Set Me Free

Chapter 3. Breaking Free

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"Whatever doesn't kill me, better run."

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"It's about fucking time." The lizard had finally released him in its sleep-clouded daze.

Bracing himself on his knees, he sat patiently for up to fifteen minutes before the guards crossed each other in front of the cell, and simultaneously, the blonde put all of his strength into one final jerk. Before his watchdogs could react, he reached out and slammed their metal heads together and into the bars for good measure, knocking both out instantly.

"Thanks for making it so easy, amateur side characters." The lock gave way easily, and he was free, just like with the shackles around his wrists. He hissed as he pried them away and groaned with release as he felt his energy restore itself; he hated those things, and he cursed the man who invented magical limiters. He was just thankful it did nothing to physical abilities.

The sound of something like polished stones grating made him pause, and turning around, his breath caught at the sight of the dragon now standing and looking right at him. It was even more impressive looking than he first thought, with sturdy legs and a strong neck stretching out to press forward only to pause suddenly; the chain had reached its limit mere centimetres from the bars.

"What now?"

The red dragon lowered its head while holding his gaze with its large intelligent eyes, sparse even blinking, and while not a word was said between them, Bakugou understood what was happening and that he was going to pay for what he was about to do.

"Damn it all to hell," The angry blonde cursed before storming back into the cell and shoving the key into the lock of the shackles at the dragon's leg, but to no avail. He tried the other one and got the same result; of course, someone as lowly as a foot soldier wouldn't have keys for something so valuable. Meaning he couldn't take them off, and fuck knows where they put the actual key, leaving him with two options: leave it behind or smash the wall the chain was embedded in.

If he went with option one, then he would have those fucking eyes haunting him for god knows how long, and if he chose to smash the wall, there was no doubt in his mind that the entire fortress would be on his ass in minutes. Either way, this was going to be a pain in the ass.

On closer inspection, he determined that, by the width and length of the chain, that motherfucker was definitely in there deep and that it was going to need to be a monstrous barrage of blasts to clear it. Bakugou looked back to see the dragon was now standing over him, and he realized that his estimation of its size was rather close, if not a bit shorter than he thought.

"Alright, alright! Back it up, Scales, I need room to work." Amazingly, it did, and Bakugou sighed; he knew it understood him.

The blasts were deafening and echoed throughout what he was sure was the entire structure. With one final blast, the chain fell limp at his feet.

He heard footsteps and a metallic rustling; yep, things were going to get ugly real quick. Forget minutes, what was that reaction time? It was going to be messy, but he wasn't letting these bastards get their hands on him a second time; they might sever the muscles in his knees and thighs this time to stop him from making any more escape attempts. He had seen it many times, and unless you had someone with a good healing ability and massive amounts of luck, you would be crippled for life.

He swung the towering secondary door open for Scaly and started to run towards where he remembered the stairs were; when he reached the bottom, he realized that it was awfully quiet behind him.

The dragon was still inside the cage, with its head just barely poking out.

"Are you fucking kidding me!? Forget this, I'm blowing this joint, and if you have any brains, you will too!" He spotted a group of bodies rushing down towards him and cursed. He had wasted enough time; whatever happened to that thing from here on out wasn't his fault.

He had problems, like the heavily armed soldiers in his face. Usually, that wouldn't be a problem, and in fact, he preferred using his fist as that was how his magic worked, but with so many in such a crowded area, it would be hard. The ceiling was too damn low to use an aerial assault, so his movement was far too limited for this type of combat.

"Out of my way!" He yelled, tackling the guy in front with a wide right hook before blasting him back into his squad while simultaneously using his blasts to launch up and land a few layers up the never-ending spiral of stairs, effectively skipping another two squads before turning to blast them down from behind. He knew he fought dirty, but he couldn't care less; he would win his way.

He smirked cockily, thinking about those two morons from earlier that week; oh, how he hoped they made an appearance.

Gaining momentum, he blasted and fought his way past more soldiers than he could count, but fortunately far fewer than he expected. To his displeasure, he felt they were setting up for when he reached the outer wall, and he was usually right about his assumptions.

Bakugou swore as an arrow left a gash on his left shoulder before dodging the barrage that followed. The archers were the worst. Wasting no time, the blonde pressed up against the wall as another set came hailing down, listening to the cries from below. Those shitheads were hitting their own men.

"Seems you guys finally know what you're up against! Now die!" He yelled, shooting out and unleashing a full power blast, knocking most off the tower above before diving up past the remainder that had passed out.

Just as he reached the top, he spotted two familiar figures hobbling along the inner wall. Bakugou grinned, his hands sparking in anticipation. Today was his lucky day.

A loud blast propelled the blonde towards his still unsuspecting prey, smashing his elbow into Long-face's ribs. A choking sound was his reward as he slammed his foot into the middle of his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Short-round make a run for it and blasted him into the wall before he even made it a few feet.

"Didn't I tell you that I was going to blow your shitheads to pieces?" Bakugou smirked as the lanky bastard squirmed under the pressure. "Pray that you're not this fucking stupid in your next life."

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