I do not own My Hero Academia or any of its characters.
Struggle
"That's right," the villain smirked. "Decisions, decisions. Stay here and fight the villain only you and All Might can handle in order to protect your class, or go and save your lovely, well-endowed friend and leave the children here to die. Of course, your other friend won't just die, if you decide to stay, but I'm sure you already know that. It's not like it'd be the first girl in your life you couldn't protect from us."
"Mandalay," Lee said. "Warn Momo Yaoyorozu that two of the villains that I fought during my internship are targeting her."
Mandalay passed the message, then paled. "She said she's already fighting them."
Lee swore loudly, trembling with the effort not to run to her aid.
The villain ahead of him smirked. "Time's up, wannabe hero. What's it gonna be?"
And then, he was off. Lee dodged to the side as the villain punched at him, then flipped, slamming a kick into his back and blasting him into the ground.
"Everyone get the fuck out of here!" Lee shouted.
Then, the villain was up, spinning and slamming a kick into the side of Lee's jaw, launching him. He flipped, landing on his feet and skidding to a stop, then exploded forward, grabbing the villain by the throat and slamming him into the ground, beginning to carve a trench with him. Just before they reached a tree, the villain flipped, completely unscathed, and twisted his body, flinging Lee by the arm. Lee landed against the tree on his feet and leap to the side before the villain's fist exploded into it, shattering it.
Lee looked around, seeing the others fleeing just as the villain moved to stop them. Lee shot forward, flipping and slamming both fists down on the villain's back, smashing him to the ground and shattering it, before leaping away. The villain shot after him and Lee turned, streaking through the forest, drawing the villain away from the others while heading for Momo and Aoyama quickly. Momo might be able to hold her own for a short time, maybe, but Aoyama was screwed. Royally and brutally.
The villain chasing Lee appeared on his right and Lee rolled, right hand brushing the villain's arm upward before the left blurred and exploded into the villain's chest, launching him skyward. The villain shouted in pain, streaking away and Lee landed on his feet again, continuing to run, only for the villain to flash to the ground in front of him, landing lightly before spinning and jumping past him, drilling a knee at him. Lee barely managed to get his arms in the way, but the impact skill launching him backward. By some miracle, Lee bounced off the back of his exoskeleton without breaking it or hitting his head, then flipped and slammed his blurred feet to the ground, shattering it but stopping himself. The villain smirked, standing up straight again, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"That wasn't a bad attempt," the villain said. "You actually managed to get further than I was expecting. Hell, we were almost there. Unfortunately..." He looked back as Stitch and Inkling both walked out of the trees, Momo and Aoyama both with cords stabbed through their legs and arms, as Mae had had just before being killed.
"Momo!" Lee gasped.
"I'm sorry Lee," Momo said, face contorted in pain. "I tried to hang on."
"So, this is the deal," the villain in the middle said. "You're going to lead us to Bakugo. Once you do that, we'll make their deaths painless. Then you come back to our master with us, and we'll make the pink one and the invisible ones' deaths painless as well."
"You son of a bitch!" Lee snarled. "I'm going to kill every single one of you!"
"That's not very heroic," the fast one smirked.
"He was like that last time too," Inkling said. "So, should I start saying goodbye to your girlfriend now? Or are you going to be a good boy and lead us to Katsuki Bakugo?"
"Dammit," Lee growled, shoulders slumping. "I don't have a choice."
Suddenly, several things happened at once. Lee felt himself lock into a normal speed at the same time as Inkling's tattoos dulled in color and Stitch's cords fell flat. Le sprinted forward instantly. The normally fast villain moved to stop him, only for Lee to duck under his punch, drilling his own into the guy's gut, nearly making him puke before he jumped, driving his other fist down into his back and smashing him into the ground. At the same time, Aizawa's scarf wrapped around Momo and Aoyama, pulling them away from Stitch. Lee shot forward, grabbing all of the threads piercing his two classmates and yanked, ripping them out. The other two's wounds began to blood instantly, but they were free.
"Can you get them back?" Aizawa asked.
"No," Lee said. "As soon as you blink, I'll have to deal with these three."
"Right," Aizawa nodded, only for Lee to fire a green flare into the air. "What was that for?"
"A signal to the second-fastest person in the class," Lee said. "Head straight toward camp. Iida will meet you."
"Got it!" Aizawa said. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Lee leapt backward from Stitch, his foot touching the ground just before Aizawa turned away. Lightning arcs from his eyes as flames flicked from his rival's, and suddenly the air in all directions was filled with threads and knives. Lee took off instantly, grabbing Aizawa, who was holding the other two over his shoulders, and took off, making sure Aizawa was looking back. Lee's rival appeared beside him and Lee spun, kicking him backward, then landed at a sprint just as Aizawa's Quirk activated, the rival instantly falling behind. Lee skidded to a stop after one second, setting Aizawa down as he deactivated his Quirk, then took off again, returning to where he'd left the other three. The fast one met him instantly, avoiding a punch and turning, grinning as he blurred and drove dozens of punches into Lee before spinning and kicking him under the jaw, launching him. Lee hit a tree chest first and swung himself around it, loosing some of the skin on his hands, but set his feet on the ground in time to take off ahead of Stitch's threads. He shot through the trees around and around in random directions, leaping from some of the trees, keeping Stitch and Inkling from targeting him. Then, as he was leaping between two trees, a black blur shot over, under him, then up beside him before transforming back to the fast villain. He grinned, driving a fist down at Lee's back, only for blue electricity to suddenly scream along all the metal on Lee's body.
The guy shrieked in agony as he hit the metal and was suddenly sent exploding backward through a tree. Lee didn't even question it and as soon as he landed, he shot toward the other two. Stitch roared angrily, sending a wall of threads at Lee, only for Lee to step off a pair of close-together trees off to his right, using them to launch himself over the threads. He flipped, landing directly behind Stitch, whose back was exposed, and exploded forward, drilling a punch into Stitch's back, sending him exploding forward with electricity still screaming over his body and his threads all burned off at the skin. Lee spun as Inkling slashed a swore at him, ducking under it, then shot forward. He saw her tattoos shift into shields this time, but it wouldn't matter with his electricity finally being helpful. Except, it was gone. He swore, his fist blurring less than an inch from hitting her, a dozen punches exploding into her gut and she screamed, exploding through a tree and into another, her shield tattoos cracked now.
"Everyone in Class A and Class B!" Mandalay's voice suddenly said. "In the name of the Pro Hero Eraser Head you are granted permission to engage in combat! I repeat, use your training! You may fight these villains!"
"Way ahead of you, lady," Lee said, just as the fast one began to push himself up. "Fuck."
"Listen, we've discovered one of the villains' targets!" Mandalay said. "It's a student named Kacchan!"
"Bakugo?" Lee asked just before beginning to dodge the villain's blows, blocking the rest of Mandalay's message.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you!?" The guy shouted, striking at Lee again and again, Lee only barely able to fend him off, and that not even well enough to really call it that. "Who knew you had a Lightning Quirk too!"
Lee brushed a punch to the face aside, and one exploded into his gut. Another grazed his shoulder and a kick slammed into his forearms, aimed for his head. He dropped to sweep the villain's legs, and the villain jumped, slamming a kick into his chin and sending him reeling. Another punch exploded into his gut, a straight punch this time. He shot backward, the back of his exoskeleton crashing into a tree before he dropped to the ground. The villain reached him and moved to throw a big right hook so Lee exploded forward. His right foot hooked around behind the villain's before the frame of his exoskeleton's right arm exploded into the guy's chest at almost three hundred sixty miles an hour just as Lee bent forward, smashing the villain into the ground so hard the ground shattered. The blood sprayed out of the villain's mouth and he went completely limp in his crater. Lee sighed, sweat pouring down his face as he tried to catch his breath. However, before he could, threads exploded free of the ground, Lee launching himself backward out of the way as the threads lifted the other villain and pulled him back to Stitch, who was also holding Inkling with his newly reconnected threads.
"I'm impressed," Stitch said, his wide, sadistic, crazed grin covering his face. "You actually beat Instant. Well done. I don't think I've ever seen him lose."
"So that's what he calls himself, huh?" Lee asked. "I like it. Sure beats the hell out of calling yourself Mach."
"Ooo, Mach," Stitch grinned even wider. "I like that one. Well, see you around then, Mach. We'll be going to lick our wounds for a bit. This was fun. Can't wait to see you again."
"What makes you think I'm letting you go anywhere?" Lee growled.
Stitch grinned back at him. "That's simple. You're a hero, and you've got lots of pretty little friends who are in danger. Plus tons of brave little boys trying to save them. Your easiest weakness is that you will do anything for your friends. So run along now and play the hero. We'll see you again. And don't worry. I'm not collecting anyone today."
Lee grit his teeth before turning, speeding off. Stitch was right. He was easy to manipulatewhen it came to his friends. However, even if that weren't the case, it was impossible to retrain all three of them. They were too dangerous. he could keep fighting them and hope All Might, or Aizawa, or someone else showed up, or he could let them get away and focus on saving others. He skidded to a stop at the campground as he spotted Aizawa setting Kota down, then turned to leave again, only to stop.
"Lee!" Aizawa gasped.
"I beat the fast one and the other two took him and left," Lee said. "Are Momo and Aoyama okay?"
"They will be," Aizawa said. "They got caught in an area with poison gas and worked together to draw the villains away from the people they were trying to escort out of the gas."
"Really?" Lee asked. "I actually didn't think Aoyama had that in him. I'm going to try to help the others. Where first?"
Aizawa looked around carefully before pointing to a massive dust cloud. "Carefully investigate that and save anyone who needs it."
Lee nodded and turned, running off. He sped through the trees rapidly before skidding to a stop just as he saw Dark Shadow, now bigger than several houses and with red eyes, fling a man in a black body suit with black leather straps with small red spikes studding it and his arms strapped into a straightjacket through the air into a tree before Bakugo and Todoroki shot past Fumikage, the light of their combined Quirks overpowering Fumikage's Quirk instantly and allowing him to instantly regain control. Lee sighed, walking over while pulling out his phone and calling Aizawa.
"What was it?" Aizawa asked.
"Tokoyami lost control," Lee said. "It's handled, and there's an unconscious villain here."
"Restrain him and get back here with Bakugo," Aizawa said.
"Understood," Lee said. "Todoroki, freeze him."
Todoroki nodded and encased the guy's body in ice. Then, they all looked to around. Midoriya was being held on Shoji's back by his webbed tentacles, and Todoroki had someone else on his back.
"Mister Aizawa wants us back at camp," Lee said.
"Right," Midoriya nodded.
"So our mission is to get Bakugo back to safety by serving as his protectors," Fumikage said.
"It's possible the Pussycats are still fighting in the clearing," Midoriya said. "Going that way would draw the attention of the villains, plus it's longer. We should cut straight across."
"We don't know how many enemies there are," Fumikage pointed out. "We might come across some by chance."
"That's fine," Lee said. "Todoroki and I can manage that. And Shoji can use his Dupli-Arms to scout for enemies while we run."
"And, if you're okay with it, Tokoyami, we can always use Dark Shadow now that we can actually control him," Midoriya added. "Honestly, with a group like this, we could probably even go up against All Might."
"Don't sell your hero short," Lee said. "Out of all of us, only Bakugo's fresh and not carrying someone. You and Shoji are both wounded, with Shoji carrying you and taking half his Dupli-Arms out of the fight. And Fumikage's not going to be able to control Dark Shadow in a protracted fight. Any fights we get into will still be hard. And if the two enemies I've fought before return...If I tell you four to run and leave me on my own, you have to do it. Understood?"
"Now way!" Midoriya said. "We're not leaving a friend-"
"No," Fumikage said. "Lee is right. He's the most capable one here, thanks to his strength. He'll be fine on his own if we run into something we can't handle."
The others who were walking nodded just as Bakugo spoke up.
"I'd be fine by myself!" Bakugo snapped.
"We'll surround you as we walk," Todoroki said flatly.
"I don't need any of your protection dammit!" Bakugo shouted.
Shoji and Todoroki began to walk first, Lee and Fumikage moving to the rear.
"Let's go," Shoji said calmly.
"Don't ignore me!" Bakugo shouted, following them.
"Just make sure you keep up," Todoroki said.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Bakugo said.
After a few minutes of running through the woods, they reached the other path, finding Uraraka pinning down a blonde about their age and Su hanging from a tree off to the tight by her hair. However, the blonde had what looked like a spray can with a needle on one side and a tube on the other in Uraraka's leg, blood being drawn through the tube. Lee blasted over, kicking the blonde's hand off the device and stomping on it, smashing it. The blonde shouted in rage, throwing Uraraka off leaping away, the device pinning Su to a tree, identical to the one Lee broke, returning to her, only for the girl to hit Lee as he sped around behind her, catching both her wrists.
"Welcome back," Lee said.
"Who are you!?" the girl panicked, looking back at him with eyes wide with surprise and fear.
"You're not getting away from me," Lee said.
And then, there was a flash of light before everything went dark.
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