Chapter 38 - Whirlwind

"Just get out of here, kid. We're taking that bounty," The smaller villain hissed.

"You lay a single finger on that girl and I'll blast you straight to hell," Bakugou growled, preparing explosions in his palms. "Try it. I dare you."

The three of them were locked in a staredown. They had fallen for the diversion seamlessly, but he still couldn't pinpoint the quirk on the taller villain. The smaller one had been able to track Y/N's motorcycle based on how much she had used it, meaning it was some kind of location quirk like Deku had suspected.

The second Y/N's engine roared, the villains attacked.

Bakugou had the upper hand, as he always did, and adrenaline coursed through his veins as he sent blast after blast their way. He was keeping them adequately distracted, but now his worry was catching up to her. He hoped to God that if he didn't show up then she would leave without him and get her stupid ass to safety, but knowing her, it was unlikely. That's why he had to get to her as soon as possible. He was propelling himself through the air with his blasts, doing everything within his power to keep them confined and stop them from running to Y/N.

"GO! I'll handle him!" The taller one growled.

Looks like it was going to be a chase.

Bakugou fully ignored his opponent and dashed after the one targeting Y/N. He used his explosions to propel himself further and faster, catching up quickly, and when he finally reached him he slammed his heel down on the back of the villain's head.

It was enough to ground him, but before Bakugou could react, the villain turned over onto his back and pulled out a gun, firing a bullet from point blank straight into Bakugou's stomach.

He was pushed back from the impact. This wasn't good.

The pain hadn't even set in yet. He knew he was in shock, but had enough sense left to know one thing– he had to get out of there, fast, or he wasn't going to make it.

He launching himself into the air and spotted her, heading down the road at what had to be at least 80 miles an hour. Ignoring the white hot flashes threatening to stop his movements, he called out to her.

"TINKERBELL!"

~~~

Bakugou had been sore before, but never like this.

Even his eyelids throbbed as he forced them open, adjusting to the light. He blinked a few times, each time hurting less, and took in his surroundings.

The room was lit with harsh fluorescents. He was laying in a rather uncomfortable cot, a shitty blanket draped over him. Tubes connected his arms to different blinking machines. A hospital?

No. It wasn't nice enough to be hospital. It looked like it had been thrown together urgently, and it didn't have that strong disinfectant smell that most hospitals did. He was as confused as he was sore until a sharp pain from his abdomen brought back a sickening reminder.

The memory of the bullet wound flooded back and he tried to sit up, every movement aching. He lifted up the blue scrubs he had on to view his stomach, and sure enough, there was a bandage wrapped around his torso; but when he peeked underneath the medical wrap, there was only a scar where the bullet had entered his body. Recovery Girl.

But... wait, where was Y/N?

Panic started to set in. The last thing he remembered was riding on the back of her bike, holding onto her... why couldn't he remember anything else? Dread was building in his stomach. He hadn't protected her. What if she was hurt?

Or worse?

Bakugou forced his legs over the side of the bed and he pushed himself to stand. His legs felt like jelly as he tried to gain his balance. The world spun beneath him as he pulled out those annoying tubes connecting him to the machines, and he limped to the doorway, his legs unreasonably stiff. "Fucking get it together," he grumbled to himself. Feeling this weak infuriated him.

The texture of the medical scrubs made him want to rip them off, but he kept walking. Down the hall he heard voices. Had he been captured? Was he safe? He kept his palms at the ready, prepared to light off an explosion if necessary. He was getting better control of his legs the longer he walked, but the throbbing in his head refused to subside; he blinked harshly to try and push it away.

"Young Bakugou."

Katsuki whipped around, ready to throw hands, but it was All Might. The skinny man put his hand on Bakugou's shoulder to calm him down.

"Glad to see you awake. We were really worried."

"Where's Y/N? Did she–"

"Y/N made it back just fine. You did a wonderful job getting her here safely," All Might reassured, giving him a soft smile. "Here, let me fill you in. Come sit."

He lead Bakugou into a small room with cheap chairs scattered about. He sat and gestured for Bakugou to sit across from him. He didn't like being told what to do, but he was too tired to argue and wanted answers desperately.

"We're currently in the Nagasaki Precinct, but I'm sure you've figured that out by now," All Might chuckled. "You've been out for about 4 days now. Luckily Recovery Girl was prepared and was able to speed up your healing process. As far as we can tell, you should be back to normal in a couple more days."

Bakugou huffed at that. "I'm fine."

"You should focus on resting."

"Fuck off, old man."

All Might only smiled in amusement, the insults bouncing off him. He'd known Bakugou for years now and was used to his antics. He'd grown very fond of him– he'd watched him grow up. Soon enough he would be graduating and off on his own, which saddened the retired hero.

"Aizawa, Endeavor, and Hawks formulated a plan not long ago to apprehend All For One. There are several dozen heroes in action it as we speak, including many of your classmates. We've been keeping close watch over them with surveillance communication tools, and so far, everything is going according to the plan. Even Y/N is performing flawlessly. She seemed to jump back into things very quickly–"

Bakugou's eyes shot up in shock, but the emotion quickly turned to fury. "Did you say Y/N is out there? What the fuck is wrong with you shitheads?! All For One is after her and you sent her into the middle of that shit?" He was standing up now, shaking from anger. "How the hell is she going to protect herself?" Sparks started lighting in his palms without him noticing.

Realization dawned on All Might's face. Bakugou didn't know.

"There's something you need to see," he said, walking past the fuming Bakugou down the hall. Katsuki had no choice but to follow, still as angry as ever.

He lead him into a room entirely covered in TV screens. It was the surveillance devices he'd mentioned. Each one showed a different angle of what looked like an underground parking garage– but there were no cars. He recognized a few faces from the footage; Deku, Kaminari, and Jirou all seemed to be holding their ground against villains Bakugou didn't recognize.

On other screens he saw Aizawa and Hawks, both of them restraining and knocking down the plethora of vigilantes. They all looked... unstoppable. He should've been there. He should be fighting with them, neck deep in battle with his peers. Guilt made his throat tighten, and the adrenaline in his body had nowhere to go. He was powerless, stuck behind a screen, watching the fate of his friends without being able to help. It was nauseating.

He pushed through the group of people, looking up and scanning for one particular person– and then he saw her. Y/N.

But it wasn't Y/N anymore– it was Whirlwind.

She wore that costume he recognized from old photos of her in America; it was white, modeled after a motorcycle jumpsuit, and her helmet looked similar to the one she wore while biking. He couldn't see her face, but he knew it was her from the massive currents of wind whipping around her, flooring those who came too close. Nobody could get within 30 feet of her before she blasted them away, slamming them against the walls and ceiling.

She was... unstoppable. Y/N looked light as a feather, bounding off of walls and pillars and the faces of villains. Since when was she this agile, this powerful? He almost couldn't believe it was her, but the memory of that newspaper article she'd shown him flashed in his mind. This was the 3rd ranked hero in America, and from what he could see on the monitors, the title was deserved.

And she was using moves he had taught her.

"How..." Bakugou stammered, but he was too bewildered to form the sentence.

"Do you remember Eri? There was a mission a few years back to rescue her from the villain Overhaul. She's been working very hard to master her quirk, and yesterday she was able to use it to help our Y/N."

So Y/N got her quirk back.

For the first time in a long time, Bakugou genuinely smiled.