Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. Three Forty-Two AM.
Pillars of black smoke billowed from the smoldering wreckage of several SUVs created large pillars of utter darkness up into the nighttime sky. The stench of corpses lingered in the warm summer air with the stench of blood, urine, and feces polluting the atmosphere just as equally as the smell of burning rubber and oil. Outside of a villa hidden away from the prying eyes of the public, this once thought to be private getaway home now laid in ruins littered with rubble and corpses.
Dozens of armed men all wearing some sort of formal wear all laid dead either next to their weapons or morphed into what they thought would be their natural weapons. None of them were able enough to survive whatever had come from the darkness of the treeline and assaulted the well armed stronghold.
Only one individual survived this hellish nightmare with his life intact. An individual who was the primary target that needed to remain alive for just a little longer for their mission.
Fifteen men armed with firearms and wearing high quality military equipment all stood in different parts of the room which used to be a pristine office. Now all that remained in it were burning pieces of expensive furniture and rubble from the heavily damaged walls.
His involvement with recent events regarding the eastern hemisphere and the trade of certain raw goods to Chinese factories producing frames for a certain type of vehicles had been forced to kneel upon the now filthy floor of his once pristine workspace. Sweat and blood soaked the collar of his white dress shirt as well as several spots that ruined the once snow white silk. He remained cautious, yet couldn't disguise the panic un his eyes as he clutched the deep puncture wound that pierced the right side of his abdomen. All he could do was bleed out while leaned back against the remains of his once prestigious desk as he sat helpless on the floor.
The one who seemed to be the leader of this squad of soldiers approached the man he and his team subdued. His boots were like thunder to the mortally wounded man struggling to breathe with his injuries.
This individual simply reached into their flak vest and retrieved a folded up piece of paper tucked into one of the pouches. He unfolded it and knelt down for the injured man to silently scan the document without having to exert himself. What he did after reading the classified information printed on said paper showed how utterly enraged he was at the realization of what caused his demise.
"You cocksuckers! You absolutely morons! THIS is what this is about!? Do you have any idea what I-AGH!"
Forgetting his injuries caused him to go sprawling onto the filthy wooden floor, spilling more of his blood when his body slammed forward onto the ground. His anger prevented him from acting out of self preservation and ignited the deep pit of anger he held deep within his soul. Only the physical limitations of his body involuntarily making his collapse prevented the man from trying to rip these men apart limb from limb.
Not that he could have to begin with.
That same piece of paper was folded up and slapped onto the ground in front of the dying political figure. The leader of the death squad who rendered this whole complex into nothing more than a smoldering wreckage then spoke to the man bleeding out on the same floor he walked upon for years without a single consideration that this floor would also be his grave.
"It wasn't what you were doing that caused this. What you were trying to prevent is what we're here to make sure happens on schedule."
Hearing this morbid truth sent the dying man spiraling into despair as his good intentions were all going up in flames before his very eyes in his dying moments. All his lifelong work now didn't matter anymore.
"You and your opponent are too much trouble for us to ignore. This senseless bickering needs to stop before more die for your crusade."
His body was already shutting down before he could throw another question at the man accusing him of some sort of crime he had yet to know about. A cold emptiness already began to swallow him up as the last few beats of his heart faded away into complete silence.
The men who were witness to the politician's last moments all paid their last respects before retreating back to the extraction point assigned to their squad. Their skills as top combatants left them unharmed and able bodied enough to return behind safe borders and awt their next set of orders from those who delivered their orders. Not once did this group misunderstand their mission, no matter the brutality or difficulty.
One Hour Later
Arriving at the extraction site, what the soldiers saw at said location left them a bit confused.
Three helicopters were parked at the rendezvous site instead of the usual two. Even odder was the type of helicopter parked a distance away from the heavily armed choppers ready to take off with the squad in tow. An Owl sat some dozens of meters away from the other vehicles.
Their leader approached the individual standing next to the helicopter which was a stealth variant meant to extract critical targets from high risk zones. None of the others even looked in said direction while waiting for their leader to return. Classified information often had its value in being unknown by anybody other than the necessary parties. Rather than returning to the squad, the men under his command only got a radio transmission as he went along with the people who extracted him separately from his operatives.
"I'm heading home for the time being. Don't wait up."
What sounded like a mundane piece of news was in fact an update for his men regarding his current station. It seemed as though something had gone awry enough that he needed to return to his place of origin and lend his expertise to those who needed his skills. Nobody gave the message a second thought as they all loaded up into the extraction choppers meant for them. Their trust in his well being didn't need much consideration as he had been an individual who proved his worth in the field time and time again.
A man who now felt a change in the winds as he was flown back towards the place he once called home.
Feeling the comfort of the leather bound seat, he decided to pull his hood down and unmask himself from the confines of his respirator. A head of crimson red hair and a reptilian face finally breathed a sigh of relief before he turned his attention to the passing scenery from inside the helicopter. Whatever was calling him back, it must be serious for him to be recalled personally from the head office of the organization he served.
Two Weeks Later, Musutafu City
The attack on the public by the two monstrous muscle bound beasts had been considered a possible terrorist threat by the public safety department and had caused an increase of ESD patrols Within the more clustered parts of the cities all around Japan. Every hero agency had been given a dossier regarding all available information regarding the origins of those mutated berserkers for any additional support to those who would need to brief their available active heroes.
For now, the current course of action to take during incidents of sudden assault are to keep the safety of any nearby civilians intact before disengaging from the danger entirely while waiting for appropriate backup. These creatures that were dangerous enough for the ESD to deem a security threat created a precedent that had them tell the many agencies around the country to treat them as nothing short of lethal had the nation nervous to say the least. Since the inception of this highly effective department of public safety had been created, they never seemed fallible in the slightest. This track record only enforced the danger of the situation after seeing the near immortal status of these things that sent so many people to an early grave out of the blue.
Izuku himself had been coordinating with a multitude of agencies in order to help with the effort of getting heroes united in a front to counteract this sudden attempt to disrupt public peace. These things were dangerous and the signs that an attack was to occur were too quick to detect via normal methods.
Being the hero that everyone looks to gave Izuku little room for error regarding his judgment calls. His shoulders were weighted down with the knowledge that he held a significant amount of power in directing the actions of public safety to his suggestion. His mind was still processing what it was that Kaina had given him the night of their date. Nothing inside of the flash drive painted anything in a positive light for the current hero under scrutiny by the entire nation. Knowing where the money had been circulating only reminded him of a mistake that he made just a few years ago after claiming the title that he now carried with pride.
Driving down the highway by himself inside of his luxury import similar to that of his former mentor helped Izuku clear his head whenever he faced challenging decisions or needed time by himself. The feeling of a powerful engine under his control always helped him subtract the excess stress from his mind.
What Nagant had given him were the receipts of every penny that was generated from the facility he and several other institutions shut down. Being a high ranking officer inside of the ESD gave Kaina one hell of an information pool that Izuku rarely referenced to for his investigations. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw inside of those files.
One thing that shocked Izuku was the lack of paperwork regarding the transactions involved with the profits of the illicit goods bought and sold from the manufacturing plant. What he thought was going to be a treacherous amount of paperwork was barely a file with only a couple hundred images attached inside of it. Less than an hour of scanning the documents left Izuku a bit puzzled as to how the money managed to stay so well under wraps with so many individuals involved with the process. There was always somebody who got too greedy for their own good regarding the illegal activities of the legally challenged. Money always went missing when Izuku went over the books of the individuals he put away for good. Every cent of every dollar never strayed from its intended path as accounts that were very much empty now that the facility was shut down accounted for every bit of wealth that passed through their coffers.
None of the money strayed.
It made Izuku uncomfortable to say the least. How was it that several billion yen disappeared seemingly into thin air with no intervention from anybody involved with the transactions?
His mind went over the data again and again and still struggled to come up with a rational explanation. Every rational thought that could explain this strange occurrence broke apart the second he plugged it into the scenario. Blackmail only creates more distrust between those settling a transaction. Nobody was immune to the pull of wealth if they were involved with the process out of self interest. Each and every bullet point burned to the ground into a pile of molten slag when he tried to break down the logistics of the case.
All that was left for Izuku to consider were the absurd and bizarre.
The only explanation for these nonsensical bits of data plaguing this outlandish investigation was to consider the possibility that everybody involved was a willing participant who held no interest for personal gain from their illegal efforts. If nobody tried to profit from working at one of the largest production facilities to ever exist within Japan's history, then perhaps it made just enough sense for him to begin properly investigating.
What Kaina told him still stuck to the front of his mind after so long. Hearing the fact that there were dead bodies with clear signs of overworking themselves to death still made him shudder whenever he recalled her stories. Something that Lady Nagant pointed out to Izuku managed to line itself up to Izuku's initial crazy theory.
Autopsies revealed that there were no signs of coercion or physical abuse inflicted upon the workers they uncovered. It seemed at face value that they perhaps were mind controlled or became flesh puppets to somebody who could command people with a unique quirk. None of the individuals arrested had any sort of said ability. Only the morbid possibility that these individuals willingly worked themselves so intenseful to the point of dying infected Izuku with uncertainty. Who could be the one responsible for such passionate devotion incited into these people? What was it that drove them all to die for the one who put them there in the first place?
Riiiiiinnnggg! Riiiiiinnnggg!
The mobile phone he kept as his personal device interrupted his train of thought. Izuku fished out his cell with practiced ease from out of his dress pants and checked the slick unmarred screen to see who it was that knew this specific number. Seeing the familiar number made Izuku curious enough to swipe the answer function and answer the individual through his car's hand free system.
"Fuyumi? What's wrong?..."
Only fifteen seconds passed before Izuku's dark gunmetal emerald Italian import immediately screeched into a u-turn that left a cloud of white smoke when he accelerated back towards the city on the highway he had been driving upon for some time now.
Not even the patrolling officers got involved after seeing the beast of a machine rip past their patrol spots.
Three Hours Later
Of all the things Izuku imagined this encounter to play out as, seeing the assumedly panicked Fuyumi feeding her husband pear slices completely contradicted her initially panicked tone. Meeting her gaze clued Izuku in on the fact she played him like a rigged game of poker. Being the platform that these estranged men exchanged passing sentiments upon made Fuyumi more than capable of making these two difficult men meet in real life more than anybody else alive. They didn't hate each other, but they certainly didn't talk as much as they could considering their once rocky relationship.
The staunch antisocial Bakugou only ever went out of his way to be social whenever his wife was involved. She was usually the one to coordinate social events as her husband's agent as he simply left such decisions to the woman he trusted implicitly. A judgment call that Fuyumi never failed to honor as she seemed to know what her husband needed over what he thought he wanted.
"Izuku! How are you?"
Greeting the woman as an equal never broke the awkwardness that Izuku felt whenever he met the mature beauty. He couldn't stop treating her as his elder, despite the fact that Bakugou was the one who was married to her. Seniority sort of fell flat within this specific social group as Katsuki just went with the flow alongside his wife.
Both adults were now reunited after years apart from each other. Not out of spite or any other spiteful reason, but it mostly had to do with the fact that neither Izuku nor Bakugou had anything to say to one another after all these years. Their personal lives just commanded too much of their attention for them to simply reconnect with long lost acquaintances out of the blue. Despite this revelation, all Izuku could do was grit his teeth as he embraced the primary school teacher in a hug that adult friends gave each other after becoming reacquainted. A polite hug was the least he could do in light of his friend's most recent hospitalization.
Only after Fuyumi had left the hospital room did Izuku then wind up and slam his palm into Bakugou's face with an open palm slap that was loaded with all of Izuku's fears for his friend. Not even Katsuki argued the results of the encounter as he recovered slowly from the blinding blow that still rang in his ears.
"What the fuck is the matter with you?! Why didn't you call for backup sooner, you prick?! You read the reports!"
Bakugou knew that Izuku had read the report of his encounter and had been ready to face the music. Feeling that slap was another matter altogether as he could swear that the color red was now a flavor he now knew to be real.
"... It's done with. What the hell do you have to add to this shit show?"
"She could have lost you!"
It never failed to shake Katsuki to the core whenever Izuku got involved with his reckless behavior. His friend never failed to hold him accountable for the actions he made in his line of work. Which was why Katsuki just spit out the blood in his mouth and turned to face the man who was right about every facet of this argument.
"She needs you more than you realize, you stupid fuck…"
It utterly pissed off Izuku to see his friend act as recklessly as they did right in front of him. On the other side of things, Bakugou just looked back at his childhood friend's with his usual scowl. What Izuku hadn't known was how much the current version of him reminded Katsuki of their former mutual mentor. Even the way he yelled at him was the same way that he used to be admonished verbally whenever tempers flared badly enough. Things tempered down after Izuku admonished his reckless friend for their negligence regarding their personal safety. The usually even tempered Midoriya let himself deflate from all the anger he couldn't contain just now. Katsuki was just glad that he wasn't gonna be hit with another slap that would make his skull feel like a cracked vase.
"You alright, man?"
"... Yeah, I'm good."
That simple exchange helped bring the tension down altogether. Neither of them held a grudge against the other as they were as honest and straightforward with each other as they could be. Their lack of hidden secrets left them as honest friends who cared for each other's well-being.
"... Ka-chan…"
Izuku dragged a chair up to the side of his friend's hospital bed. He plopped the flimsy piece of commercial furniture down with a purposeful thunk to illustrate his intentions. Katsuki was one of the sharpest individuals Midoriya knew as the atmosphere became denser due to what they were about to discuss.
"What happened?"
Several moments of silence passed before Bakugou began to relay to Izuku what had caused him to be admitted to the hospital in the first place.
A story that Izuku paid close attention to for possible clues that could help with the ongoing investigation.
Several Hours Earlier
"Oy, stop swinging around so recklessly, you brats!"
Katsuki had a finger pointed at the young group of boys who were haphazardly playing upon the jungle gym inside of the local park. None of the rambunctious youths heeded his warning. They even went as far as to openly mock the hero as they all joined in on taunting the man without decorum.
"Make us, old man!"
"Ha! What can you do, huh?"
These harmless comments ignited Bakugou's already short temper and had him flail at the children who were already retreating from the park. He just huffed at the sight of the retreating kids who were whooping in celebration at their most recent feat of besting one of the country's best heroes to date. What they thought was a monumental achievement was nothing more than a man who made the day of some energetic kids that much better with his interaction.
Chuckling under his breath, Katsuki just returned to his patrol after the rather amusing interaction with the kids of the neighborhood he passed through on a regular basis. These were some genuinely good kids who stuck close to each other through their antics. The worst thing he caught them doing was poking at an enormous pile of dog poop that somebody had neglected to pick up. Needless to say, he found the owner of a one hundred pound mastiff and issued a fine for their negligence. For Katsuki, the work he did as a hero couldn't have been more satisfying. He genuinely loved his work and knew this was where he belonged.
Being such a well regarded hero never affected his stance on who he was. People knew him as a gentle giant, despite the spitfire he had come off as through his media presence. What alluded to his good nature was the fact that none of the children on his patrols shed away from him. His anger always entertained the kids and often was the reason he had to wrestle with multiple kids swinging from his arms and legs so often. They knew he would never hurt them as long as he was conscious of his actions.
His frustration returned after seeing a few pieces of garbage littered in the bushes behind the benches placed at the edges of the playground. He knew this was the work of adults as he saw several empty plastic bottles of drinks that were either too bitter or odd tasting for children to enjoy normally. Bakugou did his due diligence and returned these scraps of garbage into the trash bins next to the benches before inspecting the now clean landscaping. A simple nod to himself cemented his satisfaction as he turned to return to his regular patrol.
BOOM
The eruption of a sudden explosion in the distance alerted Katsuki to a nearby incident that had just occurred in his proximity. Facing the direction of the noise clued him in on another horrifying fact that made his stomach plummet to the bottom of his torso.
Where the sound had originated was the same direction that the kids he had interacted with had scampered away in. Every cell in his body forced the hero to begin flying towards the direction of possible danger. Not a second could be wasted when it came to the possible loss of lives regarding the innocent. He just hoped that he wasn't too late in saving those kids.
Elsewhere
The leader of the raging group of five boys watched in horror at the sight of two red splatter marks where two of his friends had been walking without a care in the world. They were talking about the meta playtime in the online game they all were playing together when they suddenly were assaulted by these three gigantic monsters who were so overly muscular to the point that they walked like gorillas due to their top-heavy physiques. Their combined surprise attack stunned the child now absorbing what had happened.
"... You…"
What erupted deep within the boy who was the group's defects leader wasn't fear. Something far more primal and raw manifested itself deep within their chest at the realization that this was a life or death situation.
His heart ignited into an inferno as he witnessed the death of two of his closest friends.
"YOU FUCKS! I'LL KILL YOU!"
Neon blue light erupted from the fingertips of the boy hellbent on ending the lives of the mutated humans who were responsible for the death of his friends. Neither of the surviving kids had the reaction speed to stop their friend from diving headlong into an unwinnable scenario. What did stop him was the sudden explosions that hit all of the overly muscular threats directly in their faces. A large hand stopped the child from charging at the villains by blocking the enraged boy's path towards certain death.
Arriving at the scene, Bakugou saw the remains of the two boys splattered onto the pavement. It sickened him to witness such needless death at the hands of such unnecessary violence.
Both of the remaining boys were trying to save their catatonic leader from this incident when they felt a cold shiver violently run up their collective spines. A heavy bloodlust that the kids could feel temporarily stunned them before Katsuki spoke to the remaining survivors.
"Get to safety. I'll take care of this."
Nobody argued against the man. The boys were able to tug their friend to safety and managed to call the authorities and tell them of the current situation while Bakugou cracked his knuckles in preparation for the battle ahead.
He knew that the ESD would arrive within three to five minutes due to the patrol schedule he memorized on a daily basis between hero agencies and the public divisions of protection. Instead of seeing the delay as a negative, Bakugou felt his anger ignite into a bonfire that could only be quenched with the death of these mindless apes.
First to charge at the hero was the one who killed the boy on the right-hand side. Their fists were outstretched towards Katsuki as they intended to crush him within their grasps. Pain unlike anything they had ever felt erupted from the wrists of the nine-foot-tall ball of muscles charging at Bakugou. They didn't even realize that their hands had been blown off in an instantaneous explosion which rendered their arms into bloody stumps where their dexterous digits used to be. Another explosion then hit the same muscular monster charging the hero and managed to stun the threat for a few brief moments. Enough time for the explosive themed hero to then duck down where he would be most obscured by the body now temporarily disabled by his counterattack and utilize his position to the best of its potential.
From behind the large mass of thick muscle fibers, Katsuki managed to precisely shoot two of the other minions following their leader into battle. Their faces looked disoriented when the third of the group tackled the threat next to them in order to return them to the fight at hand. An advanced strategy in the heat of battle as Bakugou picked up on the unorthodox action quickly enough to slip past the group to then end up at the opposite side of the road. His plan to give the children an opportunity to escape ended up working as he no longer could see the boys who managed to escape with their lives.
Now all he had to do was survive this battle on his own merits.
His confidence in making his way out of this battle fell drastically when he suddenly felt his arms being seized out of nowhere. Turns out that the hulking monster of a human being still had enough coherency to try and restrain Bakugou for the benefit of their fellow attackers. A sentiment that went up in smoke as he activated his quirk and caused an explosion that ripped the hand that temporarily held him in place to pieces. Getting his hands free then led to the next problem for Katsuki.
Five arms all shot out of the cloud of burning debris that obscured Katsuki's vision for a brief moment. His reaction speed allowed him to respond to the unexpected attack with a blast of his making that would render the toughest of builds into liquid chunks.
"HV Counter!"
A quick blast that erupted from his palms caught the arms reaching out to him off guard. Seeing spurts of blood from the larger veins visible on the limbs only confirmed the effective nature of Katsuki's attack. This sentiment would have lasted longer had it not been for their sudden retaliation of slamming Katsuki into the ground over and over again with rapid succession. Experience helped Bakugou survive this unexpected assault as he interlocked his fingers behind his head and curled up to protect himself from any possible excessive damage due to possible negligence on his part as a hero. The armor he wore took the brunt of the force meant for his body as he finally found his window of opportunity to strike back when the mutant swinging him around eventually paused to give himself a break.
"AP Sniper Shot!"
Yelling his move after landing it was a practical decision brought on by the teachings that made Bakugou the competent fighter he was now. Giving the young man enough time to blow open the fingers trapping him inside of the berserker's grasp, Katsuki laid his palm onto the wrist which was keeping him trapped in the monster's grip. He managed to sever the hand from the rest of the body when he blew up the limb with some of his more powerful explosions.
Rolling away from the immediate danger, Bakugou regained some control of the fight after he was dropped to the ground with the same hand he severed from the one who tried to trap him in the first place.
Seeing a giant mass of muscle lunging at him had Katsuki on the defensive as he was half a second away from regaining his balance. The immediate danger was countered with Bakugou managing to raise his armored left hand up to deflect the blow meant for his skull. It still hurt like a motherfucker as his hand wrenched the trajectory of the blow off course. What Shocked Bakugou was the fact his hand was trapped by the same blow he just blocked. It turned out that his hand was impaled by the shattered bone of the forearm he exposed after ripping off their hand in a powerful blast.
"Rapid HV Shots!"
No hesitation went into his next attack as the other hulking monsters lurking in the background were still a threat he acknowledged. He utilized the built up sweat within his gauntlet in order to render the spot these rabid terrorists had been observing the battle from into a smoldering pit of slag.
What Katsuki didn't expect was to be punched on the left side of his face so hard that he collided with the paved street with enough force to shake the power lines right behind him. Things were not working in his favor after sustaining such a devastating blow by one of the remaining threats hellbent on ending Katsuki then and there. Maintaining his sense of up and down was a challenge as he tried to stumble back up to his feet.
Another blow punctured the left shoulder as the one attacking Bakugou charged the young man with all their might. This gambit managed to land them a strike against the hero who was now realizing the breadth of the threat they were facing.
What had hit Katsuki square in his shoulder was a shattered forearm bone. The exposed jagged ends of their own limbs were used as weapons rather than seen as injuries. Despite the critical would, these things were all focused on just one thing. To kill anything and everything in their sights. Seeing the other two monstrous pillars of human muscles leap into the air towards his direction forced Katsuki to make a split second decision then and there.
"Wave Charge!"
Containing his blasts to prevent any possible damage that could hurt the nearby civilians in their homes reduced the available power he could unleash inside of the residential area he was fighting tooth and nail to defend. Adults could perhaps feel some of the side effects of his blasts and run for cover, but there was still the possibility that children and elderly were at risk of being hurt by his more powerful blows.
Years of experience gave Bakugou the feeling of when he blew away an enemy or if he packed too little with his attacks. Based on the size of the cloud and the wind blowing back at him, he knew that his attack wasn't even half its usual strength.
There was more fire and smoke than Bakugou wanted from his usually devastating explosion. The force exerted by the ignition wasn;t nearly as strong and this left him with a bleeding wound as he barely managed to push off the goliath pinning him with the ragged end of their arm. His hand immediately pressed down on the gushing wound pouring blood.
"GRAAAA!"
Pure insanity was the least impactful description of all the things he could've utilized to illustrate what he was looking at.
Stumbling out of the smoke cloud were the three monsters with blood gushing all over their bodies. Their veins pressing up against their skin had popped all over each of their bodies. The one who lost their hand still raised the sharpened end of their own forearm bone at the hero with a look of raw murderous intent in its bloodied red eyes. Another one of the muscle bound freaks had their right eye dangling from their socket. All it did at the annoyance of seeing two different things was to grab the offending organ and just yank it completely off the optic nerve it was hanging from. The third was walking on a snapped limb without acknowledging the limp caused by the break. It even kept stepping on the break and dragged the now useless foot without breaking focus on Bakugou.
Things were now getting out of control. The longer this went on, the more danger he was introducing to those around him. He just hoped the homes were being evacuated as he saw several panicked out of the corner of his eye running away with their families. His right thumb made contact with the tip of his pinky as he held the contact until a blue light on the back of his hand lit up and started blinking. The emergency beacon calling for additional support was now active. Now he needed to buy time for those who were quickly trying to escape the danger.
Testing the waters a bit, one of the braver muscular creatures eyed the hero during their combined march. Bakugou saw this mutant begin to push back after sustaining what looked like critical injuries. Blood seeped from the veins popped in their eyes as well as eyelids. They looked to be crying blood while their nose and mouth began to leak blood as well.
Every battle decision going through his head all meshed in his mind into a cautious plan to create distance while maintaining these giants' attention with ranged attacks. Both of his ears were still ringing a little from the blow he suffered to the head from earlier. Getting concussed was one of the lowest priorities if he couldn't get it together before the incoming fight.
On the right, the one with the broken leg grabbed a nearby lightpost and snapped the metal post like a stick and aimed the sharper end with the lightbulb at Katsuki. Throwing it caused it to place all of its weight onto the injured leg, causing the dense skin to break against the broken bone and causing blood to gush onto the asphalt. That shocked Katsuki as it confirmed that these things seemed to be immune to any sort of pain. Nothing stopped their bodies as long as they could physically move.
He easily dodged the impromptu attack and jumped back with his hand aimed at the far left threat. Bakugou took careful aim at the half blind threat directly at their head.
"AP Sniper Shot!"
Another high speed round found its mark against its face. Seeing the explosion engulfing their head filled the hero with some confidence as that was a critical hit.
Unfortunately, that very same confidence evaporated as the other two titans both lunged forward and sprinted at him full speed. What actually happened shocked Bakugou as the sight of a human head with a gouged out head removing the left jaw and ear and just missing the brain stem left him in the uncanny valley. No living thing should be able to ignore such a terrible wound. Now he had to contend with the threats ignoring their injuries in order to kill their current prey.
"Fuck! AT Mode, ON!"
Popping from out of his shoulders and waist were four gun turrets that were training their barrels at the new danger his suit's system locked onto. Detecting the intensity of his voice engaged immediate gunfire at the things charging Katsuki.
Powerful shots ejected from his weapons and penetrated the intended targets repeatedly. So many shots created from his quirk sank into the bodies of these large hulks, yet they didn't slow down. Leaping to the left, Bakugou tried his best to get into the blind spot of the one missing their right eye. Getting to this window would give him more of an advantage as it would also put a body between the other threats charging at him. Rushing to the more beneficial spot caused Bakugou to aim his arms to the right in order to launch himself at high speed. Crossing his left arm in front of him actually provided an opportunity for the rushing creature on the left.
Something slammed into his left arm and into his chest. What hit Katsuki was the left hand of the mortally wounded beast. One bounding leap closed the distance before Katsuki could change positions. Having been hit with a truck in the past, the amount of force he felt unloading itself into his body far exceeded that amount of power. In his face was a roaring berserker with a face half destroyed and turned into ragged meat and bone shards. The image of that monster screaming in his face wasn't something he would soon forget.
Despite the volume or spittle flying into his face, years of training and battle hardened Bakugou enough to still remain calm under pressure. Behind the one gripping his left arm was the trailing monster with their arm winding up to skewer Katsuki with their exposed bones. In that split second, a reckless decision that would also injure himself was the move he made to turn the tide. If these things acted in the way he expected, then he could kill two birds with one stone.
Another blast from his right gauntlet drove Izuku downwards ever so slightly. Fire and smoke erupted much too close to his own face, but he needed to eject as much force as possible to influence the iron grip trapping him. He was still trapped in the grip of the one who caught, but now he was repositioned in a way that interrupted the path of the attack intended to skewer him.
His gamble paid off as the trajectory of the attack now landed on the back of the head belonging to the one clamping down on his gauntlet. Its eyes went blank after its brainstem was severed by its fellow comrade.
Taking the opportunity to escape didn't pan out after the thing died. Bakugou felt the grip of the now deceased creature tighten instead of loosen for some reason. Pressure upon his arm climbed and climbed until he felt his arm becoming crushed by the metal and polymers his armor was made of. He needed to free his arm or he would lose it.
Yanking the pin from the gauntlet resembling a flash bang unleashed an instantaneous blast that he instigated with controls built into the glove. The three engaged in a desperate battle all flew outwards from the center of the blast. They hit the ground and tumbled for several meters before finally scraping to a stop.
"F-fuuuuck! That hurt…"
Groaning from the pain, Katsuki needed to push himself up off the ground while holding his left forearm against his abdomen. Everything hurt after enduring such a powerful blast at close proximity. Not even his natural resistance to explosion could shield him from all the damage.
Burns and bruises completely covered his left arm as well as the front of his chest. Breathing now felt like hell as the muscles responsible for operating his lungs were all screaming in agony. Thankfully, the adrenaline kept a majority of that pain at bay while he tried to get his bearings.
Managing to sit upright took more than a little effort. What Bakugou saw didn't fill him with hope as he ironically hoped it would.
The lagging one with the injured leg had finished tearing off its dangling foot and allowed its freshly made injury to splatter blood all over the street. It ignored the pain as it began to march up to the badly injured Bakugou. As if things couldn't get worse from this point onwards.
That sentiment went straight out the window as the one who accidentally killed their fellow monster began to rise up with some difficulty. Charred skin flaked off as it moved while shaking its arm loose from the base of the skull. Right as the least injured creature passed was when the other muscle bound threat stumbled up to its feet. Moving hurt like hell, but he needed to stand back up. Katsuki caught the sight of the two red stains up the road from him and felt that familiar rage burning hotter than anything else from inside his chest. None of the pain kept Bakugou from standing back up and lowering himself down to his usual starting battle pose. Despite the loss of his left arm, he was determined to fuck up these murderers.
These killers who needed to be put down like the rabid animals they were.
"Fucking C'MON! I'm right here, CUNTS!"
Only the one with an intact leg leapt at Bakugou with both arms raised. It had every intention of flattening him like those little kids had been earlier. They glared daggers at each other as Bakugou prepared another powerful blast to hit this rabid beast with.
BANG
Suddenly, the top of the monster's head erupted into a burst of meat and bones out of nowhere. A stunned Bakugou then heard another bang go off and the other head still somewhat intact also blew up. His body went slack at the lack of a threat. He fell flat on his ass and just looked stupefied as the exhaustion settled in.
"Power Igniter! Are we here?!"
An ESD medical team surrounded the injured hero with the rest of the unit all got into defensive positions to protect the exits and Bakugou himself. Some distance down the street from where he fought these dangerous murderers, there were two ESD snipers roughly six hundred and eighty meters with smoking rifles with each of them confirming their kills. They just barely made it in time to protect the lone hero fighting these dangerous threats to public safety.
His call for help contacted all nearby ESD patrols and got them to the danger before things got too dangerous for the hero. Before he was lifted up into the medical transport, the sight of those bloodied spots marking the street implanted itself into his mind.
He was the last one to see those children alive. They died just a few hundred meters from him and he was powerless to protect them. Their memory would never leave him as the one who failed to protect them.