The Tinker

Chapter 74 - Broken Glass

Word was getting around fast-- not just in 3-A, but in the news.

The footage from Kaminari's influencer spread across the internet and public consciousness like wildfire. Bakugou hadn't even had the patience to wait for an Uber; he'd launched himself straight into the sky, flying through the air like a red hot meteor as his friends tried desperately to keep up. Sero was the only one able to, shooting tape from his arms to fling himself after Bakugou.

The sun was starting to set. If Bakugou hadn't been lit up by his explosions, Sero would've been left in the dust unable to follow. "BAKUGOU! SLOW DOWN!" Sero roared. "WE CAN'T HELP YOU IF--"

"I DON'T NEED YOUR DAMN HELP!" Katsuki yelled without turning back. 

Sero lost his patience. He shot a long stream of tape at Bakugou as he swung, wrapping his ankle and yanked him on top of the nearest building with him. Bakugou stuck the landing with a grunt and turned to face Hanta with a snarl.

"I'll fucking kill you--" He seethed, but Sero interrupted him with another strip of tape darting out to restrain him. Bakugou struggled but was unable to fight his way out.

"You need to cool it, man," Sero demanded. "At this point when Y/N restrains him they'll be able to press charges, but if you get involved then it'll get messy." He took another step towards Bakugou. "If you don't get your shit together then Y/N will actually be in trouble."

"She is in trouble, fuckhead!" Bakugou spat. "I need to get to her--"

"I'm sure all the resources in Tokyo are already on their way," Sero interrupted. "What Inasa did was assault. But I need to make sure that you don't lose your cool and get arrested for assault too."

"Assault is just the beginning of what I..." He trailed off, but the look on Sero's face made him stop and turn away. "Fine. Whatever. But you need to hurry the fuck up."

"There we go," Sero said. "Now let's go make sure Y/N fucked him up."

Bakugou scoffed as Hanta unwrapped him, but the second the tape was off he launched straight back into the sky-- this time, not too fast that Sero couldn't keep up.

~~~

When the two of them finally made it to the site where the altercation happened, it was already chaos. 

A crowd had gathered from where Inasa and Y/N had whipped into the sky. Police officers had shown up, but not many-- enough to calm the passerby's and keep them under control. 

Bakugou pushed through the crowd to one of the officers. "WHERE IS SHE?" He hollered, his voice booming enough that the man took a step back.

"Who? Listen, sir, I'm gonna need you to take a step back--"

"SHE'S MY GIRLFRIEND!" Bakugou snapped as sparks shot from his palms. "Tell me what you know. NOW."

Katsuki felt a tug on his sleeve and he whipped around to see a woman with a small bandage wrapped around her wrist accompanied by an EMT. "Excuse me, you said you're with Whirlwind?" She asked timidly. "I was there for the fight."

"Can you tell us what you saw?" Sero asked calmly.

"He grabbed her, I think... then there was lots of wind and they shot right up into the sky," the woman said, pointing up towards the building closest to them. "She pushed him through that window, but I couldn't see much after that through the falling glass..."

Before she could finish her story, Bakugou ignited his palms and pushed himself into the air again, this time careening towards the broken window. Sero thanked the woman before following his friend into the wreckage.

It was easily 10 stories up; one of the tallest buildings in the city. Hanta was able to swing inside and land on his feet, the glass crunching underneath him. Bakugou was crouched on the floor.

"Find anything?" He panted. When he saw what Bakugou was looking at he took a step back in shock. "Oh, shit."

Among the broken glass was blood-- a lot of it. It was staining the shards and pooling on the carpet. 

Things suddenly went from a streetfight to something much, much worse.

"Where the hell are they?" Sero breathed. He took a few steps forward to investigate further, scoping the room. The blood didn't seem to lead anywhere. It was concentrated near the window along with the broken glass, but the rest of the room seem perfectly untouched. It was a regular office building. Where were Inasa and Y/N?

Bakugou climbed to his feet with his jaw clenched and hands shaking. His head pounded with unrelenting rage; but the rage was easier to manage than the sickening feeling of helplessness. He stared at the blood on the ground and watched the ground sway a bit under his feet. He was dizzy with guilt and anger. 

A hand on his shoulder pulled him back to the present. "We're gonna find her," Sero said. "Y/N is a force to be reckoned with. There's no way she--"

"Shut up!" Bakugou snapped. "You don't know that. You don't fucking know if she's okay."

Sero grit his teeth in frustration. "Bakugou, it's going to be--"

Katsuki pushed Hanta's hand off of him and stormed over to the window before launching himself out of it. Sero closed his eyes and sighed in frustration.

Part of him agreed with Bakugou. They really didn't know enough about the situation to guarantee Y/N's safety-- they didn't even know where she was. If she actually was okay, she would've reached out by now. 

The fact that she hadn't was not a good sign.

Something wasn't adding up. The entire situation was jumbled and confusing, but it all boiled down to one question: Where did they disappear to?

~~~

"You aren't doing shit!" Bakugou roared. "Why aren't you trying to find her? Why aren't you--"

Kirishima grabbed his arm and pulled him away, rescuing the poor detective that Bakugou had been berating. "Kat, get it together. We're going to find her."

"There's gotta be some fucker with some kind of tracking quirk. Or CCTV footage from a nearby camera or fucking something. We're just sitting here on our asses," Bakugou hissed. 

It was an hour later now and they had followed the officers back to the precinct. It had been a frustrating engagement; Because they were following the proper legal guidelines, Bakugou and his friends had been left in the dark for most of what was happening. 

"They know as much as we do," Sero said. "Listen, the rest of the gang is on their way. We can see if any of them have any info."

Bakugou growled in frustration and raked his fingers through his hair. He was going crazy with frustration. Why was nobody listening?

Then his phone rang.

He hit the green answer button and pushed his phone to his ear. There was no caller ID, but it had to be her, right? "Where are you? Are you okay?" The cracking in his voice made Sero and Kirishima glance at each other in worry.

"Kat, they're taking us on a plane--" Static. "--America, it's not--" Static. "--wind quirks--" Static.

"Fuck, Y/N, you're cutting out," Bakugou breathed. "You're on a plane to America? Who took you?"

"--wind quirks--" Static. "--not Inasa--" Static. "--tried to fix--" Static. "--phasing quirk to take us, but it's--" Static. "--RHODE ISLAND. RHODE ISLAND--" Static. 

The line went dead.