"Wait so let me get this straight…" Wetting his lips Bakugo frowned as he stared back at Todorokis stoic trademark expression. You'd think that after spending so much time with the rest of class A, that he'd at least give some kind of reaction about what was going on in his head- which Bakugo was currently having a hard time wrapping his own head around. "I'm not allowed to work with anyone else?" His voice sounded annoyed despite finding some underlying humor in all this.
"Let me rephrase this…" Todoroki met his eyes head on. "Correct me if I'm wrong but…weren't you the one who said before that working with someone else would only get in the way and that you could manage things on your own?"
"You're really going to hold that over my head when that was during our first year in high school?" Bakugo slowly blinked back not believing his ears.
"That was a few days ago Bakugo."
Smirking he couldn't deny that ok maybe this wasn't necessarily his first visit to Todorokis office since being partnered up with Uraraka, but despite that he still felt like this was all her fault for being so bitchy about it and there was no way in hell he'd be able to make it another shift with her tagging along. Especially after she had the audacity to think it was alright to get into his personal space the other day.
"Alright I'll give you that Icy hot, but I still want a different partner."
"Why? I would have thought you out of everyone would understand why we paired the both of you up."
He knew. He definitely knew, but that didn't mean he liked it. But something about the way Todoroki's tone took a questioning approach had Bakugo gritting his teeth knowing full well what he was up to. "I do and don't think you can change my mind."
"I wasn't." he shrugged as he moved to walk around his desk. "But I do have everyone's best interest in mind, so if working with Uraraka makes things difficult-"
"It doesn't! She already fucked up my photoshoot the other day, got my face scratched up and now you're seriously going to force me to work with her?"
"Is this seriously going to be a problem? Because I also remember you saying 'you had no problem working with her' when it was first mentioned."
"Yeah so? That was before!"
"And you said 'if you had to be stuck with someone while Kaminari recovered that she would be it.'?"
"Stop quoting me!" Bakugo snapped as he unfolded his arms.
"Alright, I think I can partner her up with Grand."
"Sure. Whatever." His brows drew together as he tried to remember who the hell Todoroki was referring to. But if it got her off his back then good riddance.
"And I think you shouldn't have problems working with Jack Mantis until his partner comes back from sick-"
"Hang on, who the hell's Grand?"
Quirking a brow Todoroki took a deep breath before answering. "He was at the provisional licensing exam….? You didn't like him…? Fought with us during the war? Helped us during one of our trainings third year…?" When he still saw Bakugo's blank expression he wondered if there ever came a day where Bakugo would at least take the time to remember those who worked in the same building as him.
"Wait is that that damn extra who makes tremors with his hands?" When he saw Todoroki let out an exasperated sigh with a slight nod, something about the thought of switching with him didn't sit right with Bakugo. "Forget it." Shaking his head he headed for the door.
"Wait Bakugo I thought…"
"Changed my mind."
As soon as the door slammed shut Todoroki was utterly lost as he continued to stare blankly at the now closed door. Maybe it was one of those things he didn't understand yet.
"Stupid half and half bustard and his inability to hire good pros." Bakugo mumbled as he paused outside the double doors to the meeting room. What turned out to be a shitty day became worse and worse when he agreed to this meeting. He had only agreed to attend because it would be helpful in the long run, despite that being all he could do. "Fuck this." Pushing the doors open, he found various eyes turn to him as he entered.
"Bakugo! So good of you to finally join us." Hawks energetically grinned as he stood from his chair and gestured to the next seat over. "Please have a seat."
"Tch." Roughly pulling the chair back before sitting himself down, his deep crimson eyes scanned the rest of the room before stopping at Uraraka where he could see her pull out the familiar blue folder and placed it in front of her.
She tried not let his presence here rattle her as much as it did and the way his eyes stayed on her made her stomach do a small little flip as she flipped the folder open and began turning through the pagers before pulling out a pen and waiting for what's to come next.
"Should he really be here?" Sora scoffed as he folded his arms over his chest.
"Sora." Uraraka shot him an annoyed look as he shrugged.
"He's not part of the team."
"Yeah, and why exactly are you here?" Bakugo fired back. "Last I heard weren't you a damn seamstress or some shit?"
"Support." Sora angrily glared back.
"Much better." Bakugo smirked.
"Alright how about we move onto more urgent matters shall we?" Hawks suggested.
"Alright let's get this over with and tell me what the hell I'm doing here." He grunted as he forced his eyes to Hawks who began clearing his throat.
"Alright so here's the deal…" Sitting forward Hawks leaned his elbows against the desk. "We realize that this may be asking a lot from you given everything you have been through. But it seems we're at a bit of disadvantage here when it comes to the Ipponmichi organization."
"So in other words, you all don't have any ideas about how to shut them down." Bakugo scoffed as he let his eyes roam the room.
"No we know exactly how, but it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack when it comes to everyone who's involved." Raising an unsure brow in Uraraka's direction, Hawks continued after receiving the barest of nods from her which Bakugo curiously caught.
"What do you mean everyone? I thought that the information that stupid invisi-bit-"
"Hey I'm right here!" Hagakure slammed her head on the table making all eyes turn to her.
"As I was saying I thought you morons gather all the intel needed to put a lid on this shit. Surprised we're allowing these murderers to still walk the damn streets."
"It's not quite as simple as that. We did gather more than what we originally hoped to back at the base here, but you of all people should know Bakugo given your undercover work with Endeavor before that it's not just Japan that's at risk here." Hawks serious tone made the blonds brows shoot up in surprise. "We may have stalled their operation here but around the world…the places we haven't found out yet and hit are still in full swing."
"How the fucks that even possible?"
Clearing her throat Uraraka thought this was as best time as any to only indulge him with the briefest of details. "During our investigation we came across other agencies who were working on similar cases like you guys did in back America and while working together we found some of the names that were on that list to be important people…people of power if you will." Uraraka's emotionless tone grabbed his attention as she stopped writing long enough to empathize the gravity of the situation. "We can't just show up without any hard evidence that those specific people are involved. They could just as easily get out."
"Which is where you come in." Hawks explained, allowing Bakugo's attention to revert to him as Hawks chose his next words with caution. "My understanding is that out of all of us… you had the misfortune to spend the most time with them in the base."
"Misfortune is a piss poor way of summing it up." Bakugo's jaw clenched as he tried to not let that thought get to him. "But yeah, so what?"
"Is there anything that you can tell us that could be of use? Anything at all? Anything you can remember?"
Letting his eyes trail across the room he found it odd that out of everyone here…Uraraka was the only one who wasn't meeting his eyes now. In fact, her eyes were so fixated on the papers in front of her that he couldn't get a clear read on her expression.
Thinking it over there was something that always stuck out to him during his captured time that up to this day he couldn't make sense of. "There was something."
"What?" Hawks asked watching the way Bakugos frown deepened.
"That damn Doctor… kept saying something about finding the quirks responsible. For what? I don't know." He quickly added knowing that's exactly what they would ask next. "Things are still kind of blurry…"
"Not a whole lot to go on since it could mean anything." Hawks addressed the rest of the room.
"Well geez I was kinda busy getting my damn head mentally sliced open to think clearly!" Bakugo snapped getting to his feet. "All I know is that this was being said only when Hana and that fucked up Doctor where the only ones in the room with me. Kind of like they didn't want anyone else to know what they had found. Whatever it was."
"Wait, you don't think it could be related to what we found back in Florence at the Gallery where David lives do you?" Hagakure asked.
"Aw David…" Mina dreamily giggled.
"It's the damn Galleria dell'Accademia you damn perves." Rolling his eyes Bakugo turned to Hawks. "Why? What did you find there?"
"I uhm afraid that's classified." Hawks said making Bakugo hands clench.
"Yeah, right."
"Wait how do you know about the Galleria dell'Accademia?" Mina intriguingly asked. "Didn't picture you as the art buff."
"Ooh you should've seen the things I caught him drawing in class!" Hagakure quickly piped in.
"I'm not! And you keep your damn mouth shut!" he bit back. "My parents are in the damn fashion business, so they drag me along on their trips sometimes."
While the three of them continued to argue, Uraraka observed the way their boss remained deep in thought as if trying to put the pieces together. "Hawks?"
"I don't know. Seems the more information we keep getting the less and less sense this all makes."
"Well, what about that dirty Doctor?" At Bakugo's question everyone remained silent. "You do have him right?"
"We do and we don't'."
"The fuck does that mean?" He turned to look around. "So let me get this straight. You know where this guy is, but haven't tried to bring him in when he might have all the information you need?"
"It's more complicated than that." Hawks said.
"No, it's because you're stupid." Bakugo harshly cut in.
"There's no need for name calling!" Hagakure angrily waved her hands. "Don't be so rude!"
"I'm just telling it like it is."
"We have eyes on Doctor Fujiwara. That's all you need to know." Hawks said not at all fazed by his temper at this point.
"It's classified. Yeah I get it." Shaking his head he quickly moved to the door. "Is that all?"
"For now." Hawks's expression turned apologetically. "If there's anything else…."
"Yeah, I'll let you know." Pulling open the door he quickly let himself out. If they wanted to find out everything he could remember, then he would gladly hand it overm but how the hell did they expect to catch all those bastards without accepting the help that was being offered. "Screw this."
"Bakugo."
"What the hell do you want now you damn bird?"
"Hey listen man, I know this isn't the ideal situation-"
"You just want to find out everything I know, right." He frustrating let his eyes flick over to the others as they left the meeting room. "What do you want me to say? And why even ask me? Fuckin Deku and Round face were the ones that bitch also messed with. Why don't you guys ask them?" When he saw Hawks avert his eyes, Bakugo bitterly nodded understanding that once again it apparently wasn't his place to know. "Right. You just want me to remember all the horrible shit they did to me in there? How they fucked with my mind so much that I still remember every goddamn pain. That's something I'll never forget. Ever." Shaking his head he didn't wait for Hawks to respond before he walked off.
Inside the meeting Room Uraraka clutched the folder to her chest as those words rang loud in her ears. They needed him for this case, and whether she eventually wanted to admit it or not she couldn't keep him in the dark forever about this organization. Sooner or later they would all have to fight against whatever Hana was planning and by then they would all have to be ready. But that didn't mean she liked the idea of watching any of them get hurt.
She was surprised that he hadn't brought it up ever since their little trip to the restaurant until she had asked him to come to this meeting. But then again, given the harsh thing she had said to him…she wouldn't blame him for still being annoyed at her for it. Just one of the many things he could add to the list of things she did wrong lately.
And knew that deep down Bakugo would also hate her for what she had done to him.
"Hmm?" Turning his head Hawks wasn't surprised to see Uraraka quickly exit out of the Meeting Room last. "You heard that huh."
"It doesn't matter." She stopped walking but didn't bother turning. "He's safe."
"But are you ok with the consequences?" His tone softened when she silently continued down the hall. "Because I know you're not. Nor do I think you'll ever be…Uraraka."
X
Closing his eyes he allowed the music to drown out any noise outside of his bedroom door as he turned up the volume to his AirPods. What good did it do to have your own damn house if you had to retreat into your room everytime his so-called friends came over unannounced? Didn't people have the common courtesy to call in advance? That way he could be long gone by the time they got here.
Maybe that's why they did it?
After another half hour he couldn't take it anymore and began putting on some sweatpants and a zipped-up Huddie to try and cover his hair.
"Hey man you going somewhere?" Kirishima asked from his spot on the couch while Kaminari and Sero remained munching on some chips while watching the TV. "We weren't too loud, were we?"
"Does it matter?" Bakugo huffed as he walked over to the kitchen. He appreciated Kirishima as a roommate and couldn't ask for a better friend since even at school he always tried to be considered of others including him. But that didn't mean he still didn't like his space ever now and then.
"Hey man, we kinda need your opinion on something." Sero shouted over to him.
"My opinion is to leave whatever poor girl you're talking to alone and find an actual hobby."
"Harsh dude, harsh." Sero frowned.
"Yeah, he'd have to actually be talking to a girl first." Kaminari snorted with a mouth full of chips right before dodging Sero grabbing for the bag.
"Why the fuck are you idiots here instead of over at your place?"
"We were but something came up where we had to have an impromptu meeting." Kaminari pointed over to the last seat in the living room.
"Is that why alien freak is sitting in my chair?" He growled when he saw Mina smugly wave a hand in his direction without removing her eyes from the TV. "Now I'm going to have to sanitize the whole damn place. Either that or burn the place down."
"Hey now I'll have you know I'm a very clean-" Watching in horror they both slowly saw the crumps slip from her hands and into the clean floor. "Oops. Um Kaminari did it!"
"What no I didn't!"
"The fuck?! I just saw-" His eye began to irritably twitch as he stomped past them. "I'm going out for a run. When I get back that shit better be clean! And you morons better be gone!"
"Hey man I'll come with!" Kirishima grinned as he jumped to catch the door before it closed. "I'll be back guys!"
It felt like it's been a while since Kirishima actually went out for a nice run instead of being cooped up at the gym or elsewhere. He definitely understood why his bro preferred doing his runs either in the mornings or evenings since the air felt pretty refreshing against his face. "So you gonna ask what the meeting was about?" When Bakugo remained quite Kirishima decided to ask his other question. "By the way man, you never told me how it went today with Hawks."
"Shitty. But that's what I was expecting."
"Hmm." Frowning Kirishima only wondered what could possibly happen to make his buddy decline working overtime today and instead lock himself up in his room till now.
"So what's with the damn visit?"
"Huh?" It took Kirishima half a minute to understand what he was referring to. The reason being that Bakugo was never really the one to bother asking about it in the first place, so whatever happened earlier must've irritated him enough to want to ask him about their friends. "Oh yeah that. Well Mina called us up to see if we wanted in on one of her plans. I told her I was down and so were the others. No big deal." He shrugged as they continued jogging.
"Plan? What plan? And whatever it is, you all better not count me in."
"Don't worry man, I already told them not to."
"Hah?" Whirling his head in Kirishima's direction he glared at the red head like couldn't believe he finally took the hint after all these years, but maybe that's what bothered him more. After all their years together, Kirishima NEVER not included him in anything they did despite his ongoing protest. Or avert staring directly at him right after like he was doing now. "Alright spill it Shitty hair, what's the damn plan?"
"What?" Stumbling in his steps Kirishima quizzically stared at him. "Don't worry man I already told you I-"
"Yeah, just tell me!"
"You wanna know?" When Bakugo glare deepened Kirishima had a tough time not smiling. "Well…" Taking his time to think about what to say Kirishima decided that it shouldn't be a big deal if Bakugo knew since there was no way he'd lose sleep over it. "Mina thought it would be a great idea to go shopping." When all he received was a blank look from the blond he continued. "For Uraraka."
"Why? Round face can't shop for herself now?"
"It's not that man." Kirishima shrugged. "It's for a surprise. You see…we decided to put our money together and buy the little guy a bed." When Bakugo still stared back at him Kirishima slowly frowned. "You know…a crib?"
"I know what a damn crib is!" Stopping in his jog Bakugo saw Kirishima do the same as they panted. "What she can't afford it or some shit?" He asked wondering why the hell he'd even care. Sure he knew she probably made a decent income now but based on her grocery shopping that day he saw her at the store her he could tell she still had a hard time loosening her wallet a little.
"No it's not that. It's just… Mina mentioned that Kiseki still sleeps in her room in his basinet because Uraraka is still having a hard time to sleep without him. So, we figured it would be nice to get her his own little crib you know."
Nodding Bakugo thought that it was pretty normal for a new mom to feel that way, especially in the beginning and found it admirable that regardless of how tired she seemed at times she still found as much time to spend with her child even while still asleep. "I get that." He agreed and knew that eventually there would come a time when she would have to learn to let him sleep in his own room. "So what? You idiots plan on telling her or something?"
"Well…that's why it's called a surprised dude." Kirishima chuckled but stopped when he saw Bakugo sprint off in another direction. "Hey man where are you going?!"
"What's it look like? I'm finishing my run instead of running my damn mouth." He shouted back as Kirishima picked up the pace.
X
"Now remember, we get in we get out. We don't want to linger longer than we have to." Uraraka quietly said as she stepped out of the car after Kenzo parked in front of the enormous building the next day.
"Is that what you said to that kid right before he knocked you up?" Kenzo took a deep inhale of his cigarette before putting it out with a slight smile on his lips.
"I fail to see the humor in that." She unamusingly stared at him. Kenzo was only one of the handful of people that still knew about her and Bakugo given the fact that he was around during their capture. So it didn't take him long to put two and two together. Other than him there was Deku, Kirishima, Hawks, Shinso and the retired pro hero Daichi who knew the truth. Not even her mom knew that Bakugo was Kiseki's father which was hard at first, but nonetheless she still supported her daughter's decision in raising the child alone which Uraraka was grateful for.
The least amount of people knew the truth the saver they would be. And there was no way she was losing anyone else.
With Kenzo knowing, Hawks reminded her that it could be of use since Kenzo had been with Toga and Hana longer, so he was able to provide them with information that they didn't even know existed. Such as why Hana had been so intent on finding these specific children back in the base. It was because she was searching for two in specific and if in the meantime it allowed her to keep her grandfathers Ipponmichi organization going then she could use these resources to her advantage in getting what she wanted in return. From her understanding Kenzo had told them that Toga and her group where in charge of handling Hanas dirty work. Something he still didn't seem proud of.
But to Kenzo if this allowed him to help get Toga and Kage out before things got worse while helping Hawks get the inside scoop then he'd deal with it until the time came to leave.
Sadly the plan didn't turn out quite like he'd hoped, with the only two people he cared about being snatched away. The blood on Togas hands covered in his little brother's blood was more than Kenzo could stand when he found out what happened to Kage, and ever since then he mostly kept to himself unless it was work related or he went to visit their other brother Riku. Which was why Uraraka tried to help him in any way she could, feeling like in some part this was also her fault since Kage did die trying to protect her at the last minute. And villain or not, no one deserves to die.
And Kiseki seemed to take a liking to the ex villian, so she didn't mind watching them both play whenever Kenzo didn't know she was watching. Perhaps Kiseki seemed to help him fill the void of losing one of his brothers and in some way make up for what he'd done by watching over Kiseki.
"You're gonna stand there all day or get moving?" Kenzo asked over his shoulder when Uraraka suddenly blinked out of her thoughts.
"Kenzo-"
"Yeah I know, don't worry mouse I won't make a scene."
"No it's just…" biting her lip she waited until he stopped walking to stare at her. "You know…"
Understanding crossed his face as he reluctantly nodded. He had promised not to let his personal feelings get in the way of this visit, understanding that this was long overdue. But it completely flew over his head that what she actually meant was that they were worried about someone recognizing him as one of Togas lackeys since his face wasn't necessarily know in the news for being a peaceful citizen.
"It's just while we're here." She tried to reassure him knowing that this wasn't something he was on board with. But if they wanted to get the chance to get into Tarturus after all the strings Hawks had to pull to get them here, there was no way they could mess this up. Especially if she was hoping to get more knowledge so that they didn't need to keep pulling Bakugo in more than necessary, at least for the time being.
Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for the visit she had long been dreading ever since she came back, but knew it was about time she faced the monsters within. Someone she long ago thought about saving.
Using his quirk he quickly turned into the familiar black cat before hoping onto her shoulder.
"Just try and act natural ok." she whispered as she slowly approached the gate guards. She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince right now since her nerves seemed to be on edge. "Act like nothing's wrong and we'll be fine." When she saw Kenzo give her a pointed glare she smiled embarrassingly. "Right, talking to a cat really won't help, will it?"
Flicking his tail high enough to whack her on the head, she angrily puffed out her cheeks. "Keep that up and I won't buy you any catnip."
"Miss?" One of the guards raised his brows instantly catching her attention.
"Oh uhm hi I'm Ochaco Uraraka, I believe you spoke with the pro hero Hawks about my visit?"
"Right, Uravity." He happily grinned and Uraraka found it adorable how his cheeks turned pink and the guard next to him discreetly nudged him on the ribs. "We've been expecting you."
"And your…cat?" The other guard questioningly looked at the small cat menacingly glaring up at him with his deep emerald eyes.
"Uhm yes…my cat." She nervously rubbed the back of her head. "Can't go anywhere without him haha. I'm afraid my um…cat sitter called in…and uhm-OW!" Yelping she tried not to let the sting of tears show in her eyes when she felt Kenzo's claws grip onto her shoulder.
"Erm…are you alright Uravity?" The first guard worriedly asked.
"Fine. Great." She forced a strained smile as she tried to pry his claws off her. "I just remembered the appointment I had made after this to neuter my little cat here." Watching the way Kenzo stiffened, and eyes widened in fear made the pain worth it.
"Wait…I feel like I've seen a cat like that before…" The second guard said once Uraraka walked past the gates. Not a second later he could have sworn he saw it raise its little paw. "Is he giving me the finger?"
"It's a cat." The other guard shook his head. "Let's get back to work."
Once inside the safety of Tartarus- or at least as safe as you can be in a place housing some of Japan's worst criminals all under one roof. Uraraka followed one of the guards along one of the long hallways. "That wasn't necessary you know. I think we did fine."
Glancing up she saw Kenzo solely focused on the hall in front of them until the guard opened a door on the right. "The prisoner will be along shortly Uravity. She doesn't get a lot of visitors. Not that I blame them not with someone like her." He said as Uraraka walked in and the guard made to stand outside the door.
She knows she shouldn't, but the thought of what the man just said made the familiar feeling of guilt build in her stomach before movement on the other side of the glass made her eyes drift upward.
"Well if it isn't Ochaco Uraraka finally paying her old bestie a nice visit."
Swallowing down the lump in her throat Uraraka held firm as her eyes met those familiar yellows as the girl wickedly smiled back at her. "It's been a long time…Himiko Toga."