Mara Lee is just your regular teenage girl living a double life as New York's friendly neighborhood Spider-Woman. Until one fateful day when she's thrown through a strange orange portal and everything she's ever known changes drastically. Trapped in...
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"The first two competitors are... Team D against Team A! Team A are the heroes, Team D are the villains!" All Might announced.
My eyes locked with Deku's. He looked panicked, turning his face away from mine. Good, I thought. You better be scared, you damned nerd.
"Ha! Can't believe our face off is coming so soon, Izuku!" Spider-Freak jumped at him, slinging her arms around his shoulders. "This is exciting, huh?"
"Y-Your face off?" I said. "This is me and him. Just stay out of it, you masked crawly!"
She opened her mouth to reply, but Izuku stopped her, putting a hand in front of her. He looked at me, eyes aflame, and I felt my fists curl. How dare he.
"Young Lee, Young Bakugo," All Might said, regaining my attention. "Try to learn the villain's mind like in a real battle. Don't be afraid. Do your best. If it gets too wild, I'll stop it."
I grit my teeth. This was going to be my win.
...
"Just stay out of my way," I said to Spider-Freak as we walked through the halls.
She glanced at me, eyebrows cocked. "What?"
"I know you're soft on that damned nerd!" I pointed out. "You're just going to get in the way like you always do, so just don't even."
"Are you serious?" she demanded. "This isn't like other times. This is an actual match. I'm not going to favor Izuku just because we're close."
"Yeah, right."
"I'm not kidding! I want to win this too!"
"Oh yeah?" I asked, stopping to look at her. She met my eyes, crossing her arms as if to show she wouldn't back down. I squinted at her, leaning forward. "Why are you even here?"
She scoffed. "What? Obviously I'm training to be a hero."
"I don't believe you," I snapped, my eyes still on her. "You don't wanna be number one. You didn't argue when I said I would be number one. You're not even threatened by me."
"You don't scare me," she bit back. "And anyway, why do I have to want to be number one?"
"If you're not aiming to be a pro, you don't," I muttered. "But I don't believe that someone like you would be happy with some second rate position as a pro. You have ulterior motives. That might get in my way."
"Fine, you figured me out. Maybe I do have ulterior motives." She took a step forward, her face directly in front of mine now. "But hear me when I say that my motives require me to make it as far as I can, whether that's the top or not. I'm not here to steal your opportunities, but believe me, I'll make my own. And right now, my best way of doing that is being your teammate and taking Izuku down. Are we clear on that?"
