Katherine Ride: Battlefield *BOOK TWO*

Season Three- Fighting Fire with Fire

Dabi grabbed Shoto by the back of the neck and forced him to look at Katherine. She saw with a sickening jolt that he was bleeding in various places, not to mention the bruises visible on his face and arms. Shoto spat out some blood and gave Dabi a dirty look, but she could see in his eyes just how much pain he was in.

No, please, not you. Anyone but you.

It was taking all of her resilience not to crumble right there. She couldn't tell if she was breathing or not and all the voices in her head were trying to snap her out of her daze. She hadn't even noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"–funny, he was easier to kidnap than that Bakugo kid," Dabi went on. He had been talking for a while, but she had only just tuned back in. "Shigaraki is convinced this whole thing is your fault, you know. The rescue mission, I mean–"

She didn't know why she chose that moment to act, but she threw a shield out toward Dabi, pushing him back. In an instant, she teleported to and grabbed Shoto, then teleported back to Tsukauchi, setting him on the ground gently. "Shoto, baby," she whispered frantically, kneeling in front of him and grabbing his face. "Cariño, mírame, please!"

Now that she was closer, Katherine could see that there was blood coming from his abdomen. His breathing was shallow and labored, which made her fear increase drastically. She quickly activated her healing power, thankful that it worked so fast.

Shoto leaned his head on her shoulder and winced. "Kath—Katherine," he mumbled, "Dabi..."

"I know, I know," she responded, looking over her shoulder and seeing that the villain had recovered. "Mataré a ese bastardo. It's okay, you're gonna be okay."

"I'm s...I'm sorry. A-about earlier–"

"I know, baby, so am I." She shot another glance at Dabi, wondering how much time she had—if any.

Damnit. If he wants to fight—which he probably does—we'll be in shit.

What if he doesn't want to fight?

Who cares what he wants?

Katherine took her hands away from Shoto's side. "That should be enough to slow the bleeding," she said to Tsukauchi. "I need you to get him to a hospital."

"Wait, what are you going to do?" he asked.

"If Dabi wants to fight, I'll hold him off. If not..."

"Ride, what are you thinking?"

Katherine didn't respond and moved her attention to Shoto, cupping his face. "Shoto, cariño, I need you to listen to me. Are you listening?"

He nodded weakly, squinting at her. "#213 is the name of a test subject for an experiment," she explained. "I don't know why the League is looking for her yet. When I come back from this, we can figure it out together, all right?"

"Katherine, wha...w-what are you–"

She kissed him on the forehead before standing up and turning toward Dabi, her panic subsiding and being replaced by wrath. He saw her approaching and scowled, making a wall of blue flames between the two of them, which forced her to step back. "Nice try, but I didn't come here for a rematch. Shigaraki wanted a quick and easy way to get back at you, and I delivered. Now we're going to disappear for a while."

Katherine could see him turning to leave through the flames. She clenched her fists in frustration.

No! I can't let him just get away with this!

Katherine, I don't mean to encourage you in any way, shape, or form...but I would be willing to turn a blind eye to this situation.

Oh? Fallen encouraging violence? I never thought I'd see the day.