Vigilant: Part 2 - An MHA AU Story

Chapter 1- Atlas

The first thing Maeko felt when he woke up were restraints on his limbs and body, preventing any sort of movement on the hard, flat surface he was strapped to. Even his head was covered just above his eyes.

There was only one light in the room and it shined directly on his face.

"Ah you're finally awake." An older man's voice remarked. His heavy footsteps echoed and his silhouette appeared between Maeko and the light.

Now the young man strapped to the table remembered where he was.

At first he tried to speak but it came out dry and quiet. He cleared his throat. "What do you want from me? I did everything you asked."

"You failed." The man said with a rather calm tone. "Nevertheless we switched to phase 2 when we sedated you."

"Ph-Phase 2?" Maeko asked. "What more could you want? And did you seriously just use the phrase 'nevertheless' on me?"

"Not to worry. You're off the hook now. We got what we wanted." The man chuckled in his blue suit, leaning back straight so the blinding light returned to Maeko's face.

"Which is?" Maeko asked.

"I won't just give it away. I never do. But try to formulate an idea. An invention in your mind." The man recommended.

Maeko wasn't sure what game he was playing, knowing who this slippery man was. Still, he tried to recollect his past inventions before he created from his Quirk.

His head suddenly hurt, making him thrash around in the restraints for a second. On top of that physical pain in his brain, nothing, literally nothing came to mind.

The memories of what he had done were still there, but any remembrance of his inventions themselves was gone.

"Son of a bitch... What did you do?" Maeko asked. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!"

The man chuckled lightly. "Oh Hatsume. We didn't do anything. You seem to be lacking...an old friend I suppose."

"The chip... Y-You removed my-"

"Well, we needed something to remember you by." The man sighed. "That something is Phase 2."

A set of lights flipped on, on the other side of the room, prompting Maeko to turn his head and see.

"What is that?" He asked.

"The future of heroism, Hatsume. A symbol of peace, so to speak." The man said with pride.

"Tell me this ain't happening." Maeko groaned.

The man reached down and pinched his arm.

"Ow!"

"Oh it's happening." The man smirked.

Maeko quickly noticed the hand that was still pinching his bare arm had a wristwatch on.

He nudged his arm slightly and made contact with the watch.

"Wait, no!" The man pulled away but it was too late.

The watch had quickly detached itself from his hand and reshaped itself on Maeko's arm, acting like a buzzsaw to cut through his restraints.

The man backed away and rushed to hit a button on the wall but was then stopped.

Maeko had grabbed everything he could and absorbed the surgical tech to his body, using it to walk upright and grab the man's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Arthur. I'm not going to thwart your plans today. I just want to live." Maeko said.

Using the strength of the machines he possessed, he flung the man's body back over his head, swinging his back on to the surgery table and strapping his wrist down.

The man struggled, but managed to get up but was caught by the restraint to his wrist. "No, no, no, HATSUME!" He roared.

The young man chuckled as he ran out the nearest door, absorbing as much technology as he could to escape down the corridor.

The man remained stuck to the table. He looked back at the side of the chamber with dim lights. "Initiate Atlas Failsafe." He ordered.

On command, a series of machines began to move. Two white eyes glowed brightly before a robotic body unhooked itself from the wall and charged through the room and down the same corridor in pursuit.

Maeko rushed up the stairs, using surgical robotic arms to propel him up faster than legs could run. Judging from his experience with these people in the past, he was in an underground base and had to climb up to escape.

Suddenly a loud clanging sound earned his attention as he continued to climb.

The robot from the lab with glowing white eyes was leaping up the flights of stairs after him gracefully.

"Awh shit." He cursed and kept going. "No matter. A simple EMP blaster will knock 'em out."

He held out his arm for the spare tech on his body to form a gun on his wrist that would disable the robot, but nothing would form right.

The pieces of tech shifted around his arm trying to form any sort of projectile weapons it could but nothing came to mind.

By that time, the robot was one leap away from catching him.

He flipped himself around, swinging one surgical robot arm down to cut the automaton down the middle. But instead it backhanded the arm away, steering clear of the spinning blades.

"What is this thing?" Maeko asked. For a contingency, he collided all spare bits of tech on his body to his chest and formed a bright flashlight beam that seemed to hold the robot back.

He swung his leg down and hit the robot right in the head, knocking it back and making it lose its grip momentarily.

Although it fell and hit a few bars along the way, it regained grip on one flight of stairs and began to ascend again like nothing happened.

Maeko quickly focused on reaching the top flight and exited out through the door.

But once he was outside, he was shocked to find himself on top of the World Trade Center in New York City.

"What the hell?!" He shouted.

Time was running out for him. The robot was still coming and there was no where to run. He could try and form a glider with his tech, but if he couldn't remember to build an EMP gun, how could he form his machines into an intricate glider?

He ran to the edge of the building and gasped at the distance between him and the ground below.

He can't run and he can't stop now. He can't fly and can't conjure any good weapons.

Observing one edge of the tower, he got an idea and leapt down.

Just then, the robot bursted from the door and scanned the tower, walking from one end to the other.

"Subject not found on the roof. Possible explanations are: he used his technology to fly away, or, he jumped." The robot reported to nobody there physically. "Returning to station." The robot said before marching back inside, all signs of aggression gone as it peacefully began to walk down the flights of stairs casually.

Meanwhile, Maeko sighed in relief, having thrown himself off, yes. But grappled his body on to the concrete side of the building, where no windows could catch him very well. The surgical tools held him up as they dug in to the side deeply.

Before he tried to climb back up, one of the tools slipped a little, causing him to gasp and refrain from looking down.

"This is gonna suck..." He said to himself.