"It's not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs."
- Vaclav Havel
Part 1.
"Smash."
The word was no louder than a whisper as it slipped through his lips, barely audible amongst the chaos around the area. No one heard it but him, and it wasn't like Izuku wasn't someone who was one for theatrics, he just wanted the battle to be over.
Now.
After taking and releasing a breath, Izuku slowly blinked away the red that painted his vision and finally saw the area around him. The ground beneath him was sunken in a few inches and there was a small straight line of torn up street in front of him.
Cars were upside down, signs were torn from their metal hinges, and a couple of holes in the ground spewed out water where fire hydrants had been uprooted. Izuku blinked a few more times in silence and stared out at the carnage, all of which had been caused by him and that one attack.
Wordlessly, Izuku than began to look downward and saw his right hand painted in red, its origin painfully obvious for the teen. After clenching and relaxing his fist a few times, Izuku looked back behind him and saw that the Flaxan leader had fallen to its knees, a giant hole now in its chest.
One that he created.
It gurgled out sounds that were surely words in their language, but the sound of the voice being drowned out by blood was too strong.
The Flaxan tried to get back up, but it was all for naught, blood continued to pour out from the hole in its chest and it soon dropped dead onto the shattered pavement.
Izuku, who slowly looked back forward without a word, glared at all the fellow Flaxans in the area around for a moment while doing so.
He remained silent, but his eyes spoke volumes to the aliens and any other villain who somehow watched the fight. He had won, but more importantly, they had won.
Sighing to himself, and knowing that he had passed far beyond his limit, Izuku let go of the power that coursed through his veins. The green electricity that sparked around him vanished thereafter, as did pink lines that covered his skin. Then blackwhip as well and soon after the tendrils that held him up ceased to exist.
After wobbling for a moment, trying to not fall during this all important moment, Izuku planted his feet that felt like like jelly and rose his blood covered hand into the air. Even though he was exhausted, even though he panted like a dog and was covered in blood, an exhausted yet reassuring smile spread across Izuku's face.
Remembering what he was told during the sports festival by his idol, someone that he hoped would be proud of him in this moment, Izuku took a breath and then spoke.
"I..."
With one more breath, vision going in and out all the while, Izuku continued.
"...Am here."
Then, all went white.
_
Reaching it's limit, Izuku's body finally gave out and the boy fell backwards, slamming into the pavement below with a loud 'thud'. Everyone around the area was in shock at what just happened, Flaxans heroes and civilians alike. It was only with a shout of a name that time seemed to unfreeze them all and the repercussions of what happened began to unfold.
"D-Deku!"
The shout was feminine and filled with a mixture of panic and fear. It's origin was Atom-Eve, her eyes wide as her voice all seemed to alert the Flaxans that remained and sent them into a panic.
She got up from where she hid, the pink dome around her vanishing as she shoved past the aliens who surrounded her, none of which attempted to stop her.
Covering ground as quick as she could, Eve made it to where the green haired teen laid within only a few seconds and slid to his side, panting heavily as she did so. Moving her hair away with her hand, she then placed her ear on his chest and prayed for movement.
One second, two seconds, three seconds, then a beat.
It was weak, very weak, but it was there. A massive wave of relief washed over her thereafter, nearly choking up a little bit as she felt his chest rise and fall.
Not wanting to cause him any pain, Eve rose her head away from his chest and smiled to him, a pink glow from her power washing over his figure thereafter.
After a few moments, the scraps and tatters that once were his costume then began to glow and soon after were returned to their former glory, albeit it with one new added detail.
Broken gloves began to fill their holes in, a shirt that was once nothing more than a shred of cloth regained it's durable defense, colors that were once dark and dreary became bright again, and the mask once more villainous in appearance became that of a hero.
Further more, wanting to protect his identity, Eve gently pulled the mask over his face like she saw when the pair first met.
Now finished with her work, Eve waved her hand off to the side and then watched as the pink glow of her power dissipated, leaving Izuku in a clean and undamaged costume. It was just in time too, because a few seconds later, Eve heard the familiar whirl of helicopter blades above and saw that a news team had arrived.
Sighing in annoyance at the media, the heroine dusted off her costume and stood up, anooyed that she didn't have time to be satisfied with her work, nor time to rest.
Satisfied with her work, and the new additions she added, Eve nodded to herself and stood up, her smile vanishing as she did so. With what little energy she had left, Eve then prepared herself to continue where Izuku left off.
"Don't think this is over." She said with a scowl, her hands raised and pink sparks coming off of them. But before she could moved, led alone attack, a hero landed in front of her and the girl was left in a stunned stupor.
"Atom Eve, right?" The hero asked her with a smile, then watched as the young woman nodded to her.
"Take that young man to a hospital, I'll take over from here."
_
As the Flaxans all began to panic at the sight of a new hero, they all began to run back through the portal to retreat once more. But to their surprise, instead of being attacked, the hero flew in after them.
As he floated above the area in which the Flaxans came from, Omni-Man, with a scowl on his face, got to work.
_
"So you ended up using gearshift huh?"
Izuku, after opening his eyes and blinking a few times, saw that he was in the mindscape of One For All. He sighed to himself and nodded, looking around at the other vestiges of the other users.
"Did I die?" Izuku asked aloud to no one in particular, receiving multiple heads shaken in response, a wave of relief washed over him thereafter.
"Did we win?" He the former users once more, and this time got nods, eliciting a smile from the teen who blew a raspberry, his eyes looking to the floor.
