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' Bakugou Katsuki '
...
He didn't wait for Kirishima to finish. He just hit the 'end call' button and took off running. "HEY!" he yelled as he rushed past the two kids he'd helped out earlier.
For a moment, the person seemed to freeze. Then he bolted, shooting down the street with the speed of a startled doe. "HEY HOLD ON A SEC!" In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea to try opening up a conversation with the stranger by charging at him, but that didn't stop Katsuki from redoubling his pace because he had to talk to him.
He had to know.
The guy was quick. Quick enough that Katsuki almost wondered if he had some kind of speed or agility type quirk because if not, he was hiding a lot of muscle under those sweats. Of course, he wasn't so quick that he couldn't catch up with a few explosions, but that was a big no-no without a license, so Katsuki just gritted his teeth and forced himself to run faster.
His quarry was about to turn onto a more populated street; if he didn't hurry, then Katsuki would lose him in the crowd. Dammit, why did the kid have to be so short?! It was too easy for him to slip between people! But Katsuki was nothing if not tenacious. He managed to catch a flicker of gray and black ducking into an alleyway just ahead, and he all but dove after it to find-
-nothing. There was nobody here. It was as though the guy had just… vanished. But that… That couldn't be right. He had to be here, Katsuki had to talk to him!
"DAMN IT, DEKU!" Katsuki bellowed before he had time to think it through. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU YOU FRICKIN' NERD?!" He felt the miniature explosions crackling across his palms before he clenched them and slammed one fist against the brick wall of the building next to him (partially to vent his frustration, but partially because his heart was pounding from the chase and having a buildup of what was basically nitroglycerin on his hands was never a good idea), then slumped against it as something cold and heavy settled in the pit of his stomach.
"Please," he mumbled, rubbing a hand down his face. "Izuku, if you're really still out there… Please, just… Just tell me if you're still alive…"
"Hold it right there!"
Katsuki's head snapped up at the cry, glancing further down the small street at the group of people sprinting towards him. He quickly pushed himself to his feet, still urgently trying to read the exact nature of the situation. There was something else, something positioned between him and the rapidly approaching group of people in gaudy outfits. Hang on, are those pro heroes? In that case, that amorphous thing rushing towards him-
"Well kid, it's not ideal, but you'll do!"
"Shi-!"
All at once, Katsuki couldn't breathe. He could move , sorta, but it felt like he was thrashing in the middle of the ocean, a hundred feet deep, wholly unable to actually break the surface, and wholly unable to actually grab onto whatever had seized hold of him and force it to let him go. He could feel it moving though, swirling around him, somehow both untouchable and yet tightening around his wrists.
He had to break free, before he died of suffocation. Gritting his teeth, he imagined the heat rushing through his blood and concentrating in his hands before, with an inarticulate bellow, he unleashed his power.
The resulting explosions ripped through the sludge that held him captive, causing the creature to recoil sharply, pulling away from his hands and face just long enough for him to suck in a sharp breath through his nose before it rushed back, cutting off his air supply once again, that horrible squelchy voice cackling in his ear, the grip on his arms tightening, that disgusting liquid junk seeping into his nose and prying at his mouth.
"Well it looks like I got the jackpot!" the villain crowed. "All I was hoping for was a hostage, but that power of yours looks too good to pass up!"
"Hey, get away from that kid you creep!" a voice shouted, rushing over. One of the heroes probably. Something changed then, something terrifying: his quirk went off on its own, and someone screamed.
Katsuki's eyes snapped open slightly and he twisted in place, frantically trying to see what had happened. One of the pros was staggering away, clutching an arm covered in blisters.
No.
The villain was laughing now, thrusting his-and with it Katsuki's-hand towards the street. Towards the cautiously gathering civilians. He could feel his quirk building against his will, and with it the panic in his chest.
NO!
He barely managed to wrench his hand away in time, but he couldn't stop the explosion. The flames roared from his hand, slamming into the wall and blasting heat and debris from crumbling brick back into his face.
The villain in his ear, in his head and in his frickin' body snarled in frustration. Katsuki could feel him trying to exert his control, forcing more explosions out of him and wrenching his arms in ways that he didn't know they could twist. He could feel his head getting foggy and his lungs burning just as brightly as the fires, probably from the lack of oxygen, although he could still vaguely hear people screaming in the background, hear the pros shouting for everyone to stand back and let the heroes handle it but if the heroes were gonna handle it, then why weren't they doing anything?! He was gonna hurt someone, his quirk was gonna hurt someone and he could feel his consciousness fading fast and there was nothing he could do about it but this was a fight that he couldn't lose because he had to protect them, he couldn't let anyone else get hurt, he couldn't but it was too late and he was going to die-
"Heteromorphic or perhaps a transformation quirk, apparently with further emitter-like properties in body possession and forceful quirk activation."
What…?
"The initial explosion did cause him to back off temporarily, but didn't seem to cause any actual damage, so the flame aspect of Explosion doesn't mean much to this guy, just the impact."
I… know that voice…
"Of course, he's wary of a direct attack now, not to mention that he has at least limited control of the victim's body and quirk, but if he can summon even limited power, maybe there's a way to attack indirectly, such as through the wind pressure? Or perhaps he has a weak point, such as his eyes?"
Katsuki forced his eyes open, pushing past the insistent grasp of unconsciousness, and for an instant, he could see a shadowy figure and two bright pricks of radioactive green light, looming out of the flickering shadow cast by his own flames and seeming to penetrate his very soul with just a glance.
"Well, it's your move now, Kacchan."
Kacchan?
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