The next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground, blinking up at Miss Arrow.
"You ok, Ingenium?"
"Yes - I - What?"
She pointed. Envy was lying knocked out on the ground. Ashido's team was poised to fight the remaining villains.
"Your friends came to your rescue. Envy was using you and your speed to keep us on the defense."
My speed...
Recipro-Turbo, unfortunately, works much like Reciproburst. Once the initial ten minute burst of speed is over, my engines are shot for some time. Which meant I would be unable to help until my body recovered.
"Miss Arrow, I am so -"
"No time for that." She'd turned. Gluttony had attacked Ashido's team, and it was taking the three pro heroes and Ashido's efforts to stop her from caving the whole bulding in on us.
"Ingenium," said Manual,grabbing my arm and pulling me upwards as I was now unable to walk.
Lust had grabbed Envy and was giving us the once over.
Greed punched one hand into the other. "Fine, you dumb heroes want a fight? Bring it on!"
"You're outnumbered," said Manual, taking up an offensive stance.
"You're outmatched," replied Lust. "Gluttony!"
Gluttony grinned - it was the creepiest thing I'd ever seen - and dissolving goop went flying all around the room. The floor around us caved in and we slid downward, Arrow attempting to grab us both and jump out of the crater. It was too late.
We'd fallen down to the next level and were facing Lust and the knocked out Envy, while Ashido's team we could hear above were facing Greed and Gluttony.
"Envy will be up soon," said Lust, laying her ally down to the ground and facing the three of us. "Now, for you two."
"Don't bother with me, Mr. Manual!" I told him, as he bent to pick me up. "Stop them!"
Manual and Miss ARrow took up offensive positions, facing Lust. She grinned, and suddenly I felt she must be using her quirk. My sense for what was going on was suddenly vague and blurry. I couldn't seem to piece a thought together - and from the looks of things, Manual and Miss Arrow were having trouble too, swaying on the spot.
"That's right. Well done, pro-heroes."
She had seized Mr. Manual and was preparing to kiss him - a kiss I knew from the briefings would be deadly...
I felt my mind getting hazy, with strange thoughts - the sort of thoughts about women I usually scolded Mineta for entertaining...hazy thoughts of beautiful women from magazines and the movies, and inappropriate thoughts of my fellow classmates that I always forced away to remain professional, respectful, and good...
Thoughts of Uraraka's charming smile...
And of that unfortunate time I'd bumped into Hagakure in costume...
And of Yaoyorozu's uniform...Yaoyorozu...Who is currently - who knows - going to save Jirou?
My attention snapped back. Yaoyorozu is risking her life, as are all your classmates - concentrate, don't let this villain win!
But without my quirk, what can I do?
It feels so sluggish - so hopeless - like lying on the ground and watching the Hero Killer attack Todoroki and Midoriya...
The tale of a quirkless boy on the news who confronted a powerful supervillain, foolishly running into danger even if it meant death...It was all over the news a year or so back. I had noted it, among the various reports, but had never thought about it again much until now. But the report on television popped into my mind again, a memory that I had not consciously connected, and suddenly I remembered that the boy involved had curly green hair and freckles and a rather familiar face...
I wasn't sure why the report had called him quirkless...
"Deku's just a quirkless loser." "What are you talking about? He has a quirk..."
Bakugou's anger when Midoriya had suddenly used his quirk in front of us for the first time - for whatever reason, then, Midoriya's quirk must have manifested late. He must have grown up believing himself quirkless...
And if he could still run into danger, with no powers, against a villain that gave All Might himself trouble...then I cannot give up, just because my quirk has lost power.
I pushed myself up to my feet. It was an unbelievably painful experience, my legs protesting through each exertion, but I did it, standing at last to face Lust as she was about to defeat - perhaps kill - my Master.
"Let him go."
She looked at me and blinked in shock. "You shouldn't be able to move."
She dropped Manual and came towards me, preparing I could tell to turn her quirk on me even more powerfully. Manual and ARrow were still seemingly paralyzed, shaking, unable to move.
I pushed myself forward. I have to knock her out. More wild images of lustful, beautiful women were forced into my brain. But I had to let them go. Too much counted on it. In this situation, Midoriya would not give in.
If you are truly detached from worldly desires, then images of naked women mean no more than images of waterfalls. That is part of the true philosophy. They are images and nothing more.
I punched her in the face, knocking her backwards and knocking off her mask. She skidded back onto the floor and pushed herself up to glare at me. Her real face was indeed devastatingly beautiful, a soft glow seeming to come from her features. They were twisted, however, into a hate-filled glower now.
"You stupid brat. Are you dead? Have you no desire?"
"My true desire is to destroy you, villain! You can awaken no other desire within me!"
"You're powerless. You cannot beat me."
"My quirk may be broken," I returned. "But the only ones who are truly powerless are those who do not try. Surrender now!" I took a step forward on my protesting leg. She jumped up, and I could see she was grabbing a knife from her belt.
"Hiya!"
A water fountain knocked her backwards, followed by a flash of white knocking her forwards. Manual and Miss Arrow were back, and they had knocked Lust down - and out.
"It seems she needs eye contact," panted Manual, who was shaking a little from whatever Lust had done to him. "Well done, Ingenium."
"Good job, kid," said Arrow, pulling rope from her belt to bind Lust's arms and wrapping her own scarf around her eyes as a blindfold.
"Let us rejoin the others! They will need backup - we can take these two to the police -"
"I'm afraid not," said Miss Arrow.
"Why? What's wrong?" said Manual. Arrow turned to us and then jumped forward, shoving us both into the wall at top speed. I looked behind her and realized that Envy had awoken while we were tying up Lust.
And taken Arrow.
"Now, let's try this again."