Assassins Can Be Heroes Too || Todoroki Shoto

|60| Ace It, Riri

Ba-dump.

"Oi, oi, Sword Bastard-"

Ba-dump.

Bakugo's breath hitched, a bead of sweat rolling down his neck as he breathed heavily.

She wouldn't complete such a ridiculous task, right?

There was no way that she would actually follow through with this madwoman's orders...

Right?

Ba-dump.

It happened so quickly, he wasn't even sure if he saw it correctly.

He blinked once.

Then he blinked again.

No, he definitely saw it correctly.

In the blink of an eye, Rie had moved from her chair to in towering above her brother. He gazed up, their father moving aside. There was a heavy silence in the room, all Rie could hear was the pounding of a heart.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

Whose heart was it?

She didn't know.

All she knew was her one task: to kill the man in front of her.

"Any last words?" her voice was strong and full of authority.

He knew that she couldn't hear him.

He knew that she couldn't recognise him.

And yet... he said the words he knew she needed to hear for the majority of her childhood.

"You can do it, Riri. Ace it, Riri, you'll be a great Hero."

The sword impaled his abdomen as he coughed up blood, his hand releasing his sword as it clattered to the ground and dematerialised. Her eyebrows creased at the centre, her gun reaching up to his forehead and pulling the trigger.

A gunshot echoed through the room.

All was still.

A half-lidded smile was etched onto Ace's face as his eyes become dull and pupil-less, all previous signs of life vanishing. Bakugo could only stare in mortification as Red Glove covered the male's eyes, an almost apologetic scowl on her face. Feeling his stare, she turned to make eye contact with the Hero-in-Training who immediately stiffened, tearing his gaze away. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.

This shitty family is fucking messed up!

She sent Rie back to her chair with a flick of the hand. She sank back down into her chair wordlessly, her mother wearing a victorious smirk as her golden eyes pierced the now lifeless body on the floor. Deactivating her Quirk, she snapped her fingers. She smiled down at her perplexed daughter, who was still taking in her surroundings. Groaning, she let her mother retie her bonds; her vision swam as she began seeing double, though it steadily focused as she felt the Villain's hand tuck under her chin and forcibly tilt it upwards so that they were gazing at one another.

"I asked you a question, Rie," she stated in a sickly-sweet voice, giving her a closed-eyed smile, "so, answer me: why are you becoming a Hero?"

"Hey... Rie?" The girl perked up, turning to face a hesitant Kirishima standing beside a stoic-faced Iida. "Can we... talk? Alone?"

She blinked, letting the pair guide her further into the forest, choosing to ignore their painfully obvious occasional glances towards one another and her. They came to a stop in a small clearing, the boys turning around and motioning for one another to speak up first, making the girl impatient.

"Is there something you wanted to ask me?"

"Well," Iida cleared his throat, shooting the red-haired male a pointed glare, "Kirishima told me that you revealed your identity as Poison Dart last night."

"I did," she confirmed, nodding as she gazed towards the said boy, "what of it?"

"We were just curious..." he shifted uncomfortably, "if... you're an assassin... and a Villain..."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" She blinked, asking him to rephrase. The boys inhaled, sharing a shaky exhale and glance.

"I mean... you don't have to answer right now... but..." Kirishima's red orbs lingered on her as he bit his lip, "we were just wondering why you want to become a Hero - not that there's anything wrong with that, of course!" He began rambling, going on a tangent as the class president and assassin's eyes trained on him, sweat-dropping at his Midoriya-like antics.

"I... don't know." She lowered her head, her eyes widening as they lingered on the red liquid that stained her skin. "Blood?"

Bakugo swallowed, shutting his eyes, turning away and resisting the urge to throw up. He didn't want to see her expression when she realised what she had done. The suspense was suffocating, he just wanted to get this over and done with.

As if in slow motion, she tensed as her mother's lips spread into a wide smile.

She didn't want to look up.

She didn't want to see what she had done.

She didn't want to see the consequence of her actions.

She didn't want to show her fragility.

Not here, not now.

Not in front of Bakugo.

But she did.

She looked up.

She saw what she had done.

She saw the consequence of her actions.

She showed her fragility.

Here, now.

In front of Bakugo.