Vigilant: Part 2 - An MHA AU Story

Chapter 4: Support

"Attention! This is an emergency broadcast!" Screens everywhere lit up with a brief live video feed from an undisclosed location.

"Hidden agendas.... Lies.... Loss of freedoms... These are what has been stemming every since the Hero Accords."

Images of people being arrested as former heroes flashed on the screen.

"Your governments even hired mercenaries to keep your former heroes in line."

Images of Maeko Hatsume, his four-armed companion, and a few others appeared.

"They murdered people in cold blood." Images of the bombings and slaughter of several former heroes and their families, including Mashirao Ojiro and Toru Hagakure.

"They want us to conform. To hide our abilities. They think they can keep society the way it is and not accept Quirks." Then images of the politicians responsible for the Accords quickly flashed onscreen.

"And there is more to come." Hidden camera footage of humanoid robots inside an underground lab appeared then went away to black.

"If you miss your heroes as we do... Fight." Cut, the message ended. Screens returned to normal.

Law enforcements around the world scrambled to find the source of the video, while people began to look at each other in absolute horror, questioning everything.

~~~~~~~

Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo fell unconscious upon reaching the shore. They washed up on the empty beach and stayed there.

Then, almost in synchronization, they jumped to consciousness again and coughed out the gallons of sea water in their bodies.

"Wha- Wh-" Izuku coughed.

"D-Don't ask me anything right now." Katsuki breathed.

"I knew you two would be here! Just as I calculated!"

They both twisted their torsos to see who was behind them standing on the beach not far from a small pickup truck.

"What took you so long, shop class nerd!?" Katsuki barked.

"Aw come on! I arrived as soon as I could! Now let's get you criminals out of here."

Izuku looked up at her. The voice, and Kacchan's nickname for her all fit. It was Mei Hatsume.

"Don't just sit there in the sand. We've gotta go!" She waved her arm back.

"Come on, nerd! I saved your ass enough already, I ain't dragging you all the way to freedom." Katsuki said standing up and marching up after her to her truck.

Izuku stood up and brushed the sand off of his jumpsuit as best as he could.

"And we better get you out of those clothes too." Mei mentioned.

The three of them climbed into her truck and she immediately drove off.

"I called Hatsume ahead to tell her what I was doing." Katsuki said. "I won't tell you why I did this, not even I know completely."

Izuku nodded and faced forward. "...You didn't have to do that, Kacchan. Not for me."

"Well whatever! I still question whether or not I deserved to be in prison in the first place and yet you got me out. So then we would... I don't know! None of us are criminals, got that?!" He threatened.

Izuku managed a smile. "Thank you."

"Well, I hate to tell you both this so soon, but shit truly has gotten real." Mei said. "There's a video that popped up just today. And much like the Hero Killer Stain video, it too keeps getting taken down, but that only makes people think about it more."

"What is it?" Izuku asked.

"I'll show you in a second, once we get to my shop." She said.

Mei pulled her truck in to a rougher side of the city, and inside of a large garage. After turning her vehicle off, she rushed to the big car door and pulled it down shut.

Suddenly, it was like she was her usual, quirky, inventive self again as she turned around and threw her hands in the air. "Welcome to my maternity ward!"

Katsuki and Izuku gave her wide-eyed stares.

"What the fuck did you just call this place?" Katsuki asked.

"Well where else are the greatest babies born?!" She asked enthusiastically.

"Hatsume! If you don't mind, I don't think we are here to look at your inventions." Izuku said.

"Oh I know. I just can't help myself, I mean look at these!" She said as she dashed to a large series of shelves housing several different inventions, old and new. "You're here because you need a place to stay, so why don't I show you some hospitality?"

"I really just need a shower." Katsuki said.

"And I need-"

"Shower, and a change of clothes. Luckily, my ex left behind some of his spare clothes. Last time he was here, he seemed to be very stressed, which would explain why he left his clothes." Mei thought out loud. "He never forgets those things."

"What made him leave?" Izuku asked.

Mei stopped smiling and carefully set down the contraption she picked up from the shelf.

"I really don't know. This last year has been such a blur to me. So much in so short of time." She sighed.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Izuku said sympathetically. "I can understand how crazy it's gotten."

"Well... I did say it's gotten worse." She looked at him. "Let me show you that video."

Katsuki searched the small house connected to the garage for any sort of bathroom. Opening the door, he frowned at the lack of care taken to it. "Does this freak even bathe?!"

He sighed heavily and dramatically as he closed the door and stripped down for the shower.

Finally, he had time to think as the water started cold, then quickly warmed up on his body.

Was his decision to bust Izuku out of prison because they actually do need him? And if so, does he think the same way?

Katsuki had gone through many phases with the green-haired man. When they first met many years ago, they were good friends. He was a bit more independent than Izuku, but still a relationship for both parties.

Then his ego really exploded, quite literally too, when his Quirk manifested. He remembered how he began to shut Izuku out for being Quirkless, treating him as less than human even.

To him, their friendship was gone with his selfishness and his toxic attitude. But Izuku never left his side still. Even when he had to face him in unequal standoffs, protecting other weaker kids too.

Then Izuku met All Might, received One For All, and joined the same school Katsuki worked so hard to go to. At the time it felt like work, but he bragged about how easy everything would be. And it was. And now, he hated it.

But he was grateful that it didn't stay that way. Their three years of high school really defined who they are.

He stopped hating Izuku, and started pushing him more like a drill instructor than a bully. And before the Accords passed, there was a time when they were finally pro-heroes. And the entire time, his entire life, Izuku never stopped respecting him and supporting him.

Even after that fight with a powerful villain, resulting in One For All to generate an explosion that harmed more than it helped, and Katsuki was blamed for it without a chance for Izuku to tell the truth, Izuku still sought to make things right.

He sacrificed his freedom, along with many others, to help Katsuki.

So maybe that's why he went and broke Izuku from Tartarus. He wanted to show his support back, and hope that if they all worked together, maybe they really could make things right again.

"Kacchan?" Izuku knocked on the door.

"I'll be out in a second, Deku. Leave me alone!" He barked over the sound of falling water.

"Okay but be quick... You've got to see this."