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"I'm Hitomi Syito, with your action news report on this soon-to-be rainy Monday morning! With top-of-the-hour updates on weather, traffic, and everything you need to make today a day to remember!"
"And I'm Mai Takami, making sure my co-anchor stays on target when we interview the fast-rising top hero, the one and only copycat hero Phantom Thief, live in the studio." A bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young woman with perfect make-up and the chipperness some would find endearing babbled, her voice in a mock whisper as she eyed the camera."Hitomi is a known member of the Copy Hero's ever-growing fan club, The Kopy Kats!"
"Mai!"
The two women laughed, cheerful and sugary sweet. The live feed of the early morning city skyline looked as pristine as the fake smiles of the women reading the teleprompter in front of them.
"But before we get to that! It's the viral video everyone on the internet is talking about! Rising pro hero Ground Zero finds himself topping more than a few trending pages this Morning as a video of an arrest gone wrong goes viral."
"The video shows the young hero, better known to Musafu locals as Katsuki Bakugo, in a heated confrontation with a still unidentified criminal captured on video by office workers in a midtown office building."
"Those close to the scene hope the situation gets under control, but many more find the increasing violence of the audible explosions "Concerning."
"Looks like someone has the case of the Mondays!"
" Haha! You are awful today! They need to switch you to decaf, I swear! The hometown hero Backugo is expected to officially break into the top ten with the anticipated retirement of Endeavor later this week at the forty-seventh annual Hero Con at Might Plaza One this Thursday! This year, Hero Con is expected to break all attendance records with the rumored retirement of the legendary Flame hero, the veteran ending his fifth year holding the number one spot since the beginning of the Japanese reconstruction. The Flame of Justice was a constant symbol of stability during these uncertain times. While some of our younger viewers are excited about the lineup of the hottest up-and-comers, this weekend will be a somber affair for many."
"While many will fondly remember the thirty-year hero veteran, some will not look up to the flame hero fondly from the many allegations of child and spousal abuse that emerged last fall."
"While the exact reason for Endevour's retirement is unknown, many believe it to be political. The flame hero's adamant refusal to obey orders from several members of the prime minister cabinet to put down the ongoing college protests late last summer was just one of many public incidents during the five years Endeavor spent as the number 1 hero."
"Sources close to the situation claim it involves the impending execution date of the retiring hero's eldest son, the man previously known as his villain alias Dabi, Toya Todoroki. One of the three known members of the infamous league of villains known to be alive, Dabi was originally sentenced to life without the possibility of parole due to his connection with what many still call the field of fire, under the orders of the organizations' mastermind, All for One."
"Bad boys, am I right, ladies?"
"you're terrible!
"But before we get to that, ladies and gentlemen, here's Ken Matsohyto with the sports! Good Morning Ken-kun! Can you tell us about the Giants' come-from-behind victory against the Osaka Dragons 9-8 after three overtime innings!"
Izuku just wanted a quiet morning to fill out some god-damn paperwork. Was that too much to ask?
He wanted to get his shopping and meal prep in for the rest of the work week as early as he could, eat the equivalent weight of a small child worth of beef bowls for breakfast, and spend the hours between now and the early afternoon with the only sounds being made that of pencil on paper and the sounds of raindrops on his window sill.
That's how he wanted to spend his Monday morning. Instead, he had to spend it tackling his former middle school bully through the wall of his office and into the accounting department of the dry goods wholesale firm with which he shared the floor.
Loose expense sheets flew in the air, like half-burnt pieces of confetti after a violent riot erupting from a parade. Square grey-colored furniture was left broken and shattered, and holes large enough to drive a car through the walls created a road map from where Izuku and Bakugo had started to where they found themselves now, staring at one another like starved wolves bearing their teeth over the last pork cutlet.
He knew for a fact that more than a few members of their audience, scared-off office workers scurrying away like children with their hands caught in the cookie jar, were capturing this all on their phones. If not already, they'll be trending by the end of the day.
"You want to do this then?" Izuku said to himself, disbelief overtaking the anger and hurt that fueled his words. "the first time you've spoken to me in over six years, and you're going back to being the same asshole you were when we were kids?"
Katsuki said nothing. His face is unreadable, and the gauntlets of his hero uniform vibrate from the untapt energy building within Katsuki's coiled muscles.
What? Got nothing to say? Is curse words and yells all you can manage after so long?!" Izuku said aloud, louder and more forceful than with any other word he had spoken to his former classmate." You show up and pretend to have grown up in the six years since we saw each other, and then you decide after five fucking minutes to throw a tantrum!"
Izuku enjoyed seeing his former middle school bully flinch at his yell. The primitive part of his brain, the old factory parts of his grey matter not fully evolved from when his ancestors hunted wolly mammoths, taking pleasure at the realization that for the first time in their shared existence, Izuku was bigger than Katsuki.
"You know what's funny? I had been preparing to come home for weeks! Do you know how many hoops I had to jump through to do that? How much commission red tape did I have to go through systematically, and how many favors did I have to burn through to do it? To get a passport and a loan to open this agency. My agency, by the way..."
Izuku opened his wide arms and gestured to the overturned coffee table, spilled cups of coffee, and broken pieces of the one good set of coffee mugs littering the floor. The landlord was going to love that. If Izuku lost his insurance deposit because of all this, he would scream.
"in which you walk in on my day off like you fucking owned it! And decided, "Hey, I'm a fucking asshole who still hasn't gotten over how big of a dipshit I was in high school, and instead of going to therapy, and because I'm Katsuki fucking Bakugo, I decided to make it everyone else's problem and resort to violence at the drop of a fucking hat!"
"Shut your fucking mouth, Deku! You don't know a goddamn thing about what it was like! For five years, I wanted to make amends with you. I spent weeks looking for you! We all thought you were dead!" Katsuki said, vibrating with years of tense anger, looking for a release, his words coming out like a plead instead of a demand." We held a fucking funeral for you, only to find out months later that not only were you alive, but you ran and hid from us!"
"I had nothing left.."
"You had us! You had all of us, and if you had just let us..."
"Let you what? Let you back in my life so you could ruin it all over again? Do you think I wanted anything to do with UA? I should have just grinned and pretended I was fine, for your sake?!"
"Fuck no! You should have kicked us all to the curb before you stepped back into class! You should have told us all to our faces how fucked up we treated you and how much of a huge fucking mistake we made throwing you away like some cheap plastic toy! But you shouldnt have run away like a coward!"
"I'm a coward? Is the guy too afraid to look me in the eye and accept forgiveness, calling me a coward? Oh, this is just beautiful."
"Dont talk like you're some sort of big shot because you're not."
"Is this your master plan, by the way? Get me so pissed off at you that I just beat the crap out of you because you think you deserve it?
For a moment, Izuku was back to being four years old, excitedly walking to the corner shop with his friends to get the latest booster pack of hero trading cards. They argued and bickered over who was the best-colored ranger in the Hero Sentai TV show they had just finished watching. The explosive blonde was less of the terror he would become for Izuku and more the inspiration Izuku remembered him being for so long. For a second, all Izuku could see was a little boy sitting in the shallow bed of a dried-up river on the last day of their friendship all those years ago.
"I wanted to say I was sorry to you and that my life has been worse without you in it! I wanted to tell you how much I had changed! And I'm not the same garbage I was back then."
Izuku felt the hair on the back of his head stand up. The familiar faint smell of Katsukis nitro-powered sweat, like burning brown sugar and burnt hair and skin, filled his nostrils as Katsuki Bakugo, the man who was once standing before him, disappeared. The explosive murder god hero Ground Zero emerged.
"For five years, I wanted to stand in front of you and tell you how sorry I was for ruining your fucking life, AND YOU!"His voice roared back to life like the engine of an 18-wheeler on fire, the ghost of the scared little boy ripped away as the rage of the self-proclaimed king of exploding murder now fully in control." YOU HAD TO GO AND RUIN IT TRYING TO BE THE BIGGER MAN LIKE THE SHOW OFF YOU ALWAYS FUCKING WERE!"
"You don't get to blow up my life and then criticize me for moving on in a way that doesn't give you the closure you think you deserve!"
"I don't deserve shit! But you didn't have to be such a bigger fucking person for no goddamn reason!"
"I don't know what you want me to say, bakugo!"
"I don't want you to say shit! I want you to put your fucking hands up and hate me like a fucking man!"
Oh, he needs a fucking exorcist.
There was at least one positive aspect to all this noise. Everyone in the building could hear, meaning anyone with a brain cell to rub together would stay as far away from the two conflicting heroes as much as possible. The sound of stillness filled the hallways of the office building, almost numb to Izuku's still-ringing ears.
There was a negative side to that fact, though. Everyone could hear the two of them, so keeping this little spat between the two of them was going to get complicated.
"You're insane! You know that, right? You need professional help!" Izuku responded to the fact that two grown men, professional heroes whose job it was to protect society and its citizens from criminals and supervillains, were having the same stupid argument they'd been having since the two of them were four fucking years old.
It would have been funny if it wasn't so pathetic.
"If this is how you want to do this, then we have a set of ground rules," Izuku spoke, his voice unwavering in the face of the promised violence. He wanted to do this logically and quietly. He wanted to be the bigger man, sure. Still, it wasn't because he thought he was better than Katsuki, but because, as heroes, they needed to put aside their issues to work on keeping people safe.
He wanted this to go smoothly. Izuku wanted this to be a chapter in his life he didn't want to think about anymore. When all was said and done, failing upwards would be the title of his upcoming autobiography. It seemed only fair that this would blow up in his face.
"First off." He raised his left hand, raising his pointer finger as he did so." No quirks."
If Izuku loses his security deposit over Katsuki Bakugo, he might kill his former friend.
"Like, I need a quirk to kick the shit out of you, nerd."
"If you keep telling yourself, you might believe it," Izuku said as he raised his hands to his head, his scarred fingers running through his green curls and tying them into a tighter bun." second, we go until someone essay uncle. Not stop, not I give up, but Uncle, just like when we were in the sandbox."
"I knew you never got over that. What's wrong, Deku? You're going to cry again over some sand in your eyes."
"I swear to any god who might be listening, I'm going to leave you in a puddle of your blood. "This was less like a treat and more like he was describing the weather outside: grey skies swelling with the rain of an approaching storm." And I'm going to be smiling when I do it."
"Try it pussy."
"But number three, and this is the most important one, so I need you to open your ears and listen for a change because when I'm done kicking the shit out of you. You're gonna leave me the hell alone."Izuku practically shouted, his booming voice seemingly shaking the rafters."You're not going to talk to me. You're not gonna look at me. You're not even going to speak passively aggressively bout me behind my back like you used to. Do you understand?"
Izuku watched emotion flicker behind Katsukis' eyes, his body tensing like a coiled spring under tremendous pressure, the unspoken clock counting down to the approaching explosion, like a tiger gnawing on the bars of its cage.
"After this? We're dead to each other."
There it was. The emotional foundation of the relationship with Katsuki going from a genuine friendship of two like-minded kids wanting to be heroes, metamorphosing into an aggressive, overly competitive, one-sided competition into and is now barely hanging on a scrap of a friendship filled with more unplaced anger, regret for the past and the type of depression that makes ones life feeling cheap and meaningless.
This was not healthy.
"After this, we're done. You hear me?" There was a finality in those words, like turning a page and reading the last chapter of a book. Or when the one comic artist still making good stuff gets dropped from the monthly after sleeping with one too many of his editor's college-aged daughters. Why was he fighting Bakugo again? How yeah, the deep-rooted insecurities and an ego that could sink the Titanic if it was ever cold enough.
"Done"
For a second, Katsuki looked like he was going to say something. He looked less like the pro hero with more arrests in his first year on the streets than any rookie hero before him and more like the four-year-old who used to cry when his mom scolded him whenever he tried to sneak an extra cookie from the cookie jar.
No words were utter, however, but the moment Izuku felt the familiar taste of blood on his lips, he knew that the time for talk was over.
Current online users in UA Hell Class: AlienQueen, Now You See Me, Spark Plug, Tsu, SPARKLING!, heads or me? , You Get a Car, Jacks, The Darkness of a Moonlit Night, I Sawed This Boat in Half!, Koda, Willy Wonka, Chathulu, *Current offline * Todoroki, Juicy Fruit, Ida, EXPLOSIONMURDER Kirby, Manly
Now you see me: I know we decided to table this for another day.
Now you see me, but I couldn't sleep last night!
Now you see me: I'm freaking out! I barely slept last night!
Willy Wonka: Same with me. I'm on my third cup of coffee this Morning.
Alien Queen: I tried calling Tenya but didn't get an answer. Does anyone have sight of him?
I sawed this boat in half!: "He hasn't responded to my texts since he ghosted us at the hospital.
Jacks: I'm sure he's okay. He has a lot on his mind between this and the baby.
Willy Wonka: Holy shit, I forgot all about that
Jacks: Has anyone told Mei?
Koda: I'm sure Tenya would have told her.
Jacks: It would be good to make sure, though...
Alien Queen: We should text her just in case.
Tsu: Mei has a checkup today. No need to stress her out
Heads or me: I'm sure that's where tenya is also.
Now you see me: Did you get a hold of Ochacko?
Tsu: I called her last night.
Tsu: She's been out of the country for work this past week. She'll be landing home in a few hours.
Tsu: She mentioned wanting to keep her next few moves close to her chest so that updates may be few and far between
The darkness of a moonless night: We understand.
We can't imagine what she's going through right now.
Jacks: ...
Alien Queen: How was she? She hasn't answered any of my texts. I was getting worried.
Tsu: It was rough, but Ochako is one of the strongest people I know.
Tsu: We will have to wait and see
Jacks: Hey, Momo, are you up? Have you learned anything new from Shoto?
I sawed this boat in half!: "His dad is the number one hero, right? He has to be able to do something.
Jacks: Momo
You get a car: I'm sorry. My phone died last night, and I haven't had the time to charge it.
You get a car: Shoto came home late last night drunk.
Willy Wonka: I didn't even know he drank.
You get a car: He doesn't. He and his father met up with Midoriya last night.
I sawed this boat in half!: What!?
Sparkplug: Excuse me!?
Sparkplug: Did you guys bite my head off when I said we should march to Izuku's office and speak with him?
Sparkplug: and 24 hours later, you do this shit?
Heads or me? When did he decide that?
You get a car: His father decided for him.
You get a car: The commission has officially refused to pardon Midoriya for the break-out from Tartarus. Endeavor offered to help, but...
Alien Queen: They're doing what?
Koda: They can't do this!
You get a car: Izuku refused Endeavor's offer of assistance
You get a car:...He wanted to stand on his own
Tsu: Alone?
You get a car: Hence, my boyfriend's current state.
You get a car: He...
Now you see me:...Momo?
You get a car:shoto did not take it well
Chathulu:...Did he say anything about Midoriya?
Alien Queen: How did he look? How did he seem? Was he eating enough? Did he say anything?
You get a car: Not much...
You get a car: I don't think Shota wants to talk about it now.
Jacks:...
Jacks: Guys...
Jacks: We need to talk seriously about this.
Jacks: Maybe trying to speak to Izuku isn't the best idea right now
Chathulu: "You can be serious?!
I sawed this boat in half: What the hell, Jiro!"
Jacks: IT MIGHT BE TOO MUCH, IS ALL I SAYING!
Jacks: Things are still so emotional right now; if we rush into speaking to him, we might say or do something we might regret.
Jacks: we get defensive just a little bit too much,
Jacks: We push a little too much too soon, and our only chance of making things better will be ruined.
Jacks: I can't lose that chance
Willy Wonka: I...
Chathulu:...
Spark plug:...
Now you see me:...
Tsu:...
You get a car: Jiro might be right
Now you see me: Momo!
You get a car: Izuku...
You get a car: Midoriya may not want to see us after all this
I sawed this boat in half: Is that what Shoto said
You get a car: Not in so many words...but you didn't see his eyes
You get a car: I haven't seen his eyes like that since his brothers' trial
Sparkplug: oh shit
Spark plug: why the hell is Bakugo trending?
Sparkplug: did he punch another reporter?
Jiro: What are you talking about now?
I sawed this boat in half! Ground Zero is apparently trending on social media due to a street fight at a downtown office building.
Spark Plug: Who was the unfortunate traffic stop that made bakugo snap
You get a car: This isn't funny
The darkness of a moonless night: Bakugos inner darkness is ruling him
The darkness of a moonless night: he must not allow his basest impulse to control him in such a way
Koda: Yeah...
Willy Wonka: I get where he's coming from, but...
Tsu: This isn't the time, especially when he's on duty.
Tsu: You had better not be making this up.
Alien Queen: Kiri told me that Katsuki got placed on desk duty for the next month.
Alien Queen: He shouldn't even be on the streets
Chathulu: Whose he even fighting?
Chathulu: Not many villains in this city are dumb enough to try and take Katsuki one-on-one.
Spark plug: Oh shit, someone posted a cell phone video
*posts video*
Alien Queen:..Midori?
Whenever it came down to it, Izuku was sure he would get in big trouble for what he was doing. He was also pretty sure that at this moment, despite the bubbling sense of dread growing in the pit of his stomach and the little voice that sounded so much like how he remembered his mother sounding whenever she was worried over whatever stupidly dangerous catastrophe he was in the middle of that moment, telling Izuku he was going to end up regretting this by the end of the day, Izuku couldn't bring himself to care.
Izuku didn't care about the consequences, he didn't care about the aftermath, and he certainly didn't care about how this event would push him even further down on the commissions shit list, despite the fact he was pretty sure beyond Hawks, where ever he may be or whatever surviving members of the league of villains were left, he was already at the very bottom of that particularly illustrious list.
Because the only thing that mattered to Izuku Midoriya at this particular moment was breaking every single one of the teeth in Katsuki Bakugos' stupid fucking mouth.
"What's wrong, ground Zero?" Izuku said mockingly, looking down on the form of his childhood friend as the blonde tried to pick himself up to his feet." Did I hit you too hard?"
He stared at the prostrate form of his former childhood friend turned tormentor turned whatever the hell they were now, taking more satisfaction in seeing the busted lip and blood trickling down the nose than he would like to admit. There was the dumb part in his brain, however small, that took satisfaction seeing Bakugo like this on his back and staring up at Izuku, almost to the point of hearing himself as a four-year-old marveling at just how much stronger the former victim of bullying had become.
Izuku was man enough to admit the glare Bakugo leveled him made him feel like a kid on Christmas morning or one of the few times he celebrated his birthday. To see the guy who had been his tormentor for most of his childhood, the same guy who had thrown Izuku's attempts at forgiveness and being an adult right back at him, and decided it was the best time to try and reenact one of their childhood scrapes.
A part of Izuku wondered if Katsuki was starting to regret starting whatever pissing contest this meeting had become. But that part was insignificant compared to the part of Izuku, who found the prospect of beating the explosive blond to a pulp far more enjoyable than the "smile and swallow the pain" route he had been prepared to take this particular interpersonal relationship.
"You think a growth spurt is going to impress me?" The blonde said as he stood back onto his still unsteady feet. He spits out a red glob of spit out of his mouth, the scowl that had been a trademark for the explosion user's face returning in full force as Bakugo stared at him." It doesn't matter how many muscles you get; you're still that same nerd from when we were kids."
Izuku cracked his neck, feeling an immeasurable sense of relief fill his body. He stared at the man in front of him, a sense of calmness overtaking him as he saw red eyes staring back at him.
"Well, this nerd will beat the brakes off of you." Izuku said, stepping forward as he raised his hands into an orthodox boxing stance, rolling his shoulders as he did so." And there's nothing you can do to stop it."
Katsuki pressed forward, his legs coiling like a spring as he, for lack of a better word, exploded into motion. The number 15 hero cut the distance between the two men in less time than it took to blink, an overhand right already raised as Bakugo stepped into range.
But it wasn't the punch Izuku was worried about. Katsuki fainted at the last moment, driving his fist downward to the ground to act as a counterweight to keep his body upright. With every ounce of momentum from his original charge, he torqued his hips to deliver a reverse crescent kick to the top of Izuku's head.
It was like a rolling thunder kicks straight from hell, the type of attack that needed equal parts precision and unwavering confidence in one's ability to pull off and not fall flat on one's back. Even without using his quirk, it was the type of attack that left whatever unfortunate opponent hit it unconscious before their body hit the ground.
It was a shame it wouldn't work this time; it was just a bloody shame.
Bakugo had used this move before, a video clip of the flashy finishing move going viral for a couple of days on social media a year previously after he used the same move on a terrorist who had taken a Tokyo subway car hostage. Izuku must have seen that video a hundred times before he got the timing down. He must have watched it a hundred times more after that to ensure he was confident in what he had to do to nullify it.
Izuku raised his forearm, blocking the heel of Ground Zero's sole from connecting with the top of his head, before using his free hand to grab at the exposed thigh of the man who had given his back to his opponent in the gambit of winning the fight quickly.
Izuku gripped the shorter man's back with the hand he used to block the kick before he shifted his hips, hoisting Bakugo's hands off the ground as he broke the explosion user's handstand. With a grunt of effort, Izuku lifted his attacker off the ground, slamming him face-first onto the floor. Bakugo's body crashed into and shattered the wooden coffee table in the center of the room.
"Are you done yet?" Izuku shot back, already thinking about how he now needed to go shopping to replace the destroyed furniture in his office space." I don't have time to do this all..."
Izuku was cut off before he could finish, the tall popping of Katsuki's quirk filling his ears before Katsuki propelled himself forward like a bullet. A solid right hook connected to the side of Izuku's head, so hard and so fast that Izuku almost didn't see the left cross that followed it.
Almost.
Izuku ducked low, bending his knees slightly and shifting his stance from a more traditional orthodox boxing stance to one that favored his left. He stepped back, using his opponent's aggression to his advantage; when he saw an opening, Izuku threw a flicker jab, the knuckles of his left hand connecting to Bakugo's jaw.
The blow would have been enough to finish the fight if it was against a lesser man or hero, but despite all the terrible words that can be used to describe Mitsuki Bakugos's baby boy, having a glass jaw was not one of them. The blow didn't stagger Bakugo; however, the explosion user has long since become accustomed to the fighting philosophy of "Take a hit to get a hit" as he pressed forward with a flurry of lefts and rights. A glancing right clipped Izuku's cheek as he backed up, dodging hooks, jabs, and crosses in increasing speed and more complex combinations.
Slowly but surely, Izuku felt himself being pushed back. The wall of fists slowly overcame Izuku's fast lateral movements and counter-strikes through sheer grit and reckless abandon.
"Come on, you fucking nerd!" Bakugo shouted, ducking and weaving through Izuku's defenses, the glancing blows beginning to pile up as Izuku felt the sweat grow on his brow as his breath grew heavier." where's all that shit talk!?"
Like an experienced prize fighter, Katsuki angled his opponent and moved Izuku into a corner, cutting his backward movement off and slicing him into ribbons with overwhelming output.
Izuku grabbed Katsuki's left arm, striking with an elbow at the joint where the forearm met the rest of the arm. He then twisted his back into his opponent's body to deliver another elbow, the attack glancing the top of Katsuki's spiky hair and slicing open his forehead.
GroundZero, however, was ready for it, wrapping his arms around Izuku's waist and hurling him backward into a German Supplex, throwing two hundred and thirty-five pounds of Izuku's body weight onto the floor with a thud. But like a Pitbull with a bone, Bakugo did not let go, hoisting the green-haired man back to his feet and delivering another crushing Suplex. He would have performed a third if Izuku hadn't blocked it, hooking his leg against Bakugos as Izuku was lifted for a third Suplex.
Izuku threw his head back, headbutting Bakugo with enough force to daze the pro hero before he used his superior size and physical strength to push Bakugo backward, slamming the explosion user against the wall with enough force to crack and dent the barrier. But Bakugo would not let go of Izuku, gripping tighter as he tried in vain to take a step forward before he was once again forced back into the wall, the cracks cob-webbing broader and wider as the Katsuki-shaped hole became more and more pronounced.
A third crash, one with enough force to send both men spiraling through the wall of Izuku's office, broke the two men's landing. Pieces of drywall the size of Izuku's fist, broken two by fours splintered in their wake, and shards of shattered tiles piled on the floor broke the two men's landing. The telltale smell of bleach filled Izuku's nose as he stood back up, realizing they had somehow managed to land in one of the building's restrooms.
Hopefully, the men's room was the only thought that entered Izuku's mind before he was forced to dodge a fresh flurry of strikes from his rejuvenated opponent. A left hook and a right cross morphed into uppercuts and haymakers, and a spinning elbow was thrown out of nowhere after Izuku had barely managed after misjudging the distance and speed of Katsuki's cross. All the while, Katsuki kept moving forward, trying to corral Izuku into one of the room's corners where escape was impossible.
Katsuki Bakugo was a pressure fighter who used their natural toughness and well-trained stamina to overwhelm his opponents. Katsuki didn't throw each attack with a hundred percent of his power. Still, he didn't stop throwing until his opponent was nothing more than a pile of bruised meat and broken bones, begging for forgiveness through broken teeth.
Even the strongest villains with the toughest quirks were beaten down by the unrelenting onslaught of the famed King Explosion murder of the hell class of UA.
Unfortunately for Katsuki, however, Izuku Midoriya did not break under pressure.
Izuku weathered the storm of Katsuki's blows, slipping each punch with dexterity until he saw the prime moment to strike, seeing Katsuki slightly unbalanced after he over-committed to a looping left hook. Izuku fainted with an uppercut, causing Katsuki to duck to avoid it before Izuku stepped back and jumped forward, his knee driving into the side of Bakugos head with enough force to knock down a brick wall.
It sounded like someone hit a buffalo with a baseball bat.
Left stunned and gasping for breath, Katsuki could do nothing to stop Izuku, the more prominent man by at least twenty pounds, from grabbing at him, his longer arms gripping Katsuki in a half-nelson around the explosion user's neck and left arm and hoisting him into the air, slamming him into and through one of the many stalls of the bathroom. The force of the blow was enough to take the stall wall off its hinges, pieces of broken tile embedding themselves into Katsuki's arm and cutting his skin as he was hoisted back onto his feet before Izuku delivered a solid right punch to his gut again and again, so hard and so fast that Katsuki's feet momentarily left the ground before he was once again thrown against the opposite side of the bathroom by his collar.
Katsuki landed with a thud, his body shattering the full-sized mirror that seemed to stretch the entire room length. A spiderweb of cracks covered what was left of the mirror, which did not implode into jagged pieces of glass like dozens of knives from the blow.
"Is this little tantrum of yours over Bakugo?"Izuku growled, his hands balled into fists as he stalked closer to the still dazed form of his former childhood friend as Katsuki tried to stand back up on his own two feet." or are we done here..."
In retrospect, Izuku should not have been surprised. Still, at that moment, he didn't know just how far Katsuki had been willing to go in this little pissing contest he had started. So, when Katsuki ripped the bathroom sink out of the wall, the broken plumbing flooding the room as he slammed the hunk of porcelain into the side of Izuku's head, Izuku couldn't help but feel surprise overtake whatever pain his body felt.
The respite was only for a moment, as Katsuki landed another savage blow against the side of Izuku's head, the porcelain club shattering on impact as Izuku's vision blurred and the metallic taste of copper filled his mouth. Less than a second ago, Bakugo had been on his last legs, coughing up broken teeth and huffing like a broken-down steam engine, and now he was a hammerhead shark who smelled blood.
Izuku couldn't catch his breath, however, feeling the sensation of his feet leaving the ground as Katsuki gored his shoulder into Izukus's stomach, slamming the taller man onto the now puddle-soaked tile ground of the destroyed bathroom with enough force to break ribs as well as whatever lingering plumbing pipe remained standing. The explosion user mounted up, his back rigid straight as he lorded over Izukus's body, hands raised as a flurry of punches descended onto Izukus's face and head with the reckless abandon of a madman.
For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the echos of fist and bone against meat and flesh, the grunts of exertion from each blow from their thrower, and the grunts of pain from their recipient.
The sound of his nose being broken woke Izuku out of his daze. A wave of nostalgia hit Izuku harder than any of Katsuki's blows, transporting the grown men in the mists of the brawl into the boys they once were. The similarities between their childhood dramas made Izuku want to laugh despite the situation.
Oh yeah...wasn't he supposed to be in a fight right now?
Izuku grabbed Bakugos raised fist and pulled him in tight against his chest, zapping the momentum bakugo needed to do any more real damage before the two twisted and rolled over one another, blood and water drenching their clothing as they wrestled less like the experienced hand to hand combatants and martial artists they were and more like a couple of schoolboys fighting over a holographic trading card in the schoolyard.
Katsuki bit and fought, kicked and headbutted, and put every ounce of his weight into every blow he could potentially land with the reckless abandon of a wolverine trying to draw as much blood out of its opponent as possible. Izuku felt Bakugo take his back, the bounds bicep pressed across Izukus's neck as he tried to use his position against the bathroom wall as leverage, cranking his arm into a rear naked choke.
With a grunt of effort, Izuku sat up, plucking bakugo off the ground. The explosion user kept his vice-like grip on Izuku's neck in place before he was thrown backward, crashing into whatever remained of the tiled wall of the destroyed restroom, finally giving, sending the two heroes tumbling through.
The hallway was devoid of life; anyone still in the building had long since gone when Katsuki had set off the building's fire alarm and sprinkler system when he had tried to powerbomb Izuku through the fourth floor into the third.
Izuku pushed backward more. The sounds of Katsuki's grunts of pain and the shattering of a window highlighted the action as Katsuki continued to lean backward, using his weight to sink the choke in further or to pull Izuku out of the window alongside him and crash them both three stories into the busy city street below them.
Either Izuku broke his neck through the fall, or Bakugo ripped it off before he fell to his death, more out of spite at this point than any desire to walk away from this whole ordeal in one piece.
But Izuku refused to give him the satisfaction.
Bucking his hips off to the side, throwing Katsukis' weight off his back, and propelling the explosion user forward, the movement dislodging Bakugo off Izuku as the greenest bear paw of a hand shot forward tight against the pro hero's neck like a python attacking its weekly meal. Izuku's green met Katsuki's red, the explosive quirk user snarling like a rabid dog as he stared at Izuku.
Izuku gripped tighter, savoring the feel of his former tormentor's neck against his fingers and the pained gasp that left the blonde's lips; his teeth clenched as he stared defiantly up at the vast man staging with the weight of a draft horse standing on his throat.
With his left gripping the man under him like a vice, Izuku brought down his right, with nothing but bad intentions bouncing around his head. A part of Izuku hated the dull numbness that filled his hands, but the red in Katsukis' eyes staring back up at him spurred him forward.
Another punch landed, and for a moment, the hatred in Katsuki's eyes was replaced with the dazed confusion of an approaching concussion, a faraway look in his eye focusing on something a hundred miles away. The third blow struck with the blow of a sledgehammer, knocking the haze out of Katsukis head and into the blood lust he was known for as blood began to trickle down from his broken nose and busted lips.
For a brief moment, Izuku thought of tightening his grip and driving another baseball glove-sized fist down the throat of his former friend, turned bully turned friend turned whatever the hell they were now, and keep doing it until whatever spite that made Katsuki Bakugo into the aggressive asshole he was beaten out of him like freshly pressed pomegranate juice.
But Izuku stayed in his hand, a voice he had almost forgotten telling him to stop as he slowly regained control of his emotions. The fire in his lungs and the rage in his eyes left his body feeling hollowed out as his adrenaline left his body.
Was this what he should be doing right now? Beating on a fellow hero and destroying his office and everything he worked for because Katsuki Bakugo said some mean things to him?
He saw the future consequences of his actions flash before his eyes; the commission didn't take matters of their heroes publicly, brawling first thing in the Morning lying down. Everything he had worked for flushed right down the toilet because he couldn't grin and bear it through another one of Katsuki Bakugo being the same little dipshit he always was.
How was this supposed to end? Would Izuku beat Katsuki into a pulp? Be charged with assault on a future top hero and have the commission come down on him with all the weight and velocity of a pack of wolves tearing apart an unsuspecting lamb. His career would be over, and his life would thrown back into the turmoil he had barely survived from all those years ago.
Was he still that stupid kid he was back then? Had he not learned a single thing these five years?
Izuku had scraped by for half a decade, living out of a worn-out knapsack with a toothbrush he should have replaced long before he could afford a new one. He did the type of jobs everyday heroes didn't want to do.
Underground and undercover, using fake names and made-up backstories for aliases like an actor whose audience wanted nothing more than to tear out his beating heart and eat it before they killed him.
Jobs that didn't get reported in the paper and didn't go viral on social media, underground and undercover jobs where death hung around every corner, and a potential slip-up was the only thing between Izuku getting a bullet to the back of his head for his trouble. Dismantling prison gangs and drug operations, putting cold cases to rest, and bringing human trafficking victims home all relied on Izuku's ability to keep his head on his shoulders.
But these past five years had eroded Izuku's patience, turning him into the type of man he didn't want to be. The kind of man who lashed out in violence had the slightest provocation, always looking for an excuse to plant his fist into someone's jaw.
He needed to calm down, and he needed to do it quickly. Acting like an angry man-child was a luxury afforded to those not on the Razer edge of failure.
Izuku felt his hands relax and his fingers go limp, the iron coils of his muscle loosening as his heart rate slowly grew still. He sucked in a breath, the adrenaline-fueled air steaming against his hot lungs like a hot rod engine melting falling snowflakes.
"Listen to me, Bakugo..."
But the moment of pause was all it took for the situation to get far worse than it already was.
Izuku felt the familiar sensation of burnt flesh and ringing ears, a blow like a crowbar to his chest, throwing him out of the room and crashing against the freshly made Midoriya-sized hole leading into the hallway.
Izuku could feel a fist-sized explosion scar forming on his already marred skin, like a physical reminder of a childhood ghost he thought he had put to bed years before.
His ears were ringing, and the remaining tatters of his clothing streaked with burn marks and blood from the broken glass and splintered wood he played on, feeling like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Izuku pushed the fractured piece of drywall and lumber off him with an almost lazy nonchalance of a man who had grown too accustomed to the sensation of being exploded.
Izuku could not remember the last time someone had shot him with a shotgun.
A stray 9-millimeter bullet in his shoulder or the graze of Uzi fire against his stomach? Sure, but a shotgun blast to the gut? Those were the types of injuries you only saw on a corpse. Izuku had to remember to thank the person who decided to shoot him with what seemed to be buckshot instead of the sawed-off 8-gages he took to his left kneecap during the raid of the Cambodian mafia safehouse when he was moonlighting with the southeast Asian hero group the sun dragons.
At least with buckshot in his stomach, he might still be able to walk the following day, if only barely.
Thoughts seemed to drift out of Izukus head, pooling to the floor as Izuku tried to sit up, his lungs filling with the blood that he wasn't currently lying in on the floor beneath him, muzzles of black iron pointing at him from every angle.
"This is the Musutafu police!" a voice shouted from a megaphone he couldn't see, the familiar sound of guns clicking and the scent of gunpowder filling the room, the forms of dozens of uniformed city police decked out in riot gear brandishing the type of weapons that those who wished to "Protect and serve" should not use."Put your hands up, or we will open fire!"
They should say that before they start shooting.
But before Izuku could sit back up, the groan on his lips barely leaving with his sharp exhale of a breath he didn't know he was holding, he felt a weight crash into him.
And then another, and another, the familiar wait of police officers forcing his hands behind him to subdue him, making Isuzu Midoriya forget all about the searing pain of buckshot as he shot back to his feet. He fought the men off him with the practiced motion of someone who had fought many people at once in close quarters, moving like a snake and coiling around attempted grapples and grabs.
"Get him down! A voice shouted, riot gear-clad police diving for him, legs meeting a knee strike to his nose. In contrast, another tried to force his arm behind his back with the help of two others with handcuffs in their hands.
It wasn't the first time the police had swarmed him, handcuffs clasped against his plumes and three men torquing each arm into place. Police officers, prison guards, and SWAT members didn't matter their uniform; their tactics were all the same.
Izuku could knock the officer in front of him unconscious with a head, but before hip tossing, the other tried to force him into the ground. He had fought numbers significantly worse in his favor than the armored squad trying to arrest him before and made it out, while worse for ware, alive.
But what would that accomplish?
Izuku let himself be manhandled, his face forced into the ground with the weight of half a dozen armored men holding his limbs. He knew this route better than most, knowing full well that any excuse to escalate this would be taken without a second thought. People had died far less, and if he had just...
I said stop resisting!"
A crack filled Izuku's ears, like a tree branch snapping and the wet thud of a thick cut of meat hitting the floor. A baton or the but of a rifle, it didn't matter what it was; it was only the first of what would be many. Izuku forgot the number one rule of state violence; when the opportunity of justified violence wasn't allowed, one would be created.
That was when the beating started. No one wanted to be the one to throw the first blow, but everyone wanted to be the second, like sharks smelling blood.
Those with rifles and shotguns swung recklessly, while those with buttons and nightsticks almost formed a rhythm with each passing blow they connected on Izukus' prone form. But most kicked him with their steel-toed boots like he was nothing more than a bug to be stomped on.
Izuku vaguely knew Katsuki was fighting to get to him, the sounds of explosions ripping through a line of police who thought the number 15 hero would be on their side.
"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF OF HIM!" was heard over the symphony of violence. Still, Izuku paid them little attention, and the blackness of unconsciousness came forth. Izuku closed his eyes, a deep breath filling his for a moment. Time stilled, and he wasn't lying on his back with a dozen or so men kicking him while he was down.
Do it nine...
For the first time in nearly five years, Izuku felt the burning sensation of thunder and lightning fill his muscles, the dormant supernova inside his heart burning to life with the explosive power to burn cities to the ground. A scent of burning ozone filled his nose as the air around him seemed to fizzle and burn, and the words around him seemed to catch fire.
And Izuku chose to make it everyone else problem.
"Good afternoon, I'm Sasuke Nara, and this is an emergency braking news bulletin. The body of a former professional hero, Death Arms, was found dead this Morning in the remains of a recently condemned middle school in the Musutafu area...
*BUZZ*
"...thirteen officers were rushed to a local hospital after an altercation with a suspect in a brutal murder this Morning. Doctors claim their conditions were critical but stable..."
*BUZZ*
"A massive explosion rocks downtown Musutafu, leaving citizens wondering about the possibility of a resurgence of supervillains. The HSPC is issuing a joint statement today..."
*BUZZ*
"Doctors at Mushufu General Hospital declare the first dead in what authorities are declaring the worst villain attack in five years..."
*BUZZ*
"...Authorities claim the suspect is currently on the run after evading arrest from local authorities and number 15 pro hero ground zero this Morning..."
*BUZZ*
"The death of a police officer in the line of duty is a tragedy..."
*BUZZ*
"...possible serial killer..."
*BUZZ*
"Memorials are flooding in for the recently murdered former hero death arms, news of the hero's sudden murder sending shockwaves right before the hero commissions annual rankings..."
*BUZZ*
"...Izuku Midoriya is wanted for questioning regarding the crime as well as his whereabouts at the time of the murder..."
*BUZZ*
"Both the Police and hero commission conder the man to be armed and extremely dangerous and recommends civilians to keep a wide birth of man and remain indoors...
*BUZZ*
It didn't matter what channel was on. It was all the same thing.
Nezu hated the 24-hour-a-day news cycle with a burning passion before we woke up this morning, every station pumping out the same watered-down opinion pieces and manufactured outrage funded by billion-dollar corporations spoken by millionaires to convince middle-class people that their problems were not the ultra-rich of the world that was the problem but the poorest and most vulnerable among them that were.
Nedzu always distrusted the government and every part of the machine that tried to drive society back into the bleak and dark times of the past, where creatures like him were pocked and prodded while living in a cage. Where mutants could not vote, and when those with quirks society saw as dangerous and malformed were forced to hide in the shadows, their identities a death sentence from the mobs of those who hated them.
But this right here? This was going to make him sick.
He thought they had moved past this five years ago when the truth of society's crimes was laid bare for the world to see. All Might and his death of All for One exposed the government's mismanagement and corruption on a global scale.
But fear and instability always seemed to have a way of squirming back into the spotlight, using the worst instincts of good people to justify their horrible acts.
*BUZZ*
"Deku didn't do shit! He's innocent of everything you fuckers are accusing him of!"
"What about reports that he put over a dozen armored police officers in the emergency room?"
"They fucking deserved it!"
Nedzu sighed, the same headache he had been fighting all weekend returning in force as he witnessed his for a charge, bloodied and beaten but not defeated as expected of Katsuki Bakugo take command of the audience. He had become the lone dissenting voice to defend Izuku Midoriya in this ever-increasing opinion on Izuku Midoriya.
Nedzu would have been proud if he had known where Bakugo had received the lion's share of his injuries.
However, this raised an interesting dilemma for the seasoned hero and educator: What should he do with the remainder of young Midoriyas' former friends and classmates?
He pawed the small remote in his hand, turning off the screen with the aspiration of a creature far too accustomed to seeing yet another public fear campaign.
At times like this, Nedzu seriously contemplated retirement, throwing away his responsibilities after a long career of trying to bring change and having his paw slapped away each time.
He wanted to throw his responsibilities out the window and isolate himself from human society in a lonely cabin deep in the woods, with his chemical experiments and literary pursuits to keep him company.
But the rustic cabin that smelled of fresh pine trees and smokey fireplaces was replaced with the dull white walls of his office and the crushing weight of the approaching storm. Like so many instances in life, the easy thing to do and the right thing to do are rarely, if ever, the same. If one desires to live without regrets, they must force themselves to take the path least traveled.
He heard the ring of a private phone, a number that only four other living souls in the entire world knew, and the desire to ignore whatever brown-nosing reporting or bust body government institution was trying to get a quote out of him.
He read the name and, without hesitation, answered.
"What have we learned?" The chimera sipped his tea. The grey skies outside grew ever darker as the Morning rolled on, sapping the former science experiment's ordinarily warm and welcoming office into near complete darkness save a single desk lamp and the computer screen of his video call."Please, Naomasa, don't hold anything back."
The newly minted Tokyo police chief took another puff of his cigarette before putting it out, the smell of stale smoke and black coffee filling Nedzu's superhuman senses even through the computer screen.
First off, I don't want Eraserhead anywhere near this investigation." Naomasa started, the weight of the Morning debriefing enough to make even the veteran police chief squirm the thought of the now ongoing investigation." He's too emotionally invested in this case to be anywhere near as effective as he thinks he'll be."
The man will conduct this investigation with a fine-tooth comb, with or without me speaking to him."I fear even the threat of revoking his hero license or imprisonment will not keep him away."
"Just another thing I have to worry about. The last thing I need is to have my arm around my back during this investigation because Shota wants to fill a barrel up with water five years after he shot the bloody thing."
"A colorful analogy, but could you tell me exactly what you need help with? Do you truly suspect young Midoriya has anything to do with this crime? After everything that has happened to him?"
"You know as well as I do that exactly what happened to him will convince so many people that he is guilty."
"That wasn't an answer to my question."
"You know I would never!"
"Even the strongest material will break when applied with enough pressure..."
"You've grown into a cynic in your old age."
If my trust in humans were rewarded with something other than disappointment, I would look more kindly on your species.
Nedzus paw shot forward, answering the incoming call with the practiced ease of someone who wished to do anything but what he was doing at this particular moment.
"UA Academy has yet to issue an official statement. When we do, you will be the first to know!" he slammed the phone back down, frustration showing on his furry face."However, UA High has stood by its alumni against similarly slanderous and false accusations in the past, and I dont see a foreseeable future where that position will change.."
It was one thing to fight the uphill battle against the Hero Commission in the battle of public opinion and the courts, but to defend the boy against what the police force in this country was slowly transforming into would be another. That would require a far messier set of skills than Nedzu's level of national relevance and public profile as head of the country's top heroics academies, an impossible act.
He couldn't afford to act too fast in case the worst of his worst-case scenarios came to fruition.
. It goes without mentioning the true mastermind behind all this chaos against Izuku Midoriya's freedom and reputation.
Putting out fires—that's all I'll be doing instead of helping the boy Nedzu fail all those years ago.
"I'll do what I can on my end."Nedzu knew the man would try, but the situation seemed too dire to rely solely on Naomasas's influence." But the police force will be out for blood..."
"So will many pro heroes, I'm afraid."
"Have you been in communication?"
You're not supposed to ask that. That's entrapment coming from a man in your position."
"you know, better than to think anything on this phone line would be on the record."
" be that as it may. There are some things I need to keep on a need-to-know basis for the time being. I would hate for you to have to lie under oath and have your career tarnished because you lied for me."
"My career is already tarnished for letting so much go unpunished!"
"That is why we must work to improve things before our time is up. For the future of those we leave behind." Nedzu spoke, his fur tinged more with grey than the pristine snow white of his youth. He was already past the life expectancy of what remained of his fellow lab experiences when he finally shut that accursed hell hole down. "Tomorrow is not always guaranteed, now is it?"
While Naomasa must have felt he had aged decades faster these past five years, Nedzus' medical charts indicated he did, several years for every one of his fully human counterparts.
"I'll send you everything we have at the crime scene once the guys at the lab are finished with everything." "Everything I know, you will know. And I'll keep Shota and the rest in the loop as long as they keep their emotions in check."
"You speak as if that will be easy for anyone to do," Nedzu said before the call died out, his thoughts racing as he set the phone back down. He leaned back into his chair, the idea of the quiet cabin in the woods sounding better and better the more he thought of it now.
But he refused to leave this position worse off than when he entered it.
The red light of his phone flashed alive. Yet, another vulture begging for a quote to put on a 24-hour news cycle, already salivating at what would indeed dominate the country's fascination for months if it was left to fester.
Nedzu paused his canned speech, his planned and practiced words dying in his mouth as a familiar voice hit him over the head with a hammer.
"Report."
"It's good to see you're still alive." Nedzu purposely didn't answer the question, a fact he knew the veteran hero would detest more than anything else." I feared when I didn't receive a Christmas card."
"Nedzu..."
"I'm sorry, old friend... It's just a lot that has happened since we last spoke."
"..have you spoken with young Midoriya yet?"
"Not as of yet. I had many lanes of inquiry before meeting with young Midorioya."Nezu liked to think he was the logical reason machine he often pretended to be, whose animal instincts were as subconscious as any of the more "evolved" creatures he had associated himself with. Had to double-check if I was still licensed to practice Law in this country before I spoke with him,"
But the truth was he was too afraid.
It had been years since Nedzu had last seen the young man, and even now, the same fear that kept him up at night kept him frozen in place at the thought of meeting the man that boy had become.
"I'm going to help him. The buyer will refuse, but I did care." The voice paused, raw emotion tinging each word like blood-soaked hands. I will help him before this body of mine finally gives in."
"The commissions will monitor you the moment you land in this country. The police will certainly have you tracked. Your every move will be monitored and reported. It may have been five years since you let yourself be seen in public, but I highly doubt people would have forgotten your face."
"That won't stop me."
"Good luck..."The call died out without another word. The silence of the dead phone line dug into Nedzu's mind like the needles his former captors injected into him before when he was just a lab rat in a cage."...You're going to need it, Yagi-San."
I lost access to the email attached to this site six months ago