Rescue // Shoto Todoroki x OC Fanfiction

Chapter Three

"You're still failing to see the bigger picture here," Ochaco stated, taking another bite of her sandwich. 

"What more is there to it?" Katsumi sighed. "Follow the thug, find the base, and don't make it go on longer than it has to. I'm going to make quick work of this."

"This could open up more opportunities for team-ups in the future if you play your cards right." 

"Like I'd want to team up with him again." This was purely being done out of necessity. Nothing more. Unless it was absolutely necessary, she didn't want to spend time around Shoto. 

"We could use the publicity, if not for anything else. Our Agency is doing well already, but facing higher-tier villains like the other agencies could not only help our recruitment rate but also our personal hero rankings in the long run." 

Katsumi sighed, again. "I guess you're right. But like I said this morning, I'm only going to be a good sport about this if he intends on not being a dick."

Ochaco chucked. 

"What's funny?" 

"You've always been so weird about him, even back in school. All the girls had crushes on him, but you just wanted to blow his head off. The other girls were jealous because, despite the little rivalry you had going, he gave you attention." 

"And they were stupid to crush on him. They just liked his looks, anyway." Even Katsumi couldn't deny that Shoto was good-looking, but she'd never admit that out loud--not even to Ochaco. She only wiggled her eyebrows at Katsumi before turning her attention back to her sandwich. 

It was a nice day outside, so they'd chosen to eat out on the patio of the little restaurant Katsumi chose. There were a few clouds in the sky, but it was a mostly sunny day with a light breeze. It was April, so the trees along the streets were flowering and budding, and it was truly a peaceful sight. 

Suddenly, something, or someone rather, blasted by on the sidewalk next to them, the backlash of the power blowing their lunches right off the table. Katsumi stood up abruptly and summoned her light wings and prepared to chase off after whoever it was, and Ochaco was already right there with her. Not even a second after the first runner, someone else flew by overhead, a string of explosions filling the air behind them, and a familiar voice shouting goading insults at the runner. 

Katsuki Bakugo, of course. 

She and Ochaco took off after the two of them. 

* * * 

The files came across her desk that afternoon from Shoto's agency. The thing had traveled to a neighboring city a few hours away, and they'd yet to track him back to any notable location. He'd been meeting up with other low-level thugs, perhaps attempting to recruit them to his boss's cause, whatever that may be. That would be another thing they'd need to find out. 

So far, Mind Maker had just been causing trouble--upsetting peace and making political statements that held little to no real meaning. Katsumi assumed it was all just a ruse to get people involved in his cause. 

Katsumi leaned back in her chair after reading the last part of the memo. Shoto wanted to leave for the neighboring city that night to not lose any time. That left little time for her to mentally prepare. 

She wanted this over with as quickly as possible, but there was no telling how long it would take to find Mind Maker's base. 

Heading to the back room in her office, she placed her palm on the scanner by the door, opening up a secret closet that held her various hero costume variations. Knowing this was supposed to be an undercover operation, she knew she needed to opt for one of her costumes that could easily be changed into, or worn under baggier clothing. With that in mind, she picked out the longsleeved zip-up body suit. That would be the easiest and most comfortable to wear under normal clothing. 

The suit allowed for a wide range of movement without compromising her chest to the awful shots that the media tended to take of her upper body. The zipper went all the way to her neck, so there would be no cleavage. The last thing she wanted was another fanservice magazine to publish her pictures. As a hero, there's not a lot you can do to stay out of the tabloids, so it often just comes down to preemptive thinking and damage control. 

The black body suit had some purple accents to go with her newly dyed hair. She was tired of the pure blond locks she'd had her whole life and took to dying the bottom half different colors--the most recent being purple. Dying her hair every so often seemed to give the media something vanity-wise for them to focus on about her, rather than other things, which she preferred. 

After dressing herself in the costume, she threw on a pair of baggy black jeans and a zip-up sweater. She braided her hair in a long braid down her back and grabbed a pair of sunglasses and an over-the-shoulder bag. She looked herself over in the mirror and thought that she looked like a normal citizen. Some heroes with more unique looks had a harder time hiding their identities, but Katsumi didn't have that problem too bad. Thinking about Shoto, she at least hoped he had the decency to hide the beacon that was his head of hair under some kind of hat. 

Even dressed as a civilian, Shoto was prone to drawing attention. There were whole blogs dedicated to spotting him doing 'regular person things' in public. She understood why she was wanted for a task like this, but Shoto was going to make it difficult. Of course, it was his lead they were going off of, which meant he had to be involved. She only wished that she'd come across it herself so she could solo this mission. But no--the universe had other plans for her. 

She headed out of her office through the now mostly empty building and onto the street. Shoto wanted her to meet him at his Agency, so she shot him a message on her phone, letting him know that she was on the way. 

It was nearly dark outside already as She made the walk across the city. It was a pretty quiet night for the city, she noticed. Most people would relish in the quiet, but it always put Katsumi on edge. 

Upon her arrival at Shoto's agency, she tried the front door, and it was locked. She glanced down at her phone to see that she was perfectly on time according to Shoto's request. She was about to shoot him another text, but she saw him in the building through eh glass doors, heading for her. He came out and locked the doors behind himself before turning to face her. 

"Thank you for coming," he stated. 

"Yep." She crossed her arms over her chest, not sure why they were still just standing there. He wore a similar dark attire as her, with a navy blue beanie on his head, covering his hair. 

"We can take the bullet train over, should only take an hour and a half to get there," he told her. he suddenly stepped forward and reached around her, and she was taken back and removed herself from his hands rather quickly. 

"What are you doing?" she exclaimed frowning at him. His expression held no indication of his intentions as he stared her down. 

"Your hair," he told her, "it's rather noticeable, don't you think?" He reached around her again, taking the long, purple braid and tucking it into the back of her jacket. Her eyebrows were pressed into a line as she kept her eyes focused on the light blue Chuck Taylors he wore. When he was finished, she instantly relaxed when there was space between them again. He walked a few paces away from her before turning around. "You ready?" 

"Yeah, sure," she said, catching up with him.