"So, to what do I owe the honor?" His clone asked, a smirk playing on their lips.
Izuku casually looked around as the world shifted once more.
No longer inside the vault but in the familiar white void, inside their territory but it's not like he wasn't expecting it.
"I came to make a deal"
"Oooooh! A deal!" The quirk faked surprise as they placed a hand over their mouth "Has the time finally come? Did you finally realize…" their hand pulled away to reveal a dark smile and their voice dropped to a dangerous tone "that you are nothing without me?"
"Maybe" Izuku shrugs.
The quirk scowls "You just can't let me enjoy anything, but fine I'll listen to you, for now"
That's all he needs.
"We are in the last stretch and we need everyone on board for it to work, so I want you to willingly join us, no more stealing quirks when you want or taking over my body, we do this together"
It is a simple offer of peace but as his clone bursts into laughter, he knows that he is going to have to play rough.
"You really- HA!- YOU REALLY THINK I WILL JUST JOIN YOUR LITTLE GANG OF GUARD DOGS!?" The red eyed boy wipes a fake tear of his eye as he holds his stomach before suddenly stopping, silence falling between the two "What shitty joke is that?"
"You know we could have finished this years earlier" AFO growls "but you just wanted to waste your time with those precious friends of yours"
"So, was it worth it!?" He screams, anger swirling in his eyes "did you feel good as they looked at this stranger!? Did it make you happy!?"
"Now that things are getting risky, what do you do? You come back crawling to us!" The quirk marches up to Izuku and grabs him by the clothes "You could have saved more people, stopped that bastard faster, saved us! So what do you think gives you the right to order us around!?"
"I couldn't just leave the people I cared about like that, I needed to help them-" "And what about all the people you didn't save!?"
"Every day that passed was someone that was taken by the hands of that man, either for their quirks or for materials for Nomu's, are they not worth anything in your eyes? What happened to being a hero!?"
The clone suddenly staggered back, a stinging sensation on their cheek, they raised a hand in shock before looking at Midoriya and his bruised fist.
"A hero?" Izuku's voice was low, no longer holding the same confident tone as before but now filled with a simmering anger "Wasn't it you who said that a villain was better than a dead hero?"
"But you're right, what happened to that dream? Well I have an answer for you" Izuku glared at his copy, hands trembling in a restrained storm of emotions "I am not a hero, I will never be a hero" he was spitting out the title as if it would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
"The only hero here is the one you are copying. Someone who chased after that bright light for so long he had never realized it was too late until it burned him"
"I have lived an entire lifetime fighting for others and what did that gain me!? Nothing! I had lost everything just for that stupid title, so don't you dare call me a hero" he was breathless with anger
AFO gritted their teeth "so that's it? Then what are you? A villain? A vigilante? What will your dear friends think about that?" Fury glowed in their eyes
"I don't care what they think" Izuku bared his teeth. "I finally realized who I am. I'm not a villain, a hero or even a vigilante, I am just a selfish kid who wants the best for those who he can reach" warm tears began to roll down his face
"What others think doesn't matter to me, I'm fine with protecting my own happiness, and the ones within my reach. And if anyone aims for that, then I will just erase them. I think you are misunderstanding something here, but you know? I'm actually…" he raised his eyes to glare at his double who had a snarl on their face "Very, very petty."
As those words of challenge echoed through the air, neither boy spoke but it was clear what was next.
AFO was the first one to strike.
Sending forth a wave of blue flames towards the greenette who covered themselves in green lightning and jumped into the air.
Izuku shot forward blackwhip, black tendrils digging into the ground, and pulled himself forward sending himself forward with the speed of a bullet.
Covering themselves in black lightning, the quirk could only block as Izuku kicked them at mach speed sending them flying back.
AFO roared as their hand morphed, the tips of their fingers becoming metal and splitting open, a spark of light shined from the bottom before a barrage of red bullets flew at Izuku.
Even with enhanced speed, Izuku would not normally be able to dodge the wall of bullets coming at him but as Danger sense activated he was able to use his instincts to avoid any deadly hits and coming out with only a few cuts.
Shooting forward once more Izuku spun in the air as yellow energy covered his foot, the quirk answered back by inflating one of its arms and swinging at the Fa jin infused attack.
The air around them rippled as the two attacks collided, and Izuku clenched his jaw as a spike of pain shot through his head and an image appeared in his mind.
People strapped to tables, a man with a messy white mustache and big googles looking down at them, the sharp edge of the surgical knife on his hand gleamed as the light hit it.
Both fighters were pushed back, Izuku scowled at the pain in his foot and his copy grimaced at the hand that bent the wrong way.
But that didn't stop either of them as they threw themselves at eachother once more.
Being the personification of multiple quirks gave them a few advantages, an example was the suden electricity they released from their hands towards Izuku.
The only down side was their opponent.
Izuku, who has had years of quirk analysis under his belt, was able to figure out how the new attack worked and then counter it or avoid it as the fight went on.
AFO lunged at him with a jaguar's speed, but Izuku lowered his head to dodge their deadly metal covered punch and retaliated with an uppercut. Once more another vision flashed in his mind.
People running, a city engulfed in flames and dark clouds that blocked out the sky.
A man that could only beg for mercy as a large hand came to rest on his head.
The vicious brawl continued for minutes, perhaps hours; the once well thought out movements changed to those similar to wild beasts as the two combatants clawed and pulled at whatever their hands could get a hold of.
Smashing against the ground once more, the two duelists dug each other deeper into the crater they made, one punch at a time, with no one but them as witness.
That's when, with a wild look in their eyes, AFO roared.
Underneath them, the black and red mud spread like water as it covered the ground and from it, human hands began to arise and grab at Izuku.
Jumping back, Izuku witnessed as from the sludge the form of men, women and even children rose in droves and began to rush at him with reckless abandon.
They all fought with different quirks, one man had blades instead of hands, a woman shot electricity against and a child had tried to stop him with telekinesis.
But Izuku only had one goal in mind, so he began to tear through the faceless figures, ignoring the growing migraine that each kill gave him as more images came to mind.
A woman pleading to save her child.
A boy that didn't back down until his last breath.
An old man, bones so weak that they could barely move.
All of them ended as a hand covered their view.
Pushing through Izuku was barely able to reach the red eyed boy, a tired but still sparkling look in their eyes.
AFO was stronger than anyone he had faced, their style was rough and direct, almost robotic, but nonetheless effective. Each of his blows carried as much strength as the first.
But they lacked something priceless, an edge that allowed Izuku to dominate them.
Experience.
As Izuku fell on them and saw them raise their fist, bulging, covered in metal spikes and pulled too far back. He didn't see the manic amalgamation of quirks he had come to fight. He saw the small time villains, psychos, murderers, science abominations and insane leaders that he had bested across the years. He saw all the people he had in close combat over an entire lifetime.
Izuku's body reacted on its own, drawing upon years perfecting his moves and he countered.
Using Float to delay his fall for just a second made AFO stutter, Izuku then went Blackwhip to wrap around their neck and pulled down using them as a point to pull themselves, then spun around once more as their body was covered in yellow sparks and struck.
The clone could barely let out a noise as they were sent flying, Izuku following closely.
AFO seethed with pain and rage, their moves growing wilder, unfocused, desperate. When their fist missed Izuku the very ground trembled before their might. Their lips uttered a single word. "Why?"
"Why are you losing?" Izuku punched them in the face again "Because for all your might, your fists only carry the strength of your hatred behind them. While mine carry the weight of decades, the hopes of thousands."
His arm covered in red lines before going straight at the center of his doppelganger, a satisfying crunch reached his ears.
A kick cut through the air as it struck at their chest, and Izuku smiled at the feeling of their ribs caving in.
AFO sent a fist covered in black lightning, even while beaten and bruised they didn't give up, and OFA answered equally.
The two fists crossed and struck each other directly on the side of their face, pushing each other with all their strength; the two didn't move as only their labored breathing could be heard.
Finally, red eyes blurred and dropped to the ground.
Izuku wiped blood off their lips as they looked at the exhausted body of their clone on the ground.
"So…" the words that came from them were empty, lacking any of the fire and anger they had before. "This is it? Our loss?"
Izuku didn't answer.
They let out a tired laugh "Maybe, this is what we deserved, we are the losers after all so what right do we have to complain…"
"My offer still stands"
"We don't want your pity"
"It's not pity, you may have lost your battles but now, I'm giving you the chance to win the war, to take the revenge you all wanted, all I ask is that we do this together" he stretched out his bruised hand.
Silence was the only thing he received for a while until a grunt broke it and the downed clone struggled to push themselves back to their knees.
"You better honor that or I will make this a living hell"
Izuku smiled as they grabbed their hand.
The world changed and they suddenly found themselves in the vault once more, behind them Toshinori's ghost looked at them with fond expressions.
Izuku opened his eyes to an orange sky.
Slowly rising to his feet, stretching them out after not moving all night, the cold air made his skin tickle.
Taking a deep breath he focused into the well of power within him and pulled.
He felt as the usual energy poured into his body, except this time he could feel something new in it.
As the sun began to rise in the horizon, Izuku stood at the top covered in green and black lightning that danced in harmony with each other.
Now only to set the stage.
--
Nezu had a feeling today was going to be special and his intuition only grew more correct as Aizawa informed him that he would need to talk to him.
But what he wasn't expecting was the hero to walk into his office accompanied with a white haired student.
As the boy took a seat on the chair in front of his desk, Aizawa standing behind them with their arms crossed, Nezu realized, if only by the freckles, that this was Izuku Midoriya.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up as his shining green eyes and glowing red pupils pinned him to his seat.
"Hello director" the boy said with a sweet smile that didn't reach his eyes "I'm here with a proposition"
Nezu couldn't help the sharp smile that came to his face.
