Katherine Ride: Battlefield *BOOK TWO*

Season Three- The Voices Hate Me but That's Nothing New

Katherine paced up and down the hallways of the police headquarters nervously. Every so often, she would take her stun blade out of its holster and turn it on, the cyan hue of the electrically charged blade lighting the hallways before she turned it off and it retracted back into the handhold. She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, then checked the clock.

Eight minutes till showtime.

Wow, you are insanely skittish right now. Can you calm down?

Katherine jumped slightly, then grimaced. "Nice of you to finally show up, Nightmare," she muttered.

Don't say stuff like that out loud. Do you want someone to overhear?

There's no one in the corridor. Besides, what would they even make of that?

I don't know, I'm not human. Your kind comes up with the most ridiculous things and then tries to justify their insanity with words and numbers.

Hey, I'm only 86% human. Watch your tone.

Whatever.

Where is Fallen? I think I'd appreciate her counsel much more right now.

Like always, she doesn't want to talk. She thinks it'll distract you. She didn't want me to pop in, either, but I don't take orders from her.

Great.

And what's wrong with my advice, anyway? I'm a great influence!

Well, Fallen is just a little more—how should I say this—grounded, if you will.

You wound me. And too bad, you get what you get.

In that case, I no longer want to talk right now. Can you go away?

Um, no. You've been beating yourself up over this, and personally, I'm tired of not helping you out. I know this isn't a world-ending emergency, but I'll be at full power tonight given the moon is at its peak. If you need some extra strength–

Nightmare! No! Katherine's supposed to follow orders. She can't use either of us for this.

Nice of you to join us, Fallen.

Okay, I am officially ignoring you both from this point forward. I have to focus on the mission.

The two voices in her head continued to bicker as Katherine opened her eyes, leaning against the wall. She stretched her wings and grumbled, taking out the stun blade and twirling it.

"WildCard!"

As she pocketed the stun blade and put her mask on, she turned to whoever had called her name. Kamui was standing at the other end of the hallway. "We're leaving in a few minutes. Let's make our way to the front of the building."

She nodded and the two began walking together. "This must be pretty exciting for you," he said after a moment.

"Yeah. I only wish it were under different circumstances," Katherine admitted. "I'm too worried about Bakugo to even think about anything else. I just want him safe."

"I see. I'm surprised you still have that necklace on," he added. "Most heroes don't wear jewelry during assignments."

She reached up to the two crystals that resided around her neck. "Oh, right. It's a...family heirloom. It's silly, but I feel like wearing it keeps me safe. It's nothing that'll interfere with my work, though."

"Ah. I apologize, I was simply curious."

"It's fine. Most people are."

They finally arrived at the front doors, where everyone else was waiting. "Have we got everyone?" Tsukauchi asked. "Alright. We're using police cruisers to get to the hideout. Endeavor, Edgeshot, and Kamui Woods are with Tamakawa. Gran Torino, All Might, and WildCard are with me. Are we ready?"