A Hero's Villain

Sentinel

Fighting against the wind that had kicked up in his rush over, Katsuki yanked the door to the precinct shut. Rain hammered the windows, thunder shook thin walls around him, and all of it fed the growing storm of chaos inside the hero.

The receptionist opened and closed her mouth as Katsuki tore past her toward Corrigan's office, his mind racing through a dozen different ways to keep Zurui from ever leaving his jail cell, all of them a death sentence for his hero career. His wet boots squeaked against the tiled floor as he marched back to the tiny closet office at the end of the hall, leaving a trail of water from his hair, his gauntlets, his suit – no part of him had stayed dry in the short flight over.

Ignoring curious officers popping their heads over the cubical walls to watch, he stopped at the end of the hall and knocked just once before barging in and slamming the door shut on prying eyes. The frames hanging behind the waiting detective rattled with the force.

"What the hell happened?" Katsuki demanded, pushing his mask up to keep his wet hair out of his eyes.

The dim fluorescent light flickered as Corrigan leaned back in his chair and ran a hand over the dark stubble on his chin. He eyed the hero, and then the chair across from him, but was smart enough not to ask Katsuki to sit. "Forensics finally called me back just before you and I spoke. Someone there misplaced the evidence," he said, his expression dark.

"Misplaced the... they misplaced the evidence? Bullshit!" A piercing sound rang through Katsuki's head. He paced the small office, following a threadbare trail Corrigan must have worn into the carpet himself. "Why didn't they call sooner? Did you send copies? How long is it going to take them to review it?" Heated palms steamed against his wet gloves, flooding the room with smoke as he opened and closed his fists.

"Yes, I sent copies while I was on the phone with them. And I asked all the same questions." Corrigan's voice heated. "The manager I spoke with said they'd look at the evidence immediately, and promised to open an internal review to find out what happened but he wouldn't say anything more." Dropping his gaze to the photographs littering his desk, Corrigan quietly added, "Zurui will be out in the next hour though, and they won't be done that fast. Fucking assholes."

No, no, no, no. This couldn't be happening. Not when he'd just taken that monster off the streets. The ringing in Katsuki's head grew sharp, consuming. The room closed in around him, edges bleeding red. "I – they – " He tore a hand through his hair, paced faster, and white-hot chaos spiked. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" He turned and slammed his fist through the wall.

Chest heaving, Katsuki pulled his arm back and stared at the hole. Goddamn it, this case and that bastard were unraveling every strand of control he'd so carefully woven over the last few years. If the rain hadn't soaked him to the bone in his rush over, if he hadn't had a tiny moment of clarity and emptied his gauntlets before entering the precinct... he swallowed against the tightness in his throat.

Running a hand over his arm to wipe away the bits of white plaster that clung to his wet skin, Katsuki breathed in the burnt caramel and thick smoke hanging in the air and turned to face Corrigan. "Sorry," he muttered, "I'll put in a request for the agency to fix that."

"Don't bother." The detective eased back from the edge of his chair and waved the smoke away from his face. "I'm moving into a real office next week." Katsuki didn't miss the glint of pride in Corrigan's eyes, or the strange flicker of happiness he felt for the detective.

That flicker was quickly swept away in a wave of angry heat. Dropping into a chair, Katsuki sank deep into thoughts about their next steps. IcyHot's vow to take care of Zurui drifted through his mind, and some dark part of him wondered how far he was willing to go to keep it. Did he already know about the evidence? Would he go after Zurui before Katsuki or the police had a chance? He reached for his phone, the urge to text IcyHot and ask overwhelming until he realized what he was doing.