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At the age of four Katsumi Bakugou learned that not all men (and women) were created equal. She was gifted with what she was praised for from both her best friend, her lackeys, her teachers, and her parents as a ‘powerful’ quirk. They ALL told her that she was destined, oh so surely, to be a great hero with what would one day be the ‘perfect’ quirk for a hero. Yet, in polar opposite to her, Izuku Midoriya was pronounced quirkless - he could not and would not ever develop his own quirk. He was pitied from everyone that had blown smoke up Katsumi’s own ass.
That was when her own dreams died, of going to U.A. High, blasting their way through the school courses, and becoming the Number One Hero WITH Izuku at her side as the Number Two Hero (or at least as her sidekick). With a doctor’s pronouncement both her and Izuku’s dreams were dashed and became stillborn.
When ‘Izu-chan’ had become ‘Deku’.
DEKU
The nickname had started out as a joke, at least years later she had thought that’s how it had been. She had praised herself for being SO CLEVER with finding a new way to spell out Izuku’s name differently. One that reflected his quirkless status. It hadn’t been her fault their other classmates, the extras, had copied her and started to call him Deku. Over time it just became natural for her and everyone else. Like he had become Deku.
He still had followed her around like a puppy and called her Kacchan afterall, so he must not have minded that much? Right?
He had still smiled at her and went on and on about being a hero. She had told him all his yammering had annoyed her but when she looked at him with those big, jade eyes something had fluttered in her chest. Most times she just leant on the one emotion that came easy to her, anger, and pushed the feeling down. Calling Deku a dork, pushing him down and running off.
At the age of eight she learned that life also wasn’t fair.
---
“NO! NO! NO! Bring him back!!!” Katsumi’s face was scrunched and red with anger, her quirk popping like firecrackers in her open palms as she tried to express all the anger in her small body - including stamping her feet against the floor as if that would help shake it all out.
“Katsumi” her mother, started to say but was interrupted as she turned away from where the older woman stood in her room’s doorway, not wanting to hear any excuses and flung herself onto her bed - short limbs thrashing out.
“You’re lying! Y-you Old Hag!”
“Oi! Don’t call me that, brat!” Mitsuki Bakugou’s hand slapped her daughter’s backside in a flash of speed that would have given most Pro Hero’s a run for their money.
“OW! HEY!” Katsumi flopped on her back, crimson eyes glaring now at her mother as tears started to form - she didn’t even know if they were from the slap or the horrible news she had been told. Mitsuki, rather than follow up with another knock, visibly held herself back and calmed down, though her own glare was almost a perfect match for the one Katsumi was throwing at her.
“I can’t bring them back.” Mitsuki huffed before she wrapped her own arms around herself, her face sullen with disappointment and acceptance. Auntiedoriya had been her mother’s best friend since...since...when they had discovered fire in caveman times. She wasn’t any happier about what had happened than her daughter. “Izuku’s father got a big promotion in Nara. So...he and Inko talked...and they decided to turn her and Izuku’s summer visit to spend time with him...into a permanent one. If...you’re so worried about Izuchan leaving we can-”
“HECK! I don’t care about that Deku!” Katsumi screeched, her face turning several different shades of red as she turned away from her mother to stare at the wall, “Whatever! He can enjoy his new, worthless life somewhere else for all I care!”
Mitsuki stared.
“Gods...my daughter is a tsundere.” the older Bakugou sighed and left the room to give her daughter time to simmer down.
---
Katsumi was lying of course, not that she realized it until years later. The handful of times Izuku’s family did visit in the following years she always found an excuse to be away - no matter how much hell she caught with the Old Hag. By the time she was ten however the visits had stopped.
It was only then that she realized the mistake she had made too late...she MISSED Deku...Izuku.
She could have asked her mother to visit Nara or ask Inko for Izuku’s phone number but her pride, she knew with a painful amount of self-awareness, would never let her ask. She would have to admit not just to her mom and Deku that she missed him...but she would have to acknowledge this weakness to herself.
She grappled with screaming at herself to just ask for two years, but when that never materialized she decided to ignore her weakness and make a deal with herself. She would wait. There would be one place where she could reconnect with Izuku - the UA Entrance Exam.
---
Katsumi stormed down the UA campus walkway like she was on the warpath, her crimson colored eyes darting around her. Searching the faces of the other applicants walking around her, and dismissing each one as just another extra. Her blood boiling higher when each one turned out to not be Deku.
Of course that damn nerd wouldn’t have made this easy for her! She was mad at him for now being easy to find - and the nerves that had been wracking her body ever since she realized how soon the day of the entrance exam was coming up. His stupid, bright smile flashed in her mind again for what seemed like the thousandth time and she growled out making several oof the other applicants flinch and give her a wider berth.
It was his fault her heart was beating so fast. Not because she had any feelings for him other than anger and rage, no, it was because she was on the hunt she reasoned. Adrenaline and other brain chemicals for a super-predator such as herself. Not because she was...nervous or excited to see Deku after so long.
She did not realize just how distracted she had become thinking of Deku until she felt herself bump into not just one, but two other someone's. She noted one was quite firm while the other was...bouncy, for lack of a better word at the moment.
“Hey! Watch where you are going.” a firm voice said, it made Katsumi’s blood boil to the tipping point as she felt her frustrations start to overflow their pot. So, she did what came most natural to her - she lashed out.
“You’re the one who got in my way, you worthless extra!” she sneered, looking at the source of the voice, it was a girl about her age with the most vibrant shade of orange hair tied into a pigtail - but her eyes were a bright teal that for a moment conjured Deku’s face in Katsumi’s mind before she shoved it away, “Carrot Top!”
Those teal eyes narrowed at her, a frown forming on her face which Katsumi idly thought did not detract from what she realized was a rather pretty face - which just meant she must be some prissy hussy who got by on her looks. Next to Carrot Top was a shorter girl with an nauseatingly cute set of rosy dimples set on a round face, when her eyes fell on Round Face the girl eeped and shrank back - at least she knew her place. However at that Carrot Top actually stepped forward and in front of the frightened girl, as if what she was doing was as natural as breathing, and took up a defensive stance that Katsumi dimly remembered she had seen at a few training dojos.
Maybe this one didn’t get by solely with such good looks?
“Did you just get out of juvie or did you just never learn decent manners for a human being? You bumped into us, you should apologize.” Carrot Top said, again with a calm but firm voice - a response that was almost anathema to how Katsumi would have reacted.
“You two bugs were in my way! Beat it before I step on you both.” Katsumi held up a hand, her quirk activated followed by the sound of small firecracker explosions in her palm.
Carrot Top didn’t back down. She held Katsumi’s glare without flinching.
“If you’re here for the exam-” the girl’s voice was cut off as a warning bell rang out from further in campus. Katsumi cursed, that meant the exam would be starting soon, she did not have time for this.
“Tch. You’re just wasting breath and more importantly MY time. Stay the FUCK out of my way or die!” Katsumi growled, before either Carrot Top or Round Face could reply she stomped past them, pushing them out of her thoughts as she entered into the exam building.
She stomped over to a table with several workers assisting with the intake for the examinees, growled out her name and student ID to one of the workers and snatching her exam ID and table location from the nervous woman before pushing forward into the testing site. The room itself was as large as a stadium, filled with hundreds or chairs and desks spaced out for the middle schoolers that came for their shot at getting into the prestigious school. Idly she noted several Pro Heroes milling about giving directions for where the students were to sit, she noticed Present Mic, Midnight, Cementoss and a few other no-names.
“Great. Now all I got to do is make this quick.” she muttered to herself as her eyes darted around the room.
This was just the first part of the UA entrance exam, the knowledge test. It covered all the general knowledge subjects that Katsumi did not doubt she would be able to pass, hell she would probably score the top spot out of any of the dumb losers here. What was special about this exam was that ALL UA applicants had to take it at the same time. Regardless if you went for the Heroics Course, the somewhat useful Support Course, and the extra pathetic Business and General Studies Courses. For Heroics the next stage of testing was showing off your quirk, for Support it was some sort of nerd show, and she didn’t care about what the other courses did. Therefore, if she was going to see Deku...Izuku...Deku before the examinees were split for the next stage of exams it would be here and now.
Briefly, her mind floated back to when she and Deku were kids. He always went on and on about getting into UA. Katsumi had told him time and time again he would - could not get into the Heroics Course...his only hope would be the Support or General Education Courses. He was quirkless, there was no way they would let him in, and he had to have seen common sense by now and given up. Right?
If you can’t be my sidekick then you’ll just have to be my Number One Fan!
“Focus.” she growled to herself, searching the room, not for a green mop of hair but something else, “They split everyone up by school district. That makes it easier for them to split up losers who try and work together on the next stage of exams. I just have to find Nara...Nara…”
“Nara?” Carrot Top’s annoying voice asked from Katsumi’s side. The distraction earned the girl a growl and a glare from her.
“What’s it to you? I’m busy here.” Katsumi ground her teeth. If this girl was going to waste her time again…
“I’m from Nara. Nara Municipal Prep.” Carrot Top said flatly, her voice laced with a tone that made Katsumi think of an older sibling for a moment before she shook her head and took a menacing step forward.
“Where are you sitting?”
“What? Why do you want to know that?” Carrot Top’s hard face became confused as she looked Katsumi over.
“So I know where the extra losers are sitting! Just tell me!” Katsumi took another step forward, but there was an almost pleading tone in her voice this time. She hadn’t meant to sound like that it had just slipped out. That thought seemed to surprise Carrot Top as her eyes widened and after what looked like a moment of thought, she raised one hand and pointed in a direction before walking off that way.
It was the longest walk of Katsumi’s life as her eyes trailed Carrot Top, she was screaming on the inside for the girl to hurry up by the time she did finally sit down among several rows of seats. There. Deku had to be-
“Excuse me, Miss. The exam is starting in-” the R-Rated Hero Midnight’s voice rolled over Katsumi’s ears, but without even looking at the Pro she interrupted the older woman.
“Yea, yea. Hold on.” she felt her eyes bulge and her heart race as she scanned the rows of seats and tables. Now looking for Deku’s messy jade hair, his playful, wide eyes, and his blinding smile that she had been longing to see after so long.
“Miss, you will-” Midnight started again but once more Katsumi waved her off.
“Just a minute. I-” Katsumi stopped and blinked. Her eyes squinted as she looked over the last set of seats for the Nara students. She had not seen Deku. No, that could not have been right. He had to be there. Maybe...maybe he changed his hair or something? She looked a second time and the result was the same.
A gnawing pit opened up beneath her feet.
‘No’ she thought, but the truth was right there in front of her.
Izuku wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the room at all. He...hadn’t applied to UA, had he?
At the age of fourteen Katsumi’s heart ached.
---
It took Katsumi until she was twenty-five to be Japan’s Number Three Hero and she was not happy about it.
Not at all.
“GET BACK HERE YOU EIGHT-EYED LITTLE SHIT!”
Katsumi’s voice roared the words as she propelled herself like a death-seeking rocket down the city street. Citizens below her ducking out of the way of the villain and hero chase. Since her UA days she had managed to train her quirk enough that she could send herself forward dozens of meters with a single blast of explosive power.
The villain she was chasing, some Spider-Dork as she called him, had eight eyes and legs like an arachnid which he used frustratingly for Katsumi to jump and scale the sides of buildings while holding the bag of money he had robbed from the local bank. Just when it seemed like Katsumi would catch him, he used his legs to turn his body hard and flee down a side street. Leaving Katsumi to zoom past him, unable to stop her forward momentum until she countered with an opposing blast of her quirk.
Turning was still an issue for her.
“When I catch him I’m going to pull off each of his legs. I swear.” she growled and landed on the ground before she backtracked to the street the villain had disappeared down.
She slapped her hand against the side of her mask, activating the communication link woven into the material beside her ear, “He’s coming your way, Shitty Hair.”
“Awesome! I’ll send him right back to you, Empress Explosion!” Red Riot aka Shitty Hair aka Kirishima’s voice crackled eagerly into her ear.
As much as she loathed to admit it, not that she ever would say it out loud, teaming up with Shitty Hair, the nickname that had just persisted in her head since UA and the Hardening Hero didn’t seem to mind at all, was an advantageous team-up. Red Riot was both a rock and a hard place - he cornered the villains while she delivered the explosive, killing blow. Catching up to Spider-Dork she shouted at him, “Die you bastard” and let her quirk send off an explosion.
It was a distraction and it worked perfectly, making the multi-eyed head of her prey swivel back to her in panic that he was going to get caught by one of her explosions. So he didn’t see Shitty Hair leap out in front of him.
“Red Gauntlet!” Shitty Hair shouted, his rock hard fist catching the villain in the stomach and sending him lurching backward into the street. Anyone else would have been swept off their feet by that blow but his arachnid legs moved as if they had a mind of their own and stopped his fall.
It was all the delay she needed.
“HOWITZER IMPACT!” Katsumi spun in the air, her body twirling as she released her quirk into a fiery twister of power that split the air and impacted into the villain as if it was the sun setting for the final time. The ground cracked and split under the attack, smoke and fire spilling out from the impact site. After several seconds the smoke cleared to show the villain was down and out, his body scorched and burned in several places, his arachnid legs curled up above him. Katsumi grinned maniacally, victory always tasted so sweet to her.
“The money is on fire!” Shitty Hair shouted and pointed toward the smoking bag the villain had stolen. He jumped over to the bag and began stomping on it to flatten the flames.
“Shitshitshit.” Katsumi cursed, she raced over to the villain and slapped capture cuffs over all eight of his legs before joining Red Riot with her own stomping battle-heels. Once the flames had been dispersed they opened the bag and sighed with relief, most of the cash was intact, only maybe a quarter of it was singed. That was good. She had once dropped ten places in the National Hero Billboard after a car chase had ended with an entire truck of money going up in smoke.
“Awesome take down, bro!” Shitty Hair grinned with his shark teeth, bumping his fist into her shoulder.
“Of course it was.” she snapped, though not with the same harshness she would have back in UA, instead she grumbled, “He didn’t even put up a fight. Almost a waste of time.”
“Haha, it's alright. If you want, maybe we could do some sparring after patrol?” Shitty Hair asked, hope and something else tinged in his voice that made Katsumi turn her head away and roll her eyes.
Gods. He was trying to ask her out. Again.
Couldn’t he take a hint?
“No thanks.” she sighed and rolled her shoulders, taking care of the muscles she had strained in her spinning attack, “I got to take care of some god awful paperwork at my agency.”
“O-oh sure! I know how that is. Some other time!” Shitty Hair’s grin never lost its enthusiasm but there was a warble in his voice.
Gods he was thick headed. He had asked her out twice in UA and she had turned him down both times. Then again once they had started to work together after they had graduated. Though this time he tried to be ‘subtle’ and would suggest they do things together as pseudo-dates. He was too open with his emotions however and she could read him every time he tried it. Pinky was just as frustrated with him as she was. She would need to talk to the Acid-quirk hero to finally take charge and ask him out herself so Katsumi would have some peace.
They waited for the police to arrive and take the villain away. While they waited they were approached by a couple citizens who wanted their autograph or picture taken with them both. She had mostly kept her original black and orange design from her first costume, but had replaced the baggy pants with more tighter leggings that went up to her knees while black fishnet went up the rest of the way to her hips. Her top formed a sort of pseudo-two piece dress that went down the front and back past her waist showing off her thighs.
Scowling her way through several photos she parted ways with Shitty Hair and blasted off toward her agency. It was a small office set on the top floor of a squat, brick building which had the latest fire sprinkler and detection systems on the market. She had gone through two other locations prior to this one after she had lost her temper and burned her office suite down. It was also why she had decided to move all of her filing to a digital remote server instead of hard copies.
“Tch. Another night. Another boring chase.” she huffed as she kicked open her door and collapsed on a couch, her limbs spread out and weary scowl on her face.
Her nights had been going on and on like this for months now. Minor stuff like chasing bank robberies and breaking up muggings. Everyday she saw news of other heroes, of MISS NUMBER TWO, going toe to toe with huge drug and smuggling operations, attacks on the Neo-PLA, and other missions that were talked about nationwide. The kind of talk that would see a hero elevated to a higher spot on the national rankings, that were all out brawls that would get her blood pumping and provide a challenge.
One day she had gone down to the Hero Association headquarters and demanded to know why she wasn't approached for such high-profile, high-risk operations?
Their reply?
Two Words: Collateral. Damage.
She had excelled during the PLA War due to the simple fact that the country had become a warzone and her powerful quirk was needed for the grueling combat they had all faced. Now though? The new Hero Commission wanted to keep fatalities and injuries down to a minimum, and high-end Combat Heroes like her were out of favor while Rescue and Investigation Heroes were growing in the spotlight and the preferred tool by most of the country’s law agencies. Endeavor had undergone a change during the PLA War and had simmered down and that was the only reason he still kept his spot. The only reason Miss Number Two was above her in the rankings, was because she was a hybrid Combat-Rescue Hero with her lame-ass quirk. The only reason Katsumi was still Number Three was because she worked hard around the clock to keep her numbers up, according to the polls it was her fierce look she always wore (and to her horror a large number of men who wanted her to step on them) that made her popular throughout Japan.
She could transition, take on more search and rescue work...but it felt like she would give up something if she did. “Not that the Hero Commission would give me a chance…”
Her phone began to ring as soon as she had finished muttering to herself. She looked at the number and immediately scowled, her teeth bared as she recognized the caller - Miss Number Two Hero. She debated for a moment letting it go to voicemail but on some whim she instead answered the call.
“What do you want, Carrot Top?”