Chapter Text
It had been three years since Izuku had started working as a vigilante, four since he had sworn to start his crusade. Sure, he had originally wanted to be an officially licensed hero like everyone else, maybe even more so thanks to his… let’s call it obsession. Granted, the legal definition for being a hero is the legal use of one’s quirk to stop crimes, licensed through the WHO (The World’s Hero Organization) and (usually) employed by their country’s local hero organization - the Hero Public Safety Commission, or HPSC, in Japan. Meanwhile, the legal definition of being a vigilante is the illegal use of one’s quirk to stop crime. By those definitions, Izuku isn’t and could never be either.
“So technically, I’m not violating any laws… At least any laws that anyone really cares about when it comes to heroics. I’m still breaking plenty of other laws during my acts of heroism, just the same laws that get ignored for heroes. So it all evens out in my opinion.” Izuku mumbled to himself, as he checked over the schematics and files he had displayed before him on holographic screens.
The large ‘M’ symbol on the chest of the nearby mech, along with the eyes, light up briefly as a synthetic female voice spoke up from the machine. “Sir, you’re talking to yourself again.”
Izuku looked away from the screens towards the mech. “Right, sorry, Blue. Just got lost down memory lane for a moment. It’s hard to believe that everything I’ve worked towards these past four years is about to come to an end tonight.”
There was a notable pause before the mech spoke again. “Sir, do you plan to stop being Mecha Man once you’ve brought Shroud to justice?” While the synthetic voice didn’t really change inflection, Izuku recognized the slight concern in his AI’s voice.
Izuku closed his eyes as he took a long breath before opening them again. “I don’t think I can stop trying to help out. I’ve always known that there was no going back to being a nobody once I started this crusade, even if the initial mission ends. I’ll always continue to be Mecha Man until I physically can’t.” Izuku answered. Looking away from the mech and back towards his files. “Even then, I probably won’t stop until it kills me.” He mumbled.
There was another notable pause before the mech again spoke up. “I’ll always be here to help you, sir. It is my purpose afterall.” Izuku paused, his head halfway turning back to the mech before he returned his focus back to the files before him.
One picture grabbed Izuku’s attention more than the others, his eyes always seeming to drift back to it against his will. It wasn’t even that good of a picture, one of a shadowed man in a hooded black trench coat wearing a red mask, turned away from the camera. It was a picture that really only hinted at details than provided them, but it was enough to spark one of Izuku’s clearest memories, the one where he had last seen that man, the night his parents had been killed.
Izuku’s father, Midoriya Hisashi, was a support technician who fell on hard times. Well that wasn’t completely accurate, Hisashi had had a pretty good standing at the support company that he had worked at. He just reacted rather… let’s say rashly when his boss called his quirkless son a number of disparaging things. What Hisashi did to the man wasn’t pretty, between the hospital bills and the fines from the lawsuit were pretty hefty, though Hisashi was able to avoid jail time even if it also meant that he was out of a job and effectively barred from the entire industry he had developed his skills in.
That was when his father first met him. They met at a bar, sharing their worries over a couple drinks, when ‘Eli’ introduced himself and suggested a deal that could solve both their worries. You see, Eli was a bit of a support technician himself, and his current project at the time was giving him such a hard time that he needed help. He offered to hire Hisashi on the spot to help him with his ‘little energy issue’. Hisashi of course accepted the offer, and things went back to normal for a time.
Of course, as Izuku has come to learn, nothing good ever lasts. To make a long story short, Hisashi and Eli were able to finish their project, creating a miniature energy source known as the Astral Pulse. Unfortunately, around the same time, Hisashi also figured out that Eli wasn’t exactly the most truthful or law-abidding of individuals. In fact, Eli was better known as the villain Shroud, the leader of a rather large crime syndicate known as the Red Ring known for their use of support equipment mainly in the form of physical augments.
Hisashi had taken the Astral Pulse and ran when he found out. Unfortunately Shroud knew where they lived and followed. Hisashi was able to get the Astral Pulse to Izuku and told the then middle schooler to flee when the villain showed up.
“I ran, and I never stopped… I left them to die.” Izuku mumbled to himself as he forced himself to look away from the picture of Shroud once more.
“Sir… I’m sure that your parents would be happy that you lived and proud of what you’ve done since. I think your exploits as Mecha Man could hardly be called running.” Blue comforted.
Izuku closed his eyes again as he took another long breath, but didn’t say anything.
Later that night, Izuku was sipping on a black coffee as he sat on the ledge of a random building as he waited for his contact to arrive. The mech was a short distance away on stand by, ready for Izuku to hop back into at a moment’s notice, just in case. While Izuku had a good rapport with his hero contact - one of a few he had made over the years, but probably the one he was most comfortable with - and was reasonably sure that he wouldn’t change his mind and decide to take him in on vigilante charges, Izuku was never sure if a random hero that was passing by would try their luck. Izuku had had too many close calls with the likes of Endeavour, Hawks, and Mirko to ever really be alright with just idly standing by in his hero outfit. Granted Mirko just wanted to spar unlike the other two, though in Hawks defense he didn’t seem like he wanted to take me in either, probably the only reason that I got away from either of them in the end. Endeavor was just an asshole, Izuku still couldn’t believe that he was once the number two hero, he was only still in the top ten thanks to his relentless work effort after Dabi outed the hero as an abuser.
I should ask Dabi how his family is doing next time I see them. Last we talked he mentioned his youngest brother was still having some hangups about his quirk. Izuku pondered, still finding it funny that one of his hero contacts was the son of one of his biggest haters.
Hearing someone land on the roof nearby, and Blue not alerting him of any danger, Izuku calmly turned to see his hero contact. “Hey, Eraserhead.” Izuku greeted with a lazy wave as he started to get up from his seat.
“I see you got Nezu’s gift.” The gruff hero commented, nodding towards my outfit, specifically the new addition.
Izuku’s ‘Mecha Man Uniform’ wasn’t that complicated an outfit, though he did get a chuckle that his outfit made him look more like a hero than the baggy outfit that the actual hero across from him wore. It really was just a jumpsuit with a cowl that Izuku used to hide his identity, and some armor. A pair of white bracers and boots of Izuku’s own design, along with the newly gifted matching chestplate sporting Izuku’s MM logo. Izuku still wasn’t sure how Nezu was able to correctly guess his size based off of limited footage, but he was one of the smartest creatures in the world so Izuku tried not to stress it too much. Nezu’s idea of a friendly test on the other hand…
Izuku reached into his pocket and tossed a small device to Eraserhead. “I’m really thankful for the gift, but I don’t like being tracked. Even as a ‘friendly test’ as Nezu’s code puts it.”
Eraserhead pocketed the device. “Yeah, he does that a lot. Impressive you were able to find it so fast.” He comments before changing his focus to the mech behind me.
Izuku downed the rest of his coffee, before tossing the cup into the alley below. “What can I say, I take my privacy very seriously.” He quipped as he watched the cup land in an open dumpster.
“Blue’s looking pretty rough, sure you want to go patrolling tonight?” Eraserhead asks, pointing out the obvious wear and tear on the mech.
Izuku shrugs as he walks over to the mech. “It’s nothing a tune-up won’t fix.”
“And the reason you aren’t doing that tune-up now is…?” Eraserhead pointedly stared down Izuku.
Izuku, pointedly ignoring Eraserhead’s stare, started to climb into the mech’s cockpit. “I have a time sensitive lead I have to follow up on tonight.” He answered truthfully.
Eraserhead sighs. “I’m assuming you aren’t going to just hand off this lead to a licensed pro, such as myself.” Izuku waited long enough to close the hatch for Eraserhead to catch his smirk. “Want help at least?”
Blue’s speakers activated as Izuku answered. “Not tonight. This is something I have to do myself.”
“You wouldn’t have to do things like this all by yourself, without any form of support or backup if you just went pro. We teach those kinds of things at UA.” Eraserhead comments.
“So I hear, still not joining your school, Eraser.” Izuku responded like usual.
“UA’s Entrance Exam is in a month if you change your mind.” Eraserhead adds.
“Speaking of UA, I left a little gift for Nezu on that device I gave back. It’s everything I’ve found on the Red Ring crime syndicate. Also,” Mecha Man pointed at an alleyway across the street. “A guy just followed a woman down that alley, and it didn’t look like he was going to ask for directions. You mind handling that?”
Eraserhead waves me off. “I got it, go follow your lead.” Mecha Man turned to leave before pausing as Eraserhead spoke again. “And kid? Stay safe.”
Mecha Man nodded before the thrusters activated, the mech taking off into the sky. Tonight was the night that Shroud was brought to justice.
The Red Ring is a crime syndicate known for their cybernetic enhancements. Sure, they’ll provide weapons and support gear to anyone willing to pay, but Shroud keeps the real good stuff for his own crew. While this might just be personal bias on Izuku’s part, he considers the Red Ring a cut above the rest of the villain organizations that have risen to prominence over the past decade. The Yakuza have tried to crawl back into relevance, but outside of one faction they really haven’t been able to, and the other groups are either just quirkist in one manner or another or just not strong enough to do any real damage. Of them all, the Red Ring is the only one with the impact and reach to be a real threat that has come out of the upheaval that the criminal underworld of Japan underwent a decade ago, even if the HPSC simply classified them as a simple “tech-savy gang’.
Izuku has his guesses as to why the criminal underworld seemed to erupt into chaos a decade ago, but now wasn’t the time to focus on that. No, tonight was about cutting the head off of the snake. Without Shroud, the rest of the Red Ring would break apart into infighting and become easy for the other heroes to clean up even if Mecha Man was no longer around to help.
The Red Ring had many hidden production facilities throughout the country, the one Izuku was visiting tonight was an abandoned steel works factory. This wasn’t the first production facility Izuku had been to or knew about, but this one would perhaps be the most important one Izuku would bust. The time sensitive lead that Izuku had found, that he managed to get out of some douche of a Red Ring grunt that he may or may not have thrown out of a window (there was a dumpster and a mattress to break his fall), was that Shroud would be visiting this facility for an inspection.
Izuku had been hunting down Shroud for three years, and this was the first time Izuku had an actual shot at confronting him. He wasn’t going to mess that up by going in like the kool-aid man and risk Shroud fleeing in the confusion. No, Izuku was going to take this slow and stealthy until he could confirm Shroud’s location.
So with Blue on stand by, Izuku snuck in from the roof of the facility, starting with the security office. Thankfully, the goon in charge of the cameras wasn’t really focused on his task, distracted by his phone. It made it easy for Izuku to sneak up behind him and put him in a sleeper hold. Unfortunately, the cameras were just for the perimeter, so the security room wasn’t of any further use to Izuku.
Making his way further into the facility, Izuku next encountered a sniper watching the facility below from his perch. A more alert goon, but too focused on what was below to notice someone approaching from behind. A well placed enhanced punch to the back of the head knocked the sniper out cold. After catching and carefully lowering the unconscious goon onto the walkway, Izuku made note of two more goons patrolling below. Both were armed with some kind of rifle, one with a cybernetic leg brace and the other with a cybernetic face mask, but of more importance was that the masked goon had a tablet on him.
Dropping down on the duo from above, Izuku kicked the rifle away from Legs, landing between the two goons in a crouch. Rising, Izuku shoved Legs off balance before swinging a backhand at Mask, knocking him away and causing him to drop the tablet.
“Shit! He’s here!” Mask called out as he brought his rifle up to shoot at Izuku. Just in time, Izuku rolled out of the shots before closing the distance between them, knocking the rifle up with one arm. Izuku was unable to follow up as Mask stumbled back before Legs came at him from behind, punching Izuku in the face. The vigilante was able to quickly recover, turning and elbowing Legs in the head. Legs kept his balance from the first strike, but Izuku quickly followed up with two more to the head before the goon finally went down.
As Legs fell, Izuku turned his attention back to Mask, who had recovered and was aiming his rifle at him once more. This time, Izuku was able to grapple the gun before it was fired, forcing Mask into the wall before sending him to the ground as he wrenched the gun from his hand. Hearing a groan behind him, Izuku turned to see Legs starting to get back up.
Shifting his grip on the gun in his hands, Izuku swung the rifle like a bat at Legs’ head, knocking the man out cold. Turning, Izuku saw that Mask was still on the ground, but was also starting to get back up. Quickly closing the distance, Izuku stomped down on the other goon’s head, knocking him out as well.
Tossing the gun aside, Izuku rolled the Mask villain over, revealing the tablet he had landed on. Seeing that the screen was broken but otherwise intact, Izuku let out a sigh of relief before letting out a grunt of annoyance as the screen didn’t turn on. Connecting the tablet to his gauntlet, Izuku brought up a holographic display as he quickly hacked into the system.
The schematics for the compound, along with relevant locations, was contained on the device. With that, Izuku was able to find the room that the Red Ring had repurposed as the command room, and note that it was currently listed as occupied. If Shroud would be anywhere, it would be there. With that knowledge in hand, Izuku quickly and quietly made his way to Shroud's location.
What do you say when you finally confront your parent’s killer? Izuku had been pursuing Shroud for years now, and while he had thought about this moment countless times, especially during that first year after his parent’s death, but now that the moment was upon him none of it was coming to mind. Doesn’t really matter I suppose. It’s time to end this. Izuku thought to himself.
Izuku didn’t bother being subtle as he entered the room. Shroud would know that he was coming, it was only a matter of time. Walking through the double doors, Izuku saw a large wall of monitors, a single chair facing them, hiding the occupant from Izuku’s view. Walking closer, Izuku noticed a few things. First off the room was much larger than what it was currently being used for, unused equipment and plenty of space for people to hide in the shadows around and above on catwalks. Second, he could see his infiltration being played on several of the monitors, despite his best efforts to hide from the cameras.
I guess I’ll do what I normally do when I’m not sure what to say. Just let my mouth run. “Hey, um, can I get a copy of that video when we’re through here? Causes I’m about to fuck you up and those videos do numbers. Maybe we can go viral --”
A mocking voice from the chair interrupted Izuku, one that he had heard before but not the one that he had expected. “Ohhh. Maybe we can go viral…” The chair turned around, confirming Izuku’s suspicions. “All this build up.” This wasn’t Shroud. No, it was the goon that Izuku had thrown out a window to get the information from. Clearly he was a bit more important than Izuku had thought. “Face to face with your father’s killer and you come in here with that lame shit?”
Seeing as the dipshit was in no rush, just casually on his phone, Izuku let himself relax a little. All the growing tension he had been feeling throughout his infiltration draining away. “Ugh. Where the fuck is Shroud?” Izuku asked. Hopefully he’s at least nearby, even if this is a set up.
“He’ll be here in a bit.” The villain casually mentioned as he sent a message on his phone before turning his full attention to Izuku. “Oh, hey, after our conversation, I asked him about you, and he told me some fun stuff about your dad. By the way real cliche motive, trying to avenge your parents and all. Fun little tidbit, your father was very well hydrated. Turns out that after Shroud shot him in the chest, your dad pissed his pants.” Izuku pulled up his holographic display on his gauntlets and started typing out a command. “Betcha didn’t know that, huh? So, after that bullet tore through his insides, he still had enough time to know how absolutely fucked he was, and just pissed himself like a little bitch. It was like, so much piss. Cause your dad was wearing shorts so it just --”
“Hey, I get it.” Izuku interrupted as he finished inputting the command. Before the dick of a villain could respond, Blue burst through the ceiling from above, landing on him with a heavy stomp. Was that too excessive? He was a real bastard, but I might have just crippled him for life. Izuku thought as he walked through the smoke cloud that the mech had kicked up with its entrance, getting in and sealing the hatch behind him.
As the controls all switched from remote to manual, Izuku heard a painful groan from below. Shifting the mech’s foot off the villain, Izuku saw that both of his legs were broken, but there was no visible blood, and more importantly he was still conscious. This guy either has a really powerful quick or hidden cybernetics underneath his skin. Probably both.
“Starting to think I didn’t need to waste a perfectly good mattress to break your fall.” Izuku commented as the villain started to crawl away from the small crater he had put him in.
“Perfectly good? I assumed that cum-stained thing was already in the dumpster--” He said as he started to force himself to stand, his legs starting to fix themselves back into place. Though apparently not fast enough as the goon fell back on his hands and knees.
His quirk gives him some kind of healing factor, though it must be as a secondary effect rather than the main one. He’s acting too important for this to be everything he has. “Can we just skip to the part where you reveal your bullshit quirk so we can fight for real?” Izuku interrupts as the villain’s skin starts to let off yellow green smoke.
The villain looked up at Izuku from his prone position, his eyes now a solid glowing green color. Soon after, yellow-green acid starts to burn through his skin and clothes as he stands back up, now fully healed, and very much naked.
Izuku sighed inside his mech. Some kind of acid body transformation quirk, probably gives him a more malleable body to some extent allowing for the healing factor. Interesting quirk, but why do so many villains lack common decency? “Cool dick. So, you, uh, got some kinda clever villain name?”
“You can call me Toxic.” The now named villain answers, giving a wicked grin.
That got Izuku to chuckle. “Bro, that works on so many levels for you.”
“Yeah, no shit. That’s the point.” Toxic agreed with no shame as he launched himself at the mech, surprisingly knocking the mech back several feet into a metal support with a single punch.
Alright, I didn’t really expect that. Izuku thought as he assessed the damage. The blow, or maybe the collision - doesn’t matter - damaged one of his screens, causing it to just show useless static. Maybe I shouldn’t have put off maintenance for Blue. Izuku thought as he stood the mech back up.
“Shroud’s augments are pretty good when weaklings like you uses ‘em,” Toxic continues, now flying in the air above Mecha Man. “But when you put ‘em on someone who has real power… Muawa, fuckin’ chef’s kiss.” He helpfully explains before launching himself at the mech once more.
This time Mecha Man side steps so that Toxic impacts with the ground, before blocking a follow up strike. Alright, so add on super strength and flight to his growing list of powers. It looks like the fumes coming off of his toxic skin are what’s allowing him to fly, probably aided in some way by whatever cybernetics he has going on under his skin. The healing and durability are probably all his quirk, but the super strength is most likely all the augments doing. He probably also has some kind of trick up his sleeve where he can throw that toxic gunk he’s generating around, though he probably would have to build it up to be of any effect. Izuku assessed as he traded blows with Toxic. It’s a shame this guy is such a dick, he could have made a good hero with a quirk like this.
Mecha Man backhanded Toxic away, before closing the distance with a burst of the mech’s thrusters to grapple him in one hand. Activating the thrusters once more, Mecha Man takes to the air, using Toxic as a battering ram through several catwalks before drop kicking him into one of the far walls.
Toxic let out a loud “Fuck!” before ramming back at the mech with full force, taking Mecha Man to the ground once more. The villain tried to fly away to gain momentum again, but Mecha Man was able to catch his leg and fling him into the ground, accompanied by more fucks from the man. Mecha Man followed up by throwing him into a grouping of pipes on the wall that let out a burst of steam when broken.
Toxic emerged from the steam, sending Mecha Man back with a few hits before landing behind the mech. He put out his arms, bracing himself as he started to concentrate, the toxic ooze started to collect into a ball between his hands.
Not letting him finish his build up, Izuku activated the thrusters, launching the villain into a nearby wall. This time, when Toxic emerged, he started to fly up and towards the other side of the warehouse room rather than engage with the mech.
Pursuing the villain, Izuku activated the mech’s plasma gauntlet to launch several energy projectiles at him. The final blast managed to catch Tosic in the side, sending him falling to the ground behind some heavy machinery. The blast didn’t take Toxic out though, as a large metal container was launched at Mecha Man from where he landed shortly after.
Switching the plasma gauntlet to blade mode, Mecha Man cut the large metal projectile in two with the plasma blade, revealing Toxic following behind. Quickly deactivating the plasma blade, Mecha Man batted Toxic out of the air as he tried to get a follow up hit in. I don’t want to stress test Toxic healing capabilities.
Before Mecha Man could follow up on Toxic, bullets started to rain down on the mech from behind. Looking back, Izuku saw an army of cybernetically enhanced goons firing down on him from the various catwalks in the large room. Luckily, Blue could handle the caliber they were using.
“Ugh, figures.” This is why I snuck into the facility in the first place, to avoid the mass of goons populating it. Leaving Toxic for now, Mecha Man flew at the closest catwalk goon, this one having a mini gatling gun.
Landing heavily on the catwalk, the whole thing caved where the mech stood, but held for now. The impact had the intended effect of knocking everyone off balance, allowing Mecha Man to quickly knock out the closest goons. Trusting their enhancements, Izuku put in a little more force to make sure the goons that he hit stayed out of the fight.
Turning around, Izuku spotted a goon with a unique outfit, a woman in a blue and white suit with a lightning motif. White Lightning, one of Shroud’s Lieutenants. Izuku thought, having just enough time to deploy the mech’s circular shield to block the incoming lightning strike. The force of the lightning strike still pushed the mech back thanks to the unstable catwalk, and before Mecha Man could recover, another uniquely outfitted villain, this one being a man in a black suit with a white skull mask and two glowing red khopesh blades - another lieutenant of Shroud’s known as Khopesh - launched two energy slashes at the mech from his weapons, knocking Mecha Man off the catwalk to the ground below.
Mecha Man was able to recover from his landing in time for Toxic to region the fight. Izuku was able to react in time to sidestep his surprise attack, connecting with a counter attack of his own, before the villain dodged the follow up, knocking the mech off balance and lifting the whole thing up into the sky. Toxic cursed Izuku out the whole time before repaying the vigilante for earlier by sending him through several catwalks back to the ground.
As Mecha Man stood up from the wreckage, a fourth unique villain, this one being another naked one with a pink gooey body - another lieutenant known as Blob - attacked the mech. More super strength hits staggered the mech, but when Mecha Man went to counter attack, Blob’s body just expanded and enveloped the mech. Flailing a bit, Mecha Man was able to fling Blob off just in time for Toxic to come back in from above with a downward strike.
Toxic followed up by grabbing the giant metal pillar that had been holding up the now destroyed catwalks he had sent Mecha Man through, tipping it to knock over Mecha Man, pinning him in place. Acting quickly to escape, Mecha Man activated his plasma blade once more, curing the pillar so that he could move once more. Not giving Toxic a chance to react, Mecha Man activated his thrusters, uppercutting the villain into one of the nearby catwalks before flying up and grabbing him in the air.
Mecha Man proceeded to use Toxic as a battering ram through the catwalk he had just hit him into. Switching his grip on the villain, Mecha Man used Toxic as a makeshift flail as he flew around hitting several more goons that were still shooting at the mech, occasionally punching Toxic with his other mecha fist for good measure.
Flying around, Mecha Man spotted a large metal piston hanging from the ceiling. Throwing Toxic into it, the villain fell to the ground below, hitting several things on the way down. Switching his plasma gauntlet back to blaster mode, Mecha Man shot the chain holding the metal piston aloft, sending it crashing down on top of Toxic.
That should hold him for a while. Izuku thought as he landed in front of the fallen piston, switching his focus to the other Red Ring members in the room. Turning towards some more gun fire, Izuku spotted Blob standing behind the line of fire with a white haired woman with a red visor that he didn’t recognize. Looks more important than the typical goon, I’ll just call her Visor for now. Both Blob and Visor flew from behind the other goons as they stopped firing, the flying villains circling around Mecha Man. Blob must have an augment granting him flight along with the super strength. Visor is a wild card, could be the same augments, could be her quirk. Izuku assessed as Visor fainted an attack, giving Blob an opening to attack Mecha Man from behind. Blob grappled the mech once more, his expanding goo holding the vigilante in place.
A short distance away, Mecha Man could see the fallen metal piston start to glow yellow-green. Soon after, Toxic burst out of his makeshift containment, at the same time Mecha Man activated his plasma gauntlet into blade mode, curing a hole through the goo body keeping the mech in place, freeing the arm but not quite breaking the mech free yet.
“Hurry!” Blob called out to Toxic. The villain in turn conjured a blob of his acid into a ball in his hands before launching it at Mecha Man. The impact rocked Blue as Izuku watched the acid start to burn a hole through the mech, a small hole starting to appear through the broken screen.
Still reeling from the blow, Visor flew up behind Mecha Man and attached a crane to the back of the mech. As soon as the crane was attached, Toxic looked up and shouted out. “Now!” Looking up, Mecha Man spotted White Lightning pull a lever as the crane pulled taunt before hoisting the mech into the air. White Lightning followed up by channeling her lightning through the crane, electrocuting Mecha Man.
The shock overloaded Blue, the Astral Pulse ejected from its holder, sending Izuku into darkness outside of the small amount of light coming through the new hole in the mech. The emergency lights quickly kicked on as Izuku frantically went about starting the reboot process for Blue. He managed to begin the process just as the goons started peppering the mech with bullets - which are still useless - along with a large harpoon that went through one of the mech’s feet - which is going to be a problem. Looking through the small hole, Izuku saw that the goons were preparing another harpoon, this time aimed at center mass.
Izuku quickly went about rerouting whatever power he still had left into the mech’s plasma barrier - an invisible shield that could protect Blue from all harm for a limited time. The barrier deployed just in time to stop the incoming harpoon. It unfortunately didn’t deter the Red Ring members from attacking though, in fact they redoubled their efforts to take down Mecha Man. White Lightning and Khopesh even joined in the assault with their projectile blasts.
Izuku could see Toxic through the hole in the mech standing on a catwalk level with the dangling mech. The bastard was taking real delight at the situation Mecha Man was in, before he turned his attention to someone new that joined him. A cloaked figure in a red mask. “Shroud.” Izuku hissed out before redoubling his focus on Blue’s systems.
Toxic leaned in as Shroud whispered something to him before the villain turned his attention back to the vigilante. “So, what do you have left on them shields? I said forty percent, but boss man,” Toxic nodded his head at the cloaked figure next to him. “He says you’re down to twenty-eight, and he’s not wrong about these things.” Toxic taunted.
Izuku looked over at his monitor to see the Blue’s shield integrity tick down to twenty-eight percent, as Shroud whispered something else to Toxic. “Good news, buddy. Shroud says he just wants the Astral Pulse. Which, we all know, isn’t really yours anyway.” Toxic continued to taunt as the barrier was rocked by the force of an RPG explosion.
Izuku braced himself as Blue rocked once more, pausing for a moment from his efforts to glance out the hole of his mech. Shroud is right there! Damn it! I have to retreat. Izuku shifted his attention back to his monitors. “Blue, system check. Calculate the damage per second hitting shields, then tell me how many seconds I need to divert Astral Pulse energy to rocket boosters.”
Blue’s response was near instant. “12.89 seconds of damage before critical.”
Toxic called out once more. “Oh, hey. Boss man says if you’re planning on diverting puss pow-- I’m sorry, pulse power to boosters, it won’t work. This is a limited time offer dude, what’s up? You were so fucking talkative earlier?”
Like the man who killed my parents would let me walk out of here alive. “You’re bluffing.” Izuku called out, keeping his attention on his systems as he worked to divert power.
“Hey, mathblaster. I don’t give a fuck, okay?” Toxic called back. “I’m just the messenger here. He says you’re not calculating that shit stuck to your leg… dumbass.”
Shit, I wasn’t calculating that in. Izuku thought as he looked at the system clock. Less than nine seconds before the shields are down. Izuku grimaced. “Fuck it.” Izuku reinput the Astral Pulse, diverting all power to the rocket boosters.
Izuku could feel the wave of bullets, lighting, and energy blasts his Blue as the thrusters attempted to take off. Mecha Man ignored Toxic’s taunts as Izuku dodged a stray bullet that made it through the hole in the mech. On the cat walk, Shroud turned to walk away before pausing as a tearing sound of cables and breaking metal was heard. Finally, finally, Mecha Man started to move as the harpooned food of the mech broke off.
Rocketing up and through the roof of the building, Mecha Man flew as far away as he could from the Red Ring hideout. As soon as Izuku was sure that they weren’t pursuing him, he let out a yell. “Whoooo! Fuck Yeah!” As he let out a breath that he didn’t know that he had been holding. Turning his focus back to his mech, Izuku called out to Blue once more. “Status?”
“Hull Status: Stable.” Izuku let out a sigh of relief, before feeling a sense of dread as Blue continued to speak. “Foreign Device Detected.” It called out, showing that something was detected on the mech’s back. Quickly ringing the mech’s head, Izuku had just enough time to see the bomb attached to Blue’s back before the explosion went off and everything went to black.