My Hero Academia Symbol of Hope (DC x MHA)

Peace at Last

The silence after the storm was deafening. Dust still drifted lazily in the air as Izuku and Kara forced their exhausted bodies to move, every step like dragging boulders. Their lungs burned, muscles screamed, but neither hesitated.

"Rody..." Izuku muttered, voice breaking with desperation.

Together they sprinted down the shattered corridors, their hearts pounding louder than their footsteps. The alarms of the base blared around them, the countdown still flashing across broken screens—00:00:12... 00:00:11...

At last, they burst into the control room.

"RODY!" Kara cried out.

There he was, slumped against the console, blood staining his shirt where the laser had struck. His breathing was shallow, but his eyes fluttered open at the sound of their voices.

"You guys..." he whispered hoarsely, lips curling into a faint grin. "Took you long enough."

Izuku rushed to his side, dropping to his knees. "Don't talk! We'll get you out of here!" His hands trembled as he tried to put pressure on the wound, but his eyes darted to the console. The countdown glared back at him—00:00:05... 00:00:04...

And then—

Pino.

The little bird-like Quirk fluttered from Rody's shoulder, wings beating desperately, and with all its tiny might pushed the deactivation key into the slot. The console lit up with a cascade of green lights, and the countdown froze at 00:00:01 before vanishing completely.

Bomb deactivation complete.

The message flashed across every monitor.

The three of them stared in stunned silence. Kara's hands flew to her mouth, tears brimming in her eyes. Izuku's own chest heaved, relief flooding his veins like a tidal wave.

Rody chuckled weakly, coughing from the effort. "Guess... guess I'm not so useless after all."

Above him, Pino spun in a circle before perching on the console, giving them a tiny thumbs-up with its wing.

Izuku laughed through his tears, clutching Rody's shoulder. "You saved everyone, Rody. You saved the world!"

Kara leaned down beside them, brushing her hair back from her sweat-streaked face. Her voice cracked with warmth. "And you proved your father never stopped caring... he'd be proud of you."

Rody's eyes softened, his gaze distant but filled with peace as he looked at Pino. "...Yeah. He would."

The alarms faded. The world was safe.

And in that moment, the three of them—two young heroes and one boy who had carried more weight than anyone ever realized—allowed themselves to finally breathe.

All across the world, the silence that followed was soon broken—by cheers.

In Otheon, in Klayd, in the sprawling cities across the globe where the Trigger Bombs had been planted, heroes stood frozen for a moment as the red countdown lights faded to black. One second... then another... and still, no detonation.

The realization struck like lightning.

"We did it!" a hero cried in the capital, throwing their arms into the air.

"Bombs are deactivated! All units, stand down!" another voice roared over comms, echoing across the world.

The cheers rose higher, mixing with tears, laughter, and exhausted embraces.

Inside the World Heroes Association headquarters, the control room erupted with clapping, some heroes pounding their desks, others falling back into their chairs in sheer relief. Screens that had once flashed impending doom now glowed with green-coded safety confirmations.