in the shadows - Bakugou x reader

7 - it begins

Y/N's POV
As we arrived at the shed, I locked the door and pulled my bag from under the floorboard, "I'm going first, turn around."

Hirou did as he was told and turned around whilst I quickly changed out of my costume and into some leggings and an oversized jumper, hiding the glock 19 that I had strapped around my torso, in case of an emergency.

"I thought you wasn't going to kill Ground Zero straight away- weren't you meant to play cat and mouse or something?"

"Your turn," I swapped over and stood in the corner of the tiny space we were stood in with my face to the wall as he got changed, "he's not dead, don't worry. I was bluffing, the poison won't kill him, it'll probably knock him out for a while though."

"Your dodges are getting way better, did you see the look on Ground Zero's face?"

I felt myself chuckle slightly, "I'll never forget it."

"You can turn back around, now."

I leaned down, grabbed some wipes from my bag and rubbed my black face paint off, "is it all off?"

Hirou shook his head and snatched the wipe from my hand before harshly rubbing right under my eye.

"Ow! Hirou!"

He smirked and handed the wipe back to me, "all gone."

I quickly packed away my weapons that I had on me earlier, before returning them to their place under the floorboard.

—

Katsuki appeared in the news the next morning, he was being bombarded with questions during his morning patrol.

"Ground Zero! Ground Zero! We're glad to see you're okay!"

"How much of a threat do you think Shadow poses to the heroes?"

He snatched the microphone out of the reporters hand and yelled, "SHADOW CAN'T DO SHIT, THE ONLY HIT SHE LANDED ON ME DIDN'T EVEN WORK. SHE'S HIDING LIKE A COWARD, I DARE YOU TO TRY AGAIN, YOU SHITTY VILLAIN, BECAUSE I'LL KILL YOU!"

I chuckled to myself, muttering, "so, now it begins..."

—

We were a few blocks from his agency when I finally encountered Katsuki, again.

"It would seem that our fates have yet again, intertwined, Katsuki Bakugo, I hope you've been keeping well!"

I watched as his jaw clenched when he looked up to where I was sat a small building's roof.

He sharply exhaled, the same way he did before, "get down here and fucking fight me then, you shitty villain, you won't even get close to me because you know you can't do shit."

I shrugged my shoulders, "bet."

I ran straight at him, pulling my knife from my thigh and lunged at him, but he quickly turned, my knife only cutting his left shoulder- he quickly turned his body again and sent an explosion at me with his right.

There wasn't enough time to dodge that one.

I was blasted backwards and slammed straight into a brick wall.

Ouch.

I definitely broke something just then, but nevertheless, I pulled myself back up and smirked, "and he finally landed an attack on me! And here I was starting to think you were an incompetent hero!"

He turned to face me, panting, "JUST SHUT UP, ALREADY!"

Since he had blasted me backwards, I had a lot more space to dodge his attacks, so as he jumped at me with a massive explosion, I dashed out of the way and used the building as a cover.

Civilians had stopped momentarily, but once they had realised that the fight was between myself and Ground Zero, they went running for safety.

Once he had run out onto the street that I had moved to, I yawned mockingly, "I've gotta say, I thought the number two hero was going to be more of a challenge than this, perhaps I should fight with someone more deserving of that spot..."

He let out a yell as he ran straight at me, sending multiple explosions, "JUST DIE ALREADY!"

I, again, dodged effortlessly and continued, "perhaps Shoto Todoroki? Now he's impressive!"

This just angered him more, as he continued to explode at me again and again with no luck.

I had trained with Hirou a lot, and with his speed quirk, dodging someone as slow as Katsuki was a piece of cake.

—

Our encounters continued like that for a while, and so when I got back to the hideout, the boss had asked for me.

"I was told you wanted to see me, boss?"

He stood up from his chair and sighed, "yes, that's correct."

As soon as his eyes met mine, I felt my entire body freeze up.

He's mad.

He's so mad.

I tried to innocently ask, "Do you have a job for me?"

He shook his head and pursed his lips as he looked me up and down with cold eyes, "I've seen news reports on your little encounters with Ground Zero."

I gulped as he stepped around me, eyeing every inch of my being.

"And you never seem to finish the job."

I took a deep breath, "I don't see what you're getting at, boss."

"You're ruining the image I worked so hard to build for you."

"Boss, I-"

"Are you that incompetent!?"

"No, boss, I-"

"I'll have to hire someone else to finish him off."

"Boss, please, listen!"

He walked over to me calmly, grabbing my chin between his thumb and forefinger and harshly spat, "get out of my sight, you useless bitch."

I raised my hand to smack his away from my face but thought better of it and waited for him to let go; when he did, he harshly pushed my head away from him and I walked out of the room as calmly as I could.

But right as I reached the door, I quickly turned around and yelled, "boss, please! Just... let me handle Ground Zero! I'll kill him! I promise. The next time I see him, he won't live to see another day-"

He quickly strode over to me and grabbed onto my shoulder, "Shadow, there are some things that are better left to those of us who actually have power."

I felt his hand start to heat up on my flesh, but right on cue, Levi burst through the door, "ah, Shadow! I thought I'd find you in here!"

I felt relief wash over my body as the hand on my shoulder cooled down.

He sent a sarcastic smile at the boss, "Oh, Rokuro, what a pleasant surprise."

I pulled myself away from the boss and over to Levi, leaving without another word to him.

"Thanks for that, Lev."

He nodded, "did he hurt you?"

I shook my head, "nope, you walked in at the perfect moment. But, there are some complications regarding the plan."