Move your ass freckle-freak.
Bite me.
*
"So we all agree? There's no reason to tell Chinami that her father has escaped from Tartarus." Endeavour asked the council of people gathered to discuss the matter. He was joined by a few members of his agency, Mirio representing what was Sir Knighteye's agency and the mousy principal of UA accompanied by Aizawa via video call.
"The emotional distress she experienced upon hearing the news of his return to Japan was damaging enough." Aizawa began. "This time do your job properly and make sure the vultures don't get their hands on this story." He spiked at Endeavour, who just gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.
"What happens if months pass and we still have no means of locating this guy?" Mirio asked. "We might have to tell her... After all, what if he's after her?"
"I'm taking precautions at her work study," Endeavour explained. "Every shift she's had and will have, she will at least be accompanied by my son to ensure her safety. UA already has high security measures in place due to the history of the League's attacks on the school. Eraser will just have to tighten her curfew. But-" He sighed. "I do agree with Lemillion, we will have to tell her eventually. Especially if we are unsuccessful in locating the scumbag soon."
"Hopefully it doesn't come to that. The less the media knows the better, and if we can get this situation under control before Chinami-Ren is made aware, it will be best for everyone." Principal Nezu explained. "Although she has made improvements in managing her quirks, we can't risk her losing control again. If an incident similar to Okinawa happens on our school grounds, we may have no choice but to turn her over to the government's quirk research department... And she will become a lab rat..."
"I refuse to let that happen." Aizawa dug his nails into his desk.
*
Ren groaned as she snoozed her alarm for the fourth time that morning. If she wasn't up soon she'd definitely be late and then it would be an earful from Endeavour, their support team, definitely Iida and possibly Bakugo, none of which she felt like dealing with. If she skipped breakfast she could stay in bed for another 13 minutes... Certainly tempting... But today was far too important to sacrifice energy and strength. She slid out of bed, audibly complaining to herself with every step she took towards her wardrobe. The three of them were to be picked up in their school uniforms before being transported to Endeavour HQ where they would change into their Hero uniforms and set out with Endeavour and Hawks to the mystery location.
Ren grumbled the whole time she pulled her uniform on. It felt like everything that was going on between her and Bakugo and her and Todoroki was just getting in the way of what would be a really exciting mission. Plus they'd all have to go back to class after the ordeal of a day to catch up on the missed lessons. G R O A N.
She and Bakugo had spent the last few days pretending the other didn't exist, and if they did interact if was usually a conversation consisting mostly of insults until their respective friends would have to hold them back so they didn't beat the shit out of each other. And then there was Todoroki... As expected and as they'd discussed, things were beyond awkward between them and Ren couldn't wait until they just moved on so they could be friends again. Hormones, amirite?
Hopefully the guys were mature enough that they could set aside any bad blood between them so the three of them would work well together on their mission but judging from the info she'd gathered from Midoriya, that wasn't very likely. Like, at all. She had a few things to grab before she left her dorm room to head to the bathroom and then breakfast. As Ren brushed through her long waves, she couldn't help but touch the spots that had once been purple-d by Bakugo's possessive kisses.
Stop thinking about him like that, you idiot.
Spiced eggs and toast usually had strong appeal to Ren but this morning her stomach really didn't feel like tolerating anything. Uraraka practically bounced into the seat next to Ren at their breakfast table with her own serving of food before she beamed at Ren.
"What?" She asked her bubbly brunette friend as she poked at her food unenthusiastically. Uraraka chuckled. "Oh my god, what?!"
"Are you excited? The top two heroes side by side with some of the best students in our class!" She punched her fists back and forth in front of her rhythmically. "I haven't been this excited for someone's work study mission since we raided Hassaikai." Ren stared back at her friend blankly. "You're not excited?" She tilted her head to the side and dropped her fists back into her lap.
Ren raised an eyebrow before she trailed her vision over to where Bakugo was sitting with Kaminari and Kirishima. They excitedly chatted to him while he angrily poured more chilli flakes into his spiced eggs. He caught Ren's eye and immediately snarled before he flipped her off and returned to killing his eggs with chilli. Ren glanced back at Uraraka and raised her brow even higher.
"Okay, I get it." Uraraka nodded. "But what about Todoroki?!" She asked hopefully. Ren dropped her brow and raised the other one before she surveyed the room for where he sat with Midoriya and Tokoyami. He too caught her eye and gave her an awkward half-smile followed by a strange wave before he hyper-focused on the food in front of him. "Jeez, okay, I get it. I take it you're not excited then?"
"Literally not at all." Ren rolled her eyes and looked back at her eggs. They'd lost more of their appeal if that was even possible.
"Maybe take all of your frustration that you're feeling for those two idiots and use it to crush some villains." Uraraka suggested with a fiery glint flashing across her eyes.
"Hm." Ren gave her a little smile for the first time that day. "I hope there are villains to pound, otherwise I might have to take my anger out on Blasty McAssface."
Ren managed to stomach some of her breakfast before a message pinged on all three of those required for the mission's phones. Bakugo and Todoroki got up first, leaving their dishes to be cleared by their friends as they made their way to the entrance hall.
"Move your ass, Freckle-Freak." Bakugo snapped at Ren as he passed her table.
"Bite me." She snarled back at him before she scrapped her chair back and gathered her things.
They were picked up in a large SUV and spread out across the vehicle to put as much space between the three of them as possible, Ren and Todoroki taking the back seat and facing their respective windows while Bakugo took the very back and immediately shoved headphones on. Todoroki and Ren managed to exchange a few amicable words here and there but in general things were beyond awkward, and it certainly didn't help that as soon as they attempted to speak to each other they could feel Bakugo seething behind them.
They pulled into the Endeavour HQ basement parking lot and all three immediately clambered out of the car to get as much distance between them as possible. Ren was grateful she at least wouldn't have to share a changing room with either idiot. They didn't run into either bosses on their way up or while they were being prepped by both agency's teams. It was only when they were directed back downstairs that they came across the tall and intimidating Endeavour standing next to the much smaller and much more relaxed Hawks. The winged hero waved to the three of them with a sweet, goofy smile while Endeavour stared at them blankly.
"Hawks, you know my son Shoto, and this is Chinami-Ren Arakawa, hero name; Kaizen." Endeavour titled his head to her as he introduced her to Hawks. "He needs no introduction."
One of the prep team pulled Endeavour aside to go over some papers and regulations, leaving the young number two alone with the uncomfortable trio.
"Not like you need an intro either!" Hawks slapped Ren's back so hard she stumbled forward. "I followed your trial real close! Plus this lil rapscallion always talked about this really cute girl in my class." He grabbed Bakugo's shoulder and rocked it back and forth. "Sometimes he'd say the hot girl in my class." He giggled.
"OhmygodshutupHawks!" Bakugo grumbled through gritted teeth.
"Who I can only assume was you." He winked at Ren while Bakugo pried his fingers from his shoulder, a stream of curses flowing from his mouth.
"Takamiseriouslyshutthefuckup."
"I really doubt that." Ren mumbled as she glared at Bakugo. "But I appreciate the sentiment and the compliment nonetheless. Even if you are like 30..."
"Hey! I'm 23, t w e n t y - t h r e e!" Hawks corrected her irritably and puffed out his chest like he was a pigeon fighting for food scraps.
"Kaizen, Shoto, if you would please follow me for your agency briefing." One of the prep team members called Ren and Todoroki over to where Endeavour was standing and began briefing them with a contract that noted if either of them were hurt the agency would not be held accountable but would provide full medical care.
"Dude!" Bakugo shoved his boss's shoulder irritably when the other two were out of earshot. "I told you we weren't a thing anymore! She hates my guts and trust me the feelings mutual."
"I was tryna help you out, dude!" Hawks draped his arm over Bakugo's shoulders and smiled innocently. "I bet it was Shoto, huh? Those Todorokis have a real charm about them."
Bakugo gagged. "He's part of the reason, that's for sure but charm?! Really?!" He escaped the friendly grip of Hawks' and took a couple of steps back so he could evade him a little better.
"You don't think?" Hawks tilted his head. "I just assumed it's something he would've inherited like his older brother did."
"You mean Natsuo?" Bakugo furrowed his brow. "I thought he was fucking boring."
"No?" Hawks arched a brow at him too.
"What? Then who?"
"Hawks! You're meant to be briefing the kid!" One of his own prep team members scolded him while they shoved papers against his chest. "I swear, you'd fall apart without me."
Once the three of them had been briefed by their own agencies everyone gathered in a large conference room where the mission of the day would finally be explained to them. They were seated at a table that formed part of a large u-shape made up of desks facing a projector screen. Team Endeavour on one side and Team Hawks on the other.
"Okay team," Hawks began. When he addressed his crew, the goofy demeanour he sported earlier seemed to disappear. "Our mission today is this vehicle."A slide with a variety of slightly blurry or from a distance photos of a dark navy van popped onto the projector screen. "We need to get eyes on this van and then our hands."
"We've been tipped off that this van is transporting something for the League of Villains today. Something we believe may lead us to an antidote for the serum shot into Lemillion last year during the Hassaikai raid." Endeavour continued the explanation. Ren furrowed her brow at the mention of Hassaikai and Lemillion. Eri... What did they do to you?
"We might even be able to take down some of our most wanted in the process." Hawks interjected and the slide changed. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you who these faces belong to but we do have a couple of newbies. This is Himiko Toga, we think her quirk helps her change her face and she's very skilled with a blade so keep her at a distance." Pictures of a young girl with a wild smile, sharp teeth and crazy, lustful eyes popped up on the slide. Ren narrowed her eyes at her picture, something about her smile seemed so... Familiar.
"Then we've got Shuichi Iguchi, villain name: Spinner. He's one of the usual culprits we see with this crew and while he's not all that strong he's a slippery little lizard." Hawks continued to explain. "Another familiar face to some of you is the dark-haired fire user who goes by Dabi." A few blurry imagines of a tall figure with a dark coat and hair popped onto the screen. "We don't have any shots of his face but we know he's distinguishable by the vibrant blue flames he produces, the burnt skin and staples that cover his body and his bright turquoise eyes."
She didn't know why but the photo of Todoroki's dead brother Toya popped into her mind when she heard Hawks say bright turquoise eyes. Maybe they were a good point of reference, it's definitely what stood out to her the most in that photo.
"And of course, we have their ring-leader, Tomura Shigaraki." Endeavour wrapped it up for Hawks as a few images of a young man with hunched posture and a hand over his face popped onto the screen. Ren felt chills run down her spine as she felt Todoroki tense up next to her. She glanced across to Bakugo's place at Hawks' team's side of the room and he too tended up, his brow arching deeply while his jaw visibly tightened. She'd seen stuff on the news about these guys and her friends had talked about their encounters with them plenty of times but only know could she understand the discomfort they caused them.
Ren slowly raised her hand up just as Endeavour was finishing his speech about Shigaraki's abilities. "Kaizen?" He said a little confused that she'd interrupt their briefing.
"Should we expect to see more of those dark creatures?" She glanced around the room at the staring eyes. "I mean, they're the only contact I've had with these guys and it was tough."
"We can only hope it doesn't come to that." Endeavour nodded. "Please be advised that if we are to encounter Nomu, the students are not to engage."
Bakugo rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue. "I can take 'em." He grumbled just audibly enough to make Hawks turn his to him and shake his head.
"We're not doubting your abilities." Endeavour stated before Bakugo could try argue with his mentor. "We can't risk you getting hurt. The variance in their abilities is too broad for us to assume a couple of 2nd years with provisional licenses can take them. You will only engage if it's a matter of life or death."
They changed the topic before any of the three could interject and began explaining the plan. Hawks and Endeavour would be stationed at two opposing corners on a quiet road that was expected to be taken by this van. The route they'd been told the van could be taking was cleared of civilians while the two agency's multitude of sidekicks were disguised as civilians not to arouse suspicion. A collision was to take place at this intersection as the van arrived so the team could stop them and make a swift arrest, Ren, Todoroki and Bakugo would be the back squad, ready to come in once the heroes and some of their sidekicks were engaged with the villains and whatever they were transporting.
"This sounds far too simple." Todoroki whispered to Ren as the squads cleared out of the briefing room and made their way to their different forms of transport.
"I agree, especially for the top two agencies and their heroes." Ren mumbled back. "There's something they're not telling us." What was in that van?
Bakugo groaned as he joined them before they were directed into a discreet and generic looking sedan. The three of them stared at the backseat, they'd have to squish into the back together, and one of them had to be in the middle.
"Great, so I have to sit next to one of you or both of you. Think I'd rather walk." Bakugo muttered.
"Just get in the fucking car." Ren rolled her eyes as she hoped in first, avoiding having to be stuck between the two of them. Again. Todoroki glanced at Bakugo as if you say 'your turn' but when the ash blonde didn't move, he rolled his eyes and hoped in after Ren.
"Fucking move! Don't touch me!" Bakugo snapped at Todoroki after they'd been travelling for a couple of minutes. Bakugo's broad shoulders naturally bumped against Todoroki's while both of their knees clashed against the other's every time they turned a corner. Todoroki took care not to collapse into Ren but he literally could not care less if he hit into Bakugo. "Get. Away. From me." He warned when Todoroki had bumped into him for the fourth time in the trip.
"Stop behaving like a child." Todoroki mumbled to him blankly but there was a note of icy sarcasm that pushed all of Bakugo's buttons.
"Fuck off." Bakugo slammed his muscled shoulder into Todoroki's, making him have to steady himself so he wouldn't collapse onto Ren. Although, maybe that would piss Bakugo off more...
"You are behaving like a child." Ren muttered when their childish shoving and bickering was really starting to piss her off.
"Of course you'd take his side." He spat at her as he leant across in front of Todoroki.
"Of course you'd take his side." She mocked his words in a childish voice while poking her tongue out.
"Now who's behaving like a child?" Bakugo chimed back.
"Both of you..." Todoroki mumbled as he rubbed his temples.
"Just trying to speak your language." Ren said sarcastically. "Wait, sorry, just fucking to speak your language, slut."
"What?!"
"Can you three shut up?!" The sidekick from Hawks' agency who sat in the passenger at the front turned to them with a deeply irritated expression. "You're supposed to be professionals representing the top two hero agencies, so act like goddamn professionals. And besides, the last thing that we want to hear as grown-ass adults is the drama of three teenagers who clearly are far too involved in each other's lives."
Bakugo, of course, went to snap back but the sidekick shushed him instantly. So the three of them returned to huffing and sulking in the cramped backseat as they travelled through the bustling centre of Tokyo to their destination. This time they at least all made an effort not to bump and collide with each other every time the other sidekick who was driving purposefully took corners too quickly.
They cleared the backseat of the car like the car was about to explode once they'd arrived at their allocated spot before the two sidekicks handed them earpieces with instruction on how to use them. The earpieces were small and discrete but big enough for two buttons. When they pressed the first button, they could communicate between the three of them only but if they pressed the second they'd broadcast to the whole team. That was only to be used when responding to orders from Hawks or Endeavour's instruction. They then had to split up far enough for each to get a vantage point of the road but close enough that they could still see each other. Bakugo took the top corner of a fairly short building, Todoroki was positioned across the street from Bakugo's building in an alcove, and Ren took a slightly taller building on the adjacent corner.
"So this van is supposed to come down here?" Bakugo asked them over their coms.
"Weren't you paying attention?" Ren asked him as she rolled her eyes. "Two blocks up, we can see them from here and wait for the call."
"If you could stop assuming what I mean for like, two seconds, I would've had time to add, ya know, like directly past us." Bakugo replied as sarcastically as she did.
"Whatever dude." She muttered as she narrowed her eyes in the direction of where the diversion would occur.
"You'd think we would've heard something by now..." Todoroki said after a few quiet moments.
"We agreed earlier, it's too obvious." Ren replied as she rubbed her chin uneasily.
"What is?" Bakugo asked.
"Seriously, keep up, dude." She muttered.
"Can you not be a bitch and just tell me?"
"Can you ask nicely?"
"Can you two stop?! Just tell him."
Ren sighed. "It's too obvious that the pedestrians have been cleaned out. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't show up at all and this whole mission has been one big expensive flop."
"Right." Bakugo mumbled. "What do you think is in that van?" He asked after a while.
"Something a lot more important than they're leading on, that's for sure." Todoroki said thoughtfully.
"Hm."
It was silent for a long time again.
"It's too fucking quiet..." Ren said to herself.
As if her comment magically told the universe to break the silence, the sound of screeching tires and an overextended engine came roaring down the street towards them.
"What the hell?!" Bakugo gripped the ledge of the building and peered into the street below.
"Be-... On-... Guard-...!" They heard the voice of Hawks coming through their ear pieces. "...-Knew-... We-... Here-... Got-... Us-... Occupied...!" The connection was terrible, something was clearly interfering with their coms.
"What do we do?!" Todoroki asked the other two as the van rocketed past him on the street. To answer his question, Bakugo propelled himself up and over the buildings in the direction of the van. "Dynamight!" He called after him but of course Bakugo ignored the call to withdraw from chasing down villains.
Ren caught up to Todoroki a few seconds later and they stared at the explosive race for a brief moment. "We've gotta follow him."
"He's way faster than both of us." Todoroki said. "We'll take too long to catch up."
"I have an idea..."
Bakugo caught up to the van several blocks down but it had already collided into a wall and whatever or whomever was inside had already escaped. He landed behind the burst open back doors and immediately grumbled. "Dammit! Where are you bastards?!" He called out to the empty streets.
A whooshing sound made him turn his head to see Todoroki and Ren racing across sheets of ice towards him. Todoroki was producing the ice in front of them while Ren used her wind quirk to propel them forward. He was even a little impressed that she'd built up another one of her quirks but quickly shook the thought from his mind when he remembered he was supposed to hate her now.
"Where are they?" Ren asked as she and Todoroki slid to a slick halt.
"How the fuck should I know?!" He barked back as she glanced into the van again.
Todoroki tried to communicate to the rest of the team that they'd located the now empty vehicle but all he got was crackles on the other end. "We should wait here until we receive further instruction." He said after he'd given up on trying to contact either agency.
"I want to find and crush these bastards." Bakugo growled as he adjusted the grenades on his arms.
"Todoroki's right." Ren mumbled and Bakugo rolled his eyes, of course she'd agree with him. Again. "We should just hang tight until we can reach-" As she was about to finish they heard a loud series of clangs and crashes coming from a nearby alley. Whatever it was causing that racket, it was big, really big. The three of them froze and snapped their heads in the direction of the sound just as a faded, putrid green coloured nomu stumbled out from between the buildings. It noticed them instantly but seemed wobbly and unsure on its feet, simply staring at them as it got its bearings.
"Hawks..? Endeavour..? Anyone..? Come in." Todoroki whispered shakily into his earpiece as they continued to watch it's almost drunken movements.
"What's the plan?" Bakugo muttered to the other two.
"Don't engage. They told us not to engage." Todoroki warned.
Bakugo ground his teeth together roughly. "But they said in a matter of life or death-" He began to argue but Todoroki cut him off.
"Don't. Engage."
"Well if you two aren't going to. I call dibs." Ren said with a cocky smile as she rushed forwards. "I got unfinished business with these freaks."
*
a/n: as I was writing this I realised it was gonna be like long as hell so i split it into two