Vigilant: Part 2 - An MHA AU Story

Chapter 17: Outlast

Maeko threw a punch with his giant metal fist, only for Izuku to dodge it to the side and retaliate with a swinging kick to its arm. But he felt it reflect his attack and launch his body against the wall.

"Deku!" Ochako screamed.

"Shut up!" Maeko roared.

Izuku scrambled to his feet, dodging Maeko's colossal foot that caved in the floor where he stomped.

"Alright. Let's see how fast you really are!" He shouted as his chest ejected several cylindrical objects that beeped as they flew across the room. A few fell out of the open wall.

Izuku looked at each one and where they landed, then back to Maeko and Ochako just as they went off. The entire floor erupted in smoke and deafening explosions that shook the whole building.

The ones that fell out detonated and blew a large hole further down the tower's side.

Everyone screamed and ran out as debris crashed to the streets.

Eijiro put up as much a fight as he could but the robots overpowered him, repeatedly slamming their metal fists into his body without a break.

Momo created a large cannon while Snipe shot at any that made their way through Danjuro's shields.

Everyone that stayed was giving it their all. They knew what was at stake here now. Not their lives necessarily, or their hopes of returning to the profession as licensed heroes, but to protect everyone in this city!

All the way in Japan, Tenya and their heroes did the same. Even when the robots tore through the barricade, grabbed a nearby older hero, and snapped his neck right in front of them all. He led the final push to clash with the robots as rain poured from the sky.

Izuku woke up in a daze. He immediately found himself dangling over what was left of the top floors to the Atlas center over the cityscape in several wires.

He looked up and saw Maeko climbing the outside, still holding on to Ochako, who was unconscious and bleeding from her head.

"N-No..." Izuku groaned. He reached out and Black Whip wrapped around an exposed support beam. But as it pulled him up, he felt the building shift.

Activating Float, on top of Black Whip, he practically slingshot himself up to the evil mech and severed the tentacle holding his true love.

Maeko yelled out as if in pain and swatted at Izuku like a bug.

"Is this too easy for you? Do I need to shake things up?" Maeko asked him.

"What?!" Izuku questioned as he caught Ochako and set her down on the most stable ground he could find at the moment.

"I think I do. It's New Years Eve! There should be more FIREWORKS!"

Suddenly, Izuku felt a burning red laser beam strike his upper back. He yelled out and tore his shirt off.

"Now we're talking." Maeko smirked under all his tech. He fired another laser beam from his robot eyes. Given the angle at which he was shooting between Izuku and Ochako who was still knocked out, he had no choice but to take it head on. Black Whip shot out and briefly seemed to block the beam but not completely. As some of it singed his exposed chest.

"You're holding back." Maeko pointed out. His giant body began to hover in the air and lowered itself closer to Izuku and Ochako's position. "Wanna know another thing that just might piss you off enough to actually try and kill me?" He asked.

Izuku simply stood tall between the villain and his childhood best friend.

"You know that fateful night when Shigaraki attempted an escape from Tartarus, and your Quirk went off. And it was everything Atlas needed to present the Accords to the UN?" He started laughing up again. "It was Trigger."

The green-haired man's eyes grew wide.

"Figured you'd know the truth. Figured I'd show you some mercy tonight since you showed some to me. They shot you with a Trigger dart. And every time it went off after that, I was always there to give it myself."

The memories played back in Izuku's head. Pieces of a puzzle he didn't even know were missing. One For All was not self-destructing on its own. The chaotic force behind the Trigger drug being shot into him set it off!

"Whattaya say you and I have a fair fight, to the death even?" Maeko suggested.

"I say I'm gonna stop you and bring you to justice!" Izuku lunged at him. But as time slowed down for the hero, he noticed Maeko had a needle ready, summoned from some compartment in his mech body, sprouting out directly at him.

Fa Jin couldn't pull him away fast enough as Maeko thrusted forward, closing the gap and sticking him.

Time resumed and his heart began to race. Before he fell to the ground, he watched as the mech's head peeled away and Maeko inject himself with another needle of Trigger in his exposed neck.

As he could feel One For All's control slipping away, Black Whip wrapped around Ochako and pulled her down to a farther platform away. Her placement was very rough, enough to make her come to. She groaned and held her bleeding head as she looked up and saw flashes of green and pink. Izuku and Maeko.

Every piece of technology on the building was ripped out of place. Wires, circuits, currents, screens, monitors, buttons, pistons, levers, gears. It all pulled up the building and merged with Maeko's body. His skin seemed to fuse with the tech and he laughed maniacally as his body transformed into a nightmarish amalgamation of human and machine.

Lasers shot out randomly, vaporizing the support beams and causing more debris to fall.

The heroes were able to clear out the tower and hold back the robots as they and many civilians began building a perimeter around it.

Izuku screamed as his own power shot from his fingertips at full force. His head ached and his ears rang so loud, he swore they were bleeding.

"WHO WILL OUTLAST THIS, DEKU?! WHO?!" Maeko roared through all the noise.

The abomination formed a titanic fist and threw it straight down, hitting Izuku and everything underneath.

The Atlas towers caved in and crumbled to the earth. But the two seemed unaffected by gravity, remaining in the sky, building up power.

Izuku looked around through all the sounds and bright, blinding lights for Ochako. In the midst of the falling rubble, he saw her, falling. She wasn't using her Quirk. She might not have even been conscious. Or maybe she wasn't focused.

As he felt Fa Jin launch him to her, it seemed more like the earth was moving his direction instead. Windows within miles shattered.

He reached out, extending Black Whip to catch her again.

Her eyes opened and she looked up at him. Through everything, their eyes met and they knew it. All he could see from her was love. And she could see the same. In the end, that's all she really needed. Her eyes closed as her body hit the street just a millisecond before Black Whip grabbed her.

Tears flooded his eyes as Izuku felt himself lose the last of control.

He turned around and launched himself into Maeko's massive body. They each roared as it hit. With one final Smash, they collided. A great big green explosion rocked the city.