Chapter Text
The last thing Katsuki remembers clearly is Deku’s stupid face, full of fear and pain like always, as the patchwork man called Dabi and the magician pulled Katsuki away into the swirling purple vortex.
“Stay back, Deku!”
He remembers yelling that. He remembers thinking that the last thing he needed was more useless dead weight to have to protect when he’s probably going to be surrounded by villains on the other side of this portal. Especially since that idiot had shattered both of his arms and taken a pretty serious hit to the face even before his pathetic attempt to ‘rescue’ him.
After that, it’s all so fuzzy. He thinks he must’ve fought with the villains, he's sure he wouldn't have just let a bunch of flunkies shove him into these manacles and tie him to a chair without a fight - and his whole body aches with the beginnings of bruises, his head especially.
When his eyes finally decide to listen to him and flutter open, he sees a dingy old room. He's surprised the building isn't condemned, the shape it seems to be in. From the walls alone it's clear the building is ancient - not many getting made with brick these days. A facade, perhaps, but not actual brick. The wooden bar that cuts the room in two lengthwise is scratched and stained, and the stools along the front of it are all frayed seams, cracked leather, and loose stuffing.
And then there's the smell. The stink of alcohol and piss hits him like a punch to the face. His face involuntarily scrunches up in an effort to dull the stench, but with his hands bound there's little he can actually do.
Katsuki scans the villains keeping guard over him. There's the patchwork man, some stupid lizard, a guy in a lame ass gray bodysuit, the magician, and another wearing sunglasses on his left. On his right, some little girl lounges with her torso and arms draped over the bar, next to the warping guy from the USJ.
And right in front, their boss. Shigaraki.
He's not wearing the full set of creepy disembodied hands this time, only the one that serves as a mask over his face.
"Oh, here it is..." He flips the channel on the cheap old TV on the opposite wall, just as the newscaster starts to intro a press conference from UA. The edge of a smile can just be seen around the hand clamped onto his face.
Katsuki fights to stay lucid enough to hear what's being said on the TV, but his head is still foggy - made worse by his aching body and the pit of emptiness in his stomach. He wonders how long it's been since the attack - probably at least several hours, but he can't get his eyes to focus on the timestamp on the news crawl.
Even as he slips in and out, he can tell the reporters are absolutely shredding UA, as if it was anyone's fault but his that he got captured. He presses his teeth into his lower lip, a bit of controlled pain, just slightly sharper than the dull aches from everywhere else. It helps to push him toward fully waking.
And he deserves it for letting these losers smack him around.
"Isn't that strange? Why're they criticizing the heroes, huh?" Shigaraki interrupts the press conference chatter with his raspy voice, his arms wide in an exaggerated shrug. "Their only crime was doing too little, too late! It's their job to protect people, but anyone can screw up now and then, right? Why're people expecting them to be perfect? Heroes today sure have it rough, I'd say. Am I right, Bakugo?"
Katsuki glares at him in response, and subtly tugs on the restraints. They're tight. Tough. His quirk might bust him out if he could twist into the right angle, but he won't manage that without breaking or at least dislocating his thumb.
Hardly ideal. But he leaves the idea on the table.
The dumb lizard ninja cosplayer speaks up next, from where he's trying to look cool by leaning against a wall with his arms folded. "Once a hero receives payment to protect people, they aren't a real hero anymore. This is what Stain has taught us!"
Katsuki subtly rolls his eyes. What a fucking tryhard.
"Heroes in this current system only care about money and glory. And since society buys into those idiotic rules, anyone deemed a loser is shoved aside... The people aren't cheering for the heroes, telling them to fight another day. They're blaming them, because they lost." Shigaraki continues, blabbing a bunch of nonsense and going on like someone obsessed with the sound of his own voice - which would be stupid, because he sounds like shit. "So, we want to pose some questions. What is a hero? What is justice? Is this society truly fair? Soon, everyone will be asking - and that's when we'll know we've won. And you like winning, don't you?"
The one eye visible to the side of the hand mask fixates on him pointedly.
Katsuki growls. He was already tired of listening to him before the monologue started.
"Dabi. Untie him." Shigaraki orders, out of nowhere.
Patches shoots him a confused look. "Huh?"
Katsuki watches them all warily. Maybe he won't have to dislocate a thumb after all.
"You know he'll just fight. Again." Patchwork complains.
Shigaraki returns a placating gesture. "It's fine! We're recruiting him, so we should treat him as an equal. Besides, our little UA student here should be smart enough to know he can't take us all... right? After all, UA students are so clever."
Katsuki knows a threat when he hears one, but even so he doesn't feel very threatened. These are the same losers that he blasted down a dozen of at the USJ. Maybe their ranks have changed a little, but the one really dangerous one isn't here. The warp guy is annoying, and fast as hell, but he's beaten him before.
"Hey Twice. You do it." Patches says to the uninspired bodysuit.
The bodysuit - Twice, apparently - jolts. "Huh, me? No thanks!" Then his voice shifts in tone and pitch, and he starts walking over. "I'm on it!" He kneels in front of Katsuki and starts fiddling with the manacles.
So they're really going for it. Hell, make it easy for me. I'll take it. Idiots.
"I do apologize for the rather forceful measures taken to get you here, and yet..." The magician explains. "We need you to understand that we're no mere thugs working in the name of aimless evil, without a proper third act in mind. It wasn't by accident that we spirited you away."
Katsuki bides his time while Twice unlocks the restraints. A faint grin slips onto his face. He's gonna make these villains pay.
"Everyone here has a different story to tell, but we've all suffered. Thanks to other people. Thanks to rules. Thanks to heroes." Shigaraki gets up, apparently unable to shut his trap for more than a couple minutes without spouting more chuuni trash. "We've all felt suffocated by society. I'm sure that you, more than anyone, should understand..."
When the manacles are finally released, Katsuki sits there and rubs his wrists where the metal was digging into his skin. Though it does hurt, it's more to disguise that he's waiting for the boss to get in range.
As soon as he's just a couple steps away, Katsuki punches the crazy bodysuit guy and launches himself at Shigaraki. He swipes at the weird ass hand mask, blasting with his quirk.
He has enough warning from the first strike that it barely catches him, but the hand does tumble off his face, landing limp on the floor.
"Shigaraki!" Twice cries as he crawls over to him.
"I'm done listening to your endless talking. Can't stand morons like you who can't get to the damned point!" Katsuki roars, taking a hunched stance, ready to defend himself when the villains retaliate.
To his surprise, it doesn't happen immediately.
Shigaraki slowly recovers, standing up straight again, but his gaze remains stuck to the fallen hand on the floor.
"Basically you're saying, 'we wanna cause trouble, be our pal'! Fuck off. What a joke." Katsuki taunts them. If he can bait another into getting close, maybe he can pull Deku's dumb trick and throw them at the now toppled restraint chair. Then, maybe he could fire another blast and slip out the door on the far side of the room.
Problem is that damned magician and the warping guy.
As he stands there, breathing, waiting for his opening to come, his mind wanders back to how All Might would stand against odds just as bad as this. He remembers watching the news on a TV in some random shop with Deku.
They went through the trouble of mounting a huge attack, all just to bring me back here. The idiots even told me what they wanted. They basically tipped their hand - bunch of amateurs. They're trying to break me psychologically, so I know they ain't gonna try to kill me for real.
Mentally, he scoffs at the idea that Deku wanted to follow him into this mess. As if he'd have been any help here. Besides, the villains only care about Katsuki. They'd have beaten Deku to a pulp, maybe kill him outright.
"I like to win. But I've always admired All Might's triumphs. I wanna win just like he does. No matter what any of you jerks say, nothing's ever gonna change that!" Katsuki yells again, waving the villains closer as they still haven't moved. All of them seem to have their attention split between Katsuki himself and their leader.
And Shigaraki is still regarding the lost hand mask on the floor - but his eyes are starting to become hateful. "Father..."
The tension of the moment rips apart as the press conference continues on the TV.
"We believe that the worst has been avoided as long as the students still have their futures - and we are relieved by that." Nezu says diplomatically.
"Can you say the same about young Bakugo, who was abducted? He enrolled at your school with excellent marks and went on to win your sports festival. Before that, he struggled valiantly against a powerful sludge villain who was later taken down by All Might. His impressive record implies the making of a tough hero, yet... He showed a rather violent side of himself after his sports festival victory. An attitude that persisted up through the awards ceremony. We've already caught glimpses, here and there, of his mental instability. What if it was those very qualities that made him a target? What if a skilled manipulator gets to him, and sends him down a path of evil? Can you provide proof that, as you say... that boy still has a future?" The reporter narrows his eyes dangerously, obviously thinking he's cornered them now.
Aizawa stands and bows again. "As Katsuki Bakugo's teacher, any lapse in his behavior is my failing. I take full responsibility for not taming his violent outbursts. Still... he behaved that way at the sports festival because he has such strong convictions and ideals. More than anyone, he pursues the title of top hero with everything he's got. If the villains believe that is a weakness, then they are grossly mistaken. I can guarantee you that much."
The reporter sounds unconvinced. "That doesn't amount to real evidence of anything, though. The boy's emotions aside, do you have any concrete information?"
"We're hardly approaching this passively. We're doing our best with the intel we have available." Nezu explains. "Currently, I am personally cooperating with the police in their ongoing investigation, and I have no doubt they will break the case very soon. Make no mistake, we won't rest until we retrieve the student who was taken from us."
Even with his current predicament, that does put a genuine grin on Katsuki's face. "Hah! Good ol' UA. Thanks for sticking up for me."
There's eight of them. While they're still sticking to their half-assed plan, I can probably beat the crap outta two or three and make my escape. He scans the room again, looking for weak links, or those who might be overly jumpy. "Just so you know, technically, I've still got permission to fight back!"
"He really seems to understand his position. Clever little thing." The one in the cheap sunglasses says. Katsuki doesn't like the tone he uses at the end.
"No, he's a fool." Patches corrects him.
The girl with the wild grin and pointy teeth has propped herself up on her elbows on the counter, and claps her hands together gleefully. "Can I stab him?"
"No." Patches says again.
The magician shakes his head. "A truly clever performer would've acted like we were winning him over. Now that he's broken character, he's finished."
Katsuki huffs at their stupid effort to demoralize him. "I do whatever I want to, and I won't even pretend otherwise. And I'm not in the mood to hang around this boring dump surrounded by lame ass wannabes for much longer."
"Father..." Shigaraki says again, then his hand twitches.
All around the eyes of the other villains widen. The warping guy moves to intercept him. "You mustn't, Tomura Shigaraki! Calm yourself..."
Shigaraki glares, and ultimately he only holds a hand out, as if to block his underlings from approaching. "Don't lay a finger on him. Any of you. This kid..." He pauses to pick up the mask and put it back on his face. "...is still a valuable piece. I wish you would've listened. I thought we might understand each other."
Distantly, Katsuki remembers something Best Jeanist had said during his internship - something about heroes and villains being cut from the same cloth? It only pisses him off more. "What, you think we're the same? Not a chance."
"What a shame. We all just heard about the heroes' investigation, so I can't waste much time trying to convince you." Shigaraki turns to the now-blank TV screen. "Master. Lend me your power. Make him see."
A voice comes from... the TV? But also everywhere, in the walls and even from inside Katsuki's own skull. "Very well. That is a wise decision, Tomura Shigaraki."
"Master? I thought you were the boss around here, but you're just a sidekick. Pretty disappointing..." He has to keep up that confident front, even as something about this turn of events has made the hairs on his neck stand on end.
"Kurogiri." That voice again. It prickles in his mind, echoing from inside. He hates how it sounds. "Send him to the doctor."
"Yes, of course." The warping guy dissipates from his position, and portals start opening up all over the room.
Katsuki rushes for the door, diving under one portal and pushing past the ugly bodysuit guy still laying on the floor. His window of escape is closing, fast.
More and more portals pop up in his path and close in behind him, until they cover every possible angle.
Katsuki stands frozen in place, surrounded by the gateways. He has but the space of a few heartbeats, only just long enough to register how utterly fucked he is, before one more opens up under his feet.
As he falls into the void, he can hear Shigaraki's raspy voice one last time.
"You'll regret not joining us willingly."
Katsuki bitterly thinks how he wants to shove an entire bag of cough drops down the villain's throat.