Katsuki Bakugo wasn't happy, first Zeus reemerges with the stupid idea that he'd be able to take this city while Bakugo was around. Secondly, he was told he was forbidden to fight this Hunter vigilante without back-up as if some vigilante was a threat. And finally, he was stuck on a balcony behind a crate hiding while a drug deal went on below.
He wasn't scared or anything, he was just waiting for the real reason he was here to show up. Contrary to what many people thought, Katsuki Bakugo was no fool. He'd not have survived the war if he had been. He always thought through his options before diving in, granted the option he chooses most often was to dive right in, but he didn't do because he was reckless. He was just supremely confident in his abilities and he knew he had the skills to back that up.
Now, however, was one of the rare times where he didn't dive right in. When he'd been told he couldn't go after the Hunter because of the danger, he had begged to differ. This upstart wannabe wasn't a problem, he was just using scare tactics and guerilla warfare to take down criminals who didn't know how to deal with that.
So, he was lying in wait, waiting for the Hunter to show up and ruin the party for the criminals below. He also had the police lying in wait outside, ready to pour in at his signal. He'd taken some time to go over everything the H.A. and Police had on the Hunter and figured this would be a likely target for him to hit. The police had this raid planned in advance, and it hadn't taken much to convince them to let one of the top heroes take point on the op.
Bakugo sighed, and a vein pulsed in his temple as he started tapping on the railing, he was leaning on while looking down into the warehouse.
"Where the hell Is this guy! I know he's going to show up, so just show up already dammit!" He thought while his anger slowly built. He sat there for another few minutes before reaching into his pocket to activate his signal when he FELT it.
Something had changed, he didn't know what, but something had. Every instinct he had was screaming at him that danger was near. He ratcheted up his focus and tensed ready to spring into action if need be. He got into a low squat, to minimize the area of his body exposed in the event of a ranged attack, and he slowly eased around the side of the crate and looked down onto the warehouse floor proper.
He squatted there for another ten seconds before he finally noticed. The perimeter guards were gone, he hadn't noticed it happening but they had definitely vanished. Likely silently taken down by the vigilante most likely. Then he noticed a shadow move by a stack of crates likely containing drugs, and he knew the Hunter was going to be making his move. He waited and was rewarded when all the light shut off and cries of alarm sounded out among the gangsters.
Then the fighting broke out.
Bakugo quickly hit his signal to tell the police to move in and made his way to the roof. He didn't need to stay and watch as the vigilante cleaned house. He believed the Association report enough to trust that the Hunter could handle some gangsters.
He made his way up a metal ladder with shouts and gunfire echoing up from below. He pushed open the hatch and clambered out the warehouse and locked the hatch behind him, he planned on forcing the Hunter to exit from the stairwell on the opposite side of the roof. He made his way over to the door and jumped up on top of the roof of the stairwell and waited.
He heard the police crashing into the building from all sides and the shouting got even louder. More gunfire could be heard and noise from the stairwell below him as someone ran up the stairs. The pounding of boots on metal stairs faded as the person got closer to the door, and then the door swung open below Bakugo. He pressed a button on his earpiece and a signal was transmitted to the optical lens over his eyes and suddenly the night grew much brighter.
The lenses were relatively new, but given his position, he was allowed to requisition a pair for tonight for "testing purposes." the goal was to develop optical lenses that could be used in night ops to allow for greater visibility without the need for typical night-vision gear. As the lens powered up, everything became much brighter. Not daytime bright, but visibility was amazing and without the annoying green of standard night-vision. He now had no problems seeing in the dark.
The figure below him moved forward onto the roof and walked over to one of the edges and looked down. Unaware that his reign as a top vigilante was about to be ended by the top hero. Bakugo slowly stood up and flexed his hands, got into position, and with a thought triggered his sweat to explode. He launched forward with an explosive roar and thrust a hand forward ready to grab the vigilante with his surprise attack. To his shock, the Hunter actually backflipped over him and he shot forward grabbing empty air.
Bakugo used his extended hand and shot a blast downwards and re-directed himself upwards, then with a series of blasts he came around in an arc and let out a big blast then sent him rocketing forward towards the now crouching vigilante. His opponent lunged to the right and barely avoided Bakugo as he swiped at him.
Bakugo let out another blast and slowed his forward momentum, landing on the ground, skidding across it, and spinning as he landed to face the Hunter.
The two of them merely stared at one another, sizing the other up. Bakugo broke the silence first, jeering towards the figure "What's wrong, not gonna run like you always do when a hero comes after you?"
The Hunter didn't say anything at first but he did speak after a moment of hesitation. "I only ran because I knew they wouldn't be able to catch me and because I didn't want to hurt them by fighting. The city doesn't have a lot of heroes to go round, and laying one out for a week or month would only hurt the city."
The Hunter spoke with a voice slightly deeper than he expected and with a bit of an edge to it. His unkempt black hair, glowing red eyes, and black face mask with faintly glowing red highlights only served to heighten the menace in his voice. Bakugo figured the Hunter was probably a few years older than him, but it was hard to say given the mask. The Hunter was crouched slightly and like Bakugo, was ready to act at a moment's notice.
"You, however, are a different story. I know who you are and what your capable of, even if my knowledge of the city layout is better than yours, I don't expect I'd manage to outrun you. So... that leaves me with one option. Take you down to facilitate my escape, but not so soundly that I'd put you out for a month." continued the Hunter, pulling forth the wakizashi strapped to his waist with his right hand and left hand dropping to his thigh ready to grab something.
Probably a smaller knife or maybe a taser... thought Bakugo.
"Big talk from some wannabe hero, especially seeing as how I'm going to be bringing you in," said Bakugo, a smirk forming on his face.
The Hunter for his part didn't say anything but he seemed to narrow his glowing red eyes.
A couple of heartbeats passed, then as if some unseen signal had been sounded the two of them exploded into motion. Bakugo blasted himself to his left and forward coming in at an arc to hit the Hunters right. As he closed in on him though, he let loose a large blast to send him careening far right so that he was instead on the Hunters left. Then he triggered one last explosion, blasting to close the distance rapidly on the Hunter.
He expected the sudden directional change to throw off The Hunter who would have expected a straightforward left attack based on his initial approach. Yet the Hunter seemed to be ready for this and dived forward instead, causing Bakugo's chain explosion to just scorch the ground.
Ever quick-thinking, however, he let loose a massive blast from his left hand and shoulder tackled the Hunter. The two of them hit the ground, and Bakugo grabbed the Hunter's left arm and let loose a point-blank explosion, then three more for good measure in rapid succession while he repositioned for a better hold. Just after his third explosion, however, he released a close-range Stun Grenade. The flash blinded him for a second, but his innate resistance to his own quirk prevented anything more than a brief second of blindness. That was enough for the Hunter however, and Bakguo felt something hit him in the sternum, breaking his hold as he was sent backward up off of the Hunter.
Bakugo hit the ground on his back and continuing with the momentum rolled backward until he was crunching, ready to let loose more explosions. However no attack followed up the kick, and he eyed the smokey haze caused by his explosions. He tensed as he stood up, about to dive back into the smoke when he saw something reflect the light as it moved right, out of the smoke and he sent a chaining blast towards it. The blast's light however allowed him a glimpse of a series of silvery darts streaking out the haze towards his front. He sent an explosion forward, knocking the attack aside.
Suddenly he felt something impact his right thigh, shoulder, and then something scrape along his pelvic bone deflecting into the darkness. The pain came a second later, he fell to his right knee as his pierced thigh gave out and the searing pain in his shoulder bone told him his right arm would be a lot harder to use. The pelvic hit wasn't as bad, but the pain was enormous nonetheless. He had experienced worse pain, however, and put the pain to the back of his mind as he re-focused. He was bleeding he knew, but it wasn't bad enough to force a retreat yet.
"He threw something left to draw my attention and buy himself time while he recovered from the flash, and threw knives from my right towards my general direction. He's smarter and faster than I thought, damn now my right leg is compromised." He silently fumed.
He roared in defiance and sent a series of chain explosions in an arc in front of him, revealing The Hunters form to his right. Then ignoring his compromised leg launched forwards towards the figure now to his far right.
Not expecting a suicidal charge, the Hunter was slow in dodging. Bakugo managed to get close enough to send a chaining explosion right into The Hunter's left side. Throwing the vigilante over the edge of the roof. Bakugo launched himself over to the edge, cursing to himself for forgetting they weren't on the ground. He blasted over the edge and put himself in a dive to chase after the Hunter to save him from a potentially lethal drop. Only to have his dive cut short as the Hunter crashed into his left side, having jumped at him from the emergency exit balcony of the next-door building.
They hit the wall of the warehouse, and Bakugo felt some of the breath leave him and he hit the wall, then the ground hard. He didn't let his shortness of breath slow him though. He let loose an explosion towards the Hunter who jumped sideways avoiding it. Then the Hunter drew two knives from seemingly nowhere and lunged at Bakugo. Bakugo launched himself sideways along the ground, while also sending a parting blast point-blank into the Hunters chest. While he avoided the stabbing tackle, the ground scraped against the knife stuck in his thigh in the process. The sheer amount of pain disoriented him enough to end up crash headlong into a lamppost in the street. His vision flashed with pain and he was momentarily stunned from the impact. He reached a hand up and started to pull himself to his feet with the aid of the lampost, the impact likely giving him a slight concussion.
A few seconds however was all that was needed, and the Hunter clambered to his feet and threw more knives at the hero which hit him in the left thigh, shoulder, and another into his left hand. Bakugo roared in pain and threw an explosion towards the Hunter with his right hand. He got to his feet fully and blasted off awkwardly upwards with one hand, and after some shaky maneuvering managed to get himself to the top of a nearby apartment building.
He breathed deeply and checked over himself. He checked his left hand first and grimaced at the sight of the knife impaled in it. The knife was thankfully short and squat, but it was serrated along the sides to make in combat extraction of the knives near impossible without causing oneself to bleed out. Then he realized the worst of it, he couldn't feel his right thigh and most of his right arm anymore. He pinched his right arm and sure enough, he didn't feel a thing.
"Poison?! Is this fucker for real?!" Bakugo thought, now starting to worry.
Heroes were trained to take a lot of punishment, but that useless versus poison. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be a fatal one, just a numbing agent meant to slow and eventually disable a target. Of course, in a high enough dose, it would likely stop his heart, but based on his own experience and knowledge of poison he thought he would be fine so long as he didn't take too much more. He took a deep breath and ran through his options.
Fighting was now becoming a less and less appealing option by the second. With poisons in his system, he'd be down for the count soon. He growled as he realized he didn't have a choice anymore. He reached up and pressed the hidden SOS broadcaster in his suit collar. All he had to do was manage to stay conscious until back-up arrived. He propped himself up against the wall of the staircase leading into the building just as a figure vaulted over the side of the building. How the Hunter had managed to clamber up the building so quickly Bakugo didn't know, but if he didn't move, he might just die here.
"Shit..." mumbled Bakugo as it became difficult to speak. He tried to get up, but with his arms and legs going numb and the rest of his body slowly following suit, he couldn't do much else. The poison was apparently taking effect faster than he anticipated. So he settled for glaring at the figure instead.
"Well, least this guy doesn't kill people." Thought Bakugo grimly.
The Hunter slowly made his way towards Bakugo, his suit had been torn where Bakugo had landed direct hits on the cloth rather than the armor plates and lightly seared skin was showing. The fact that the good hits only gave him an injury akin to a sunburn told Bakugo that The Hunter definitely had a physical-based quirk. His speed, strength, and durability were all way too abnormal and he didn't show any other signs of a quirk apart from the glowing red eyes anyway. Bakugo had long ago learned how to control his blast's strength, but the sheer force and heat of the blasts he had been releasing would have been enough to render most people unconscious with at least first or second-degree burns by this point.
The Hunter was a few steps away from Bakugo now, looking down at him. Bakugo was having trouble focusing now, his vision didn't want to cooperate and he could feel his concentration giving way as the poison slowly put him under. The Hunter crouched down and looked him over, finally looking up into Bakugo's steadily unfocusing eyes.
As Bakugo slipped into unconsciousness, his one good eye kept glaring at the Hunter not breaking that gaze until the darkness claimed him...
_______________________________________________________________________
Bakugo awoke with a start, he tried to jolt upright but the second he did, pain lanced through his whole body and he fell back onto the bed, hissing in pain. He took the opportunity to assess his surroundings, and realized immediately he was in a hospital so he wasn't dead. Glancing around he found the call button and hit it. While he waited, he rearranged his bed and sat up slowly until he was sitting up fully. A few moments later a young woman in a light blue dress shirt, dark pants, glasses, and white gloves came in and pulled up a chair.
"Well, good to see your awake. Weren't expecting you to wake up for another few hours at the least." the woman said making a note on the digital clipboard attached to his footboard. "I'm also surprised to find you in our hospital, not even a week after arriving in the city. It's not every day we get one of the top heroes rolled into our establishment barely breathing and serrated knives sticking out of him."
"Whatever, just tell me what the damage is," growled Bakugo ignoring her jab. He recognized her plain as day, Recovery Girls protege now one of the best healers in the country if not the world, The Hero of Light: Solis or Dr. Okimi as most knew her. Armed with the quirk Light Conversion, she could take in and convert pure sunlight into a form that caused rapid bodily regeneration across the subject body, as well as "burn" impurities out of the body of the subject. Bakugo had no doubt about her healing abilities, but he had always suspected she had a few hidden cards up her sleeve in case she had to fight. After all, one did not graduate from a hero academy without the ability to at least being able to defend oneself and others.
"Well, you were definitely poisoned but we don't have the results back on what kind of poison was used. But based on initial tests it seems to suppress nerve functionality and cause numbness, eventually causing the subject to pass out if enough of the poison is injected and finally it can lead to death if the dose is incorrect as it could likely stop your heart. Likely it's some derivative of venom or other natural poison. I cleaned your system of the poison, healed your wounds, and gave you a bit of a boost to make sure your back on your feet in no time." She said, then she reached over and picked up the digital clipboard again and double-checked something before continuing.
"We will need to keep you here at least another day to ensure there haven't been any internal damages caused by the poison, but you should be free to leave by tomorrow." rattled off the doctor as she absent-mindedly looked over the digital clipboard. "Any other questions?" she asked looking up.
"So, I'm basically fine, just stuck here for observation?" asked Bakugo relaxing slightly.
"Pretty much, but I must admit I am concerned about anything that could take one of the best down. Who did you fight that was equipped with poisoned knives?" She asked curiously.
"Need to know basis, you'll have to take that up with the H.A. if you want details. I would recommend though that you be ready to treat more people like me, odds are you'll have at least one other person brought in for the same poison." Said Bakugo. He had a very deep respect and appreciation for those who healed others. The war had shown him just how vital they were, and he would probably be dead several times over if it weren't for the expert doctors and healers he had encountered during the war.
The hero sighed, nodded, and got up to leave. "Thanks for the warning, if you need anything feel free to ask. Oh, but do stay here. Your friends just arrived at the front desk and should be making their way here now. I also heard that Mr. Nezu was among them as well, no doubt they'll be wanting some kind of "de-briefing"." she said with obvious annoyance.
Bakugo huffed, he hated getting lectures and he knew he was going to get one and then some. He settled back and just went over the fight in his head, he'd fight him again at some point and he was going to be more than ready when that time came. He would admit, he had underestimated The Hunter. It wouldn't happen a second time.
During his musings, the door opened and several people walked in. He looked over and saw that Ochako, Yaoyorozu, Shoto, Asui, and Nezu had come to check on him. The moment they saw he was awake they all seemed to relax slightly, except for Nezu who strode up and hopped onto the chair that the doctor had left.
"So, Mr. Katsuki, I assume you have an excellent explanation as to why one of the best heroes we have was sent to the hospital in the midst of an impending crisis by a criminal who was warned not to be engaged solo." Bakugo could hear the simmering anger in Nezu's voice and the dark gleam in his eyes told Bakugo he would brook no half-assed explanations.
Bakugo sighed, "I put together reports on the Hunter and figured he would probably show up at a drug deal that was planned to go on last night at a warehouse near the ruined sector. When he showed up, I called in the police to flush him out onto the rooftop where I engaged him thinking I could take him down by myself. Only to discover that he had laced his serrated throwing knives with a numbing agent that eventually lead to my falling unconscious."
Bakugo had had it drilled into him that honesty and succinctness were vital in running a successful war. At least when you were on the front lines anyway, detailed reports came later when the fighting was over and had time to write one up properly.
Nezu stared at him for a few moments longer before sighing and actually sitting in the chair. "Well, I trust you learned your lesson on why I recommended him classified him as an S-rank threat. He is more than likely on par, if not above Stain when it comes to combat ability and strategy." Said Nezu.
Bakugo merely grumbled and silently fumed over his defeat.
"While we can all agree that what Bakugo did was reckless and foolhardy, this is also an excellent opportunity to hear more about the Hunter from a reputable source." Said Yaoyorozu from beside Shoto.
"An excellent idea Miss Yaoyorozu." Said Nezu nodding to her. "Now then Mr. Katsuki, what can you tell us about him?"
Bakugo cast his mind back towards the fight and the time before it in the Warehouse, gathering his thoughts. A few minutes later he had recounted the whole thing, then another thought occurred to him.
"He's also been expecting to fight Hero's at some point, the fucker's throwing knives were coated in a numbing agent or poison of some kind as I said. He also had in-depth knowledge of my quirk, and he was able to dodge a majority of my attacks and even threw a knife into my left hand to stop me from using my quirk there. His knives are also serrated to prevent them from being removed in the middle of the fighting. He's definitely got some kind of general physical enhancement quirk. He could take some solid hits from me and not even bat an eyelash, he's got speed, and good strength to pair with it. He climbed up a six-story apartment complex from the outside in around 10-15 seconds or so. He also had what looked to be containers of some kind along his waist and on his legs. Likely those held the gadgets he had stolen or bought on the black market that you mentioned during our briefing."
The others digested that piece of information, it was nice to have concrete facts about the mysterious vigilante but it was also concerning that he seemed to know enough about Bakugo's quirk to know to impale his hands. Bakugo couldn't risk releasing an explosion with a knife in it without shredding his hand and bleeding out, or at the least suffering permanent damage. If he knew that much and was prepared for it, how much else did this vigilante know? More importantly, how did he know it?
"So, we can confirm what scant intelligence we had previously. Likely stolen or illegally bought technology, a physical enhancement quirk that seems to have some specialty in durability, and skills on par with that Stain. We're going to need a plan tailored for dealing with him and a team designed to fight him. When Bakugo is recovered we should all group up and discuss plans on dealing with him." Said Todoroki looking around at everyone, then a thought seemed to strike him and he turned to Nezu.
"No one asked at the briefing, but what authorizations do we have regarding fighting Zeus, Stain, and the Hunter."
Nezu seemed to hesitate at the question, before saying, "Lethal force has been authorized for all of them as well as their minions. Though I do not think that the Hunter was specifically included. If you can just capture him that should suffice, his actions do not deserve death, he was likely included in the list as a matter of convenience."
No one said a word, they were all thinking back to the war. Dark thoughts and bloody battlefields flashed through their minds. They had all killed villains before, because if they hadn't; if they had tried to just "capture" some of those villains... Then they would have lost that war and a lot more people would have died.