Silk Explosion (K. Bakugo)

Chapter Ten

It is intense. The whole exam is a mess of teenagers running around fighting mechs, trying to get the points needed to get into the college. It is a competition as much as it is an exam. Petra takes the high path, now that she knows how to use her webs to swing, she is going to show that off and use that to the best of her ability. Because she assumes that there is going to be more to this exam than just fighting mechanical enemies. That isn't really a logical or rational approach to judging an individual's worth or quirk. Not when there is more to being a hero than just fighting bad guys. She supposes that is where the written portion of the exam comes in, to catch what is missed. Petra releases her web and drops pounces on the top of a three-pointer mech and then backflips from it, using her webs to topple the mech and stick it to the ground. She flips onto the top of it again and smirks smugly down at the person she stole the points from. He stares up at her and then shifts into a glare. Small explosions erupt in his palm. She crouches, keeping eye contact as she opens up a panel on the back of its head and yanks at the wiring inside. Just to make sure that it will not get up again. She stands and glances at the ground when she hears a snort. One of annoyance. Petra just smirks at him, standing proud on the top of the downed mech. It is not her first of the exam, and it will not be the last. Though she has seen that he isn't doing too badly himself. He touches the webbing on the robot and pulls it away with a disgusted face.

"Is this stuff coming out of you?" He asks her as he flicks his hand down to try and get it off his hand, his face twisting up into an even more disgusted face when it doesn't budge. He draws his hand to his shirt and rubs it over the fabric. Petra chuckles and flips off of the mech, landing nimbly on her feet, she flicks her ponytail back over her shoulder and then walks away.

"Better luck on the next one!" She waves over her shoulder before she shoots out a web to swing away from him. His eyes twitch as he watches her move on.

.....

With the ten minutes nearly up, it is a mad dash to get as many points as possible, it's a scramble and the mechs that are left seem to be congregating on one road. Perhaps that should have been a sign that something was happening because up until that point they had been all scattered around the entire arena. Petra finishes taking down three two-pointers in one attack, webbing them up together. Petra lets out a breath, shaking out her hands. 

Suddenly, she is almost thrown off of her feet by a blast of dust that erupts from the end of the road that she, and many others, are standing on. It is silent as they all wait to see what has happened. The dust cloud clears to reveal the 0-point mech, though nothing had been said about the sheer size of it. Almost immediately everyone around her starts to run away. It's not worth anything to any of them, so they are not going to bother with it. Petra, however, remains where she is, her eyes scanning around to make sure that no one got caught in its appearance. Petra's eyes land on an individual ahead of her. They've been knocked back by the large mech and are now unconscious right in its path and under a slab of concrete from where the road has been torn up by the mech. 

Petra glances to her side as the angry boy steps into her peripheral vision. He hasn't run either. It is the two of them, standing here, as that enormous mech makes its way towards them. Everyone else in the arena has run, well, except for the unconscious person. The two of them share a look and he subtly nods. Her lip twitches into a smirk. He might not like her, but he is willing to engage with her for this. The thrill of facing such a large threat has likely drawn him in. But for her, it is not about the threat, it is about the person. They both look forward and then in a split second, they both move, pushing forward towards the giant mech. They each have a different goal though. He's going for the kill, despite it being worth absolutely nothing, it is more about him proving something, and Petra is heading for the downed examinee. She wants to get them out of the path of that thing. She slides across the ground and stops at the slab of concrete in the way. She lifts the slab of concrete, throwing it aside. 

Above her, the mech's foot is about to step on both of them. Petra's eyes widen for a single moment before they turn determined. She grabs at the unconscious individual by the front of their hoodie when the mech is sent stumbling back by a blast from the angry boy. Petra hefts the person over her shoulder and then throws out her free hand to swing them both away from the threat. She lands a distance away in the entryway of an alley and peers around the corner, just in time to witness the angry boy being sent thrown backwards by the arm of the mech as it falls backwards, sending him flying through the air towards the ground. Petra sets down the individual before she swings through the air again, creating a web net to catch the angry boy before he hits the ground. He ends up tangled in the web when he is caught in it and Petra hangs upside down, with a smirk as he hangs in her web. Out of breath and annoyed.

"I didn't need your help" He scolds, wiggling to get free.

"You are welcome" She counters and then spins down to land on her feet. She stands in front of him, her hands planted on her hips as she watches him amused. The other examinees are all starting to wander back towards them, towards the now downed mech. Whispers and murmurs pass through the group and the grumpy boy seems to not want to be strung up in front of them.

"Get me out of this" He snaps a little, still wiggling to free herself, but her webs are sticky and strong. Strong enough to hold up tons of weight, he is not wiggling out of that, and she's webbed him up in a way that has his hands pointing towards his own chest. So he cannot even blast his way out without hurting himself. She tugs on the webbing that is holding him up and it snaps, dropping him to the ground with a thud. With that one web snapped, the rest falls away rather quickly, releasing him. He groans and pushes himself up to his feet, facing Petra with that pinched expression on his face. He steps closer to her, clearly angry and upset about what happened. That she saved his life. He stares at her, anger almost pouring out of him, jaw clenched into a tight hold. She just smirks back at him. That smirk seems to just make things worse. He shoulder bumps her as he walks away. Though he rubs his shoulder as he does as if it hurts him more than her. It likely did. Well, she has not made a friend in him today.