A Means to an End | Katsuki Bakugou x Male Reader

Chapter 22

Have another chapter cos it's christmas :)

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The grace period had ended. Perhaps Nezu had them digging through the night. As soon as the fire died down, anyway. They found Mashirao's remains, briefly felt reassured, and then, as the hours went by without further trophies, began to suspect. At some point, they realised they had been tricked. And President Nezu could never tolerate being made to look like a fool. It didn't matter whether they had tracked the group to the second apartment or assumed they went directly underground. They knew the group was down there now and they had probably released something, a pack of mutts probably, bent on finding (M/N).

"(M/N)." (M/N) jumped at the proximity of the sound. Looked frantically for its source, bow loaded, seeking a target to hit. "(M/N)." Katsuki's lips were barely moving, but there was no doubt the name came from him. Just when (M/N) thought he seemed a little better, when he thought Katsuki might be inching his way towards him, here was proof of how deep Nezu's poison went. "(M/N)." Katsuki was programmed to respond to the hissing chorus, to join in the hunt. He was beginning to stir. There was no choice. (M/N) positioned his arrow to penetrate Katsuki's brain. He would barely feel a thing. Suddenly, he was sitting up, eyes wide in alarm. "(M/N)!" He whipped his head to (M/N) but didn't seem to notice the bow, the waiting arrow. "(M/N)! Get out of here!"

(M/N) hesitated. His voice was alarmed, not insane. "Why? What's making that sound?"

"I don't know. Only that it has to kill you," Katsuki said. "Run! Get out! Go!"

After his own moment of confusion, (M/N) concluded he did not have to shoot Katsuki. He relaxed his bow string and took in the anxious faces around him. "Whatever it is, it's after me. It might be a good time to split up."

"But we're your guard," Ikara said.

"And your crew," Ryuko added.

"I'm not leaving you," Shoto said.

(M/N) looked at the crew armed with nothing but cameras and clipboards. And then there was Denki with two guns and a trident. (M/N) suggested he give one of his guns to Eijiro. Eject the blank cartridge from Katsuki's, load it with a real one, and arm Tamaki. Since Shoto had his crossbow and (M/N) his bow, they handed their guns over to Izuku and Ryuko. There was no time to show them anything but how to point and pull the trigger, but in close quarters, that might be enough. It was better than leaving them defenceless. Now the only one without a weapon was Katsuki, but anyone whispering (M/N)'s name with a bunch of mutts didn't need one anyway.

They left the room free of everything but their scent. There was no way to erase that anyway. (M/N) was guessing that was how the hissing things were tracking them, because they hadn't left much of a physical trail. The mutts' noses would be abnormally keen, but possibly the time they spent slogging through water in drain pipes would help throw them.

Outside the hum of the room, the hissing became more distinct. But it was also possible to get a better sense of the mutts' location. They were behind the group, still a fair distance. Nezu probably had them released underground near the place where he found Mashirao's body. Theoretically, the group should have a good lead on them, although (M/N) was certain they were a lot faster then the group was. His mind wandered to the wolflike creatures in the first arena, the monkeys in the Quarter Quell, the monstrosities he had witnessed on television over the years, and wondered what form these mutts would take. Whatever Nezu thought would scare him the most.

Tamaki and (M/N) had worked out a plan for the next leg of their journey, and since it headed away from the hissing, (M/N) saw no reason to alter it. If they moved swiftly, maybe they could reach Nezu's mansion before the mutts reached them. But there was a sloppiness that came with speed: the poorly placed boot that resulted in a splash, the accidental clang of a gun against a pipe, even (M/N)'s own commands, issued too loudly for discretion.