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Chapter 33: Chapter #32 | Tried For Error

Notes:

Hey everyone! We're back with another chapter. I'll be honest I've got no clue what's happening with the update schedule now. All I can say at this point is that the chapters will come as they come. Sorry about that everyone!

Chapter Text

Bakugo Katsuki didn't like what he was feeling. Annoyance was a constant for him, and anger was always quick to come even when it wasn't warranted. He wasn't stupid, he knew he had a tendency to overreact. He didn't regret trying to get rid of Deku. Quirkless bastard didn't belong in a hero school. No, that's not right. That's not Deku. Deku would never, could never… FUCK.

Bakugo couldn't help but stare down at his own bloody hands as images ghosted through his vision. The blast ripping from his gauntlets, the building snapping under the strain of having its supports blown away. Deku practically running from the ruins of the training, covered in blood and doing everything he could to keep their classmate alive. Their classmate. She'd been hurt because of him. She had been hurt because of hi-

"...ugo. Bakugo Katsuki." Bakugo's head snapped up from his hands as he sucked in a breath with an angry hiss. He was met with concerned expressions from both of his parents, and didn't that burn his ass that they'd been called in for their college student of a son, but the cold, analytical gaze of the damn rat that'd had him on house arrest since the inci- accident the previous day. Bakugo gave his hands another glance to find them clean. What the fuck.

"Do try to listen when something pertains to you, young man. As I was saying, part of the blame lies on us as faculty. All Might should have never approved the support gear that he approved. Something like that shouldn't have been given to him until at the very least his third year." The stern voice of the president cut through Bakugo's own thoughts long enough to get the young man to focus on him.

"Then this accident can be resolved with that, right? A terrible accident that will not happen again." Mitsuki sounded hopeful, but when one looked into her eyes, they would be able to tell it was a brittle facade. Fear and desperation rested there, even if otherwise she exuded finality.

"If only it were so simple, Mrs. Bakugo." The mask dropped away and the fear underneath was laid bare. "All Might is currently part of our faculty, so for that we will bear the responsibility of his mistake. This could have ended there, if this accident had ended with minor injuries. We likely could have ended this there even if the building collapse had been the worst of it. But unfortunately, this accident can't conclude so cleanly."

"What are you saying, you damn rat. Just say it plainly." The words had barely left Bakugo's mouth when Nedzu's gaze turned on him, cold instead of stern. A strong hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he didn't need to look over to know what his father was trying to tell him. He might be a quiet man, but he could still get his point across.

"Fine then, Mr. Bakugo. Let's put it plainly, as you so desire. You violated the rules of your exercise. You broke out of your restraints and attempted to, in your own words, no less, use lethal force against your classmate during a training exercise. Your actions, while having failed to have their desired effect, did accomplish in collapsing the building onto all of you. During this collapse, one of your classmates, Iida Tenya, was lucky enough to have gotten away with shrapnel in his chest and leg, several broken ribs, and an utterly destroyed costume. I say lucky because the other student caught in the collapse just spent the night in the OR with her parents praying for her survival. That is on your head, Bakugo." The hand clenched around his shoulder tightened, and his mother practically choked on the air.

"Dear god, Katsuki. What the hell have you done now? All of that therapy after Aldera was to avoid something like this happening. Did you learn nothing after that fiasco?" Katsuki grit his teeth at the memories of his high school years. The police had come in and practically dismantled Aldera after Deku left. Anonymous source my ass. He'd spent years being watched like a damn hawk just for being associated with the closed middle school, and his mother had practically mandated therapy, not that any of the damn shrinks had had anything of worth to say.

"I'm afraid you can't help someone that doesn't want it. Again, since you want it plainly, Bakugo, I'm going to lay out what's going to happen. You are going to be removed from the hero program-"

"Like hell I am!" Sparks crackled to life in his palms before they were quickly snuffed out by the crimson glare of his homeroom teacher. Aizawa had been scowling from the beginning, but as far as Katsuki was concerned, when wasn't the hobo?

"Be quiet, young man." The hand on his shoulder tightened down now as his father rumbled. A warning to stay quiet.

"You will be removed from the hero program and placed in general education. For some reason, the school board still seems to think you have potential, so you will be allowed back into the program should you make an impression at the sports festival."

"What's the catch?" All eyes turned now to Mitsuki who had narrowed her gaze. "Sorry, but you don't seem to want him back in the hero course, so what's the catch?"

"Quite right, Mrs. Bakugo. He assaulted a fellow student. One of my students. The catch, as you put it, is this." With one of his claws, Nedzu tapped on the folder in front of him before sliding it across the desk. "This is a detailed account of this incident with all of the needed evidence to prosecute Bakugo as an adult in both the attempted homicide of his classmate, as well as the maiming of another. This record has been passed onto the attorney's office and sealed with the following conditions. First of all, Bakugo will be, from this point on, in mandated sessions with our school's psychologist, Hound Dog." Nedzu turned to Katsuki from his mother and looked him in the eyes, doing his best to get this next part across to him.

"It doesn't matter if you want it or not anymore, Bakugo. This is your last chance. If he doesn't believe you have made progress before the end of the sports festival, then regardless of whether or not you make a good showing, you'll be left in general education. Secondly, and this is the most important part of this, if you slip up again, young man, in any way, this file will be unsealed and you will be arrested. You mess up and beat up one of your classmates? Unsealed. Twenty years down the line, if you have your hero license and you mess up? Unsealed and arrested. This will follow you for the rest of your life, and you will never get out from under it."

"And if we don't agree to these conditions?" Katsuki's head snapped to the side to look at his mother. The blood had drained from her face, and hell, why wouldn't it? Her only son was facing criminal charges that would have him branded as a villain for the rest of his life.

"Oh, you're welcome to walk away right now. We'll sweep this under the rug and Katsuki can live out the rest of his life in peace. Of course, if you do, then I will have your son blacklisted. He will never find a position in any self-respecting college again."

"You son of a bitch."

Nedzu turned back to Bakugo and found him clenching both his teeth and his fists. "This is ultimately your decision, young man, so I'd think long and hard about it. You have until Monday to decide. If you show up at the school gates, then we'll consider the choice made and you'll be given your new class schedule. Now go vacate your dorm. You're dismissed."

Silently, Bakugo gritted his teeth, stood up, and left the president's office with his parents.

…

"You don't plan on letting him go, do you?"

"Not at all, Aizawa."

"And if he does choose to walk away? It wouldn't be the first time someone chose to simply walk away from it all."

Nedzu stared at Aizawa for a long moment, remembering the incident in the break room as well as the teacher's comments. I suppose it's about time then. "Then I would make him and his family disappear just like anyone that crosses this academy."

Aizawa gritted his teeth at the response. Not what he had wanted to hear. Just how much was Nedzu doing behind the scenes that he was unaware of? "Why not just get rid of him? Is he worth this trouble?"

"My dear Aizawa, I want him for the same reason anyone wants a bomb. They make excellent weapons."

...

It only took Midoriya three steps out of the simulation chamber for him to notice the professor with his face down on the desk. He also couldn't help but notice the very empty bottle of alcohol next to the professor.

"Get out."

"Good to see you as well, Snipe."

"Nedzu told me to, an' I quote, 'send the homicidal timebomb to the dorms to get cleaned up before he comes in for the disaster's consequences.' So out, Midoriya. My head is poundin'.

Midoriya chuckled before giving a mock salute and exiting the room with Hatsume and a shell-shocked Shimura behind him. Finally, she croaked out words while they walked. "He knew. He saw what you did and didn't say anything about it."

Progress, Midoriya supposed. When he had tried to talk to her in the simulation, she'd simply stared at him without responding. "It's rather complicated, Mrs. Shimura."

Hatsume stopped and turned a critical eye on him. Even if he'd explained to her that he now had a discount force ghost living in his head, the scene was still off-putting. She'd have him back in their lab for a full battery of tests that night even if she had to knock him out to do it.

Shimura shook her head before half yelling at Midoriya. "Navigating gang relations is complicated. High-level theoretical math is complicated. Spending the last couple of decades in what is practically quirk limbo is complicated. You killing a dozen clones of Toshi is not complicated. That is abjectly wrong. It's evil. It's villainous!"

Midoriya froze on the last word. His eyes and tone chilled, and he couldn't help the derision that found its way into his tone. "Oh? Were things truly so black and white back in the Urban Wars that you can abide by that worldview? If that's the case, I can see just where All Might got his horrendously rigid worldview from."

Shimura opened her mouth, stepping towards Midoriya to counter when he merely kept speaking in the same cold tone. "You don't know anything of what is going on, Shimura Nana. By your own admission, you've spent your time not knowing what's going on, so let's give you a quick crash course, shall we?"

The snarl in Midoriya's tone and the fire flaring in his eyes had Shimura stepping back, even as he advanced on her. "Your successor has become the symbol of peace for this country. He deters criminal activity and foreign invasion with his mere existence. Your successor has become a glowing beacon of hope for the people of Japan."

Shimura couldn't help the ghost of a smile that came to her lips even with the angry man marching towards her. "This same person has now stalked me for months, has almost gotten me killed on two separate occasions, and has succeeded in making a decision that has crippled one of my classmates, someone I was growing quite fond of. Someone whose quirk could have saved an immeasurable number of lives."

The smile dropped away as she scrunched her brow. "We all make mistakes. I'm certain that Toshi only wanted the be-"

"Exactly the fucking problem, Shimura. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and he has nothing but intentions. He has no plan. No common sense. No gods damned idea of the real world under those rose-tinted glasses he wears on his tower of godhood. He has shown me absolutely no reason that he is any better than All for One."

Shimura's face twisted back into one of rage at the mere mention of her nemesis's name. "Don't you dare compare Toshi or any other successor to that monster. We've spent over two centuries making sure that villain can't do what he wants!"

"And just what do any of you have to show for it, huh?" Midoriya's voice was creeping up in decibel alongside Shimura's. The only difference was that Hatsume could only hear one half of the conversation. As such, she placed her hand on his shoulder. His head snapped to her, disgust clear in his eyes.

"You may want to lower your voice, Izu. Unless, of course, you want the entire school thinking you're utterly crazy alongside knowing sensitive information." Midoriya's eye's cleared a bit before he closed them and took a long, deep breath. When he opened them again, they'd gone back to the frigid indifference he'd started with.

"Just as an example. Currently, Mrs. Shimura, that man is the only reason the cities of Niigata and Kanazawa are functioning. The only reason that just over two million people can live their daily lives without some kind of base fear. His organization of villains has taken care of the cities after they were abandoned by the government following reconstruction. Families that wouldn't be able to survive without the peace between the gangs, a peace that is kept by one man. A man so utterly powerful that his existence is spoken of in whispers and serves as a deterrent just as powerful as a symbol of peace."

Shimura ground her teeth and clenched her fists when confronted by Midoriya's practically emotionless disinterest. "That doesn't make what he's done right. Just because you help people doesn't right your wrongs."

Midoriya's lips twisted now into a cruel, mocking smile. "You are quite right. That man is no saint. He's done some truly terrible things, and I don't doubt he will do more before he finally dies. But neither are you, or All Might, or anyone that has held your abilities. Right now, there's no difference between you. None of us are saints, Mrs. Shimura. But don't try to make yourself into one. Your lot is nothing more than a group of martyrs."

Midoriya turned and began walking again alongside his constant companion. No matter what she said, Shimura couldn't get him to turn around again.

…

Bakugo stepped from the damn rat's office and was met by the one person that could have made this day worse. Standing next to the rat's secretary in one of those perfectly fitted three-piece suits of his was the source of his problems. Why had he noticed the suit? His father was a fashion designer, so he knew quality clothing when he saw it. Sue him.

Seated next to the giggling, she's fucking giggling, secretary was his gears for brains partner, tinkering away with something that looked suspiciously like the teeth of a chainsaw. Bakugo didn't have anything against the engineer. Not really. Clearly she was intelligent. It was just a shame that she'd decided to tie herself down with a quirkless.

Midoriya's eyes flicked away from the secretary and ghosted over the family of three while the smile on his face dropped away. He turned to the family, taking in Bakugo Katsuki's hunched shoulders and the simmering rage in his eyes. Silently, he placed a single hand on the sidearm at his hip. He'd pulled it from his safe when he'd changed into the suit. His nerves were resting on the knife's edge as it was, and he didn't want nor need to fray them further by not having his sidearm on him.

When Midoriya's eyes reached Mitsuki and Masaru, they softened. Just what did those two do to be cursed with such a child? They weren't perfect parents. Masaru was too quiet, only speaking up when it was necessary. Meanwhile, Mitsuki was the opposite and, to any outside eye, may as well have been abusive towards her only son. Even despite this, they tried their best, and that counted for something.

The Bakugos all noticed the quiet warning, and while Katsuki's parents went rigid with it, their son couldn't help but snarl. The dull throbbing in his ear was all the reminder he needed that Midoriya wouldn't hesitate if he tried something. Not that he would with that damned sealed order resting on the back of his neck like the blade of a guillotine waiting for its order to drop.

Midoriya sighed, turning back to the secretary and muttering a few parting words to her. Without a sound, Midoriya stepped past them. It was eerie, practically the passing of a ghost. The only real sound in the room came instead from the clicking of tiny metal blades as Hatsume tinkered while waiting for her partner.

"Wait!" Both older Bakugos startled when their son bit out a word through his snarling. Katsuki turned to find that Midoriya had stopped in front of the doors to Nedzu's office. He hadn't turned to him but Midoriya had stopped, and that was good enough. "Is that girl going to be okay?"

The words may have been difficult and strangled, and for Katsuki it was progress in and of itself, but Midoriya was in no mood to give the man even an inch. "I'm sorry, Bakugo, but you are going to have to be more specific than that."

"Don't fuck with me, you bastard. You know exactly who I'm talking about. Your damn partner in the exercise."

"Well look here, Mei. Here we have something that many consider to be impossible. A villain that asks after their victim."

"Midoriya! Don't say such a-" Mitsuki started to speak up in shock and confusion, only to be thrown deeper into those emotions when the boy she'd practically watched grow up turned and stared them down, as if he was witnessing the dredges of humanity.

"Sorry, Auntie, but I'm quite done filtering myself today. Her name is Ochako Uraraka, Katsuki. At least have the conscience to remember the girl's name after you maimed her."

Katsuki flinched back. Flinched away. Memories of blood and pain rising to the surface even as he pushed them down. "I didn't- I'm not-"

"Aren't you? A girl that wanted nothing more than to help people is now missing her legs and had her spine snapped like a twig. Whose fault do you think that is, Katsuki? All Might? No, he merely gave you the tools to commit your crime. You pulled the pin."

Bakugo clicked his tongue before turning away, fists clenched at his side. "Whatever, it's not like you aren't going to just help her out like your company always seems to do. It's practically all over the news, 'new hope for the crippled' and all that shit."

"No, I won't be helping her at all." The temperature in the room dipped dramatically as Katsuki spun on Midoriya. He advanced even as he snarled, hands popping and grabbing at the front of Midoriya's suit.

"You son of a bitch. If this is some kind of sick fucking joke or punishment to me, don't you eve-" The words caught in Bakugo's throat and a nervous sweat dripped down his spine as the cold, hard barrel of Midoriya's firearm poked him in his ribs, just over his heart.

Quietly, Midoriya whispered into Katsuki's ear. Words only meant for him. "You can't help someone who doesn't want help, Katsuki. But you should know all about that. When I left her in her hospital room, she was broken. Her dreams, her confidence, her pride. You took everything from her. If she never recovers? That's on you, too." Midoriya holstered his firearm before twisting Bakugo's hands off him and smoothing down his lapels.

With a soft smile to their audience, Midoriya nodded. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have a meeting to be getting to." Midoriya turned, passing through the doors to the awaiting school president and leaving chills running down the spines of everyone but Hatsume, who was carefully and happily inspecting the edges of her blades.