History KnowWhenToFoldEm / FanWorks

** Not long afterwards, Riley and Millie decide to do pull a ScrewThisImOuttaHere when Luz, the new All For One user, proves too strong for them to defeat by themselves and are about to be killed in her UnstoppableRage and can shrug off all their attacks with her HealingFactor.

--> '''Aizawa''': Kan, what the hell are you-?!\\

'''Rock Lock''': [[SuddenlyShouting WE CAN'T FIGHT THIS GUY! JUST FUCKING RUN-]]\\

* In ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia'', Sun stops and try to reason with Team MNVW and Team RSBR after noticing Izuku, Katsuki, and Ruby closing in on him with Pyrrha close behind.

** The arrival of a Shadowkhan and Phobos loyalist army at the besieged Snowpoint catches the attacking Rebellion soldiers off guard and starts to overwhelm them. Reluctantly, but recognizing the situation for what it is, the rebels fall back and retreat; they try to regroup at a fallback position, but realize they have to abandon that too when they find their backup being overwhelmed as well.

* ''Fanfic/HellsisterTrilogy'': At the end of "The Apokolips Agenda", Darkseid's scheme revolving around the Anti-Life Equation has failed and he is apparently obliterated by Orion. In reality, Darkseid transferred his conscience to a spare body, cloned beforehand in the event that he was defeated, and he decides he'll spend the next hundreds of years sleeping, recovering his strength and scheming while time and old age look after his fooled enemies.

** Similarly, Deadshot leaves (presumably to renegotiate his contract) once he realizes he doesn't have any weapons on hand that can harm Lex in any meaningful way. Eventually, he calls Lex and tells him he's dropped the job because of the poor cost benefit ratio.
* ''Fanfic/APrizeForThreeEmpires'': When the Avengers, the X-Men, the Starjammers and a Shi'ar warship storm their hideout after ComicBook/CarolDanvers has defeated the Kree champion, the Supreme Intelligence acknowledges it has been beaten and teleports away.

* Deconstructed in ''Fanfic/TheGreatestGeneration''. In of itself, Admiral Shimada having his damaged and fatigued forces retreat from the oncoming Abyssal juggernaut they had no chance of defeating should have been a wise idea. However, political realities intruded in the form of MortonsFork: With the sheer forces arrayed against him, the civilians were going to take a rusty spiked dildo in the butt sooner or later whatever he did. He could have his forces stand, fight and die in the vain hope that they can make a difference when an earlier force in optimal condition had failed, or retreat and preserve his strength. Admiral Shimada chose to put TheMenFirst and, because he didn't send his subordinates out to banzai charge and die in a SenselessSacrifice like a good soldier, ended up vilified InUniverse and out.

* ''Fanfic/{{I See What You Do Behind Closed Doors|MiraculousLadybug}}'': While she puts up some minor resistance, once it becomes clear that [[LiarRevealed the jig is up]], Lila just smirks, then bursts into laughter at her classmates' reactions:

** Also seen with Marinette; after all of her attempts to warn her classmates about Lila [[CassandraTruth go ignored]] and she realizes that they [[TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity took her generosity for granted]], she gives up on trying to help them. Just in time for them to start clamoring for her to save them from the consequences of their actions.

* In ''[[http://naruto.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600105466&chapter=5 Demon's Dirty Dreams]]'', Zabuza decides against killing Tazuna when offered the pay he would have gotten for the job. It helps Naruto had already killed Gato at that point, so Zabuza's options were fight and maybe die for nothing or take his pay and leave.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9920512/1/Reaching-for-a-Dream Reaching for a Dream]]'': When Naruto arrives at the Sacred Snake Mountain to steal all the Nature Chakra there, the Snake Sage lets him, to Naruto's surprise. The Sage explains that the can either let Naruto take it, or his clan can fight Naruto and die and Naruto will do so anyway.

* In ''Fanfic/ATeachersGlory'', Team 7 decides to get Naruto medical attention after he's badly injured in the Forest of Death rather than try to continue the exam. It helps they all realize there would be plenty of promotion opportunities in the future.

** During the G-8 arc, Jonathan's response to realizing the Straw Hats have landed in his base is to - do almost nothing. The Straw Hats have already taken on ''three'' Vice Admirals at once and won, he's the only person at that level in the base, and there are no other Marines who are close enough and strong enough to help catch the Straw Hats. So - he decides to gather all the information he can on the crew without getting involved directly so that there won't be any PersonOfMassDestruction level feats, acknowledging that he doesn't have a chance of catching them all by himself.

* In ''Fanfic/AshesOfThePast'', after Ash navigates through his gym with the [[TrueSight Aura Sight]], is able to seemingly see through everything he can do, and has multiple powerful pokemon, who in the case of Charizard have set up a Flare Blitz that can burn off poison attacks... the gym leader Koga concedes and gives Ash the Soul Badge without any further fighting, deciding that Ash has all of the advantages whereas he has almost none. This also has the pleasant side-effect of leaving his gym mostly undamaged (a RunningGag is that Ash tends to heavily damage the gyms he fights in).

** Cafe Prime eventually settles out of court with Jaune, offering half a million lien as reperation and firing Alexander Sterling who started the whole mess.

* In ''Fanfic/TurningRedSecretsOfThePanda'', even [[BigBad Jason Vaugn]] knows there are times trying to kill the giant red pandas isn't a good idea, mainly since he doesn't want to ruin his reputation.

* ''Fanfic/TheChaoticMasters'': When the Titans (with Zatanna and Constantine in tow) realize the extent of the villainous attendees to [[AuctionOfEvil Roulette's auction of magical artifacts]], they decide they're out of their depth and need to withdraw to call for backup.

* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', Xenilla and Mothra realized that Princess Celestia's power dwarfed all the kaiju present. They managed to convince their teammates to surrender (except for Destroyah, who only stopped when [[MoralityPet The Cutie Mark Crusaders]] begged her to stop), as it was a fight they could not win.

'''Aizawa''': What?! [[LeaveNoOneBehind We can't just leave her-]]\\

** [[spoiler: With Caroline and Philip captured and the rest of Vera's team having lost most of their weapons and exhausted from all the running and fighting as the enemy closes in on them, Amelia concludes their best option is to surrender. Alan and Tinsley accept this, especially after Alan gets wounded and Vera [[RevengeBeforeReason abandons them to get her revenge]].]]

* ''Fanfic/ChasingDragons'': When the Old Faith rebellion manages to completely overwhelm Gulltown's Arryn loyalist forces, the few remaining members of the latter's local garrison choose to give up and flee by sea rather than futilely continue to fight.