Blood & Fire

Recruitment Gone Wrong

About an hour after Akane woke up, Bakugo finally began to stir. Shigaraki had turned on one of the TVs in the bar that was currently playing press coverage of a panel of U.A. teachers. They seemed to be hosting the conference to make a public apology as the press questioned how they could be so negligent in letting twenty-seven students get injured during the League's raid of the forest training camp. Akane saw that Vlad was part of the press conference and laughed quietly to herself. 

This must be tearing the poor guy up.

Despite how intimidating he looked, Vlad was a softie and much younger than he appeared. Akane used to respect him; he was a good teacher, and he had even helped get her a place to stay at U.A. when her Dad died. But now, she just felt disappointed in him and angry. In a cruel twist of irony, the man who had helped her the most on her journey to become a hero was also the one commanded by the Hero Public Safety Commission to inform her that she had lost her Hero License. They exploited their bond, and to Akane it seemed like Vlad did nothing to defend her against their claims. That was the last time she had seen him. Hearing his voice on the TV now only stirred up her resentment. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Akane saw Bakugo's head begin to rise up, his eyes opening slowly in a daze between waking and sleeping. Thankful for the distraction, Akane motioned over to Shigaraki, alerting him that their guest was finally awake.

Shigaraki nodded his head in acknowledgment, turning in his chair to face them. Everyone else in the room seemed to notice the shift of energy in the air and prepared themselves for what was likely to be a tense conversation. Compress reached down to the sleeping Eris at his feet and marbelized her before tucking her away in one of his pockets. They had discussed earlier that if the conversation went south, a growling dog who didn't understand what was going on might not settle the tension. And it would be safer for her if a fight broke out. 

As Bakugo started looking around the room, confusion and then anger were visible on his face as he realized where he was. The conference on the TV was discussing the threat the League posed now that they had successfully kidnapped a student right from under the teacher's noses only months after they had broken into the school itself.

"I'm so grateful to the media for all the free publicity lately." Shigaraki said, staring at Bakugo behind the hand covering his face from his seat at the bar. Dabi and Akane stood defensively on either side of him, keeping watch in case the kid somehow broke out of his restraints and decided to attack.

Bakugo was silent, glaring daggers at everyone in the room.

"Let's get right to business, Katsuki Bakugo, wannabe hero. Will you join the League of Villains?" Shigaraki asked, an air of menace emanating from him.

"You can shove your offer and go to hell." The teenager growled back at him with a smile full of rage. 

Shigaraki was quiet. Akane could only guess he was annoyed under the hand covering his face. She had still yet to see him without it.

The conference resumed on the TV, and the press continued to berate the U.A. staff about their negligence while they made a brief statement about how they had upped surveillance at the school. 

"Well, isn't that strange? The heroes are becoming the bad guys. Seems like they're not dealing with this very well at all—so much criticism. But everyone makes a mistake or two, right? It's not like they're supposed to be perfect. Modern-day heroes sure have it rough. Don't you think Bakugo?" Shigaraki posed the question to the kid.