Authors Note:

Kept you waiting, huh?

Chapter 5: Deku

Deku shook his head as he stood up from where he had been blasted backward. Times Square was in chaos and the 8 of them had been lucky enough to be blasted backwards into the store. Unlucky for them the store was on fire and it looked like he was the only one conscious right now. Wait… is that…? Deku watched as Kacchan stood up and started dusting himself off. Deku coughed out some of the dust that was in his lungs. They needed to get out of there before there was any damage from smoke inhalation.

"Kacchan, try to wake up the others. If not we need to start carrying them out ASAP," Deku said rushing over to Todoroki who woke up after a light bit of shaking.

"Wha…what's going on," Todoroki said dazed as he took in the burning building that they were trapped inside of.

"We're not entirely sure yet, but we need to get…" Deku said this before Kacchan interrupted him.

"Cheeks is up but the others won't wake up," Kacchan yelled across the room.

"Fine, then we'll need to carry them. Todoroki you grab Yaomomo," Deku was saying, taking stock of the situation. "Uraraka grab Jiro, Kacchan grab Asui and I'll get Kaminari." They all nodded and got to work grabbing their unconscious friends. They were about halfway to the back exit of the restaurant when the room started shaking and the roof started cracking above them. "Shit! We need to hurry!"

"NO SHIT YOU DAMNED NERD!" Kacchan yelled, throwing Asui over his shoulder and sprinting towards the exit. Deku, Todoroki, and Uraraka followed his lead and raced after him. They had just slammed through the back emergency exit when the roof had collapsed behind them causing them to fall forward from the force. Luckily it appeared that no one was majorly injured. Or that's what Deku thought until he put Kaminari down and took a proper look at him. Kaminari was still unconscious and he was bleeding profusely from the back of his head. He also appeared to have a piece of shrapnel wedged into his gut but luckily it was wedged in there tight enough that there wasn't any bleeding.

"Oh shit, shit, shit, SHIT!," Deku shouted trying to think of what to do.

"The fuck are you yelling abo… oh shit yeah that's bad," Kacchan said taking a step back after seeing Kaminari. The ruckus they had made managed to wake up Jiro and Yaomomo. Jiro looked over and saw Kaminari bleeding on the ground and rushed over.

"What the hell happened to him," she cried as she kneeled by his body.

"I…I think that when the explosion happened a piece of one of the cars flew and hit him in the gut," Deku said sitting over Kaminari.

"Yeah I get that but what the hell is going on here?" Jiro said, looking at Deku. "We saw some people eating each other and now the city is gone to shit and Kaminari might be fucking dying! How the hell did we end up here!"

"I… I'm not sure because…" Deku was interrupted by screaming and gunfire coming from the other side of the restaurant. "What the hell is happening?"

"I don't fucking know but I'm going to find Kirishima. Y'all are on your own," Kacchan said, standing up and limping off. Wait? Limping? When did he get hurt?

"Look Bakugo I know you want to find your friend," Yaomomo said standing up shakily. "But we don't know what's happening out there and it would be safer to stick together."
"Yeah like you want to hang out with Half & Half there," Kacchan said, pointing at Todoroki.

"While that is true it would be a bad idea to split up Bakugo," Yaomomo said, sticking to her guns. "Look I know you're not the most sociable person but we would stand a better chance together!"

"Yeah and then we'll all be like Kaminari. Dead or dying," Kacchan said, starting to turn around.

"Jemmingway isn't going to die dammit!" Jiro yelled, taking them all by surprise. Deku noticed that she was crying. "Cause if he does I'll fucking kill him."

"Listen I know things look grim but…" Yaomomo was saying before a door slammed open off to their left. The guy that walked through appeared to be drunk the way he limped. At least that is what Deku thought until the man looked up and Deku saw his face. The man's flesh was falling off and he looked like he was rotting. Deku had only ever seen something like it in movies. Holy shit does that mean he's a…

"Holy shit is that a zombie?!" Uraraka shouted. Everyone takes a step back as the zombie shambles forward. But then Kacchan grabbed a pipe off of the floor, rushed forward, and started smashing the zombie's head in. Even after the zombie's head was flattened Kacchan continued to smash the zombie's body with the pipe before he out of breath stepped back and reinforced his grip on his pipe.

"See this is why we need to stick together Bakugo, because things are starting to get dangerous and there is safety in numbers," Yaomomo said before Kacchan turned to her, cutting her off.

"No, this is exactly why I'm leaving. At the first sign of danger, you all froze. If I hadn't done anything y'all would've fucking died. Why the hell should I stay with you when all you guys are going to do is be dead fucking weight. If I stay with you I'm going to die and I don't plan on dying until after 80," Kacchan yelled at us impatiently. "So yeah I'm leaving you fucking extras. That way you can die on your own time." And with that Kacchan started walking down the alley away from us. Fine if Kacchan wanted to get himself killed, that was fine by Deku. Kacchan was right about one thing though. They had frozen. Without Kacchan acting as swiftly as he did they probably would've died. That needed to change. Deku couldn't stay defenseless like he currently was. He needed to take charge and stop freezing at the first sign of danger.

Yaomomo curses and says, "That idiot's gonna get himself killed."

"I'm gonna go convince him to come back," Asui said walking after him.

"Not to be a buzzkill Asui but once Kacchan makes up his mind there's no changing it," Deku said, sighing.

"Then you obviously don't know how persuasive I can be," she said before jogging out of sight after Kacchan. Deku shook his head. He knew it was a pointless venture. Instead, Deku went to look over Kaminari and see if there was anything he could do to stop Kaminari from dying. The piece of shrapnel is about 3 inches long and about an inch thick. Deku doesn't know how deep it is embedded into Kaminari and couldn't know without pulling it out which would only cause Kaminari to bleed out. So Deku instead rips off the bottom part of his jeans on his left leg. Deku then used it as a bandage and covered Kaminari's wound to prevent any more bleeding or dust from getting into the wound and causing an infection. After bandaging Kaminari up properly Deku sat down against the wall and took a second to collect himself and was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Uraraka sitting down next to him. Deku cocked an eyebrow at her, definitely surprised that she voluntarily sat down next to him. She didn't say anything and instead, she just raised her eyebrow back at Deku before cracking a small smile and looking away. This just confused Deku more but he decided to let it go and just enjoy some company. Deku took in their surroundings. They were in a trashy alley with a bunch of dumpsters. This is where the restaurant probably threw out their trash and got their deliveries. Momo was standing against one of the walls looking down the way, obviously looking for any sign of Asui and Bakugo. Todoroki was on the opposite side of Momo and he was rummaging through the alley for anything that could be used as a weapon. So far he had managed to scrounge up a bat, 2 metal pipes, a switchblade, and a thick wood plank. Jiro was sitting next to Kaminari making sure that he was still breathing and not so subtly messing with his hair. It was obvious that they liked each other, but Jiro always made fun of Kaminari and pushed him away despite the fact that it was obvious that she liked him. This didn't make sense to Deku or any of the other boys who were observant enough to notice her feelings. Why would you make things so complicated when it could be just as easy as a 'Hey I like you, do you want to go out with me?' Why did Jiro always seem to give Kaminari mixed signals? Hell, why did girls in general give mixed signals? It didn't make sense to Deku and when he had asked the other guys (namely Kaminari, Kacchan & Todoroki) about it they also didn't understand why girls always seemed to beat around the bush of their feelings. As far as Deku knew girls seemed to have a better understanding of their own emotions than guys did. As a dude himself, he knew that he could be as oblivious as a doorknob when it came to his own feelings as well as other people's. It was just a guy thing. Anyway tangent aside Deku was happy that Jiro was finally acknowledging her feelings toward Kaminari (even though it took him almost dying for it to happen). However, his happiness dropped significantly when Deku remembered that they were in the zombie apocalypse and Kaminari may never wake up, and even if he did he might be dead in days, hell maybe even hours. Shit any of them could die any minute now. Death felt more like a certainty than at any other time in his life. He again looked to his right at Uraraka and realized he should say something before it was too late. Ask her why she was always so mean to him and what he had done to be treated the he was. He needed to know and now that his death was basically guaranteed to happen sometime soon he needed to ask it ASAP.

"Hey Uraraka," Deku started taking a deep breath. "I…I… do you think that Asui will be able to convince Bakugo to come back?" Deku finished chickening out at the last minute. Uraraka took a deep breath before looking back at Deku.

"I honestly don't know," she said, messing with her hair absent-mindedly. "We probably know Bakugo the best, other than Kirishima of course, and I hate to say it but I agree with what you told Sui. Bakugo doesn't change his mind for anyone. However, Sui is one of the most honest and convincing people that I know, and despite what Bakugo says they have some form of bond. Bakugo respects her, that much I know. And so just maybe he'll listen to her. I don't know. The only way we'll know is if Sui comes back with Bakugo."

"You really do know Kacchan well," Deku says mostly to himself.

"Well yeah we hang out all of the time," Uraraka said chuckling. "If I didn't I would be a little concerned. Don't sell yourself short though Midoriya because you knew him first."

"Ha, all look where that left me," Deku said laughing bitterly. "Ignored by most of my peers and made fun of by the rest. Treated like crap because I'm different and the one girl I meet that I think I might finally be able to connect with and even become friends with, starts hating me out of nowhere and becomes great friends with my biggest bully who used to be my best friend. So yeah, sorry if I'm not super glad that I've known Kacchan my whole useless fucking life," Deku vents taking a deep breath before looking at Uraraka's shocked face. Deku then stands up and walks away leaving Uraraka sitting there. Deku didn't know why she was surprised. She had voluntarily helped Kacchan make his life hell and she was somehow surprised by his anger. Deku was always the type to give people more chances but her acting surprised by his words just pushed him over the edge. She was a bitchy, horribly, selfish fucking cunt. That was what Deku thought of Uraraka. Shit, he'd say it to her face if he cared about giving her the time of day anymore.

Deku was about to punch the nearest trash can when Momo exclaimed, "It's Sui and she's got Bakugo!" Damn, Deku thought, the crazy bitch actually did it.

AN: Sorry about the long wait. Surprisingly I found less time to write over winter break than while at school. Although to be fair I was working on writing my album (don't expect it to ever see the light of day though), as well as other fanfic ideas most of which were meh. Except for a Percy Jackson one that I came up with set in the wild west. I'm actually about to start writing a demo to see if I like it. Also for those of you who understood the reference in the first note y'all are legends. For those of you who don't its a reference to Metal Gear Solid as one of Snake's most famous quotes. This actually ties together because I've been thinking about writing a Metal Gear Solid fanfic with either MHA or PJO (Percy Jackson & the Olympians) but I can't decide which would work best. Of course rest assured that these project ideas won't interfere with the making of this fic as I don't plan on actually writing chapters or fully fleshing out the ideas until this fic is done because I know if I try to start too many projects at the same time most of them are gonna end up dead and forgotten. So for the time being I'm only doing preliminary brainstorming & drafting for the other ideas. Anyway I originally didn't know where I wanted to end this chapter and originally I was going to end it after Bakugo came back or when Bakugo left, so that we either got to see fully what Asui said to Bakugo (rest assured you'll see some of it) or what the next step for them was however I figured a semi-cliff hanger after a big pile of drama was the best way to end the chapter. Anyway see you hopefully next week but no promises.