The moment he proclaimed the last word, Izuku's good hand shot up, and a large and wide web shot out into the wall to his left, and with a pull of titanic strength, Izuku wrenched the pipes from the wall, filling the entire spot where Rhino stood with steam from whatever the stuff these pipes pumped through them.
Rhino coughed, but he didn't seem to have been slowed down all that much as he burst forward.
Izuku had expected a punch, but instead, the giant kicked with his massive Grey foot, straight where Izuku had been.
Izuku sidestepped, and he felt the air pressure as the kick came within a couple of centimeters of hitting him.
Izuku danced under Rhino's arm, and- and straight into the steam.
It was like being cooked alive in tar, as the black suit began to melt from the heat.
Izuku screamed as he whirled, desperately trying to remain on his feet, and facing Rhino, as Venom screamed just as loud inside of Izuku's head.
Then, something hit him. Something hard, and massive, and shaped like a fist hit his chest, harder than the bullet that had scarred his arm, and Izuku was sent flying.
How long it was, he didn't know. It felt like an eternity as he flew through the air, but mayhaps it was only as little as a few seconds.
Either way, his journey through their air, ended with a massive "CRASH!!!" as he hit a wall of pipes that burst asunder.
The only thing that saved him from being cooked alive again, was that he hit the wall with such force that he bounced off of it and hit the floor face first.
Stars swam before his face, as he struggled to breathe.
"UP! GET UP MAN!" Venom screamed in his head.
The stars began to dissipate, as he felt the heat right above him abate.
"SERIOUSLY IZUKU HE'S COMING, GET THE FUCK UP!"
A hand slammed down and began to forcibly push him up.
Izuku groggily looked upwards. His chest felt like someone had just hit it with a sledgehammer. It was hard to breathe.
He felt the vibrations before he saw him. Then the sounds began to hammer through the corridor.
The Rhino was running down the corridor, and stampeding straight towards him!
Izuku got his feet under him again, just in the nick of time. Using his enormously powerful legs, he jumped… And slammed straight into the ceiling, where he instinctually fastened himself to it.
Rhino, no more capable of stopping than when he had chased Izuku and Mina above, slammed straight into the wall… Which promptly broke to pieces, and Izuku could hear the burst of what must have been a dozen more pipes and the steam that followed.
He hang there for what seemed an eternity. Then, he dropped down, landing on his feet. He almost collapsed from the pain, that shot through his entire chest.
Then, still almost buckling, he turned to face the Rhino, as he came.
And he did come.
Harking, and coughing, and his face completely drenched in sweat to such a degree his eyes were shut as he walked. But he did come, slowly, and weakly.
Izuku raised his hand, then let forth a webline, hitting him straight in the chest. Then, with a pull that made him feel like all his ribs were broken, he made Rhino topple forward and slam to the ground, right in front of his feet.
A large and massive hand went up and closed around Izuku's leg. But it had no power. Nothing compared to his anyway.
"Wha… What's… going on? Why… Why am I so… weak…?"
It was only as Izuku began talking that he realized he dripped blood from his mouth.
"A mix between… Unnnghh… between what's in the pipes, and a lack of… AARRGHH… OF sweat… to cool the body down…"
He wrenched his leg free, and putting the webline over his shoulder as he turned, he began to walk down the corridor to where he had just come from, dragging Rhino behind him like a sack.
"I… I realized it… Unngh… when you said nothing goes through…. Your skin… If nothing does… then nothing comes out of it either…"
Izuku forced himself to talk. It made the painful, PAINFUL process of dragging Rhino with him more bearable like it steeled his will to do it.
"Your face…. It's the only… part of you that sweats… Unnmmmgh… it is fully responsible for… For cooling down your entire body… You're having a heatstroke right now… Along with whatever that flammable gas does… You might not burn… But your lungs are as human as the rest of us…
He had to get Rhino out. If he left him here, he died.
A part of him told him to just do it, but he did not listen or consider that, darker, alien part of him today.
This was who he was. Someone who didn't kill when he didn't have to.
"I… brought you down here… because I realized you'd sweat yourself into unconscious…. The longer we were down here… The more you moved… The more I sprayed you with steam… I Didn't think about it being gas…"
"Huh…" Rhino replied in a hazy tone like he was barely awake.
"You know… That… That eksplain hov te big man beas me… Wenne I came to the Caribian…"
Venom formed a head, and turned to look at him.
"You're so fucking stupid, you've lost this way before, and you didn't realize how, before someone explained HOW to YOU? HOLY SHIT, you really ARE retarded aren't you?"
But Rhino spoke no more.
Venom snorted.
"The idiot lost consciousness. He better fucking hope the battles are closing down, because if he has to wait for hours to get help for this shit..."
"He won't die," Izuku said through gritted teeth.
"If you say so."
Dear God, this tunnel was long. Had he really sent him flying all the way through this thing?
...
Dealing with Shocker was pretty damn easy really.
Blinded, and with gauntlet down and still in pain from it's destruction, it wasn't much he could to stop Mina from approaching him at lightning speed, destroy his second one, then put him into the ground, with both hands behind his back.
It had been easy, keeping him like this, without anything to bind him, was a different story. It was even more so, a problem when she was half terrified Rhino would burst up through the ground at any moment.
She was really starting to get worried, as the minutes ticked by. Until finally, maybe 10 minutes had passed.
The accompanying commentary didn't help.
"Yeh know kid, and don't take this Tha wrong way, but yeh really should get going. Rhino will crush tha boy eventually, and when he does-"
"Midori will win." She said harshly. He had to win. He had a plan after all. He would win. He wouldn't have so clearly split up the two of them if he didn't have a plan.
She had to keep telling herself that. He was a capable guy, probably the most capable in the class along with Uraraka.
He'd manage himself.
She kept telling herself that he would be fine.
It was still a shock when the limp body of Rhino was unceremoniously thrown up from the hole, and crashed into the ground, sprawled flat on his back.
One of the most feared in the USA.
Shortly afterwards, Izuku crawled up from the hole, rising to his feet like a shadow given life.
For a moment, Mina and Shocker(His visor having been ripped off and crushed by Mina) stared at him as he walked slowly over to Rhino, and began webbing him to the ground.
"Yeh beat Rhino…" Shocker said in a tone of Awe mixed with complete and utter shock.
It was as if at that moment Izuku actually realized they were there, and a spell was broken, as he stumbled clutching his ribs.
Mina didn't think, and in a burst of speed, she moved over to his side, helping him stand.
"You okay Midori?"
"He's cracked or broken all of his Ribs to varying degrees. Only our powers are keeping him upright. Also, we shouldn't let our enemies run around."
With that last line, Venom forced Izuku broken hand up, and a bunch of black webs encased Shocker to the ground.
With that motion, it seemed all energy had gone out of Izuku, and he really crumpled to the ground, only her arm keeping him from falling to the floor.
"Holy shit man, we need to get you to recovery girl!"
"Rhino… He… needs medical help."
She stared at him.
He had literally broken and cracked all his ribs, yet he still wanted to help the guys who had just tried to murder him.
"We'll do that too. For now, we need to get you-" At that moment, a massive crash from above sounded.
Her head turned upwards, and so did Venom's, though Izuku's face was still pointed downwards to the ground.
A massive, massive hole had just opened up in the dome of the park. And Mina, with her incredible eyesight, got a brief, brief glimpse of a figure flying through the sky. But then she blinked, and she didn't see it anymore.
"Hopefully, that was good for our side."
...
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