The Many Lives of One For All - An MHA Short Story

Chapter 12: Gravity

Izuku analyzed the situation his friends were still stuck in. The crane's cabin was dented inward. No use trying the door. And Star was still dangling from the chain below it. At least now, he knew they were being counterbalanced with more than enough weight.

Popper tapped the teenagers inside. "Looks like your friend is trying to find a way to free us. Stand back. I'm going to help him."

"How?" Uraraka asked.

"My dart!" He exclaimed as he pulled back his trenchcoat and whistled. The long thin dart from his side flew out and instantly burst through the window.

Izuku noticed the projectile flying around. "What do I do with that?" He asked.

"Grab it!" Popper said in between his whistles.

The young hero jumped up and gripped the dart. It then pulled him off of the construction platform over the chasm below toward the crane.

As he landed on the side, he activated One For All and pulled at the window's edge. He could feel the metal in the wall start to bend and give as the open window was widened to fit each of them.

Uraraka smiled and tapped them all with her fingers. "Kick off of the crane to the building. I'm going to rescue Stars n Stripes." She instructed.

"Wait, Uraraka!" Izuku nearly grabbed her. So much has happened (and was still happening) since they last spoke.

"Call me Ochako, Deku." She smiled. "I got this one. Go beat up those villains."

Izuku didn't know what to say in response, all he could feel were his cheeks lighting up pink. "R-Right."

She nodded, gave him a thumbs up, and dropped herself freely before tapping and grabbing ahold of the chain below.

"Wow..." Izuku swooned.

"Midoriya! We need you!" Iida shouted.

"He's right. Those villains are breaking out of their restraints!" Popper informed them.

Sure enough, the Nomu, Muscular, and even Evil Deku were tearing through the robotic tentacles and even hitting the machine directly. The crane groaned and shifted against it.

"Uraraka..." Izuku looked down in shock.

She was pulling at Star's chains, searching quickly for a lock or a knot. Something to untie or break possibly.

Star mumbled weakly against her.

"Huh?" She asked.

"These chains...cannot hold me..." She said. Flexing her muscles, the chains snapped under the pressure and Uraraka quickly tapped her before she could fall.

"Throw me." She ordered.

Uraraka nodded and grabbed her, swinging the hero around in the air, she let go and watched as Stars n Stripes ascended rapidly up the building's side.

Popper's dart targeted the villains as they were now free. It tore through the Nomu's heart and back out the other side before tearing through Muscular's shoulders.

The Nomu grunted and dropped to its knees for a moment, but then it stood back up as its wounds sealed themselves.

Evil Deku found his rifle again and shot the dart out of the air. It exploded into pieces of bone and crumbled.

Popper gasped at the sight.

The villainous young man then pointed his gun to the hero. Iida attempted to push him out of the way using his thrusters to rush them both past as the gun fired. He felt the bullet hit his white armor, cracking it, but no other apparent damage.

Now the three villains stood between the two heroes and the levels above.

"Goodbye, heroes." Evil Deku said with a deathly glare, his smile was gone.

Popper held up his arm defensively in front of Iida. "You may be a hero, Ingenium. But you're also a kid."

"How noble." Evil Deku smirked.

"Now you're dead." Muscular hissed.

Popper stood his ground as the two tank villains approached, towering over him.

"A true hero fights even when he has nothing to fight with."

Iida stood behind him, frozen. "Do something or he'll die!" He heard himself say.

Activating his engines, he blasted through the scene, taking Popper and himself away while swinging his turbo leg at the closest villain's face, which happened to be Muscular.

Nomu roared and charged after them. They ran through the building until Iida leapt up, carrying Popper, and grabbed the next floor's ledge.

Popper climbed up on his own and helped Iida up, but the Nomu grabbed Iida's leg and squeezed.

He roared out in pain as he heard his leg shatter like a bag of chips. He felt every snap and it was nothing for the Nomu to do. It stared at him with its lifeless eyes while Popper grabbed his arms, attempting to pull him up.

"I can't believe I let this kid literally break himself to save me!" He thought. "I got you, Iida!" He called.

Iida moaned and whimpered, gritting his teeth as he tried to pull himself up to Popper. The Nomu kept its grip and almost looked like it wasn't trying to pull him down or let him go. Just motionless.

It let go then and marched back.

Popper finished pulling him up and setting him down on his butt. "I'm so sorry this happened." He said as he gently lifted the teenager's leg to survey the damage. "Just lie still. I'm going to get you out of here."

"W-Why did it retreat?" Iida coughed.

"Its owner must've called it back. They are fighting older versions of your friend, after all." The purple-haired man answered.

"Midoriya... and Uraraka..." He moaned.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure they're safe too." The hero nodded.

Meanwhile, the collapse of the machine sent the crane crumbling under its own weight and the damages it received.

Uraraka looked up in horror, still floating underneath it. She screamed out loud, attracting the attention of Izuku and the others. Without thinking, his body moved on its own accord. He leapt down the building to catch her.

Suddenly, Maeko reemerged on a hovercraft of his inventions, crashing into Izuku and forcing him back up the building.

Uraraka watched it happen and closed her eyes as the crane quickly approached her.

Just then, Vigilante Deku blasted his way to her, grabbing her, and yanking her out of the path of the falling debris as Black Whip carried them up to a safer platform.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he cradled her bridal style and tore off his red mask.

"Yeah... I think so." Noticing he had tears in his eyes, she lightly touched his cheek. "Are you okay?"

He looked for a second before nodding. "Yeah... I'm okay."

The Doctor began to turn on the machine again up top. The hostages cried out in pain as it hummed to life and began to tear open a portal that looked like it defied all laws of physics. It looked two dimensional, but acted like a three dimensional object, with a gravity that lifted the machine into the air.

"Hatsume! It's up!" Future Shigaraki called.