K.BAKUGO X READER (Cover art by me)
In a life where I'd be safe in one moment and on the brink of death in another, I realized that he was the only force that could ground me. Of all the people in the world. My volatile co-worker. My menacing rival...
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part five
━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━
On our first day of searching, we'd stumbled upon gold. Only, that gold was locked inside a chest that would only open with time – time we didn't have. The man I rescued left us with a few stray jewels to quell our greed. The papers were important after all, enough that he was willing to give his life for their safekeeping back at the river.
When I awoke, one of the heroes came to fetch me, taking me to the briefing room, bandages and all. Bakugo and the others were there. His eyes shot up at me, but I kept my distance with the sight of his scowl. The wounds were probably still fresh. He liked to hold grudges.
The captain explained everything to us. Over the curve of his moustache, under the brim of his hat, his gaze was stern.
Overnight, the rest of the base had been examining the notes. There were three pages. One was a list of lab supplies, a fancy grocery list you could say. Carbolic acid refill, 3 crates of formaldehyde, hydro aspirator 1ft extension piece, 25lb autopsy compound, scalpels... This was the equipment of morticians. We couldn't tell if they were trying to waken the dead or send it to back to their graves.
The next paper was a printed document, a series of failed lines of computer code. The IT and communications team had been running through the code all night. Apparently, part of it was the beginnings of an advanced AI system. The other part, they couldn't put their finger on. The code was designed to process information from a time period that didn't exist yet: the future. The tech team couldn't figure out its function.
The last note was an anonymous letter from another scientist belonging to the lab we were after. It appeared to be addressed to the dying man I'd found. The author had escaped the lab, leaving the scribbled letter behind as parting words to his friend. He didn't believe he'd survive the escape, entrusting the man with contacting the heroes. He'd been successful, but at a cost. The man was confined to the infirmary bay, attached to a life support system until we could gain access to a healing quirk technician. He was unconscious, his secrets sealed behind pale lips. The letter didn't disclose the lab's location.
After the captain concluded his report, the room fell tense. We'd covered new ground and found more evidence, but the big picture was too blurry to point our finger at the source. Fighting a bear, all for what? Would the man even live? Would the notes he escaped with lead to anything beyond more questions? All our time and effort from the agency was feeding a bottomless problem.
I could feel Bakugo's frustration from across the debriefing room, ripping through the group like barbed wire. I thought I was impatient until I met Bakugo. We swayed on a teetertotter of rationality.
