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There were fires raging everywhere and people were pressing against him as he tried to make his way to the front of the crowd. When he finally broke through the sight before him made him freeze. Bakugou was trapped by the same sludge villain he had been, there were heroes on the edge of the scene, Backdraft was putting out fires while Death Arms and Kamui woods just stood in front of the police lines. Izuku could tell that they were trying to fake keeping back the crowd since no one was pushing against the lines trying to get closer and they were half-assing it.
Izuku’s blood boiled, what were the heroes doing? Did they not see the blaring weaknesses of the villain? All they needed to do was go after the eyes. Izuku looked up and saw Mt.Lady, who had debuted that morning, stuck between two buildings. He heard her call that the lane wasn’t wide enough but she could just shrink down and walk through. Was she really fit to be a hero if she couldn’t tell that for herself?
Izuku looked around at the civilians surrounding him. Those at the front had their phones out recording Bakugou dying. And that’s what was happening wasn’t it? Bakugou was going to die and no one, not even those paid to do so, were going to save him.
Suddenly someone further back in the crowd caught Izuku’s attention. The man was leaning against a pole at the back of the crowd, trying to stay out of sight. But Izuku saw him and Izuku recognized him. It was All Might though he was in his small form. Izuku stared at the man, surely he would puff up any second now and save Bakugou, right? Izuku watched at All Might, the man he had looked up to his entire life, the man he idolized, turned and walked away.
Izuku turned back around only to see his friend’s limp body being filled with sludge. The corpse jerked and twitched as the villain shoved himself inside until all of him was inside. Bakugou’s corpse leaned over and vomited up a mess of bones, blood, veins, organs, and anything else the villain deemed as useless. The only things that remained were crimson eyes and white teeth.
Izuku stared as the villain righted themself and started wandering down the sidewalk. The heroes still weren’t doing anything. They just let him go. Like nothing could be done. Like Bakugou’s death was completely inevitable. Like they couldn’t do anything before and still couldn’t now.
Izuku glanced around himself and followed the corpse. He kept his distance, of course, he didn’t want to be spotted. Eventually, they were well into the Red Light District and Izuku’s feet were starting to hurt.
Suddenly the villain turned Bakugou’s corpse into an alley. Izuku fastened his pace and leaned around the edge of the alley. He just caught the villain turning down a passage at the back of the alley. Izuku walks to the entrance of the passage slowly. It is embedded a little into the wall so it’s hidden from those passing the alley and is difficult to see unless you’re right in front of it.
He leaned over the opening, poking his head around to see into the passage. He just caught Bakugou’s corpse entering the door at the end of the passage before the door closed and he heard a click , indicating it had locked behind the villain.
Izuku looked around to make sure no one was watching him before he made his way to the door. He bent down to inspect the lock. It wasn’t very complicated just a normal door lock. He took off his bag and set it down beside himself. He pulled out his lock picking kit and started on the lock. In this moment he was glad he had been locked in so many closets.
It only took him a few seconds to unlock the door. He put the kit back in his bag, replacing it with a box cutter. He stood slowly, leaving his bag on the ground, and put his hand on the knob. He turned it slowly, pushing the door open only slightly so he could peer inside.
He saw the villain parroting Bakugou’s body around a small room. There was a black sleeping bag in the top left corner, though Izuku wasn’t sure if black had been the bag's original colour. In the top right corner was a small pile of about five duffel bags, all of them looked to be full except for the one sitting on top. Bakugou was kneeling in the middle of the floor, rifling through a duffel bag. There was a small pile of clothes and food beside him on his left and on his right were more valuable things the villain had stolen like money and jewellery.
Izuku watched the villain sort through his things for a moment before opening the door just enough for him to slip through. He snuck up behind the villain and poised his box cutter above the neck of the corpse. For that was what it was. It was a villain piloting Bakugou’s corpse it wasn’t Bakugou.
He didn’t waste any more time and stabbed the box cutter into the neck of the corpse, quickly pulling it out. The corpse turned around quickly, small explosions going off in the palms. Izuku could smell the burning nitroglycerin, could feel the scars and burns he had received from those explosions pulsate.
His vision turned red, those weren’t the villain's explosions to wield. They were Bakguou’s and Bakugou’s alone and now that Bakugou was dead they were no ones. Izuku dodged the villain’s attacks which were sloppy and uncoordinated. He stabbed the villain in the side, just below the ribs and dodged back pulling out the box cutter as he did so.
Suddenly the corpse dropped to the floor and green slime started to pour out. Izuku watched as slime poured from Bakugou’s nose, mouth, ears, and the holes Izuku had created when he stabbed the corpse. The slime converged above Bakugou’s head, growing bigger and bigger until the villain was as large as it had been before it had shoved itself into a teenage boy.
Because there was nothing inside of Bakugou, no bones, organs, muscles, or veins, only eyes in their sockets and teeth in their neat rows, he looked like a deflated skin suit. Limp and loose, wrinkly and smooth at the same time. The only parts of the corpse that didn’t look completely deflated were the hands. The villain must have left them be so he could use Bakugou’s quirk.
Izuku forced himself to tear his eyes away and focus on the villain’s imposing figure. Before the villain could surge at him Izuku ran to the other side of the room, trying to get them away from Bakugou’s corpse. It was his again, there were no longer any intruders inside.
The villain turned to face Izuku and charged at him, dragging its slimy body across the room faster than Izuku had expected. Izuku dodged quickly and ran around to the left wall. The villain took a moment to turn and orient itself so it could go after him but once it had it once again rushed to him, this time reaching out more slime limbs to try and capture the boy in its hold.
Izuku took note of the villain's slow orientation time before dodging the limbs and villain, running to the right wall. He watched the villain carefully. He didn’t move until the villain was almost to him, at which point he dodged and rushed to the villain's side. He jumped as high as he could and landed on top of the villain, grabbing its left eye tightly, striking it with his box cutter and dragging it up, cutting the eye in two.
He hopped down as the villain screamed and clutched at the space where their eye used to be. He beelined for the villain’s other side and jumped. The villain reached for him when he landed but he was faster. He stabbed the villain’s other eye, relishing in the squelch it made, and cut it in half as he hopped off the back of the villain’s head (?).
The villain was screaming again holding its face in its hands. Izuku ran to the door, throwing it open. “Over here asshole!” he called. The villain turned towards his voice and rushed towards him. The villain narrowly avoided Bakugou’s corpse as it made its way over. Izuku jumped out of the way at the last moment and the villain barreled out into the alley. Izuku followed, closing the door. In the corner of the alley, beside the dumpster was a gas canister and in the opposite corner was a lighter surrounded by cigarette butts.
Izuku ran around the alley, calling to the villain to get them to follow him. As he ran he bent low to pick up the lighter and tucked it into his pocket before dodging a slime limb the villain had sent out. He ran around the alley, keeping the gas canister in his peripherals until he was close enough to grab it. When he picked it up the gas sloshed around inside. It was only a quarter full but that would do.
Izuku opened the canister and started pouring a circle around the villain. When he was done there was still a little gas left. Izuku continued to run around the villain, slowly getting closer and closer until he was close enough to jump on top of them. The villain immediately started reaching for him and swinging around trying to get Izuku off but he held on as much as he could, making sure not to spill any of the gas.
He potioned himself over the villain's mouth and poured what was left in the container inside before hopping down. He watched the villain sputter for a moment, trying to spit out the gas despite already swallowing it. Izuku ran out of the circle of gasoline and bent over it, lighter in hand.
He struck the lighter twice before it lit and quickly brought the flame to the liquid at his feet. As soon as it lit he backed up quickly, admiring the way the flames spread across the circle and rose into the air. He heard the villain's screams as they started to evaporate and burn, as they choked on bile and swayed due to the gasoline they had ingested.
Izuku stared until his eyes started to water and his lungs began to burn.
Wait, what?
He looked around himself only now noticing the smoke filling the alley, filling his lungs and burning his eyes. He ran back towards the door at the end of the passage, hoping there was another way out since the flames blocked the entrance to the alley.
He twisted the knob quickly and threw his weight onto the door before slamming it closed. He stumbled into the room coughing, his body shaking. Tears were falling from his eyes caused by a mix of smoke and panic. He looked around the room in near hysterics, his eyes barely glancing at the deflated corpse still collapsed on the floor in his haste to find an exit. A back door, a window, anything .
Nothing.
There were no other doors or windows. There was only the dirty sleeping bag, the pile of duffel bags, the two piles the villain had been making when Izuku had burst in, and of course Bakugou’s corpse.
Izuku’s eye’s overflowed with tears. He felt a mix of pain, success, triumph, and failure. Like he had accomplished something huge and nothing at all. Like he could do more but he had also exhausted his purpose.
He could smell the smoke of the fire and glanced behind himself. Smoke was pouring in from underneath the door and he could see the flames dancing across the wood of the only thing standing in their way. He felt everything leave him at once as he was filled with acceptance. There was nothing he could do. His arms fell to his sides and he felt something in his pocket. He pulled it out, his phone.
He unlocked it as he walked further into the room and sat beside Bakugou. He sent a text to his mom, telling her that he loved her and he was so sorry that he was leaving her behind.
He opened his messages with Mitsuki, she deserved to know that her son’s corpse was no longer in the hands of a villain. He told her everything he could and tried to give her the address for the villain’s hideout though he could only remember the general area.
The flames were slowly making their way inside. They had consumed the door and were less than a meter away. Smoke was once again filling his lungs and irritating his eyes. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and lay down next to Bakugou, copying the position of the boy.
He closed his eyes as he felt the lick of flames at his feet and a smile dawned his face as they consumed him.