I do not own My Hero Academia or any of its characters.
Beaten
Lee smiled as Rumi smirked at them as they left the train. Mina all but skipped over to hug her, and Rumi hugged her back, then returned to grinning at the others.
"So, how were the foursomes?" Rumi asked once they were close enough that she could keep her voice down.
Lee simply rolled his eyes, but Toru and Momo both turned scarlet, all three blaming the obvious snitch. "Mina!"
Mina grinned, shrugging, and Rumi opened the door of the car they'd be taking back to her office. As soon as the door had closed, she tossed a book to Lee.
"Speed read it," Rumi said. "Tell me when you understand."
Lee raised an eyebrow and raised the book, flipping through the pages in a fan as he used his Neural Implant to process the pages even as they swept from one side to the other. Almost instantly, he realized what she meant. There were sentences highlighted all through it, but as he read through them, Legacy began to analyze why those disconnected sentences and phrases. Finally, as he flipped through the third time, she'd decoded the message.
"The enemy is the Liberation Army. They number over one hundred thousand. Four months to action."
"I understand," Lee said, holding the book out to her. "For the sake of saving time, I'll try and help these three understand some other time. Unless you don't want to train us."
Rumi smirked. "Oh, no, I'm training you. Let's head up to the gym."
Lee nodded, and they followed Rumi to her gym where she began to train them for strength, speed, endurance, and martial arts, though hers was almost entirely kicks, thanks to her Quirk. And that was where they spent the rest of the day. As they trained, Legacy told the girls about the code she'd found in the book Rumi had given to Lee, and all three agreed to train harder than ever before. The next day was spent half with a photoshoot and half with them helping Rumi stop several different villains in her work area. The third day, however, things got complicated. From the moment he awoke, Lee knew it would just by the feel in the air.
He woke the others quickly but quietly, only Rumi immediately noticing that something was amiss, though the other three caught on within seconds of waking by Lee's demeaner. Lee walked to the front door and stopped, looking out of it, narrowing his eyes. Nothing seemed to immediately be out of place. The street wasn't crowded, but it was still early yet, and it didn't look any different than it had the previous morning. Still, something he couldn't identify seemed wrong.
"Rumi, do you see anything out of place?" Lee asked as she joined him. "Or hear anything?"
Rumi stared out the window, ears standing tall and tilting ever so slightly, quivering, only for her to shake her head. "Something's not right."
"It's Instant," Lee warned. "I know it. Or at least, it's his team."
Rumi nodded in agreement. "Hopefully without Spider."
Lee nodded. "We're going to need backup."
"Have someone in mind?" Rumi asked.
Lee narrowed his eyes. "That depends on who Instant sent. If it's Spider, we'll need Endeavor, and a space where he can incinerate everything. If it's Twitch or Pornstar, I'm handling them personally, the same for Instant, though for more obvious reasons. If it's the rest, Eraserhead should do."
"What do we do?" Momo asked, all three knowing their chances against Instant's entire team.
Lee was silent for a long few seconds before deploying his entire exosuit, which covered his new watch as well. "Be careful. I'm going to go out and see who's here."
Rumi nodded, and Lee slid the door open, then tossed a pillow he'd brought from his room through the door. As it passed through the doorway, it seemed to dissolve into a cloud of fluff and scraps of cloth. Instantly, Lee fired a bolt of electricity through the doorway, the electricity hitting the webbing filling it and shining before spreading along it as it incinerated everything behind it. The webbing had been spread all over Rumi's office building but hadn't been spread to the street. As soon as the doorway was clear, Lee exploded out of the building, Rumi and Momo over his shoulders with Toru and Mina on top of them to hold all four while fleeing. However, after barely a quarter mile, he skidded to a stop as Spider stepped out, watching him coldly, fingers twitching and moving at his sides.
"Spider," Lee snarled. "Fuck."
"I'm not here to fight you," Spider said calmly, his voice low and dry, "though I was hoping to get at least one with my trap before. You have good instincts. How did you know?"
"I didn't," Lee said. "If the pillow had been fine, it meant you probably weren't here."
Spider nodded just as the sun peaked over the top of a building, its light catching on two massive walls of webbing filling the street both ahead of them and behind them, as well as any of the alleyways, now that the other members of Instant's team who had been sent had stepped into view. Just past Spider was Splatter, his sword resting on his shoulder. Across from them was Parasomnia. And opposite Lee and the others from those three were Pornstar and Armory.
"Everyone we haven't met yet," Lee growled, looking around the arena Spider had formed, which was about three hundred meters long and only about a hundred feet wide from the buildings on one side of the street to those opposite them.
"If Spider fights, we die," Rumi warned.
"Like I said, I'm not here to fight," Spider said. "If you defeat the rest, I'm supposed to retreat with whoever survives you."
Splatter laughed. "Instant's got too much faith in this kid. I don't care how fast he is. He's dead."
"That's what Twitch, Ion, and Pornstar thought," Armory said.
"And look at Pornstar now," Parasomnia said.
Lee looked over at her, smirking at his handiwork, as well as his handprint. She had a scar in the shape of his hand where he'd grabbed her and channeled his electricity into her body the last time they met. It took up the upper half of her once-beautiful face, then heel of his palm resting on the bridge of her nose and his fingers extending from where the palm ended on the upper half of her forehead into her hair, which had failed to grow back where the scar was, as had the inside halves of her eyebrows where the palm scar covered.
"Your face matches your personality now," Lee taunted.
Pornstar shrieked in outrage, her tentacles extending and extending their stingers. "I'm going to enjoy playing with your whores!"
This served as something of a starting bell, and electricity shrieked over Lee's body as he exploded back to her. Except, when he moved to punch her, it was suddenly Mina, nude, covered in injuries, and sobbing, blood and semen coating her thighs. He froze, only for it to suddenly be Pornstar again, her tentacles' stingers crashing into him and hurling him, but not breaching his exosuit. He flipped, bouncing off of his back before spinning, finding Splatter charging the others as Rumi battled against a horde of grotesque creatures ranging from zombies, to giant spiders, to giant hornets, to mythological creatures like a basilisk, werewolves, and a dragon. The creations, obviously courtesy of Parasomnia, didn't seem exceptionally strong, though the basilisk's venom was melting the street anywhere it landed and the dragon's flames felt very real, and Rumi was all but slaughtering them easily enough, but there was a flood of them fading into existence from the space surrounding Parasomnia and flooding toward her. Momo had formed herself and the other two a pair of round shields each, meant either for the false monsters or for Splatter, but before she could use them for anything, Lee shot past them, punching at Splatter. Except, his arm deflected off of his sword before his torso crashed into the edge of it. Splatter spun away, sparing himself the impact and sparing his sword any damage, but the impact still sent Lee airborne at an angle, sending him crashing through Parasomnia's creations until he exploded into the dragon's side with the force of a cannonball, embedding himself in it for a moment before it faded, dropping him to the street.
"You may be fast, but your attacks are linear and predictable," Splatter grinned, stalking toward him as Armory and Pornstar both stalked toward Lee's girls.
Rumi was nearly at Parasomnia, but despite his exhausted appearance, there was a cruel light in his eyes and a wicked grin on his face that Lee didn't like. And then he knew why. Mae was suddenly there, recreated by Parasomnia's Quirk and immediately going on the offensive against Rumi, who only barely managed to keep ahead of her energy blasts. Lee grit his teeth. Rumi needed to keep her busy. He obviously had severely underestimated the rest of Instant's team, as well as how much electricity it would cost him to destroy Spider's webs. He stood, taking a slow breath before electricity screamed over his body again, though he kept it restrained to save energy. He exploded forward, moving to strike Splatter, only to pivot around him as he moved to block him, instead getting behind him before ending his spin with a roundhouse kick. It slammed into Splatter's sword, failing to damage it, but it did smash the sword into Splatter's entire body. He dropped it and it spun and flipped away as Splatter crashed into a wall, unconscious. Lee turned, exploding toward his girls, who were only barely fending off Pornstar's tentacles, and that only because she was allowing it. However, his foot skidded suddenly and his eyes went wide before he slipped, only barely managing to avoid catching his back foot on the ground and ripping his hip out of socket.
As he skidded to a stop, he looked back, a suffocating heat beginning to seep through his exosuit. His eyes widened as he found Armory as the source. He held a katana hilt with a blade made of flames reaching from it outward to about four feet long, the blade starting out about a foot wide above the hilt and sweeping to a point. However, despite looking like an average flame, the ground below Armory was glowing cherry red and melting around him as he walked. Lee's eyes went wide at the realization. That was what the roster hadn't mentioned. The flames exceeded even Endeavor's in heat. Lee pushed himself up, glancing at his girls before swallowing. He was a hundred feet away and could feel the heat through his exosuit, which regulated temperature inside. If Armory kept that blade out, there was a legitimate chance that they'd be hurt by the heat alone. He exploded forward, keeping his speed to a non-lethal level in preparation to try and take Armory out in one strike, only for Armory to slash, the blade suddenly extending in the blink of an eye and grazing Lee's arm. Instantly, there was a high, angry hiss as the blade cut through his exosuit, instantly burning his flesh, and his clothes erupted into flames. Then, Lee flipped into the air, spinning to break contact with the blade before flipping in the air and drilling a punch into Armory's face. He'd lost a lot of speed, however, from the force the blade possessed, and before he could reach the ground again, Splatter's sword exploded into him from the side, the impact jarring him even through his suit and sending him bouncing away.
"I told you!" Splatter grinned wickedly. "You're too predictable!"
Lee shoved himself up, narrowing his eyes as Splatter stalked forward. Then, he flicked his hand and the sword's blade crashed to the ground, along with the grip. What it left behind looked like a miniature version of the sword, this one about two feet long, the blade detaching from the back of the larger one. A moment later, Splatter disconnected the bottom half of his sword's grip and tossed it aside. Lee shot forward, dodging around a diagonal slash, only for Splatter to spin, the blade exploding into his gut, lifting him into the air and breaking his momentum entirely. Then, Splatter's sword flashed around, exploding into his back and sending him crashing to the ground again. Just then, Rumi screamed, falling to her knees and staring at something Parasomnia was making her hallucinate, the recreated Mae standing over her with an energy spear. At the same time, Lee's girls all screamed as Pornstar finally tired of playing with them, binding them all and lifting them into the air with her tentacles. Lee grit his teeth then shoved off of the ground, only for the point of Splatter's sword to crash down into his back, slamming him back into it. At the same time, one of Pornstar's tentacles rammed themselves into each of Momo, Mina, and Toru's holes.
"Pred-" Splatter began.
Lee roared in effort, electricity screaming off of him in all directions. Splatter took the brunt of the blast and hurtled backward. A split second later, Lee directed the charge along the ground as a conductor to the recreated Mae, electrocuting her and destroying her, a weaker charge shocking Rumi to snap her out of her hallucination. Then, as soon as the electricity had stopped Mae's attack and ended, Lee exploded across the distance to Pornstar, his arm flashing downward to sever her tentacles. He twisted, drilling a punch into her chest that shattered her ribcage, sending her bouncing away as Momo, Mina, and Toru all landed heavily behind him, immediately ripping her tentacles out of their bodies. Lee rounded on Parasomnia next, but just as he did, a fresh, and much thicker flood of artificial horrors flooded from him, Rumi struggling to hold them at bay. Lee roared in effort, streaking across the distance and charging straight through the hallucinations, his momentum allowing him to turn himself into a human bullet. Then, he skidded to a stop just shy of Parasomnia, ensuring that his punch did no more than shatter his jaw and crack his skull. As Lee began to turn to see if anyone but Spider was still able to continue, however, Spider's threads snapped closed around him, anchored to the buildings around him and suspending him in the air, the others likewise restrained.
"It would be so easy," Spider said. "I could kill you all with a twitch of a finger like this." He sighed heavily. "You're lucky that Instant claims you're still useful, and that it would be inadvisable to kill the women." He used more threads to gather his four fallen teammates, bringing them back to himself before turning and walking into an alleyway, waving a hand to clear the webbing. "If you electrocute these webs to free yourself, you kill the women."
Legacy immediately confirmed the warning as accurate, and Lee snarled angrily as he watched Spider walk away with the rest of Instant's team. Lee tried to lift his arm, but stopped immediately when he felt threads bite into his skin.
"No way," Lee breathed.
"Even your exosuit can't withstand them," Legacy said. "Don't move."
"Legacy, the others..." Lee said. "Their weight will make the threads skin them alive."
"He was more careful with them," Legacy assured him. "Their weight is being supported to avoid that."
"Has anyone called for help?" Lee asked.
"Yes," Legacy said. "I called for Endeavor as soon as we confirmed Spider's presence."
Lee grit his teeth, forcing himself to calm down and wait. Finally, after nearly ten minutes, Endeavor crashed down in the center of the battlefield, then looked around, eyes widening. Lee also surveyed the damage. Mae's attacks had left craters everywhere, huge patches had melted then cooled from Armory, Pornstar's severed tentacles lay scattered below Momo, Mina, and Toru, and all four of the women were bloody and bruised. Endeavor walked over to Lee first, lighting his hand on fire and holding it beside a web, careful not to touch it. The web ignited and the fire spread quickly but the webbing burned away quickly enough that the heat didn't reach Lee through his suit, and the flames died out before reaching the girls.
"What happened?" Endeavor asked.
"Instant's team," Lee said. "Five of them. We lost."
Endeavor nodded. "Did you take any down?"
"Not permanently," Lee said. "They'll find someone with a healing Quirk to repair whatever damage I dealt, and Spider took them all with him."
Endeavor nodded and walked over to Rumi first, Lee walking to his girls.
"Are you okay?" Lee asked.
"We'll live," Momo said, all four girls visibly shaken once again, but not outright sobbing this time. "Can you get us out of here without electrocuting us or cutting us?"
"I can," Hawks said, landing beside him. "My feathers regrow, so I can use them to cut the webs without a permanent loss or hurting you."
Lee nodded and Hawks sent almost the entirety of his wings out, freeing the three girls and also clearing the streets and alleyways. Lee pulled his girls into a hug instantly, Momo forming a blanket for each, as their costumes had been ruined by Pornstar.
"My costume," Toru sniffed. "You worked so hard on it."
"It's alright, Toru," Lee said, squeezing her. "I'll fix it."
Toru nodded, and they all stood, making their way back toward Rumi's office with her and Endeavor.
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