Chapter Text
Ten years ago.
“Hey Eda! Why are your hands black?? Didn’t the doctor say you turn into charcoal if you don’t take your meds?? Let’s see you catch fire!!”
The circle of boys all hurled rocks at Taichi, one of them striking him in the head and cutting open his cheek. Runny blood leaked out and ran down the side of his face, dripping all over his white shirt.
“So what if I turn into charcoal?! You guys are just jealous!” Taichi yelled back, starting to get up off the ground.
“WHY WOULD WE BE JEALOUS, CHARCOAL! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO HAS TO DIE!!”
The biggest boy in the circle punched Taichi in the mouth, drawing more blood and sending him back to the ground. A tooth fell out this time too, but Taichi didn’t seem phased.
He never did, Katsuki thought, sitting back about three meters and watching silently. The Program children were all out playing in a designated area together, and as usual, the GEHEDs were getting bullied. Except Katsuki, who hadn’t quite shown himself yet and had resorted to just hiding and watching.
“Imagine having to take meds to stay alive!” one of the boys jeered, spitting on Taichi.
“YEAH! It’s like they want you guys dead!”
“Oh wait! THEY DO!”
A round of laughter, and Taichi got up and jokingly squared up. “Anyone wanna see me catch fire? Come on! Come get me!”
You crazy animal.
Katsuki flinched as the boys all took shots at Taichi. He was doing his best to defend, but it wasn’t that great. Taichi was a poor fighter at six years old, and his mouth was just a bit too big for him to back up.
“HEY, CHARCOAL! IF YOU DIE AND GET CREMATED, DO YOU THINK YOU’D BURN DOWN THE PLACE THAT DID IT!!”
“HE WON’T MAKE IT THERE!! HE’LL BURN HIMSELF UP SOONER!!”
“JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE GEHEDS-- BORN TO DIE!!”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Katsuki jumped up from where he had been hiding.
Everyone turned around and looked at him blankly.
“I SAID THAT’S ENOUGH!!” He balled up his fists, and every joint in them cracked. His heart was pounding in his chest, blood rushing in his ears.
Fear. It still lived in him then.
Katsuki stared at the handful of boys looking back at him, his mind grabbing wildly at a reaction.
“You again?? Aren’t you the special one we can’t beat around too much cuz we’ll get in trouble??”
“Why’re you standing up now?”
“Maybe he burns up too, and when he burns to death, he’ll be like a burnt chicken!”
“I DON’T BURN-- I EXPLODE. AND THAT IS A WARNING!” he howled back, bolting at the biggest boy.
HOLD ON. WHAT AM I DOING?!
He collided with the bigger boy, hardly knocking him off his balance, immediately realizing he should have assessed the situation a little harder. The boy was at least two years older than he was, and Katsuki was ridiculously underprepared.
The older boy smacked him around a few times, and Katsuki swung back with all he could find in him, but before he knew it, he had blood in his mouth and nose, and his eye was starting to swell shut. Who knew what had become of his glasses. He’d forced himself up off the ground twice now, but the third time, he was out of ideas.
“HEY! KACCHAN! YOU TOO! YOU’RE BORN TO DIE TOO! EXCEPT MAYBE WE’LL BEAT YOU UP TOO MUCH NOW THAT YOU WON’T MAKE IT TO BLOWING YOURSELF UP!”
Fresh out of ideas, but not entirely out of rage yet.
“STOP FUCKING YELLING ABOUT ME BEING BORN A DEAD MAN!!!” he roared back, bodyslamming into the big boy.
He felt something slam down against the back of his neck, and then his head was forced down against the bigger boy’s side, his throat caught in the crook of the big boy’s elbow. His windpipe collapsed, and he started scraping at the boy’s arm to get him to let go.
“LET GO, LET GO!!” he gagged, writhing desperately. “I CAN’T BREATHE!!”
“HEY, HEY! LET GO OF HIM! WEREN’T YOU GOING TO BEAT ME UP!?” Taichi was yelling in the background, but nobody was paying him any attention now.
“Hey GEHED, how’s it feel, fulfilling your destiny??” the boy holding him in the chokehold asked, chuckling. “Feel good? Does dying to save the world make you a hero??”
Katsuki gasped violently. His young, growing mind knew the answer to the question. Or at least his answer to the question, anyways.
But the answer didn’t change the end or where he was, and he was quickly losing air.
Dying doesn’t feel heroic or romantic or anything…
I just feel…
Gross and cold.
“WHY ARE YOU GUYS ALWAYS BULLYING THEM! THEY DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO YOU!!” a small voice yelled, breaking the moment. “LEAVE THE GEHEDS ALONE!!”
The interruption was enough that Katsuki’s captor let a little loose on the chokehold, and Katsuki gasped for air. The painful rush of it down his throat sent rage through him again, and in a spur of the moment decision, he jerked his head backwards as hard as he could into his captor’s gut, ultimately flinging the boy over his shoulder. The child hit the ground hard, gasping for air, and Katsuki just turned around to stare at the boy, his eyes wide with a cruel mix of hate and rage he could feel surging through his body. The rest of the boys who had been bullying Taichi backed up wildly, staring at Katsuki.
“Born a dead man… eh?” He wiped the blood dripping out of his mouth.
“We’ll let you alone this time, GEHED,” the big boy replied, scrambling off the ground now. “But don’t think this lets you off the hook.”
Katsuki flicked the blood on his fingers on the kid’s shirt. “You guys attacked Taichi first.”
“Let him be, let’s go.” The boys took off now, leaving six year-old Katsuki standing over six year-old Taichi.
“Kacchan! That was so cool!”
The words ricocheted around his skull. He couldn’t remember who’d said them at the time, but the boy’s voice was still ringing in his head as he struggled against Motoya’s chokehold.
How is that cool.
How exactly is survival… cool?
“Motoya! Don’t kill him!” Izuku shouted from the side.
Akahori immediately answered him. “Just wait, Midoriya-kun. Just wait--”
Rage surged through him, and he doubled over as far as Motoya’s beastly grip would let him. “You… can’t… kill me…,” he rasped, seating his hands on his captor’s hip bones.
I get one shot at this…
“BECAUSE I WAS BORN A FUCKING DEAD MAN!” He swung his head and torso up as fast and hard as he could, forcing himself to ignore the horrible feeling of Motoya’s ribs cracking against his skull. The huge boy sailed over his shoulder and hit the ground with a wild thump, and Katsuki swung his foot back and tramped down lightly on Motoya’s throat. A quick maneuver later, he’d jerked the boy onto his front, his heel against the back of Motoya’s head and Motoya’s left wrist in his hand.
A dirty smirk crossed Katsuki’s face and a little huff of laughter sneaked out.
Not sure why I doubted myself…
I’ve taken down guys bigger and angrier than him.
“About how I expected it would go.” Akahori motioned for Katsuki to get off of Motoya. “Motoya-kun, are you in one piece?”
The big boy nodded, pushing up off the ground. “I’m fine.” He winced briefly but shook his head. “It’ll-- uhm… it’ll heal.” A little blood trickled out of his mouth, but he just awkwardly smiled and wiped it away. “I swear… I’m fine… I’ve seen worse.”
Akahori’s attention turned to Katsuki now. “Now I’m going to ask you to fight me.”
Katsuki’s eyes ran up and down his lanky teacher. “So you want me to kick your ass now??”
The comment was in fact ridiculously brash, but he couldn’t imagine just how much worse fighting Akahori could be. He’d just bested one of the kids built to take everything-- he’d beat Akahori.
“Yes.” Akahori chuckled and stepped back onto the mat. “Please try to kick my ass.”
Katsuki genuinely smirked. “You’ve fucking got it coming then.”
Y’know Akahori-sensei…
I might consider hating this side of you a little less.
“I hope so.” Akahori threw his whistle to Taichi. “Say when.”
FWEEEET!
Akahori didn’t move an inch, and Katsuki grinned madly.
Your fucking defense strategy had better be good, sensei.
I’m best when I get to throw the first hit.
He got right up in Akahori’s space, swinging madly, but his teacher kept blocking and dodging every hit. Then, without warning, Akahori reached out with an open hand, jabbed his fingers in at the bottom of Katsuki’s rib cage, and dug his fingers up under the boy’s rib.
A lightning bolt of pain shot through Katsuki, and he stumbled back, gasping for breath. A sharp pain ricocheted around his rib cage now, and before he had a chance to react, Akahori grabbed him by the back of the neck and dumped him on the floor, gently setting a foot down on his back.
What the… fuck just happened.
Katsuki was trying his best not to heave, as the deeper breaths were causing him wild pain, but it wasn’t an easy task, being that the breath had been knocked out of him when he’d hit the floor.
“Bakugo? Anything broken? Is the pain unbearable?” Akahori’s foot lifted off his back and the tall man squatted near his head.
Katsuki’s eyes slid over to his teacher, and he just stared for a moment. “Sir…,” he finally wheezed, starting to get his arms under him. “What the hell was that?”
The entire class was silent, just staring.
“Until I teach it to you properly,” Akahori started, offering Katsuki a hand. “Never do it to someone you want alive.”
Katsuki twitched and smacked away Akahori’s hand. “THEN WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO IT ON ME?!”
“It’s a fast way to take an opponent down who’s not guarding their midsection, but it requires control.” Akahori stood back up. “And I need you to learn to guard your midsection.”
Katsuki made a growling noise and slowly pushed himself up off the floor, taking note of a marked decrease in the weird pain and tightness in his chest.
The teacher put his hands down his pockets again, reassuming his slouchy posture. “Now, I’m going to split you into pairs to work on blocking strategies. Line up, I’m going to count off.”
Akahori counted off everyone into pairs, and the students ran the exercise once. Katsuki completely ruled the first run, even paired against the other AAU in the class Momo Yaoyozoru. She was a big girl, and he was almost outclassed as far as strength, but his reflexes held the upper hand. Then Akahori rotated everyone. This time, he was up against one of the CDDs (Capabilities diffusion devices), Mashirao Ojirou, and while the boy seemed to have a decisive fighting style that Katsuki found hard to combat, he still brute forced his way through the fight and came out on top. Akahori called for one last rotation.
This time, Katsuki found himself standing across from Reina, and if he wasn’t bristling enough already, his teacher walked up and added, “Remember, Bakugo, you failed the exam, and I still want you to figure out why. This is a brilliant exercise for that.”
Katsuki made some kind of feral growling noise in his throat, to which Akahori shook his head and walked away, leaving the boy facing the girl he had not wanted to be paired with. He curled his lip, and she just rolled her eyes. Akahori started explaining the exercise in the background.
After she’d barked at him the night before, she’d managed to rival Izuku for ‘most annoying,’ but he couldn’t completely bring himself to the feeling of disgust.
Instead, there was some peculiar and very hateable curiosity buried down somewhere in his guts.
What did they do to you, GETEU?
What made you angry and hateful?
His grimace deepened, and he started sizing her up. She wasn’t going to be a hard win… he’d be amazed if she even came close to beating him--
“Alright-- you can begin this iteration of the exercise. Keep in mind what I talked about,” Akahori called to the class.
Reina was suddenly right in his face, and before he had any idea what was going on, she’d flung him on the floor, his hands behind his back.
“Pay attention, idiot.” She poked the back of his head with her tabi toe. “I don’t love doing group projects with incompetent members.”
“INCOMPETENT MEMBERS?!?” Katsuki threw himself up off the floor and got right back in her face, grabbing ahold of her baggy PTG shirt. “DID YOU JUST FUCKING CALL ME INCOMPETENT?! I’LL SHOW YOU INCOMPETENT--”
He grabbed her shoulder, and a loud SNAP sounded. A bolt of pain shot through him, and he jerked back. Next thing he knew, he was face down again on the mat, trying to recalibrate his brain.
“Tonomura-- if I hear that electricity again, I’m gonna put a grounding boot on you so you can’t zap him with it,” Akahori called from across the room where he was working with another pair of students.
She glanced over her shoulder towards her teacher and sighed. “Fine. I’ll be nice.”
“Be nice, my fucking ass.” Katsuki pushed himself up off the floor and turned to the girl again. “Come on then, Gadget, and show me how you fight without being a fucking electric fencer.”
She narrowed her eyes and backed up a pace. “You asked for it, buddy.”
“I mean how good can you possibly be?” he gloated.
“Dunno. How good did you have to be to stay alive?”
Katsuki twitched at the statement, but it hit some resonant chord in him.
How good did you have to be to stay alive.
His eyes flashed. “So you have been hurt.”
She shrugged. “I told you I’d tell you when you earned my respect. You’re not there yet.”
He made a deep growling noise before backing up a step and lowering himself into an attack position. “Say when, then… Sparky.”
“I’ll give you an advantage. Keep your hands off the front of my ribcage.” She cracked the knuckles in her left hand.
“Deal.” He thought it was a strange request, but if she was going to give him an advantage, he wasn’t going to ask.
“Alright… when.”
Reina was fast-- good grief was she fast. Katsuki’s reflexes were just barely keeping up with hers, and if that wasn’t enough, she was guessing his moves and stunting him in ways he only knew from street fighting.
FUCKFUCKFUCK--
It was like he was fighting a brick wall. She hadn’t thrown a single punch yet, and he was getting more annoyed as time went on.
“JUST FUCKING HIT ME ALREADY!!” he howled, swinging for her head.
“Just wait--” She dodged his hit and shoved his head back, forcing him backwards.
“I’M FUCKING TIRED OF WAITING!!” He stopped to catch his breath. “YOU PISS ME OFF!”
“I do that to people.” She also doubled over to catch her breath, not taking her hazel eyes off him. “But we’re not done yet, Dynamight.”
“No, we fucking aren’t, Gadget.” His eyes landed on her upper body, and her warning from earlier came back to him.
The front of her ribcage, eh?
The electric organs must be under there.
But I should be safe if I just hit quick and hard.
He stood back up. “Get ready to lose, Sparky.”
“Your call.”
He approached and went for his planned solar plexus hit, but in the last instant before the hit landed, her entire demeanor shifted.
From annoyance to utter fear-- the utter fear that leaves a body at a complete loss for a reaction outside of pure instinct and subconscious.
The bullied, lost child inside of him screamed.
WAIT--
She grabbed his arm and jerked him over her shoulder before he could even acknowledge what had happened, and he landed on his back on the mat hard enough that it knocked the air out of his lungs.
Damn.
He lay there stunned for a few seconds, staring at the ceiling of the R-Fac, mentally trying to replay what all had just happened, but his thought process was rudely interrupted by the sound of her dry heaving.
Katsuki propped himself up and twisted around to look at the girl, who was doubled over and panting.
“I’m fine-- I’m… fine.” Reina held a shaky hand up towards him, not looking up. “Just… give me a damn minute.”
He twisted back around and sat up, staring at his hands, unsure of exactly how to deal with this situation.
Is that why she told me not to touch the front of her rib cage?
“You’re not fucking fine.” He got up and loomed over her, his arms crossed.
“I said gimme a damn minute.” She looked up at him now, her eyes narrow and annoyed, stringy drool dripping out of her mouth.
They stared at each other for a few more seconds in silence before he asked, “So is that why you told me to avoid your ribcage?”
The girl stood up to her full, short height and squared her shoulders. “No.”
Her answer was too straight forward to be a lie, and it left him puzzled. “So then--”
“If you hit my rib cage you are at risk of discharging me. I was giving you a fair advantage.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and then wiped her hand on her pants. “You’re good… even without getting to throw body blows… I was barely keeping up with you.”
Barely keeping up with me…
He gripped the front of his head. “Then what the FUCK was that bullshit where you just… you…” He peered up at her, eyes narrow. “You locked up-- you balked… your brain shut off and I got hurled into the mat… what the hell was that??”
She avoided his eyes and shoved her hands down her pockets. “Sorry about that. Happens sometimes.”
“THAT’S A FUCKING HORRIBLE EXCUSE!”
“I… I… don’t… I…” She started off towards Akahori. “I don’t have another one. Sorry. I’m going to get a... a uhm... rag to clean up my vomit.”
Katsuki stared after her, his mouth slightly open as he weighed her comment.
There’s another one. There’s clearly another one.
You don’t just… hurl people over your shoulder like that by instinct.
He watched as Reina got a rag and bucket from a closet and started back over.
There’s another fucking explanation.
And I’m going to hear it.
“Oi. Tonomura.” He put his hands down his pockets as she approached.
“Bakugo… what.” She looked back up at him. Exhaustion had set in, and her face looked rough now. She was even black and blue in a few spots where he’d swiped her.
“You learned to do that to fucking stay alive.”
“Maybe.” She avoided his gaze now and knelt to clean up the mess. “Now leave me alone. Akahori’s going to come pair you with someone else.”
His blood boiled. “BUT I DON’T FUCKING WANT TO BE PAIRED WITH ANYONE ELSE NOW--”
A hand settled on his shoulder. “Bakugo. C’mon. You’re going to rotate to fight Shinso now. Let Tonomura clean up.”
He whipped around to yell at his teacher, but when he caught the slight edge of firm concern in Akahori’s wide eyes, he couldn’t find anything to say. He fell in silent step behind the tall man, his posture sinking.
Then something occurred to him.
“Sensei.”
“Hm?” Akahori glanced over his shoulder at the boy.
“What happened to Tonomura?” The boy’s eyes searched his teacher’s face for even the slightest hint of an answer.
Akahori faced forward again, leaving Katsuki looking at his back. “That’s not my story to tell, kid. Sorry.”
“But you fucking rooted me and Gunpowder out of the trashbin to drag us into this fucking class-- I bet you did the fucking same with her.” His lip curled in annoyance.
“Maybe I did. But that’s still not my story to tell.” Akahori stopped and turned around to look down at the boy. “What I am going to tell you is to be careful how you dig for your answer. In deep water with a frightened electric eel is a bad place to be.”
Katsuki glanced across the room at the girl again.
So then…
What is she?
And why would Akahori have picked her?
And what does that have to do with the fact that the senior officers might be trying to kill us?
Character Debrief: Tatsumi Jouno (Spectre)
Developed for strategic stealth operations and notable for her silvery hair, grayish skin, and reflective yellow eyes. Her skin and hair contains a silver-based metallic compound that reflects most electromagnetic waves and heat, making her invisible on radar, most motion sensors, and camera. Only existing SOAD with this capability. Smells strongly of metal. 167 cm, 54 kg. Tatsumi Jouno, SOAD.