I do not own My Hero Academia or any of its characters.
Trouble
Lee sighed as he stared at his reflection. His exoskeleton was deployed along his arms but the hands were folded outward onto the backs of his forearms and folded up into a rectangular box of splints an inch wide. For formal clothes, he had a charcoal suit with a white undershirt and a metallic blue tie. He'd have to roll the sleeves up if he needed to use his exoskeleton, but he was doubting that would be a problem.
"You ready?" Momo asked.
He nodded as he looked over at her, then smiled widely, taking in her choice of attire, then Mina and Toru as they stepped into the doorway, too. Momo had on a slim green dress that was cut in a thin "V" to expose her cleavage, a gold necklace, and had her hair pinned up on top of her head with a gold hairpin. Mina was wearing a silvery blue dress that turned pink when it caught the light just right, had spaghetti straps over her shoulders, hung low on her chest to expose more cleavage than Momo's, and had a slit up the right side to high on her hip, and paired the dress with silver heels, and Toru wore a dress similar to Mina's, except light pink and with the straps being full cloth ones, rather than spaghetti traps. She was also blushing profusely from the amount of cleavage exposed, but only Lee would be able to see it.
"You all look beautiful," Lee smiled.
"Good," Mina smiled. "We wanted to make it hard for you to choose a bed to not sleep in tonight."
Lee sighed, shaking his head. "You succeeded. Come on. We gotta pick up Kyoka on the way, right?"
Momo nodded and linked his arm through Lee's when he offered it, Toru taking the other one as Mina took Toru's free arm. They walked to Kyoka's room and Momo excused herself from the chain in order to walk with her, at least until they met up with Kaminari, and only after convincing a shy Kyoka to go at all, so Mina took her spot. A few seconds of riding the elevator later, they stepped out into the lobby where all of the others were waiting. Uraraka had a white and pink dress with the bottom remining Lee of a tutu, Kyoka had a pink dress with purple across the chest under a black jacket and her hair pinned up, Midoriya had on a blood red pinstripe suit with a yellow shirt and a black bowtie, Todoroki had on a white jacket with black lapels, a blue undershirt and a red tie with diagonal black stripes, Mineta and Kaminari were still in their waiter uniforms of white shirts, black pants, and black vests, and Iida had on a dark blue suit with a white shirt and yellow tie.
"Apologies for the tardiness," Momo said. "Lee was taking a while to get ready, and Jiro's feeling shy."
"I had to struggle to get my suit on over my exosuit without ripping it but still be able to use it if necessary," Lee defended himself as Kyoka walked over to join Kaminari.
"This is fancier than anything I've ever worn before," Kyoka said. "It feels like a costume."
"You look beautiful," Kaminari smiled, kissing her.
Just then, the elevator opened and Mineta began to drool, Kaminari struggling not to stare for fear of offending Kyoka as Melissa ran over in a strapless dress with a white skirt, a dark blue top, a black cloth belt with a decorative white rose on the left side, a thin black choker necklace, a black bow to hold her hair in a ponytail, and a thin red headband.
"Oh good!" Melissa smiled. "I thought I was going to miss you guys!"
"The headliner has arrived!" Mineta sobbed dramatically.
Lee chuckled. "She misses the traveling circus already."
Melissa laughed. "I wouldn't call you all that."
"We would," Kyoka said. "We even have clowns." She gestured at Kaminari and Mineta, who both deflated.
"Let's get downstairs to the party," Melissa said.
Lee looked around, frowning. "We're still missing Eijiro and Bakugo."
"Eijiro?" Melissa asked.
"Kirishima," Kyoka said. "Lee has this thing about calling everyone by their first name, which for someone from Japan is weird."
Lee shrugged.
"No good," Iida said. "They're not picking up. Knowing those two, they're just blowing off the party."
"Or they're lost," Lee said.
Just then, an alert system began to warn of an explosive having been found on the island and that it was being placed on a high alert. Everyone was advised to clear the street within ten minutes or be arrested, and then heavy metal shutters were closed over every window and door, trapping them in the room. Lee sighed heavily.
"That didn't take long," he said, opening his sleeves and trying to deploy his exosuit's hands, only for them to get caught. "Oh for...Jesus. I wish I had my exosuit. Just slip on some gloves and I'm good to go."
"Sorry," Momo grimaced as he rolled his sleeves up to make room for the hands.
"It's fine," he sighed. "I got it now."
"I don't suppose you have any more of these, Melissa?" Midoriya asked, raising his right hand, his sleeve falling down to expose a red bracelet.
"Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "That's the only one."
"A bracelet?" Uraraka asked, trying to hide her jealousy.
"It's a support gauntlet," Midoriya said, pressing a blue button on the back of it.
Instantly, it shone white and seemed to come alive, extending and wrapping around and around his arm before stopping, turning back to red and leaving a fingerless gauntlet with a blue strip of something across the knuckles.
"Whoa!" everyone said.
"Is that...nano-tech?" Lee asked.
"Not exactly," Melissa said.
"Do you happen to have the atomic data and structure?" Momo asked. "I could try replicating it with my Quirk."
"It's in my office," Melissa said.
"If it's alright for us to have that, that'd be insanely useful as an upgrade for my suit," Lee said. "How good is it?"
"The first one I made was able to stand up to Uncle Might's punches three times," Melissa said, Lee gaping at the gauntlet.
Even his exosuit had failed at that.
"I'm not getting any signal," Todoroki said. "Looks like my service is completely blocked."
"I can't get in touch with Amy's computer either," Legacy said. "It's a complete signal blackout."
"The elevator's not working either," Kyoka reported.
Lee sighed. "Well, since I'm assuming it's villains, and the heroes at the party probably have their hands tied, I guess we're up."
The others all nodded, except Mineta.
"Aw, not more villains!" Mineta whined. "Why's it always gotta happen to us?"
"Because we have horrible luck," Lee said. "Now, We need to get to wherever the security is controlled from. Melissa?"
"We could take the emergency stairs part of the way," Melissa said.
"Wait, why do we have to shut down the system?" Todoroki asked.
"Well, high alert isn't what the system should normally do for a bomb threat," Melissa said, frowning. "If it is villains, it would explain why it's acting differently. They could have control of it."
"I see," Todoroki nodded. "If they had control, what could they do?"
"Well, to put it basically, everyone on the island could be held hostage," Melissa said.
"Then we don't have a choice," Todoroki said. "Even if we're wrong, we should go and check on the security system to see what's wrong with it."
Melissa nodded.
"Shouldn't we just sit and wait?" Mineta asked. "They have the actual pros caught already."
"Not because they beat them," Lee said. "They caught them off guard and are using who knows how many hostages to stay their hands. Just because they're unable to do anything doesn't mean we can't win. Besides, if you happened to save a pretty girl from villains, who knows how thankful she might be."
"We're going!" Mineta shouted, jumping up.
"Mineta, hush!" Uraraka and Toru both hissed.
"We need to get moving, and quickly," Lee said.
"And carefully," Momo said. "We should avoid fighting."
"The security system is on the top floor," Melissa said.
"Then that's probably where most of the villains are," Momo said.
"Which means we need someone they won't see coming, and a set of communicators that we can use inside the tower from a few floors away," Lee said, looking to Toru and Momo.
Momo's eyes widened before she smiled and nodded, forming a pair of earbuds in the palm of her hand, giving one to Toru and the other to Melissa.
"These micro-communicators are a design I saw at the expo," Momo said. "They should still work and should reach about eight floors."
"Right," both nodded.
"Well, I guess I'll have to get into costume then," Toru said.
Everyone except Lee froze just before Toru dropped her dress, Lee looking away, being the only one who could see her.
"It's alright, Lee," Toru said, though she was blushing profusely.
"Why did...you...have a costume on under the dress, right?" Melissa asked, blushing bright red.
"Nope," Lee said. "She's naked."
"Lee!" Toru cried in embarrassment. "Don't say it like that!"
"I could say streaking," Lee offered.
"Could we take this a bit more seriously, please?" Iida asked. "We need to focus."
"Believe me, I am," Lee said. "I've been using my neural implant to come up with a plan for stealth. Toru will walk two hundred feet ahead of us and use the communicator to tell us if any hallways aren't clear. Any time we have to go through a door or up a ladder, Kyoka will check it first. And if we get into a fight, Midoriya, Todoroki, or I will handle it before we get our cover blown. Melissa, I hate to ask this now, of all times, but is your office on the way?"
Melissa nodded. "Why?"
"Because Midoriya might need both hands, depending on our luck," Lee said. "Once we get the atomic and structural data for your gauntlet, Momo can make him one for his left hand."
Melissa nodded. "That's an insanely useful Quirk."
"You have no idea how many times I've tried to make her understand that," Lee sighed. "Alright. Let's get going."
"Hang on," Iida said. "I think Melissa should stay here."
"Yeah, I think so, too," Midoriya nodded.
"Do you happen to know how to change the setting on the security system?" Lee asked, both freezing. "I thought not. We need her. But with all of us here, we can also protect her. Just think of it as a VIP drill from training. Our class has never failed those."
Everyone nodded, and Midoriya forced the doors to the emergency stairs open, all of them heading into it and up. By the time they hit the thirtieth floor, Lee stopped.
"Melissa, how high does it go?" Midoriya asked.
"The...two hundredth floor," Melissa panted.
"Wait, the what!?" Kaminari asked.
"Then we're doing this wrong," Lee said. "Midoriya, Todoroki, and I should carry the rest of you while Uraraka keeps you all weightless."
"Why you three?" Mineta asked.
"Because I can run to the twentieth floor quickly without being too tired, Midoriya can do the same, and Todoroki, I assume, can make an ice slide to take him up without running out of power."
Todoroki nodded. "It'll be cramped, though, which is why I'll have to carry a couple of you."
The others all looked around before nodding. Uraraka removed everyone's weight and they quickly split them up before the three designated to carry took off again, all moving much more quickly this time with each using their Quirks to ascend the stairs faster. However, a few moments later, they were forced to stop on floor eighty when they found the stairs blocked by a blast door.
"I'm guessing breaking that open would trip the security system," Lee said.
"Yeah," Melissa nodded.
"Uraraka, release your Quirk," Lee instructed, Uraraka sighing in relief as everyone dropped to the ground. "We'll have to take a detour."
Then, before anyone, even Lee, could stop him, Mineta opened the door onto the floor.
"Shit!" Lee swore. "Okay, change of plans. we're going to be going through this building much faster than before. Thanks to Mineta, they know we're here."
"Then we'll have to move quickly," Todoroki said.
They all nodded and took off, Toru leading them and Melissa telling them that there was another emergency stairs at the far end of the hallway. However, just as they reached the midway point, blast doors began to close. Toru shouted in surprise, turning to run back to them, only for Lee to scoop her up and slip back through the door between them before it could close. At the same time, Iida blasted a door on the inside curve of the rounded hallway, breaking into a room filled with plants. The others all scrambled over the bottom half of a door Todoroki had blocked with ice, running into the room after him.
"What is this place?" Midoriya asked.
"It's a plant factory," Melissa said. "They research the effects that Quirks have on fauna here."
"Hold on!" Jiro said, stepping in front of everyone and holding out her hand. "Look! The elevator's coming up!"
"Then this is where we fight," Lee said, stepping out front with Todoroki. "You all keep moving. We've got this."
"No," Midoriya said. "We should hide and let them pass."
Lee watched him for a moment before nodding, all of them running over behind a cluster of bushes, Toru leaning out to watch without her earbud, though everyone else was watching around the bush anyway. As they waited, Melissa explained that only authorized people were able to take that elevator, so they couldn't, and it was built like a bomb shelter, so they wouldn't even be able to break in to try it.
Finally, the door opened, a pair of men with dark green military-style uniforms and black tactical gear stepping out. One was a bit short and round with black hair in corn rows. The other was about eight feet tall, built like a nail with his head widening but a bit flat, and messy green hair in a beard and sticking up from the back half of his head down the sides and onto his cheeks in a pair of points. As they walked into the plant factory, they discussed the fact that they'd been told Lee and the others were in the plant factory. Everyone froze, Lee, Midoriya, and Todoroki preparing to fight.
"Hey!" the tall skinny one shouted. "We see you, you stupid kids."
Lee prepared to stand, only for Mina to catch his arm.
"What'd you say, you bastard?" Bakugo growled, Lee's head whipping around to the side to where Bakugo and Eijiro were stepping out from behind a bush. Bakugo had on a pair of grey slacks, a blue grey vest with black on the sides with white roses inside the black, two flowers per side, and a red button up shirt with a black tie. Eijiro had on a grey suit with a black button down shirt and a dark red tie. Lee sighed silently. Of course they were there. Lee could end it quickly, but Bakugo and Eijiro could make a better distraction.
"What are you two doing here?" the fat villain asked.
Bakugo huffed starting forward. "That's what I wanna know, too."
"Hey, man," Eijiro said, catching him. "Just leave this to me, okay?" He smiled sheepishly as he started forward, one hand behind his back and the other scratching the back of his head. "Um, we kind of got lost looking for this party. Can you, maybe, point us in the right direction?"
"How did they get all the way up to the eightieth floor looking for the reception?" Mineta asked quietly.
"Don't lie to me," the skinny one said, his right hand suddenly growing into a webbed cone, "or you'll REGRET IT!" He swung his hand, sending a massive blast of some kind at Eijiro.
However, before it could hit, or Bakugo or Midoriya could intervene, Todoroki had formed a wall of ice to block the blast and encase the two villains inside the ice, though Lee had already pulled Eijiro out of the way and dropped him off beside Bakugo.
"Lee?" Bakugo asked.
"Todoroki?"
"The three of us can handle this," Todoroki said, forming a pillar of ice under the others. "You all head for the top."
"Todoroki!" Midoriya called out worriedly.
"I'm fine!" Todoroki called back. "You go, too, Lee."
Lee nodded. "Give 'em hell, boys."
The others nodded and Lee raced up the side of the pillar, jumping over it for a moment before landing beside Mina in a crouch, then standing.
"They'll be fine, Midoriya," Lee said. "Todoroki and Bakugo may not have been there for Overhaul, but Bakugo did fight All Might during his finals and Todoroki fought worse than these two at the training camp. Plus, he's Todoroki."
Midoriya nodded. "Right."
The pillar stopped at a bridge and Lee shot forward, exploding through the next door, allowing the others to follow him.
"This way's blocked, too," Iida said.
"Great!" Mineta said sarcastically. "Then what are we supposed to do? We're like helpless mice stuck in a fancy cage!"
"We need a plan," Kaminari said.
"I could just break every door open," Lee offered. "Not sure how long it would take, but it's not impossible."
"Hey, Melissa, where does that little vent up at the edge of the ceiling lead to?" Midoriya asked, pointing. "Over there."
"I think it runs under the maintenance room under the sunlight system," Melissa said.
"There's probably an emergency ladder in the maintenance room, right?" Iida asked.
"Well, yeah, there is, but it's a manual release, so someone would have to be inside to let it down for us," Melissa said.
"Mineta, you're up," Lee said.
"What!?" Mineta shrieked, just as Momo hurled a small explosive, getting it stuck to the door perfectly, blasting the vent open.
"Nice throw!" Lee grinned.
"Thanks," Momo smiled.
"Are you crazy!?" Mineta shrieked. "Do you have any idea how high up we are!?"
Kaminari knelt beside him. "If you save everyone, they'll do an interview with you on TV, and then you'll be popular with girls everywhere. Just imagine the harem."
"OKAY FINE! I'LL DO IT! WHATEVER!" Mineta shrieked, crying from fear but accepting the job.
Then, he was off. Lee grinned, nodding to Kaminari.
"Is he seriously that desperate to be liked by girls?" Melissa asked.
"It's his whole reason for being a hero," Lee shrugged.
"That's kind of...sad," Melissa said.
"He's not so bad," Lee smiled. "He can be annoying, but he's not a bad guy. Just a pervert."
"Says the guy with three girlfriends," Kaminari said.
Just then, the ladder dropped and they all climbed up it quickly.
"Some kisses from the ladies, please," Mineta said as Lee got to the top of the ladder, Melissa just behind him.
"You were incredible Mineta," Melissa smiled. "As I'd expect from a student hero."
Mineta's eyes widened in awe before he began to struggle not to cry from joy. Lee smirked and shook his head, patting Mineta on the head beside his hairballs.
"Well done," Lee said. "Now, let's get moving, shall we?"
"Yeah!" everyone cheered, all of them beginning to run along the hallway. As they did, anyone who noticed a camera destroyed it. Lee blasted through the door to the stairs and they continued up, only for them to have to exit on the hundredth floor again. Except, all the barriers were open now. They continued to run, taking a series of stairs upward, having to alternate every so often now.
"Looks like we've gotten pretty lucky," Kaminari said. "The path's been clear since we passed the hundredth floor."
"Yeah, do you think we lost them, maybe?" Uraraka asked.
"I doubt that's it," Kyoka said.
"It's quite possible that they're leading us somewhere," Momo said.
"Likely," Iida nodded.
"Even if that's the case, we've almost made it to the top floor," Midoriya said.
"Don't let your guard down," Lee said. "It's definitely a trap."
"Hold on, my lab's in here," Melissa said.
Everyone nodded and Lee smashed through the door, apologizing to Melissa, only for her to ignore him, running to her computer. After a few moments, she pulled up the atomic and structural data for her gauntlet. Momo studied it for a long few moments before forming a left-handed gauntlet from her hand. She passed it to Midoriya, who slipped it on and activated it.
"I'm not sure it'll be as good as the one she gave you, but it should be enough to help."
Midoriya nodded. "Thanks. If I had my hero costume on it wouldn't be a problem, but this will be enough."
Momo passed Lee a pair as well and he slipped the bracelets on under his exoskeleton before deploying the hands again.
"Let's keep moving," Lee said. "We'll need to be quick."
The others all nodded and they continued to run. A handful of floors later, they stopped on the hundred thirtieth floor when they found security drones.
"So many sentries!" Uraraka breathed.
"It looks like they're not trying to block us in anymore," Iida said. "They're actually trying to capture us."
"If so, then I bet they know that we're Hero Course students," Midoriya said.
"I can clear the room," Lee said, standing across from the door and taking a runner's starting position. "They'll probably send reinforcements after."
"Kaminari and I will stay to deal with them if they do," Kyoka said.
Lee nodded and Iida and Midoriya opened the door. Just as the first of the sentries began to turn, Lee exploded into the room, streaking around the room and obliterating most of the robots in seconds before skidding to a stop as a group raced toward the others. Before he could stop them, however, Midoriya's fist slammed into the first one, a massive blast of raw power going off and launching them all off the platform they were on.
"Nice!" Lee said, everyone else running into the room.
"Backup's coming from the left!" Kyoka called out.
"Then we're going this way!" Lee said, running away from the backup. "Let's save the sacrifices until we have to!"
"Right!" the others nodded, running after him.
"What's with that gauntlet, Deku?" Uraraka asked. "It's amazing!"
Midoriya nodded and looked back to Melissa. "It worked perfectly, Melissa. Thanks."
"I'm so glad you brought it!" Melissa smiled.
"I didn't know how to get it off my arm," Midoriya admitted, Melissa giggling.
They kept running, and after a few minutes, they reached the hundred thirty eighth floor, the server room. Kyoka had checked on the floor below and reported the floor should be clear, but Lee wasn't quite as optimistic. Sure enough, the door they were heading for opened and dozens of sentries began to spill through.
"Let's break through, Lee," Midoriya said.
"Wait a second!" Melissa said. "We can't damage these servers! It could affect this island's security system!"
"Alright then," Lee said. "Mineta, start sticking as many in place as you can."
More sentries began to drop from the room's upper levels.
"How many of these things are there!?" Mineta demanded.
"We'll stay here and deal with the sentries while protecting the servers," Momo said.
"Right," Iida said. "Midoriya, Lee, Uraraka, Toru, and Melissa should keep going. That way you'll be able to handle any situation you meet."
Those he'd specified nodded and lee quickly gave Mina and Momo a kiss before they all turned and headed for a ladder leading to the next level up. They headed through it and found the next set of stairs, finally getting to huge open section where there were dozens of wind turbines.
"What is this place?" Midoriya asked.
"The wind power generator," Melissa said.
"So what are we doing here?" Midoriya asked.
"There are more robots in the tower, probably just waiting there for a chance to ambush us," Melissa said. "But if we climb to the top from here, we'll avoid them. There's an emergency exit we can enter." She pointed to the roof, hundreds of feet above them.
"All the way up there?" Midoriya asked.
"Piece of cake," Lee said. "I can run up the wall with Toru, You can probably jump from turbine to turbine, and Uraraka can float herself and Melissa up."
Uraraka nodded, but it was quickly decided Midoriya should take Melissa in case he had to protect her. She made them both weightless so they could get up faster, but just as he jumped, a door opened, sentries beginning to pour out of it. Lee narrowed his eyes, throwing Toru and Uraraka both over his shoulders and exploded up the wall, Uraraka shrieking in surprise and fear. A second later, Bakugo, Todoroki, and Eijiro arrived, instantly tearing into the sentries.
"We'll deal with these!" Todoroki shouted up to them as Lee stopped at the top and let Uraraka down to vomit, Midoriya and Melissa landing safely a few feet away. "Keep going!"
Lee nodded down at him and set Toru on her feet. Once Uraraka had stopped throwing up, they all headed inside.
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