After lunch, Kia and Bakugou headed down their usual routes and everything was calm with no problems in sight. They had just got done talking to Mr. Kawahara when both of their phones went off. Kia looked at hers to see a message with an address while Bakugou answered a call.

“Ground Zero,” Bakugou answered.

“We have and emergency,” Jeanist said over the phone. “There is a group of villains robbing a store in the Ginza district. They have taken hostages, and the police are calling for backup from any available heroes.”

“We will head there now,” Bakugou said before hanging up. “We will have to go back for my bike,” he said, turning towards Kia.

“We don’t have time for that! It will take too long to get back and Ginza district isn’t exactly close,” Kia replied. “I have a better idea so we can get there faster.”

“What are you talking about?” Bakugou asked. Kia stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around his torso in a hug. “What are you…”Bakugou started before Kia’s wings spread out behind her.

“Hold on,” she commanded before taking off from the sidewalk. Startled, Bakugou wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding on as his feet left the ground. Kia’s massive wings had them airborne in a couple of powerful strokes, and soon they were soaring over the tops of the buildings.

Amazed, Bakugou looked below them as they rose with every sweep of Kia’s wings.

“Jeeze, you are heavier than you look,” Kia grunted as her wings gave another sweep through the air. “Just relax and hold on, it makes it easier to carry you.”

“You’re not going to fucking drop me, are you?” Bakugou asked, still looking below them.

“Don’t you trust me?” Kia laughed.

Turning to look at her, Bakugou realized how close they were. He was literally face-to-face with her, hanging off to one side so she could see where they were going. His heart beat faster, but he couldn’t tell if it was because of the height and their sudden take off or because she was so close.

“You could have given me a heads up,” he pouted.

“This will be faster and quieter,” Kia explained. “Since we have a ways to go, I can get us to the roof of the building and we can get in without them noticing. Also, you won’t have to overuse your quirk to get there. The backlash of your explosions must wear on your arms, don’t they?” Kia asked him.

“Yeah, if I use a lot of big explosions it can, but I’ve worked on endurance since high school,” Bakugou replied.

“How high up should we go?” Kia asked while looking below them.

“High enough that no one can see you carrying me like some fucking damsel in distress,” Bakugou growled.

Laughing, Kia flapped her wings, carrying them higher in the air. “Here, keep your arms around my shoulders and lift yourself up so I can grab the back of your belt,” Kia told him.

Obliging, Bakugou lifted his body up so Kia could grab his belt with her left hand. Reaching up, she grabbed his right hand with her own. “Ok, now let go with your left and hold your body as close to me as you can… and relax so you don’t throw me off balance.”

Letting go, Bakugou turned to face the same way as Kia, holding on more than being held on to. The wind felt amazing as they soared over the city high above the buildings. They were making excellent time as the Ginza district came into view.

“Have you done this a lot?” Bakugou asked, meaning flying with someone.

“Actually, no…” Kia admitted. “Most people can’t get the feel for it, so it makes flying hard.”

“Why did you decide to fly with me then?” Bakugou questioned, a little worried.

“I’ve seen the way you move through the air with your own quirk and the way you move when you fight and ride. Your sense of balance and reaction time is amazing. When fighting together, you and I move in sync. I figured if anyone could move with me while flying, it would be you.”

Bakugou could feel his face heat up at her praise. “You’ve never been able to fly properly with anyone before?” he asked.

“No,” Kia answered.

A block away, they could see a building surrounded by police. It was a large jewelry retail store with several other businesses inside the large building. Kia started circling high above the building as they looked for any lookouts on the roof.

“I can only make out one guard on the roof,” Bakugou said.

“Me too, but I can’t do anything while flying with you. We don’t want to alert the rest, so we probably shouldn’t use your explosions right now,” Kia thought out loud.

“Can you fly down there with me and I will take him out?” Bakugou asked.

“Here, let me wrap my arms around you from behind,” Kia said.

Bakugou let go of her, somewhat free falling while Kia held onto his belt, moving him in front of her so she could wrap her arms around his chest again. Once she had a good hold of him she asked, “Are you ready?”

“Hell yeah!” Bakugou grinned.

Pulling her wings in, Kia moved into a dive, rocketing towards the rooftop where the villain was standing unaware. Bakugou grabbed her wrists as she spun, leveling out to come at the villain from the side. Locking wrists together, Bakugou dropped, holding tight to Kia as he aimed a kick at the villain and sent him tumbling across the roof into an unconscious heap.

Pulling up, Kia set Bakugou down before landing silently on the rooftop. Bakugou quickly pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his belt and cuffed the villain. Kia moved to the roof access door and placed her ear against it, listening to see if someone was on the other side.

“I don’t hear or smell anything so I bet no one is on the other side,” Kia said as Bakugou walked over to join her. Jiggling the handle, she continued, “The door is locked.”

“Move out of the way,” Bakugou said, holding a hand out towards the knob.

Kia grabbed his hand, “Wait! If you open it with an explosion it will be loud and will alert the villains. If you blow our advantage, I will freeze your ass to this roof,” she threatened.

Glaring back at her, Bakugou turned away and crossed his arms, “Fine then, how are you going to get the door open?” he asked mockingly.

“The old fashion way,” Kia responded. Reaching into a pocket on her belt, she pulled out a lock pick. “It looks just like a plain lock and they don’t usually put alarms on roof doors,” she said as she went to work picking the lock.

“Since when have you been able to do that?” Bakugou asked, looking over her shoulder.

“Pick a lock?” Kia replied, “In high school they taught us all this as basic skills. You can’t always use your quirk.”

“Teach me,” Bakugou demanded.

Looking up at him Kia smiled. “Say the magic word.”

“Or else,” Bakugou shot back.

Kia stifled a laughed as the lock she was working on clicked and she opened the door. “Wrong word” she said before stepping into the building.

Bakugou followed her with a grin. Making his way to the stairwell, he peeked over the side, checking for any more villains as Kia closed the door quietly. “I don’t see anything… what about you?” he asked, turning towards her.

Kia closed her eyes, scales blossoming across her cheeks as she used her dragon senses to see if anyone was in the stair well. Shaking her head, she looked over the railing. “No, but there are people two floors down. They smell scared, so they are either just hiding in the building or they are hostages,” she said, following Bakugou down the steps.

They made their way down while checking the top floor for anyone before heading down to the next. Stopping at the door, Bakugou beckoned for her to come over and listen. Pressing her ear to the door, Kia listened and breathed deep.

“There are six… no… seven people in there. From the sounds of it they are hiding,” Kia whispered.

“We should be on guard just in case,” Bakugou stated, reaching for the door handle. Kia stood up and moved to the other side of the door. Looking at Bakugou, she nodded to let him know she was ready. Turning the handle, he pulled the door open and rushed inside with Kia right behind him.

Looking around, they saw that they were in an office area full of cubicles. “We are here to help,” Kia called out softly. A man’s head peeked out from under one of the desks.

“It’s Ground Zero!” The man called, coming out from under the desk. Slowly, six more people made their way out of hiding and came over to thank the heroes.

“What can you tell us about the villains?” Bakugou asked the first man who had recognized him.

“Not much… I ran as soon as I saw the first one,” he replied.

“We saw them come in,” said a young woman who was clinging to the young man at her side.

“There were five of them that we saw. They are robbing the jewelry store three floors down. We were there looking for engagement rings,” the young man added.

“We ran up the stairs and hid here when one of them followed us. He came in here but I think he headed to the roof,” the young woman finished.

“We already took care of that one,” Kia assured them all.

“I want you all to head to the roof now,” Bakugou ordered, taking out his cell phone, “I will get ahold of the police to let them know you are up there.” Bakugou dialed the police as Kia directed everyone into the stairwell.

“What is your name?” one of the other men that had been hiding asked Kia as he moved past her.

“Wildside,” Kia responded. “Don’t worry Ground Zero and I will stop these villains.”

“Thank you,” the man said as he followed the others.

Kia made a quick sweep of the floor then returned to Bakugou, who was just getting off the phone. “I’ve informed the police of the situation. Let’s head down to the next floor.”

Together, they headed down the stairs. Just when they got to the door, Kia put a hand out, stopping Bakugou. Looking over at her, he saw her put a finger to her lips. Moving to either side of the door, the two heroes waited.

“I’m going to see what is taking that dumbass so long,” a villain said. Bakugou and Kia could hear the beep of a walkie talkie as the villain let the call button go.

“Radio back as soon as you have found him,” another voice said over the radio.

“Rodger that,” the villain replied as he opened the door, turning and coming face-to-face with Kia.

“Hey there, I’m lost, could you point the way to the exit?” Kia said, distracting the villain.

“What the…?” the villain started only to have Bakugou grab him by the collar.

“I would drop the radio if I were you.” Bakugou threatened.

The walkie clattered to the floor as the villain recognized him. “G-G-Ground Z-Zero” the villain stammered. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“Then tell us what we want to know,” Kia demanded.

“How many of you are there?” Bakugou questioned, slamming the villain up against the wall.

“Seven all together,” the villain confessed. “Please don’t hurt me, I’m not even that powerful… my cousin dragged me into this and said it would be good money.”

“How many of you are powerful?” Kia asked.

“Four,” the villain answered.

“What are their quirks?” Bakugou growled.

“I don’t know about two of them, but my cousin has a water quirk and his friend has some kind of defensive quirk.”

“How many hostages are there?” Bakugou demanded.

“I don’t know, I didn’t count them all… maybe a dozen,” the villain answered uncertainly.

“Is that all?” Kia asked raising a brow. “If you are lying to us…well, you should know that my partner here has a short fuse.”

“I swear!” the villain cried.

“Good,” Kia smiled. “For being so cooperative, I will make this quick.”

“What?” the villain whimpered right before Kia punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

Pulling another pair of cuffs from his belt, Bakugou eyed his partner. “You could leave some of the fun for me, you know,” he said as he secured the villain.

“You can have the next one,” Kia offered as they checked the floor the villain just came from.

After securing the floor, they moved their way down to find the next floor was a clothing store. They searched the area, not finding a single person.

“The villains and hostages are supposed to be on the floor below us,” Kia said.

“Yeah, the trick will be getting in there,” Bakugou replied.

“No blasting through the floor,” Kia interrupted as Bakugou opened his mouth to say something else.

“That’s not what I was going to say!” he growled. “We need to find out the layout and where the villains and hostages are.”

“Got any ideas?” Kia asked. Bakugou shook his head, thinking it over. Looking around them at all the clothes, Kia got an idea. Pulling a jacket off the rack, she looked at the size.

“This is no time to be shopping, Sunshine…” Bakugou said.

“I’m not shopping, I’m thinking of a way to scope out the floor,” Kia said as she moved through the racks.

“What is your plan?” Bakugou asked.

“I will dress as a civilian and get caught by the villains. Then I can use the earpiece you gave me to tell you positions and numbers so you can blast in there and we can catch these guys,” Kia said, pulling a dark blouse over her costume.

“Are you stupid? You are going to let yourself get caught?” Bakugou hissed at her.

“Got a better plan?” Kia challenged, kicking off her boots.

Bakugou gritted his teeth as Kia pulled on a pair of black dress pants and heels. She pulled her hair into a bun at the base of her neck and grabbed a pair of glasses from the counter.

“How do I look?” she asked.

“Like a secretary,” Bakugou replied.

“Good. Now to get them to come up here,” Kia said, looking around. The floor in the store was tile, so she bumped one of the display racks, causing it to screech across the floor. “You had better find a place to hide,” she said, turning to Bakugou. He slipped away two seconds before the door to the stairs burst open, showing a large villain.

The villain stalked through the aisle, looking for what had caused the noise. He was making his way to Bakugou’s hiding spot when Kia knocked over a display of necklaces. Spinning around, the villain caught sight of her. Kia took off for the stair well only to have the villain cut her off.

“I’ve got you now!” the villain chuckled as he grabbed Kia by the arm.

“No! Please let me go!” Kia exclaimed as she pretended to try and pull away.

Bakugou hid in the shadows, gritting his teeth as he watched his partner put herself in danger. Kia continued struggling against the villain until he slapped her across the face. Kia went limp at the contact and slumped to the floor.

“Pretty little thing, aren’t ya?” the villain said as he threw her over his shoulder. “Maybe we could have some fun with you.”

It was all Bakugou could do not to rush the villain. He stood up, wanting to go after them. but Kia’s eyes opened from where she was slung over the villains back. Meeting his gaze, she gave him a wink before closing them again. Bakugou took a deep breath, realizing that the whole thing had very well been an act on Kia’s part. He reached up making sure his earpiece was in place and got ready to do one thing he hated most… wait.