fake me out

by blossomshed

Summary:

Katsuki would never admit it out loud, but his visit to a HPSC office was about to be a highlight of the Remedial Course. Ready for getting a jump on his classmates on the REAL (bureaucratic) work of heroes, and the chance to read original reports on All Might's historic cases, he gets more excitement than he could bargain for with the unexpected appearance of villains in the building!

Unable to call in the big guns, or use his quirk without risk of fire or government sanction, Katsuki's left to work out the villains true plot on his own - with Deku on the other end of a phone his only lifeline!

(updates Sundays)

Notes:

i have genuinely been writing this fic since. i reckon 2020. so i started writing it before even the joint training arc, let alone kacchan showing his undying loyalty to deku or giving his heartfelt apology ;_; reflecting on their more difficult relationship times is a lot of fun when you know the future, and so already know what's in kacchan's deepest heart about deku. that's why i wanted to share this fic i have been working on for so long!

this fic is about 90% finished (we've all heard that one before i know) and is largely complete in chronological order so i'll be posting a chapter a week until we get to the end! what twists and turns await our heroes?!

one of my favourite things in the hideout raid arc is that kacchan specifically points to the fact his permission to fight hasn't been rescinded when he's facing down the LoV - this fic leans heavily on that idea to work so enjoy kacchan causing trouble with just his fists and legs.

content warnings for: swearing (always), hostage situation (in that an office building has been taken over by some villains), canon-typical violence, swearing

todays music homework: fake me out by johnny manchild

Chapter 1: every day's another powder keg

Bakugou Katsuki is a genius, a true prodigy, the next Number One Hero, and currently lost in a prefectural office.

Look, even All Might has flaws - his god-awful fashion choices outside of his costumes, for starters - so what if he sometimes gets turned around in an unfamiliar building? His quirk is best suited to outdoor flashy battles anyway, who gives a shit if he can't keep hallway layouts memorised?

As it happens, though, it's a. Just a little inconvenient in this instance. The HPSC had the bright idea of sending the remedial students off to a records office each instead of kicking the shit out of them for a weekend, to get up close and personal with the bureaucratic side of heroics. Katsuki had honestly been pretty stoked - the curriculum didn't cover this stuff til year 3, given the expectation anyone on a provisional licence would still be in training, so he relished the chance to get lightyears ahead of the extras. Listening to a bunch of boring suits ramble on was tedious, but he'd got to read the original incident reports of at least three major throwdowns from his youth, so kinda worth it.

The inconvenience came from the office being big, and on account of it being the weekend, empty. Taking a bathroom break had left him mixing one bland hallway for another, and the lack of staff gave him no one to intuit the right way from. He was 90% sure he'd started on the 2nd floor, and 100% sure he wasn't there now.

He's poking his way through another bland desk bank - seriously, does no one working here have a personality? - when the hairs on the back of his neck prick up.

Instinct has him looking to the hallway door and stepping just out of sight before he hears the sound of particularly heavy boots. It's not the most unusual noise - custodial staff wear safety shoes, right? - but it's enough to trigger the little radar in his brain that's never wrong.

And it's not wrong, as a voice calls out "Come out come out wherever you are!", footsteps thudding through the hall, throwing the doors to rooms open noisily until he's at the desk bank. Katsuki crouches low, ready for whatever he needs to do next, keen to get a visual.

A bulky guy - at least a head taller than him, too  - ambles past, dressed in faux combat gear and wearing a balaclava - not security, not official, not meant to be here - but what makes every hair stand on end is what he's carrying. Is that-- a GUN?!

He hasn't noticed Katsuki, turning his head to look out over the desk banks without much care - he's not expecting to find anyone here, must be a cursory search - but Katsuki isn't gonna tempt fate by sticking in the same place. He ducks into the meeting room he'd braced against, the glass panes frosted in a way to keep him obscured while giving a silhouette of the mans' movements.

The guy calls out a few more times, checking under desks here or there, and leaves through the door at the other end of the hall.

Katsuki breathes - when did he stop?? - a second before pulling his phone out and dialling 119, whacking the thing on vibrate while he's at it. No way he's getting caught out by something as stupid as his ringtone in what's gotta be some kind of-- building takeover? The dial tone rings once, twice-- and cuts out. His phone hasn't died, and it looks like it's got signal, so he tries again - no dice.

Fucking naturally. He tries a few different desk phones - he's in an office, after all - and none of them work either; he tries ringing his HPSC contact, the school emergency line, Aizawa himself - he's fucked, and whoever's doing this must be stopping calls getting out.

They can't stop HIM getting out, though, no matter what floor he's on. Or, maybe they can - none of the windows on this floor look like they open further than vent, and when he tries one anyway, it won't budge. Even when he tries to apply a little explosive force to the latches - which he knows he could get into a hell of a lot of trouble for - nothing budges.

So. He's stuck, in a government office, with government officials and at least one rando with a weapon, on a weekend, with no way out and no way to raise the alarm. Alarm!

Katsuki grabs paper out the nearest printer, does his level best just to set it alight instead of bursting it to shreds, and holds his flaming torch over the nearest smoke detector. An office like this has gotta have a direct link to the fire department!

Nothing happens; the paper burns down almost to Katsuki's hand without any action, which has him having to run back to the bathroom to put it out - couldn't risk a real fire starting if there were no alarms or sprinklers, could he? As a last ditch he scrawls as big as he can on printer paper, sticking 'CALL THE FUCKING POLICE' on windows on the off-chance the building neighbours see, and hunkers down in the good meeting room to try other options.

He's run through basically every app on his phone to contact people - so, two - before remembering the thing the idiots force-installed on his phone for their ~gaming nights~ or whatever. And - against all odds - it connects, and against further odds, he can call the one person online who might be vaguely competent.

"Kacchan?" says Deku, voice tinny. The nerd seriously answered straight away? Doesn't he have better things to do than sit around online? "This is a, uh, surprise? Aren't you in your supplementary classes?"

"You still on all those illegal police radio thingys?"

"What-- they aren't illegal, the open-access protocol has been in place for years, at worst it's a grey area--" Deku stutters out. So that's a yes.

"Don't care. Look up Roppongi." Katsuki checks his surroundings again as he hears Deku mumble and tap away. He can't decide if closing the room door is more help or hindrance.

"Purse snatcher... minor public disturbance... someone caught speeding... you know, Roppongi is where All Might's agency was located, even without him the ward's not had the same upswing in crime that others have, isn't that interesting?"

"Nothing about the ward office? No one making threats, wild claims or whatever?"

"No, nothing unusual. What's this about?"

"I'm at the ward office, it's locked down, there's at least one shady as hell guy wandering round looking for people, and this is literally the only fucking way I could contact anyone!"

There's a long pause, which - fair, Deku isn't blessed with being so quick to come up to speed on things as Katsuki is - before there's the sound of much more frantic typing. "That's a lot," he squeaks out, voice breaking in that way that grates on Katsuki's ears, "but the main thing - you're at the ward office in Roppongi??"

"That's not the main thing!" hisses Katsuki. "I'm only here cuz of the stupid license lessons, we have to look at old reports or whatever--"

"I am unbelievably jealous, you can't begin to imagine-- All Might solved so many incidents there, the reports you'd have access to, his original handwritten accounts-! You have to take pictures!!"

Whhhyyyyyyy did he think Deku could take this seriously?! "Deku, what the hell did I just say?"

"Oh-- yeah, sorry Kacchan! That sounds pretty suspicious, no one seems to have picked up that anything's wrong. Who are you with, have they said anything?"

"I'm alone. There's five government plods showing off the place but I ain't with 'em. 's meant to be empty otherwise." He breathes out, slowly. "Deku, the guy I saw - he had a gun."

"Woah, that's-- weird, right? Really old-school. Maybe it's covering for a weak quirk, or so he can't be recognised by it?" Katsuki hears scribbling - is Deku actually writing this shit in one of his notebooks?! "Any other distinguishing features?"

"The fuck is wrong with you? I'm telling you there's an armed criminal with potential hostages in a government building! The fuck is this under-reaction!"

There's a pause, like Deku hadn't even thought of any of that. "Well, yes, that sounds pretty bad, but I know better than anyone how strong you are - you're already inside the building, you can just take down the bad guys! Good practice for using your quirk indoors too!"

"This is why I get better grades than you," spits Katsuki. "Is that nerdbrain only useful for trivia? You think it's smart for a guy in a government building, with a bunch of HPSC pencil pushers, without a licence, to start shooting off his quirk?!"

"I've seen you do it before--"

"In fucking middle school, yeah! The worst I woulda got's a slap on the wrist! You really think there'd be no consequences with this crowd?"

There's a long pause, like Deku is only just processing this, that winds Katsuki up even further. Fucking golden boy's never got in real trouble for the stupid shit he's pulled, but Katsuki knows he'll be held to a much higher standard. Comes with being a more visible fuck-up. "Okay, Kacchan," he says, sounding more cowed than sarcastic, thankfully. "What should we do, then?"

"Call the police, obviously?! Tell Aizawa!"

"Okay, I'll do that. But in the mean time - you're still the inside man here, Kacchan! The more we know about what's happening, the better the response can be - you can gather information better than anyone right now!"

"Like?"

"Like - how many people are involved? What are their quirks, how are they using them, what do they look like - where are the people you came in with, are they all right? You don't have to use your quirk to find any of that out!" There's shuffling around in the background, Deku reorganising his desk or something. "So, what can you tell me already? Actually, hold on! Opsec!"

"You are so embarrassing," sighs Katsuki. He's not gonna say it, but Deku's weirdness is making this whole thing feel more normal. "Already put my phone on vibrate, not that it's getting any calls."

"Oh, yeah, that's a good idea! Do you have headphones? It'd be better if we could stay on this call with each other while you have your hands free, right? And you should turn the volume down for in case the cable comes out. Um, you should like, set up an operating base in the building..? No, no, that wouldn't make sense if you're alone, right?"

"Shut it," says Katsuki. He's got the feeling he'll be saying that a lot. "Right now I know fuck all, 'cept I can't open a window or call anyone. Where do we start."

Deku hums, and there's scratching. He can almost imagine the conspiracy board coming into being on paper. "That's a lot, actually - you can't open windows, you should try external doors to confirm that they're locked down. And there's no communications coming out either, except for this, so... that suggests some kind of quirk, right? Either one affecting the physical space and one affecting wavelengths, or a single quirk with a more vague application."

"How'm I talking to you?"

"This might sound stupid, but depending on how the quirk works, maybe they just don't know about it? You have to be pretty online to be using voice calls on discord." Katsuki barely knows what this shit is, so that... almost makes sense. "We know there's at least one person involved, and they're carrying a weapon. And it's either their work locking the building down, or they have an accomplice. How many people were with you? Where are they?"

"There was five. Three based here and two from the catch-up course, all HPSC. They're..." Katsuki looks around again, catching the number embossed in bold on the meeting room door. Should he close it? "I'm on the fourth floor, dunno where they are. Second?"

"...How do you not know? Weren't they giving you a tour?"

Katsuki is not admitting to getting turned around, not right now. Deku doesn't need to hear about that shit. "Who cares, all that matters is they were all clumped together and I ain't with them."

"Okay." Deku huffs out a loud breath, typing starting anew. "Give me... twenty minutes to get the building floor plans up, I can guide you around from there! For now, information gathering is a go - you're on the fourth floor, you know it's clear for now. We should try the external exit first - see if you can try the fire doors anywhere first, then the roof. I wouldn't try the front entrance unless you can be sure it's not being watched. Oh! Are there security cameras?? If someone's taken the building over, they might be in control of them, you'd need to be extra careful!"

"Step back," says Katsuki, already off to the fire stairs. "How the fuck you getting the floor plans? More illegal shit?"

"I already said-- I'm not getting into an argument about that, actually! I do have a provisional licence, Kacchan, I can look this stuff up - it's important for planning!" There's more typing. "I, uh, didn't actually get shown any of this on internship, though, so it'll just take me a little bit to figure it out? So cameras! Are there cameras!"

That was one thing the suit squad had actually explained. "At the front desk, Quirk Registry bit, and outside the exits. Not much in here. It's not a police station, not like it'd need security on the regular," Katsuki explains, hopping down stairs two at a time as quick as he can, pausing occasionally just to listen. Everything echoes within the staircase; thankfully, the sounds are only his own.

Not only is the fire door at the bottom a bust, there's no way out from it onto the ground floor - stupid fucking design if you ask Katsuki. He bounces his way back up, going all the way to the top to try the roof access; further no dice. "Building's locked tight," says Katsuki. "Means they want to keep us in, right?"

"Or keep people out," says Deku. "You said there's only six of you, right? They might have expected to have an empty building to themselves, and have the gear they do as a precaution. What was the guy you saw like, was he really thorough?"

"Didn't notice I was right behind him, didn't do clearing like we've been taught." So maybe he wasn't expecting anyone. Made it more concerning about what he'd do once they found all the bureaucrats. "Coulda just been shit at it, s'not like I asked him."

Deku hums, sounding distracted. "Anyway, I got the building plans - we can sweep through with them! I'll, uh... this would be easier if I could get a printout, huh..? I'll mark things off in Paint?"

It galls him that he might have to take direction from Deku, out of everyone, but he's gonna put that annoyance away. Mostly. And treat this like he's fully licenced and getting direction from his agency control room, which he'll have when he runs his own agency. Yeah. Rationalisation works. "Top floor, by the roof access. I'll start from there. Draw your little pictures or whatever."

"Thought I heard a mouse," says a voice behind him, and Katsuki's elbowed whoever the fuck thought it was a good idea to freak him out straight in the nose before he can even think about it. "Argh, shit!! What the hell!"

Katsuki swings around, ready to get to punching and ignoring Deku's surprised sqwarking. He's faced with a guy - different from the first guy he saw, but dressed similarly in faux combat fatigues, a neck gaiter pulled up over his nose like it'd be a good enough disguise when the idiot's got bright blue hair in a wild mohawk. He's the same height as Katsuki, with a different build, and isn't holding any weapons. He's clutching at his nose, though, so Katsuki definitely got him good. Serves him right.

"Intelligence gathering, right?" he tells Deku. "Let's see how much this extra squeals!"

He'll have to get him to submit first, which'll be tricky - they're on the landing of the top floor, and while Katsuki can break a fall from this high he doesn't know if this extra can. He could have any quirk, and Katsuki's banned from using his to fight. And he has no clue as to the guy's difficulty level; he managed to sneak up on Katsuki, which could mean this is someone with serious skill. The guy squares up, eyes still pinched in the corners in pain. Heh.

"That was a mistake, kid," says the guy. His voice is gruff in the way dipshits get when they're pretending to be tough. "But I'll be good enough to forgive ya if you come quietly. Can't have you messing up the search."

Deku's scribbling away, so he can hear all this shit. Good. "Should be more worried 'bout how I'll mess you up. That nose broken or should I try again?"

The guy tenses, pulls his lips back in anger. Hah, rising to such shitty bait - this'll be piss-easy. He launches at Katsuki with a growl, but his footing's already off - all it takes is a pivot from Katsuki to avoid getting slammed, and a kick to the mooks back to stumble him into the roof access door. He gets up, growling at Katsuki and throws himself forward again-- Katsuki dodges again, but has to grab the idiots collar to stop him crashing down the stairs.

Katsuki throws the guy back toward the door, spins on the ball of his foot and crashes into his head with a roundhouse kick. It's not up to his standard - too telegraphed, not enough power to it - but the guy doesn't even defend, and goes down like a sack of potatoes.

And... doesn't get up. Shit.

Katsuki takes a breath. Kicks at the guy a few times for good measure, to see if he'll wake up, and checks his breathing isn't fucked up. And groans. Seriously?! The guy couldn't take one hit?! "...So, got nothing outta him."

"I... could tell," says Deku. Of course he could. "But we did learn something important! He said something about a search, right? And it was a different person than the guy with the gun?"

"So there's at least two of these losers knocking around." Katsuki crouches back down, patting the guy down for anything useful and getting a good picture of his bruised mug. Didn't break the nose, but he'd be sore in the morning. Outside of the stupid hair there's nothing notable about him at all. "Guy ain't even got a phone. How the hell's he communicating with the other one?"

"Suggests however they're shutting down phones in the building would affect them too. Anything else?"

There's not much to say about the mook. No phone, no wallet, all he had was a knife he never even pulled from the holster. Must've been confident in his quirk, whatever good that did him. Katsuki snags it to throw in the trash somewhere; the further it is from this guy when he wakes up, the better. "Fuck all. 'Cept this shitty knife."

"That tells us something else - someone's practising good OpSec. Has he got a watch?" Katsuki checks, and the guy's wearing the crappiest little digital watch, practically dwarfed on his thick wrist. Could've nicked it from a kid for how well it fit the aesthetic. "They probably synced up and have an agreed meeting point. We're at ten minutes to the hour... meeting on the hour would make sense, right?" As though it heard Deku, the watch starts beeping. Katsuki's quick to shut it off. "That answers that question then! You're gonna need to be careful - if there's more than two of them, they'll probably all be on the move now to wherever they're meant to meet up!"

It's an opportunity, too. If Deku's theory is right, all he's got to do is track down their meeting point and he'll nail down numbers, faces, everything they'll need to put this to bed. "'m sticking here a minute. I'll tail anyone else who comes through here, so shut up til I say so." He sends Deku the photo he took. "Add this to your little case file if you get bored."

"Oh, good idea!" pipes Deku; he shuts up with a 'sorry!' at Katsuki's hissing. Still, Katsuki can hear him, breathing and scribbling and typing away, as he strains to listen for any sign of doors or footsteps elsewhere.

It's not comforting in the slightest, to have that evidence Deku is still on the line, still with him.

Chapter 2: waiting, wanting to go off

Notes:

happy easter! here's a new chapter, where we get a little closer to figuring out what's going on!

no new content warnings - the same from ch1 apply!

thank you so much also for reading and commenting and kudosing with this fic it's quite different from what i usually write and i appreciate it so much 🥹😭

Katsuki counts the minutes down, crouched and ready to strike if he needs to, and only at the two-minutes-to mark does he hear a door crash open. Fifth floor, he thinks. Katsuki gets as close as he dares to the bannister, staying low as he watches his prey. The big guy - the guy with the gun - is making his way downstairs. Unhurried, but purposefully so - the walk of someone who likes to keep people waiting. Asshole. Doesn't even bother to look up - not that Katsuki gives him the chance to spot him, ducking away once identified. He counts the steps down, and hears the door slam open; third floor.

He gives it a minute, then takes his chance. Taking the stairs as quietly as he can, Katsuki steals onto the sixth floor and pelts across the length of it to take the other stairs down. It's riskier for visibility, but he won't have to contend with any doors this way. "Third floor," he whispers to Deku, and gets an acknowledgement in return.

He hears them before he sees them - most obviously from the sound of pouring water. "Any more for any more?" says a reedy voice, and when Katsuki ducks his head round he sees them - four people, all gathered round the tea point like they're having a normal work break. Bet they're stealing the bureaucrats tea too! Add that to their list of crimes! The big guy's there - still wearing a full mask, and looking ridiculous holding a tiny tea cup up to it with an oversized hand. They're all similarly dressed, but the big guy and the woman holding the kettle look more serious; the finish on their gear just that bit more pro. She must've been who spoke. Filling out the ranks is a stick insect - tall and spindly-limbed, not even bothering to keep his face mask on, and a short stocky guy that barely keeps his attention.

"Make Lance a cup," says the short guy, and it's like Katsuki can barely hear him. The mook's so intrinsically boring Katsuki wants to look at literally anything else.

"It'll get cold," says the tall guy. For his statute, his voice's sure deep.

"No tea for latecomers," booms the big guy. The woman grabs the cup out of his hands with a chide about his own tardiness. Fuck sake, what kind of gathering of villains is this? Wacky office comedy type?

"Weird he ain't here, don't ya think?" says the woman.

"Lance isn't the only one missing."

"Meh, he's down with the rest of our guests," says the big guy. "Lazy fucker's picked the easy job like always!" Lance must be the guy out cold in the stairwell. Six, then? It's tricky to get the angle right and stay stealth, but Katsuki snaps a couple pictures of this motley crew of criminals, trying to at least get builds and heights where he can't get faces. "So what's the deal? I don't see anyone with the goods!"

"You included," snipes the boring guy. Katsuki wonders if the rest of them even noticed.

"We swept top to bottom," says the tall guy. "We believe we have all of the official staff in hand, but not our quarry." They're all looking for whatever, then. If they're keeping all the Commission staff in one place it's not something they need them for. The hell could it be somewhere like this?

"I saw traces," says the woman. "So we're good! Just gotta keep on with it, just need to look better. That includes you, dear leader," she adds, thwacking the big guy in the arm. He's been directing the flow, but the way she takes over speaks volumes. They've worked together before. "Bet you went trampling about the place loud as could be, didn't bother to check under anything, typical man-looking?"

"Kind of sexist," says the boring guy.

"Whatever," says the big guy. She's right - and Katsuki benefitted from it. If the big idiot had been more on the ball, things may have been a little trickier for him. "We got all the time in the world! Who knows, maybe Lance got lucky?"

"That seems unlikely," says the tall guy. "In fact, I'm quite concerned. He has kept us waiting overlong. Unlike you, he's the timely sort."

The big guy squares up. They're the same height, but he's got the greater presence, more bulk. It's threatening; Katsuki can tell he's smirking, patting the stick figure on the shoulder with the promise of violence. It's a pose Katsuki knows well, having imitated it in the past. "Hey now, this is my show! You lot being early is just showing me the proper respect! Yeah?" There's a squeeze, and hiss of discomfort from his prey before he lightens up. "What was Lance up to? Wanna go check on him for me, big guy? We'll have a snack while we wait, someone's gotta have left some tea treats for me."

"Last I bumped into him he was gonna check the back stairs," says the woman. She gives the tall guy a nudge. "Better get going, huh? There's six flights!"

Katsuki truly is a smart fucker, picking his route as he did. Least he's got a block of time he'll know where almost all the mooks are. He ducks back up to the fourth floor, finds a little meeting room to duck into and shuts the door. "How much did you get?"

"Some of it? There were three different voices, and they talked about two others - the one you took out must be Lance, right? Is that a code name, do you think?"

"Four. There's some boring short dude the rest ignored. Guy with the gun's the loud one, acts like he's in charge." And like Lance, none of the rest looked to be packing. "They're gonna find the guy I took down any minute. Sent you more pics."

"Got it! This is good work, we've ID'ed five out of six! it would be great if we could figure out their quirks too..."

"That's what police are for ain't it? Doing detecting shit? They may be shit at clearing but none of them looks like it's their first day out, they gotta have records. Only the big idiot's fully masked up!"

"That's interesting, isn't it?" says Deku, and Katsuki once again hears the scratching of pencil on paper. "Suggests he's the most recognisable. I'll see what I can dig out." There's a sigh, the squeak of a chair leaning back. "It'd be easier if we know what they're there for... villains tend to do the same kinds of crimes if they've not been caught the first time."

Well duh, course it'd be easier if they knew what the hell this was all about, fucking Deku. "Big guy's used to getting what he wants, tell ya that for free. Ain't got any respect for the rest. 'Cept the woman."

"Oh, how could you tell? That's really interesting from a group dynamics point! Maybe they've worked together in the past? Suggests the rest may be new..." Katsuki ain't gonna say how he can tell. Deku should know already - he's lived through the worst of Katsuki's conceit.

It'll make Katsuki feel good to trample on the big guy's ego, he thinks. To fuck with his big plan within the bounds he's stuck with for now. Like trampling on his shitty younger self. Satisfying as hell thought.

"The staff're all together, but hell knows where," says Katsuki, refocusing Deku. "You've got the plans - gimme ideas to check out. Nailing that down's gonna be a boon. Better yet, send me a copy already!"

"One sec!" Thankfully transmission works both ways, as it's only a couple seconds later he gets a picture from Deku. An incomprehensible, artifacted to shit and covered in indecipherable blue scribbles version of a building plan. It's so useless he can't even be mad about it.

"...The fuck am I even looking at?"

"Oh! I marked off the exits you tried, and the points of interest to check out? And where you've encountered the villains? It all got a bit muddled... I should really print these out," says Deku, dissolving into mumbling. "The whole Paint thing isn't working... who's got a printer in the dorms..?"

"Glasses. Or Ponytail."

"Oh right! I'll ask Iida! For now, we know they aren't on the third or fourth floors, since you've been there - so they could be anywhere else, really!"

"Why the fuck am I stuck talking to you? In what way was that helpful?!"

"C'mon Kacchan..." says Deku, and he can practically see that annoyed face. It's pretty fuckin annoying he can picture Deku so clearly. "We're in this together now! So, we've eliminated two out of seven floors, that's pretty good given we haven't even properly started yet! Lets see... so the Quirk Registry is on the first floor, the archive is on the second, those are the floors which differ most from the others. The ground floor is full of meeting rooms?"

"Yeah, so they can host shit without giving free access to all the restricted stuff. Prolly why the fire exit don't go out onto that floor."

"We can probably eliminate that as well, then - going between there and the rest of the building would add time, and staying off the ground floor keeps them more out of the public eye. Three down! As to where I'd want to keep a group of people in one place... either of those two would be a good idea, the Registry is more secure than the rest of the building, right?"

"'snot the only secure place. There's some shit on the top floor we ain't got round to yet, and every floor's got toilets and meeting rooms. There's only five people, you can lock 'em down anywhere."

"Depends on what else they're looking for then... I'm gonna keep thinking about that. In the meantime, back on recon! See what they have to say about Lance-- like you said, they're bound to find him!"

"Don't tell me what to do," says Katsuki, and ducks back down to the third floor to observe. So what, he was gonna do it anyway! It's the best plan!

As it turns out, they did find the blue-haired extra. He's laid out on the floor, and if the water on the ground is anything to go by, they've tried at least one way to wake him up. The woman's on the ground next to him, smacking his face without any care. "No good, he's out."

The tall guy looks nervous, but the rest don't seem to care too much. So much for camaraderie, huh. "I thought we weren't expecting opposition such as this?"

"Eh, there was always the risk. What you wanna do, oh great leader? Wanna change it up?" The three of them look to him, expectant, but if he feels any pressure it doesn't show in his stance. The guy's used to being in charge. There's a tension forming that Katsuki can feel even from his lookout as the big guy thinks, arms crossed and unbothered by the sharpening of his band's thoughts.

He stands up from where he's been perched against a desk, and to Katsuki's - and everyone else's - surprise, kicks the prone Lance right in the ribs. "Weak piece of crap. Nothing changes for you shits! Go find what I want! We're meeting back in an hour, yeah! With the rest of our 'guests'! Set your watches by it!"

"You better move," says Deku, as though Katsuki isn't already rolling under the desk with the best shielding under the cover of the chorus of watch bleeps. Katsuki watches through the gaps to see them make their way back to the rest of the building; before she can make her way, the guy grabs the woman by the arm.

"Go get 'im - I wanna force the issue. We'll do it in that fancy conference room, yeah? Drop Lance off with the other bit players while you're at it. Wouldn't want him getting hurt again!"

"Ha ha, like you didn't just break a rib," says reedy, her voice straining as she hefts the out-cold mohawk over a shoulder. Strong, then. Must be why the big guy takes her more seriously. "You really think this is the play?"

"Nothing's getting out, right? I don't need my prize in my hands to move to the next stage."

"Whatever you say, bossman. Gimme ten, go set up!" Katsuki hears the lift called, but from this angle can't see the arrows to tell which way she's going - up or down would've narrowed shit down, but he'll have to be more patient. He hears the fire door slam closed after she's gone - did someone wait to hear that talk? - and the stomps of the big guy heading into the big conference room on the floor. The glazing is frosted, so he'd only be spotted if he got real close, and it's far enough away from his current spot he can talk again. Still, Katsuki gives it time, waits til he hears the lift ping again and two sets of footsteps head for the room.

"Shit's moving forward," he tells Deku quietly, but he still doesn't know where the hell that 'forward' is gonna take them. "You heard the guy, right? Shithead never learned what an inside voice is."

"Rich coming from you," says Deku, breezing past it before Katsuki can get indignant. Katsuki's spent ages using his fucking indoor voice now, where's Deku get off thinking he can pick fun?! "So they haven't found what they want, they aren't going anywhere until they can get it, and they're going to 'force' the issue somehow. So far... whatever their main objective is, they can't achieve it, so... we're winning, for now?"

'For now' he says. "Fuck that, I want the decisive win. How the hell do we get it?"

"Well, the most important thing to understand is motive, right? The sooner we narrow down exactly why they're there, the sooner we can disrupt it!"

As always, Deku acts like just speaking the obvious is somehow useful. "Don't tell me what to do," says Katsuki reflexively. "You think I hadn't been tryna work that out? The whole thing makes no damn sense."

"To you, maybe, but it must make sense to them - we just need to consider all the data we have and come up with likely scenarios. We can narrow them down once we know more!" Through the tinny headphones he can hear the incessant click of a biro, and can picture the notebook in front of Deku and that creepy, overly intent face to go with it. "Whatever they're doing is big enough to involve at least six conspirators. Despite it not being office hours, they were prepared to encounter people in the building. What does that tell us?"

"That government plods have a rep for overwork? They cleared the place out special today, otherwise there'd be some no-lifer sat at a PC for their 80th hour."

"Hmm," says Deku, seemingly unconvinced. "What could be worth stealing in a prefectural office? Documents?"

He thinks back to the vast, vast quantities of documents he's seen today and thinks it's not beyond the pale. "Could be the Quirk Registry. Scrub their names out of it before they go off to some bigger crime."

"All that information is scanned in immediately, and stored in triplicate," says Deku. His speech is slightly muffled, so he must be pinching at his lip again. "Getting rid of a local paper copy is basically pointless."

"Would they know that?"

Deku hums again. "If it was related to the Registry, it could be they're after gaining information rather than deleting it. Lots easier to copy a piece of paper than to try and break out a digital copy, especially if you don't want what you're looking for specifically to be obvious to someone else. But again, most of the Registry is public anyway."

Katsuki sighs, leaning back against the drawers he's crouched by. "So I'm dealing with some crack team of what, sleazy marketing guys tryna get personal data?"

"Data's worth a lot of money," says Deku, "But it's not what I think is the most likely. There's at least six of them to a group of six visitors, some are armed instead of using their identifiable quirks, and they were expecting to find people. It... kind of points to a hostage situation, don't you think?"

"Where's their demands, then?" says Katsuki, shaking his phone like he wishes he could shakes Deku. "Why a weekend? What the hell are they looking for if they've already got hostages? Makes no damn sense. S'not like any of the suits are important."

On the other end of the line there's pause long enough to have him wonder if Deku's muted himself. As it is, there's a crackling exhale of breath, and two taps of a pen against a book before Deku speaks again. "Kacchan... have you considered what they're after is you?"

"No. Not possible," hisses Katsuki, even as he feels his stomach drop out.

"It's Occam's Razor," mutters Deku, his voice cracking and popping from how close to the mic he must be. "They're looking for their last hostage to make their demands-- they picked the weekend because you'd be there--"

"Shut up," says Katsuki.

"You have to consider the possibility--"

Katsuki mashes at his keypad until Deku shuts up, the dial tones obnoxiously loud in his ear. It does the job, though. "Not possible, shitty nerd! I was gonna be at a different office til this morning!"

"Oh," says Deku, and Katsuki could strangle him - he sounds disappointed?! God forbid his greatest rival not be the cause of another shitty incident, huh? "Well, that changes things. What happened? Were the assignments random?"

"I was gonna do it in our shitty backwater town," says Katsuki. He takes a moment to recheck his surroundings, to lower his voice and take a deep breath. "Swapped last minute with that half-half bastard so he could do family shit once the tour was over."

"You... chose to travel? Even though you hate taking the train? To help Todoroki out?"

"...Yes."

"Kacchan--"

Katsuki hisses down the phone, undeniably caught out. "Fuck off! So I swapped to Roppongi on purpose!"

"I knew it!" crows Deku, and Katsuki can practically feel him vibrating from over the line. "There's no way you'd pass up the chance if you had a choice! Which case files did you look at? Did you see the original paper copies? Are they all signed 'All Might' or with a proper legal name? Were they hand-written?? Did--"

"Young All Might's handwriting is terrible, and you'll never see the proof if you don't shut up and stay on target!"

Deku eeps, but at least shuts up for ten seconds. "Right. Okay. So they're probably not looking for you specifically, if it was all that last minute. Their actions sound too planned. Still--"

"Todoroki," says Katsuki, as it clicks into place - and as the head villain roars "Endeavour!" from the conference room.

Notes:

everyone say 'todoroki' dramatically. see you next sunday!!

Chapter 3: i haven't met a moment free of it

Summary:

Schemes revealed, and schemes disrupted.

Notes:

hello it's been. a year!! since i last updated i think? sorry for the delay! rest assured i am dedicated to finishing this fic i have like, had a vision for for MULTIPLE years. as it is, after this i have two other chapters complete and it's just the final chapter that has given me the most trouble, but in this year of 2025 i want to finish this and get it out there for people to read!

thank you so much as well for recent comments, i will go and reply to them but recent people really encouraged me to post what i have and bring this to a conclusion!

as for content warnings - the normal (for this fic), canon-typical violence, swearing, nothing else new really!

if you subscribed to this patiently awaiting updates - or picked it up new with an update - thank you so much for reading something that has been in my head for so long, i hope you enjoy this

"So they're probably not looking for you specifically, if it was all that last minute," says Deku. "Their actions sound too planned. Still—"

"Todoroki," says Katsuki, as it clicks into place - and as the head villain roars "Endeavour!" from the conference room.

"Shit," says Izuku. "Of course. Stay safe, I'll call you back!"

"Wait—" but it's too late, Deku's already hung up on him, the bastard. 'Stay safe'?! Katsuki'll show him safe! He stays low, darting as close to the room as he can without being spotted, ducking under a desk close to it.

"—and if you don't heed our demands, your son and the rest of the hostages will meet a sticky end! You've got four hours before bits start coming off!"

Deku's original theory is right, but with the wrong target - of course targeting the new Number One's son was their aim. He breathes a sigh of relief; they've already lost, if all they've got to show for all this shit is some bureaucrats and the wrong UA student. The dense meathead can just call his even denser son and then come in all guns blazing!

"Bits start coming off," repeats the villain. "Does that sound threatening enough? Do I need to record it again?" Is this guy seriously taking notes on his hostage demand video?!

"Nah, it sounds scary!" says the reedy-voiced woman. "Like, bits are gonna come off! Whose bits? Which bits? Better not wait to find out!"

"Alright, send it then - every news network you can find, got it? I want this to go national!"

That's their plan? Send a fucking video on a email cold to newsrooms in the hope someone picks it up? Not even bother to send it to Endeavour himself?! Frankly, it's embarrassing - both for the villains in their incompetence, and for Katsuki to still have to be stuck dealing with it.

Unfortunately, the universe must be hearing his thoughts, as a third voice - the one he hasn't heard yet - pipes up. "I''ll send it direct to the big man's agency, too. They'll pick it up faster than any newsroom inbox." The sixth man, at last. Katsuki resists the temptation to pop his head up to get a look at the guy; even hearing his voice, his instincts warn him to tread more careful around this one. It's— slimy, over-ingratiating, just that touch of sneering. The voice of someone who thinks they're the smartest guy in the room. "It'd be best if we can send a proof-of-life of the brat as a follow-up. Bishop, any luck?"

"Not since he knocked Lance out," says reedy-voice. "We found burn marks where the kid tried to get out, so the lockdown's holding - he's still in the building, it's only a matter of time."

"Probably cowering somewhere waiting for daddy to come save him," says the head guy, and Katsuki has to stop himself laughing. That half-half dummy would either have been nabbed immediately and sat none-the-wiser with the pencil pushers, or immediately iced these guys out (and iced out his chances of ever getting a licence, ha!).

"Careful, Soldier," says the dangerous one. "That sort of thinking is why Lance is out cold. We may be dealing with a student, but he is a UA student. They're made of different stuff. I'd suggest another patrol in pairs - I'll look after your guests, and we'll meet there within the hour. Check the vents, any nooks and crannies - he can't wait us out forever."

That's where they're wrong. If it's what it takes to win the day, Katsuki will avoid, confound, and wait longer than anyone for the perfect time to counter. He'd always rather make the first move, but the longer he dodges these idiots, the sloppier they'll get, the more their openings will be exposed. Is what he thinks, but nearly jumps clear out of his skin when his phone vibrates. Fucking Deku, no sense of timing!!

None of the mooks react, thank fuck, Katsuki having hit accept immediately to avoid them hearing even the vibrations. The dangerous one speaks again. "Soldier, why don't you meet up with Rook for that? I've just got something else to ask Bishop first, but don't want to delay you."

"Nah, I'll grab Knight," says head-guy, and Katsuki tucks himself as far under desk as he can as the big lump stomps his way out of the room. "I'm counting on you, King! Make sure my message gets out!" He carries on off down the hall, back where Katsuki came from, and if he's trying for subtlety he's failing - if Katsuki didn't already know where the guy was, he'd sure as hell hear him a mile away. When a door slams closed, he doesn't breath a sigh of relief, but his shoulders do relax, just a little.

When he thinks it might be safe to come out from his tactical observation point, the reedy voice sighs loud enough to be heard from where he is. "You have sent that out, right? The gap to do it wasn't long."

"Of course, of course," says the dangerous one - King? what a tacky code name - "That's all part of the plan, after all. Let 'Soldier' be the face of it, we shall slip off once we've retrieved the samples. Now; burn marks, you said?"

"On a few windows and the emergency doors, but not all in a consistent place," says reedy-- Bishop. Urgh, are they seriously all chess names? Bleh. "The kid has a fire quirk like his old man, right?"

"Reports all suggest he favours ice," says King. He's not loud like the Soldier guy, but Katsuki can still hear as he gets up to pace the room. "Curious we haven't seen it yet." The pacing moves out the conference room, stalks closer and closer to Katsuki's hiding— observation place, as Katsuki's blood turns to ice. He stops breathing, grasping his mouth and nose in a palm to stop even the smallest sound. He can't move - can't get the jump from here, doesn't know the guys quirk, but knows from instinct he's something nasty - and through sheer will slows his heart to as slow as it gets. This is nothing. He's biding his time.

King stops at the desk. Katsuki's instincts set to war, desperate to come out all guns blazing, no matter how much danger it might put him and everyone else in. Why isn't the guy moving? Does he know?!

"Probably trying to throw us off," calls out Bishop, her voice getting closer as she does. "You said it, King, we're dealing with a hero student - one with a famous father. Probably had some like, high value hostage training, right?"

King hums, not sounding convinced. Could this fucker move away already?! "You may be on to something. Keep a keen eye out either way, I don't want this dragging out much longer."

"I got you," says Bishop. "Me 'n Rook will start from the top again, try and lock some more of the place down. Open-plan offices are a nightmare, you know?" Footsteps again, off in the direction of the lifts; and finally, King moves on. Katsuki stays still as he can, waiting to see what the guy will do - he said he was gonna stick with the office staff, if Katsuki could tail him he could finally get a visual on where they were.

"I know you're there," King calls out, and Katsuki freezes again. How?! "Put yourself out of your misery and come out."

"Don't move," Deku hisses in his ear, barely audible even through his headphones. Like Katsuki needs telling!

There's a long pause; Katsuki controls his instinct to flinch when another desk - the one he was behind originally, it must be!! - gets flipped over with a loud "Gotcha!" from King, the thing slamming into the floor with a great cacophany of files and computers.

After the noise has subsided, he hears King tsk. "So much for that," he mutters, and his footsteps echo off toward the lifts.

Only once he's heard the ding, the doors open and close, and strained to hear even the slightest hint of breathing does Katsuki finally relax.

"That was too close!" Deku whines into his ear. "I thought my heart would leap out of my chest from here!"

"'s nothing," says Katsuki; they both know it isn't true, but Deku doesn't push back. He finally peeks out from the desk "He went down. Staff's being held somewhere between the first and second floor, jot that down in your little notebook."

"I will," mutters Deku. "Anyway, I called Todoroki! Nothing weird's happened on his end, I asked him to text if Endeavor calls him. What happened, I could barely hear anything other than that guy smashing around. Was he new? I haven't heard that voice so far?"

"Shut it," barks Katsuki. "Fucking hanging up on me like that! I'm not forgiving that!"

"Ah, sorry! It just felt really important to confirm things right then!" Deku laughs, that annoying nervous way he does; Katsuki can almost picture the way he hunches in on himself, tries to cover his face with his hand. "I'll stay with you from now on! Kinda surprised you're not sick of me yet, honestly..."

"Been sick of you for hours," snarks Katsuki, because it's almost true. Deku's voice grates, his mic is too close to his keyboard and notepad, he can't stop himself from splurging every theory without filter, and. Katsuki would be having a... different time without him in his ear. "So there's six. They're here specifically for that half-half bastard. The big guy thinks he's in the lead."

"Thinks?" repeats Deku.

"The new guy had this whole scheming chat with one of 'em. Something 'bout samples." Samples of what, he doesn't know - if they wanted something out of the registry, they could've got it already. Samples from Todoroki? "They all got chess codenames, but the big guy's going by 'Soldier'. You really think the mook calling himself 'King' ain't the one really running the show?"

"That's... an interesting point, actually." Katsuki can picture Izuku pinching his lip so clearly, it kind of disturbs him. "I mean, you have to have a certain type of ego to be a villain taking this kind of action, but to so clearly flag yourself as like, shadow boss..? Is the 'lead' the only one not in on it, I wonder?"

"Fucking fascinating," Katsuki says, trying to convey as little interest as he can with voice alone. "Narrowed the lockdown quirk to two of them, they're going from the top. Probably'll close all the meeting rooms and shit so I'll have to stick to desks unless I wanna get stuck. That King guy... dunno what it is, but it's something nasty. Probably not gonna beat that guy in a straight punch-out." And he's going straight to the rest of the hostages.

That sits ill with Katsuki, a weird sense of dread starting to fester in him. The admins are just normal people - Katsuki should be the one in the firing line here, he can take it. Maybe it is time to come out all guns blazing?

"I can hear your thought process," says Deku. "And I'm a hypocrite for saying this, but. Keep playing it cool. You were right, about the stakes for you and everyone else - the route to a perfect victory doesn't involve direct action just yet. Especially now we know they're after Todoroki! If they see you, there's no telling what they'll do - it probably ruins their whole plan!"

"It is gonna kick off," says Katsuki. "That's what you really think."

"...I do," says Izuku. "They could start threatening people to draw 'Todoroki' out, and you won't stand for it." Damn right he won't. "There might come a point where it's the only option. We're just gonna work to make sure you're in the clear if it comes to it - if in doubt, just... I dunno, shout 'self defence' over and over? It'd be pretty hard to argue if you're just protecting yourself!"

That's gotta be the stupidest thing Katsuki's ever heard, and just five minutes ago he heard that big galumph say something hilariously wrong about Todoroki. "I ain't saying that shit, Deku. I'll figure it out."

"I don't doubt it!" chimes Deku. "You've already taken one of them out the old fashioned way! If anyone can thread the needle, it's probably you!"

He's not wrong, because Katsuki is a genius, true prodigy, future number one hero, and not just some shitty teen in over his head. Katsuki will win this, however that manifests. "They're working in pairs now."

"Yeah, that doesn't help." Deku sighs, a loud creak singing out as he leans back in his chair. That thing needs oiling. "If you could get rid whichever one is doing the lockdown, it'd be a great help, but two against one is... well, super easy with your quirk, bit harder without. You'd be best off drawing them apart if you can!" There's some shuffling, very loud clicking, then Deku's back on the line. "If one team's starting from the top, the other one's probably starting from the bottom - you should have enough time to get up to the fifth floor before they make it down, with enough time to set up some distractions to get them where you want them! How's that?"

Annoyingly, it's a pretty solid plan, but he's not gonna praise Deku for suggesting the most obvious thing. He heads to the back staircase, listening carefully for movement before dashing up the stairs as quiet as he can manage. Even Aizawa wouldn't be able to bemoan his stealth performance right now.

On the fifth floor, the desk banks have a little more personality to them - probably where some lifer team was based. Makes their plan a little easier with more weird materials to work with; a weird knick-knack placed correctly would work as an enticement, right?

He works quick, limiting his responses to Deku, that instinct for imminent trouble getting stronger as time goes on. Deku chatters on in his ear. If it was anyone else it would distract, but Deku's incessant gassing has been a feature of Katsuki's life, a thing that can exist on a different wavelength to his current focus and anticipation. The plan is to draw one mook into a meeting room and knock them out quiet, then get the jump on the other, and it's gonna work. It will work.

It takes longer than Katsuki would like - as much as he's gonna win this the best way he can, waiting quietly to strike ain't him in the slightest - for mook group one to make it to his floor, but eventually they do. It's the reedy-voiced woman, Bishop, and the tall spindly guy - Rook. That height definitely adds a challenge mode. The two of them split up across the floor, checking carefully under desks, opening and closing cabinets. It's not easy to see from the little gap in the frosted glass, but he catches reedy drawing circles over cabinets with a pinky finger; once she does the same on the bathroom door, he's got the confirmation he needs.

"Reedy— Bishop's locking shit down," he whispers into the headphone mic. "Rook's the tall one. He's going down first."

"Roger that," Deku whispers back. Like he has to whisper! It's Katsuki who's in the room! "Get 'im, Kacchan!"

Once they're split off enough - Bishop distracted by the contents of someone's desk, Rook finally looking vaguely the right way - Katsuki puts the plan in action. In the meeting room across from him, attached to poorly hidden string, is a distraction; a vaguely head-shaped wad of paper, poking out in the frosted glass. To Rook, it should look like a shadow; and when Katsuki pulls again once it's caught the mooks eye, it should look like a ducking shadow. Rook takes the bait, and in a stroke of luck, doesn't bother to signal to Bishop. Thank fuck most of this team aren't pros.

He tracks Rook entering the meeting room, crouches low to cross the floor between it and his starting point without Bishop noticing, and by luck again - thank fuck Deku's ideas aren't totally shitty - Rook is crouched over the mess of paper. Katsuki's on him before he can so much as twitch, the man crouched low enough that Katsuki has him in a controlled choke-hold easily, a good enough position that the guy won't thud when he passes out.

He just has to hold on a few more seconds - just a few more - as the guy silently thrashes, trying to throw Katsuki off, scratch at his arm, grab at his face. He's wily, but Katsuki's got the advantage on foothold, the height different working in his favour, the fact he's actually trained for this shit— only, he never saw what quirk the tall guy had, and when his body temperature starts dropping is when he realises how big a problem skin-on-skin contact might be.

The surprise of it has him loosen his grip for just a moment - but it's long enough for Rook to get his bearings back, pull a knife from his holster and take lucky swings at Katsuki's arm and leg. He grunts on impact - it fucking smarts - but this idiot isn't getting the better of him; Katsuki hangs on, counting down the seconds, until finally man goes limp. As quiet as he can, he pushes the door closed, and tapes the guy up, making sure to tuck him away where his shadow won't be seen. If he can duck back into the hall and close the door again - there's a chance Bishop will lock it down, and the idiot will be trapped until things are resolved.

He manages, circling back into the corridor, closing the door silently, and sneaking into the back staircase to regroup. Without the adrenaline to carry him, he's shivering - shitty fucking quirk to come into contact with, especially for him; everyone in the building's lucky that mook tried lowering his body temp instead of jacking it up, as being a walking bomb in a building with no opening windows or working sprinklers sounded like a true disaster in the making.

"Kacchan," Deku whispers again in his ear. "What's happening? Your breathing's strange?"

"One down," says Katsuki, because he fucking won that one. "Bastard's quirk lowers body temperature." He hears Deku suck a breath through his teeth. Must be thinking the same as him. "Left him wrapped up in the room, gonna go at the other one in a minute." He just. Needs a moment to warm back up. Going out there right now, she'd hear him coming from his fucking teeth chattering.

The injuries Rook gave him choose that moment to remind him of their existence, and it's all he can do to keep that feeling to a hiss. The one on his forearm is just a scratch - he puts these things through worse just for practice - but the one on his thigh feels more substantial, the swing wild enough to have cut through the fabric. It stings, and it'll probably leave a trail if he leaves it like this.

It's a pain, but he goes up a floor - away from where he should run into anyone - and hunts down the floors' first aid kit, stuffing a gauze pad through the gap in the fabric and pressing it on tight with a bandage over his clothes. Like he's risking being caught with his trousers down right now! He wraps the scratch on his arm for good measure. Deku doesn't ask what he's doing, and Katsuki doesn't bother telling him. It's annoying enough to have to admit being caught out by the guys quirk. At least he's starting to get warm, even if that's taking longer than it should.

"How are you planning to get the locking one? She didn't notice you, right?"

"Get the jump on her, how else?"

"I guess you know her quirk, at least." Deku sounds unconvinced. After all that bolsh, is he really doubting Katsuki's ability now? "Just... be careful, Kacchan?"

"Careful ain't winning the day."

Deku gives a negative hum. "That's not what I mean. If she's working with the other guy... if they've got some other scheme going on, she's probably a lot more dangerous than the rest of their gang. Just. Be on your guard, okay?"

When is he not? "Don't need this from you," he says, making his way back down. Quietly, carefully, again. He's giving that invisible-whatever a run for her money today.

He ducks back onto the fifth floor, unheard, but his work hasn't gone unmissed. Bishop is still searching, but this time more frantically - opening and closing doors again, and shouting for her KO'd comrade. There's none of the creeping around they'd started with. "If that little brat's got you, Rook—"

Katsuki takes this for the chance it is, launching himself across the floor while she's facing away and sweeping her leg out from under her. It works - she goes down with a shout of surprise, and he's on her before she can get back up, pulling her hands behind her back and pressing his weight down on her legs. His thigh twinges, but fuck that - he's got her! All he has to do is knock her out or tie her up somewhere, and that's three down!

She wriggles against him, but Katsuki's used to locking down Deku, and there's no-one more wily. She looks pissed, but that turns to interest once she's glared up at him for a moment. "You're not who we expected," she says. "Where's the little scion?"

"Not here."

"Ah, King's gonna be so mad... then again." Her interest turns sharp, eyes flashing dangerously. "You're an interesting one, aren't you?"

"Shut it," hisses Katsuki.

"Wait, Kacchan!" says Deku, his voice close. "This is a good chance! Find out what she's really after!"

"You shut it as well," says Katsuki. He pulls the woman’s arm back further, trying to make it uncomfortable - but it's not like he can break her arm right now. Maybe if they got back into a clean fight - she doesn't know that, though. "The hell are you shitheads up to? What do you want with that half-half bastard?"

"Got a mouth on you," she grunts out. "Aren't you meant to be a hero student? You should speak more kindly, y'know?"

"To villains? Pass."

"You catch more flies with honey," she says, and grunts again when Katsuki pulls on her arm. This is pointless - he should just tie her up and be done with it. "Not that I'm surprised! You've been in the news, right? Nasty attitude, dangerous quirk, not exactly heroic is it? Was it worth our number one just to pull you out—"

"Wow, how fucking original," says Katsuki, over Deku's sharp intake of breath in his ear. He hauls the woman up, keeping his grip firm. If she thinks she can distract him with this shit, she's dumber than they thought - he doesn't listen to it from polite society, he sure as hell ain't taking shit from a villain. "Shut up and watch me destroy whatever shitty plan you got!"

She doesn't make it easy for him to drag her over to another meeting room, trying to wriggle out of his grip or trip him over, but he's got training she clearly hasn't. The question he's left with is how to shut her mouth; if the other team makes their way up, there's no point in having taken her down if she can just shout for help or whatever. Thinking about it, and grabbing the packing tape, is almost a moment's distraction too long.

Their position puts his arm just close enough for her to stretch out a pinky and draw a circle on it before he can back up; it drops to his side instantly. He reacts just as quickly, the moment he feels the scratch jumping back. He might've been fucked if she'd made a break for it. Instead, Bishop dives at him, something in her hand driving forward. Katsuki doesn't hesitate - a kick swings her arm wide, and a swift uppercut has her reeling back, out cold. Katsuki grabs her before she can bean her head on a table, and gets to taping her to a chair with all haste. His arm hangs as a dead weight by his side. Difficult, but between his mouth and his feet he just about manages it. He is the most flexible guy in their year.

"She had a syringe," he tells Deku - his kick knocked it out her hand, leaving it stuck awkwardly in the carpet. The thing's empty - ready to draw, rather than deliver. "Think they mean, like. Bodily samples? Blood and shit?"

Deku makes a noise that matches Katsuki's feelings on that - skeeved as hell. "That's... possible? I mean, Todoroki does have a powerful quirk, and he is Endeavors' son, I guess there's some... value in having something like that? Pretty creepy to stage this whole incident over that though..." Creepy's one word for it. Puts him in mind too much of the freaky stuff the League did with their fucked-up monsters. "You took her down though! Three down, without even using your quirk! Amazing, Kacchan!"

"Yeah, yeah," says Katsuki, for a moment glad this isn't a video call. Deku doesn't need to know how hearing that makes him feel, now he mostly accepts it's not coming from a mocking place. "Her quirk works on people, so. She mighta used it on the others to stop them moving around. Put that on your little spreadsheet."

"A spreadsheet would've been a good idea," mutters Deku. "Oh, how did— she got you?"

"Just an arm, it ain't a big deal! S'a good guide for whether or not the rest of this lockdown shit's gonna wear off now she's down."

"It's kind of a big deal!!" Deku squeaks over the line. "It definitely ups the difficulty level for you! Maybe it's time—" Deku cuts himself off from whatever thought he's had; already realised there's no point telling Katsuki to sit this shit out from here, he'd guess. "Ahh... so, can you feel your arm? Any numbness? Is it just... out of use?"

Katsuki gives it a try. It smarts when he pinches his arm, and the weight of it is definitely still there, he just. Can't actually move it on it's own. Great. "It just ain't moving, s'normal otherwise. Gimme a minute." Just to check, he tries again at the nearest window - no luck - and with a couple phones - no dice. "The other shit's still locked tight."

"Interesting..." mutters Deku, and there's that scratching again. He must've filled up a whole book by now with all these notes. "Suggests there's a conscious trigger to turn the lock on and off. She had to make physical contact with you?"

"Yeah, pinky finger. Does a little circle with it."

"So... this might sound weird, but try using that on your arm again? Like, if it was a clockwise motion, try counter-clockwise? It'd be good to know if it's purely a physical trigger or something she actively has to choose to do." It's awkward, but this is one of Deku's more sensible ideas, so Katsuki tries it. Without luck. "Well, that gives us one bonus."

"Which is?"

"King and Bishop wanted to get their 'samples' and get out. They're stuck in there now! You've shut down one of their criteria for success!"

Huh. It's true - whatever else they wanted out of this shit, those two can't slink off into the shadows any more. Now he's just gotta shut down every other way they can win. The route to a full victory feels sharper than ever. "Three down, three to go. There'll be nothing for the police to do once they show up!"

"O-oh, yeah!" says Deku, and there's a sudden burst of vigorous typing and scribbling. Weird. "Uh— all of this information we gathered will make it a breeze too, right? Just— give me a second, I'm gonna call you back. Stay sharp!"

Stay sharp. Who does he think he is? Katsuki's never not sharp, which this whole fuck-up has demonstrated very nicely. He takes the time to make sure Bishop is properly secured and out of view, and then adds a post-it to the rooms with her and that Rook guy in. It's innocuous enough in an office environment, but means he won't fuck up in tracking them down again once it comes time for arrests.

He gets himself a cup of hot water and thinks about his next move. While obviously he could go after the rest of them right now, it'd be annoying to have to answer his phone mid-fight, so it's better to wait for Deku to finally ring back. Hot water, because he ain't stealing whatever shit passes for tea here and to ward of the chill still settled uncomfortably under his skin. He's no longer all chattering teeth, but his body temp's still not where it should be. Fucking annoying quirk.

Deku does finally call him back, the quality notably shitter. "Sorry about that! I, ah, forgot about something really important! I'm still on the line, though, rest assured you have my full attention!" And so he should! Deku's attention should always be on him!

...

Katsuki's. Not going to examine that thought further.

"Whatever. Time to find mooks two and three."

Notes:

kacchan: yeah i bet the police must be loving all the information i'm passing on about what's going on here, really looking forward to them sorting their shit out and busting in
deku, sweating: oh, right. the police... the police for kacchan, the police called specifically for kacchan's situation. kacchan's police. those police?

Notes:

what'll happen next?? well i know bc it's already written. see you next sunday!