Papa Bakugou

Chapter 24 - The Job of a Hero

      In just the span of two days, investigators had pretty much taken over the broadcasting station that aired the message, trying to find anything that could lead to the new villian's identity. Hero patrols had increased as well, meaning the boys were with a babysitter more often. Izuku and Shouto had no idea what was going on, but knew something was wrong. Kirishima's schedule was now identical to Bakugou's in the sense of being off only one day a week. Katuski, on the other hand, was almost never home anymore.

      "Where's Kacchan?" Izuku asked as Kirishima was putting on his shoes.

      "He's still at the office," The redhead told the child in order to keep everything vague.

      "How come?"

      That was a question that would constantly come up. "I told you before, things are a little busy right now... Listen, I gotta go to work, but the babysitter should be here in a few minutes."

      "But-" Before the rabbit could finish, Kirishima patted his head and was out the door. He let out a sigh before joining Shouto in the bedroom. The little cat was just sitting on the chair Katsuki would sit in to read to them, his legs brought up to his chest and his head hanging low. Both boys felt completely helpless to the situation.

~***~

      "The kids know something's wrong," Kirishima explained while changing into his hero costume. "You really should go home more, you know. Put their minds at ease."

      "You know I can't..." Bakugou let out an agitated huff as he took off his gauntlet and took a wrench to it to tighten a loosening bolt. "If we don't find Lemillion or the guy that caught him, no one's safe. Crime rate has already increased since that stupid broadcast, we can't afford to waste any time."

      "I know but... They miss you."

      "I know..." Bakugou finished tightening up the bolt while making a mental note to send it to a repair shop after this mess. "I miss them too... But I have to do what I have to do."

      Being a hero means that sometimes you'll have to make tough choices. This could include whether you catch a villain, which would save people in the long run, or save a person who is in immediate danger now. Two people could be in trouble and you could only save one. Or even the simple question of leaving your children alone at home or risk a high ranked villain roaming free. All these and more are decisions that heroes face from time to time, some even having to be decided on the fly. As much as Katsuki wanted to put his kids' minds at ease, he just couldn't risk letting a potentially dangerous villain go. He just hoped that someday the children would understand.

~***~

      "The babysitter hasn't come yet..." Izuku said as he stared at the clock. He still has trouble telling time, but he knows that the hands have moved around a lot. That's enough to tell him what he needs to know.

      Shouto didn't answer. He just stayed where he sat and looked down. The bunny briefly glanced at his brother before turning his attention back to the clock.

      "Being a hero must be hard," The greenette mumbled, mostly to himself. He glanced at Shouto once more, only to see he didn't move an inch. He then let out a sigh and got up. "I'm gonna get a snack, you want anything?"

      For what seemed to be the first time in forever, the cat spoke. "Not really..."

      "Ok..." Izuku looked down while letting his ears droop, something that happens whenever he was upset. He slugged his way to the kitchen and looked into the fridge. Katsuki had prepared little bags for them with snacks in case the babysitter was running late and they were hungry. Despite what his brother said, the bunny took out two bags and brought them both to the bedroom, despite not being allowed to eat in there. "Here, I brought you one anyway."

      Shouto lifted up his head and looked at the bag. It had four small sandwiches made with crackers instead of bread and four apple slices. He let out a sigh before taking the back from the rabbit and opening it up to eat.

      A small smile formed on the greenette's face as he took pride in getting the cat to move. That moment quickly faded as he looked back at the clock. He didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but he knew it was unusual for no babysitter to show up this late.

      "Hey, wanna go watch T.V?" Shouto suggested, shocking the little bunny.

      "Sure," Izuku responded while nodding.

      They left for the living room. When the T.V. was turned on, it opened to a news report. Kirishima had forgotten to change the channel to something kid friendly before turning off the T.V, a rule that was put in place by Bakugou to avoid situations like this. The boys watched a report about the heroes trying to look for Lemillion.

      "I've seen him before," Shouto said as the two boys got invested in the news like a child shouldn't. "The number two would always talk about trying to beat him."

      Izuku didn't respond. He just kept his eyes glued to the T.V, wondering how someone like Lemillion could get caught by a villain. He tried to think about different quirks that could combat the number one's, or at least, as well as a five year old could analyze different quirks. As he started overthinking, his thoughts began to come out of his mouth in mumbles, causing Shouto to turn his attention to his brother, rather than the T.V. The bunny snapped back when the news started talking about the current number two, Katsuki Bakugou, and how he had a lot to live up to and how everyone was counting on him to find the number one. Essentially, the reporters were putting all the pressure on a single person once again, but for two five year olds, they took it a bit more at face value.

      "So, Kacchan has to catch the bad guy and find Lemillion?" The bunny questioned.

      "I guess..." The cat answered unsure. "It seems like a lot to pin on one guy though..."

      "He can do it, I know he can."

~***~

      Bakugou was talking to policemen at the T.V. station that broadcasted the news report, trying to find anything that could lead him to the villain. Unfortunately, although the detectives combed through everything, nothing could be found out. The note that the anchors were told to read from had no fingerprints, most likely due to the villain wearing gloves. Odd considering his hand, or at least one of them, didn't have gloves on in order to use his quirk. No shoe prints were able to be taken either, due to everyone walking on the same floor and nothing to track whose is whose. The only thing they had to go on was the guy's quirk, which was still mostly a mystery. All that could be gathered was it was a gas induced hallucination. The janitor had been sent to therapy, so he couldn't say much at the moment, but it seemed the gas does indeed only affect when breathed in rather than just contact. That makes it a tad easier to deal with. Instead of worrying about covering up your whole body, you can just wear a gas mask.

      "Well, that's a start..." Bakugou said to the officer. "Have you checked in with City Hall to see if any quirks match up?"

      "We did," The policeman replied. "But, as it turns out, gas based quirks are actually pretty common. While hallucinations, not so much, there's still plenty of people that have similar quirks. Of course the types of hallucinations created differs from person to person."

      "Narrow it down to people with free range or nightmare-ish hallucinations as well as men that fit the description."

      "We've already done that, sir, but it's taking a while to comb through all the files."

      "Get back to me when you've found something."

      The officer nodded and walked off to talk to a detective. Meanwhile, Bakugou looked back at the note which was now in an evidence bag. All he could think about was one question; What is this guy up to?

~***~

I hope this chapter was up to par. >.< I know I'm not that good, but at least I try. ^^;

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you in the next chapter.