Chapter Text
Bakugo supposed he should be grateful to the poor, haphazard group of villains running for their lives.
“Die!” The defacement of property that promptly turned to a chase was the most excitement he’d had in days. Criminal activities were typically accompanied by screams, but the eerie silence alerted him today when a whole supermarket full of civilians fell asleep to an unknown gas. Bakugo felt the exhilaration rush through him, tracking the erratic directions of the 3 somewhat dangerous targets.
“My, he’s energized today,” The green-aproned owner of the neighborhood’s convenience store stood cross-armed with amusement by their entrance door.
“It’s been a while since anyone’s been brave enough to pull off a crime of any worth around here. They must be new,” A middle-aged woman with a toddler quipped casually as she strolled in to examine the shelves for the cheapest soft tofu for her stew.
The inhabitants of the city were used to his yelling by now. They quickly learned to trade peace and quiet for safety when the neighborhood became Dynamight’s regular patrol area 3 months ago. Anyone who dared to pull nefarious acts under his scrutiny were quickly apprehended and typically cuffed by the police whimpering and burned.
What used to be no stranger to minor crimes quickly became a haven with little need for hero intervention once Endeavor handed over the responsibility to Dynamight. As the number one hero, he had little time to diverge his attention to the daily ruckus of city life, which meant things would occasionally slip through the cracks. When he took the hot-headed sidekick under his wing, Endeavor promptly realized the potential in giving up the city as Dynamight’s solo project. It wasn’t unheard of to hand off a patrol area to a sidekick, but it was rare for it to happen so early in a rookie’s career.
It all made sense once civilians saw how Dynamight made quick work to eliminate any crime. However, it was not because of a higher held sense of justice as most believed, but due to a combination of not knowing anything other than perfection and otherwise becoming bored.
“Put up a fight, damn it!” Bakugo was met with the weak groans of three semi-conscious masked men. They were slumped against the walls and in no condition to fight back. “Tch. Cowards.”
The hunched men had visible body quirks- uncomfortably slimy skin, grossly bulbous eyes, and a bloated belly filling back up with noxious gas. There was no doubt that they succumbed to feelings of societal alienation that made the life of crime all the more an enticing path for them. Bakugo felt a twinge of pity before hardening his heart towards their weakness. They made their choice and they would have to live with the consequences. The same would go for the fourth, and last, perpetrator.
Bakugo knit his eyebrows in a scowl as he scanned the area for the woman with the large, calloused feet. She should have been caught first, being the slowest of them all from the awkward size of her shoes, but the man with the poisonous stomach gas posed the bigger threat at the time.
“Any of you move and I’ll kill you” The words were full of promise, but fell mostly useless as the men fell unconscious against the backdrop of sirens drawing near.
Emerging from the alley, the rookie hero continued to inspect his surroundings and flagged down the police car. He may seem brash, but he was in no way careless or dismissive of protocol. Aside from his demeanor, Dynamight was the poster child of a hero. Everyone knew he would have no trouble scaling up the ranks when given the chance.
Polite clapping filled the streets as people took a pause in their daily lives to praise Dynamight’s accomplishment. Bakugo grunted in acknowledgement and was about to get to higher ground when he heard a sharp gasp that alerted him to incoming danger.
“Eat dirt, you pigs!” A giant, fleshy foot dropped from the sky with the bold words as a rallying cry. The fourth criminal attempted to flatten the police into the ground with her bulging feet to give her accomplices a chance to escape.
Bakugo leaped up and set off an explosion at the sole of the closest foot, knocking back the perpetrator from reaching the police without harming bystanders. He expected the blast to hinder his target, but the hardened feet seemed to be impervious to damage. The grotesquely proportioned villain fell to the cobbled sidewalk and thrashed her legs, catching a supporting beam with her massive foot that caused the front of a local eatery to collapse.
“Oh my god!” The previously content onlookers fled inside their homes and nearest stores, knocking over one another and securing their children close to their bodies.
Realizing she had inadvertantly dug herself into a deeper hole, the bleeding, screaming woman desperately knocked over the nearest lightpole to impede anyone from following her as she ran away.
It left the crowd straining to see through the dust billowing up from the impact point. Bakugo knew this was just a distraction used by the villain to get away, but he couldn’t leave the civilians half-buried under the rubble. He would normally blast off the top layer, but this particular food stall specialized in fried food and he didn’t want to splatter or set flame to the hot oil unnecessarily.
He really hated to do it, but he had the lesson of delegating and utilizing complementary quirks shoved down his throat enough times at school to grit his teeth and bark out orders at the police “Get Uravity down here. I’m going after the villain.”
Having said that, he used the smears of blood to track the now pain-in-the-ass villain. Even with this new goal in mind, he couldn’t help but feel annoyed at what he was sure to hear at the clean up from the round-faced peer. He knew exactly what was coming since the last time this happened.
“Hey, Bakugo! Long time no see!” Bakugo uncharacteristically felt the need to hide from embarrassment as she jumped up and down with a whole-arm wave.
“Shit, round-face! We’re at work, for god sakes! Have some respect and stop bouncing ,” He grabbed the sides of her arms and fought the urge to shake her.
“Oho! Looks like even the mighty King Explosion Murder can call on the humble Uravity every once in a while,” She teased and laughed at the subtle rising of his prickly porcupine hair in anger. “Good job asking for help!” She grinned and gave him two thumbs up, like a mom cheering on her child’s soccer game.
Bakugo growled and shoved her hands down. “I don’t need your help! You just happened to be nearby, don’t get all cocky.”
At that, the perky woman’s demeanor changed. “Look who’s talking! I saved your butt just now!” She poked his chest with way more force than anyone with a surface idea of Bakugo’s temper would. “You’re not dumb, Bakugo. You know how important it is to take into account the well-being of ordinary civilians during a combat situation. In every way you’re strong, I am too and more. Would you be able to lift 6 full-sized trees? I don’t think so!”
“Would you stop poking me?!” He’s never had to say those combinations of words before in his life. The nerve of this woman.
“No! I’m not finished!” His anger at having to call for assistance was replaced with annoyance at hearing this lecture again. He was still waiting for the day he would see her and not have to hear her go on and on about this topic. What made her think she had to prove anything to him at this point?
He had to stop himself from open-mouth gasping when those full-grown beech trees lifted off the ground.
“I deserve to be here just as much as you deserve to ask for help so you’re going to keep calling me when you mess up! Just accept it!”
“Huah?? This is the last time you’ll hear from me, round-face!”
“Oh, yeah? The next time the police call for me because of you, you owe me oden!”
“You won’t see a cent!” And they shook on it.
He was an idiot.
Well, at least he’d finally get to try that new spicy oden back by his place so something good was coming out of it. And if she thought he’d pay for any of that weak, bland shit, she could pay for her own food.
It didn’t take long to find the bleeding woman, feet pulsating and bruised from the impact of the structure she kicked down. The rest of her body wasn’t much better with sweat drenching her clothes and hair singed short and uneven from the earlier blast on Bakugo’s part. Her eyes were deranged with desperation and veins were bulging up from her neck to the corners of her temple.
“What, no more running?” Bakugo’s fingers twitched in anticipation. Finally, he could unleash some real damage to this flaming asshole. “There’s no one around for you to use, either. So-”
“Hello~”
What the hell?
A shrill voice cried out in the corner of Bakugo’s eye. “Oh my, are you a hero?”
The question came from an old woman with wispy white hair, sprouting out in tufts around her head where it escaped the neat ponytail at the nape of her neck. She was wearing a long grey dress with a light yellow cardigan and sandals. Her skin was wrinkled and saggy like a covering of soft velvet, scrunched around her eyes and mouth to indicate immeasurable years of happiness. The smile on her face didn’t waver as she waited for an answer from the bewildered young man in front of her.
The heavily-breathing villain twitched her eyes between the hero and the elderly woman before letting out a scream.
Bakugo sprinted for the unmoving elderly woman a second after the unhinged villain. The still-bleeding woman shouldn’t have been able to move that fast, but her desperation must have fueled her to grab at the absolute last chance of making it out of this battle unscathed.
One would think the old lady would have made a move to get away from the crazed maniac running towards her, but if she had any sense at all, she wouldn’t have come out in the first place. Much to Bakugo’s frustration, she Did. Not. Move.
“Get out of here, damnit!” Positioning himself in front of the old woman, he pointed a palm towards the charging villain and grounded himself for the recoil before setting off an explosion directly in their face. With his line of vision impeded by his own blast, the villain slid on her feet and knocked out Bakugo’s legs.
He set off a small burst to get himself upright on his feet and twisted with incredible flexibility to grab the mad woman by the face before she could reach the civilian. Ignoring the pop of his shoulder from the force of a full-grown adult’s body jerking in the opposite direction, Bakugo leapt up and jammed his knees into her sternum. She grunted under his palm and bucked her body to try and throw him off.
“Make another move and get your face blown off” Bakugo squeezed hard enough to surely leave dotting bruises on the edge of her face. By then, the adrenaline had worn off and there was no strength left in the bleeding, broken woman.
“It’s not faaiiirrr,” She wailed through the pain of her throbbing face. Bakugo held no mercy for the now sobbing villain. He shot off a flare in the air to alert the police of his location to collect the last criminal responsible for the vandalization and endangerment. “You heroes are all the same. Thinking you’re so much better than us because of your flashy quirks, but it’s all luck. You don’t deserve to be a hero any more than me,” She spat out with the last of her strength before going limp to the pain.
Feeling confident enough she wouldn’t wake again, Bakugo released her and stood up with controlled anger. He turned around and, sure enough, the old lady was still standing there without a scratch on her. Gritting his teeth, he popped his shoulder back in and made the difficult choice to walk away without confrontation. He didn’t need Endeavor berating him for getting into a yelling match with a bystander again.
“Young man, thank you for saving me. I must give you a gift in appreciation,” Her feeble voice rang out and rattled his resolve. With his vision going red, he had no chance to stop himself from marching back towards the much smaller woman.
“Keep your gift and stay out of my way next time,” If his mom had been there to witness how he was treating an elder, she would have smacked the shit outta him. It was a good thing she was nowhere near his patrol area.
“Please, I insist,” she shot out and grabbed his right hand before he could counter her actions. People rarely dared to touch him, aside from the annoying duo of Kirishima and Uraraka, so he flinched and attempted to pull away. Her wrinkly, bony hands had a surprisingly strong grip to them that held him in place.
“Listen, lady. I don-” Bakugo’s voice cut off as he met her challenging glare. It wasn’t out of respect or compliance. No, he could feel it radiating from her now that she was so close.
This woman was powerful.
“Who are you?” Bakugo couldn’t imagine that someone with such power would willingly choose to waste away and fade into obscurity in an unknown town like this. “Are you a retired hero?” He racked his brain trying to run through a mental list of older female heroes, but came up empty. She didn’t seem to have any physical quirks for him to reference either.
“There,” She curled his fingers in to create a fist with a little nod, not bothering to address his questions. She patted his balled-up hand a couple of times before letting go and stepping back. Bakugo unfurled his fingers and looked down to see what she could have possibly gifted him, but he was holding nothing but air. “Be careful not to squander it away.”
Maybe it wasn’t an incredible power he was feeling, but pure insanity.
He had witnessed the danger of both first-hand in the past and decided it would be better to indulge her to keep the bat-crazy lady from snapping. “Ah. Got it,” Keeping his eyes trained on the deceptively frail-looking woman, he resisted the urge to wipe the empty hand on his pants. How could one possibly expect him to ignore the nerves that were still screaming- don’t trust her! Visible relief flooded his body as a couple of police officers rounded the corner to fetch the unconscious woman and take his statement. It didn’t take long, the law enforcement officers were used to Dynamight’s succinct retell of events.
“The 4 villains knocked everyone out at Marushi Market and trashed the place so I caught them,” They weren’t too worried. They were also used to his detailed paperwork that was sure to arrive at the end of the day. He was impatient with people, but diligent in his work.
By the time he finished his one-sentence summary, the unnerving old woman was gone. Good riddance . But he couldn’t help but wonder why she wanted his hand if not to give him a tangible object. Maybe she put a tracker on him? Did she need physical touch to use her quirk? Bakugo inspected his hand as he made his way back to the wreckage. To his disappointment, and slight relief, he didn’t see any marks. Well, no matter the woman’s intentions, he was sure he’d be able to handle it once the effect kicked in.
Getting closer to the initial scene, he could see a crowd of onlookers gathering in the streets.
“No need to worry, everyone!” Uraraka’s voice carried over mass. “Thank you for placing your trust in me and Dynamight as we work to keep your beloved city safe!” Bakugo couldn’t see her through the throng of people, but he could pinpoint that cheery tone with his eyes closed. They swarmed her with thanks and adoration, something most people didn’t dare go near him with. Of course they admired him, but she was approachable in a way that very few heroes could claim.
The congestion of the street parted for him as he walked towards her. Accurately taking his presence as a sign that the last villain had been taken care of, most of the crowd began to disperse and return to their homes and jobs. There were shrieks of some straggling fangirls in the distance, but Bakugo paid them even less attention than normal. He had only one goal in mind- to get the oden bet over with and leave with as much of his pride in tact as possible.
He could see the back of her head now, bobbing up and down as she courteously indulged one of her own fanboys. Uraraka didn’t come around here often and the furiously blushing high-schooler babbled on as she politely signed his school bag. Bakugo couldn’t help but groan at the thought of not only the teasing he was sure to receive, but the glares of her fans. A lot of them thought he was ‘too harsh’ on Uravity.
Whatever. If they don’t think she’s strong enough to take it, they’re not real fans anyway.
“Oi, pink-cheeks!” He yelled over, waiting with growing irritation as she laughed and waved goodbye to the starstruck boys. God, did she have to be so polite? She finally spun her body around to start walking towards Bakugo, eyes still closed in a smile. “7 o’clock at Nabemono tonight. Don’t be late or I swear I’ll-”
Their eyes connected and Bakugo’s voice failed at what he saw between them.
“I’ll…” He tried again, but his voice trailed off as he raised his now changed hand. Right at the base of his thumb, wound securely with an impossible looking knot, was some sort of string. It was thin and smooth and red, red, red . It was tight, but not painful. Not even when it started tugging at his skin from the other end of the line. He followed it with his eyes to see the other end tied around Uraraka’s left pinky, who was experimentally pulling at it with utter confusion written all over her face.
The shimmering thread floated and fluttered in the slight breeze, threatening to fly away if not for the frozen heroes.
And although a whole street full of bustling people separated them, he could hear her soft words with utmost clarity.
“Bakugo… What is this?”
Damn that old hag.