Gilded Green

“My fellow Americans… I know better than anyone else that the last three years of my presidency have been… divisive.

I know that while I am doing what I believe is best for the nation, that there will always be someone, somewhere, who my decisions will hurt the livelihoods of- no matter how well intentioned those decisions were.

I know this, and while I will never look down on those people for standing up for their families, I ask that today we set aside the last three years. I ask that today we forget the things that divide us, and put our differences in politics, opinions, religion, and race aside.

Because today… Today I speak to you, not as your president, but as a fellow American. An American born in this country, raised in this country, who lived my life in this country, and loves this country with all my heart.

…

Almost exactly 21 hours ago, our beloved country- our way of life, our very freedoms were attacked without provocation.

Our brothers and sisters murdered in cold blood in the safety of their own homes. Mothers and fathers, friends and neighbors. Hundreds of thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil- true, despicable, evil the likes of which has only been seen in the darkest depths of human history.

The same darkness that built the bricks of Auschwitz, the floors of Soviet gulags, and carried out the mass beheadings by ISIS, struck our nation.

New York. Detroit. Sacramento. San Francisco.

These cities, and the millions of Americans who called them home, will never return to us.

…

Reports indicate that the attacks were able to slip by every defense we had through the prolonged use of multiple mind influencing meta abilities on personnel of high importance- all the way up to the head of the Department of Defense.

It is clear to me now that my administration has been far too gentle with the handling of meta abilities, and that the comforts of a minority cannot outweigh the safety of the entire nation.

Effective immediately, with the unanimous support of congress, and the full backing of the supreme court, the American government is implementing the Ravenlock laws. A new, restrictive, and comprehensive set of laws governing the use of meta abilities- both in public and in private.

We will also be establishing a new and fully public database of every quirked individual on American soil. No longer will they be able to hide who they are, and what they are capable of!

We will ensure that nothing like this is ever able to happen again! That meta abilities will NEVER be used to inflict harm on the people of America! We will lock them down so thoroughly that a mind leech won’t so much as be able to steal a candy bar!

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

…

And to the Meta Liberation Army, to the demons in human skin that have stolen so much from so many. Who took from the world, in three hours, more life than the Nazis did in twelve years, you have made an enemy that you will be regretting for every moment left in your fleeting lives.

America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day, and none of you will live to find forgiveness.

…

Destro. We will find you.”

-A transcript of President John Howling’s emergency broadcast to the nation, following the 2052 MLA attacks on America, after the President had refused to bring up Hungarian quirk labor camps in his meeting with the European Union.

-Gilded Green-

-Arc Start: Welcome to Midoriya Industries-

Year: 2111

Why was this happening?

“What? You don’t have anything to say, fucktard?”

He didn’t even go to their school anymore, they had to go out of their way to cross paths with him on his route home.

“Aww, did the filthy mutant forget how to talk since it was diagnosed as an animal?”

Why were they doing this to him? Didn’t they used to be friends?

“Stop fucking ignoring me!”

A shoe stomped down near his head, and Bakugo yelped, curling further into a ball.

“Stop.” He growled in what he hoped was a threatening tone, from his position huddled up against the brick wall.

“Or what?” The two boys standing above him laughed- two boys he used to be friends with.

“Or you’ll fucking regret it!” He snapped at them and clenched his fists harder, desperately fighting to keep his Meta ability under control as his anger mounted.

“Whatcha gonna do Sparky?” The fat boy taunted. “Gonna use your wittle sparklers? Last time you did that, I heard the public use fine almost cost your family their house!”

Calm. Calm! He had to be calm. His quirk acted up when he got mad. They wanted him to react.

“Oh no!” The skinny kid mocked in fake worry. “He’s gonna light a candle at us!”

“I can’t even believe it. His mom got drunk and fucked an animal without telling anyone, and all she got out of it was a fucking Mut who’s outdone by a 50 cent lighter!”

Bakugo ducked his head and tried to block the laughter out, hiding the tears that were forming in his eyes. He was strong, his mom told him that he was tougher than these bullies, that by being the bigger man and getting home without causing a fuss was how he could win against them.

The laughter of the boys trailed off awkwardly as they stared at him, and the fat one sneered.

“DONT IGNORE ME, MUT!” He shouted as he reared back and kicked Bakugo in the side, causing him to cry out in pain and fall over.

“HEY!” A shrill voice screamed out, and Bakugo could hear shoes pounding on the concrete as someone ran towards them. “LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

Bakugo spared a glance up to see a boy with Green hair barreling down the sidewalk, and jump in front of him.

“Oh, it’s the green haired defect!” The fat boy sneered. “I don’t even know why they let you go to the human school, Midoriya, your mom and dad have the mark, it’s only a matter of time before you turn out diseased as well.”

“N-No! That’s not true!” The green haired boy shook his head. “I-I can’t get it, I s-still have my toe joint! The d-doctors said so!”

“Yeah right, I bet he was lying! I bet your mom paid him off with her whore money!”

“That’s not true!”

“It totally is!” The fat kid crossed his arms and glared at Izuku. “You’re a ticking time bomb. Like the shittiest version of a jack in the box. It’s only a matter of time before you get shipped off to the prison school, like the rest of the Muts.”

Midoriya looked away in shame, muttering something about the school only looking like a prison because it needed to be reinforced so things didn’t get broken as often, but he didn’t back down.

Fatso growled, increasingly more and more pissed off that Izuku wasn’t moving. Unlike Muts, where the term “self defense” was legally vague to cover any fringe cases like mind control, he couldn’t just punch a human without getting in trouble.

“Tch, fine! Have fun with the animals, it’s only a matter of time before you join them.” Fatty sneered before stomping away with his friend. “Come on dude, let's get some ice cream.”

Bakugo watched them go wearily, not taking his eyes off them until they rounded the corner. Once they were gone, he turned his attention to the green haired kid.

The boy was shaking, clearly the intimidation and the insults had hit him pretty deep. He sniffled, and brought his arm up to wipe something (almost certainly tears) from his face.

“H-Hey, Green.” Bakugo called out to get his attention.

Midoriya yelped and spun around to face him in surprise.

“Thanks for the save.” He offered a fragile smile and crossed his arms to hide the bloody cuts on his palms from how tightly he’d been clenching his fists. “That… That could have gone really bad for me if you hadn’t jumped in. I owe you one.”

“Oh! Nonononno! You don’t owe me anything!” Midoriya frantically waved his arms. “I was just doing what I wish people would do for me sometimes! I just stood there while they yelled at me- I was pathetic!”

“Eh.” Bakugo shrugged. “Don’t sell yourself short. I’ve seen worse, a lot worse.”

The face Midoriya made clearly didn’t agree, but he didn’t say anything.

“My name is Izuku Midoriya.” He said as he held out his hand. “What’s yours?”

“…Bakugo.” He blond answers, hesitating for a second before grasping the hand and being pulled to his feet. “Bakugo Katsuki.”

“Glad to meet you Bakugo.” Izuku smiled like a ray of sunshine, bore his face twisted into horror as he glanced down at their hands.

…And all the blood covering their palms.

“OMYGODYOU’REHURTWENEEDTOGETYOUTOTHEHOSPITAL!”

“Wait! It’s not that bad! Calm down! I’m fine! Izuku! Stop dragging me! IZUKUUUU!”

-Gilded Green-

The two boys were opposites in many ways. Bakugo was prickly, quick to get angry, but also knew to back down before things got too bad, lest he be faced with all sorts of legal problems. Izuku was cheery and shy, but God damned was he stubborn, and would refuse to leave something be no matter what kind of trouble it got him into.

Bakugo was grumpy, Izuku was friendly.

Bakugo was a pessimist, Izuku was an optimist.

Bakugo was an extrovert, Izuku was an introvert.

Bakugo hated coffee, Izuku could guzzle the stuff.

But there weren't exactly a lot of options when it came to finding company.

Bakugo was a quirked in a town that was majority quirkless, and worse, he had bullied the few quirked kids his age before he himself got his quirk. His old friends now went out of their way to pick on him, and the other quirked wanted nothing to do with him.

Izuku was a quirkless child to a quirked family. He was viciously mocked by the other kids at the quirkless school because of his parents, and the few quirked kids in town all hated him because he somehow won the genetic lottery and got to live a normal life despite his parents.

Over the next few months the two became close friends.

Every day, without fail, they would meet at the old run down park to hang out.

Sometimes they would go exploring in the shallow forest that sat on the west side, and swim in the shallow river that ran through it. Sometimes they would pull out their school books and help each other with homework. Sometimes they would go marching through the town looking for candy shops for Bakugo to spend his allowance on. And sometimes they would stain their hands red as they played on the rusted metal playground.

It was nice, having a friend. It distracted him from the judging stares, and being in a group of two drove off most would be bullies.

But Bakugo was a quirked, a Mut. He wasn’t supposed to have nice things. And one day he made a mistake- the stupid, idiotic, mentally fucking retarded mistake of asking his best friend if he could see his house.

…

“Come on! Quick! Before the neighbors see!” Izuku whispered with a wide grin as he pulled Bakugo up through the window of his apartment.

“Why couldn’t we just use the door?” The blond asked as he pulled himself over the window seal. He wasn’t complaining, it was waaaay cooler, but still.

“Because the front door’s locked and my Mom doesn’t get back until 9 to unlock it, so unless you want to wait around for the next three hours doing nothing, then the window’s the best choice. Don’t worry, I do it all the time!”

“Actually, now that you mention it, I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned your mom before, what gives?”

“Eheh…” Izuku forced a weak laugh and scratched his arm. “N-No reason. It just never came up?”

Bakugo didn’t push the weak response, instead his attention was occupied by other things- namely the decoration of his best friend’s room.

“Holy crap.” He whispered in sock as he took in the room.

The walls were covered in posters and blueprints of machines and technology.

“Tomorrow can be today!” The words were painted in the shape of golden gears, hangin above aman in a science coat who smiled and made a big peace sign with his hand.

“Oh! That’s mister Shield!” Izuku said as he walked over. “He’s a really famous inventor over in America. He tried to pool funding from the scientific community to make an artificial island called I-island a few years back, that would just be a place for science, but it kinda fell through…”

“Huh.” Bakugo scratched his cheek as he looked over a blue poster the size he was, displaying the inner workings of some kind of giant missile, in words that had far too many syllables to actually exist.

He knew Izuku was a bit of an egghead, but wasn’t this a bit much for a 10 year old?

…Maybe he was just dumb?

No! He shook his head, he wasn’t some kind of stupid animal, he wouldn’t let those shitty bullies get to him! He needed something to distract himself.

“Hey Izuku!”

“Hm? What is it?”

The green head turned around, only to be nailed in the face by a pillow.

-Gilded Green-

Hours passed with nothing but laughter from the two kids. Pillow fights, video games, cards, all the things they hadn’t ever been able to do outside at the park. All safe from the prying eyes of bullies.

It was fun.

It was fun…

Bakugo yawned as he stretched his arms in the air, it was getting pretty late and he’d have to head home soon.

“Hey Izuku, do you have any snacks?”

“Wh-What?” Izuku’s head whipped around, strangely startled for some reason.

“Snacks. You got any?”

“Uhh, s-snacks, uhh, y-yeah.”

“...You okay dude? It’s fine if you don’t have any.”

“N-No!” Izuku violently shook his head and pushed himself to his feet. “W-We h-have snacks! I’ll go g-get some! E-Easy!”

Bakugo opened his mouth to say something, but Izuku ignored him, and was already closing the door behind him.

“Snacks.” He whispered to himself as he nervously shuffled to the kitchen. “Normal families have snacks. W-We should have some snacks.”

The kitchen was dull. The faded green wallpaper had brown stains dotted along it, spots of mold near the ceiling line. A single yellow light occasionally flickered overhead, shining on piles of trash, empty cans, broken green bottles, and old newspapers. The perpetual hum of the AC was accompanied by a faint scraping noise, as the fan ground against its rusted bearings.

This was Izuku’s house, and why he had brought his friend in directly through the window to his room- the only part of it that was regularly cleaned and maintained.

He hadn’t lied, per say, his mom left the door locked, and he had spent many nights of his childhood huddled at the front door in the rain, waiting for her to get home. He’d just learned how to… jimmy the lock into opening for him, over the years.

The door to the pantry opened with a loud creak, its hinges protesting the movement heavily. Inside were rows of stained white shelves, all almost completely empty.

There was some empty seasoning bottles up at the top, the pepper was at least half full. A box of ketchup packets he had been collecting every time he passed the hotdog stand. Some tuna cans. A pack of beer cans…

Aha!

Izuku reached into the back, shuffling an empty box out of the way, and pulled out three old bags of stale chips. They had to be years past their expiration date, but they were still snacks!

…But it wasn’t very much was it?

Izuku hesitated before grabbing the oily handle of the fridge and opening it up. Inside was similarly bare as the panty, but there were still some things that would do. He grabbed two of the three water bottles and a unopened packet of pepperoni.

He smiled to himself and began making his way back to his room.

Keys jingled.

Izuku froze.

Slowly, the front door opened, and revealed a disheveled woman. Inko Midoriya looked terrible, with deep heavy bags under her eyes, and sickly pale skin. Her hair was thin, graying at the roots in some places from stress. Her clothes were wrinkled and looked like they hadn’t been washed very recently. Her hands were boney, and if you were to lift her shirt, you could have easily counted her ribs.

Izuku stared up at her like a deer in spotlights.

Inko’s eyes narrowed, squinting through the haze of exhaustion and alcohol. Her gaze focused on his face, then slowly drifted down to the food in his hands.

“You… You bastard!” She hissed. “I’ve told you! You know how tight money is!”

“N-N-No! Y-You don’t understand I-I was-”

“Don’t understand!?” She snapped as she marched forward, the smell of alcohol on her breath. “I work overtime at four fucking jobs! FOUR! Just to keep the lights on, and put crumbs on the table!”

“I-I-I-I-”

“They’re all shit!” They treat me like garbage, and pay me nothing, and they know I have to take it because no one else is willing to hire a meta in this town!” Inko snarled as she grabbed Izuku’s arm by the wrist and yanked it up, showing off the stolen goods to the world. “I work my ass off! Everyday! Like a slave! And I come home to find you stealing what little food we have!? When I already feed you a larger portion than myself!?”

“N-No! I w-wasn’t-”

“You weren’t what? You weren’t satisfied with just taking my marriage!? With making my husband leave!? He thought I CHEATED on him when it turned out you were quirkless!! I’m a fucking slave at work paying the bills for both of us! I’m practically fucking starving myself for you and you still-”

“STOP!” Izuku shouted. “P-Please, just listen why-”

“WHY!? WHY!? You think you have an excuse for this!?” Inko shrieked. “Do you think you’re special!? Do you think you’re better than me because you’re not a Mut!?”

“I didn’t say that!” Izuku cried, tears welling up in his eyes from how tightly she was gripping his wrists. “Let go! Please! It Hurts!” Acting on childish instinct he yanked his arms away, pulling himself free with his whole body weight.

Unfortunately, the sudden pull yanked the tipsy Inko off balance, and the woman waved her arms around in panic as she tripped over and slammed her head into the hallway’s grandfather clock with a wet crunch.

Izuku stared in horror as Inko slowly pulled herself up, whimpering in pain.

“...bastard.” She whispered under her breath as she turned to face him, her face covered in blood from a broken nose, and stained with tears of grief. “Aver everything I’ve done for you.”

“M-Mommy, n-no, I didn't mean-”

“BASTARD!” Inko screeched in fury as she lunged for him.

Not even a whole foot to the right of them, and able to hear everything clearly through the paper thin walls, Bakugo slid down the wall, hands clamped over his mouth, as tears of abject horror spilled down his face.

Izuku was screaming for help.

For his help.

Oh God… Oh God.

The begging. The punching. The beating. The pain. The screaming.

The screaming…

So… much… screaming…

-Gilded Green-

Year: 2138

Bakugo gasped as jerked awake, old memories slipping away like water down the drain, and replaced with the cold grip of reality.

He wasn’t in 10 anymore- he was 37. He wasn’t at Izuku’s house. He wasn’t even in Japan, and Izuku’s mom wasn’t even on the same tectonic plate as him.

But the screaming was still there, louder, pounding on his ringing skull as if it were taking a hammer to a church bell.

He brought a hand up to cup his aching head, and it came away slick with blood. But the blood didn’t drip downwards, instead it slipped through the cracks of his fingers and fell away from him.

He blinked at his hand in confusion, slowly coming to the realization that he was suspended on the ceiling. Why was he hanging from the ceiling?

Then, all at once, it came back to him. Finally getting a lead on the Destro-est terrorist group. Reports of mass riots in sector D. The mission dispatch. The chopper getting hit. The crash.

Bakugo coughed, gasping for air, and pushed the button for release on his seat restraints. The crisscrossing belts across his chest snapped apart, letting him fall to the ground.

A loud clang echoed in the enclosed space as his metal boots landed on the metal wall of the chopper.

“Fucking Hell…”

He looked around the craft as he pushed himself to his feet. Metal siding had been knocked loose, exposing threads of torn wires that enabled freely and sparked dangerously. Anything not bolted down had been thrown all over the place. Red emergency lights bathed the would-be coffin in a crimson glow.

He chanced a glance behind him, towards the cockpit, and winced at the tangled heap of bloody metal where the pilot had been sitting.

He muttered a brief prayer in his head for the man, to whatever was out there, and froze when his eyes caught on a helmet laying in the corner.

It was a mean looking thing. Black metal all the way around, with red highlights, and a one way visor that was twisted in a perpetually angry scowl.

He stared at the helmet, memories flowing in his mind like threads unraveling from spools of silk. Memories from a time when he was younger, angrier, with something to prove. When he had been desperate to make sure no one would ever look down on him again.

“If I’m gonna be head of security for an entire island I need a cool fucking title!”

“What, is commander not good enough?”

“No way, I want something that’ll make bad guys piss their pants! Lord of arms! No! Lord of War! Yeah! And the troops would all call me-“

“General Krieg, reporting for duty.” Bakugo muttered to himself with a sigh. Man, he had such a bad taste in names as a kid, he might as well have taped a sign with “edgy teenager angst” on his back while he was at it.

“All right…” He took a deep breath before slipping the helmet on. Its systems flickered to life, the visor glowing red as the HUD turned on, and the voice modulator activated. “Let’s get to work.”

He slammed his fist against the button to open the aircraft’s back door, (a nice yellow button that gave him pause because it should have been to his right, but was now overhead), but wasn’t too surprised when nothing happened.

The device on his arm, part of the gauntlets he wore, whirred as the numerous storage tanks inside it, each full of his explosive sweat, slotted into position to output the exact amount he wanted.

The explosion tore off the door, sending it flying and embedding it into a nearby wall.

Bakugo marched out of the flaming wreck, and into the open. The moon hung above him in the sky, but the night wasn’t dark as you would expect it to be with the electrical grid down- far from it in fact, the flames that lit up the entire area were at least useful for something.

He turned to look at his vehicle.

Now he wasn’t exactly a mechanic, but the problem was pretty easy to spot, even for someone as block headed as him.

There were supposed to be two arms of the craft that protruded from both sides, each with a propeller blade on the top, and each arm could swivel and tip the rotors independently, allowing for a much more advanced level of control than a simple one rotor system could provide.

One of them was missing, on account of the giant hole blown into the side of the airship.

Again, not a mechanic, but he’d wager a guess this wasn’t exactly something you could just “buff out”.

He crossed his arms and observed the damage. Whatever had hit the craft had been a projectile, and hot enough to melt the steel around it. A fire or energy based quirk, perhaps?

A muffled gasp broke his concentration, and he turned around to see two guards, who had come to investigate the crash, staring at him in shock.

Their surprise was understandable, they had turned the corner and found him standing (seemingly) completely unhurt over a crash that would have killed anyone else.

Of course the fact he was wearing his power armor also contributed.

Izuku and Melissa had gone out of their way to make the outfit as intimidating as it was functional. The whole idea was to have a “boogeyman” character that swooped in whenever things got really bad, and that stopped things from getting that bad again 90% of the time just by existing. It had been a dream of Izuku and Bakugo’s when they were children- a “symbol of peace” to scare away real bad guys.

It had worked, almost beyond expectations, and Bakugo remembered being so excited about playing the role, about being the cool unflappable intimidating villain, just like in his favorite stories, but also being able to help people by doing so.

…

That had been so long ago… The problem with being a deterrent, is that all the good you do is manifested by bad things not happening, which means you never get to actually see yourself doing any good. Numbers and spreadsheets can only do so much for so long, and they had stopped giving him any pride years and years ago.

Nowadays he just felt numb.

“General!” The guards snapped to attention with salutes, weapons at their sides.

Bakugo stalked forward, ignoring them. The noise from his armor’s motors being drowned out by the heavy metal footsteps.

The rest of the outfit matched the helmet, angry looking, mainly black metal with red highlights. It was thick enough to provide protection without making him look bulky, but had two large gauntlets around his forearms, and a large black cape that hung from his shoulders to hide the numerous weapons he had strapped to his back.

Bakugo got a better view of the situation as he climbed down from the pile of rubble.

It was… not great.

Buildings were burning, APCs were flipped on their sides. Bodies, mostly metas, littered the ground in pools of blood. The guards on site were running around without direction, but had at least managed to set up a passable perimeter that they were dragging their wounded to.

“Fucking armatures.” He muttered.

The commander in charge of the operation, given away by the red shoulder pauldron and the fact he wasn’t wearing a helmet, gulped in terror when he saw him, and quickly jogged over.

“Lord Krieg! We were ambushed upon arrival, b-but I assure you I have the situation well under control!”

“I have no interest in your failures commander, I am here on a mission of my own.”

Bakugo scowled beneath his mask, he wanted to scream at this incompetent idiot who got his men hurt, to curse him out and have him fired, but he bit it back.

That wasn’t the role. General Krieg was supposed to be the unflappable badass that showed up and got rid of the problem. Screaming at the commander would only break morale.

Besides, he could talk to Izuku later about having the guy demoted.

Bakugo spotted a group of wounded guards who had been pulled off to the side to recover, two medics fluttering around between them like gnats.

He marched up to the nearest one. It was a girl, she was clutching her shoulder to stem the flow of blood, and her helmet had been knocked off her head in the chaos, revealing a pretty face and a long ponytail of orange hair.

At the sight of him her eyes went wide and she leapt to her feet, heavily favoring her left one, and gritted her teeth through the pain as she snapped a crisp salute.

“What’s your name, guardsmen.”

“H2-13, sir!”

“I asked for your name, not an ID number.”

“I-Itsuka Kendo, sir!”

“What is the situation?” He asked, and decided to further clarify at her questioning look. “I would rather have the account from a soldier, than a bureaucrat.” He stated to the amazement of Itsuka.

“O-of course sir!” She licked her dry and bleeding lips. “The situation was already critical when we arrived, sir. A Mut charged the line, and when a guard opened fire it spooked the mob into either rushing us or trampling one another to get the Hell out of here. We were hard pressed, but still managing to keep the riot from spilling out of control, but a trained group assaulted our backline, and broke our formation.”

“How large was this group?”

“Only three sir.” She admitted with shame. “They were all large mutant types who were experienced with combat. We didn’t see them coming and paid the price for it. Their leader has some sort of shape shifting ability, and turned himself into a giant monster. Last I saw, the stormguard troops were chasing him towards the factory section.”

“Thank you for your time and honesty, guardsmen Kendo.”

He gave her a nod of respect before turning and heading in the direction she’d pointed.

“Tell the stormguard troops to call off their attack and focus on the two associates.” He told the commander as he marched past him. “I will deal with the leader myself.”

“By yourself?”

“I assure you commander, that alone will be far more than enough.”

-Gilded Green-

What Bakugo had learned over the years was that there were two types of criminals.

The first were ones who did crime for the material aspect of it, they robbed a bank because they needed money, and did their absolute best to cover their tracks so they could get away.

The second kind were the ones who cared more about sending messages than the crime itself. They wanted their name to be known, or some wrong to be made public. They were far more dangerous in the long term, but by God were they easier to find than the other kind.

Bakugo kicked the service door open and walked out onto the roof with a giant meat abomination that was howling at the moon, and could be easily seen from as much as five blocks away.

It was easily seven feet tall, covered in pulsing writhing flesh- some revolting combination of human skin, octopus tentacles, and reptile scales. His left arm was that of an alligator, his right the claw of an eagle, his legs were of a bull, and his head had goat horns sprouting from it.

It stood upon the bloody forms of two stormguard units, and paused to sniff the air.

“If it isn’t the Warden.” The monster growled as it turned around. “Come to put the prisoners back in their cells?”

Bakugo crossed his arms and sized up his opponent, while also thinking up a good response for all the drone cameras Izuku had around the island.

What was the point of having a symbol of peace if you weren’t going to record and televise it beating the snot out of anyone who stood in his way?

“I am here to put down a rabid dog.” General Krieg sneered. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“A dog!?” The mutant raged. “You want an animal!? I’ll give you an animal!”

Bakugo watched in interest as thick turtle shell armor grew out of the mutant’s body, encasing his chest, arms, and upper legs completely.

“My name is Suneater!” He declared, glaring out through a small slit in his new helmet. “Soldier of the revolution! Favored son of the new dawn! Long will you rue the day that you and your dreadful master chose to oppress the successors of Destro! The world will shake in fear, and our names will forever be etched into the histo-”

“Die.”

Bakugo’s right gauntlet clicked and ignited all of the fuel it had saved up, promptly evaporating the half of the roof in front of him in an explosion that sent the mutant flying off into the distance like a cannonball made of burnt meat.

The building shuddered, and after waiting a moment to make sure it wasn’t going to collapse under him, Krieg made his way to the edge and stared down at where the mutant had been launched. He didn’t see any movement.

“What a fucking waste of time.” Bakugo huffed, low enough so the speakers didn’t pick it up, but right before he turned to walk away, a huge pink tentacle shot out of the smoke and slammed into his side, sending him toppling off the edge.

He rolled as he landed, avoiding being crushed by a followup attack from the tentacle. He used an explosion from his left gauntlet to launch himself to his feet, just in time for the tentacle to whip into his chest, driving the air from his lunge and sliding him back along the ground.

He dropped his left arm down and wrapped it around the slimy limb, and refused to let go when the thing tried to jerk back. Mis muscles strained, and his suit whirred, but he held it still with one hand. He flicked his free hand causing a blade to shoot out from the top wrist of his gauntlet, and severed the tentacle in two with one clean swipe.

Suneater screamed, and the tentacle, now half as long, retreated across the clearing, through the clearing smoke, and to the mutant. It slurped up into the top of his back like a fleshy fishing line.

He glowered at Bakugo with a withering stare, sprouted two more horns from his head, and charged.

Katsuki reached behind his back, to his weapon stash hidden under his cape, where there were many metal blocks magnetically attached to the back of his suit. He pulled one of the strange blocks from his back, and it unfolded in his hand, metal plates sliding over each other and clicking into place to form a blocky shotgun.

Bakugo took aim and fired. Even though he only held the gun with one hand, it didn’t so much as twitch from the recoil.

Then he fired again. Then again. Then again.

Each shot bit into the mutant’s shell armor, shattering it further and further, until the shards that fell to the ground started shining red with chunks of flesh.

Six shots struck the monster before the gun clicked empty.

A victorious flash of emotion shot through Suneater’s eyes and he shifted his body slightly to the left as he barreled forward, ready for the Warden to reach up with his right hand to either reload or attempt to stop his charge.

Bakugo did neither.

Instead he tossed the gun into the air, caught it by the barrel, and swung it like a club at the beast’s head, all with the same hand.

The impact was so strong that it knocked Suneater completely off course, and shattered the metal body gun. But Bakugo wasn’t done. He spun his broken weapon around again, now little more than a sharp metal stick, raised it into the air, and stabbed it down into the joint of Suneater’s shoulder, right in the gap between his chest piece and his upper arm.

The sharp metal cut through muscles and tendons alike, digging into the socket and dislocating the arm.

The mutant howled in agony as the limb slumped lifelessly to his side, and threw a haymaker at the General with his good arm.

The turtle shell on the arm shattered like a cocoon as the flesh underneath it ballooned and bulged, twisting itself into a horrible abomination of animal parts.

The punch was strong enough to shatter concrete, and would have turned any normal person’s chest to a fine red mist. But Bakugo wasn’t a normal person, he was a quirked- maybe it was the next stage in human evolution, maybe he was marked with the influence of the devil, or maybe both, it didn’t really matter. Even putting aside his meta ability, he was stronger than the average person on a biological level, more durable than humans, and even healed slightly faster. On top of that, he was also wearing one of the most powerful exoskeletons ever created for combat.

His gauntleted hand lashed out and grabbed the mutant’s wrist, stopping the devastating blow in its place.

“Your fear betrays you.” Bakugo monologed through his suits speakers, without a hint of nervousness in his voice. “Your power fluxes in connection with your emotions, and you lack the discipline to restrain them from running wild.”

The suit’s motors groaned audibly as he slowly pushed the fist back, twisting it painfully at the wrist.

“You are weak.”

“I’M NOT WEAK!” The mutant screamed, pushing back in rage. His flesh visibly shifted under the armor, rippling erratically. “I’M STRONGER THAN ANYONE ELSE!”

“You lack control. You lack discipline. You lack training.” Krieg listed, twisting the mutant’s hand with each word. “You are weak in mind, and that is all that matters.”

Krieg twisted and the mutant screamed as his forearm snapped.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”

The scream grew louder as Suneaters mouth stretched, morphing into the jaw of the dog he was, and bit deep into the general’s shoulder.

Bakugo hissed as he felt the teeth puncture the armor and scrape into his skin, but outside the suit Krieg gave no reaction, the cold mask staring down at the mutant in apathy.

He let go of the weapon still embedded in Suneater’s shoulder, and placed his fist over the spot in the mutant’s chest armor where his bullets had mostly torn a hole through.

His gauntlet clicked into position, and that was all the warning Suneater got before an explosion sent him flying off of Krieg and through a nearby wall.

The impact rattled his brain, causing black spots to dance in his vision, and unconsciousness to grip him in its welcoming embrace.

But he was forcibly dragged back to reality by a wave of pain, as a hard metal boot stomped down on his chest.

“You are a pawn, far too weak to have organized this on your own.” Krieg pushed down, driving the air from the mutant’s lungs and pushing him into the ground. “Where is your master?”

Suneater let out a pitiful laugh, laced with blood, soaked with pain, and drowning in remorse.

“F-Fool… I don’t have a master. I have brothers a-and sisters, dozens! W-We are u-united by faith and s-struggle against our chains! They will avenge me!”

Suneater glared up at Krieg with burning hate, but the still black mask gave nothing away. No emotion, no sympathy, no anger. Nothing.

“Who recruited you?”

“M-My father was the one to o-open my eyes to the truth, and you killed him years ago.” Suneater scowled. “You won’t get a-anything from me! W-We’re intentionally kept in the dark in case we’re captured. Your victory today accomplishes nothing!”

“...Quite unfortunate.” Krieg hummed, seemingly not affected at all by the information. “Unfortunate for you, that is.”

Suneater looked at him in confusion, before his eyes went wide in terror.

“Unfortunate because I believe you.”

“NO! PLEASE! WAI-”

The point blank explosion easily broke through the helmet, cutting off the pleas.

-Gilded Green-

Bakugo disinterestedly watched the teams work around him, securing the bodies of dead and wounded guards onto stretchers and whisking them off to district B for immediate medical treatment, and tossing the bodies of dead metas into the back of two huge cargo trucks, to be rolled to who knows where, for who knows what.

Dimly he noted that this was easily the bloodiest day for the guard in over a decade, and that even though this was easily the bloodiest day for the guard in over a decade the number of dead metas easily tripled the number of guards killed and wounded combined.

Fire crews worked on snuffing out the remaining flames, and making sure the buildings in the area weren’t in danger of collapsing.

A caravan of armored cars drove by, taking away dozens of prisoners to holding cells to be interrogated.

He watched it all happen around him, but all he could feel was a heavy sense of numbness that settled over his chest.

Off to the side, a orange ponytail caught his attention, and he looked to see Itsuka staring up at him with owlish eyes.

He knew what she saw. She saw Krieg, supreme commander of all matter of security on Atlas island, standing above it all on the ledge of a broken roof, in his dark armor, his arms crossed, and his cape billowing in the wind.

He saw in her eyes the reflection of what was hidden beneath every other guard helmet at the scene.

Awe.

Wonder.

Respect.

Fear.

A brief shot of pain flared in his soul. He was only trying to be scary to keep away the bad guys, the monsters who hurt people. Why did his own guard fear him? Couldn’t they understand?

He scowled under his mask, and crushed that simmering spark of anger under the suffocating blanket of numbness. No anger. Not while on duty. He wouldn’t let his emotions steal control of his quirk away from him.

They had every right to fear him, to hate him. Even if they didn’t know it, he deserved their fear and anger.

He deserved it for the same reason that he agreed to put the mask on in the first place.

Because he was a Mut, and that was what he deserved, even if he was too terrified of letting anyone know that to show them his real name and face.

The broken sobs of a child calling for help from their best friend as blows continued to rain down echoed in his mind, and unlike with his anger, his numbness wasn’t able to drown it out… It never had, and he knew it never would.

-Gilded Green-

Yui Kodai had a cushy job, and she was very thankful for it. Being the personal assistant of the CEO of the largest corporation in the world paid well, and gave her a strange amount of influence over world events, in a roundabout way, that made her stomach nauseous every time she thought about it.

But the reason she carried around a bottle of headache medicine in her bag at all times, wasn’t because of the mountains of paperwork, or anything even in her job description, no it was because of her boss.

Yui could feel the vein on her forehead getting bigger as she stood in the doorway to the private suite of Izuku’s personal Jet.

Izuku Midoriya, one of the most influential men in the world, sat in the back seat with his shirt unbuttoned, the jacket that cost double her yearly salary crumpled in a corner, and two blond American flight attendants, from the airport they had left in New New York, draped over either side of him.

How the Hell had he even talked these two bimbos onto the plane? Actually, no, how had he gotten them out of their posts and past security without anyone noticing?

“Zuzu say cheese!” One of the girls giggled, holding out her phone and to take a selfie.

“Cheese? I love cheese!” Izuku slurred a drunken smile and flashed a peace sign for the camera.

The girl stuck her tongue out at the camera and pulled her blouse down to dangerous levels, proudly showing off Izuku’s signature sloppily swirled onto her right breast.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Yui sighed. “Sir!” She called loudly, finally pulling everyone’s attention to her. “A moment, please?”

Izuku grabbed his cane, whispered something to the girls that made them giggle, and followed her out into the hallway with a glass of brandy in his hand and the smell of alcohol on his breath.

He’d only been up for six hours, and he was already drinking himself to the bottom of a bottle. Yui had to suppress a sad frown. And he’d been doing so well recently to…

“Who are those two?” She asked once he closed the door behind him.

“Tia and Mia, twins, and very friendly.” He smiled.

“What would Melissa say if she found out you were buttering up pretty trip assistants, and stealing them from airports?”

“You say that like I plan on stepping over a line I haven't yet, and that I won’t tell her.” Izuku smiled with a shrug. “And honestly, she would probably just be jealous that I didn’t share. She’s been a lot more loose around the ladies since that party last year. Remember the one? Big gala, all the important people, lots of alcohol? Once all the guests left we got so drunk she offered you 500 dollars to let her drink vodka shots from between your tits, and 1000 if you took off your bra.”

“Yes.” Yui grunted. “I do remember that.”

“You agreed.” Izuku said. “It was really hot to watch.” He nodded sagely.

“Later that night she offered triple that for me to let her lick caviar off my ass.” She informed him without so much as a blush.

Izuku blinked at her in shock. “I don’t remember that, were we really that drunk?”

“I’m genuinely surprised neither of you died of alcohol poisoning.”

“…did you do it?”

“We didn’t have a drop of caviar on the entire island, and hadn't had any for over two years.”

“Would you have done it?”

“…No comment.”

Izuku laughed at that, a deep genuine laugh that had him leaning on his cane as the tail of it transformed into a coughing fit.

She gave him a worried look.

“You should really see a doctor about that.”

“Nonsense. I don’t need a doctor, I’ve seen what they teach in those classes, it’s eight years of wasted time that you could cram into just one. But no, they want to keep the barrier to entry unrealistically high so they can justify their own ridiculous salaries, and feel all prideful about themselves.”

“That doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t go to one.”

“It’s a matter of principle, dear.”

Yui sighed but relented, having had this conversation many times before. “I suppose I should just be glad you’re managing to stay in a good mood.”

“Bah!” He waved her off. “It’ll take more than some self entitled Hollywood wannabe to get me down.”

Yui tilted her head at him.

“I was talking more about the fact that a quarter of district D, about an eighth of the entire island, is currently on fire.”

…

…

…

The glass of brandy shattered on the floor.

“I’m sorry what?”

-Chapter End-