakugou finally stood, stretched his tired limbs, and turned towards the nearest Ground Beta exit. His injuries weren't that bad and he'd done his job here. All that was left to do now was acknowledge his victory.

And maybe rub it in a few faces.

---

Of all the things that Bakugou expected to walk in on, he was not expecting All Might of all people practically in a screaming match with Nurse Dumbass while Aizawa and Nezu just watched in amusement. Deku was also there for some reason.

"You!" Dumbass suddenly screeched, pointing her finger dangerously at Bakugou. "You tried to kill my students, you maniac!"

"The hell are you talking about?" Bakugou questioned incredulously. He glanced at Aizawa. "What's her problem?"

"I've been asking myself that question for the last decade or so." Aizawa responded, rolling his eyes.

"Calm down, Tinnitus!" All Might practically demanded. "You are being hysterical and your arguments have no merit! Please, stand down!"

"What do you mean, no merit!? That boy's a demon!" she screamed, and deflated or not, Bakugou was impressed that she had the gall to scream at All Might like that at all. "Kurotori almost fell to his death! The Hitonari's are both traumatized for life! Tateno and Rikiya were concussed! And don't even get me started on Yano! You are literally housing a villain right in your very walls and no one's batting an eye! A killer in the making! Ship him off to Tartarus or so help me, I will reveal this institution for what it is!"

Bakugou felt something ugly twisting in his stomach, but he buried it. He refused to let some wannabe hero's opinion get to him.

All Might, his face actually turning red, was about to retort when Nezu cleared his throat. "If I may offer a rebuttal."

He walked to the center of the room with practiced confidence, a smile on his face. "It was because of Bakugou that Kurotori didn't fall to his death, it was because of Bakugou that Rikiya and Yano didn't burn alive, and it was because of Bakugou that Yano can breathe again, in case you weren't watching that fantastic performance just now. In the case of Tateno, there was no telling where he would have landed, but if he'd wanted to, Bakugou could have launched him off of the building, but he didn't. He used the necessary amount of force. He didn't actually hit either Hitonari head-on with that attack of his, he didn't use that much power to knock out Akasako, and the particular force that he used against both Kiga and Mizukami was justified. In the end, the only person who endangered anyone's life was Shintani."

"But-!"

"You have no argument. I see no evidence of excessive force. Only of MCH's poor teaching skills and excessive leniency. Bakugou was given a role to play and he followed through. Meanwhile, the ease of defeat and the amount of abandonment and cowardice that I saw from your students was just embarrassing. I'm sure that all of Musutafu would agree with me."

Nurse Dumbass's face was turning purple as she glared up at Aizawa. "You set me up for this, you son of a bitch."

"You agreed to my terms." Aizawa said coolly. "Theoretically, ten heroes in training should be able to beat one. This only proves that the Musutafu Conservatory for Heroics has no merit. You have no merit, just like your argument."

"It really was a poor showing." Nezu sighed. "You even cheated and lost so miserably."

Bakugou raised an eyebrow at that while Nurse Dumbass blanched. Aizawa smiled his weird ass smile. "Problem Child, if you would."

Deku, expression mostly blank with a hint of disappointment, pulled out one of his notebooks and skimmed to a particular page. "Civilian name: Kyoya Inami. Hero name: Tinnitus. Quirk: Tinnitus. Her quirk causes ringing in her opponents' ears, and it seems that the closer she is to the target, the louder it gets. Her range is incredible, as the distance where she can only cause a light ringing is approximately half the distance that the human eye can see before it is affected by the curvature of the earth, which suggests that her maximum range is theoretically estimated at approximately nine to eleven kilometers. Within one hundred meters, her quirk can cause mild to severe migraines. Within twenty five meters, she can cause loss of consciousness. From what I've observed, her quirk does not require eye contact, though it has a stronger, longer-lasting effect when her target is directly in her line of sight. At this time, whether or not she can activate her quirk through screens is unknown."

Bakugou found himself actually speechless as Deku closed the notebook with a slap of finality and held it against his chest, bouncing on his heels in a nervous motion. Aizawa's eyes bore into Dumbass. "Midoriya here caught onto you rather easily. I wonder how many others realized what happened. I'm sure there are plenty of journalists who would absolutely love to hear about how a licensed hero and teacher sent her top ten students against just one of ours and even broke the rules in order to win, only to be completely and utterly destroyed."

While Nurse Dumbass continued to scream and holler, Deku made his way over to where Bakugou was standing. "Hey, Kacchan, I think we should leave the rest to Aizawa-sensei. I'm sure he has everything under control, and Recovery Girl will get mad if you don't get yourself healed."

"I didn't ask for your opinion." Bakugou mumbled harshly, glaring at his feet. In all honesty, he kinda sorta maybe agreed with Deku, but like hell he was telling him that. "I wanted to spar a bit while class is still in session, anyway."

Deku only smiled, like the twerp somehow saw right through him, and followed him out of the door, completely ignoring the wild screaming behind them. She didn't deserve their attention.

---

When class 1-A finally entered Ground Beta, most of them dropped their basic self-preservation instincts in their desire to smother Bakugou in a giant group hug, but the first person that Uraraka ran to was Yano.

She sat with Rikiya off to the side, a heavy blanket around her shoulders as she held an oxygen mask against her face. Both of them were healed, but Yano's lungs were probably still kind of messed up from the smoke and Rikiya was trying to wash the blood out of his hair. Uraraka was gentle as she leaned down and wrapped her arms around the poor girl, tightening her grip as she began to cry.

She almost died. The poor thing would probably be traumatized.

Bakugou somehow escaped his classmates' collective hold, storming over to where the three were sitting so that Recovery Girl could deal with his injuries, which basically came down to cuts and scratches that they didn't want getting infected.

"Um, Bakugou?" Yano spoke up, Bakugou's sharp eyes landing on her form and making her flinch. "You, uh, you were really cool, and I, um, I-... Th- Thank you for saving me."

She bowed towards him, her eyes sparkling with adoration. Bakugou looked slightly annoyed, but nodded in acknowledgment regardless.

Rikiya suddenly stood, catching everyone off guard. "I'd also like to say something."

Bakugou's expression fluidly changed from his normal scowl to an angry snarl, but Rikiya didn't waver. "First off, I also want to thank you for saving Yano's life, as well as mine. You didn't have to do that."

"I know," Bakugou spat. "But I'm going to become a hero, the greatest hero, number fucking one, and saving people kinda comes with the job. You gotta save to win, and I always win."

Rikiya lowered his head in shame, something that had Uraraka raising her eyebrows. "I see... Well, still, thank you, first of all, and the other thing..."

He bowed. "I know that it probably means nothing, but I would like to apologize."

Yano looked genuinely shocked, gripping Uraraka's arm tightly as she watched the interaction unfold. Rikiya straightened back up. "I will be honest. I really do love all of my classmates very much, and I really admired Shintani. I've always wanted my classmates to be happy, so I would always defend their actions, because we were all training to be heroes. Heroes should always be in the right, right?"

"That is the most delusional bullshit I have ever heard in my life."

"Yeah...I know. I got so caught up in that mindset that I actually came to believe it. And Shintani? I really did look up to him. I've always been so sheltered and he was the strongest person I knew, so I thought that that was the pinnacle of heroism. But now?"

He vaguely gestured at the U.A. heroics students spreading out around Ground Beta to spar. "I guess I just never saw what real heroes in training looked like. MCH gives us blinders and just tells us, 'you're doing your best'. 'It's okay if you can't do it'. 'You'll pass anyway for participation'. 'Everybody is a winner, so don't feel bad'. Everybody always wins." His expression grew sad. "We've never been challenged like this. I feel like I've fallen so far behind. If this is the real status quo, then MCH doesn't stand a chance."

"Fucking transfer."

Rikiya chuckled. "I actually am thinking about it. I love my friends, but I've always been so blind to how nasty they are. I want to get into a better school, but I don't know if I will be good enough. I have so much catching up to do."

Uraraka smiled at him. "I don't know if you could realistically reach U.A.'s standard fast enough for your next year, but you can still try, and you could try for Shiketsu or Ketsubutsu, too. It's also a stretch, but you won't know unless you try."

Rikiya's eyes teared up, but he held them back, giving Uraraka a kind smile. "I guess you're right. You're all so wonderful, putting up with us." He turned back to Bakugou. "And I now have a new image of what a hero-in-training is really supposed to look like, so thank you. Thank you very much."

With that, Rikiya waved and walked off with a couple of paramedics while Yano tried to get over her shock. Bakugou, meanwhile, was hard to read, so Uraraka couldn't quite tell how he felt about the interaction. He finally let out a tch. "I'm gonna go get Recovery Girl to heal me so I can go spar without getting nagged about it."

"Have fun!" Uraraka called after him. He didn't respond, but Uraraka wasn't really expecting much.

"Wow..." Yano muttered to herself, coughing a bit before her smile returned.

"Yano, was it?" A voice called out, and Uraraka smiled brightly at Yaoyorozu's approaching form. "I saw what happened during the match. I do hope that you're feeling better."

"Uh... I- uh..." she stammered nervously.

Uraraka put a hand on her shoulder. "She's okay. She's just super shy is all."

Yaoyorozu smiled. "Ah, okay."

"Yano!" Another voice rang out, this one making Uraraka's skin crawl as she shot an unkind look at the approaching Hitonari sisters. Bad hair day Hitonari looked downright nasty, an ugly scowl on her face as she came closer. Plastic Hitonari was hustling to keep up with her, and for some reason, she also looked upset.

"Yano, what the hell!" she yelled. "You had one job! Shintani's plan was foolproof! How could you mess that up!?"

"Um, I hate to interrupt," Yaoyorozu spoke up bravely as Yano cowered against Uraraka. "But I would recommend not yelling at her right now. She is still recovering."

"Nobody asked you, bitch!" Hitonari yelled. Her glare turned to Uraraka. "Get out of here! I need to talk to my classmate!"

"Your classmate nearly suffocated to death! Don't talk to her like that!" Uraraka yelled back. Yano clung to her tighter.

"Are you deaf!?" she snarled, stepping forward. "I said-!"

Plastic Hitonari stepped forward and held her arm out in front of her sister.

Both Hitonari and Yano looked as if someone had grown three extra heads as Plastic Hitonari gently pushed her older sister back. "What do you think you're doing!?"

Plastic Hitonari simply shook her head, pointing away from them. Hitonari bristled. "Are you telling me to leave?! Are you telling me what to do!?"

Plastic Hitonari paused for a moment, then nodded.

"You can't do that!" Hitonari screamed. "I tell you what to do! I'm the puppet master!"

"I am human."

Yano and Hitonari both startled. Plastic Hitonari's eyes shone in the sunlight. "I am human." she emphasized. She then pointed to herself. "Not. Puppet."

Hitonari was shaking with rage, her face turning red as she backed away. "How dare you! I am so telling on you!"

Plastic Hitonari nodded, her sister fighting to not scream in rage as she stormed off, leaving the plastic girl behind, all by herself. She seemed confused, not entirely sure how to process what she did or what just happened, but she began to fight her face to allow a smile, her shoulders relaxing.

"Shoku..." Yano whispered in awe. Plastic Hitonari turned to look at her, eyes more alive than Uraraka had ever seen them, and pointed at herself again.

"Human..."

Yano sniffled. "Yes, Shoku, yes."

'Shoku' managed a half-smile as Yano patted the seat next to her. "Come sit with us."

"What's your name?" Yaoyorozu asked as 'Shoku' sat down. Yano was about to say something, but the plastic girl put a hand on her shoulder, her mouth opening and closing in her search for words.

"Hi... Hitonari... Shhhhho- Shoookuko. Hitonari Shokuko."

Yano clapped happily, clearly excited by this, while the plastic girl, whom Uraraka was now referring to as Nice Hitonari, seemed rather pleased with herself.

"DEKU! HALF N' HALF!" A telltale battle cry filled the air, Bakugou reappearing after being healed and itching for a fight. Deku and Todoroki seemed to appear out of thin air. "FUCKING FIGHT ME!"

"I want in on this!" Kirishima called out, running to his best friend's side for what would be a wild spar. Bakugou ran at them almost immediately, Todoroki responding with a wall of ice that was quickly destroyed.

Nice Hitonari pointed at Bakugou with a smile on her face, looking at Yano and making the shape of a heart with her hands.

"Isn't he cool?" Yano asked with a smile of her own.

"Coooooool..."

Uraraka couldn't help the pleasant feeling that bubbled up in her stomach at the two girls' excitement, even as Kirishima was accidentally launched into a wall by Deku, whose apology was cut off by an explosion to the face. One by one, other classmates joined in, Iida saying something about good practice with people he deeply respected while Ashido screamed something about war. Tetsutetsu jumped in a moment later, followed by Kamakiri and Kendou, while Kaminari and Tokoyami started a team up against Shiozaki and Kuroiro.

Yano's excitement was almost contagious as her eyes sparkled. "You see them, Shoku?"

Nice Hitonari nodded as Yano clenched her fists in determination. "Someday, I'm gonna be a PR manager, so that I can make a great name for great heroes like them."

"Oi, Round Face!" Bakugou suddenly yelled. "Get your puny ass over here!"

"Uraraka, help!" Deku shouted, running away from Bakugou's unrelenting explosions.

With a giddy laugh, Uraraka got up and ran after them, noticing Jirou come over to take her place next to Yaoyorozu while Yano and nice Hitonari watched in amazement. Off to the side, Rikiya was just as entranced.

And Uraraka, cutting off Bakugou's pursuit and facing his wild, animalistic grin head-on, had never been more proud to be a part of this crazy family of hers.

---

The MCH pricks left as soon as heroics classes were over.

All of the girls in class 1-A ended up with Doe Eyes's and Barbie's phone numbers, while Beta apologized profusely to Deku and Kirishima for the things he said and did to them and got their contact information as well, with the promise of constant updates on his progress as a hero. Bakugou honestly didn't think that Beta would get that far, but he'd also thought the same about Deku once upon a time, so what did he know?

The dorms were bustling with life that evening, everyone excited and energized by the day's events and having a 'celebration' or whatever. He didn't really care what they called it, nor was he sure why he was there in the common room with them, curled up in a blanket with Ashido practically lying on top of him after she'd scolded him for scaring the absolute shit out of her when the building nearly collapsed. Normally, Bakugou would be annoyed, but he kind of understood, so he allowed it.

The thing that he thought was truly worth celebrating was the absolute decimation of MCH's reputation, something that he was proud to say that he was a part of, and U.A. firmly putting those assholes in their place while boosting their own rep. The thought of what the media was going to do to those posers and especially Nurse Dumbass in the coming days put such a genuine smile on his face that he felt ill because of it.

While his classmates took turns playing competitive video games and enjoyed the leftovers of Big Lips's deserts from last night, caught up in themselves and their own happiness like normal teenagers for a change, Ashido looked up at him, a thoughtful look on her face. "What are you so happy about, Dynamite?"

Bakugou just snorted. "Don't worry about it."