🟢 Upper Floors: The Infiltration Team's Choice
____________________________________________________________
In a dimly lit hallway lined with plant racks and fluorescent bulbs, tension strangled the air. Everyone had gone silent after Melissa's revelation.
"These security bots…" Melissa's voice trembled slightly. "They're not the usual hallway guards. They're pro hero-level deterrents, designed to handle high-tier villains… my father perfected them."
A beat passed. Then another. Heavy breaths, shifting feet.
Denki Kaminari stepped forward, his expression sharper than they had ever seen.
"Then… it should be me."
Everyone turned, stunned.
"Denki, are you out of your mind?!" Jirou snapped, her voice cracking with a hint of desperation. "You think we're going to leave you behind?!"
Denki didn't back down.
"No. Listen to me for once!" He took a deep breath. "I'm the only one with real mobility besides Midoriya. I can take those bots on, or at least fry their circuits long enough for the rest of you to escape. You all have to keep moving—especially Melissa."
Jirou's hands curled into fists. She looked to Yaoyorozu, expecting her to stop this insanity. But Yaoyorozu… didn't.
Instead, Yaoyorozu lowered her gaze, thoughtful.
"…He has a point," she said, her voice gentle but resolute. "Our top priority is to reach the control room and free the pro heroes. If we lose Melissa, everything ends. Denki's sacrifice might be the only way."
Jirou's jaw dropped.[1]
"Are you serious?! We can't just—"
"Then I'll stay, too," Jirou interrupted herself, her voice suddenly quiet but certain. "If it's a soundproofed upper floor… my sonic attacks won't be useful up there anyway. Down here, I can help Denki stall them."
Silence. Heavy and solemn.
Yaoyorozu hesitated before slowly nodding.
"You two… are you sure?"
Denki turned to Jirou, a bittersweet smirk rising on his lips.
"Guess you're stuck with me, huh?"
Jirou punched his shoulder lightly, a choked laugh slipping down her cheek despite her scowl.
"Idiot… try not to fry your brain too much."
Iida stepped forward, eyes gleaming through his glasses.
"Very well. Denki, Jirou… we entrust this floor to you."
Melissa wiped her eyes quickly and set her jaw.
"Let's go. We have to finish this—for them."
As the infiltration team began sprinting toward the emergency stairwell, Denki and Jirou stayed behind, turning to face the approaching mechanical roar echoing from the shadows.
Jirou slid her earphone jacks into the ground, her hair swaying like a battle banner.
Denki sparked, electricity dancing up his arms.
"Well, Jirou… you ready to rock?"
Jirou smirked, fire in her eyes.
"Always."
🌐 Setting the Stage
A harsh red glow pulsed through the factory as thirty cylinder-shaped combat bots rolled forward in perfect formation, their reinforced chassis glinting under the stark artificial lights. The polished floor of the I-Island plant facility echoed with the hum of synthetic engines, like a growing heartbeat.
Without missing a beat, fifteen bots split off, surrounding Denki Kaminari and Kyoka Jirou in a semi-circle. Their scanners beeped rhythmically, locking on to the two students as their targeting systems whirred to life.
Denki narrowed his eyes.
"Jirou—slow them down a bit?"
Jirou sighed and rolled her eyes, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Right. Because I'm totally a frontliner."
Despite the snark, she acted swiftly—jamming her earphone jacks into the ground and twisting the dial on her amplifiers to max.
A second later, a violent shockwave of sound tore through the facility, cracking tiles and rattling the metal railings. The bots jerked, sensors blinking erratically—until rubberized wheels extended beneath their frames, cushioning the sonic tremors with adaptive insulation.
"Great..." Jirou muttered. "They're learning."
⚡ Round Two: Kaminari's Magnetism
Behind her, Denki had already crouched low, crackling arcs of electricity spiraling along his fingertips like dancing lightning. He discharged a wave of voltage into the circle.
The bots stopped—but instead of collapsing, red plates unfolded from their chassis, grounding the current harmlessly.
Jirou looked at him flatly.
"That was your big play?"
Denki smirked, not discouraged.
"Not the main event. Just wait."
He lifted both hands, fingers splayed. The air shimmered, electromagnetic energy building in concentric pulses around the bots. One by one, the metal drones lifted from the floor, floating like metallic ghosts.
"Electromagnetic levitation," he said with a grin. "If they're metal, they're mine."
Jirou blinked, impressed.
"You… you've been studying?"
Denki shot her a thumbs-up.
"What, you think I'm just a pretty face?"
Before the compliment could land, a counter pulse fired from the bots' cores—disruptive bursts that destabilized the magnetic fields. The floating drones dropped back down in synchronized clangs.
Denki's shoulders slumped.
"Ugh. I really thought that'd hold longer."
Jirou let out a groan.
"Should we run?"
Denki lifted his head, eyes lighting up again.
"Nope. Time for Plan C."
With a dramatic snap of his fingers, Denki polarized the bots' magnetic signatures, turning each one into a magnet that fiercely repelled and attracted the others. Immediately, the drones began slamming into each other, gears grinding as they fused into a tangled, sparking pile of useless tech.
Jirou blinked again.
"Why didn't you do that first?"
"Because levitating them looked cooler."
"Finishing them off in one move would've looked cooler."
"Flying is always cooler."
"You're a total child with an overpowered Quirk."
Jirou spotted a ventilation duct running along the ceiling and pointed at it.
"Toss the bots in there."
With a grumble, Denki lifted the sparking heap with a low electromagnetic pulse and launched them into the duct, which sealed with a heavy clang behind them.
"Y'know," Denki said, wiping sweat from his brow, "your Quirk's strong too."
Jirou shrugged.
"Yeah, but I can't fly, so it's not cool."
"Flying's not the only cool thing," Denki muttered. "...But it is peak awesome."
Jirou rolled her eyes as they both walked out of the factory into another hallway, ready for whatever came next.
"Let's just go, Flyboy."
Denki grinned.
"You got it, Earjack."
[1] "I don't know why but I liked their relationship and don't plan on changing it."