Bakugou shouts through a hoarse throat at the empty cell, "Let me out of here you damned villains! I'll kill you all!"
His words echo off the walls. He doesn't even know if anyone can hear. But damn it if that damned nerd doesn't get his ass back in the cell. He'll drag that stupid idiot back to UA even if it kills him. He messed up once letting that nerd down. He's not going to abandon him now.
"Deku you damn nerd get back in here! Deku!"
Suddenly, a dark, hazy hole appears below him and he falls straight through the cell floor. Bakugou lands with a hard thud on his back, knocking the wind out of him.
"Damn it that hurt!" Bakugou yells.
"Quit your yelling," a raspy voice orders. "You're giving me a headache. We can hear you all the way up here. It's been two days and you've been shouting non stop."
Bakugou looks at the room. First at the silent, dark form behind the bar. Kurogiri. Then to the two people who seems the most out of place. The young girl who has an unhealthy obsession with blood as well as Deku, and a young man who looks to be in his 20's covered in burns. Dabi and Toga. Finally he looks to the scaly, dried out looking lizard named Shigaraki.
"Where's Deku?" Bakugou questions.
"That's none of your concern."
"You bet your ass it is! Get him out here right now."
"He's not here so sorry you're going to have to wait," Shigaraki says in annoyance.
Bakugou's eyes narrow. "Then what am I doing here?"
"You're here so I can ask you to join the League of Villains."
"I already told you no. I'm not joining your stupid band of deranged criminals."
"Deku says I'm wasting my time. He seems to think I can't convince you to change your mind."
"I won't."
"But I think otherwise. Let me show you the truth behind your so called heroes. Join me, and you'll be a leader. A ruler. Once our army grows, you will be at the forefront. You will be one of the greatest liberators among us."
"Liberators?" Bakugou laughs. "You idiots are delusional."
"Are we?" Shigaraki holds up his hands. "Countless heroes and wannabe heroes turned to us and our cause. The Hero society we live in is a plague. Look at what it did to Deku. A young, innocent boy cast out by the very people he wanted to become."
"Don't you dare talk about Deku!"
Shigaraki takes off the hand on his face. "Betrayed by the very person he looked up to and called a friend," he continues.
"What do you know?" Bakugou growls.
"On the contrary, I know everything. I know the whole story. He would be dead if it wasn't for us."
Bakugou scoffs.
"Believe what you want. But you will see soon enough.
"Shigaraki," Toga speaks up. "Let me and Dabi talk to him. I have an idea."
Shigaraki narrows his eyes as if in distrust. But after a few moments he nods. "Kurogiri and I have some things to do. We'll be back in a few hours."
Toga smiles and hopes down from the counter she had been siting on. "Sweet. See you soon," she says and faces Kurogiri, giving him a wave.
Shigaraki and Kurogiri take their leave via portal, leaving things to Toga and Dabi.
"What ever you think--"
Toga turns to face Bakugou, her eyes are hooded and her smile is gone, as if the whole giddiness had been an act. "I was ostracized and a monster the moment I got my quirk. I was a monster. Everyone hated me. I was just a kid. Heroes turned me away, my own family thought I was revolting. No hero saved me from the bullying or the abuse. No hero saved me from the streets. It was All for One."
"My own father, a hero, abused me then cast me aside simply because I wasn't strong enough for him. I was bred for power then when I stopped being of use he replaced me. Tell me, are those the actions of a hero? Of a savior you look up to?"
"Oh so what," Bakugou snaps. "Everyone has a sad sob story. That doesn't make you right. Everyone has something but you don't see them turning into villains and trying to take over the world. They become heroes to protect people from pasts like theirs."
Toga looks to the ground. Her hands ball into fists. "I was the one who found him," she said grimly.
"I was the one who found Deku that day. The day he disappeared. The day you threw his notebook in the pond and told him to go kill himself."
Bakugou stills. He flexes his jaw as the memory flood his mind.
"Do you know where I found him?"
Bakugou doesn't answer. He looks to Dabi. He too is looking down at the ground, the features on his face grim and the air around him serious and solum.
"I found him on the roof of a building." Toga swallows and finally looks up at Bakugou. "He was going to jump."
Bakugou stays silent. Each word a sharp pain in his chest. Each word a reminder.
"There was no hero around to save him. No friend there to comfort him. Everyone abandoned him. Everyone except me, and All for One. All for One had been keeping an eye on him for a while before that. But when he found out what had happened, where he was. He sent me after him immediately."
Toga swallows. "Deku doesn't know this next part. I had a police scanner on me. I was listening for any hero activity that might intervene. Someone called it in. 'There's a young boy with green hair standing on the edge of a building. I think he might jump'." Toga quoted.
"'We will send a hero immediately'. I hid back. I watched him from a distance for two hours. Waiting for that hero to show up and save him. No one ever came. Because that same day, a boy was attacked on his way home from school by a sludge villain. They redirected every available hero in the vicinity. 'The one being attacked is our top priority. Let's pray and hope that boy choses not to jump'. I was afraid that if I told him, it would destroy him completely. More than you and the hero society already had. They didn't care about him. Not enough to stop him from killing himself. This little middle school boy standing on the edge of a building, ready to kill himself, and they didn't think he was important enough to send one lousy person to save him."
"It wasn't a hero who saved Deku. It's not a hero who you owe your thanks to for Deku being alive right now," Dabi starts. "It's Toga. And when Deku regained his quirk, it wasn't a hero who helped him control himself. It wasn't a hero who helped him when he almost burned a whole building down including himself. It was me.
"No hero has ever cared for Deku's life. No hero has ever protected him. Heroes were never there. We did. We were there. Toga was the one to bandage the burn his so called friend gave him. We protect him, and we watch out for him. We're his family."
"Tell me," Toga says, "would you say the same thing to Deku now that you know that? Would you tell him to enter the same messed up system that spat in his face and told him he was worthless? That would burn and scar him as they made fun of him?"
"I. . . No." Bakugou says with a shake of his head. "I would knock some sense into him and remind him that there are better ways to change things. That hurting people and killing them are not how you make things better. He's not thinking because he forgot what he used to believe."
"Wow," Toga breaths. "You really are stupid."
"I know what I did. I know my part in making him forget. I made mistakes. But I'm here now to make that right. I won't give up until I make him remember and bring him back."
Toga looks to Dabi. "Should we show him?"
Dabi nods.
"He'll be pissed. He doesn't even like it when we are there."
"He needs it just as much as this one needs to see it to understand."
"What are you talking about?" Bakugou snarls.
"I'll stay here in case Shigaraki comes back too soon," Toga says.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! What's going on?!"
Dabi nods again and walks towards the exit. "Congratulations," Dabi finally replies as he opens the door. "You get your wish."
Bakugou narrows his eyes.
"Come on kid, you wanted to see Deku right? Well, let's go."
Bakugou huffs then follows. "You better take me to him or I'll blow your face off."
Dabi smiles. "Look at me, it's already half gone. You'll have to do better than that if you want to scare me."
"Shut up smart ass! Bakugou shouts as the door closes behind him.
"You better shut up kid or you'll draw attention to us. Don't do anything stupid like cause a scene or go running. You do that and you'll never get another chance to talk to Deku. Understand?
"Yeah yeah."
Bakugou silently follows Dabi away from the hide out, down and through several alleyways. It's about ten minutes before they stop. Bakugou looks around. Sirens can be heard in the distance. All he has to do is shout or make a break for it and he'll be free. It wouldn't be that hard. But then again, he's got that damned quirk suppressor. He'll make it all of two feet before Dabi takes him down.
"Hey," Bakugou snaps, "Where are we going?"
"Relax. We're almost there just hold on."
Seconds later, metal screeches and concrete scraps as a section of the wall disappears.
"Go on," Dabi nods towards the dark passageway.
Bakugou glares at the villain before walking through, Dabi right behind him.
"Don't you try anything."
"I won't. Just keep walking."
Bakugou huffs but continues forward. A faint glow hums from the other side, small lights barely illuminate the narrow hallway. He storms forward till the walls open up into a dimly lit lab. Large pipes are laid around the ground. Liquid filled capsules large enough to fit a person fill the majority of the room in rows. The sounds of typing and quiet mutters pull Bakugou's attention.
There's a short, old man crouched behind a computer.
"Hey. What is this place? Where's Deku?"
The old man peaks over the monitor, his eyes going wide. "What is this?! What is going on?" The old man turns to Dabi, his arms thrown in the air in hysteria. "You idiot. What were you thinking bringing him here conscious? Now he knows where this place is. Do you have any idea what you have done? You have jeopardized everything. All for One-"
Answer me old man!" Bakugou storms over and grabs the old man by the collar. "Where is that damn nerd?"
"You-"
"Calm down you two. Let the Doc go kid."
"Not until he tells me where Deku is."
"Why would I tell you such a thing?"
"Show him Doc. It's okay. Toga and I have talked about this. They both need this."
The doctor grumbles his disapproval under his breath but sighs anyways. "Fine. But don't blame me when he gets angry. Follow me."
"Let him go," Dabi orders Bakugou.
Bakugou grumbles his reluctance but does as he is told. The Doctor straightens his white jacket, huffs, then turns his back and walks away.
"What are you waiting for? You wanted to see Deku didn't you?"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Bakugou snaps over his shoulder and storms after the Doctor.
He follows the Doctor into another room. Bakugou's eyes widen. Deku is in one of those tubes, floating in liquid, unconscious. There's a mask on his face, small tubes protrude from his back and lead up and outside the room.
Bakugou's eyes narrow. "What the hell is this?! What are you doing to him?" He yells, grabbing the Doctor by the collar again.
"Calm down kid. He's fine."
"Like hell his is!" Bakugou raises his fist at the Doctor. "Let him out of there right now."
"I can't do that."
"Bakugou, his fine."
"Stop telling me he's fine. Look at him! It doesn't matter what he's doing to Deku, just look at him. No one in there for any reason is fine! What is going on here? Why is he in there! What exactly are you doing to him?" Tears well up in Bakugou's eyes.
Damn it. Stop crying you idiot.
"I'm trying to save him," The Doctor says.
Bakugou growls, "what?"
"You heard him. Now are you going to settle down and let us explain?" Dabi takes a seat besides a small bed tucked in the corner.
Bakugou releases the Doctor and turns to Dabi, silently waiting for an explanation.
"Deku wasn't born quirkless."
"What?"
"You heard me. Both his mother and father have quirks, of course Deku had one too."
"But I thought-"
Dabi nods to the old man. "Doc lied. He made up a ridiculous reason after taking Deku's quirk from him."
Bakugou balls his fists. The memory of Deku's words when they were little echo in his head. The words of admiration when Bakugou got his quirk. The words he always said when watching that same video of All Might over and over and over again. The words of a little kid whose only dream was to manifest his quirk and become just like All Might.
Now he wants to end hero society. Destroy the very things he once wanted to become.
"You stole his quirk from him?" Bakugou asks, the restraint of keeping himself from punching the Doctor in his voice.
"Yes."
"Why? Why him?"
"All for One stole it when he was born. Long story short, Deku's quirk was stored in All for One. The combination of this mother's and father's quirk made his quite powerful. All for One wanted him far away from the heroes."
"But why him? There are plenty of powerful quirks out there for him to steal. Why Deku's? Why just some random little kid's? He wouldn't have even known how powerful Deku's quirk was."
"Because-"
"Because," Dabi interrupts the Doctor, his voice soft. "All for One is Deku's father, kid."
Bakugou's breath catches. His eyes widen in shock, his jaw clenches. "He's his son?"
Dabi nods once. "Deku's quirk was stored in All for One. He took it to keep Deku away from the heroes and the impending war he wants to create. But. . . he also took it to store it and cultivate it into something even stronger so if the chance arose that his son joined him, he could give it back. But now it's too strong and Deku's body wasn't ready for it. His body didn't grow with his quirk so it never adapted properly. Now he fights to control it and it's killing him."
Killing him.
Killing him.
The words ring loud and clear in Bakugou's mind and yet he can't believe it. That shouldn't be possible. That shouldn't be happening. Why? "I don't believe you. Why are you telling me this."
This time it's Dabi who's the one to grab somebody by the collar. In the blink of an eye he off the chair and is holding Bakugou's shirt. Rage fills his eyes. "Don't be stupid! I'm telling you this because it's true. I'm telling you this because despite everything you just heard, Deku is still fighting the tyrants and the twisted society they have built. He doesn't care if he dies. He will die to destroy All for One and the hero society. He would let his quirk consume him and burn him from the inside if it meant getting what we want. Don't you think he has a damn good reason for wanting heroes dead even if it cost him his life? If he wasn't here of his own free will he would never be using his quirk. He wouldn't be killing himself over our cause if he didn't believe in what he was doing."
"I-"
Dabi shakes Bakugou, the anger and desperation clear in his voice as he continues, "Despite everything we are trying to do, he's still not getting better. He knows that and he doesn't care. He doesn't care about his own life. He's not doing all this because he's being forced to or because of some simple grudge he has against you. He only uses the excuse that he hates you and wants revenge to make it easier for you both. I'm telling you this to make you understand that you can't just change his mind or force him back. You trying to force him back and convincing him that he's brainwashed makes everything he is sacrificing worthless."
Bakugou lowers his gaze and stays silent for a few moments before speaking. "I- Can I stay with him until he wakes up?"