A Spark of Ingenuity
Chapter 4
A gentle tune of a piano played in the back as the warm lights of the crystalline chandeliers twinkled above the attendees. Each of them wore something to help define their importance, from expensive brands to exotic materials. Some of them were more subtle than others, only a refined eye towards the higher things in life able to identify the luxury their person was adorned in.
Mitsuki herself wore something more tame, a straight black dress with woven laces around her collar bone reaching around into a collar. If one stood at the correct angle, the light would catch the trim of the dress in a beautiful display of silver.
Standing next to David Shield, who elected to wear a simple black tie suit to enhance the golden watch he wore, they both noticed one particular guest was not in attendance.
Someone she would smack upside the head if he skipped out on.
"Maybe it's too soon for him." David worried for the boy. "He still hasn't told you about what happened?"
"Not really." She admitted with some regret. "I've tried asking but, I don't want to know."
Now it was harder for her to find fault in Katsuki's state, given she hasn't been able to accept the past circumstances either. "Still, I can't imagine it's better for him to distract himself with making some new thing. He needs to talk to people, experience more emotions if he's going to work through the ones he's ignoring. Do you know what he's doing in there?"
"From what I've gathered from Obadiah he's still putting out practical tech with a wide variety of applications. It makes it easier for the other engineers in his company to come up with their own uses for it and sell more products."
"He's making some kind of arm cannon." Mitsuki spoke in a more hushed tone, making sure to keep her facial expressions a mute joy to not arouse suspicion. "Not to mention he made his smart home system sound like Melissa."
"Oh." David couldn't hold back his own depressive sucker punch, having only just recently been able to work himself up to watching a few of the last videos Melissa made. "That, I can't blame him for that one. He's just doing what she asked."
"She asked to be able to haunt him from the grave for the rest of his life? Reminding him every time he hears her voice what they went through?" Mitsuki had to stop talking before she began shouting, swiftly looking around before a waiter passed by with a tray of drinks. Holding her hand out to him, he stopped, letting her grab one of them, gulp it down, and put the empty glass back on it.
"When you put it like that…" David was no therapist, one of the few medical sciences he hadn't looked too far into. "Before we try doing anything we should at least give him a chance to work it out on his own."
"I have." She sighed, recalling all the things she has been doing to get him out more. Sure he didn't do that very much before but at least there was Melissa to help or Izuku whenever he was over. "He needs friends his age, and it's hard enough for him to get those."
"Then maybe tonight he can." David tried to give her some hope. "I've noticed a few kids his age present. Not only would this be good for his company but also him."
"If he bothers coming down." Mitsuki huffed, looking towards the front where even more limousines or fancy cars were arriving. Obadiah had elected to be out there to personally greet many of the arrivals before coming inside to properly socialize. Next to him was his daughter, who didn't seem as enthusiastic but she tried. "Seriously, why can't he be friends with Whitney? It would make things so much easier if they were close or even better if they started dating."
Then she spotted one of the limos let out a rather eye catching couple, whose wealth was obvious to all. Did that woman have rubies woven over the fabric? And the husband, his outfit was practically shining with diamonds.
It was incredibly over the top, needlessly wasteful, but then she saw the girl following behind them. She was definitely a teenager, a gorgeous one at that with silky black hair pulled behind her head. Her dress wasn't as flashy as her parents, but it fit her well with a deep red that borderlines black with the frilly trims around her arms and the bottom of her dress being a bright roses color.
Tasteful, and definitely not as much of an eyesore as her parents. "Maybe Katsuki could ask her for a date."
David shook his head, feeling some sympathy for the lad. "Perhaps you shouldn't be so worried about him dating so soon."
"What? He's fourteen, if he doesn't start practicing now he's never going to learn how to treat women."
The girl she was eyeing paused soon after exiting the vehicle, letting her parents do the talking as their driver took the car away. This had not been her first time on the island, or her first time attending this particular party. Yet in all her travels and social gatherings she was greeted by something new.
A flaring light zipping across the sky overhead, a subtle thunder following in its wake. She hoped it was part of the event, something to interrupt the routine of false smiles and scheming.
Katsuki fixed the cuffs of his suit as he stepped into the elevator, sporting a sharper flat colored garnet three piece suit with a darker collar. His shirt was a shade lighter with barely noticeable speckles along it that would only be noticed if you stood close enough.
His hair, no helping it's constant puffy nature like a frozen blast of light blond strands. The arc reactor was safely hidden away by the fabric as he buttoned the rest of his shirt up, not paying attention as his eyes were distracted by what was displayed on his iconic red shades.
The armor specs, and their highlighted points of concern.
"The error derived from the continuous use of the gauntlet's propulsion at a power it was not designed to continuously sustain. The housing of the primary nozzles and the outer layers of the shin guards were exposed to too much heat built up from attempting to use your improvised speed boost."
"Line those parts and any other plates that are expected to encounter similar levels of thermal exposure with the same shielding of my satellites reentry material. That should keep the weight to durability ratio the same without compromising any of the common systems."
While the image was rendering, Bakugo checked himself once more in the reflective material of the door. He was pretty sure he wiped off any remaining oil or freeze he got on himself but his mother always managed to point something out.
"The render is complete and the suit has passed the new simulation parameters." Liz spoke, Katsuki flicking his eyes over to the image of his exosuit.
A bright crimson color overcame most of the arms, the chest, shoulders, back flaps, the legs, and part of the helmet sparing the faceplate. Hmm, if this was going to be the finished product he needed to personalize it.
"Make it more me." Even with the vague instructions, most of the gray components were washed over with the pale gold to match his hair. While the candy red stayed as the primary color, the secondary color felt right as it breathed life into the suit. Yet, several high stress points such as vents or joint plates remained gunmetal gray to prevent scratches becoming too apparent after a quick use. It also gave it a tougher look that stated 'I may be a hero but I will put your ass in the ground without hesitation.'
It was perfect.
This was it, besides the minor fluke of using part of the weapons to increase his flight capabilities that was the only thing he found to be of an issue. That didn't mean Melissa would have. "Does any high stress simulations results concern you?"
"The suit itself exceeds any other reference or set parameters." Welp, so much for wanting a piece of Melissa to help. "But there is a flaw in your use of the armor."
Wait, there was a problem with him not the suit?! "Explain."
"The arc system that houses a modified reactor for the suit does not pose any risk, but the materials used in the arc reactor housed in your body are questionable as it was not not designed to work in conjunction with the increased power consumption. If you were to use the reactor in yourself as a backup source it may not be able to sustain the armor or yourself for a reliable period of time. This could pose a great risk to your health and safety."
His reactor was the fault? Sure, he wasn't planning on having the armor run straight from it unless necessary but having both reactors connected, sharing the same power that ran through him in the suit gave him a bond to the armor he wouldn't have otherwise.
He didn't want to give that sensation up, and he most certainly didn't want to let go of the work Melissa put into keeping him alive. Her work, was a part of him. No way would he ever disrespect what that meant.
"Did you notice any errors or unpredicted fluctuations?" He questioned Liz.
"Nothing was detected, but that doesn't mean-"
"Then there's no problem. Start assembly immediately and don't bother me until I say you can." Katsuki yanked the shades off as the doors opened up, the atmosphere of pompous elitists hitting him hard with an intoxicating invitation to join them.
Strolling forward, he pretended not to notice the sudden stares and the whispers as many were pointing towards him. That's right, he's alive and his company was not up for grabs.
"Katsuki." Mitsuki was washed with relief as her son had arrived just before she decided to drag him down here. "Glad you could finally make it."
"Sure." Katsuki saw the plate of food pass by, his stomach reminding him he hadn't eaten a properly meal in a while. He was about to make his way to snatch some of the shrimp bites before his mother stepped on his foot.
Biting the urge to scream at her in front of them he settled for a burning glare.
"Don't just eat right away, it'll make it look like you don't care to socialize." She warned with a sickeningly sweet smile as she dug the point in. Literally. "You can eat after you've made a new friend."
He didn't come down here to make friends, he came down here to get money grabbing businesses off his back so his company could do its damn job. And what the hell was with his mother micromanaging when he can eat?! His money bought the dress she was wearing!
"Fine." He grumbled, wanting to get away from her to simmer down before talking to anyone.
"There he is!" Obadiah came with open arms and smiles, giving an overly friendly side hug to Katsuki. "The boy wonder himself."
He wasn't alone, two adults who were married and wearing literal gems for their clothes showed up sparkling away. The only thing that could make them even worse in Katsuki's eyes is if the man had a golden-HE FUCKING DOES HAVE A GOLDEN TOOTH!
"You know." Obadiah addressed the other two party goers, still keeping Katsuki right in his arm like he was family or something. "The best thing about him is also the worst thing, he's always working. I didnt think he would actually choose to come down here to say hello over making the next best thing."
"Oh?" The woman held a hand up to her lips that were coated in make up. "And what is the next big thing from Spark Industries?"
No way was he sharing his suit with anyone. He would have preferred to yell at them to shove their money up their asses to see if they really shit gold, but he knew this wasn't the time. If he wanted his company to thrive, he had to treat a lot of folks nicer than he would his best friend.
Putting on a more casual smirk, hiding his distaste for the charades, he would play the game only to win it. "The hero industry is the leading market, I have something that's going to put Spark Industries at the head of the race."
Stane held his shock because he never heard anything of the sort, but it was just the thing that anyone in business wanted to hear.
"So not even Spark Industries could resist." The man flashed a smile, that damn tooth nearly blinding him. "I thought you were just about passion projects."
"I never do anything I'm not passionate about." Katsuki quickly sent back, actually speaking the truth but in a way it would appeal to them. "Something I'm sure you two have lots of."
It was so easy to play them Katsuki was already bored. One stroke to their egos and they were already at the climax. He would let Obadiah hash out the details of a proper partnership, or investment, whatever it was he would let the man do his job.
"Our daughter is actually very passionate about heroes herself." The woman looked over towards the long table of several world class dishes over at the dining section of the party. "Oh Momo!"
Katsuki saw a girl his own age perk up, quickly shoving what she had in her mouth behind her lips before turning towards them like she wasn't hoarding a whole buffet to herself.
Damnit he really wanted something to eat and she was just pleasing herself!
"Please excuse her." Her father leaned down to whisper not so quietly. "Her quirk demands a lot of calories."
"Oh I'm not one to judge." Stane let out an empty laugh to provoke the others into joining his humor.
He could hardly care about the reasons as she came up, giving a short bow in greeting. "It's nice to finally meet you, I'm Momo Yaoyorozu of the Yaoyorozu family and corporation."
"Katsuki Bakugo." He needed no other introductions and he knew it.
"I've actually been studying your work for sometime now." Momo mentioned, being rather genuine and it was kind of weird to him given how over the top her parents seemed. "Particular recently the new titanium alloy you synthesized for deep sea exploration. The durability it demonstrates against several tons of pressure with only an inch is a marvel."
"We're using it for much more than that now." Obadiah teased in just how far Spark Industries had been reaching.
Huh, she actually knew about his actual work and not just how he makes money.
Her mother stepped in, sliding a hand with fingernails as long as knives over the girl's shoulder to not so subtle way to adjust Momo's posture to 'present' her daughter. "Our family has always been involved in material productions, and Momo herself has gotten the best of our quirks to try and use that knowledge towards her dream."
"Um, yes." Momo nodded despite her displeasure in the interaction. "I can make anything so long as I know the atomic structure of it, so ever since I was little I've been keeping up on the latest advancements in that regard to help me achieve my dream."
"She wants to be a hero." Her father spoke on Momo's behalf. "Always has, which is why we set up a division in the heroics industry to begin with."
"I appreciate your value in family." Obadiah glanced over to where his daughter was before patting Katsuki on the back. "I've been around Katsuki since he first came to I-island, I even was the one who noticed his submission for the arc reactor design and knew he had a bright future. Sometimes it feels like I helped raise him."
He did NOT just go there! Katsuki nearly rammed his fist into the man's side right then, the bastard acting like he was a suitable replacement for his father.
"How about we let them talk alone." The mother spoke before giving a short push against Momo's back to take a step closer to Katsuki. "I'm sure Katsuki's learned a lot from you on how to apply his talents towards a realistic future, one he could even share with our daughter."
The adults retracted themselves from the conversation, each giving a silent order towards them to try and solidify a partnership as they could do business.
Momo clutched her clamming hands together, disappointed that this was what her parents intended for her and not having the courage to say no. But, she didn't just want to live a comfortable life, she wanted to do more and see the impact she could have in person. "I, I would like to make one thing transparent with you Bakugo. Despite the impression of my parents desire, I don't intend on giving up my ambition on becoming a hero."
Katsuki was glad he wouldn't have to play along with what those asshats intended for them. "Ok, that-"
"I know it's selfish of me, and I'm sure it's hard to understand given the success you've had."
"I don't-"
"But I don't want to be someone who hangs on another's arm and simply enjoys a nice life. I can do more, not to discredit your impressive accomplishments, but unlike yourself I don't intend to find the quickest route to securing an optimal financial-"
"You don't know shit about me."
The language, the harsh and abrupt turn of his attitude had Momo cease her ramblings and stare at Katsuki. The real, unfiltered teen before her who was at the edge of exploding into a rage. "Excuse me?"
"You think I made Spark Industries to get as much money as possible and be comfortable?" Katsuki's eyes narrowed towards her, peering into what exactly these rich bastards had thought of him.
"Um, excuse my assumptions." Momo couldn't believe that this, this was the boy who had began a new energy race. "Yet what you've done with your intelligence quirk it-"
"I don't have an intelligence quirk!" Katsuki stated louder, keeping the full force of his emotion out of it but he needed anyone in reasonable earshot to get the idea he had an intelligence quirk out of their heads.
No, that was impossible in Momo's mind. Sure there were those with brighter intellects without such a quirk but no one at his age could have done and made all he did without one. "There's no need to hide it-"
Katsuki rose his hands up, palm towards her for Momo to see first hand. She didn't know what he was doing, and before she pushed it away from invading her personal space she saw it.
Heavy scar tissue, emphasis on the palms but old scars wrapped around his hand.
"I have an explosion quirk." Katsuki corrected her with a bite in his tone. "It backfired, I was hurt and I was put on life support. They told me I burnt it out, that I could never even walk down the street without my heart falling apart."
The girl envisioned a little boy, burnt and stuck in a hospital bed. Yet she could not connect that image with the healthy teen in front of her.
"I didn't make Spark Industries to be rich." Katsuki reiterated with each sentence. "I made it so I could finally have enough to fix my damn body. I made it so I could create a way to compensate for burning my own quirk up. I made it so I could be a damn hero, and I have never given up on that."
Momo was, astounded at the barrage of revelations. Before she could even question if any of it was true Katsuki marched off, right towards the food and hardly cared about leaving the conversation as is.
"I know." The daughter of Obadiah Stane came up to Momo's side, scowling at the brashness Katsuki demonstrated. "He's such a tool when you really get to know him. I wish my father didn't end up working for Spark Industries. That jerk hasn't changed at all even after being kidnapped for half a year. Not even his sweet innocent friend can fix him.
Momo decided there was a lot more to learn about Katsuki Bakugo past what his company did.
Katsuki didn't go back to the lab that night, he went with his mom back to the house, letting her rant to him about how the night went. Who she talked to, who she wished to talked to, what they talked about, yada yada it was all falling on numbed ears.
He was spent. Almost all his energy for the past month had gone towards making his suit, and now that the final product was being assembled there was nothing left to do. Tonight he had not only had the biggest rush of his life from test piloting the prototype, he had to attend a party and pretend to care about everyone and their needless goals.
Well, one of them had an ok goal. But she was a dumbass just like the rest of them.
Not bothering to take off his stylish suit he plopped down onto his bed, letting sleep take him.
Then he was back in the cave, working, hammering away and the repurposed steel as the singing heat of the forge battled over his skin with the numbing winter chill. He could feel their eyes on him, watching, waiting for him to mess up. He couldn't see any of their faces clearly but all of them were pressing their guns against his temples.
When he looked to find Melissa's presence for assurance that someone was with him, he saw her laying in the corner. The red seeping from her wounds, the dead eyed expression, and a single man standing over her.
It was that white coated bastard! Smiling as he kept shooting more bullets into her body!
Katsuki roared with vengeance, the still red hot metal he worked with climbing up his skin, burning itself into his body as he became the very suit he was working on. The power in his chest swelled, rushing out his arms as he blasted them all away in explosions that shook the cave.
He thought he got them all, but no matter how much he screamed, no matter how hard he fought, no matter how much the suit burned into him, no matter how much his chest kept bursting from within, the man behind his suffering continued to stand their undeterred, firing his weapon into Melissa's bloody body.
He tried pushing forward, fighting an unseen force that flooded pain through him the closer he got, digging through his flesh and making its way to the center of his implant to squeeze him from within.
The arc reactor sparked, brightening with increased power as the pain and the suffering continued to feed into it as the edges along the housing unit felt like it was lighting him on fire.
Then, it exploded.
"Gah!" Katsuki slammed upwards, gasping for air with his palms forward. His haggard breaths continued, the vivid nightmare still lingering in his mind. Once he finally calmed down, seeing the comfort and safety of his own room instead of the stone walls of the cave, then he allowed himself to try standing up.
"Damnit." He needed to get that damn nightmare out of his head again, and there was no better way to do that than making something new.
Three hours later after getting back into the routine, Katsuki leaned back in his computer chair deciding to pick up on one of Melissa's older projects.
A new metal.
The screen showed the various simulations processing the possibility, Katsuki watching the larger holographic display sitting in his computer chair. He was leaned back, toying with part of his armor that he wore over his hand reaching down part of his forearm.
Adjusting the configuration with a screwdriver, Katsuki could feel the different levels of power charging up in his closed fist.
"Synthesizer unsuccessful." Liz announced as the simulation had failed to yield a good result. "The latest attempts all predict an explosive outcome resulting everything within two hundred feet disintegrating."
Great, just great. Way to hand him an impossible metal.
"Set the dampeners to forty two percent in conjunction with the red setting."
It ran again, Katsuki's eyes flicking back to his armored hand and rolled his wrist around to see the other side.
"I have urgent news."
"The explosion couldn't be that bad." Katsuki huffed in disappointment, only when he looked back to the screen the simulations hadn't finished. They were shoved into the corner as an image was suddenly displayed.
Katsuki felt the iron grip around his heart, dropping the screwdriver as he saw a hazy photo taken from a security camera. It zoomed in on one particular person, someone wearing a long white coat, greased back bloody hair, and wearing a mask of metal scrap.
"The description of your number one priority target in project 'search and destroy' has found a match."
Kicking himself out of his chair, he stood face to face with the man that held him captive all those months ago. "How long ago was this?"
"Approximately ten hours ago it was uploaded to a CIA network in connection to several thefts of highly classified equipment. The estimated time and location of the image itself is off the coast of Oregon in the USA this morning at two thirty AM Pacific Daylight Time."
That man was alive, and not just that he was still in operation. Damnit! They guessed they had multiple crew locations but after going so long without hearing anything he was beginning to think he got them all in his escape. "How come I'm only just hearing about this?! What about the tech we rigged to give them away?!"
"I am reviewing the data now, but none of the parameters you gave for the search ever came up. Please wait one moment as I download all related files in regards to this image."
Fuck! Katsuki gripped at his hair as he paced back and forth, waiting for the news. For a supercomputer it felt like Liz was sure dragging her damn non existent feet.
"I have found a similar technology collected at one of the relevant incident locations that matches your designs with a fifty two percent accuracy."
Two schematics were displayed, one that he gave of what he and Melissa did in the cave and another of the tech found at the aftermath of one of the heists. They were car fobs made to high jack a variety of vehicles with ease, but inside were chips that looked incredibly different one was repurposed, another created by well funded means.
The principles were the same though, it was made from his designs. That's why the search never got a hit is because this whole time they had someone in their pocket who could reverse engineer their work and remake them without the traps!
"FUCK!" Katsuki punched the wall with his armored hand, leaving a dent in the sheet metal.
"It appears that the suspected person has gone by the name of 'Wolfram' offering the services of his crew to commit high scaled thefts and robberies, usually in large company sabotage or espionage. While it is suspected there are multiple parties involved and bases of operation there is evidence suggesting those facilities are merely operated by basic mercenaries while Wolfram and his primary force consist of one undivided unit."
Lifting his hand away from the damage, Katsuki felt that boiling anger steam focus into a refined, colder rage. One that allowed him to think, to plan, and to act. "So, we take out him and his crew then the grunts scatter, make mistakes, get caught by the rest of the agencies looking for em."
"That would be the most likely outcome."
"Pry into anything involving Wolfram and start sweeping for more evidence by cross referencing the core schematics of the trap tech."
"Should I assume you want me to map out his recorded movements and affiliations to predict where he'll make his next big score?"
"That's exactly what you should do." Walking over to the reinforced container near the launch bay, Katsuki stared through the small window of the pod, where a set of inactive narrowed eye slits stared right back at him.
"It appears that the CIA alongside several other intelligence agencies expect Wolfram to be on his way to intercept undocumented supplies that have just been stored in Mexico just under the Gulf of California. My prediction algorithm has come up with the same result with a ninety eight percent accuracy."
So, while it took him ten minutes to figure out where that asshole was going to be it took the feds a year or longer to track down? That didn't sound right. "How often has Wolfram shown up at predicted points of interest?"
"Eighty four percent of his estimate targets were correct over the past five years of his activity."
Five fucking years?! They've been following him that long and haven't done shit?! Katsuki pressed his palm against the pod, the front of it letting out a clunk as it unlocked, lifting the front of itself to reveal his battle ready armor.
"How long until Wolfram reaches his target?"
"Three and a half hours."
"How long would it take for me to get there?"
"Optimal long range flight speeds with the armor will allow you to arrive within just under four hours."
Good, he can catch them right in the act.
The armor pod bay lit up, small hydraulic arms inside unfolding as each of them latched onto a piece of the armor and began to disassemble it. Stepping inside the vacant spot with his suit all around the walls of the container Katsuki's calculating gaze looked across the lab at the pinged location across the ocean.
Wolfram better find a god and start praying, because judgment day has arrived.
In the scorching sunlight of the day, the dry pale dirt below was washed over with heat. Several combat boots imprinted itself into its surface, rushing from one spot to another. Several men, most armed in some fashion or another were stacking boxes onto pallets, a forklift being driven by another man wearing a shirt to expose his tattooed arms to contrast the plain color of his tactical vest.
The arm of a crane moved overhead, latching onto a steel shipping container before moving it over to where all the cargo was being placed. There were at least forty men, marching to and from to get the work done well and the work done fast.
But the bare footprints of another person suddenly burst out from hiding, dashing to one of the empty cars that could take them to freedom.
A blade slashed across the young man's heel, making him fall over to clutch his profusely bleeding wound. He wore nothing but a cheap t shirt and baggy shorts that clearly weren't meant for someone as small as him.
"Stand up!" Shouted the man standing over him, wearing the same attire as the rest of the soldiers, only his arm was a large segmented blade.
The young man below muttered a curse towards his captor, spitting on his shoes before a gun shot out, slamming through his skull and ending his life.
Turning his bladed arm back into a normal one, the long faced man with shoulder length salmon hair let out a grunt of displeasure. "We're selling them alive, not dead."
"Like they have any worth." The soldier pulled down his face mask, spitting on the lifeless corpse. "Just a dying breed."
"Well someone thinks they're worth something if they're paying for them!" The longer faced man grabbed the vest of the other, throwing him down to fall over the body. "That one's coming out of your pay. Just be glad Wolfram's off finalizing the deal with the cartel otherwise you'd-"
"Swordkill!" Two men came up to him, one with a shaved head and a little bit of a belly and another with a face akin to a goat with longer arms and mossy green hair that stretched down into sideburns.
"Daigo, Nobu, what's up?" The man now identified as Swordkill ordered.
"We've got an issue." The goat faced man Nobu spoke, pointing to one of the crates. "Not enough food for all our product to make the trip."
Swordkill glanced down to the body, humming at the idea he came up with. "Well then, do a count and find out how many we can feed. Once you do that start grabbing the ones less likely to make the trip until food is no longer an issue, separate them, and keep them under full guard until we figure out if there's more food coming or not."
"Sure thing." Nobu had no issues, neither did Daigo, no one flinched when they heard the order. They had a group of men follow them, all of them taking aim as they began unlocking the container. A group of local people of varying ages, all stuffed in ragged clothing soaked in sweat cowered before them.
One of the soldiers stepped inside, grabbing one of the women thinner than the rest and yanked her out making all of them cry out in pleas and prayers.
Swordkill clicked his tongue, annoyed at hearing the whines and the begging before pulling out a cigarette from his pocket. About to light it, he heard some kind of distant crack. A low wind following it, the man looking around at the sky to try and figure out where it was coming from.
Then it became a rumbling that built into a roar, a small shadow above heading right for them!
By now the noise had escalated to the point where all the men had paused their work, clinging to their guns as an armored figure crashed into a low crouch in the center of their operation.
"Hero!" The soldier who had pulled out the thin hostage aimed his gun at her head, hoping that would-
A blast slammed into his chest, his body sent hurdling back before breaking itself against a wooden crate. Unmoving.
The red and pale gold colored figure no longer was seen as some hot shot, he was a walking weapon that set its narrowed eyes on all of them. Those cold, dangerously glowing eyes.
The gunfire sprang to life, multiple soldiers firing at once in an attempt to save their own skin. They all bounced and glided harmlessly off the armor, but at that same time it swiveled its gauntlets to take aim back at them.
Twin blasts shot out, crushing through bone and propelling the dead men away as he swung his arms over to his next victims. One to two at a time it kept finding a new target, a burst of energy shooting from its palms to eliminate more of their men.
One of them tried another attempt at using the hostages, running over to try and use a human shield. A plate opened up on the weapon's shoulder, revealing a small series of barrels inside that had already aimed at him.
In a short pop of noise the panicked soldier went down, collapsing before them all and no longer a part of the fight.
The cascade of bullets died down as whoever was exposed ran for cover. Their tormentor did not remain idle as with a short flare from his boots he leapt towards one of the groups of men retreating behind a steel barrel, and with his gauntlet he mowed them down in a series of rapid fire bursts from the nozzles.
"RRRAAAAHH!" Daigo charged towards him, his form growing, his muscles bulging purple, and his arms enlarging into hulking masses. He threw one of them down onto the armored man, who caught it in his gauntlets.
Throwing his other fist forward Daigo landed a direct hit, punching the man away to flip over the ground before slamming his own feet back into the Earth.
The figure clenched his fist, aiming his arm towards Daigo as he ran at him. An orange glow came from the top port, but it didn't leave, it didn't shoot anything out. No one thought anything was happening until Daigo dropped mid charge, coughing out blood as his skin sizzled.
Then the figure flew forward, smacking his arm against a steel container vacant of people to have it topple over, landing on a cowering set of gunmen.
He landed on top of it, taking aim at the other hiding around him. They assumed their cover would protect them, they did not realize how wrong they were until it began blasting through them with even brighter blasts.
Distant yells and panicked voices rang all throughout the dock, men fleeing towards whatever escape they could find. The figure stood straight, the thrusters igniting as it began hovering into the air.
He started with the ones running to the trucks, picking them off with a quick rapid fire spray over the area. Turning around he saw two boats, loading up with retreating men. One blast each to the engines sent them into a fiery grave.
"HEY TIN MAN!"
The figure turned, just in time to see a rocket heading right towards his face. He spun backwards, letting it pass over his face before continuing his spin to be upright, his slits locking onto Nobu who dropped the emptied RPG.
His end was as swift as the others with a single blast.
Swordkill ducked behind a far container, believing he got himself far away enough as he pulled out his phone trying to call up Wolfram, the cartel, hell he would even call the heroes at this rate!
His hope dropped as the metal man dropped himself right in front of him, staring with those menacing glowing eyes.
In a desperate attempt to live he turned his arms into swords, crying out with wild swings to try and do something. They were caught, one blade arm in each of the metal hands, and then a pressure began to crunch his quirk like soda cans.
"Where is Wolfram?"
He was after his boss? Fuck why didn't he say so earlier he had no issues trading that guy for his own life!
"Far away now-" Wolfram's voice came from his phone lying on the ground, Swordkill's voice dying in his throat as he realized he no longer had the one thing he could bargain with. "-and long gone by the time you even know where to look."
Before Swordkill could beg, the hands gripped tight, severing his arms and leaving them in tin foil stumps. His quirk, he just ripped off his quirk! Not only was he practically quirkless he no longer had any arms!
The armored man didn't care, he reached down and picked up the phone, his gaze threatening to turn it into ash. "I am going to find you, and I'm going to end you this time."
"Oh I know you would. You almost did, but you ran away before you finished the job."
As invincible as the person seemed to be, he flinched at those words.
"That's right, I know who you are, and that's where things get fun."
The phone was dropped back to the ground, the metal hand shaking ever so slightly.
"Because you don't really know who I am."
It clenched into a fist, quivering as he rose it.
"You don't know where I am."
He crouched over the phone with his fist cocked back.
"And you'll never see me coming."
It crashed into the ground, shattering the device into a dozen pieces as the Earth shook under his might. Swordkill stayed still at the display, frozen in case he could go unnnoticed.
When those glowing eyes landed on him he screamed, yanked off of his feet as the person flew up with him in his grasp. Then he was dropped, falling before landing harshly in the dirt with the wind kicked out of him.
He coughed madly, sputtering as he suspected his back was broken from the agonizing pain. Just above him the figure hovered, the sun's rays bleeding behind him.
An armored hand went up to his side, a small compartment opening up before a thin narrowed tube whistled out to the distance.
The heat of an explosion rushed over him, Swordkill daring to turn his head over to see their cargo ship with a flaming hole burning in the center.
"He's all yours."
Then he zoomed off, back into the sky where he came from. Swordkill wasn't sure what he meant but he let out a small laugh as his life was spared.
The laughter died when several people looked down on his broken body, none of them intending to give him the mercy he thought he was gifted.
Note: only Iron Man content will be used for this story, no other heroes or villains outside of Iron Man or MHA will be used.
Bakugo is on a warpath, and while there is one face he has directed his revenge towards he has learned there are more parties involved than anticipated. How far will he go? What would stop him? Tune in for the next chapter that will probably be tomorrow given the daily updates.
Ok, just to clarify I don't have plans on making Momo a love interest or a primary plot character. Doesn't mean it won't happen since I have yet to decide the full character dynamics around Bakugo but because of her family's wealth them meeting was bound to happen before UA given Bakugo is also in the top 1% now.
Still need to figure out the class rosters, so if there's anyone from Class 1 A or B you would really like to see let me know otherwise I'm going to hit the shuffle button. I also still need to figure out who can be his Pepper (not necessarily a romantic interest) so please share whatever ideas you have.
Izuku's fate is already decided.
Let me know where you see this story going or what you would look forward to. Seriously, reviews are what give me a great big boost of motivation.
Thanks for reading. Any errors in spelling or inconsistency please point out.
PowerPufferfish: I actually greatly appreciate long and thorough reviews like this. It makes all the effort I put into the story feel recognized. While I probably could spend five more chapters building up to UA, I think it'll be more like two. Don't want to have all of Bakugo's plot points finished by the time he reaches UA. He'll just have to find a way to somehow balance school, hero training, his company, and being Iron Man.
I'm starting to feel similar that whoever serves as Pepper won't end up being a love interest. Eventually I want Bakugo to be open with his thoughts and true feelings around them, but it doesn't need to be that much. As for the two different types of Pepper, I am hoping to write someone to have both sides of the coin but if I had to pick either one it would be someone that would be able to get him to talk freely with and shut down any stupid ideas.
If he keeps going as is he will need someone to keep him grounded.
It seems in terms of Iron Man villains you do prefer the more mystical ones. I can't say I considered it before but I will take a second look because I do like some of the raw concepts of the world of MHA suddenly being confronted with forces they can't comprehend only for Iron Man to have to step in because pro heroes aren't capable of understanding a fraction of what they're up against.
I'd probably only use two magic based villains though, and I'm counting mythical or other planes of dimensions as that. Even then that's a lot to me.
Villains like Arthur Parks and MODOK I can definitely see fitting into this story. In fact, I already have some rough ideas for both in the future. But I want to slowly build up to those kinds of villains, I want to take my time and enjoy the more grounded villains such as Titanium Man, Whiplash, Iron Monger, Madame Masque, Ghost, Blizzard, basically folks that if they got their hands on some good tech that is starting to circulate or combine some ok tech with a quirk they already have.
As for your last input regarding Zodiac. I'm going to admit I absolutely hated the Iron Man anime. Plus, I don't think a lot of readers have seen it let alone heard of it so using content that were only seen in the anime might confuse some folks. I'm not entirely against it, but if I did use it I feel I would have to break it apart so much that it wouldn't be recognizable to the original. I mine as well just adapt the MLA to serve as a similar force kind of like how you suggested. I'll think about it by the time I get to UA, because I do see the potential for it.
I'd be open to talking about these ideas more over personal messaging if you'd like, either on this website or on another.