Fuck.
Izuku ripped his hand away from Bakugo's leg, hoping he'd been fast enough to stop his Quirk from taking effect — after all, he'd only held on for about half a second, so he might've been able to save the leg! Unfortunately, like with everything on that dreadful night, luck was not on Izuku's side. It seemed as though Bakugo hung in the air for five minutes while everything played out in slow motion. The blond's pant leg ripped itself apart and the tattered strips of cloth that were left blew away in the breeze. Lines, hair-thin cracks in Bakugo's skin, snaked along his leg, up toward the knee and down toward the foot from where Izuku had grabbed his calf. He thought either of them might've been lucky enough for it to be a clean sever, but he couldn't have anything nice. Bakugo's leg flaked away, reduced to blood and dust by Izuku's touch. The only thing that was left, by the time that Bakugo landed on the ground in a screaming rage, was about half of his left leg below the knee. The rest of it was shredded and disintegrated, its remains on the sidewalk between them as Bakugo held his leg and squealed in pain.
No words came as Izuku stood there and watched his childhood friend who was now an enemy clutch his bloody stump of a leg and writhe in pain over his own actions. His heart beat harder than it ever had before, the blood rushing in his ears as he looked at the dusty, bloody remains of Bakugo's leg. Izuku's hand, his deadly hand, buzzed as all of the little nerve endings in his fingers came alive at the use of his Quirk. He looked at it. He'd taken his hand away before the blood had come, so it was clean. That felt wrong to Izuku, like that was unfair in some way, but he couldn't rationalise his way to a conclusion. His thoughts came slowly through the haze of panic. He breathed harder and faster, but he still felt as though he couldn't get enough air. The only thing his eyes would focus on was Bakugo, sitting on the ground and cradling what was left of his leg. Izuku's body wasn't even shaking. He might as well have been paralysed by the Hero Killer. Except it hadn't been the Hero Killer that had done this. Izuku was to blame.
"This is it," Bakugo muttered. "This is what'll show them just how disgusting you really are. I hope you got your fill of bloodshed, Deku. It'll be your undoing!"
Bakugo forced himself up, leaning on the window of the Normal Agency as he propped himself up on one foot. He then pushed himself away from the window and used his blasts to launch himself up into the air, raggedly breathing all the while. That kicked Izuku's brain into motion. What did Bakugo mean? Oh. Crap. Izuku ran after Bakugo, sidestepping a few drops of blood that trickled down from the air above him, dripping out of Bakugo's destroyed leg. A dozen thoughts slammed into Izuku's brain as he ran towards the others. What would they think? What exactly was Bakugo going to tell them? Would they believe it was an accident? The rational part of his mind told him that his friends would obviously take his side over the guy they had to save him from, but that part of his mind wasn't very loud at that moment, so it was drowned out by the overwhelming urge to curl up into a ball on the ground and never get back up.
The section of the street where Ochako, Todoroki and Iida had been battling the Hero Killer was a mess. Todoroki was still standing, ice covering the ground around his right foot and the sleeve on his left arm having long since burned up. His entire left arm had turned a patchy blend of pink and red, and Izuku paused when he saw it. Was it even possible for Todoroki to burn? The Hero Killer stood a few metres away from Todoroki, parrying and cutting down the ice attacks Todoroki sent his way and dodging the waves and blasts of fire that illuminated the street in flashes of yellow, as opposed to the red fire he'd begun to fight using. Was that why he was burned — was Todoroki using fire that was too hot? The Hero Killer was bleeding from a cut on his lip, and had a big red welt on his face that must have been from one of Iida's devastating kicks. Iida sped by from the other side of the Hero Killer, attempting to sweep the man off his feet and leave him vulnerable to another attack, but the Hero Killer simply leapt above the kick and cut into Iida's chest with the meat cleaver that had been sheathed on his back until then. Luckily, the worst it did was put a big gash in Iida's armour and didn't seem to cut into his body underneath, but it did send the boy skidding and tumbling down the street as he lost his footing.
Todoroki created a slanting pillar of ice, sprouting from the street beside him and rising to the height of some of the two-storey apartments and offices, and a blur of black and pink appeared from out of nowhere, pushing off footholds and surfaces so fast that Izuku couldn't follow it with his eyes. Fire flowed from Todoroki's foot, and a line of flames raced along the ground toward the Hero Killer, who leapt up into the air to avoid the attack. Ochako appeared out of that black and pink blur as she crouched against the pillar for a fraction of a second. She pushed off of it and flipped around so that her feet were the thing to crash into the Hero Killer, who was unable to dodge in the air. A flash of pink washed over her the moment before impact and she kicked him with a yell of effort. The Hero Killer tried to block, but the meat cleaver in his hand wasn't sufficient to absorb the overwhelming momentum behind Ochako's kick, and the attack landed with a loud crack. The Hero Killer was sent crashing through a window on the second storey of the adjacent building, glass tumbling down onto the street below.
Bakugo fell to the ground, as he was unable to stop his descent with just one foot. Izuku caught up with Todoroki and Iida, standing beside them as Ochako landed on his other side with a stumble. She had a cut through her eyebrow that was bleeding down the side of her face, which startled Izuku, but she gave him a smile when she saw that he was more or less unharmed, even though he couldn't return it. He looked over Todoroki and Iida, and saw that they had a number of small cuts and bruises as well. Iida's whole arm was limp and bloody, probably from the attack that the Hero Killer had opened with, and one of his legs was bleeding as well. Todoroki had gotten himself two cuts on his face, one on his left eyebrow and another that was shallow but still looked painful, which made a straight line from his jaw to his hairline. Izuku suddenly felt bad about getting away basically unscathed from Bakugo's attacks due to his fireproof costume.
"Do you see?" Bakugo screamed, clutching his leg and holding it in plain view of the hero students. "Do you see what he's done to me?"
"Stop moving around! You need to go to a hospital!" Izuku yelled back.
"No, they need to see! They need to see what you're capable of!" Bakugo said. He swept his gaze over Ochako, Todoroki and Iida with a blood red glare. "That scum took my leg! He pretends he's so noble, but this is what he does when he takes off the mask!"
"Hey, you really should—" Ochako said with a shaky voice.
"Shut it! I'm the one talking here, you bitch!" Bakugo said. His eyes were wide and unfocused, and his whole body was shaking, but he didn't seem to be feeling any pain. "I finally get to show you exactly what the little piece of shit you're protecting really is. He's a killer. A murderer. An evil villain who's been lying to you all the whole time! Only I know what he really is! I saw him kill them! Our whole first grade class! He did it with a smile! Don't you see it?!"
"I'll ice your leg to stop it from getting any worse. I might be able to cauterise it, too," Todoroki said. In a rare expression, Todoroki's face was white as paper and his usually narrow eyes were wide with shock.
"And get rid of the evidence I need? You wish, Scarface!" Bakugo snapped. He tried to stand, but he fell on his face. He spit out the blood that trickled from his nose as he continued. "Oh, but that's what Deku wants, right? Getting his little puppets to clean up his mess for him is just the kind of pathetic shit he'd do!"
"You've got the wrong impression of Midoriya, if that's what you think of him," Iida said, limping forward a few steps. "He came out here tonight just to see me. Midoriya put his own internship second, he put my safety and my feelings before an important time of growth for himself. That kind of selflessness is evil to you?"
"Cut the shit, Glasses. He's never said what he really means. He made you feel better about your weak brother getting what all weaklings deserve? So what? That's his game! That's how he gets people on his side!" Bakugo said with a laugh. "Don't you see it? Everywhere he goes, he picks up new followers. How are you all willing to fight for such a wimpy nerd? He's brainwashed you all into his puppets! Don't you see?"
"That's what happens when you're a good person who people like to be around. Not a shock that you've never heard of it," Ochako said with a furious expression on her face. "What's your deal, Bakugo? Are you still salty about getting kicked out of UA? Move on!"
"No! I'll never give up until you all see!"
Bakugo's voice was chilling. Izuku was frozen, watching his childhood friend's ability to think and reason crumble before his very eyes. His whole body was cold, but his brain was on fire. Everything about this was wrong. Izuku, with friends by his side as he stood over a wounded Bakugo, who'd ended up alone and ostracised. Ever since starting at UA, Izuku's entire life had been flipped upside down, but that night in Hosu was the first time that he'd ever considered that a bad thing. He didn't want this. Izuku had never wanted Bakugo to end up a ranting, bleeding mess. He hadn't really wanted to coexist with Bakugo, spend three years learning to be a hero with him, but he'd just wanted to live his life and for Bakugo to respect that. That was never going to happen, though. Katsuki Bakugo could not be reasoned with. He'd nearly been killed outright, and he was still unable to see what was real and what was some messed up nightmare that he'd had when he was six years old. That was clear to Izuku at that moment. The thing that gave him pause was a question — what was he supposed to do with Bakugo? Was he supposed to take him in for the police to arrest? Should he let him go in hopes that he changed? Izuku really didn't know what could possibly be the best option. He stood there, dumbfounded, as his friends defended him from Bakugo's twisted worldview after he had defended them from his complete and total willingness to hurt every single one of them.
Izuku was lost.
Katsuki hadn't lost yet! He could make them see!
"I don't care about that anymore!" Katsuki yelled. "UA is rotten from the inside out if they're backing Deku."
"What has Midoriya done to make you think he is what you claim him to be?" Glasses said as he wobbled on that bleeding leg.
"I told you! He slaughtered our entire class when we were kids! He smiled as their blood covered his face!" Katsuki screamed. "He just loved it. Just like I know he loved taking my foot just now. Admit it, Deku!"
"He explained that to us, way back when you were kicked out. We got your side and his side, and we believed his side," Flabby said. She looked at him with such a forceful anger boiling inside, as if she could really do anything to him if she tried. "Is it so unbelievable to you that our entire class actually likes and believes him?"
"No, but that's how he does it! He acts all weak and pathetic so you feel bad for him. He did it for years during elementary and middle school. He acted all sad and haunted by his actions, but he didn't really do anything to repent for his evil! He just tried and tried to tug on my heart, tried to get me to feel bad for him, but I got wise to his tricks! I'm the only one who sees Deku for what he is! You have to believe me!" Katsuki screamed.
"I'm an outsider in this," Glasses said. "But it sounds like you actually did feel bad for Midoriya, both for what had happened and for what you were doing to him to compensate for that. Why try to deny that? Empathy is the greatest virtue that a hero can have."
"I didn't feel bad for the little freak!" Katuski yelled. "It was his game! Empathy is for weaklings! People who can't make their feelings into reality are forced to share the feelings of those who can — that's how he works! He can't use his fucked up Quirk how he wants just yet, but when he has all of his little friends around, accidents can happen and you'll take his side no matter what! It's happening right now. Don't you see it? See it!"
"You're wrong, Bakugo. Do you know why Midoriya came to Hosu tonight?" Glasses asked.
"To indoctrinate you! Your stupid brother got crippled for life and he thinks you're weak enough to get swayed into his little brainwashed group of puppets!" Katsuki said.
"No. I am weak, but Midoriya did not wish to take advantage of that. He helped me see the truth, that vengeance is not the path for me. I was so blinded by grief and hatred that I couldn't see reason, but Midoriya shared his own feelings, which I only now understand. The things you have done, even the brief summary I got from Midoriya earlier tonight, are despicable. If I were him, I don't know what I would do. I doubt I would have nearly as much self-restraint as he is displaying now," Glasses said.
"No, but that's it! He's letting you fight his battles for him! He's playing you!" Katsuki said, his voice breaking. "You're already tangled up in his web! You … you're too far gone. You're all already brainwashed!"
Every inch of Katsuki's body trembled. He was too late to save them. He'd failed to stop Deku from trapping another person in his manipulations. Katsuki scowled, refusing to give up. If he couldn't save them, then he'd have to destroy them to stop the spread of their messed up delusions. Burning them to ash was the only salvation they could ever get once they fell into Deku's hands. He pushed himself to his hands and knee. He could still fight. He might've lost his foot, but he still had one, and he could move around with his Quirk. He wasn't out of the fight just yet! His leg sent surging waves of pain pulsing up his body, and he almost felt as though it were still crumbling and might continue to spread, but he pushed through the pain and moved.
Katsuki pushed himself into the air with his explosions, over Glasses and toward Deku. Flabby and Scarface beside him reacted first, ice reaching up to block his attack. He simply blew through the ice and threw a hand out at Deku. Flabby was too slow to react, barely having leapt at him before his Quirk went off, blowing all of them away. Katsuki was pushed back into the air by his own blast, and watched as Deku took the explosion with no reaction, tumbling to the ground a few metres away without a sound. Scarface tried to put up another ice shield, but he and Flabby also took the full blast, flying through the air the same as Deku. Flabby went further, since her Quirk made her weightless, but she negated it and stumbled into a landing a dozen or so metres away. Katsuki landed on his foot and failed to cushion himself properly, leading to him falling to the ground again just like his enemies. He screamed out curses as the pain rolled over him.
"Come on, Deku! Fight me yourself!" Katsuki yelled.
"I …" Deku spluttered. "I can't. I won't. I don't want to fight you. Nobody wants to fight you!"
"That's a lie and you know it. You've wanted nothing more than to beat me black and blue since we were kids," Katsuki said with a laugh. "I see the way you used to look at me. You just wished you could use your Quirk and put an end to the shitty game we played with a single touch. Admit it! You want to kill me so badly that it's probably taking all your power not to do it right now! But you've gotta keep that plausible deniability, yeah? So this is all you'll do tonight." He shoved his destroyed leg out in front of him. Deku's face paled at the sight of it, as it should.
"I've never wanted to kill anyone! Please just stop, Bakugo!" Deku whined.
"You know, I'm getting real sick of you calling me that!" Katsuki said as he launched himself into the air again. "You've got a hero name, right? Breakthrough! What a pathetic code name! Well, I've got a hero name too. Cinder is who I am now, and it's what you'll be when I'm through with breaking you! Ha!"
Katsuki began to spin around. It was the same principle as the rocket-powered elbow, but much faster. The whole world spun around as Katsuki rotated in the air, spinning so fast that everything became a blur. He rose high enough that none of those pathetic little heroes could stop him, and the explosions around him twisted with the speed of his rotations, creating a funnel of fire and smoke that whirled around Katsuki. His blood was boiling hot in his veins, and his entire body was on fire. If he hadn't known how Deku's Quirk worked, he would've thought he was succumbing to it all over. No, that was just his own Quirk, Explosion kicking into gear. That's what those idiots on the ground didn't realise — the longer Katsuki fought, the stronger his Quirk got, since his blasts came from his sweat. The more he sweat, the stronger the blast, and the longer the fight, the more he sweat. Katsuki was built for combat. Scarface was, too, and his ice would cool him down enough that he stopped sweating if he got trapped in it, hence the height. He looked down at the street and was able to make out the vague shapes in the colours of those brats' hero costumes. He plunged back down into the street.
He shot down the street, his explosions tearing up the road and the shockwaves shattering all the windows as he passed them. He closed in on Deku and his friends, who'd all gone to help him up. It looked like that last blast had finally ripped his costume up, as he brushed himself off and examined his torn up hoodie. All four of them tensed as they realised what he was about to do, and Katsuki couldn't help but grin. This would finish them off for sure. It'd hurt him, but it would do much less damage to him than it would to them, so it was worth it. As he neared them and his spinning increased in speed, his explosions growing more powerful and hotter with every passing moment, Katsuki couldn't help but grin. He knew blood streamed down his face and his leg throbbed with pain that Katsuki had thought impossible before that night, but he didn't care. He could die after this attack and he wouldn't care, because he would've finally killed Deku and stopped his evil from poisoning the world. His work would be done.
Deku and his buddies leapt into action. Glasses was the fastest of the lot, even with his limp. He ran up and tried to kick him off of his course at the same time that Flabby leapt at him and reached out to try and touch him. Deku came sprinting up behind them, both hands covered, and jumped up and tried to meet him in the air. All three of them attempted to stop him, but Katsuki would not be stopped. The explosions around him acted as a kind of shield, and they pushed the three useless heroes away from Katsuki as he threw his own hands out, meeting the three with a grin on his face. The entire street was illuminated in a flash by his Quirk, and his hands detonated with a deafening sound. Katsuki's last sight before blacking out was a sheet of blue springing up between himself and Deku, who met his eyes in the last possible moment before the Howitzer Blast detonated and knocked him out on the spot.
Ochako came to consciousness lying face-down on the street. She pushed herself up onto her hands and her left buckled immediately. Sitting up, Ochako cradled her hand as she tried to flex it, but she yelped as a sharp pain shot through her hand at the attempt. It had been the hand she'd tried to touch Bakugo with at that last second, the part of her that had been closest to that crazy explosion, so that made sense. Ochako stood up and realised that she must have really blacked out, since the last she'd known, her Quirk had been active, and she hadn't dismissed it. It always released itself when she passed out. She looked around, and saw that she'd been flung quite a way down the street before that had happened — fifty metres at least. She contemplated using her Quirk to catch up to the others faster, but when she tried and threw up on the spot, she decided to do it the old fashioned way instead. Ochako jogged down the street, her entire body aching after all the fighting. It had to have been only ten or fifteen minutes since those monsters had appeared in the square, but it had felt like an eternity. She arrived back to ground zero and gasped as she took in the extent of the damage.
Not a single building was left untouched by Bakugo's huge explosion. The road was completely ruined, broken up and shattered like Izuku's Quirk had been used on it. The buildings were all torn up, windows shattered and walls blown inward. Street lights — the ones that were still standing — had been bent so badly that the bulbs, which had all been shattered, touched the ground. Chunks of ice lay about the street, embedded in walls and cars, from Todoroki's effort to stop the blast. Ochako thought, looking at how much destruction Bakugo's attack had done from behind the thick shield, that he'd probably saved all their lives with his last second save. If this was what happened due to a blast that was interrupted, what had Bakugo been trying to achieve? Ochako started trembling, and it wasn't because of the chilled air that had blanketed the area in the aftermath of Todoroki's ice wall getting blown apart.
Ochako spotted her friends and ran to them. Iida was the first one she saw. His arm was still limp, and it was bleeding even more heavily than before, just like his leg. His glasses had been obliterated in the explosion, and he looked dazed. Todoroki appeared when a pile of ice suddenly melted in a cloud of steam and he climbed out of the liquefied debris. He huffed and puffed, propping himself up with his left hand against some ice and pulling it away with a hiss of pain. His left arm was red and inflamed, and there were a few blisters on his hand. Todoroki looked down at these with a pensive expression, and didn't say a word. Ochako helped Iida to his feet, and they limped over to Todoroki, who greeted them with a blink of surprise and a few more huffing breaths. The three of them looked around and saw Izuku climbing out of the rubble, the closest of them to the epicentre of the blast.
Izuku's new metal gloves had been utterly destroyed. His costume was in tatters, blackened and covered in patches of frost. His hair was a mess, even more than it usually was, and covered in soot. A jagged patch of his face that started at the corner of his mouth and widened until it covered his whole left ear was red and raw, and blood soaked through his right sleeve. Ochako ran up to him and caught his attention, a lopsided smile brightening his whole expression.
"You're okay! Thank god," Izuku said, his voice strained.
"What about you?" Ochako asked. When he nodded slowly, she closed the distance between them and hugged him tightly. He couldn't return the hug, since his gloves had been destroyed, but she didn't care about that. Ochako just needed to feel that he was okay.
"We should probably see if any of these buildings have people in them. That blast could've hurt them," Izuku said, gently pulling himself out of the hug.
"I don't think any of us are gonna be able to do that," Ochako said. "We're all pretty beat up."
"Yeah. Breathing is hard right now," Izuku said with a laugh. "Are you really okay?"
"I think so. I can't really move my hand, but nothing else really hurts," Ochako said.
"That's good. Iida, Todoroki! Are you guys alright?" Izuku said, turning and beginning to walk toward the two other boys. Ochako followed after him.
"That burn! Todoroki, can you …?" Iida asked, startling at Izuku's injuries.
"Ice is bad for burns," Todoroki said as he stared at Izuku with his famous passive expression.
"It's fine," Izuku said, waving his hands to dismiss the issue. "We should focus on making sure that everyone in these buildings really evacuated."
"Izuku, slow down for just a second," Ochako said. "I think I speak for us all when I say that I'm barely standing. Let's just take a second to breathe."
Izuku looked at her for a moment, indecision evident on his face, but he sighed and allowed his entire body to relax. "Right. I'm sorry. I just feel like this is my fault."
"That's 'cause it is!"
Ochako flinched, and her hand shot pain all up her arm as she clenched it by mistake. She and the others looked over and saw a familiar head of blond hair rising from the smokey rubble. Katsuki Bakugo blew up the debris that had been covering him and stood atop it, resting most of his weight on his one foot while his bloody stump took the rest. Ochako's skin crawled as she processed that he was standing on his partially destroyed leg. How could he stand the pain? She was barely upright, having thrown up due to the nausea her Quirk gave her. If it was up to her, she would go and sit down and not stand back up for a very long time. How was Bakugo still standing? Izuku tensed next to her, and Iida and Todoroki shifted their footing so that they might continue fighting. Ochako found herself responding last and got herself into a position she could easily leap from. Her good hand hovered over her shoulder, ready to make her weightless, but she knew in the back of her mind that releasing her Quirk might prove difficult given the uselessness of her left hand.
"This is all your fault, Deku!" Bakugo roared, his voice hoarse and shaking. "Every bit of it! Tonight, your bitch mom, getting me kicked out of UA, all the deaths! All of it is because you can't help but destroy everything good about my life!" His eyes were completely red, as blood had rolled down into them. "I see it, but nobody else does. Nobody but them. They get it. They get me. They understand how I have to destroy you, because you've destroyed me. I'm the one who will enact justice. But I really do see it now. It isn't just you. You're evil, Deku, but they're just as bad as you are. You didn't make them do anything. They genuinely want to help you, which makes them every bit as evil as you are. The corruption doesn't just stem from you. They're all rotten! Everyone in that rotten class is scum and I'm the one who has to deal with them! Every hero you've met has been just like them, just as evil. Are all heroes evil? If all heroes are like you, then I don't want it anymore!"
Izuku started trembling like a leaf. Ochako looked over at him and saw that he was crying. What was that about? A tightness in her chest bubbled up, and Ochako found herself frowning. He didn't deserve to feel bad for that villain. She didn't know the exact details of everything Bakugo had ever done to Izuku, but she knew enough. It wasn't very polite, and it was the complete opposite of the ditzy airhead others often thought she was, but she hated Bakugo with all her heart after what Izuku had told her about him. He didn't get to say all this as if he were the victim and Izuku was the villain. But that's what he thought. Katsuki Bakugo truly thought he was in the right. It was an unshakeable belief that he held, and it couldn't be proven wrong — not because it was right, but because he refused to even consider that option for a moment. Ochako understood that, wanting to believe the way you think is the right way, but Bakugo had taken it too far a long time ago and had just kept upping his own ante ever since. She went to reply to his ranting and raving, but Bakugo just kept going whether he thought they were listening to him or not.
"I'll get my revenge on Deku, but you've all got something coming as well. You and every single hero who dares stand in my way!" Bakugo said. "And don't call me by that old name anymore. Cinder is who I am now, and it's what I'll make you! I'll burn every hypocrite hero to ash! It's only when I'm done that I'll rest! So come on! Come at me!"
Bakugo pushed himself into the air again with his explosions, soaring toward the four of them on the ground. Ochako's whole body wanted nothing more than to relax, but she kept herself on her feet and readied herself to dodge, only to upset her stomach with the sudden movement and dry heave. Around her, the others similarly attempted to prepare for more fighting but couldn't quite manage it — Todoroki tried to conjure a flame in his left hand but he hissed in pain when he couldn't, Iida slid into a runner's stance but his bleeding leg gave out and he fell to the ground, and Izuku refused to even raise his hands. Bakugo sped towards them, seemingly unopposed, but as he neared them, the air pressure dropped as the air between him and the heroes rippled. A black circle manifested, near-instantly growing to about three metres across. Ochako's heart skipped a beat as she realised it was the same warp gate as the ones the monsters from earlier had crawled out of, the same warp gate as the man from the USJ. How connected were Bakugo and the attack on Hosu?
For all the control with his Quirk that he'd shown earlier, Bakugo was not in a state to halt his momentum, and flew right into the warp gate, which promptly closed. Ochako held her breath, falling back on her bad habit, and waited for Bakugo to reappear. It seemed the others did, too, if their silence and stillness was any indication. After a whole minute waiting for a warp gate ambush, Ochako's whole body relaxed, though she managed to stay standing. She looked over at the boys, and asked the question that was written all over their faces.
"Can I pass out now?"
