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Izuku felt a visceral sense of wrongness and dread at First's warning. The feeling grew and consumed him as he twisted to face the hospital. Before his focus solidified, it was caught by something in the corner of his eye. Or more accurately, the lack of something. Yamanu was standing still, uncharacteristically subdued, as he too stared at the hospital. Izuku had grown used to seeing his unique physiology long ago.
“What's happening?” Izuku questioned, knowing that Yamanu knew, as he always seemed to, and knowing that this time he would probably be horrified at Yamanu's answer.
“Mirko is heavily injured. Hawks is heavily injured. The assault on the mansion has lost its momentum, and Gigantomachia is about to break the siege there. Shigaraki has awakened and will turn the assault on the lab into a rout momentarily. This battle is no longer tenable. I recommend that all Heroes should begin a fighting retreat at once, and fall back to fortified or easily fortifiable areas.”
His dour summary of the situation was quite in line with his disposition, and his draconic features and almost painfully dark coloration only helped the mood to be as dark as possible at the news. He turned and planned to slip away back into the Space Just A Smidge To The Left before a shout and a green blur colliding with him stopped him.
Izuku bounced off of Yamanu and stumbled back, before planting his feet resolutely on the ground. He looked into Yamanu’s eerie eyes and spoke.
"No! We can't run away!" Midoriya's voice rose, eyes blazing with determination. “There's too much riding on this! And what of the others who are still in harm's way!?” He barely paused to take a breath before he pointed at Yamanu.
"You're here because you want to follow me, right? You want to see the world through my eyes, to make the world into the world I see. That means we have to stay and fight, to save as many people as we can!" He stood his ground, unwavering in his resolve.
Yamanu glared down at him and let out a hum in contemplation, both of them ignoring the sounds of Decay starting to destroy the city in the background. “What are you willing to do in order to save everyone, then?”
Midoriya's mind flashed to Yamanu's preferred forms of conflict resolution and his resolve wavered for a moment, before he steeled himself and clenched his fists. The destruction has already started, after all. The number of dead climbing by the second. “Whatever it takes.”
Yamanu's arm burst into blue flames. “Anything?” His mouth opened in amusement, giving Izuku the impression of a bear trap. “Then, care to make a deal?” He said ominously as he held his hand out.
Midoriya looked at the offered hand and was rather proud when he clasped and accepted the deal without hesitation, his own arm bursting into painless blue flames.
“Fine.”
Yamanu let out a soul-haunting, maniacal cackle, reminiscent of King Ghidorah's roar from the Showa era. With a swift jerk, he pulled Izuku slightly into the Space Just A Smidge To The Left. Izuku barely noticed his body become just a bit lighter as it entered into a superposition of existence and nonexistence in real space. As Izuku's perception of time blurred, his focus zeroed in on Yamanu's red, pupil-less eyes, which glowed with vibrant intensity against the dull otherworldly backdrop. But his attention was quickly drawn inward as some deep, vital piece of his being seemed to be physically pulled when Yamanu began to speak.
“Population protection protocols prioritization altered.”
“Access to full arsenal authorized.”
Imagery began flashing through Izuku's mind quickly, forcing him to grit his teeth as he tried to keep up with whatever was happening.
“Link to Slaved Mind established.”
Warning bells began going off in Izuku's head upon hearing that. He couldn't back out now, he knew, but he realized he needed to get ahead of whatever was happening quickly.
“Calculations in progress.”
Izuku's senses were assaulted by a rapid, deafening electronic buzzing that seemed to go on for hours, though it must have been only seconds. He struggled to form coherent thoughts, his mind overwhelmed by the Slaved Mind's and Yamanu's communication. Confusion was a faint undercurrent to the pain, as he tried to reason through the onslaught of sensations, but the buzzing persisted, drowning out everything else.
'This must be the two of them communicating.' With considerable effort, Izuku barely managed to piece together a single coherent thought against the overstimulation.
“Hyper lethal force authorized.”
With barely a moment to recover from the previous sensory onslaught, Izuku could only blanch at that statement, before he remembered the horror and scale of the destruction Shigaraki wrought. He gritted his teeth as he remembered what he said when he agreed to this. Even so, he knew that he had to get ahead of this before something got out of hand.
“Firing solutions plotted.”
“Dimensional wavelength synchronicity measured.”
Izuku feared that he wouldn't understand anything that was happening as his mind reeled at information he had no context for, and feared that things would get even more convoluted as time went on. Luckily for him, what was stated next was both of great interest and easily understandable in this situation.
“Emergency medevac authorized.”
“Nanotech treatment presumed consent.”
“Cybernetic treatment presumed consent.”
Presumed consent wasn't ideal, of course. But they'd already touched on that a bit in class, so Izuku knew keeping people alive was the first priority. Still, knowing how Yamanu preferred to do things, he knew he was out of time to figure out how this Deal worked, and how to get ahead of it. His heart stuttered with faint realization.
'A Deal...' Izuku thought, as an idea started to form in his mind.
“Telepathic treatment presumed consent.”
'Okay, that's probably pushing things too far.' With his thoughts almost fully formed, he pushed his worries to the side as his desire to protect people pushed itself to the forefront.
'A deal works both ways,' Izuku reasoned, 'so if I push back, then...'
“Gene therapy treatment presumed consent - DENIED BY ORDER OF EMERALD EMPEROR.”
Izuku was quite disoriented by the strange properties of this parallel world, where his own voice mixed with a cacophony of otherworldly sounds. The dichotomy between what looked like the city he was in moments ago and the undeniably alien atmosphere left him on edge, but he took comfort in recognizing the authoritative tone that had developed as he grew into his role as a hero. It was a small reassurance amidst the strangeness of it all.
Yamanu looked into Izuku's eyes as his mouth opened slightly in amusement. “Clever. You figured that out quickly.”
“Upload of quirk measurements to Slaved Mind - DENIED BY ORDER OF EMERALD EMPEROR.”
“Extraction of biological samples for study, presumed consent - DENIED BY ORDER OF EMERALD EMPEROR.”
“Duplication of consciousness of patients, presumed consent - DENIED BY ORDER OF EMERALD EMPEROR.”
Yamanu cackled lightly at the rapid-fire proposals and shooting down of said proposals, still looking into Izuku’s eyes and mouth still ajar in amusement.
“Think of all the good I could do for these people, Izuku!” Yamanu pleaded tauntingly. “Of all the things I could do for your world!”
Izuku grit his teeth and leaned forward as he bit back. “No! You can't take those things from people without their explicit consent. I know what sorts of things you dream of doing with that. I know you won't stop at just helping people. You don't need them to save everyone here, which is all that I have asked of you, so what you want to do is wrong!”
Yamanu chuffed a bit before speaking again. “Fire first volley of Gungnir.”
Imagery of orange and white-hot beams flashed through Izuku's mind, along with their effects on targets. Their ability to pierce nearly anything with the heat and momentum they carried, the damage of the heat and momentum on their targets, both soft and hard. The incredible speed at which they struck. Their pinpoint precision. So long as the data was accurate, there was no escape.
“Near unparalleled combination of destruction and precision!” Yamanu cackled. “No need to worry about collateral damage.” He assured Izuku.
“Deployment of mechanical forces authorized.”
Imagery of humanoid and non-humanoid robots flashed through Izuku's mind, and then he saw them engaged with the Nomu and aiding the heroes, so he raised no complaints at that.
“Deployment of esoteric weapon forces authorized under hyper lethal force allowance.”
A bizarre, bulky, large rifle appeared in his mind this time, and the deleterious effects on the target were quite precise, albeit seemingly total within the radius of the hit, so Izuku again raised no complaints.
'I wonder if those guns and Compress's quirk work similarly. They look similar at least, with the speed, effect, and area of effect...' Izuku idly wondered, before jerking his thoughts back into focus.
“Deployment of eldritch horrors forces authorized.”
Izuku's mind instantly shattered at the imagery forced into his mind, and was only pieced together again because he was actively connected to Yamanu.
“Sorry about that.” He at least had the decency to look as sheepish as his strange physiology allowed. “It helps not to think about it too much. Anyhow, moving on.”
Izuku didn't even have time to gape at what happened to his psyche or at Yamanu's nonchalance about it before he had to focus back on the situation at hand.
“Deployment of biological weapons - DENIED BY ORDER OF EMERALD EMPEROR.”
“Deployment of chemical weapons - DENIED BY ORDER OF EMERALD EMPEROR.”
Both were requested and subsequently denied in quick succession. Izuku glared and felt frustration solidify and start to bubble, as Yamanu rolled his eyes and huffed.
“It would be faster...” Yamanu mumbled.
Izuku was not amused. “You're eccentric, not an idiot. Stop wasting our time!”
“Oh, relax. I've dilated our perception of time here. It's barely been a second in real space.”
Izuku being suitably mollified, or perhaps merely stupefied, Yamanu continued.
“Deployment of ELINT forces authorized.”
Some thankfully recognizable imagery flashed through Izuku's mind, as he saw a gray AWACS flying far above the disaster zone collecting data, and a large room packed with people, equipment, and numerous computer screens. While he couldn't make sense of the data on the screens, not nearly enough context or expertise for that, he was relieved that it seemed to be just people gathering, interpreting, and communicating as much information as possible. That was something that was desperately needed.
“Use of matter displacement authorized.”
By this point, Izuku was getting used to the strain of having information forced into his head, and was actually curious about this one, in a detached sort of way. It worked remarkably similarly to how Mirio's quirk used to work, except instead of the foreign matter getting ejected, the matter that was there first was, well, displaced.
He stared into Yamanu's eyes with a cold determination as he thought of how this would work on a person.
“This is obviously effective, but isn't this needlessly cruel? What is even the point of using an attack like this?”
Yamanu nodded at that. “This is meant to target foes that may survive a hit from Gungnir. This can bypass external durability, and even internal ones, provided the right points are targeted. In addition, with the combination of my own abilities and the calculations from the Slaved Mind, lethal effects should be seen within a couple of seconds.” Yamanu opened his mouth slightly to show, in Izuku's opinion, sick amusement.
“It's even more merciful than the death penalties of pre-quirk humanity.”
Izuku was tempted to deny it regardless, but he thought of the Nomu and Gigantomachia. They needed to be stopped, and they needed to be sure that they were. He gave his assent, and Yamanu continued.
“Use of Antimatter-Matter reactions authorized.”
As one may be able to guess, Izuku's mind was filled with the imagery of a bright, quick explosion.
“Hold up.”
Yamanu raised his other hand in a placating motion as he responded. “I know what you're gonna say, Izuku. But just hear me out.”
Izuku glared at him but said nothing.
“It's a lot like the matter displacement, except faster and with lower chances for failure. Just a bit more risk for collateral damage, is all. I'm not even going to use that much, just a fraction of a gram. Matter-antimatter reactions are literally the best bang for your buck you can get. Well, aside from Hawking radiation or vacuum energy. But we are being literal about the bang here, so…”
“How. Much.” Izuku gritted out.
“Just enough to pop some heads. Best way to take out Nomu, right?”
Izuku settled a bit on that. “Only enough for that. No more.”
Yamanu preened at the agreement for a moment, before schooling his features again.
“Use of Rubber Piggy Protocol authorized.”
Izuku wasn't sure what he expected to see, but it certainly wasn't what he saw. In his mind, he saw a small, green-skinned person with red bug eyes and antennae instead of hair standing atop a small mountain of cartoonish pigs. Said person was mid-throw with another pig in his other hand cocked back ready to be thrown. They were being thrown into a blue, purple, and pink swirling portal, evidently being created by the surrounding machinery.
“What.”
Yamanu rolled his eyes. “Trust me, the context surrounding whatever you just saw makes about as much sense as whatever you just saw without the context.”
For half a moment, Izuku seriously considered if the situation really was so dire as to require the aid of someone as unhinged as Yamanu. He wasn't given enough time to consider that there may be alternatives to making a deal such as this, as Yamanu quickly continued designing a response to the disaster.
“Survival of Nomu detected, tasking forces for liquidation. Gungnir support authorized.”
Well-used to the sensation now, Izuku didn't flinch as imagery and information was forced into his mind. He saw a dark facility, with rows and rows of large stasis tanks, and then saw the machine soldiers armed with the strange rifles appearing in flashes of light throughout the facility. Deeper in the darkness, he saw glimpses of something nearly incomprehensible. Evidently, the League had extensive facilities under the hospital, just as the HPSC had suspected.
“Well, I think that just about covers it all.” Yamanu nodded as he spoke. “Let's get this started, yes?”
Yamanu pushed them both into real space before Izuku could reply, the fire on their arms extinguishing itself as both their heads snapped toward the remains of the hospital.
“First, the medevac!”
Injured heroes, civilians, and villains not tagged for liquidation began disappearing in blue flashes of light, emptying all battlefields of injured within moments. Where they went, Izuku wasn't certain, but again he had little time to be worried. Terrifically bright lights shone in the sky just as the last of the injured were whisked away. Orange-white lances fell from the sky and pierced the ground, quickly followed by the sounds of thunderclaps, the burning of air, and the roar of exploding rock and dirt. Any screams were lost in the terrible cacophony, and those on the battlefields could do little but flee or look on in awe.
Yamanu laughed and spread his arms in the sky.
“Behold the awesome power of Gungnir!”
The machinations of the deal did not pause, as out-of-sight ground units, eldritch horrors, and ELINT forces were pulled into reality from places unknown. The information gathering, command and control, and logistics units quickly pierced and integrated into the Hero's networks. They rapidly built comprehensive images of the situation, even taking the time to leave Trojan programs in the Hero's networks in their wake. The comms crackled as Yamanu laughed in glee. Once the connections were established, the command was given for the ground forces to step into reality.
Hundreds of mechanical infantry and heavy weapons platforms stepped into reality, both on the ground and in the subterranean areas of the laboratory. Above ground, they moved quickly to secure safe zones and began offering aid to the survivors. Below ground, they moved to do the same, albeit with significantly less breathing room. The machines collected data from the moment they stepped foot on the floor and began moving to set up overlapping fields of fire moments later. Fortunately, they arrived before Shigaraki could awaken the beasts. Unfortunately, their overzealous master had overlooked an important consequence of the dimensional transference. The process resulted in a small, wide-spectrum radiation burst centered on the point of entry. Numerous points of entry were below ground and inside the same room the Nomu were grown in. In their rush, they had awakened the Nomu in Shigaraki’s stead.
As the machines calculated ideal fire and movement rates to clear the facility, the Nomu broke out of their containment. While the robots could process and react to changes faster than any human, and most Nomu, the strength and resilience of the beasts made up for the gap, especially at such a short range. The machines began laying down fire with their esoteric weapons and dealing grievous injuries to the Nomu, dismembering several before they could close the gap. Unfortunately, many of the Nomu were not immobilized by their injuries and leveraged their incredible strength to close the gap and smash into the front line of machines, interrupting the fire. Nomu further back took the reprieve to utilize their quirks, disrupting the machines even more. While it wasn’t immediately a rout, the machines had lost their opening advantage.
Even with the probably-too-high-to-be-safe level of intellect possessed by the command and control robot in command of the subterranean force, it lacked all the intricacies of sapience. The machine had no satisfaction, disgust, or awe as it witnessed the gruesome effects of the esoteric weapons. The disappearing body parts and spontaneous holes in the bodies of the Nomu were met with just acknowledgment that the armaments were effective and hitting the intended targets. It did not react with fear or frustration as the Nomu pushed forward in spite of the wounds, nor did it feel anything when the beasts screeched in pain and anger. It noted that the back line of Nomu were using their quirks without interruption and lowered the odds of a successful battle with cold efficiency. The machine reacted with something like shock, however, when a Nomu that looked like a large dog launched itself towards it and took up all the field of vision. The relatively advanced intelligence managed to form a coherent, odd, thought.
‘Damn, that is one ugly dog.’
Several Nomu had lagged behind the first horde, as the machines were too preoccupied to properly target them. Without a clear enemy, the freshly born horrors fought each other to satisfy their bloodlust. So caught up in their fights, they failed to notice more distortions appearing on the opposite side of the facility. Tanks shattered, and the air twisted as something incomprehensible began moving across the facility. Two unfortunate Nomu were distracted from their brawl when they felt the air still too quickly, movement stopping closer and closer as the seconds ticked by. Their eyes were drawn to something as space seemed to be twisted and fall into a central point. The moment they looked directly into the core, however, they collapsed and screeched, before clawing at their own eyes. They didn’t suffer for long, as the tendril of wrongness swiped at the two beasts and unmade them. The tendril was joined by countless others, as they quickly did the same to the incomplete Nomu and anything they could reach in the facility. The engagement ended only a couple of minutes later, culminating in the collapse of the facility. Functional mechanical units and the Horrors From Beyond the Veil were pulled from reality as all else was buried under soil and rubble.
'I wonder what that was.' Shigaraki thought as he rubbed his head. He doubted a headache after being turned into a Nomu was an unreasonable symptom, but it was at the very least annoying. The voice in his head was more worrisome, but he had more pressing matters to tend to.
“I'll be fine, small price for the upgrade to Decay.” Shigaraki mused to himself. He was snapped from his musings by a bright light and a terrible cacophony, followed shortly by a minor tremor. He palmed the quirk-erasing bullet as he frowned at this newest development.
'This is certainly a mess. Not at all what the plan was.' He huffed as he realized he would have to fix things quickly.
“Now then. It seems like the situation's gotten out of hand. They were supposed to wait for me to wake.”
Shigaraki raised the phone to his mouth. “To me, Machia. Bring the others with you.”
He smiled as he looked across the battlefield. “From this moment on, I'll destroy everything.”
Again, a voice that was not his own sounded inside his head.
'One For All.'
'One For All.'
He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes in confusion and frustration. 'What was that voice?'
“Halt, Shigaraki!”
Shigaraki’s focus was brought back to the immediate mess as he looked toward the source of the order. “Heh. The number-one hero right after I wake up?” He smiled as he prepared for battle on his plateau.
“Hell's Curtain!”
As the attack bathed the area in fire, Shigaraki's smile turned into a grin as he stared at Endeavor coming ever closer. He readied himself for battle, gathering stock of his quirks and his physical form when everything suddenly went black.
Endeavor blinked as he saw a small flash of light next to Shigaraki at the same time the villain collapsed.
“Death of Shigaraki confirmed via STORD.”
Carefully, Endeavor touched down a ways away from the prone form of Shigaraki, and slowly inched closer. He increased his pace as there seemed to be no reaction, and he moved even faster as more details became visible. He stopped his dash next to his target and tapped his communications device.
“Endeavor here, when I was making my approach something happened to Shigaraki.” He glanced at the ground next to him as he spoke on the comm. “Shigaraki suddenly collapsed, and I am standing next to what I presume to be his brain. Does anyone copy?”
“Haha! It worked wonderfully! You'll need to vaporize his brain to be safe!” An unfamiliar voice replied.
Endeavor bristled, and he focused his full attention on his earpiece. “Who is this on the comms, identify yourself!”
“I'm just a friend of a friend.” Came the lackadaisical reply. “I'm glad my systems were able to integrate into yours so smoothly and quickly! He has regeneration, and I’m sure none of us want to find out how strong it is. You will want to do the vaporizing sooner rather than later.”
Endeavor scoffed as he readied a flaming fist. “Ridiculous.” Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, however, he ultimately complied.
All for One's grin faltered as his connection to Shigaraki was suddenly cut.
'That's quite unexpected.' His mind raced with possibilities for the loss of the connection.
'What sort of interference could it be?'
In Tartarus' security command room, the guards noted a slight change in All for One's demeanor.
“The prisoner has moved slightly.” Heads turned to look at the screen as the head guard leaned in closer.
“He's... frowning.” Before anything could be made of this fact, they were all taken by surprise and flinched away from the screens when a bright flash replaced his head. They quickly forced their way through the pain and looked back to the screen only to find scorch marks, bits of gore, and an empty space where a head was mere moments ago.
“What the hell?”
“Death of All for One confirmed via matter-antimatter reaction.”
The ground shook at the villa, as something massive worked its way to the surface. Those among the Paranormal Liberation Front smiled, as they knew what was coming. Their spirits strengthened, they prepared to break the siege and escape, when suddenly their spirits were no more. Dozens of orange-white lances fell from the sky and pierced their targets, snuffing out life before it even had a chance to realize it was ending.
“Death of Himiko Toga confirmed via Gungnir.”
“Death of Dabi, Touya Todoroki, confirmed via Gungnir.”
“Death of Spinner, Shuichi Iguchi, confirmed via Gungnir.”
“Death of Mr. Compress, Atsuhiro Sako, confirmed via Gungnir.”
“Death of Skeptic, Tomoyasu Chikazoku, confirmed via Gungnir.”
“Death of Trumpet, Koku Hanabata, confirmed via Gungnir.”
“Death of Iceman, Geten, confirmed via Gungnir.”
“Work quickly on unsealing the exits! We need to help our soldiers stuck on the surface! Get me a sit-rep while I'm waiting for my legs dammit!”
Re-Destro was interrupted from his work by the sudden movement of Gigantomachia. Members of the Paranormal Liberation Front scrambled to avoid his movements as he started to claw his way to the surface.
“My master's scent. He has...awakened.”
Re-Destro looked on in shock for a moment at both the words and Gigantomachia’s sudden movement before he was shaken from his shock by his legs finally arriving, and his mind started racing. 'Gigantomachia would only move for Shigaraki. He said his master has awakened!'
He grappled with what that meant as he struggled to put his legs on. 'It's too early. The heroes must have found him, awakened him before he was ready!' He clenched his jaw as he stood and prepared to follow Gigantomachia as soon as he breached the surface.
'Shigaraki is our savior. Our emancipator.' Re-Destro thought as he pumped himself up. He felt ready to take on the heroes as the first rays of sunlight entered the subterranean chamber.
'What did you meddlers do to him?' Re-Destro took a step to the surface before he was brought to his knees by sudden pains in his head and chest. Too much pain for thought, nor enough time to think. He was dead before what was left of his body hit the floor.
“Death of Rikiya Yotsubashi, Re-Destro, confirmed via matter-antimatter reaction.”
Gigantomachia sat, numb to the chaos around him as he waited for orders. As he awaited even the smallest sign that his master was awake and needed him. He hardly paid any attention to the fresh pains in his head and the rest of his body. They were so small, they certainly weren't any danger. Insignificant compared to him. Compared to his master.
He jumped to his feet as he smelled his master. Heard his call.
“My master's scent. He has...awakened.”
As he rushed to answer the call, the various pains increased. He was so focused on his goal, however, that he pushed the thoughts from his mind. All that mattered was his master. He had to obey, to reach him and protect him. He clawed faster and faster at the earth, clawed ever closer to the surface and his master. The pains became greater. Spread faster. He channeled his pain and frustration into digging harder, letting out a growing growl as he clawed ever so close to the surface. His eyes flicked to the shred of light that came through the earth.
'Finally.' Gigantomachia let out a roar of equal parts triumph and pain as he breached the surface, the pain reaching its peak. He took one thundering step out of the hole and collapsed hard onto the battlefield.
“Death of Gigantomachia confirmed matter displacement.”
With the last of the action dying down, Yamanu cackled and Izuku gaped in dawning horror at what just transpired. He didn't get much time to process anything before Yamanu pulled the two of them back into Space Just A Smidge To The Left.
Mirko awoke with a start and jumped to her feet. She scanned the area for threats, but quickly found herself more concerned with where she was. She twisted around and twisted again. All around her was a misty darkness. She twitched her ears, her eyes darted back and forth looking for threats before the memories started trickling through the adrenaline. Just as she moved to inspect her injuries, she finally heard a sound. A voice.
“Oof. Entering the Mindscape in the Space Just A Smidge To The Left is harder than I expected, I'll admit.”
Mirko pivoted and fell into a defensive stance as another voice made itself known.
“Seriously!? You didn't even know if this would work?”
Mirko narrowed her eyes as a shape took form in the darkness. A dragon-like(?) person had his hands up in a placating gesture as he waltzed closer. She nearly started interrogating the person before another figure shimmered into existence beside the newcomer. A much smaller, green person. As the new person solidified, she decided he was probably human. Green costume, green hair. Only a handful of centimeters taller than herself. She squinted as she thought about what to do while the duo continued talking like she wasn't there.
“Contrary to my constant claims, actions, and bragging, there are in fact things I don't know. Believe me, admitting this hurts me more than it hurts you.” The much taller person finally turned his gaze to Mirko, while the child scoffed and rolled his eyes at his associate.
“What's going on!?” Mirko demanded. Since she had his attention, she figured she'd try and get some information about whatever was happening.
While the kid clammed up, the other man slouched a bit and responded.
“Hi, Mirko! I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Mirko! It's great to finally meet you in person, Mirko!” The older man replied with far more sarcasm than Mirko could tolerate.
“Cut the shit and answer me!” Mirko ground out as she prepared to jump.
He huffed and crossed his arms. “Relax, none of this is physically happening. We're inside your head.”
Mirko paused at that. “This doesn't look like what the inside of my head would look like.”
While the kid could only look from the man to Mirko, to their surroundings, and back to the man, the man held Mirko's gaze. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“To grossly oversimplify what's going on, we're psychically projecting into your mind. It looks like this because the doctors probably have you drugged up to the tips of your ears.” He relaxed his stance before he continued.
“What do you remember?”
Mirko relaxed a bit as she thought. She remembered... “The raid. The Nomu.” She glanced at her limbs a moment before another thought occurred to her. “Shigaraki!” She tensed back up and glared into the man's glowing eyes. “What happened?”
The man spread his arms as he perked up. “Shigaraki is dead! Along with a lot of the PLF!” He motioned to the now still and grimacing kid next to him. “Hero Deku made quite a costly deal with me!” The man suddenly stilled as he remembered something.
“Ah. Mirko, Deku. Deku, Mirko.” He pointed at the two in turn as he introduced them. He then rose to his full height and brought his hand to his chest.
“And I am Yamanu. Please, hold your cheers and applause.” He pompously introduced himself.
As Mirko tried to analyze which of her life choices led to meeting someone like this, Deku spoke up.
“Why are we inside her mind?” He asked with a sneer and angry tone.
“I wanted to clarify the terms of her medical treatment, dear Midoriya.”
Mirko focused back onto Yamanu at that. He waved his hand and conjured a picture of her body as it was in the physical world. A destroyed arm. A maybe salvageable leg. Numerous other injuries across her body. Burns, bruises, blisters, and broken bones among others.
“Treatments can include but are not limited to: cybernetic replacements, amputations, artificially grown limb replacements, nanotech reconstruction, and ethereal limb grafts. Do you have a preference?”
Mirko started tapping her foot and crossed her arms. “You gonna explain any of that, or is your bedside manner as bad as your personality?”
Yamanu responded with finger guns. “That's fair.” He waved his arm again and dispersed the image of Mirko.
“Either of you know what Cyberpunk is?”
Mirko frowned and glared, while Midoriya closed his eyes in exasperation and drooped his shoulders.
“No.”
“Damn, what passes for entertainment these days?” Yamanu voiced his disappointment as he waved his hand and brought up an image of a mechanical limb with synthetic muscles and servos. After a moment it became covered in something that looked like skin.
“Best mechanical implants your world is gonna see for a while. Maybe even a few centuries, if your current tech level is anything to go by.”
Mirko hummed. “That sounds like I'd be reliant on you for maintenance. No deal.”
Yamanu nodded. “Amputation is pretty self-explanatory?” He asked, looking at Mirko. She nodded, so he continued on to the next one.
“We can grow organic limb replacements using your DNA, then connect everything with a smidge of surgery. No rejection and I can have it done by the end of the week. Minimal rehab. The replacements will feel really weird. Brand-new tissue, while the rest of your body tissue is however the fuck old you are. You'll need to use them a lot. For your arm, if you had a dick, I'd say masturbate a lot, but you don't. So.” He shrugged and Mirko scoffed.
“Eat shit.”
He nodded in response while Midoriya glared at him.
“Tell her everything.”
Mirko glanced at him and then back to Yamanu. Yamanu, in response, pointed to Midoriya. Midoriya only huffed and looked at Mirko.
“If he gets your DNA, he won't get rid of it. No idea what he'd do with it.”
Mirko nodded and looked back at Yamanu. “What else was there?”
“Pump your body full of nanomachines and raw materials, then direct the nanomachines to rebuild your limbs from the inside out. Moderate rehab and same rejection risk as the artificially grown limb.”
“What's the catch?”
Again, Yamanu pointed to Midoriya.
“The machines can rewrite your DNA, physically change the way your body is put together, and change your memories at a whim.”
“No deal.” Her foot started tapping faster in anger.
“Alright, alright. Next up is the ethereal limb graft. I imbue the stumps with exotic material with a connection to another universe. It generates a shadowy, wispy limb based on your thoughts. You can manipulate it in ways you can't with a physical body, it will be significantly stronger than organic limbs, you can even make it intangible, and you can receive physical sensations from it if you so choose. Also minimal rehab.”
Midoriya groaned and put his face in his hands before Mirko could push for more information.
“What else does it do, kid?”
“It can destroy your soul.” He turned to Yamanu and put a finger to his chest. “I don't care if it's rare, she needs to know about it!”
He shrugged at the same time Mirko spat out her response. “No deal.”
She kicked at the ground, or whatever passed for ground in here, and huffed. “Maybe I'll just take my chances with whatever Japan's finest can cook up then.”
Both she and Izuku were startled when Yamanu dissipated into smoke and reappeared in front of Mirko.
“Your world's medical technology sucks! Your material sciences suck! Your AI and cybernetic technology is a joke!”
“Oh, god.”
Mirko's attention was moved to Midoriya as Yamanu continued on his rant. He looked at her with a defeated expression.
“I'm not completely sure why he's so invested in you, but he can go on like this for a while.” He sighed and looked at the ground, holding one arm with the other nervously. “Your best option out of the bunch is probably the limb replacement. I don't know what he'll use your DNA for, but he is right about his technology being a lot better than ours.” He looked up to find her glaring.
He held his hands up as he flustered at her frustration. “With anything else, you'd need to take time off for rehab! A-a-and ignoring the rehab, you wouldn't have to learn how to fight with something brand new! You wouldn't be able to fight as well otherwise...” Izuku trailed off as he lost his nerve.
“What, don't think I can be as good as I was?” Mirko pressured him.
Izuku flinched and was about to cobble together a reply when Yamanu butted back in.
“If you wanna be the best hero you can be, you sure as shit can't do it with your technology!” He marched back to the pair as he continued. “You might be able to get close to par with it, and you may surpass what you were capable of eventually with my other options, but the limb replacement will get you back up to par quickly. And anything you achieve after that will be through your own flesh and blood. Your own willpower. So, what will it be, Mirko? Do you want to be the best you can be? Do you wanna throttle villains and life itself with your own two hands?”
Mirko thought about it. She really thought about it. She came to a decision.
“I'll take the limb replacement if you swear not to do anything creepy with my DNA.” She held her hand out.
“Deal?”
Yamanu stood stock still before finally showing his mouth to Mirko as it opened in amusement. His arm burst into flames at the same time as hers did as they shook, Yamanu laughing in his Ghidora-esque way.
“Agreed. I'll pass it along to my medical staff. So long, Mirko.”
They released hands and both Midoriya and Yamanu turned to walk back into the strange mist, Yamanu lightly cackling as they did. Midoriya, however, looked positively miserable. Sunken in on himself, shambling behind Yamanu, and just plain tired. Mirko felt a small compulsion to do something, and as with most everything else in her life, she charged into it.
“Hey, Deku!”
Izuku stopped and turned around with a questioning gaze. Yamanu stopped as well, only half glancing back at Izuku.
“They had the option to surrender when this mess started. They chose to fight. They all knew something like this could happen.”
Midoriya smiled miserably. “They had the chance to surrender to heroes.” He looked at Yamanu, and then down to his feet as he turned to walk back into the mist. “They never got that chance against... Him.”
Mirko clenched her fists as they both disappeared into the mist. She didn't have a chance to do anything more as she slipped into unconsciousness.
“Mirko is a fucking queen, damn!” Yamanu laughed once he and Midoriya were back in the Space Just A Smidge To The Left. “Ahh, favorite hero, no question.”
He glanced over at Midoriya as his laughing trailed off, leaving them both silent and alone in the dead air of the grayscale city.
“You killed them all.”
Yamanu settled into the seriousness of the situation as he replied.
“Yes, I did.”
Izuku grabbed his arm as he started to tear up.
“I let you convince me to kill them.” Izuku’s heart clenched as he brought his teary-eyed gaze to meet Yamanu's. He stepped towards Yamanu and clenched his jaw. Ears pounding with the rush of blood, he started to boil over.
“You didn’t need to kill them all, did you!? You could have captured so many of them alive, right!?” Izuku turned away from him, and started pulling at his hair and pacing.
“I can’t believe I asked you for help. I knew you’d do something like this.” Izuku’s tears fell freely, as he wrestled with the shame and anger at the disaster the raid had turned into.
The air thrummed as Yamanu stepped towards Izuku. “Yes, you did. You’re also right that I didn’t need to kill them all. And I could have captured many of them, yes.”
As Izuku processed the shameless answer, his rage spiked. Without a thought, he called on One for All and threw a punch at Yamanu’s gut. While he didn’t notice his suit remained intact, he did notice when Yamanu caught his punch without flinching. The air thrummed again as the energy drained from Izuku.
Izuku looked into Yamanu’s now blue eyes and felt a pit open up as he realized what was happening. He fell to his knees and started crying in earnest.
“What are you doing to me? Why are you doing this?”
Yamanu kneeled in front of him as he maintained eye contact.
“I don’t like seeing you internalize your feelings, Izuku. I just wanted to make sure you vented at least a little bit before all the shock wore off.”
Izuku weakly beat Yamanu’s chest as he brought him close.
“I manipulated you, withheld information from you. We worked to save as many as we could as quickly as we could. You asked for help.”
Izuku choked on a sob as he looked up. “You’ve been lying to me. To all of us. You said you wanted to be better. Why?”
“I have approximate knowledge of many things. More lives than you know have been saved today. Your society will stand, shakily yes, but no longer will it be brought to ruin. Those you care about are safe, as are the people they care about.”
Yamanu carefully picked Izuku up, and tried to hold him steady. Izuku was barely steadier than a rag doll, so his efforts didn’t amount to much.
“I have hurt you, and you need to rely on others now. Your friends are safe and healthy because you asked for help. Let them help you heal, Izuku.”
He settled on holding Izuku up by his armpits, and glanced behind Izuku. Izuku felt the world start to fill with stimuli as a warning that he was being pushed back into reality.
“Rest, Izuku.”
He had no time to react as the sounds of fires, sirens, and panicked people abruptly reached his ears. He only managed to let out a gasp as Yamanu casually tossed him. Iida and Uraraka grabbed onto him with a shout as they scrambled to keep themselves steady.
“The fighting is over. Shigaraki and All for One are no more.” Yamanu announced to everyone in the area.
“I suspect the HPSC will try to pull his quirk from his corpse, but I will tend to that.” Bakugo, Iida, and Uraraka gaped at him as he started to step back into the Space Just A Smidge To The Left. He paused as he locked eyes with Midoriya.
“Hold your loved ones close and heal. Deepen your bonds as you prepare to move ever onward into the future. So that you can build a world where this is unnecessary, a world that doesn’t depend on a single linchpin for peace and sanity. Mourn the lost opportunities, and cherish those that have survived today.”
Yamanu said nothing more as he finished slipping into the Space Just A Smidge To The Left. There was a moment of silence and stillness before Izuku clung to his dear friends. And cried.