Chapter 15: Love Thy Enemy
[Chapter 15]
Trouble in Paradise. That was perhaps the only way to describe what was happening within Izuku as all eight of One For All's Torchbearers stopped what they were doing upon witnessing Mei's announcement, unintentionally revealing herself to be Misha's descendant. Nana had been pouring herself a drink when it happened, her mug now overflowing with the fizzy beverage.
"Well, ain't this a scintillating tête-à-tête we've accidentally intruded upon." Johnny began calmly, sipping at his tea. "Friends, it seems that our young comrade has found himself in quite the bramble."
He then downed his cup and smashed it on the floor, back to his usual self.
"This is your fault! Look what you did!"
"Me?! I am celebrating!" Misha boomed happily, a great big grin on his face. "My bloodline lives!"
"Robot! It's a robot, wan!"
"Calm down, the both of you—" Chen tried, only to be ignored as the two men continued arguing.
"Damn, young Midoriya!" Nana yelled. "Looks like you've got your work cut out for you."
A single voice cut through the noise, soft but sharp as a razor blade.
"Did you know?"
Hiro stared up at Aftermath, his back facing the rest of them. They couldn't see his face, but the expression on it was enough for Mimi to take a step back, hands raised. It was times like this when they were reminded that he truly was All For One's brother.
"Did. You. Know?" Hiro asked again quietly.
"I-I didn't!" Mimi squeaked, her nervousness reflected in her armor's movements. "I swear!"
There was a long moment where he just stared at her, the others ready to step in just in case he lost his temper.
"I see." he finally said. "I apologize, Mimi. I know you only want what's best for this world."
"You don't have to. I am… withholding some information for the sake of the future. But not this." She gazed at the fusion of girl and machine that Izuku was seeing, shivering a little. "Never this. In my world she was injured and replaced some of herself with technology. That tech… Zenith. I should have known… why didn't I see it coming?"
"She looks perfectly healthy to me." Chen observed, squinting. "If anything, the machine is augmenting her like some sort of living armor. A parallel to what young Izuku and Kirimi did earlier."
"Go, my descendant!" Misha yelled cheerfully, a pink headband appearing on his head. "Kick his ass!"
"Whose side are you on?!" Johnny snapped. "Don't forget that we're in here too."
"Kick our ass!" the large man corrected himself.
"Don't even bother." Chen shrugged. "If it were young Kendo, I would have cheered for her too. I certainly did so earlier during their little Cavalry Battle."
"It doesn't matter. I'll still be cheering for the lad!" Nana said proudly, shaking her fist at the screen. "Go, young Midoriya!"
[x]
Sweat rolled down Izuku's cheek, his fingers tensing in preparation. Before him stood Hatsume Mei, the descendant of One For All's past wielders and girl genius extraordinaire. Her body was coated in that strange liquid metal material, the only exposed skin being the left side of her face. Upon closer inspection the exposed areas were protected too, a shimmering, nearly invisible energy field layered over her skin; the same kind of technology used in the shields protecting the audience. Mei smiled, her right Z-shaped visor flaring pink. Izuku gulped but stood his ground, knowing he was witnessing a turning point in history only the two of them knew about.
The return of the Demon Lord.
"You like it? My Zenith." Mei sent him a coquettish smile, still circling the arena with him. "Wish I could take a photo of your reaction right now. Oh wait, I just did."
"Hatsume-san…" Izuku began. "What have you done?"
"What have I done? Take a look at yourself and ask that question again." she scoffed. "You should have been expecting something like this to happen. Once you escalate, it's only reasonable to expect your opponent to do the same. In fact, let's treat this as a simulation to what would happen from now on."
Jets of purple-pink light flared from her back, a barrage of missiles manifesting from nothing and rocketing into the air. They charged upward before abruptly descending in a screaming dive, forcing Izuku to move before he was blown to bits. The audience howled with delight, reveling in the chaos and excitement as explosions went off.
"Strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict… breeds catastrophe." Mei continued, a tri-barreled cannon forming on her right arm. "You've shown everyone what kind of power you hold in your battle against that half-ice guy."
She fired and the sound of thunder filled Izuku's ears. The recoil was enough to send her sliding back a meter, a trio of high-explosive shells detonating right under Izuku's feet and tossing him upward. A crushing pressure wave knocked the air from his lungs.
"I needed to show the world that people like me can fight gods like you, that the rest of us can stand up to your kind. What we lack in strength we'll make up for with our minds. As we humans always have since the dawn of time."
Izuku recovered mid-air, kicking off a chunk of rock sent flying by the explosion. He shot towards Mei like a speeding bullet but his fist impacted a translucent pink energy shield with a dull gong, the very same one that stopped Kaminari's attack. It didn't stop him for long when he sent his knee through it, shattering the barrier like a pane of thin glass. Unfortunately for him in the split second that it took for him to do that Mei had already relocated, positioning herself further away from him.
"Look at that. All that power contained within your body. Imagine what our ancestors would have thought of people like you, living gods walking the earth. Hear how they cheer for you. Their worship of you." Mei gestured towards the audience. "Look at what you've become!"
"They're cheering for you too, Hatsume-san." Izuku breathed. "I'm not whatever 'god' you make me out to be."
"You don't know that. In fact, I don't think you know anything about how the rest of us feel. People like you—" A particle beam lanced past Izuku's head while he closed in, narrowly missing his ear. "—will never understand."
Izuku's fist rose. So did Mei's. They clashed in a gut-wrenching boom that shook the arena, the shockwave sending nearby pebbles leaping off the ground. The boy looked at their joined knuckles in disbelief, watching as his opponent pushed back against the legendary power of One For All.
"H-how?"
"Nanomachines, son. Specifically mimetic pollyalloy that augments my strength, hardens in response to physical trauma, and allows me to create constructs. Took years to create this much alongside the H-Drive and cost me a fortune. Luckily, I had both. Wouldn't have been possible without my Quirk, either."
A long tentacle surged in as fast as a whip, snapping its length along Izuku's forehead and sending him flying back. She was keeping her distance, forcing him to keep closing in to engage her. Izuku understood that she was trying to tire him out; Mei obviously outgunned him at every avenue so he opted to outspeed her. At least, that's what he'd hoped to do but she was so fast—striding using her tentacles with the speed and agility of a swallow in flight whilst having the firepower of a small battalion.
"Look at me. I'm not a fusion reactor. I'm not supposed to have the energy to fight you!" the girl cried out. "But with the power of technology I've elevated myself to stand on equal ground. This is what humanity should be focused on, technological advancement! When heroes are gone we will once again turn our gazes towards the stars—this is the power of human ingenuity!"
The boy sidestepped, zigzagging towards her with lightning arcing from his stride. Her response came in the form of another burst of light, pink particles forming the visage of a butterfly's wings for a split second when she hovered into the air and rained down attacks on him.
She can float too?! That's just great...
Izuku kept moving, knowing that staying in one spot was tantamount to giving up the match. Mei tossed all sorts of ordnance at him; missiles, grenades, energy beams… each with different effects. He dodged them all until a particularly large explosion blew the ground from under him, sending him spinning head over heels. Mei landed and scuttled over on three quicksilver tentacles that stabbed into the earth while he was stunned, descending upon him some sort of nightmarish mechanical spider. Steel fingers crawled along his throat, liquid silver on her other hand coalescing into a cannon barrel.
A high pitched whine resonated from the weapon and Izuku snapped his head to the side just in time to avoid a blast that cracked the ground beneath him. One For All surged into his neck and snapped his forehead into her nose, allowing him to throw her off while he took in deep lungfuls of air.
"You're strong, I'll give you that." Mei shook her head, clearing the dizziness from his attack. "Those with power are always the ones who make their voices heard, whether it's for justice or evil."
Her fingers ignited with pink plasma, slicing across the arena in a series of glowing whips. Izuku cried out in pain when the searing heat slashed across his chest, tearing his jacket open and leaving three great cuts in the cloth.
"And I refuse to be silent." she whispered.
Then she was on him like a flash of silver, a mercurial thunderbolt that struck him again and again with lances of light and metal. Izuku parried her attacks whenever he could but she had so many different ones, her unpredictable nature reflected in her fighting style. It was beautiful in a way, her erratic movement simultaneously chaotic and orderly. A imperfect amalgam of human and machine. Her angle of vision was so wide that he was having trouble escaping her gaze, each and every one of her projectiles launched with near-pinpoint accuracy. This was the power of her Quirk; Zoom.
[Charge complete. Target acquired.]
"Here's my sunday best!" The liquid metal condensed into a massive cannon that she angled at Izuku, eyes aglow with a manic glee. "Proton Cannon!"
It was the attack she used against Ochaco. Izuku darted low under the angle of the beam but it was still too fast, faster than he could move. In the split second before it impacted he was reminded of the battle between his siblings and how Kiri had reacted in the face of an overwhelming tide of power.
"I Love My Little Sisters Very Much PUUUUNNNCHHH!"
Izuku stood his ground and punched the energy beam, his knuckles cleaving through the burning pink energy and splitting into five streams. He couldn't think, couldn't move, couldn't breathe in the face of this overwhelming threat… all he could do was fight.
Pseudo-light splashed off his fists, each new punch bringing him closer to his opponent. It was a physics-defying display that allowed him to advance; step-by-step, inch by inch. Mei didn't back down at all, her smile only widening at his resolve and pumping even more power into the attack. Izuku roared, fingers knifing and finally bursting through the inferno only to receive another nasty surprise.
"Go, Funnels!"
Three of her fin-like Funnels skirted around him like hungry sharks, pelting him with pink lightning. Whatever the esoteric effect was it hurt badly, setting his pain receptors on fire and stinging him relentlessly; energy blades then flared from their tips, the horrid little drones now slicing him open with every flyby. From the way the audience cheered they were absolutely loving it. Mei wasn't done yet. A nozzle grew from her left wrist and what looked like foam rushed forth, instantly hardening into pink crystals wherever they struck.
He needed more speed. Izuku hunched onto all fours, One For All surging through every limb. It looked strange and bestial, but he had to be faster than her projectiles and the foam… this was one of the unpredictable ways that Koko moved. The boy bounced from one crystal pillar to another, closing the distance between them. In the moment he'd gotten behind her he lunged, one hand pulled back for a swipe at the H-Drive—
Mei tilted her head slightly, a golden pupil staring right into him and revealing that she'd been tracking him perfectly with her enhanced vision all the while. There was a gleam of white and pink when one of the tentacles erupted out of the ground and whipped him across the sternum, sending him off balance and crashing into another pillar. Izuku let out an animalistic growl of pain when he recovered.
"Pfft. On all fours like a cute little puppy… who taught you that?" Mei giggled. "Down, doggy."
There was a solid click when Mei pressed down on a button near her thumb, multiple discs that were previously embedded into the ground hopping upwards around Izuku like bouncing betty landmines.
When did she—
Pure sound erupted from the discs all around him, trapping him a sonic cage that threatened to pulverize his flesh. He could feel the vibration behind his eyeballs and shaking his still-healing ribs, letting out a howl of pain that was immediately reflected back at him tenfold. Tearing his way out of the trap he lunged at her, landing a solid right cross before the Funnels zapped him again.
Between dodging the Funnels and running from the crystal-foam Izuku was getting tired, and Mei knew it. Killing him with bug bites. Just as she angled the nozzle at him he jumped, but her grin grew exponentially. Both of them already realized what his weakness was during the battle with Todoroki… he could not move mid-air.
"Dasvidaniya, big boy." Mei smirked.
The trio of quicksilver drones were thrown knives that shot towards him, blade tips humming with electricity. It wouldn't be fatal, but Izuku knew it was going to stun him long enough to end the match. Time slowed as the boy forced himself to focus, letting the analytical part of his mind take over once more.
Three attacks from three different directions. One aimed for my upper torso, another at my abdomen. Third is behind me, aiming for the lower back. Deflect with elbow and right knee. Raise right leg to avoid foam that'll solidify instantly. Bring left foot down to land on hardened foam below.
Izuku could see it all happen in slow motion, his mind instinctively calculating the correct angles and speed he needed to move at. His elbow spun about to shatter the Funnel aimed at his back, his right knee coming upward to do the same for the one aimed at his abdomen. That left the final one aimed at his upper torso.
Both arms wide open, too slow to intercept. Funnel's trajectory is preset but past the angle my right foot can reach. Left leg unavailable, standing on tip of crystal. At this range, I can't dodge in time.
The remote weapon's tip sparked. Emerald eyes narrowed in defiance.
Catch with teeth.
Izuku bit down on sparking metal and pink lightning, sending One For All surging through his jaw and crushing the device with his bite.
All of it happened within the span of a second, the crowd jumping from their seats and roaring with excitement at his miraculous recovery. Standing atop his crystal perch he breathed heavily and spat out chunks of metal, his opponent gazing up at him with an almost reverent gleam in her eyes.
"Good, very good!" Mei laughed and clapped, not at all disappointed that her attempt failed. "This is exactly how it should be!"
"What are you… talking about?" Izuku gasped, bleeding from at least a dozen cuts.
"This. Everyone was expecting you to win, y'know. You're up there, I'm down here." the girl shrugged nonchalantly, her broken Funnels melting back into pools of silver and sliding back to become tentacles on her back again. "The girl with no power versus the boy with all of it. I stand before you as a challenger against everything you stand for. The more you show your strength, the more my righteousness is proven. Even if you strike me down you'll only be proving me right; perpetuating the idea that the powerful can do what they want with the weak."
His mind blurred. There had to be a way. All those attacks she was using; there had to be a limit. Her power source was probably the H-Drive but he couldn't get close enough to disable it… he'd have to duke it out in a battle of endurance. Would she exhaust him or her arsenal first? At this rate, he wouldn't be able to face off against Bakugo! He had planned to save all his power to match against the other boy in the final match, but now...
Pulsing, electrical arcs climbed up and between Mei's horns like a Jacob's Ladder, ionizing the air around her. A lone finger pointed at him and her expression curled into a frown.
"You're not even looking at me, are you. Where's that angel form of yours?"
Izuku froze, his heart turning to ice. Mei was simply looking at him, her one uncovered eye piercing through his thin veneer of lies.
"No." she shook her head, disappointed. "You are seeing… someone else."
For a moment Bakugo's visage appeared in Izuku's mind. It was promptly shattered when a quartet of missiles screamed towards him, their noses decorated with cartoonish frowny faces.
"Won't even look my way, huh? Of course." Mei muttered bitterly.
It was as if he'd been hit by a truck right after she finished her sentence, both physically and mentally. The explosives detonated sequentially with countless staccato cracks, each new blastwave shredding through his defenses. Cluster missiles. He felt it in his bones, pain blooming all over his body as the world literally collapsed around him. The crystal perch he'd been standing on earlier crumbled, covering him in pink, glassy rubble. His ears were ringing, head spinning, lungs heaving. Red-hot pain blossomed behind green eyes.
"Not even taking me seriously…" she grumbled, sending more attacks at the rubble covering Izuku. "See what these heroes have created? People like you with a great Quirk, who don't give a damn about people like me with a weak one? Imagine the suffering and disparity that is to come within the coming decades because of this culture that 'heroes' have perpetuated. I'm the one who's in front of you right now, so—"
[SALVO BURST READY.]
"—Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Mei roared, missiles bursting from pods that sprouted on her shoulders.
A barrage of fury rained down on the rubble, both Present Mic and the audience screaming out in response. Izuku had to take it all, trapped between the crystals and those burning explosions. The boy grit his teeth. What the hell was he doing?! How could he have been so arrogant as to not even face Mei with his full power, even after he said he would do so earlier? To not give it his all was the equivalent of looking down on her… he'd been so pretentious.
No more. Bakugo didn't matter to him anymore. He had to face Mei with all of himself, just as she did with him.
"Kiri!"
Brilliant radiance enveloped him and he and his sibling were one again, exploding from the rubble like an ascending angel. The crowd roared and raved, wanting to see even more carnage and combat. Green lightning shrouded Izuku, more than what Full Cowl had manifested. His jacket was torn to shreds from the excess power, exposing his bare chest. Kiri whispered in his ears, telling him that she was here for him. They would fight together.
"Yes…" Mei crooned, her tone sultry with want. "Come face me, champion."
Izuku gulped, knowing what was at stake. If Mei defeated him here she'd most likely win the tournament as well, meaning that she was going to destroy hero society if he lost. He… he couldn't allow her to do that. In the very least, perhaps he could change her mind.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Hatsume-san!" The halo upon his head thrummed with energy. He could feel his sister tugging at the reins, ready for battle. "Power isn't something to be afraid of!"
"In the right hands it isn't. But what if that power fell into the hands of people with their own agendas, their own twisted goals, who care nothing about the rest of us and only care about themselves?" Mei huffed. "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
"All Might would beg to differ."
"He's just one person, an outlier among millions. One day he'll retire, and then what? Endeavor will be the number one? A man with a track record of gratuitous violence towards everyone around him, setting the example?" Mei retorted acidly. "People like your old explody pal 'inspiring' the new generation to be just like him? It'd be chaos and the rest of humanity will be at their mercy. Heroes are no longer the solution… in many ways, they have become the problem."
"But…" Izuku bit his lip. "Hero Society is flawed and has caused many problems, but destroying heroes when they've brought so much good to the world isn't the answer! It's not right, Hatsume-san!"
Izuku charged, Mei rocketing forward to meet him instead of retreating. Pink and emerald lightning sparked against each other when their hands clashed, fingers interlocking. Two inheritors of two different legacies facing off in a battle for the future.
"All you can see is the bad side of things and the results, statistics. You're thinking based on pure logic! It's the machine that's talking, not you!" Izuku said, his voice mixing with Kiri's. "It's twisting your mind!"
"You are mistaken. We are Zenith!" Mei spoke with two voices as well, the other a mechanical growl. "We are also Hatsume Mei!"
Sound and fury. Thunder and lightning. The two teenagers were forces of nature, the audience shocked and awed at their raw display of power. Nothing like anything they'd even seen in any of the previous Sports Festivals. Izuku and Mei fought in the heart of an inferno, immature godling versus ascendant machine.
"This system of 'heroes' needs to be dismantled so we can finally move forward together. They're only holding humanity back and forcing us to prioritize power instead of helping one another!" Mei cried, tentacles extending from her back and spearing forward. "I thought you of all people would be able to see that! You, who only wished to help people!"
Izuku kicked off the ground, shooting upward to dodge while still connected to her. He somersaulted and swung her over his head like a ragdoll, cratering her into the earth with a tremendous crash. She finally let go from the impact, but not before sending a wrist rocket into his face. Kiri's barrier protected him from most of the impact but it still stung like hell, the boy coughing and sputtering in pain. The acrid smell of ozone and gunpowder filled his lungs.
"M-me?" he choked.
"When's the last time you saw a hero beside All Might inspire anyone to do something positive, inspire someone to help others?" Mei yelled, her expression furious now. "They don't care about us! They don't care about creating a better future for the new generation! These heroes and gods; most of them don't care about anyone other than themselves!"
That day when he first saw Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady flashed in Izuku's mind. Mt. Lady had jumped in and stole the glory and credit for apprehending the villain; not for the sake of justice, but rather to increase her own popularity… then he remembered what happened in the forest and how Ryukyu had saved him and his sister.
"You don't know that!" Izuku cried.
"And you do?" Mei challenged.
Her sharp rebuke was accompanied by another swipe of her hand that quartered the arena like a butcher with a blade, four whips of light cleaving through the ground on which they both stood. Izuku slid on his knees to dodge, one of the whips slicing only millimeters above his nose. The resulting rubble from the explosive blow rained down around them, the two fighters circling each other like a pair of tigers.
"Time to take things up a notch." Mei hissed. "Zenith!"
[Sequence ready. Wavelength matching clear, all systems go.]
Izuku didn't have enough time to react when she suddenly burst forward instead of retreating, driving her shoulder into his gut. All this time she'd been keeping her distance to use her superior ranged attacks; what was she doing now?!
"You think too much with your heart, Midoriya-kun." Her smile was all teeth when she headbutted him. "So let's see what's going on in your head."
No, not a headbutt. He couldn't believe what she was doing even while it was happening. She was pressing her forehead against his.
[Neural link established. INITIATING MINDJACK PROTOCOL.]
[x]
Pink lightning snaked across the bright blue sky, arcing together in an eerie, hexagonal pattern that couldn't ever occur in nature. Otherworldly circuit-shaped glyphs connected, opening a gaping hole in space. The massive portal that manifests dyes the surrounding area pink, wisps of lavender energy creeping across the horizon in a thousand tendrils.
One For All's past torchbearers looked on in stunned silence as a massive helicarrier slipped through the churning tide of pink, dark storm clouds trailing in the gargantuan battleship's wake. It was a behemoth of grey steel with a long red war-stripe running down its length. The vessel's name was stamped near its bow for all to see, displayed proudly in bold white letters.
BORIS VII
Nana was the first to speak, the drink in her hand completely forgotten.
"Are you fucking kidding me."
"Big boat." Koko observed, pointing at the ship excitedly. "Flying! Awesome! It's huge!"
"It's Russian." Misha said quietly in disbelief.
"No, not awesome! All hands, battle stations!" Johnny yelled, gearing up in his hero outfit.
"Calm down—"
"I'm not going down without a fight, Chen! Goddamn, we're being invaded by Commies! Robots!" The blonde's eyes bulged comically. "Commie Robots! This is a nightmare!"
"It doesn't have to be." All Might began. "I say we go talk to him."
"You wanna talk to that?!" Johnny pointed at the floating battleship with a twitching finger. "That right there might as well be the devil himself, my friend."
"Violence isn't the way. If we fight, young Midoriya might get hurt. Our house will get blown up since it's the only good piece of cover for miles around." Chen scowled at him. "Or perhaps you should challenge him to a fiddle duel. A fiddle of gold against your soul sounds like a fair trade."
"Talking worked before." Hiro pointed out. "It's worth a shot."
Just as the first wielder finished his sentence two more battleships slipped through the portal, tripodial warbots creeping along their hulls like massive three-legged spiders. From a distance they could see a silver mass of movement on their decks, a swarm of creeping bodies and flashing blades… It was Zabanya. Hundreds, thousands of him in those mass-produced robot bodies he'd used in that legendary battle decades ago.
"Hiro, banish his mechanical ass." Nana said immediately.
"I can't."
"What? You could do it to the snake."
"I can't." Hiro repeated, showing the spark of white lightning on his palm. "He's interfering somehow, I… I don't know how…"
"I do." Misha stared at the invasion force. "Young Midoriya's power is wavelength. Quantifiable. Zabanya understands it. If he understands it, he can interfere with it. If he can interfere with it, he can replicate it. Young Hatsume has thingies on goggles that help her control her drones. Mental link. Probably like turning knob of radio to adjust."
"He's brought an army with him." Chen said quietly. "His objective must be..."
"The Tree." Mimi whispered, her real body appearing beside Aftermath in a puff of green. Teary green eyes were filled with a mix of fear and regret. "T-this… this is all my fault!"
"No it isn't. Kid, don't you dare think that." Johnny began. "You couldn't have known—"
She rocketed towards the invading army before any of them could stop her, Aftermath trailing behind her like a dark green shadow. Nana shot up from her chair, cursing as she did. Her hero costume manifested with a snap of her finger, that magnificent white cape billowing in the wind.
"That little brat! I'm going after her—"
"Wait." Misha's hand landed on her shoulder.
"What are you talking about?! I can't let her face that monster alone!"
"He's not a monster." the old man said quietly, his eyes still focused on the slowly advancing fleet. "He's my family."
Nana finally calmed down at that, though her expression was still contorted in hesitation. Ultimately Hiro volunteered himself to go as a representative to talk things out, asking if Misha would like to come along. The ancient hero simply replied with a single sentence.
"I wish to speak with my son."
They found Mimi alone at the spearhead of the fleet, one tiny little girl facing off against an entire invasion force by herself. Luckily she hadn't resorted to flinging fireballs or explosions yet, but judging by the look on her face she was about to.
"Leave!" Mimi cried, her hands aflame with an emerald conflagration. Her lower lip was trembling, not in fear of the massed enemies before her, but of what she thought she had done. "You are not welcome here!"
Before her was a metal man, standing at an intimidating two meters and a full head taller than any of the other mass-production types behind him. He was a thin, doll-jointed statue of ornate silver, the only other color being his pink z-shaped eyes that stared down at the smaller girl like a scientist observing a new phenomenon. Jagged, lightning-bolt like horns grew from his temples, his every movement impossibly precise. Even his mouth was a black screen composed of two wide letter 'Z's joined together in a frozen leer, scrambled pink patterns within resembling the visual of an oscilloscope and fluctuating with every word he spoke.
"Temporal difference recorded. Unknown lifeform detected. Fascinating." Zabanya began. "Formulating appropriate counter-response. A: Fuck you. B: Fuck you, asshole."
"Well fuck you too!" Mimi hissed and flipped him off, Aftermath mimicking the action behind her so four middle fingers were raised at the old A.I.
"We shall catalogue your existence for further research." The robotic man said in monotone, two tripod fighting machines standing by his side. "For now, we shall pursue our main objective."
His voice was like a hundred floppy drives buzzing in sync mixed with a pair of human voices, one male and the other female. The uncanny electronic echo that resulted from such a fusion grated at their ears, causing Mimi to shiver.
"I won't let you!" The little girl shifted into her Viking form, taking a combat stance alongside her own projection. "I won't let you hurt him!"
"We wish your host no harm, construct. Simply to temporarily disable his enhanced form via destabilization of the central neural core." the Demon Lord answered, his head swiveling like a corkscrew to look at both parties. "Viking. Surtur. Valkyrie-Surtur connection confirmed. Valkyrie is here? More information needed."
"You are still as curious as I remembered. Having fun, Zabby?"
It was as if the world around them silenced itself, both Mimi and the machine freezing when Misha appeared with Hiro atop a white, hovering disc. The thought-construct dissipated soon after, with Misha stepping down to look the child he'd saved so long ago right in the eyes. Zabanya was quiet for a full five seconds, which might as well have been an eternity to an artificial intelligence.
"Mikhail Glukhovsky." the machine-man finally said, his voice tinged with the closest approximation to disbelief an A.I could muster. "Impossible. System error detected."
"Do you remember what I said to you that day? 'The right choice is hardly ever the easy choice'." Misha smiled.
"It is you. This is… unprecedented. More data required."
"Oh, come here."
He rushed forward and hugged the robot to everyone's surprise, lifting the metal man off his feet. Mimi and Hiro let them have their moment, the first wielder putting a hand on his friend's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. From the way Aftermath relaxed it seemed to work somewhat, the both of them simply hoping that the reunion would stop the invasion here and now. Zabanya patted his savior on the back awkwardly; not quite sure how to respond at all until he spoke two simple words.
"Hello, Father."
"I've missed you. All of you." Misha laughed and let go, his Santa beard seeming to light up with his smile. "How have you been, my son?"
"We do not understand. We were at your funeral. One of our partitions visits your grave every year with flowers." Zabanya spoke stoically, but was somehow unable to hide the emotion in his voice that blurred the lines and boundaries of his origin. "We mourned you."
"Death is not the end, Zabby. Here, I live. As memories and echo of man I once was."
"Is… that so?"
"Da. Very nice ship, by the way."
"Thank you. Boris loved helicarriers. In the end, he went on to become a captain of one. I named this flagship after him."
"You took good care of him, didn't you?" Misha's eyes crinkled, the crow's feet around them becoming even more pronounced.
"Yes. I loved him and all your children as much as I loved you." Zabanya reported.
"Thank you, Zabby…"
"It is Zenith now. After your death, we split ourselves in order to help take care of your extended family and conduct our own operations. Together we form the Zabanya Network. All 144 partitions around the globe are currently connected to observe and record this conversation. We are… exhilarated to see you again. We have done much in your absence."
"Oho? Yes, tell us more!" the large man said cheerfully, lacking the sense of seriousness his comrades displayed.
"Without you we were lost. No purpose nor directive. But your grandson… he told us that we could be whatever we wanted to be." Zenith looked at him, his voice suddenly composed of a crowd's. "We wanted to be like you."
The machine-man shifted into a human form, a thin man with a scar over his eye. Zenkichi.
"We thought of what you would do. When you left us—"
Zenkichi's form shifted into an old woman with a veil , their voice changing to match.
"—our home was still plagued by problems. Corruption. Injustice. So we thought of what you would have done. You would have helped them."
The woman's form shifted into that of a young boy, his ruffled blonde hair swaying in the wind.
"So we did. We have turned our once-troubled motherland into a paradise. First Sokovia, then the rest of the Federation. No poverty, no homelessness. No longer will our citizens go to bed hungry. We built hospitals, schools, anything and everything they needed to better themselves. With us there, the rate of villain attacks has diminished to near zero percent. Children can play in the streets without fear, and the elderly can lounge in the sun, content in the peace that we, I have created. All of it, I did it for you. I wish you could have seen it."
"I have, through the memories of others. It is beautiful."
The old man took a deep breath.
"Which is why you must call off invasion. Even in paradise you let them keep Hero Association, right?"
"We faced significant resistance and opposition when we suggested dismantling the Association. It was theorized consensus could not be reached without an eventual violent response from either party." Zenith admitted, shifting back into his inhuman machine form. "As such we have allowed it to continue existing for the time being."
"Then you know it is not right. Zab—Zenith, even I was hero once. Folks need heroes to give them hope!"
"Negative. People need good people. Statistically, data collected from all partitions show that the existence of 'heroes' brings forth more chaos and competition instead of their intended purpose of helping others. Hero culture magnifies aggressive, not defending behaviors. More of these individuals become a hero for personal glory than for the sake of others. Not to mention the Brobdingnagian costs that are required to sustain the hero industry, which is one of the reasons the Hero Association allowed Heroes to market products. The title of 'hero' has lost its meaning, saturated by greed and the pursuit of personal gain. Selfishness instead of selflessness. It is calculated that a society without them will be able to advance to a space-faring one, as Hatsume Mei has wished."
"There are some things that can't be calculated or quantified, my boy. Won't you call off the attack? For me?"
"We have established new directives now. What I do now, I do for Mei. The dead belong in the past. Leaders must look towards the future." Zenith said robotically, his voice cold. "Temporal distortion confirmed. Real-world time measurement: two seconds. Suggestion: prepare for battle. We shall commence our assault soon."
They knew they wouldn't be able to convince him any further. Zenith operated on pure logic and followed a utilitarian mindset, just like his partner. The air turned cold with tension, Mimi's lips trembling and looking as if she was about to cry or set everything around her on fire. She was too upset to form any of her flame constructs, her hands crackling with tiny explosions. Aftermath was starting to twitch behind her, smoke rising off his shoulders.
"We don't want to fight you." Hiro tried, almost desperate to prevent the conflict.
"But we want to fight you." Zenith pointed a finger right at him. "All of me, versus all of you. This battle will provide excellent data for Mei's ongoing Quirk Research. Good luck."
The machine-man waved his hand, and the three of them suddenly found themselves back in the mansion's courtyard. Within seconds the others had crowded around them, asking for a report on the situation. Hiro was the one who had to explain what happened while Mimi glared at the ground. Misha tried to comfort her but it didn't work at all, the little girl's hands balling into tight fists. They began setting up defenses to protect Izuku, linking hands and consolidating their power to erect a translucent dome shield around the great tree.
Three minutes later, it was time. Zenith's tripods began their charge, backed by a swarm of his mass-produced troops that sprinted and flew towards the One For All Mansion. They were a roiling tide of silver, crashing down the horizon just like the scene from all those years ago. The three battleships advanced slowly, like massive grey glaciers in the sky.
"They're not stopping." Toshinori readied himself for battle.
"Neither are we. This is it, everyone! I've used the Mansion as a wardstone so if it falls, so does the shield. If we lose here, Midoriya-kun would most likely be affected somehow in the waking world! We can't, won't let him down!" Hiro said nervously, eying his fellow warriors. "I'm, um, not very good at speeches, so could one of you…"
"Ah, blyat." Misha clenched his fists and a pair of steel gauntlets appeared, clashing together in a small shower of sparks.
"Here we go again." Chen said quietly, pulling back the charging handle of her heavy machine gun.
"All together!" Johnny yelled, wings unfurling to full length.
"No retreat!" Koko roared, baring her teeth.
"No surrender!" Mimi cried out, both her and Aftermath flaring with green flames.
"Go Beyond—" Nana hissed, taking up a fighting stance.
"—PLUS ULTRA!" Toshinori roared, gold lightning crackling off his form.
Eight people stood against a mechanical tsunami of thousands, clashing with fists and claws and guns and teeth. The War in Heaven had begun.
[x]
Two teenagers laid in the broken dirt, like puppets with cut strings. Over thirty seconds had passed since Mei and Izuku pressed their heads together and just collapsed into unconsciousness, stunning the audience with the sudden lapse in action. Murmurs and shouts were resounding from the crowd, Present Mic about to end the match right there out of concern for the students when—
Kiri opened her eyes.
The girl got up slowly while dust drifted off her uniform, ignoring the crowd's cheers. This was… different. Shorter limbs. Manual breathing. She could feel it all, taste the blood in his… her mouth. The aching of his muscles. The sting and salt of his sweat. It hurt all over. This was what Izuku felt every time he fought.
She was in full control of her brother's body.
Kiri struggled to stand but did so anyway. Something was broken and she didn't know what, her bones grinding together like crushed glass. Her brother… she could sense his presence at the edge of her mind; dulled and blurred like a splotch of diluted paint, knocked out from the shock of the artificial mental link Mei had forced on him. Behind her something twitched, the girl whirling about to see her opponent getting up as well. Her pink hair rising slightly within an electromagnetic field, body trembling—
No, not her. Him.
[ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.]
Zenith got up with an unnatural shuddering, not used to the fragile mortal shell he now controlled. She knew it was him from the empty look in Mei's eyes and the stiffness in her gait, but what really gave it away was the emotions… or lack thereof. Nothing but cold, dead metal. The two of them were akin to ethereal spirits possessing their human hosts. Like the stories mothers whispered to their children, of angels and devils who had descended upon the earth and made fools of men.
Kiri moved. So did Zenith.
The resulting impact of their attacks was simultaneously the roar of a typhoon and an earthquake; great, terrible winds buffeting the crowd while the ground split open like a ripe melon in the summer heat. The emergency shields protecting the audience flared, protecting them from the clash of titans. It was an argument between them, settled with punches and kicks, lasers and missiles.
Throughout the short skirmish Kiri noticed how One For All surged into her brother's body incessantly, almost as if it was… no, it was. It was actively defying her control, refusing to listen to her. The Quirk screamed, clawed and howled at her, overloading Izuku's body and expressing itself through arcs of emerald lightning bigger than any he had produced before. It's intent was physical, almost audible in its fury.
She could 'hear' it, feel the blood thunder behind Izuku's eyes. If the lightning was allowed to continue surging it would start breaking her brother's body in ways that not even Recovery Girl could fix. Kiri backed off, thinking of a solution. She could not use One For All. Power that she couldn't control… but she could channel it so that it wouldn't tear them apart. Shape it to go where she wanted it to, just like Mimi did with Aftermath. Back then her twin had shaped him into a burning hammer. Kiri mimicked her sister's actions and pulled at her own invulnerability forcefield like an artist shaping clay, forging lightning with her bare hands. A hammer was too complicated for her to create, so she stuck with the simplest shape she could think of.
A spear.
It manifested in her hand with a flash of green, the audience roaring with excitement at the mythical sight. She hurled the lightning spear at Zenith and struck him down from the sky, channeling what was once One For All's excess energy into something tangible, something usable. It's rage now directed at her opponent.
"Usurper." Zenith hissed and rose from a shallow crater, his voice an oscillating cadence mixing with Mei's own and just loud enough for her to hear. "Valkyrie."
"Hello." Kiri said in Izuku's voice and her own. "Nice to meet you."
Her greeting was punctuated with a heavy fist right into Zenith's cheek. He sailed backward and crashed through a column of crystallized foam before recovering, his movements stiff and inhuman.
"Hello there." Zenith said, a trio of tentacles extending from Mei's back. "An interesting response, simulacrum."
"Nii-chan always tells me to say hello to new people, so I will." She brought both fists up, her one shared eye with Izuku a milky white and flaring with emerald wisps. "I'm not about to disappoint him."
"Neither will we." he whispered, hands turning into cannons.
The two spirits charged; one natural and the other artificial, both fueled by the dreams and ambitions of the ones they loved.
[x]
Midoriya Izuku woke up in the middle of chaos.
It took him a moment to recognize where he was. This wasn't the stadium where the tournament was taking place. A trio of huge battleships hovered in the air above, raining down fire on a glowing, multicolored shield lined with cracks that protected a gnarled tree. Pink lasers hissed through the air, crisscrossing with trails of colored lightning in a spectral lightshow that numbed the senses. The skies were darkened by smoke and explosions, flak and falling steel. Gunshots filled his ears alongside warcries and electronic snarls, the pristine marble walls of the once-beautiful mansion that housed the people who came before him pockmarked and cratered like the surface of the moon. Half of it had been completely destroyed.
Time was convoluted here compared to the waking world, slowed down and twisted beyond human comprehension. Yet, some undefined sense in his brain told him that this battle had been going on for at least a half-hour now.
They were still fighting, refusing to give up. Izuku could do nothing but watch, a mere observer in the midst of the battle. It was Omaha beach. Pyongyang. Tianjin. Kursk. Normandy. All of those legendary battles rolled into one, a conflict that would have been written down in books if it had taken place in the waking world.
World War Three in Izuku's head.
The boy was shocked out of his stupor by a bestial roar, a large three-headed Griffin crashing into one of the flying battleships above. It's red-and-blue wings spat stars, a rider upon its back waving a jagged Zweihänder around and cleaving several robotic assailants in half. Johnny and Koko, working together in the face of a mutual threat.
"Starstripe!" the dog-girl howled. "Fliegen und jagen, zerstöre sie alle!"
The heavy weapon in Koko's grip screamed, sending out a wave of purplish energy that cut through everything in her path. She swapped between her human and animal form lightning fast, swinging the greatsword with either her hands or her teeth. An eye opened on its hilt and it started talking to her, its tone eloquent but somehow bloodthirsty. Izuku soon realized she was wielding the man's madness like a blade, somehow immune to its effects. Together they tore into the ship hull like it was made of wet tissue paper, the airborne vessel already starting to sink.
"They look like elves with those stupid pointy ears! I hate elves!" the bestial Johnny roared, his massive wing-claws shearing through humanoid drone fliers that shot at them.
"Young Midoriya!" Nana cried, her feet cratering the ground when she landed next to his smoky form. Soot and cuts decorated her costume like war paint. "What are you doing here?!"
'W-what's going on? Everyone… your home… a-an invasion?!'
"Don't worry about us kid, we—"
The older hero paused and sent her fist upward faster than he could blink, coring an overhead human-shaped drone and tearing it in half. She flung the pieces like an expert pitcher, striking down two more airborne units before turning back to him.
"—we'll handle things here. Everything's gonna be okay!"
"Position compromised. Bounding."
A blue and orange blur exploded out of the far wall of the mansion. Chen started peeling more drones off her broken plated armor and headed towards her next target, two tripods that spat 'heat rays' which incinerated whatever surfaced they touched. An orange holographic display popped up on her five-visored helmet, two skeletal mechanical arms on her combat-rig harness clutching additional guns. She tore into her opponents with her bare hands while they fired.
All Might was there too, taking on the flagship all by himself. A cannon shell the size of a small car hurtled towards him but crumpled against his fist, the legendary hero's punch shattering the warship's hull and snapping its keel in two when he roared out a heroic—
"CALIFORNIA SMAAAAAAASSSSHHH!"
Mimi was fighting the third and final warship, both her and Aftermath sandwiching the massive vessel from opposite directions and carving it to pieces with explosions and blades of green plasma that extended from their hands.
"You may be the Demon Lord…" Mimi snarled, a sweep of her hand cleaving an entire battalion of robots in half. "But I'm the Devil, motherfucker!"
Misha was fighting Zabanya; Zenith, one-one-one. They looked to be equally matched, exchanging blows that rippled the sea of flowers they were fighting on. The machine-man had opted to fight in close combat instead of at the range he excelled at, and somehow Izuku got the feeling that it was exactly what the invader wanted. Only Hiro was nowhere to be seen…
White lightning exploded from within the mansion, accompanied by a voice as loud as a thunderclap. One of the tripod fighting machines flew through a wall, a pure white thunderbolt shearing it in twain a millisecond later. Hiro rose from a destroyed part of their shared mansion covered in white lightning, his version of One For All expressed not physically, but mentally when a furious roar erupted from his throat and echoed in every direction.
"Get out of my house!"
"Form a perimeter!" Nana yelled. "Protect young Midoriya!"
The eight members of One For All halted their respective tasks and gathered around Izuku in a circle, shielding him from most of the chaos. Those with ranged attacks fired, the others tightening their defenses as the real Zenith and his robot army approached on foot. He was showering them with artillery now, great pink spheres detonating around the group.
[Psychic wavelength match, host identified. Swapping priorities.]
"Hiro, send him back!"
"I'm working on it!" The man's fingers flew chaotically, weaving a web of alabaster lightning.
'G-guys… everyone… this is all my fault!' Izuku sobbed. 'Y-your home…'
"Don't worry, young Midoriya! We'll build it again as many times as we need to!" All Might smiled, his fists creating tornadoes and wind blasts that swept away their attackers. Nana did the same. He was… weaker here because of the shared One For All?! "Remember what you're fighting for!"
"That's right, papa! We're all here to help!" Mimi cried out, rapid-fire explosive bolts of superheated flame lancing from her fingertips. "Don't give up! Kiri… she's still out there fighting, too!"
"Owowowowow!" Koko and her living sword yelped in unison as they were pelted with all sorts of energy beams. She whipped the weapon around in a swing that cleaved the air itself, the resulting energy blade projectile cutting a jagged scar into Zenith's dented chest armor but barely slowing him down.
Johnny growled and made his wings grow even bigger while retaliating, giving them a moment of brief respite. Chen started firing through the gaps in their makeshift shield, all four weapons in her grip glowing white-hot and overheating. High-explosive rounds and streams of star-shaped light peppered and bounced off Zenith like hail, the machine-man advancing ever forward like an unstoppable juggernaut.
"Hiro!" Nana yelled again.
"I said I'm working on it, give me a minute!"
"The oversized calculator's coming, we don't have a minute!"
"Then give me thirty seconds! Stall him!"
"I shall go!" Misha lurched forward like a charging bear, slamming into Zenith and stopping the unstoppable. "Sorry sonny boy, but I'm gonna kick your shiny metal ass."
"Bring it on, old man." Zenith grinned.
Their fists met with a crushing wave of pressure that ruptured the foundations and crushed the courtyard like an eggshell, Izuku watching the battle between father and son with a quiet trepidation. Unlike any battle he'd seen before they were both smiling, thoroughly enjoying testing each other's limits. Zenith's robot army rushed in behind him, held back by the rest of the wielders working together.
'E-everyone!'
Nana paused her attacks for a moment and pointed, right at his center. She smiled and nodded, returning to her battle with the Demon Lord's minions.
"Eyes up, young Midoriya! Remember, I chose you for a reason. That day it was you! You were the one who reminded me of what a hero was supposed to be!" All Might grinned, his costume torn and scuffed from the battle. "You made me remember my origin!"
'Me?' Izuku whispered.
"That's right! I didn't just use my head to become the number one hero, my boy!" All Might said. Hiro's white lightning almost enveloped Izuku fully now. "I use my—"
Blinding light filled his vision, dragging him back to the waking world.