MHA: Blackout

Waiting by the restaurant entrance, Aika had her eyes closed and was tapping her foot repeatedly. She wasn’t listening to anything, but rather was feeling quite nervous. Her arms and hands were still bandaged, as they had another day or two before they could be properly taken off, but she was lucky and was discharged rather quickly. And after talking to Haya a bit, they decided together that it was time for each other to meet the adults in their lives. For Aika, it was Haya’s uncle, and for Haya, it was Aika’s mom. That alone made Aika feel nervous. But then there was also the matter that Aika’s mom would see her bandaged. And how Aika’s mom also declared to her that her new step-sister will be coming along, as she didn’t intend on leaving her alone. Which meant this would also be the first time she met her step-sister. She couldn’t even remember what her name was.

The restaurant chosen was a respectable Japanese-style restaurant, as she knew her mother would likely complain about most other styles. Haya trusted Aika’s judgement with food for her, and Aika wasn’t going to let her down now. She just hoped Haya’s uncle and her step sister would also have something to eat there

Haya smirked as her uncle was going on about some request he got from an old classmate. She let him know what was going on and who they were going to meet, but he was more focused on the plans for what he thought he should make. He wanted her input, since he was rarely only with Haya, since she started school, or even in public. It wasn’t long before she noticed the feeling of Aika, “Uncle.” she said to cause him to pause, she motioned towards the feeling, “I believe we are here.” she told him.

Uncle looked up and smirked, Aika was…pretty and she looked like she was a fighter. “Ah.” he said as they got close. “Aika?!” he called to her and bowed “Haya tells me I have you to thank for helping with the diamond and armor idea that she requested.” he smiled, “So, thank you, I have been trying to get her to let me create her an armor for years, since we decided she would become a hero. BUt the diamond idea from your joint combos was a brilliant idea.” he stated as they stopped in front of Aika.

Haya smiled at Aika, “He can be a little hyper.” she explained, when it came to Haya, her uncle had no end to ideas and his projects were always ways to help improve her quirk or fight against any quirk he could think of.

Hearing someone call out to her, Aika turned to see Haya, accompanied by someone who she could only assume was her uncle, considering how he was the one who called to her, before both approached and he immediately bowed and started thanking her. Aika just stared in surprise for a moment before shrugging ”Erm. Hey. I’m Aika Yamada. And trust me, as much as I may have helped Haya, she helped me back and more.” She smiled, briefly taking Haya’s hand and squeezing it ”My mother is probably gonna arrive in a bit, so we could go in until they arrive. Get our table.” Aika suggested, before going and opening the door for both to enter before her.

Haya smirked, "Shouldn't we wait for them first?" She asked.

Her uncle smirked, "Well, how about you two go in. I mean," he turned to Aika, "If you tell me what she looks like I can wait here while you two get us a table." He offered. He understood what haya meant and part of him thought it was important to wait. But at the same time, securing a table was important for a place like this. Even with a reservation, there is always a chance of losing your table if you were late.

Haya nodded, "If you are okay with that." She said to Aika. "My uncle is pretty good with this kind of thing. Waiting I mean."

”There isn’t really a need to wait for them. And besides, even if you do wait for her out here, since she doesn’t know you, she would probably not take kindly to a stranger approaching her.” Aika said, sighing a bit. The lifestyle of the wealthy had really spoiled her mother in some aspects ”If you want to wait outside, then we can wait. And I mostly suggested going in so that we wouldn’t just wait out in the cold.” Aika explained, looking over Haya’s uncle. The kindness ran in the family from how he was acting. Looking around, Aika’s expression turned into a frown as spotted someone approaching.

Wearing high heels, a black dress and some expensive looking jewellery, Aika's mom approached the restaurant entrance. She was walking with a small girl by her side, and the girl kept making her best efforts to keep hold of the older woman’s hand as they arrived by the group “Hello Aika. Still dyeing your hair I see.” She said, before glancing over her bandaged arms and hands “And getting injured. This is exactly why-”

”Save it mother. Not now.” Aika said, keeping her gaze on the younger girl, who looked at Aika with her blue eyes. She could tell the young girl was curious, but it felt like there was something more. However, seeing as everyone was there, Aika opened the door to the restaurant once more ”Alright, everyone here, let's go inside.” She told the group.

Aika’s mom appeared upset by Aika’s response, only to turn her gaze to Haya and her Uncle “Hmm. I’m Elena Yamada. And who might you two be?” Elena asked, as she walked into the restaurant. The young girl seemed to just follow Elena, remaining silent.

Haya's uncle smiled as he was noticed, "Kagerou Haramatsu, and my niece Haya Kimura." He mentioned to Haya, "Seems like you disapprove of Aika getting hurt, as a good parent should." He said as he took the door and motioned Aika to go ahead. "But nothing else can be expected from an aspiring hero after all. Getting hurt means you went against someone stronger and was brave enough to stand for your beliefs. As much as I would hate Haya to get hurt, I would be proud knowing she faced her challenges with a good head and returning alive." He pointed out. It sounded to him like Aika's mother could be a little overbearing. Something he was still working on with Haya.

Haya smirked, her uncle's conversation was only because she hadn't explained what she knew about this woman. She followed Aika and stayed close. Part of her wanted to use her sound against the woman. Neither her uncle nor Haya were impressed by the wealth she displayed. Her uncle hardly used the money he has, so Haya was raised knowing money was just money and nothing of importance. "You dyed your hair?" Haya whispered to Aika. She had no idea what color Aika's hair was.

Entering with Haya after her uncle took the door from her, she nodded to him before looking at Haya ”Well, yeah. My eyes were always pink because of my quirk, apparently. I just dye my hair to match. Plus my own little rebellion against my mother.” Aika whispered to Haya, glancing at her mother’s back as they were led to their table. Aika helped Haya sit down, before sitting next to her, between Haya and her step-sister.

Sitting across from her daughter, Elena kept her eyes on Aika for a moment, before turning to look at Haya and her uncle “So, Miss Kimura and Mister Haramatsu. I can already assume what Miss Kimura does from her age and apparent closeness to Aika. What do you do? Oh, and apologies. The little one is still getting used to spending time with me. Go on, introduce yourself.” Elena told the child.

The young girl, who appeared to be around ten years old, looked at Elena, before looking at the rest “I’m Kanata. Kanata Yugo.” She said, before turning to look at Aika again.

Haya smirked at the little girl, "It is nice to meet you, Kanata." She said before she turned to her uncle who sat across from her next to Aika's mom.

"I am a quirk based gear specialist for heroes. I generally make things like Haya's headset." He mentioned the headset on Haya's head. "It weighs about 9 kilogram and have defensive and offensive capabilities." He smiled proudly, "I hear from Haya, that Aika has actually managed to use some of its features." He said, turning to Aika. "If you want, I can design something for you. Your help with Haya's armor was very helpful and I had an idea for something that might help you."

Haya turned to her uncle, "That is not a conversation for now." She pointed out.

”Only because Haya showed me, and I saw it in action.” Aika remarked, before looking at Kanata ”Well, uhm, nice to meet you Kanata. Hope I can be a good older sister for you.” Aika said, before glancing at the waiter who came and brought them all water and menus.

Looking at Kagerou, Elena seemed to just ponder something quietly before glancing at her older daughter, who seemed to try and make a connection with her step daughter. Already felt rather unusual compared to how she was before. Elena looked back at Haya “I must say, I do not recall ever seeing Aika be like this. Willing to spend time with family and having a friend that she seemed to enjoy her company with.” She said, before nodding “You have my gratitude, Miss Kimura. I was afraid that she would be forever a recluse, but it seems that fear is no longer valid.”

Kanata, in the meanwhile, just nodded as both Aika and Haya talked to her, before lowering herself as Elena spoke.

Haya turned to Aika's mother, "It wasn't valid at all." She paused before turning to Kanata, "What do you like to do, Kanata? Aika likes music, maybe we can play something for you when you visit next?" She suggested.

Her uncle glanced at Haya, it was strange that she would be rude but he was starting to suspect Haya disliked Elena. He turned to Elena, "If you don't mind. What do you do? You seem to be in a well off position by the looks of you. Or is your husband's business well off?" He asked curiously. Haya's conversation was focused on helping Aika be a big sister. So he decided to put some focus on be an adult and having an adult conversation.

Glancing at Haya after hearing her reaction, Elena turned her gaze to the uncle after he asked his question “Well, it’d be more correct to say that both me and Aika are set, and likely even Aika’s children. Her grandfather from her father’s side and her father both shared the quirk with Aika, but they saw the potential financial benefit one could reap from the quirk. He started small, chipping small parts from his diamond skin and selling that off, slowly growing some reputation. My husband, rest his soul, worked with others to find ways to improve his diamond shards and managed to bring his business to even international levels. Gained a small fortune until his passing. The final stocks that remained were sold a few years ago, but Aika had a fund set up for her. So we are both still very well off in that regard.” Elena explained “What about you? With the amount of heroes and ANVIL agents running around, I’m sure you have plenty of business yourself. Even if some of them would be better off doing other things.” Elena briefly glanced in Aika’s direction, before fixing her gaze on Kagerou.

Aika threw a glare back at her mother for the final remark, and clearly had something in mind to say, but instead she just took a deep breath and looked at Kanata ”Well. We don’t have to play music. We could also just do something else. What do you like?” She asked.

Kanata listened to both, and briefly opened her mouth to say something, only to quickly close it, before pointing at Haya, trying to indicate that she liked Haya’s suggestion. Seeing that Elena wasn’t looking at her, she grabbed Aika’s sleeve and pulled on it, until Aika brought her ear closer to Kanata. Opening her mouth again, Kanata would speak very softly “Elena said only the grown ups should talk here. I’d love to hear your music.” She whispered as softly as she could, to clearly not catch Elena’s attention.

Haya's uncle smirked, "I get a lot of requests. But no. I don't feel the need to accept them all. I usually only take one request a week or less depending on the week. As for being better off," he slightly glanced towards Aika and then Haya. He was slowly understanding Haya's behavior towards Elena. "I don't think they would be. Heroes and ANVIL members all have their part in making sure you are able to live the life you have now. If even one of them changed their minds, the next victim could be you. I think all heroes are right where they should be. Dangerous or not, my closest friends are heroes and they have never thought of doing anything else. It's important what to do, more important than wealth. I am well off, but after buying a house and modifying it, I don't really need the money I have. So it goes to supplies and my family. Do you and Aika spend a lot of time when she's home?" He asked curiously.

Haya heard what Kanata said and looked towards Aika, "They have some fish around here, don't they? The three of us should go look." She suggested so they could talk more freely with Kanata and not have to worry about Elena's influence in the way. Not to mention argue with the woman as they try to get to know Kanata better.

“Hard to spend time with a daughter that kept shutting herself out. And as for me being the next victim?” Elena shook her head “When organizations like ANVIL and all the heroes cannot help spot potential criminals in the making, then what do they do? Just come and clean up afterwards?” She remarked, before glancing towards Haya “It is rather rude to just get up and go see other things when you are supposed to be dining.” Elena remarked, before fixing her gaze on Aika.

After hearing Kanata, Aika glanced at Haya who made her suggestion. It sounded like a brilliant suggestion, but observing the conversation between her mother and Haya’s uncle also felt like they were going to clash. After her mother gave the remark towards Haya, however, Aika stood up ”You’ve been playing a goddamn victim for over ten years mother. Yes, dad got murdered. Just goddamn get over it.” She told Elena, straight and simple, before gently picking up Kanata, holding her in one arm, and grabbing a hold of Haya’s hand with her other ”We are going to look at the fishes. Please excuse us.” She said, with a rather sarcastic tone, before beginning to lead them towards the aquarium in the restaurant.

Initially, Kanata appeared to get scared at hearing Elena talk, only to glance upwards as Aika seemed to retort. Being picked up by Aika, Kanata just softly grabbed Aika’s shirt, looking at Elena for a moment, before Aika turned around and began leading them away. Looking at Aika, the young girl seemed to slowly start relaxing.

Haya took a moment, before she slipped from Aika’s hand and turned to her mother, “It is rather rude to expect your daughter to take care of you and sacrifice what she wants, don’t you think?” she snapped back, before she moved behind Kanata and followed after them. She sighed as they got a little way, “Are you okay, Kanata?” she said, noticing the tension from the little girl relaxing. “I know we just met, but is it okay if I touch your face? I’m blind and it will help me to stay close, if you don’t mind?” she asked, relaxing herself.

Haya’s uncle listened to Elena, Aika and Haya and it clicked exactly what was going on. He sighed, “I should apologize for Haya, she is normally a lot more behaved. But at the same time, I think you misunderstand the way things work as a hero or a member of ANVIL. I would explain, but I feel like your ideas of life would be in the way of your understanding. Aika is going to be a good hero and you should be proud of that. I know, I am, of Haya. Life can be worse than it is now. Losing the things that you now think are important is something you might have to go through to understand that. But you are her mother and if you want a part of her life to be you, then you should not expect her to take the steps to do so.” he stated, it may sound like a lecture, but since he knew what it was like without parents. Since he understood that Aika and her mother were at odds over something like money. He felt it was the only way to explain things.

Watching as both Aika and Haya came and gave her some kind of angry retort at her, Elena remained silent, before turning her attention back to Kagerou and listening to what he had to say “You are right about one thing. My ideas of how life should be definitely conflict with what you’re saying. And I can tell she is growing to be a much stronger woman than I’ll ever be, so I am proud of that.” Elena said, before shaking her head “But I cannot be proud of her choice when she never bothered telling me why. With how she was, for so long? It felt like she was dooming herself. I wanted to keep her close, in a safe environment.” She said.

As Haya briefly let go of her hand, Aika just stopped, still carrying Kanata, and just waited for Haya to return to them. Once she did, Aika kept walking towards the aquarium, listening to Haya’s question for Kanata. Looking at the little girl, Aika smiled and nodded ”It’s alright, whatever you choose. And I can personally tell you Haya has a gentle touch.” She reassured the young girl.

Looking at Haya, and then at Aika, and then back at Haya, Kanata seemed to focus on Haya’s eyes “You’re blind?” She asked, before nodding slightly “Uhm, okay.” She said, Kanata would also touch Haya’s face back when Haya started, and try to mimic Haya’s own movements.

Haya’s uncle smiled at Elena, “I know how you feel, but understanding why and respecting it, is very different. Respect her choice and show that you do. She will find her way and with your support, she might be more open to explaining herself or even letting you in, in her own time. Haya is the same way, she picks a path and if I stand in her way, or force her, she will push back every time.” He sighed as he thought of what it took to get Haya to take this chance, “Haya is a good kid, it’s easy to talk to her and she listens most of the time, but sometimes she needs a little guidance, that menas, I don’t tell her what she should do, I tell her what would benefit her and her goals to do it her way. I am glad I did it for her, when Suppression asked her to join their school. Aika seems like a good influence on Haya, she is growing up a lot better than solitary could do.”

Haya smirked as she knelt down and her fingers softly moved to Kanata’s face, she felt small fingers on her own, as she moved her fingers along every inch of Kanata’s face. The expression was something like curiosity and she smiled, “You are a very pretty girl.” she commented as she pulled her hands away and waited from Kanata to do the same, before standing up. “I am blindsince birth, I was 12 when I got my quirk, which is sound, that helps me move around with easy. It is why most people don’t notice until I mention it, or they really look at my eyes. Since they don’t reflect light the color of them is dim and dull.”

Looking at Haya’s uncle, Elena turned to glance at Aika’s back “She is doing much better than I ever expected. Just wish she would have a better diet, but other than that, it seems like your niece is also a great influence on her. I can’t say I’ll come around to accepting her choice, but,” She turned to look back at Haya’s uncle “Perhaps I could stay out of her way as a first step. Just let her be her. Even if every instinct of my being is telling me that’s the wrong thing to do.” Elena smiled back at him.

Aika watched in silence as Haya and Kanata did their mutual face touch, which was adorable to watch, and a bit amusing as Kanata appeared to not understand why Haya did this. After they concluded, Aika bent down as well and looked at Kanata ”You know, Haya’s sight might not be there, but that just let her heart be that much bigger.” She smiled ”Even managed to shatter my diamond heart’s casing with that beautiful sound of hers.” She added, before grabbing a hold of both Haya and Kanata’s hands once more.

Kanata appeared a bit confused as Haya touched her face, before letting go and watching Haya as she explained a bit more about herself “Sound as a quirk. Whoa.” She said, before Aika talked to her, and she moved her gaze between Haya and Aika “A bigger heart.” She repeated, before fixing her gaze on Haya “I didn’t get my quirk yet. Daddy told me he got his when he was eleven, so he believes I’ll get mine by next year. And he can grow plants.” She said.

Haya’s uncle shrugged, “Maybe, but probably not completely. You don’t want her to think you replaced her or forgot about her. Maybe a call or two every so often to let her know you are thinking about her.” he commented before the waiter came, “Oh, ummm.” he turned to Elena, “Do you know what drinks they would want?” he asked about her girls.

Haya blushed a little from what Aika said, she wasn’t sure what Aika meant, but she felt like she was getting credit for something she wasn’t sure she had done. Before her attention went back to Kanata. She smiled at her, “Really? That sounds like it is beautiful. My father doesn’t have a quirk, but my mother runs as fast as sound and my uncle can see things, he uses it to build and fix gear and he taught me how to do it when I got my quirk.” she pointed out, “Do you work with plants?”

Elena shrugged “If Aika would ever be inclined to answer. Most of my calls end up in voicemail. But we shall see.” She said, before nodding slightly “I know what Kanata would like. Orange juice is her favourite drink right now. Aika always had a liking for grapefruit. Don’t know how much she drank it recently, seeing she doesn’t bother making food past those instant ramens.” Elena responded.

Aika rose her eyebrows as she listened to Kanata, and with Haya already having asked what she had in mind, Aika just looked at her step-sister, waiting to hear the answer.

Kanata nodded “Yeah! Daddy taught me about them a bunch. Also took me to his work to help me learn more. He helps design gardens and parks. He hopes I’ll have the same quirk so we could have a family business.” She told the two with an excited voice.

Haya’s uncle nodded, “I will try talking to her, maybe it will help.” he offered before he turned to the waiter, I will have a water and we need a grapefruit and water, Orange juice and green milk tea.” he said, to the waiter before turning to Elena, “And you?” He asked, if the order needed to be changed they could change it, but for now, if they brought the drinks he was sure that they would fine for the girls when they got back.

Haya smiled, “That sounds really cool. BUt do you want to follow in your father’s footsteps? I think if it is what you want to do, you should do it. Even without a plant quirk, you might get one that might help you in a different way to help your father out.” she commented.

“Ah, I’ll have some sparkling water.” Elena told the waiter, before looking back at the uncle “Well, if you believe you can get through to her, then by all means. But I do know she is quite stubborn when it comes to certain topics.” She said, as the waiter stepped away.

Listening to Haya and Kanata, Aika listened quietly, though looking at Kanata, she felt a bit jealous. Kanata really seemed to have a connection with her father. Putting on her best smile, Aika went and picked up Kanata in her arms once more ”Well, regardless of what quirk you will or won’t get, you have several more years to think about what you want to do. You might change your opinion a million times, but I’ll be there to help however I can with finding what is right for you.” She told Kanata.

“Yeah, I want to help regardless of what I get!” Kanata told Haya, before Aika picked her up. Looking at Aika, Kanata smiled after hearing her step sister “And I’ll help you too!” The young girl told her.

Haya’s uncle smirked, “I will give it a try.” he assured her before he stood up and started towards the girls. When he stopped at them, he said, “The waiter already took drink orders, you girls should get back to figure out what you want to eat.” he said. But before they all could go, he said, “Aika. I actually wanted to talk to you, before you go back.” he stated.

Haya looked confused as she faced towards her uncle and felt a small smirk from him, as she moved to take Kanata’s hand, “Kanata, you can help me with the menu and while we wait for Aika.'' She smiled to take Kanata’s hand and led her back to the table.

Hearing Haya’s uncle, Aika turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow ”Uhm, alright. What’s up?” She asked, a bit confused about what he wanted to talk to her that needed to be in private.

Kanata grasped Haya’s hand and nodded “Okay! I’ll do my best to help you.” She said as she walked back to the table with Haya. Seeing Elena back there made Kanata, she bit her lip for a moment, before she moved to sit next to Haya “Okay, uhm, they have a bunch of noodle dishes, rice dishes, curry dishes, and sushi.” She called out for Haya as she went over the menu, to the amusement of Elena.

Haya’s uncle sighed as he moved towards the water where the fishes were, “Well, I am a naive man, even as a boy I was. So, keep that in mind and please, whatever you tell Haya, do not tell her what I am going to tell you. This is something of a family matter that she is not involved in and should not be.” he commented as he faced more towards the water then to Aika. “When I was younger, my family had their own…”business”. I was pretty good at it and that was why my father trained me to take his place. I didn’t mind, it was what we did and it was something I was good at. Of course, I also understood that in this “business” there were those of value and those without. Being a twin, I simply assumed my sister was of value because I was. But before I turned 10, I found out that my sister was not of value to the “business” and that was going to change. I was going to make sure that it changed. It took some work but we left the “business” with my parents and that was supposed to be the end of it. My parents didn’t see it that way, they believed that with some “family time” that I would return and figure out that my sister was of no value. It ended in a fight when I joined the Hero Academy. Throughout my time there, I did talk to my parents, but my sister didn’t. It wasn’t until my sister became pregnant that I cut ties from my parents, in order to keep Haya a secret.” he sighed, he had been serious for the first time ina long time, as he vaguely explained his past with his parents, before he turned to Aika, “What I mean by telling you this is, your parents don’t know what is right for you. You have to make that decision on your own. You might disagree, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are their child. Your mother might not be as gentle or caring as she acts, but she is your mother and once in a while, just hearing you say you are fine, might be enough for her to accept that you are not just her child. You are a growing young woman with a mind of her own and the power to make your own choices. Just something to think about.” he sated and smirked down at her, “We should get back. Lecturing is kind of what I have been doing, as of late. I really just want to have some fish.” he half chuckled.

Haya listened to Kanata and nodded, but she focused on what her uncle might be telling Aika. But he knew her quirk best. Focusing most of the conversation to the water made it almost impossible for Haya to hear or feel clearly enough what he was saying. She sighed as she smiled at Kanata, “What kind of fish do they have?” Haya asked curiously, that was something she was probably looking forward to eating. “ Swordfish or Sea Bass?” she asked.

Listening to Haya’s Uncle, Aika’s expression remained the same until he finished speaking. When he noted they should head back, Aika just nodded and followed him back to the table, before sitting down beside Haya, just remaining silent after everything she heard. She took Haya’s hand and squeezed it lightly, before turning her gaze towards her mother, who seemed to focus her attention on the interaction between Haya and Kanata.

“Uhm, it says there is Salmon, Cod and Sea Bass.“ Kanata told Haya, before watching as Haya’s uncle and Aika came back to the table “We’re choosing what to eat!” She told the two excitedly “And uhm, could I have the noodles with chicken and teriyaki sauce?” Kanata asked, turning her glance upwards towards Elena.

Elena nodded towards Kanata “Sure. It is your first meal with your big sister, so you can get anything you want. Just make sure to let either me or Mister Haramatsu make sure the chicken pieces are cut enough for you to eat.” She told Kanata, who nodded in return, smiling towards Haya’s uncle.

Haya’s uncle sat down and listened before he smirked, “Haya likes white fish, mostly, so Sea Bass would be the best option for her from what I saw.” he commented before he looked at the menu, “So, we both will do Sea Bass grilled with some steamed rice.” he commented, “Sound good, Haya?” he asked, to make sure that she was fine with it. He ordered for her all the time, so he was sure that what they ate would be the same. But he never took control of what she did, so he always had to be sure.

Haya smiled at Kanata as she listened before feeling Aika’s hand squeeze hers and turning to her. It was a little concerning since she had no idea what her uncle said. But before she could ask, her uncle started to talk and she nodded. “That sounds good to me.” Haya confirmed. She rarely ate something her uncle wouldn’t but him asking was how she had learned to deal with Aika and giving choices. “Are you okay?” she finally whispered to Aika.

Looking at the menu, Aika skimmed through it before speaking up “I’ll have the green curry with chicken dish.” She told the waiter, before glancing at Haya ”I’m good. Your uncle shared some of his wisdom directly with me. Just gave me some food for thought at the same time.” Aika whispered back under her breath. He asked her not to share it, so she wouldn’t. But she also had every intention to talk to him directly, in private, about keeping Haya in the dark about this.

Elena nodded after seeing everyone order “Then I suppose that’s our order. Thank you.” She told the waiter, before moving to look around the table “So, how are the two of you doing in school? Are they having you all participate in all the activities, keeping things fair and equal? I heard that you even had a festival not long ago.” She asked.

Kanata turned her gaze to Haya and Aika at the mention of a festival “Festival? What kind? Did it have shows? And clowns? And all those booths?” She asked, clearly excited at the thought of any festival.

Haya’s uncle raised an eyebrow and chuckled, “Oh yeah, was meant to ask how you liked that Haya. You told me it was loud, but you mentioned you spent time with some friends, and then changed the subject.” he commented. He had forgotten all about the festival, “From what I heard” he commented to Kanata, “Aika put on a show of her own. Heard it was a really good one too.” he added with some pride in his smile, “Haya calls home every weekend when we can’t visit and keeps us updated, Aika and Haya even had a mission together recently, didn’t go too great but everyone made it out okay, so that is enough.”

Haya blushed slightly, she didn’t expect this to come up, “It was fun. And I think classes and missions are going okay, we all make it back okay, nothing too serious ever happens and we both do our parts to make sure that our teams do good.” she didn’t want to mention all the chaos that had happened, thankful her uncle left that part out in his confirmation of things, too.

”Yeah, the festival was fun. We rode in the ferris wheel that they set up. Haya got to experience a bunch of silence from the commotion in the festival when we reached the top there, or so she said.” Aika said, glancing towards Haya before looking back towards Kanata ”And there were so many stalls! Whenever I get to come home next, If there is any festival, I’ll take you to it. Then you could see all the stalls too! Maybe win a stuffed animal!” Aika said, clearly ignoring the mention of her own show by trying to distract Kanata with the offer.

Aika’s attempt was working successfully with Kanata, as the young girl seemed ready to hop out of her seat “Yeah! All the stalls and all the stuffed animals! I’d love to go with you!” She said, sounding even more excited and louder now, causing a few heads from other tables to turn to them for a moment.

Spotting the attention Kanata was attracting with her loud voice, Elena smiled to the young girl “Keep your voice a bit softer sweetie. We don’t want to disturb everyone else who is eating.” She told Kanata, before offering an apologetic look to everyone else around “Like I told you on the way, people come here for many reasons, along with eating, and we should be respectful and not disrupt what they may be doing.” She told Kanata, and the young girl seemed to lower herself slightly and nod quietly.

Haya’s uncle smirked, “Well, next time, how about we rent out the restaurant and you can be as loud as you want, Kanata. That’s what we used to do with Haya. I would rent out the restaurant and she could move around and learn to navigate it. Plus, she was still a little odd when it came to control.” he commented to Kanata, before he turned to Elena, “It’s good for kids to express themselves, maybe taking her to a park after this, might help.” he suggested.
Haya smirked, that was her uncle, but she turned to Aika, “Then I guess I am not invited.” she teased as a joke, she was learning to talk with people, but she liked hanging out with Kanata and Aika when Kanata was a kid.

“Well, I could’ve rented it all for us, but Aika insisted I don’t do it so I don’t seem like I just enjoy throwing my money whenever I can.” Elena explained, glancing in Aika’s direction, before she shrugged a bit “And we do go out on walks in parks. Kanata gets to see a lot of parks with her dad. So she does get to let her energies all loose, but I do want to teach her a bit of proper etiquette. So for today, all I asked was that she doesn’t speak loudly while we're here.” She explained, turning her gaze to Haya’s uncle.

Aika glanced from her mother to Kanata ”Don’t worry, we’ll love to go to all the parks with you. You and Haya and I, all together. Swing and go down slides and all the fun things.” She told Kanata, who seemed to cheer up a bit with a smile. Aika looked back at her mother ”And maybe,” Aika stopped herself for a moment, seemingly considering something, before continuing to speak ”Maybe you could let yourself be a bit more loose. It isn’t every day we have a meal like this. So just for today.” Aika said.

Haya’s uncle nodded, “If that is how you want it, but proper etiquette is for teenagers, not children. But she is not my child, I have never been an actual parent. So, I can’t really argue either way. I just think, being a child that was not allowed to be a child a lot, that children should have fun as children and learn to be proper when they have the drain of energy to be.” he commented.

Haya smirked at Kanata, “It sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? We should go soon, I think .” she commented to her to make sure she knew that Aika agreed with this idea.

Elena glanced in Haya’s uncle’s direction, before offering a nod “I understand. Though from how it seems, even if you were not a parent yourself, you were clearly very involved in Miss Kimura’s upbringing, to a point where she wanted you to meet Aika and not her own parents. From how I know things, people will often want to have their friends meet other important figures in their life first.” She said.

Aika nodded ”Yeah. I’m definitely on board with that.” She smiled. Kanata returned a smile to both, and seemed to look excited as the drinks were brought to the table by a waiter. Kanata grabbed her drink and started drinking it with a lot of enjoyment, while Aika first made sure Haya felt where her glass was, before looking at her own drink. Looking at Elena, she offered a small smile ”Haven’t had grapefruit juice in years. I always shared it with dad.” She said, before grabbing a hold of the glass. She looked at it for a moment, before taking a sip. The taste alone brought her back to what felt like better times with her parents. But she was also happy with where she was now.

Haya’s uncle smirked, chuckling a little, “Well, her father had some work stuff to do and my sister is not one to leave the house with just me. She doesn’t like using her quirk outside of the house and I can get a little wild, when I don’t have my brother in law around. So, I was invited but I wasn’t the only one. I am just the only one that would drop work just to be around my niece.” he started. It was true, her uncle had skipped doing work for over a month just to be able to hang out with Haya. he was her primary focus and she knew it, which was why he was hers.

Haya smirked to Aika as she took her glass and sipped her milk tea before she nodded, “My uncle is right, I had invited both my parents, but he was the only one that had a chance to come. But he raised me most of my life too, so I guess that would be right too.” she agreed.

Nodding as she listened, Elena didn’t seem to have any intentions of questioning Haya’s parents and their chosen actions. But with how it sounded, it certainly felt like a firm confirmation “Well, at least we got to meet. I know Kanata’s dad, my husband, would’ve loved to meet Aika, but he too had some prior obligations he couldn’t shake off. But he did say that you are both welcome to accompany him and Kanata on any day when he is out in the parks.” She told Haya and Aika.

Hearing the offer, and seeing Kanata nod her head very firmly at the offer with a big smile, Aika nodded as well ”I appreciate the offer, and let him know I’d be happy to take him up on it. I would love to meet the man Kanata seems to admire so much.” She told Elena.

Haya’s uncle smirked, “Sounds like a good plan.” he stated as he turned to Haya, “If you want….”

“No.” Haya said, as she smiled at her uncle, “Of all things that is not a good idea.” she mentioned, knowing that he was going to offer to send her his makeshift pet he had her years ago. Which was fun, but the pet could be like her uncle and unlike Aika and Haya, Kanata had no quirk in order to protect herself from the pet’s excitement.

Aika and Kanata both seemed confused by Haya’s sudden rejection of what was going to be her uncle’s suggestion, before Aika shrugged ”Well, maybe it would be best if we don’t spring any surprises on Kanata’s dad? Surprises can sometimes ruin things.” She said, while Kanata still continued to be confused.

Elena couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, looking at Haya’s uncle “Seems you’ve been outvoted with whatever your proposal was going to be.” She stated, amused by how things went, before watching as waiters went and brought their food to the table.



After they finished eating and paid for the meal, Elena stood up “Well, that was quite the nice meal.” She said, before looking over to Kanata and the other girls “I believe we still have time to get some ice cream, if you’d want some.”

Kanata, who seemed very happy with her food, aside from the broccoli she kept pushing aside, immediately started nodding her head excitedly “Ice cream! Please please please!” She said, before grabbing both Haya and Aika’s hands “Can you come with? Please?” She asked the two.

Aika couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at Kanata’s excitement ”Well, I don’t believe we have anything that requires us to come back right now, right Haya?” She asked. She knew well there was nothing stopping them, but in case Haya decided she had enough, then she did want to give her the option to head back.

Haya nodded, “I don’t have any plans for now. I think ice cream would be a good idea.” she commented before turning to her uncle, “Do you have to get back?”

Haya’s uncle shook his head, “Nope. I finished up some upgrades for your new headset to go with your armor and the next order happens to be from a friend who is currently in the hospital because he couldn’t wait another day.” he sighed, shaking his head as he smiled, “So, I have time for it.”

“Excellent. I believe I saw an ice cream parlour not far when we were walking to the restaurant.” Elena said, before going and opening the door for the rest to exit, before leaving as well. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the parlour, and Elena looked at the rest “Right, this will be my treat for everyone. What flavours would each like?” She asked, before glancing at Aika. She already had a hunch about Aika’s flavours, but she figured it’d be better to let Aika answer.

After walking with Kanata, who was also holding Haya’s hand, Aika looked at Elena ”Vanilla and strawberry for me.” She answered, before looking at Kanata ”Now what are your favourite flavours?” She asked.

Kanata’s eyes widened as they arrived outside the parlour “Whoa.. Chocolate! And cookie cream!” She answered both Elena and Aika loudly, hopping on the spot as she did.

Haya smirked, “We will just take Green Tea.” she said, Her uncle nodded in agrence. He had got her into green milk tea and the ice cream slowly followed as she started to want green tea more.

Nodding, Elena went into the ice cream parlour, and Kanata quickly let go of both Haya and Aika’s hands, before following Elena inside the parlour too.

Being there with just Haya and her uncle, Aika put her hands behind her head ”So, new upgrades to Haya’s armour and headset?” She asked casually. She wasn’t sure if Haya wanted to talk about that right now, but Aika wasn’t sure what else she could mention to get a conversation rolling.

Haya’s uncle smirked, “Yep, I am always looking for ways to improve Haya’s abilities while enhancing her quirk and usage. It is important that she has the best. She might never be number one, but she will be a famous hero one way or another, even without gear. But if she wants the gear I want to make sure she has it.” he commented.

Haya smirked, “That is one of the main jobs he does.” she explains, “When he finally lands a job, if he thinks the work is best for me he will try to give it to me or dumb it down so he can make it for me instead at it’s highest ability.” she sighed, “It’s actually why I have to avoid him when I am at school, unless my parents are around.” that comment made her uncle pout a little.

Aika chuckled a bit upon hearing that ”Sounds like a doting uncle. ‘Doting and always thinking of you’ uncle.” She remarked ”Oh, if you need more diamond shards or such, I can give you some. I don’t think I’ll need any armour or weapons, personally, so you probably won’t have much to suggest to me.” Aika added, before hearing the ice cream parlour door open.

Carrying three cups of ice cream, Elena went and gave one to Aika and one to Haya’s uncle, while Kanata went and brought a cup to Haya “There we go, two cups of green tea, one of vanilla and strawberry, one sweetness explosion and for me, some strawberry.” Elena remarked, offering everyone a tiny plastic spoon, before tasting the strawberry ice cream “Not bad.” She said, before turning her gaze to Kanata who was deep into eating her ice cream, letting a smile come onto Elena’s expression.

Haya’s uncle nodded, “Well, your diamonds are very rare, so anytime.” he commented just before the door opened and Elena handed him ice cream, “Thank you Elena.” he said as he took a small spoon too and started to eat.

Haya smirked at Aika’s comment and offer before she felt the door open and was handed her ice cream and she reached for a spoon and started to eat her ice cream. “My uncle is actually a bit obsessive.” Haya stated, “It’s more like having a best friend that always wants to be around you and never wants to do anything else. If he could, he would be on campus with me all the time.” she chuckled. Her uncle turned to Haya and smirked, that was about what he was like. But somehow it was not exactly the whole thing, Haya knew it, but couldn’t explain it and her uncle didn’t want to say.

“Reminds me of someone else we know, doesn’t it Aika?” Elena asked in between ice cream bites, with a smirk, before shrugging “But it can be nice knowing there is someone like that in your life. Someone who would always be willing to be there for you.” She said, before patting Kanata on her head. The young girl just kept eating her ice cream, a bit lost with what was being discussed, but clearly not minding as she had ice cream.

Rolling her eyes at Elena’s remark, Aika looked back at Haya’s uncle ”Well, I guess you could say they are nowadays. Probably even tougher than what my old dad could make back in the day.” She said, before continuing to eat her ice cream.

Haya’s uncle nodded, “Well, I am grateful. If you need me to make something just let me know, or I could offer to take you in for some training. I am still in the hero database, from my understanding and can take on students.” he commented.

Haya turned to Elena and looked confused for a moment, before she looked to her uncle and Aika, when her uncle made his offer. “Do you know anything about Diamond training?” she asked him. Her uncle had been a hero and had been in contact with a lot of different heroes, but she wasn’t sure if he had ever dealt with someone with a quirk like Aika’s.

“I actually know a couple of people who helped my late husband back when the company was still around. They researched many non-combative ways to improve the diamond skin hardiness and quality. It’s what allowed him to get as far as he did.” Elena told them, before glancing at Aika “But while I reckon that is not how Aika would prefer it, I do imagine she could still learn a thing or two from them, like what to focus on to better her diamond.” Elena added.

”Gee, because you were so open with those details until recently.” Aika told Elena, before glancing at Haya’s uncle ”Anything would be appreciated. I started off with punching stuff and slamming myself against walls, and floors, and whatnot, until those weren’t enough. Now the latest thing to shatter any part of me,” Aika rose her still bandaged arms and hands ”Was Haya. Painful, but at least I know I’ll get out of it with an even stronger diamond skin.”

Haya’s uncle smirked, “I have a feel I know a lot more about diamond then you might think.” he told Haya before turning to Elena, “Well, in combat, her diamond would harden a lot faster and focusing on just one thing would actually degrade some of the diamond as a whole.” he commented before turning to Aika, herself. “Have you tried a diamond cutter or diamond tip? If your diamond could withstand either of those it would be near impossible to crack. But given the right tone, Haya’s sound could probably continue to crack and even break off your diamonds. I would use a tuning fork, it’ll help you figure out where your diamond is weakest for the moment and might help you improve strengthening it. You don’t want a spot stronger than the other. It’ll make your shield useless in a fight, because they only have to find the spot.” he advised her.

Haya smirked at her uncle, of course he knew something. At Elena’s comment, Haya sighed, “Your way is only for the benefit of your own ideas. Aika needs to strengthen her diamond skin her way, to improve her ideas of what she wants to do with it.” Haya added on. Something told her that the suggestions would only improve Elena’s chances of getting Aika to do what she wanted.

Elena nodded at what Haya’s uncle said, before glancing at Haya after hearing her clear jab at her. Between what her and Aika said towards her, she got a feeling that perhaps it was time for her and Kanata to depart. Kneeling down, she looked at Kanata, and whispered to her “We need to go home, Kanata. We have a long drive. Go and hug your big sister and her friend goodbye for now.”

After finishing her ice cream, Kanata listened to the whisper from Elena. She initially made a pouty face, before hopping and giving a hug to Haya “I hope you get to hear a lot of things, and that I see you again soon!” She told Haya, before moving to hug Aika “Come home soon! I’ll be waiting!” Kanata told her older sister, before letting go. She looked at Haya’s uncle, giving him a big wave “Bye bye!” She told him, before going and taking a hold of Elena’s hand.

After listening to Haya’s uncle, Aika nodded at his suggestions, taking them in as mental notes to herself, before hearing Haya’s own words towards her mother. While she understood where Haya was coming from, Kagerou’s words still roamed in her mind, so she elected to just stay silent for a moment. When Kanata suddenly started to make her rounds saying goodbye, Aika glanced at Elena’s direction, before smiling at Kanata ”I promise to come home and see you as soon as I’m able, pipsqueak.” She told Kanata, ruffling the young girl’s hair a bit, before Kanata went and grabbed hold of Elena’s hand.

Haya’s uncle listened to what Haya said and frowned, it was hard to see her dislike someone, and strange at the same time. But it was something he understood. It was also something that he would have to have a talk with her about later. But he smiled at Elena, when he noticed Kanat saying her goodbyes, he bowed to her, “It was a pleasure to have met you, today. I look forward to another meeting.” he said to her and then smiled towards Kanata, “and to you, Kanata.”

Haya smiled at Kanata, and sighed, she didn’t want her to go, Aika seemed to like her but she was saying goodbye. “We will see you later, Kanata.” Haya told her. She hoped to be able to hear the little girl again, as she pointed out. It made her smile to know that she was a sweet girl and that Aika seemed to like her.

“And I will bid you all farewell as well. It was certainly an interesting evening. May we all meet again with only reasons for celebration and happiness.” Elena told Haya and her uncle, before looking at Aika “And like Kanata said, I’m hoping to see you home soon.” She told Aika, before turning and beginning to walk away. As Kanata walked away with Elena, she turned her head and waved some more to Aika and Haya’s uncle “Bye bye!” She called out to them again, before moving to focus on where she was stepping.

Simply nodding quietly to Elena, Aika watched as the two began to walk away, before waving to Kanata. Once the young girl looked away, Aika turned to look at Haya and her uncle ”So, while you don’t have any kids of your own, I’d rather you didn’t stay here too long on account of us. You still have your own job to do, even if the client is in a hospital.” Aika told Haya’s uncle, as she put her hands in her pockets.

Haya’s uncle pouted when Aika suggested he leave too, “Well, I would like a little more time with Haya, but I guess you are right.” he said, but he clearly would rather be there to hang out with his niece then go to work. “But to be clear the project is planned out enough that I can still wait to complete it and still get it done before he is out of the hospital,” he added.

Haya smirked at Aika and then turned to her uncle, “But we have to get back to the dorms. We had promised a friend to do something and it would be a little odd if we brought my uncle, wouldn’t it?” Haya commented in hopes that it would work.

”Yeah. We still have some things to take care of. And we can still meet other times.” Aika told him, piggybacking off what Haya said ”And trust me, I’ll keep Haya safe all the way back there.” She added with a firm nod.

Haya’s uncle sighed, “I see. I guess you are right then.” he said before he kissed Haya’s forehead, and then bowed to Aika, “Thank you for taking care of her, I will get going.” he commented, “Maybe we will catch you on our weekend visit.” he smiled. He was hoping to have more time with Haya, but the fact that she had something to do meant he had to find his own way through the day. “Have a good day girl, and stay safe.” he said waving as he started to leave.

Haya smiled at her uncle and nodded, waving to him as he started to leave, “Bye, uncle.” she called to him, before she turned to Aika, “Sorry about that. He is obsessed, as I said.” she told Aika, in all honesty she had made plans with someone, but those plans were for later tomorrow. She just wasn’t sure how else to get rid of her uncle.

Aika waved to Haya’s uncle before turning to look at Haya ”No worries. Now, shall we head back then? I don’t know about you, but all of this actually gave me a couple of ideas for songs to write.” Aika stated, taking out her right hand and gently taking Haya’s hand.

Haya smirked with some excitement, “Sounds like we did have something to do back at the dorms after all then.” she said as she took Aika’s hand and moved to walk with her. “You know, if you want I still have some energy. I can listen to the sound and replay it for you now. I was actually going to show you that at the festival. I can replay the sounds I heard.” Haya said as she walked with Aika, she got a little excited that her hand slipped out of Aika’s as she tried to explain how she absorbs them and works on how she moves sounds to different parts of her body. She spent most of walking back explaining it and telling Aika that she was starting to try and get it to work in different ways. But she had not yet gotten to that point yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Azurian Dream
Upon dispersal of the class Team Aika would find their route taking them to a bit more rural area of Ine in the Kyoto prefecture. Known as fishing central the group was rather lucky to be more so inland than on the water line that made the area famous. They were more so in the residential area near the shrines. They had been teleported this time to avoid the past problem of villains knowing their routes.

It was midday, work made the area nearly empty of people. Everyone is still working on the waterline, while their families remain home to tend to home matters that require attention. This place was peaceful, rarely had ever seen the danger and the arrival of heroes, even just students was seen more as a precaution than a necessity like other areas that they had been to. Many of the people would greet them, after all, to them, heroes were stories for children to give them courage when it was time to work the waterline.

Being in an area that had such a strong presence of fish was not the most pleasant thought for Aika, but she knew that heroes worked everywhere, even if it was in an area such as this. Being teleported as a short way there made the trip very quick, and the area being mostly vacant did make Aika feel a bit more relieved. Should anything happen, then the chance of a civilian being caught in the middle of it was lessened. As people approached to greet them, Aika did her best to thank them for the welcome, before moving the group along to begin their patrol.

”Right. Considering everyone’s skill set, I want us to walk in this manner. Hideki and I in front, Haya and Kuroi in the back. We keep close attention to everything. If we end up split up for any reason, this spot is where we will rendezvous. Seeing how this is a patrol, the priorities are to keep the civilians and the area safe. And even if there are barely any civilians around, still try to keep damage to a minimum. We are near the homes of many. Let's go. Any complaints or remarks, you can say as we’re walking.” Aika told everyone, before turning to begin their patrol.

Haya nodded, as she fell behind with Kuroi and tried to focus on everything around them. She was sure that there was a reason she was in the back, but she would ask Aika when she had the chance. Right now, was not the time for questions, the plan was solid, which was what she expected from Aika. She had no complaints, she liked her group, better then any group that she had, she had Aika, who she shared her first kiss with, Kuroi, who she shared her first date with, and Hideki, who was the first to meet her family and get on her uncle’s good side. These were her closest relationships, the people that meant the most to her from the class and that she trusted. She felt like they had a large enough range of abilities too, to take on just about anyone.

“Uh… sure Ma’am. My skill set is kind of stabbing people… Little hard to do in the back,” Kuroi mentioned a bit sarcastically, though fell behind nonetheless. It was less of a rebellion and more of a dry remark as was typical of him. This was his first time dealing with Aika, who seemed to be more vocal than he first appraised. Perhaps that was just because she was in a leadership role right now. Better her than him, at least. Hopefully, this patrol would go better than his last. Kuroi might’ve been comforted by the fact the location was more rural, but considering he had five villains run into him and the others on the side of a freaking mountain and forest, he didn’t want to hold his breath.

Hideki stood with his group as they were teleported to their patrol area. This time they were going to be in a more rural area by the water. Even though they were in a peaceful aren, Hideki was going to make sure that he was on top of his game. You never know where you might run into an enemy. Plus this was Hideki’s first mission since his fight with Vitalis, he was now pretty much cured from any of the effects that her poison caused him and he was now better from the severe food poisoning that he had suffered that caused him to miss the last patrol mission. He was ready and looking forward to this mission,

Hideki then listened to Aika’s plan, it seemed like a good enough one to him. Hideki nodded his head as he got into position in the front of the group with Aika. Hideki was happy with this team. He has worked with all of them in the past and were all people that he got along with.

It wasn’t long before the group found themselves in a little more space and less people around them. When someone approached, “Excuse me.” she called to Aika and smiled sweetly, “Excuse me. Sorry. I was wondering if you were the mist user?” she asked, before she smiled, not getting too close to them, she looked at Aika, “But looking closer, you are not at all what he said you looked like.” she commented.

From behind, the wind guy said, “Well, this is lucky.” He said behind Kuroi and Haya, “I was hoping you would get assigned to this one. I hate making people do things and letting them live. But father seemed to want to make sure that your school didn’t get any suspicious reports until we were done. I got you a surprise though, the both of you. But first, the brat’s girlfriend needs to go down, can’t have you getting in the way.” he smiled as he took out a small device and pressed the center button. Nothing happened, but he seemed happy with the whole thing.

Haya paused, she felt them, but thought they were just citizens until she heard the voice of the female, she sounded like she was playing a game. Then she felt the man, the same wind man that had been on the last mission she had with Kuroi and Hideki. It was clear that there was another, but she couldn’t feel them clearly enough to know where exactly they were. But that didn’t matter, when the man stopped speaking. All she felt was the scritching pain of sound. It ached through her body and her ears couldn’t hear it, but her body screamed for it to stop, as she screamed in pain. It was only a few moments before she was down on her knees trying to force her sound shield up, but unable to control her own sound. It did nothing for her and she crouched together on her knees to block as much of her body from the sound that was attacking every atom in her body, her body screaming in pain, for her to move, while at the same time unable to.

Getting approached by the two, Aika listened to the lady as she asked about a mist user, which she immediately figured she meant Miasma. So whoever this was, they were not up to date about everything that went on. The guy mentioning that they didn’t want to alert the school only made it clearer both were trouble. After he pressed the button and Haya went down screaming, Aika started feeling angrier. So these two, who looked from their hair and eyes like they could be related to Haya and her uncle in the hair and eyes, already had some way to bring Haya down like that ”You got the wrong girl lady. I’m no mist user, I’m the type to beat up others who do things like this.” She remarked back, before her skin turned into diamond ”Hideki, see if you can take on this lady. I’ll take on Soar Blade. Kuroi, protect Haya and see if you can either move her away or figure out what is keeping her down.” She instructed the two, before rushing at Soar Blade, feinting an uppercut with her right arm, only to instead switch to a headfirst attack right against his chest.

Kuroi eyed the woman warily. It certainly wasn’t coi, her demeanor. However, more concerning was the voice that spoke behind him. He remembered it instantly. It was the wind asshat from his first mission. No later than he spoke and Haya dropped as well. Kuroi instantly knelt down next to her, but scowled at the man as his eyes glowed red. “I dunno, maybe the thing he took out of his pocket conspicuously?” He suggested with a growl, not very happy that his prerogative was to grab Haya and retreat and leave the other two behind.

Picking Haya up in his arms, Kuroi started back the way they came. Maybe there was some device in that area causing her harm and distance would help her. Still, it didn’t feel right to be falling back instead of skinning the bastard.

The patrol seemed to be going okay for the first bit, the group remained quiet but on alert. Soon enough they were in a little bit more open space and there didn’t seem to be many people around. That was until they were approached by a woman in front of Hideki and Aika and then two people behind Kuroi and Haya. The woman in front of himself and Aika mentioned something about a mist user, was she talking about Vitalis? As Hideki stood his ground and got prepared for a fight, a voice that came from behind sounded familiar. Hideki turned as his eyes caught the eyes of the wind quirk user. A man that he fought on his very first patrol mission.

Before Hideki could get a word out, Haya hit the ground as she screamed in pain. Suddenly just like that they were in a fight. Aika quickly gave an order to Hideki to take on the woman in front of him. He would have liked to take on the wind user seeing that he knew how to fight against him, but he would have to trust in Aika’s orders. Hideki was worried about Haya and wanted to help her, but he had to trust in Aika and Kuroi and he had to do his own part and take down the villain in front of him.

Hideki quickly turned back towards the woman in front of him and he quickly fired off a flame attack at the woman. He needed to see what her quirk was, plus with this he could try to keep her at a good distance. 7th

The female smirked, as she dodged, "Oh, so you are the fire boy. Making him the blood brat." She stated, "First let's point you in the right direction." She tapped her collar and hummed a tone to reach Hideki's mind. It would change his perception just enough to make him see his allies as his enemies and his enemies as his allies. "Now, deal with the female as you were told." She ordered before she tapped the other side of her collar letting out a scratching sound to halt Kuroi. "I would put her down if I were you. Your friend won't care who is in your arms. Hate for you to get your girlfriend hurt because you didn't know your place." She called out to Kuroi.

The wind user smirked, "Diamond. Didn't expect that." He said before he reached for her fake punch, holding her wrist to pull him from her head. He twisted around her and pulled her to him in a way that would swing her back where she came. "I would put your claws away. Your diamond enhances sound, so right about when you transformed, my dear cousin would have felt a pain like she has never known. The long you expose her to it the less of a chance she will survive." He warned before motioning to Hideki, "And you have other matters to deal with, then losing one little traitor." He pointed out, "I would watch out for the torch."

Haya felt nothing but pain but it only grew when the sound got amplified. She didn't know how, nor could she try to feel why. All her senses screamed death and it wasn't long before the pain silenced her own screams. She felt being lifted, the echoing sound of a powerful heartbeat made it clear it had been Kuroi. But as she moved and the sound was blocked partially by the sound of the heartbeat. It was short-lived. The sound enhanced around her, while the heartbeat soon was gaining distance.

(Lifeblood Vs Mud Blast)

Upon the increasing chaos, Kuroi would feel a small rumble underneath his legs almost very specifically under his legs as his foundation of footing liquified into mud. Sucking him in all the way up to his chest forced blood boy to lose his grip on Haya before he was totally sucked into the ground. A massive rumbling would be felt around the battlefield before Lifeblood was finally spat out of the earth not too far away from where he had been, but enough for there to be the distance from the damaged Hollow. In between the two, a blast from the past arose from the ground forming Mud Blast another villain from the group's first mission well plus Aika.

“Enjoy the ride,” the villain smugly chuckled to the very muddied Lifeblood as he started to walk slowly said hero in the works. The last time they had dealt with Mud Blast they had incarcerated all of his quintuplet brothers. Yet strangely there seemed to be no ill will on that fact as the villain was rather lax more so observing all that was going on.

“Normally I would have pulled you both in, but you got rid of my annoying brothers so I’ll say that’s my way of repaying you for removing those annoyances from my life,” he added nonchalantly stopping just about a foot from the edge of what should have been the limited reach of Lifeblood’s attack range from what he had observed for quite a while.

Kuroi was already irritable prior to the sinkhole, but when he was thrown out, he laid there a minute, instantly reminiscing about his first mission. Silently, he stood up, eyes gleaming. "Let me do you another favor then. Give her back and fuck off, or I'm not stopping like I did last time." He already knew the mud boys had a limit to how much they could regenerate, and he didn't care much about getting slapped around with dirt.

“Oh? Assuming you know my limitations based on my brothers? Well by all means let’s see whose calculations are more accurate,” Mud Blast smirked a bit amused by Lifeblood’s hostility yet there was an unfortunate situation of how Lifeblood had a bit of a better word lack on what this particular brothers quirk was. Within seconds a rock spike pierced out of the ground threatening to bore a new hole into Lifeblood’s body as Mud Blast sunk into the ground. In reaction, a series of rock spikes started to shoot into the sky falling apart into dozens of rocks falling at dangerous speed all around the emo hero.

Kuroi was deathly silent, but glaring. As he prepared to attack, the ground rumbled again and expelled a spike from under him, forcing him to get distance. He jumped backwards, flipping and springboarding off his hands to keep from sitting in the same spot for too long. His hands and legs used a bit of blood to anchor each time. However, as the spikes stopped and the debris came down from over, spikes and tendrils ejected from his body to slash, whip, and stab from his upper body. After the momentary focus from above, he switched gears to sending his tendrils down into the earth below to urge Mud Blast out.

With Lifeblood’s expected attack a geyser of mud splashed upward uprooting him from the ground as it formed into a mud ball before slamming back down into the ground. A few feet away Mud Blast finally arose from the ground, sighing a bit.

"Rather wasting quite a bit of time here are you not? Thought you were supposed to be saving your gal pal," Mud Blast taunted from a distance.

Kuroi picked himself off the ground with a growl as the blood subsided into him. Pushing himself up to his knees, he glanced over and flipped middle finger to the cocky villain. Though rather than a simple “fuck you”, a blot of red ejected itself from the digit like a bullet.

“I agree, so why don’t you come over here so I can shiv you and leave,” Kuroi retorted, but even ticked off, he could still think. They obviously had a thing for her, so they wouldn’t just kill her off. Plus, the way he was messing around meant the guy was either stupidly arrogant or more likely just trying to hold him off. He talked about his brothers as if he was better, or annoyed, by them. Perhaps this one had the same temper as the others. “You know, it’s really annoying. Not villains fucking with me but amateurs like you and your brothers. What’s the edge you got on them, exactly? You control rocks and mud? Am I supposed to be impressed? Sure, you may be out of my range, but it’s not like you can take me out with how weak you are.”

“Ah such a plethora of insults too bad none of them hold a candle of legit threat,” Mud Blast scoffed as the bullet shot through his left shoulder leaving a notable bullet-sized hole as the villain sighed clearly seeing through the ruse of agitation.

“You know to be fair if you were dealing with anyone else here that would’ve probably been pretty effective. If we’re going to chat about my brothers as loathing as a conversation like that is I’ll indulge,” pointing out with his left hand wide open multiple mud waves arise from the ground and flooded toward Lifeblood threatening to engulf him into a murky underwater grave with a torrent of force.

“To give the honest answer anything any of them can do I can indeed do better,” he smiled clearly taking some messed up pride in that as the bullet hole closed up.

“No by all means super emo boy blue come right over don’t be afraid of the kiddy pool. I promise it won’t wipe off that black mascara,” he taunted back pulling from the ground a rock-like baseball bat.

As the waves came, Kuroi ran to one of the buildings and leaped up, forming claws to scale the sides and keep off the ground. Glancing back down at him as he made his speech, Kuroi scowled a bit more. “You can throw mud better…” He repeated almost in disbelief, eyeing the makeshift bat. “And what’re you gonna do with that? Isn’t your whole thing pussyfooting around and keeping me at a distance?”

“Isn’t your whole thing to charge straight at your enemies like a dumbass lunatic rather than be a bitch climbing away like a scared rodent,” Mud Blast retorted back with smirk placing the rock bat against his shoulder not taking the first move like Lifeblood wanted or so it seemed as a top the building a waterfall of mud flew right for the boy threatening to overtake the blood hero.

“Sure, but unlike you, I can do both-” Kuroi began to retort before a sudden impact ripped into the building he clung to. Kicking off it, he whipped an arm at Mud Blast, sending an arc of blood at him. As he came down, more blood broke the skin in preparation to follow-up the attack.

The attack sliced through Mud Blast’s body causing some good recovery damage to the villain as the blue-haired mud controller hissed at the rudeness of his situation however with Lifeblood so close now.

“Not very bright are you,” the quintuplet asked catching Kurois following an attack with his rock bat as the waterfalling mud came geyser right at Lifeblood with the intent to wipe out the hero if he didn’t respond fast.

“Ditto.” His voice was cold and rather than gain distance or eject from the situation, streaks of red poured from open skin. Legs, arms, neck, even his head. The tendrils erupted and shot downward in a series of spikes around the muddy bat. It seemed he was returning to the ‘dumbass lunatic’ style mentioned earlier and opting for maximum damage, even if he had to take a hit from the geyser.

The attack would make its mark, and then some as Mud Blast got to experience multiple stabs inwards, and outwards from his body as Lifebloods attack vined through his body separating his muddy cells into an extreme spreadsheet of damage. The Bat itself shatter from all the sudden damage as Mud Blast was too concentrated from falling apart from being turned into a reverse pincushion. However, as damaging as the attack was Mud Blast was still at full consciousness being a living mud person.

“Two can play that,” the blue-haired villain sneered in pain as the mud geyser hit consuming both of them in full flooding Lifebloods senses as he was tugged around like a ragdoll before the mud train slammed into the same building it had erupted from leaving Lifeblood to slowly fall from it before getting caught by the throat.

“Seems you really suck at considering equivalent EXCHANGE,” Mud Blast yelled before yeeting Lifeblood with an extended mud hand into a mudslide until Lifeblood would ram into a lifted spike of earth. While it seems this would lead into more of a combo Mud Blast wobbled mid repair hissing at the break of his concentration.

“Snarky pain in my freaking ass only doing this damn mission as a favor for that bag pipe prick,” Mud Blast growled finally pulling his being back together as he turned to notice the fights ahead.

Kuroi felt himself pushed upward until a sharp pain shot through his body from his side. As the mudslide subsided, the black of his shirt was reddened in the area where his body collided with the spike. It seemed to be a rather deep gash, and hurt like hell from Kuroi’s grit teeth, though it didn’t seem to be draining of fluids.

“I-It better be worth it… because you’re fucking dead,” Kuroi hissed, pushing himself up, albeit obviously slowed from the pain. He could keep the blood from spilling out, but his nerves were still shooting every which way, making sure that his body knew there was something wrong. “All that healing factor, but if I cut you enough it doesn’t mean much, does it?”

“Unfortunately we will have to postpone who gets to kill who,” Mud Blast hissed in agitation noticing the major failure going on Siren, and Haru's side.

“Any other circumstance I would love to kill you, but unfortunately I have to be a team player… but next we will settle this,” Mud Blast scowled before sinking into the ground wounded rather well as he sped in earth towards his allies as quickly as possible.

(Ai-Sharp Vs Mind-Controlled Hotshot )

So she knew who they were. The wind user must have told all of his allies about Hideki and his squad’s quirks and abilities. Hideki smirked for a moment as he watched the woman dodge his flame attack. “Well guess this won’t be easy considering you know all of our quirks.” Before Hideki could keep up with the attack though something hit his mind. It was like a small tone or sound of music. Hideki didn’t even know what had hit him and before he could figure it out his mind had been changed. Hideki stopped pointing his flames at the female enemy in front of him as she smirked and then sent him to attack Aika. Hideki was now under the enemy’s control but he had no idea that was the case.

Hideki turned and ran towards Aika shooting off a flame attack at the diamond-clad leader of their squad.

After being pushed back to face Hideki’s direction, who Aika saw threw a flame attack at her, She raised her arm and blocked it, before turning away and running at Soar Blade again. She was not about to let him just walk away from her like that, and she planned to use him to figure out exactly what they had done to Hideki. She aimed to grab Soar Blade’s arm, twist it behind his back, and then lock her free arm around his neck. Get him in a choke hold that will also get him bleeding from the diamond. And she also needed to get close to him to knock out the device that was hindering Haya.

The wind user smirked before turning to air, being invisible to the eyes would give him a chance to move without being noticed. He had very little interest in going against the diamond girl, and even less interest in the fire boy. As she came at him, he moved around her through the air and closer to where Haya had landed. His interest was only in her. As he moved he tossed the device making it visible again when the fire boy attacked again.

When he was near Haya he became visible again. Before he smiled back at the diamond girl, "Ops. Did you want that? Sorry." He said as his hand pointed towards Haya, his air blades released as he cut in very specific spots, not too deep as to kill her but deep enough for the sound was not the only pain she had. "Okay. Diamond. I will let you see my last trick then I promise not to move." He said before his hand moved pointing to her. "And to kill your blind friend slowly." He said before a wind spiral shot out towards her.

Haya's pain only increased as the sound blasted through her body even move. She tried to pull it all in and use it but the pain stopped her almost as soon as she had the idea. She tried to feel around her, to find out about her team but that didn't work either. The pain echoed through her and circled back again, as she clinched her body and tried to move. They had to be fighting and she couldn't use her quirk. She was in the way and she had to get out or her team would be in danger. But everytime she thought to move her body wouldn't listen. And then there were blades, the stung through her body before stopped. Leaving her without the strength to move between the blades and sound. It frustrated her that thing thing that could make her stronger could hurt her so much

Hideki watched as Aika blocked his flame attack. In Hideki’s mind Aika was no longer his ally but was his enemy. Whatever the woman did to him it shaped his mind and made him believe that he was now fighting on the other side. Hideki glared at Aika as he ran back towards her. He started to heat up even more so then the last attack and fired off a few fire balls towards the diamond clad girl.

After the wind guy turned into nothing but wind and landed next to Haya, Aika stopped and just listened to everything. She could see the guy in front of her preparing his attack and shooting, and she could hear Hideki from behind shooting a few fireballs right at her. It was less than ideal to let Hideki get hurt, but he was trying to also hit her right now. Staying put for less than a moment, Aika rolled to the right, aiming to let both attacks pass each other, and then hopefully hit the other one, before getting back up and beginning to run, this time beginning a circle around Hideki. She couldn’t completely focus on rescuing Haya as long as Hideki was like this. She needed to either get him back to his senses or knock him out.

As Aika moved, the Fireball and wind spiral hit, the oxygen was being sucked through and ended up cancelling each other out. He smirked slightly to himself as he watched the diamond rush towards Hideki. He turned to Haya and then to his sister. If they were going to get them all out of the way, then this was the perfect time for her to step in and keep her pet in one piece.

She noticed her brother’s look and nodded, of course she was more than happy to help. From reading up on the file of Hideki, she had decided that in the end, she wanted him to play with for as long as she could. She tapped the side of her collar before running her finger slightly back, and opened her mouth. Letting out a screaming sound that was at a higher volume then the one that she had used before. She aimed towards Aika’s path, making sure to stay with the girl and keep her distance from hitting Hideki. She figured the diamond would get a good shake, but Hideki’s ears may not survive the sound for long. So, it was best her Siren call was blasted at her target and avoided getting too close to her new found pet.

Hideki’s mind was blank right now. The only thing going through his mind at the moment was that he needed to destroy the diamond girl, who in his mind was his enemy. Whatever the actual enemy did to his mind was forcing him to attack his friends. He was under their control and to his knowledge he didn’t know that he was being controlled. Whatever her quirk was, it was definitely powerful.

Hideki watched as his flames and the air attack hit each other and canceled them out. Hideki then watched Aika start to run around him and get ready to attack him. As Hideki was about to start his own attack he was suddenly taken down to one knee as he heard a screeching noise hit his ears. The sound was intense and painful and it caused Hideki to pause and be in pain instead of continuing to attack Aika.

Before Hideki could make any move, or Aika could get close, a loud sound was blasted right at her. Aika covered her ears, while looking in the direction it came from. The woman that she instructed Hideki to face. The one who was likely behind his new state. While she was accustomed to loud sounds due to all the stuff she listened to, and due to experiencing Haya’s own sounds, this direct attack on her ears was certainly a lot worse. Putting a finger in each ear, Aika began to slowly move them in rotation over and over, causing a clear sound of diamond scratching diamond. It was far from pleasant, but it managed to block enough of the siren call to stop her from completely breaking under the attack. Staring at the woman, Aika began charging in her direction instead, having noticed Hideki had stopped acting. Even if she had to use her hands to stop some of the sound, she could still kick the woman’s ass.

The wind guy smirked as he noticed the diamond girl switch to his sister. Before she did reach her though, he sent his air blades at her. It wouldn’t do much of anything but it might get her attention, “Diamond, maybe if you focus on just one, you might get somewhere.” he suggested, as he turned towards the blood brat and Mud Blast, he sent wind blades that way as well, just for the fun of it.

His sister smirked as she took a breath and let out the sound again, she blasted her siren call towards Aika again. It was unexpected that Hideki would be affected, but he seems to have gotten closer to her then she had expected him to be. “You know, it would be a lot easier if you just let us take her home. It’s where she belongs.” she added when she took another breath.

The pain from the siren sound stopped which caused Hideki to get back to his feet and find his target. Hideki saw Aika running towards his current ally and Hidkei couldn’t allow that to happen. Hideki quickly heated up his flames and shot off an attack in front of Aika. The flames hit grass and made a line of flames between Aika and the siren woman.

Hideki’s plan was to make it so that Aika couldn’t get to that woman and that she would have to fight him first. Hideki now ran up behind Aika, his right fist and arm covered in flames as he sent a fire punch right towards Aika.

The wind blades that were sent to Aika collided with her diamond, and she could feel them cause some vibrations but she kept her eyes on the woman. The sudden flames that were brought up in front of her didn’t slow her down either, as Aika simply ran through the wall of flames. The fire was hotter, and Aika could feel the diamond begin to turn into vapor, but she kept her fingers in her ears, repeating the same motion to block out the siren call that seemed to fade away and return in the background, as she kept charging at the woman.

If she could get close enough, she aimed to fake a headbutt towards the woman's chest, only to instead go around her and lock her left arm around her neck in a chokehold. And considering what the woman was doing, she doubted that she could just vanish like Soar Blade had.

The woman smirked as she watched the diamond go through the flames. She reached behind her before rethinking it. She had been the one to say no weapons after all. Instead she leaned back, her legs coming up from under her as she timed her dodge accordingly. When her leg reached the diamond's stomach they continued her motion but lost the form when the girl moved slightly. So, the woman rolled to her knees and let out another siren call towards the girl.

Hideki watched as Aika ran right through his flames, but he could tell that his flames were now starting to do a little bit of damage to the diamond clad enemy. Hideki stopped running and deactivated his fire fist as he saw the diamond girl going to attack his new ally.

Hideki realized that the hotter his flames were the more damage he was going to do. Hideki took a deep breath and calmed himself before starting to build up massive amount of heat and flames throughout his body. Hideki had closed his eyes, but then suddenly opened them as he ran towards Aika. Hideki saw his new ally get past the Diamond girl and throw an attack at her and Hideki was going to back her up.

Hideki fired off a steady stream of flames like a flamethrower right at Aika. “Give up now! You villains can never win!” That was Hideki’s mindset right now, in his mind he thought that he was currently attacking villains, but instead he was actually being controlled
To be on the villains side.

”Tch.” Aika clicked with her tongue as she quickly put her finger back in her ear, covering herself from the next siren attack, when Hideki came and called her to give up, before firing his flames like a flamethrower right at her. She couldn’t block it the way she was, and the flames were causing her diamond skin to vapour at a much faster pace with their intense heat. However, the fire also covered her from his direct vision, as she started charging right into them. She could feel the diamond fading from different parts, and in response, Aika went and activated her Pure Diamond Form. It burnt heavily to suddenly have heavy diamond against her burnt skin, but given that the diamond was still slowly turning into vapour, it was worth it in her eyes.

Still running through the fire, Aika ran in Hideki’s direction, before spinning out of the fire once she was closer, and then continuing to spin. While there was no direct attack aimed at Hideki, molten bits of diamond would be flying all around, including multiple that were aimed right at him. And Aika kept spinning and moving around Hideki, aiming to steer clear away of his fire as she wanted to cause him enough burns from the molten diamond to either distract him or cause him to be knocked back to his senses.

Hideki watched as his flames seemed to be doing some more damage. Through the fire and smoke Hideki could see that some of Aika’s diamonds was starting to melt off of her. Then he lost sight of her. Was she running directly through his fire attack? Next thing he knew he saw the girl spinning out of his flames and spinning around him. Hideki watched as some of her heavy diamond which was now heated up was melting off of her and flying through the air in his direction.

Hideki did his best to dodge all of the pieces that were flying towards him, but there were a few smaller pieces that he didn’t see and they slammed into his skin at fast speeds and got temperatures. Hideki bit down on his bottom lip hard as the diamond pieces hit his skin and left their marks. If it were just flames Hideki would be able to handle them, but since it was diamond pieces that were very hot Hideki couldn’t handle it as well. The worst of it though was one of the smallest pieces hit right under Hideki’s right eye. This causes Hideki to put his right hand over that spot as he turned away from Aika for a moment.

Catching sight of Hideki turning away, Aika stopped spinning and rushed at him while the chance was still there. She could still feel the diamond melting around her body, making it lighter, but she also knew that if Hideki kept at it and completely melted it, then she was going to suffer a lot more. Closing the remaining distance between them, she did a spin jump, aiming to have her leg hit the back of Hideki’s head with a strong enough kick to just knock him out. She’ll apologize for him later, but she had to do this, or else the other two would be capable of just escaping with Haya without anyone stopping them.

As she watched the motion, Siren had no way of stopping it, but to touch her collar and move her finger a little forward, before she let out the call, towards Hideki, to temporarily force him to a knee and loosen her own control of him. When he would fall, she could move her siren call back to taking control of him, forcing his mind to flip and flop for a few seconds.

The wind guy saw everything and used his wind gust to blast towards Aika to stop her, if Siren’s call was not enough. Before he turned to Haya, “Diamond.” he called, before his hand moved towards Haya. A bubble formed around her, as the sound faded from her body, as did the air. He smirked, “I say you have two minutes at best to back off. I don’t think she will be able to hold her breath as long as it’ll take you to fight the three of us and it doesn't look like she will have all that long.” he commented.

Haya could feel the pain dull a little but she still was in it. The pain still forced her down but not for long as the air started to vanish around her. The sound was gone, but she couldn’t breathe. Her eyes opened, her body felt weak and she could feel more of what was going around her. She felt Haru near her, Hideki and Aika were close, Hideki was hurt and Aika’s diamond was gone. She could not feel Kuroi. Where was he? There was no way that he would just leave his team behind. There was no way that he would abandon his mission for any reason. It was how he was going to get into ANVIL. It was his way to reach his goal. So, something else was going on, and as she was losing her breath, her thoughts rushed to Haru. He started this. He attacked them before, all of them. He faced them all, but Aika and planned this attack. He forced his own hatred of her, whatever reasoning behind it, against her friends. Her favorite team was his target, the team she loved the most, the people she cared for the most. The first friends of her own, that she made and that she had created relationships and promises with. He attacked them. Trapped them. He….he was hurting them.

The pain from the piece of diamond that struck his skin right under his eye had now subsided. Hideki had turned his back on Aika and was unaware that she was about to strike him down with a kick to the back of his head. The woman who was controlling him though saw this and with her power forced Hideki down to one knee so that he would dodge Aika’s kick. While he was being forced down, something happened, her control over Hideki waned and Hideki for a split moment was able to grab control over his mind and body again.

Hideki’s head hurt from the sudden switch of having no control over himself to having full control again. He put his right hand over his forehead as he looked around for a moment not really aware of what was going on. Last thing he remembered was that he and his team had run into some people. That’s when Hideki remembered that one of those people was the wind user that he had fought against on his very first mission. Hideki now panicked a little bit as he turned his head to see where Haya, Aika and Kuroi were and to make sure they were okay. At the very last second before the woman was able to gain control again Hideki saw Aika trying to kick him as she missed her kick. Hideki was confused and concerned, having no idea why Aika would be attacking him. Before he could say anything he was placed under the woman’s control again. She then forced him to jump back a few feet to put some distance between himself and Aika.

After her kick missed and Hideki moved away, Aika cursed under her breath. She could barely hear the wind guy call to her, as she turned to look at him, and following his hand, he saw Haya and the bubble that was now present around her head. Looking at the wind guy, even if she couldn’t fully hear him, she could understand what he was going for. Get outta here or Haya dies. Their aim was Haya from the get go, that much she already figured from the things he said before. Indeed, she couldn’t fight all three of them in time before Haya suffocated. But at the very least, she wasn’t going to let that lady keep her other teammate as a toy.

Turning to Hideki again, Aika charged at him yet again, this time not aiming to kick him, but instead grab him by the chest and run away with him. She didn’t know how far she’d need to get him to release him, and she was certain he was going to fight her, but she had to try. She could let them take away two of her classmates like that, and all the while she also didn’t know how Kuroi was doing. Hoping for the best, she grabbed Hideki, wrapping her arms around his chest as she came at him from low, before beginning to run away from Soar Blades, Siren and Haya. She cursed herself again for even doing it, but if it meant that Haya will at least live for now, then it was the only move.

Siren moved her finger to tap her collar as she smirked, she wasn't going to let her new toy go so easily. But there was a sound that caught her eye. As she turned to Haya and her brother. It was a flash, but she knew what that meant. She smirked, Haru could deal with level one. It wasn't like she was trained to do much but be a hero. She doubted that it mattered.

But as she felt the sound blasting through she turned her collar on full blast and let out her call, Haya’s sound was deafening if you were too close and even from where she stood, it hurt. Her sound could only shield her from it.

Hideki saw Aika start to run towards him, this made Hideki fire off some fireballs towards the diamond girl. Aika was able to dodge the attacks before unexpectedly grabbing Hideki and wrapping him up in her diamond arms. “What the!” Hideki tried to break free, even with how strong he was he couldn’t break free from Aika’s diamond arms.

Aika ran off with Hideki as he struggled, his mind still under the woman’s control. A moment later though there was a loud sound blast that came from behind them. The sound blast as strong enough that it dispelled the quirk that had taken over Hideki’s brain. Hideki’s head started to hurt from the sudden blast of sound and from being returned to having control over his brain. “What happened? Where am I?” Hideki looked around as he noticed that he was being carried. Carried by Aika? What happened? Did he get hurt? “Aika what… what happened?”

Still carrying Hideki, who was trying to break free, Aika was glad for once that even in just raw power, she still was stronger than some of her classmates. People really had no idea how much it took to handle her diamond skin. The thought would soon fade, however, as a loud sound went over them, causing her molten and fragile diamond skin to shake in response. Dropping Hideki, Aika fell to her knees. She glanced at him as she felt the intense pain from all the burns she experienced. All the pain was rushing to her as she felt the adrenaline fade away, and she briefly fixed her sight on Hideki ”About time, hothead.” She said, before falling against the ground ”Damn…” Aika muttered, before losing consciousness.

(Hollow Vs Assassin Family)

Haya could feel herself losing air, she wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to take the pain of her lungs. But she felt Hideki…he was confused and lost the way he felt, Aika was not much better. And it was all Haru’s fault. The wind boy had trapped them, hurt her friends and all for no reason, no real reason. All she knew about him was her uncle and mother might have known him. A friend’s kid or something that they didn’t speak of. And he came after her again, like he had before. Only this time, he crossed her only line. He hurt her friends.

Haya started to feel lost for a moment, before her whole body blasted out sound, it blasted lod and hard enough to catch Haru off his balance and fall to his knees as he covered his eyes. The blast waved through the area, not even Mud Blast and Kuroi was far enough. There were cracks around them, Haya was free from her bubble. She felt the way the sound blasted through, Haru was on his knees, his back to her, Siren was off balance and any control sh ehad on Hideki was gone. But at the same time, the sound had hit Hideki and Aika equally, stopping them in their tracks as Haya took her headset off. She went to her top piece, the attached daggers that she had once given Kuroi she pulled from her headset before she tossed it aside. The only thing she had on her mind was killing Haru, no matter what got in her way, she would kill the one that attacked her friends, that trapped them and that hurt them.

As she raised the dagger, she felt the siren’s call still at full power as she lowered her hand. The first two daggers shattered, they were not like her sword. They were not meant to withstand sound. The third dagger was cracked and nearly shattered. It gave Haru enough time to roll out, when he figured out Haya was feeling and behind him, but as he turned to air, Haya reached out and grabbed his form, bringing him back into view as she pulled him to his back.

Haya took the daggers apart, tossing the one that was broken and raised the dagger that was still whole. Siren could see what was going on as Haru fell to the ground, and Haya’s movements were clear as to what she was planning. Siren made a quick motion to stop her, rushing towards the two in order to help her little brother from the free Haya and what was now the angry Haya. She nearly wasn’t able to make it, reaching them as the blade struck down, Haru had no time to react, when Siren managed to grab Haya’s hand.

She felt it, and the woman rushed towards her. But feeling her hand on Haya’s wrist, Haya twisted her hand in place before pushing it towards Siren. Haru managed to roll out of the way, still lost in balance from the blast of sound. He managed to get to his feet as he looked at Haya. The blood was warm in her hand, Haya’s eyes looked dull and dead, but the ring around her iris was a thin bright gold brown.

Siren stopped as her blood ran down Haya’s hand, she expected the girl to have some reaction, but instead the blade was pushed further in as Haya pushed Siren away and turned back to Haru, getting to her feet. Haru stepped back, and Siren fell back, seated on the ground, she held onto the blade inside her gut. It wasn’t bleeding like an artery would, but the pain itself was enough to cause her to be in a shock. From what she heard, Haya was not powerful, in her quirk of sound, she wasn't threatening or violent. This part of her was family, this was a way that she shouldn’t be so fragile to. Siren breathed deeply through the pain to make sure that she wasn’t going to drown, but her breathing was fine, if not painful.

Haya got to her feet as Haru sent his air blades at her, which did cut through her skin. But Haya showed no signs of backing down or pain. She showed no signs of the attack at all, as if she didn’t register it. And that was when Haru turned to air again, vanishing from sight, to avoid Haya getting too close. He moved around her, they had to get out of there. Haya was under bloodlust, a primal understanding of her own will and one that she would not stop. He pulled out his weapon, a pipe-like weapon that had grooves around it but it was bent in the shape of a gun. If he could get one good shot, he could stop her. But he could do it while he was air, he didn’t know how advanced the first level was for Haya.

Back where Hideki and Aika were, Hideki was still coming out of his fog from being controlled by the enemy named Siren. Hideki was now on the ground as Aika had let go of him and passed out from the damage she had taken. All she said to Hideki was about time hothead, and then she passed out before being able to answer any of Hideki’s questions. Hideki looked at her and it seemed like she had been burnt very badly. This caused Hideki to freak out for a second, had he done this to her? He couldn’t remember anything. All he knew was that he was now next to Aika and she was in bad shape.

Hideki looked around for the others, he didn’t see Kuroi. He did see Haya though and well he heard her. She let out a powerful sound attack which caused Hideki to plug his ears to try and stop the attack from hurting his ears anymore then it already was. After that though he watched as Haya fought against the wind villain that Hideki and Haya had fought before. Hideki wasn’t sure what to do. Should he go help Haya, or stay with Aika?

Haya turned back to Haru, ignoring the blood on her hand and moving to place it on him. But he blasted a gut of spiraling wind towards her. It was enough to push her back and release him. As he got to his feet again, he could see that his sister was still alive, and breathing, before she started to sink into the mud that suddenly appeared around her. Haru smirked, Mud Blast was of some use after all, he wouldn’t have to continue holding back. As Haru’s attention went back to Haya, who had been hit close with his wind to the point that she was not only pushed back but had fallen back after the gust had lifted her up and put some distance between them. His balance was still off from her sound wave that had started this, but other than that and being dragged around, he was not as damaged as Haya. All he needed to do was stop her. He might not be able to take her awake, but if he did it right, they could still bring her home. He just had to stop her in time for when Mud Blast came for him.

Haya got back to her feet as the gust released her and started to Haru again, ignoring the fact that Siren was gone, that there was mud. She ignored everything but the simple fact that she wanted to kill Haru. She would do whatever she had to, to protect her friends, to help them and most importantly to take revenge for the fact that Haru trapped them and attacked them. For him hurting her friends, she would take his life, even if it cost her everything. The most important part of being a hero to her now, was protecting the people she loved the most. And this team was everyone that she did.

As she got closer, Haya placed her hand up and let a blast of sound radiate out of her hand to Haru. The sound hit him like his body was both exploding and imploding at the same time. Haya let the sound leave her, as she gathered the sound of his body and everyone around them to continue her attack. As she did, she was blinded to Haru as he aimed the pipe-like weapon he had in his hand, it hurt to move. He felt like his insides were screaming and about to explode as he moved. But when he had it as high as he could manage, he built up the air and shot.

Like a bullet, Haya froze, her sound stopped as she could feel the blast of air that hit her. For the moment, she was lost and the emptiness of nothing but anger was gone. Her hand reached for her side, as it bled. But her hand could feel that the whole was a little bigger than a bullet would have been, it was like part of her had been shot off. Her side had a hole that her hand just about covered and as she felt the blood run down, she held it. Before she lost what small part of awareness that she had. She dropped to her knees, as Haru started towards her, but was pulled into mud, like his sister had been. He didn’t have time to be upset, as fall into the escape of Mud Blast’s design. But Haya’s eyes closed from the pain and lack of consciousness, as she fainted.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Azurian Dream
Collab with @Azurian Dream @TreasureSniper @RedArmyShogun

As the groups went their own ways on patrols or operations, Mari was in the later, paired up with Agi, Ichika and Kaizen, this time they were using public transit and traveling into the den of the enemy… Or very likely they were. Though of note was the fact they were the only ones in the rear car as a policeman stood in front of the door of the second to last car to keep others from wandering inside.

“Well, I guess now is as best a time as any to tell you all what we are up to.” Flipping up her gauntlet computer screen to show the rest, a map of the sprawling subways.

“Shovelier and Insectica were both spotted in the area. Hero teams have been dispatched to search the tunnels, there are also the passing trains to watch out for, but we have timers for those. Ideally should we find them we retreat and return later, but given we are in their home field it is unlikely the two will just let us walk away, more so with how prone the pair are too ambushes.” Her gauntlet then shifted to a CCTV view, first of a woman in a dress with a bloody shovel walking past a maintenance corridor and in the next showed a giant centipede zip across the front camera of an approaching train. “There are numerous older tunnels and stations from as far back as the first generations of heroes and even unto the Second World War, so our maps may not be fully accurate, nevermind the chaos those two likely have caused.”

"Insectica huh? I remember her. She was with that group of baddies that ambushed me during Vitalis betrayal." The memory of that day was still fresh on his mind, her along with the fat bald bastard still needed to be punished for their crimes.

"I am somewhat worried about this Insetica chick. According to the information we have on her, she can control giant insects through her pheromones." Could she control him as well? He truly did not know, but he felt that it was a noteworthy detail. "In any case, if she uses pheromones than all I have to do is rip my antennas off."

If her powers did indeed use pheromones, his "solution" should work. "In anycase, what's the plan here?" He waited patiently for anyone to suggest a plan of attack.

“Be warned she has the advantage underground, and probably has a few hives of different breeds ready to deal with us. Her bugs are still fragile though, but beware she boosts their strength,” Ichika warned, having dealt with this woman before, and all for some payback.

“Shovelier is to be noted as well she's a serial murderess. Be quite honest, taking in may not be a wise option,” Agi surprisingly said a bit darkly, very well aware of these two criminals, and their kill counts. Agi had no desire to see them get away with their actions, and that fact was clear as day on his face.

“I doubt were going to be able to run from them if spotted so if you plan to turn in info you need to do it stealthily, or we need to be in groups of two,” Agi added to Mari’s mission line more as this group was a bit more forward than Mari the idea of them spotting, and reckoning was going to be rough.

“Hmm..” Listening to them all, Mari nods a bit before staring at Agi and then Kaizen and Ichika in turn. “Noted. As to stealth I’m not sure that will be an option, we’ll have to see, though I do think we should split the two girls up, the question is who takes on whom, provided they can be split up. The pair are noted to work closely together. It also is suspected they are who dug the tunnel for the robot that attacked Isa. Though I doubt that man is here now.”

With a pause she then seems to have a subtle twisting of her expression. “To be clear, while I would prefer to take them alive, I rather we all returned alive. Do what you need to survive.. To be clear I am saying if we cannot take them alive then we take them dead. There shall be no escapes this time, Shovelier has already proven she’ll take advantage of hostages and we are beneath a major metro area. Insectia I expect will be more reasonable but do not take her lightly. Are we clear? If possible we’ll get the drop on them and call in more forces.”

“Understood,” Ichika spoke having no problem with that mentality.

“Agreed,” Agi answered.

"Very well." Kaizen smiled behind his headgear. For once, the team all agreed on what needs to be done, even the usually calm Agi seemed willing to get his hands dirty. Kaizen rested his mace against his shoulder before asking his teammates about the pairings.

"If the plan is to split them up, which one are you taking on? Shovelier is supposedly the stronger of the two, but Insetica has more raw numbers advantage and some utility with her giant insects. Though if I am being honest, the insects themselves shouldn't be too difficult to neutralize. I'd say we focus on disorienting them both with a combination of my stink bomb and Ichika's sugar bomb. Disrupt their senses and try to knock them out by depriving them of oxygen by covering their faces with some webbing, gum or nanos."


The bugster surprisingly suggested a nonlethal approach towards these two high value targets.

“Bear in mind we also shall also be in those tunnels, so depriving them of air may not be the best of ideas if it also affects us… Also I’m not sure, though our relationship aside, my ability will likely work best with Agi. So the question ultimately is which one does he want to take on, or rather who you two wish to.”

“Given the range of our ability, and theirs. Combined with the factors of effect I suggest it likely makes sense for Ichika, and Kaizen to pair off after Shovelier. While me, and Mari go after Insectica,” Agi suggested, given the quirks at hand more so going for what would give boths teams an equal balance of success. Technically Agi would rather go after Shovelier, but his quirk along with Mari’s would give a big edge against the bug girl. While Kaizen would be perfect to play shield to negate Shoveliers ability allowing the more reflexive Ichika to sneak in, and damage the woman from multiple angles.

“I am alright with that, I owe that bitch a payback round, but I see the logic of the suggestion,” Ichika nodded in response.

"For once, we are in agreement." Kaizen saw the logic in Agi's decision and agreed to be paired up with Ichika against shovelier. "Looks like I am with you for this, one, bittersweet. Let's hope we don't have to dirty our hands." He was being optimistic for a change.

As the four decide their first course of action, Mari gives a nod. “I guess we use hero names from here on, unless you prefer real names. Either way we’ll have to see if the enemy goes along with our plans, be ready for them to change.” A horn sounds as the train slows to a stop at a station, letting the passengers off as Mari nods at a workman on the outside who pried open the rear door, letting them out onto the tracks behind and near by to a maintenance door that look much older than anyone here, which lead out to a cross section of older tunnels with the occasional break in support pillars showing the line they were just on. “Right around here was where both were spotted, we may come across newer and older lines but mostly we’ll keep an eye out for dug out tunnels. We could cover more ground if we split up, but if one group ran into both girls it would get ugly fast. So for now we’ll stick together unless some of you feel that daring.”

Mari adds in, pausing to look at the trio as she typed away on her gauntlet. “Also let me see your communicators, there is some information you all need.”

Kaizen raised his communicator towards Mari. He wouldn't mind playing "bait" to lure them out but considering the circumstances, it is likely they would be left without a shield. "Fine by me." He took what the principal said to heart, regarding being a team player.

“Affirmative,” Ichika nodded, holding her communicator up as well to Mari’s curious to what new info was being added as she tuned in her analyzer sleuth device on her hip to start scanning for any strange radio waves.

“Holding out on us kitten… er… I mean Kalico,” Agi slipped for a moment using his pet name for his girlfriend causing Ichika to chuckle lightly at the cute embarrassment. However to be fair this was his first legit mission with Mari since well ever. So ya a small hiccup was understandable… hopefully.

Glaring at him a bit at that, Mari just ignores it for now, hoping no one made an issue of it. For now there was work to do and she would focus on that. Coughing a little bit to get their attention she sends them all a program.

“This should be useful in the main lines, keep in mind tunnels are all over the place so shaking earth could just be a train above, below or beside you. Counting on that alone may get you killed or overly cautious. This program has timers for the next two to three hours that are geo synced with the map. This way you won’t get ran over by a train and have some idea where you are in this maze should we get separated. In the case of the later make your way for the nearest station provided the enemy isn’t chasing you. We don’t want to give them more hostages. Other heroes may be down here so make sure of what you attack in the dark. I have good night vision so stick close to me… Also our radios likely won’t work down here. We’ll start our search here and head into the junctions, there may be some sign of their base or tunnels they have dug.”


With that she motions for them to follow as she takes point, given she was likely the only one here that could naturally see the darker parts of the tunnels.

"I see." Was all Kaizen could say, whether it was towards Agi's remark or Mari's explanation was unknown. "At least we are not going in completely blind." He gave a witty remark, while studying the program's interface. And with that, Kaizen silently moved forward with the team, ready to fight whatever awaits them in the dark underground abyss.

“To be fair this is the first time we have ever been on the field together,” he mumbled half in defeat, and half in apology before chuckling as Kaizen got a witty shot in as the team started to move about. There wasn’t all that much to go off of at the moment.

“So I been meaning to ask Kalico where did your fancy little gauntlet device come from,” Bittersweet questioned curiously as it seemed rather advanced much like her own detective device she was still checking for any unnatural communication emfs.

“Hmm..” Staring at the three she shakes her head a bit and sighs. “Ion Storm here made it for me.” She says using his hero name while they were on the clock so to speak, but not to be so cold to him she adds on; “It is much more convenient than my laptop and is rather well made, I enjoy having it.” With that she leads them off and ponders the issue of blindness.

“I would assume those other two likely keep some sort of light source around them they would be at an equal disadvantage, but I would assume they have better night vision than most. Stick in pairs.”

As they walk off in their group it seemed there was in fact some travel from the pair as there were the occasional dirt trail and breaks in the walls leading into other tunnel networks with spotty lighting here and there within the tunnels that were made over the years, some of the lights looked truly agent or red light emergency lights took the places of them every so often. “I think there is an older station around here, I’m hesitant to split us up but we might can enter the station from two ends. What say you all?”

"Sounds good to me." The bugster replied, eager to move on to the "fun" part of the job. He'd be lying to himself if said he wasn't gonna enjoy it. Though that didn't mean he wouldn't take this job seriously. "The sooner we find them, the sooner we deal with them and go home. Whenever you're ready, Bittersweet." He was raring to go, but wasn't about to go in alone.

“Oh? Well good to hear he’s been keeping a good eye out for you,” Bittersweet lightly teased both Ion Storm, and Kalico Kid before getting back to the more serious aspects of the job.

“There seem to be no other traces of radio signals down here. So if our prey is here their either together, or have their own unique way of communication,” Bittersweet reported as her device picked up no such signals in the vicinity of the underground routes.


“Not too much to worry on that front I can see in the dark well enough with my not so human eyes,” Bittersweet hummed as she tilted her head to Apex Bugsters input on the split up selection of suggestion.

“I don’t think that's a good idea because we're completely in their territory. They have the home field advantage. That topped with Insectica’s quirk hive raids on us from mutated insects are for certain. We should stay together until forced to do otherwise,” Ion Storm finally spoke up as he seemed to have a genuine smile probably from Kalicos compliment to the device.

“There's also the issue on as you pointed out lighting,” Agi stressed looking at Kalico in particular.

“I can feel out space with my nano’s, but I am blind to the dark. How's your vision in the dark?” he asked.

“I have slit pupils for a reason.” She says in response to that. “I can see in here the best out of us all, likely. Though interesting that this whole team has some manner of dealing with the dark.” Mari then motions for them to follow as she speaks at Ichika. “Don’t count on that tech of yours down here too much. Someone could be using a radio behind a 10 meter thick wall and we wouldn’t know. On the plus side they wouldn’t know about us either..”

With that the group would go deeper into the subway tunnels and eventually cross over some parts that were dug into and came across a number of lines that reached across the area, though leading towards an unmapped portion for sure. Going deeper and deeper, the group eventually comes across an area which seemed to be lit up in the distance, an old platform station that was not on the newer maps though this area was not fully unknown. A grey out area marked it as a derelict station, long ago abandoned.

“Alright.. This looks promising. I want us to split up and move carefully up both sides of the track, see what we can find, and be ready for anything.”


“Alright, happy hunting,” Bittersweet nodded as she was already heading for her chosen direction with her eye slits shrinking to match the darkness that was ahead of them. It made for a good exit to avoid Ion Storm bringing up the issue of splitting up to which he in turn sighed, but accepted regardless.

“Well then let's get to it Kalico Kat,” Ion Storm notioned as a small cloud of his nanobytes left his body to keep a feel out ahead.

After leaving the two, Kaizen was trying to think of a way to lure them out. He kept close to bittersweet, not wanting to leave behind another teammate like last time. He was tempted to start bashing through all the walls just to lure them out, he knew that such an idea was reckless. He chose to remain silent, not wanting to give their location away. He already had a few ideas of how to deal with either of them. Was this it? Will he finally dirty his hands? Hopefully not.

As the four head out and further along to the station they would start to see things, the area was indeed inhabited, a train car or rather two were pulled into either side of the platform with a curtains hung from makeshift blinds, some plants were growing under the glow of UV lights, crops of some sort, laundry, notably undergarments were on a makeshift line to dry with other clothing aside. There was a trash can that had been converted into a furnace and even a source of water and a bit of siphoned electricity was in use.

However there was no sign of any person at it, also of note was the sheer amount of dirt that had been brought into the place and the assortment of tunnels leading off in all directions. It seemed this was the base of the pair. However, the question was, where were they now?

A question that would be soon answered as insects merge from the tunnels once the four had reached the camp and the crazed laughter of the Shovelier echos from around them. “You really shouldn’t have come here! Now we must kill you all!”

Tunneling into their midsts, Insectia was behind her swarm but visible as she sends her minions into the fray.

The place seemed homely enough, providing a place of shelter and source of food, theoretically they could stay for a very long time. Though they were essentially living like hobos. “Human ingenuity.” he remarked as he continued forward.

“You will try.” The bugster replied to the voice as he readied his mace. “Hmm, I still don’t see Shovelier.” The insect girl was right there, just hiding behind a large horde of insects that he was tempted to charge through. “What's the plan here, boss?” He asked Kalico Kid. Well, he was essentially asking for permission to let loose and go wild.

As the Bugster moves ahead, the voice of Shovelier makes itself known, boring through the earth behind them, she pops out of the ceiling, swinging dirt off of the shovel as a large centipede joins her, the four heroes were being closed in from two sides as even more scurrying could be heard in the soil and concrete above.

“Well this is definitely their humble abode,” Ion Storm sighed as they had converged back into back with each other at the end of the splits. Now was the question of where the “home” owners themselves were. A question that would be answered rapidly at the emergence of Insectica, and her army of bugs. The following atmosphere was quickly added to by Shoveliers cackling followed by her burrowing out of the ground.

“How droll a sentence clearly you love the generic menu,” Bittersweet smirked at the shovel villain summoning to her body a full set of rock Candy claws, and a flanged mace at the tip of her tail.

“Your call Kalico,” Ion Storm simply expressed as he formed two floating nano chakrams, as well as a Nanoblade on his left hand.

“Fine..” Thinking about it, it would make more sense to send the sugar bomb attacker and the living tank at the swarm. But it would not be that simple. “For now stick together. Let the bugs get closer and then take them out. If we can get and opening two of us will charge Insectica, the two left behind will take on Shovelier. For now we must endure the battering of the waves, be ready!”

With that a few of the insect hordes giant insects slam into the group, snapping and clicking as they did so with the occasional hiss, largely consisting of centipedes and ants. And to the Rear Shovelier dived into their ranks, laughing as she did so as she swung her close combat shovel at whomever was at the rear, or smallest of the four. In this case that being Mari.

As the enemy approached, Kaizen stood still, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike. He saturated the oncoming bugs with his web, hoping to slow them down enough to make it easier for the others to pick them off. With the appearance of Shovelier, the bugster sprang into action, following the sound of her laughter , immediately parrying her strike with his mace, protecting his friend. Her strike was strong, causing the ground beneath the bugster to shatter with its residual impact, but he stood his ground. Clearly this someone of similar strength to him, maybe even stronger. The clash of metal could be heard echoing through the tunnels as their weapons grinded against each other. With his free hand, he would spray her with his webbing, specifically her feet to slow her down. "Any chance that you're gonna come in quietly?" He asked, somewhat already knowing that answer.

“No need to waste your breath,” Bittersweet spoke up jumping off Apex Bugsters shoulders as she flung one of the Centipede she has just decapitated right at the purple shovel disaster before circling around using the centipede whole body like a massive whip midair flinging away many of the incoming ants before throwing the whole corpse right at Shovelier as Bittersweet came spinning down with a spin kick speaking through a second Centipedes body.

Ion Storm himself would start moving about without pattern slicing, and dicing Ants while his flying chakrams circular sawed any flies that dared to get close to Mari. Following a visual of the precept to where Insectica was at all times. Flicking his right wrist he formed three nano daggers throwing them out like tracking missiles with every intent to stab into the bug girl's limbs.

“Hahaha.” Says Insectica as she stares at the daggers coming in for her, from so far away and for one such as she, they seemed so slow, still faster than she in a manner, but still slow.. For her “Royal Guard”. As the daggers are marked as threats the swarm acts to protect her as a giant centipede wraps around her body, flattening and enlarging itself as best as it could, taking the hits, deploying more pheromones the woman manipulates the swarm once more, as gnashing jaws, mandibles and pincers bite out at wires and conduits in the underground retreat, killing the lights, dashing out the fire, minus some emergency lights red glows here and there, the area was plunged into darkness as the Queen could be seen making her move during the blackout’s beginning phase. All around the insects turned as one and aimed to rejoin the fray even as their numbers were culled by their own actions or those of Ichika.

Getting hit by the discarded Centipede didn’t seem to bother her much, even as darkness fell, watching them in the red glow as she swings her shovel down to cut her legs free of the webbing as her armored dress takes the further blows against her. “Ehehahaha!” She says in the darkness as her face comes into view. “Are you strong enough to deserve words?” She says in response as she swings her shovel forward, causing a wave of pressure to build up off of it, sending the cutting wave through some of its own allies as it swung for the direction the two were in before the lights went out.

Mari for her part relies on her night vision as she attempts to back Agi up, sending out waves of energy as she speedily tried to dance around in between the swarm, which seemed to have no problems in seeing them. For now her focus was on gaining some distance or trying to mark places for Ichika to hit. “Ichika, Agi! Lets try and close some of these tunnels, the dugout ones! I might try fixing the lights, but be careful! Shovelier doesn’t have night vision but she knows tunnel fighting from what we’ve seen! Assume her to sense you out!” With that another wave is swung out at Mari, as if to make her point. Curiously, or maybe showing how dire the situation could be for them, Mari had resorted to using names over hero titles.

Kaizen had only moments to react to the counter attack, quickly jumping over head to dodge the large cutting wave, planting himself on to the ceiling for a moment. He felt a cut on one of his antennae. This was truly a dangerous opponent. It took a while, but eventually even his own insectoid nightvision kicked in. Pushing himself off the wall, he dived his opponent with a thrust from his mace, followed by even more thrusts, treating it like a spear. Even with her armor, the mace would still likely cause some damage. He already heard Mari’s orders. If the others were closing the exits, then he must provide an ample distraction, or better yet outright end the fight there and then. She was dangerous, and he already knew killing her was a reasonable option given the danger she posed and her crimes. On this day, she will get her comeuppance, either in prison, or the grave.

In response Ion Storm hissed at the versatility of Insectica’s quirk he would need to close in to handle her, but for now he knew Mari was right they needed to close off the paths that the bugs were flooding in from. The two Chakrams that had been following Mari split off slice of bits, and pieces of the terrain causing debris to fall and clog a few of the holes near Mari in particular.

With that accomplished he dodge a Centipedes charge to rip him to shreds. Jumping on it like a spring board he nano burst off it slamming its head into a nasty bile of bug bits as he flew up. Spinning like a top he latched onto a dried out pipe summoning his Chakrams forward he had them saw at the top causing a well noticeable metallic groan as the piece of metal cracked off slamming into the ground blocking off a few more openings.

With that distraction in play one of the chakrams came spinning wildly for Insectica’s being aiming to either rip her bug to shred or her as well. It seemed Ion Storm was taking this fight a lot more deadly, but in a twist of scenario upon contact the Chakram would burst into mist and act like a swarm of bees intended to distract Insectica from directing her army for a moment.

“Affirmative,” Ichika growled as she slid underneath the wave attack before jumping onto the wall to crawl higher about seeing the area’s Mari was pointing out. Agi’s actions had closed quite a few but there were still a few more about. Inhaling quite a bit of air, Ichikas started to fire off a few volleys of gum netting blocking a few tunnel entrances. Then with a quick crawl to another section she jumped off pulling off a chunk of loose earth causing it to hurtle towards Shovelier giving her no chance to escape Apex Bugsters attack.

As the trio took their own turns in this close quarters battle their enemies would not be imobile in the face of this enemy.

For her part Insectia would split her attention between Agi and Mari, with some effort thrown at Ichika. While they had closed off the tunnels there were still plenty of normal ones for them to come from, while it narrowed down the lanes of approach it was clear that others were trying to dig out of their enclosures, chirping and clanking like mad as they dug through the earth and bit at the gum, a curious circus of insects joined the fray, two human sized Japanese Rhino Beetles charged through the swarm aiming to trample Ichika underfoot as their massive horns battered aside some ants to get in close to her with speed. The displaced ants uprighted themselves and followed in the wake, a loud raspy chorus of clattering voices and chomping jaws as they aimed for her arms, legs and tail.

On Agi’s end, Insectia had less options to respond to him, but two rather large and nasty insects joined the aerial battle with about a half dozen bloat flies, two dog sized killer asian wasps, buzzing at him the former attempted to hit him with their spitting acid as the latter two went in for close quarter battle, aiming to stab him upon their sharp stingers, at this point more akin to daggers than thumbtacks.

Insectia herself however went right for Mari attempting to bite the fast footed kitty who kicked her for the trouble as two giant centipedes joined their master. “Aww Kitty doesn’t want a little nibble?” She asks in taunt, her speed was impressive, though Mari was just a bit faster as she slipped away, still attempting to get to the power junctions to carry out some form of repair.

“No, Kitty is going to claw some eyes out of a filthy bug.” She says in taunt reply, sending out a shock of electricity that one of the Centipedes was quick to sacrifice itself on, though not quite dead as Mari deploys the knife on her gauntlet and stabs out at the creature. “HA!”

Back at the Shovelier, she took the first mace blow as the earth pile kept her in place, her deranged eyes piercing the darkness as she laughs. “HEHEHAHAHAHA! I’M GONNA VIOLATE YOU!” She says in an enraged scream as she jumped off on her shovel aiming to reach the bug as she swings her razor sharp shovel at him midair. It did not seem this would be the ‘enjoyable’ sort of violation. The attack seemed to do little more than enrage her, or was she just that good at hiding damage to herself? It would be a question Kaizen could not afford to ponder.

Agi’s attacks from range all met the same fate as with his daggers, interception by the swarm. If he wanted to hit her like that he would need to get creative in the means of attack, thin the swarm or get in close.

“Tch.” He said in annoyance, maneuvering himself to minimize the damage of her attack while positioning his free hand into the side of her head. Once his hand was in position, he would let out an explosion at point-blank range, looking to burst her eardrums.

After the explosion, Kaizen backed off for a bit to regain some distance, taking some time to examine his wound. Her weapon managed to not only pierce through his carapace but also draw blood. “Is that the best you got?” He taunted his opponent while preparing something in his hand. In spite of everything, he was still willing to try and take this bastard alive, even if they needed to break her limbs in the process.

With a quick reflexive response Ichika moved back in spinning effect keeping most of the bugs away by swatting or splating them with her rock candy mace tipped tail. Wincing as she could feel the pressure on her rock candy armor around her legs cracking, and pressurizing damaging her legs over time. Though the next phase was worse as a Rhino beetle came charging in scratch that TWO rhino beetles of well notable size. Hissing in response, Bittersweet jumped onto a rail car before jumping at the closer beetle catching it by the upper horn mounting it as she began to bash it left, and right vying for control. She forced it to bulldoze, and trampled its allies as she directed it right for Shovelier as Kaizen damaged her with a point blank explosion. Bittersweet vaulted off the Rhino beetle as it rammed into Shovelier, and rammed her into one of the rail cars as Bittersweet landed next to APex Bugster.

“Your turn with the insects,” she growled, demanding Kaizen to kick his ass into gear, and help with crowd control.

Back at the other half of the field Ion Storm hissed as things were quickly picking up right as they seemed to ease up. As a swarm of blowflies came flying in with Acid Ion Storm pulled back not willing to chance getting hit by corrosive acid as the immunity level wasn’t a for sure thing just because he was fire resistant doesn't mean he was acid resistant. Moving around his second Chakram came flying back in slicing quite a few of the bloater flies on the first curve. Yet Ion Storm would still have to stick with defense as the two wasps came in zipping about trying to stab him as he deflected, and parried them with his nano blade. When they came back for round two he ducked as the chakram came flying back turning into a spear as it impaled both it, and another bloat fly behind it running them through the earth.

With the distraction in play from Mari, Agi came rushing in as the nanoblade, and nano chakram fused into a drill arm that starts to spin wildly as he charged into the fray jumping near the fight between the two Drilling the other centipede guard to a brutal death as he broke his nanos into a spear using the polearms non lethal end to slap Insectica in the head as multitude of nano knife came into existence around them opening Mari to use them as a net to electrocute the bitch in place.

As Agi and Mari enact their own actions, the swarm has a brief break allowing Agi to do as he pleases with the flyers largely taken out and his quick movements, Agi closes the distance and deploys his net as Mari takes up his suggestion, electrocuting her.

"GAAAAH!" Says the woman as the bugs seem to absolutely lose their shit with her Pheromones calling out to them all to destroy the invaders, to protect the hive. If Kaizen would feel any of this or not was another matter that only time could tell. Either way Insectia seemed surprisingly resistant to this eventually even as her body smoked, it seemed from small cracks that she was much like Kaizen with an exoskeleton, one which looked remarkably close to human skin unlike his own, though it would explain much of what she had survived up to this point.

"...Did..you..think..it would.. be so easy?" With that she kneels beneath the next and rips her hands and sharp teeth into the ground and rock below as she dug a tunnel, the other centipedes seemed to break from the insect army and did much the same as Mari makes a run for the power box that was wrecked earlier.

"Agi! Cover me! I'm going to get these lights back on! Maybe then we'll have some idea of what the hell is going on!" With that Mari makes it to the power junction, it was a total mess with most of the wires being ripped to shreds. Fortunately by making use of her capacitors and her own body, she bridged the gaps between the old wires and the fuse box, bit by bit and with blinking the lights returned to life showing how much of the horde was still here, even as it broke partially at the sight of the light.

"HHSSSSSSSS!" Could be heard as right below Agi a Centipede shot out of the ground, aiming to bite his legs and a few dog and cat sized ants wandered off to attack Mari, to shut the lights down once more.

Back at Ichika and Kaizen the combo attack the woman seemed rather displeased, as her ears were bothered by the blast and then as she landed and fought off the ringing in her ears one of the beatles ran into her and trampled her over as the two said things to her. She stood with some blood running down her face, eyes shot open wide with crimson fury, a look of placid rage on her crazed face.

"...kill you..kill you..Kill you! KILL YOU KILL YOU KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! My Blood! I'll see your blood!" In a fit of rage and what barely seemed human she jumped into the sky and spun, aiming her shovel point into the earth she continued her spin, plowing down into the earth as the tunnel lit back up in part from Mari's efforts, the earth was pressed up and quickly shifting and tunneling as the wounded shovelier tunneled her way in a path that was difficult to follow, much less to predict as she came out right under Ichika, her blade stabbing upwards as her enraged face looked up through the dirt and rock.

Elsewhere the insect Army seemed to take notice of this and of Kaizen chirping, clamping and stomping they could sense he was not like them, but he was not like they, in a manner that made it worse. He was a defective, a threat, one that did not belong in the Hive. Turning as if in one voice the insect swarm near him left Ichika alone for now and attacked as one, leaping, biting and stabbing, rushing their fellow bug. Of special note was the one beetle that had survived, it was now back up and reared its legs back, storming at him with full force as it's horn swung around to bat him.

The pheromones had a strange effect on Kaizen, essentially paralyzing him in front of the horde of insects, like a deer in front of headlights. For a short moment, he felt connected to the other insects, he could hear their voices, all of them. “Protect the queen! Kill for the queen!” They shouted in unison as they piled up on him. Their attacks were strong but couldn’t inflict any substantial damage onto him due to his carapace but he was frozen in place for the most part.. It was not until he was struck by the horn of the rhinoceros beetle, he regained some sense of control, ripping out his remaining antenna. Crack began appearing in his carapace. Seems like holding would likely get him killed this time round.

The blow would send Kaizen flying into the wall, along with the other bugs that were attached to him. Not a second later, the bugster emerges from the hall in the wall, dashing through whatever smaller bug that stood in his, reducing them into nothing but insect bits. The mighty bugster threw his weapon like javelin, violently shattering the head of the giant beetle while pinning whatever was left onto a wall. With the mace no longer in his hands, his arm blades extended from his forearms, making quick work of whatever other insects that remained, showering the area and himself with insect blood. He shot out a web strand and pulled the bloodied mace back into his hands, ready to deal with the survivors of his blade work.

The sudden Centipede caught Agi sending him high up into the air with its maw trying to close on him as he fought to keep the creature from taking a chunk of him. Seeing the ants go after Mari instead of aiming for his own safety he redirected all the creature knife’s and sent them like a volley of arrow piercing, and killed a good chunk of them before being swung around by the centipede. In that second Ion Storm lost his grip as the maw stabbed into his side earning a painful growl from the hero as his nanobytes made sure to keep the creature from getting in any of its saliva to infect him. With both his sides bleeding he slowly reopened the creatures jaws as his skin went code void before letting them go this time with the creature unable to penetrate his body as it suddenly halted before falling to its death from decapitation from some Nano wire.

“Okay… that freaking hurt a lot,” Agi hissed as he got back up clotting his own wounds with his nanos as he ran towards Kalico not about to leave her alone in the fray.

Bittersweet swift shifted her weight, but the shovel blade still cut its nasty mark upon her right shoulder area hissing at the pain the dragon caught the pull arm of the shovel as she let out an equal roar of pissed off nature head smacking the bitch with her own shovel. With a quick pivot Ichika's tail caught Shovelier’s right ankle twisting it to force the woman to a knee before uppercutting her with a rather dusty filled right hook.

As Kaizen readies for his next attack against the horde in the dim light something seemed a bit, off. The Earth was moving towards him, barely noticeable by the swarm of insects and grizzly remains, as by his legs as silver haired figure pops up, biting into his left leg as she attempted either to convert him or to poison him. In this case attempting both. Insectia smiles a thin bit but says nothing.

At Shovelier and Ichika, the girl lets out a “Gah!” As her shovel is reversed into her face and her ankle was grabbed and twisted. However unphased by the hit, she screams with a primal fury, jumping forward with a vicious headbutt she attempts to force Ichika over to beat her down in close combat, swinging her shovel and her fists to ground pound the other as she growls through the dust. “YOU BITCH! I’LL MAKE YOU SCREAM! I’LL MAKE YOU CRY! I’LL MAKE YOU BLEED! MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE!” With blood flowing from her face she had a nasty scowl to her face.

Back at Agi, the other Centipedes had not followed their master, rising up from the ground like three eastern dragons they snapped and hissed aiming to scurry up his legs, to overwhelm and squeeze him tight, fangs attempting to chew through his arm with angry clattering.

As the Ants went down not causing but superficial damage, Mari calls out to Agi in turn. “I have this! A few bites won’t stop me, take care of yourself then finish these damn things off!” She says as more of the large insects finally make it through one of the tunnels chirping and snapping as they eyed the conflict, before heading off to Mari and towards the master.

Kaizen had little time to react as one of the true opponents had finally revealed themselves. The lady succeeded in biting into his leg, enraging the bug and prompting a quick response. Quickly grabbing one of his utility balls, Kaizen would shove his stink ball into her face, detonating it at point blank range. The explosion and the stink should be more than enough to throw her off the bug for a moment.

Without wasting time, Kaizen took a few steps back, quickly ripping a chunk of his leg off to prevent the venom from spreading, likely crippling him for the rest of the fight. He activated the thrusters of his mace, using it to cauterize his wound.

"You've got guts, lady." Kaizen spoke through the stinky gas. The silhouette of bug man could be seen approaching with a menacing aura. "Too bad I got to put my fist through 'em!" He shouted charging at her with his fist, leaving behind his mace. Everything he needed to finish the fight was within his hands. With his one good leg, he push himself towards the insect girl at great speeds. He would open with a haymaker to the face, followed by an onslaught of powerful punches to her guts. "BEGONE FALSE QUEEN!" He shouted to the heavens as started his rapid fire barrage of unforgiving bone-crunching punches.

With an unexpected fevor of insanity Bittersweet was pinned to the ground as Shovelier wailed on her mercilessly forcing the dragon girl to keep her fists up to protect her fast as the woman screamed like a maniac damaging the candy girls armor into a pulverized mess.

“BITCH YOU WANNA SCREAM THEN SCREAM YOUR LUNGS OUT,” Ichika yelled back in rage to the pain as her body completely became cocooned by rock candy that didn't stop at just covering the dragoness, but extended out bashing, and stabbing Shovelier right off her before exploding into a sort of rock candy bomb. Ichika started to cough pretty heavily as the panic attack had just zapped out an immense amount of sugar from her body all at once. Breathing heavy due to the fact she had just entombed herself as well, Ichika rolled away grabbing all three vials of her sugar, and downing them like a maniac as she threw them against a rock shattering them as she spat a little out due to the overflow.

“Dammit all,” Agi hissed as Mari yelled out as he was blocked off by three particular royal guard centipedes one that immediately wrapped around him preceding to bite at his nano armored hand which even with code void active was a helluva not fun experience wrenching pain throughout his body. The other two also came swarming at him as he constructed a Bishop chess piece. Front he slit of the chess piece a bunch of Nanowire launched out catching one of the Centipede’s as it began to reel it in brutally pressurizing it into sliced ribbons the other was able to get past it also clamping onto Agi’s body as he finally had enough of their shit as flung himself into his own construct bishop piece bursting it into a cloud to start tearing the two centipedes asunder like a blender.

“Fuck started to run on low guys,” Agi communicated to Mari as he was doubtful he could do anymore range attacks anymore as all of his nanos recollected on his person he was now limited to constructs that stayed attached to him.

As Kaizen began his assault, Insectica was caught by the sudden and quick punch to the face, followed up with more to her stomach, spitting up a mix of bile and blood from the repeated impacts, she immediately drives the air from her lungs to better absorb the hits before shooting an angry glare as she rolled away from the impacts, rather than fighting him more however, she immediately starts clawing at the mix of earth and rock, trying to escape as she directed the whole of the horde between her and him, a look of hate and fear plastered on her face. She was trying to escape.

Back at Ichika and Shovelier the others desperate attack and sheer amount of sugar in the air and which hand been expanded into a stabbing bomb, or rather a fragmentation round, the girl shows heavy signs of damage to her clothing, bleeding in a few places, but her red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as the lights flickered a time or two.

With a limp her left arm seems to sag as does her whole body as she straightens herself a little, of note her head, looking at the girl from the side a crazed grin spreads across her face, intermixed with blood as she slowly twists her head straight. “Ha..ah..ha.ha.HAHAAHAHA!” While damaged and down by rational terms, she was not going to give in to reason. Holding her shovel high she snarls and charges forward, even with the damage to her body as she growled, dragging it along the dirt mid run, she swings upwards unleashing a vertical pressure wave, aiming not at Ichika, but beyond her, at Kaizen whos back was turned. “HAHAHAH!” She had put the two in a rough spot given the needed to stop and hopefully capture both of the women.

Meanwhile back at Agi and Mari, the horde was swarming, closing into melee with Agi they snapped and hissed baring fangs as they lashed out, doing the same to Mari in turn, a few bites found purchase sinking into her flesh, causing her to stop powering the relay at times as the lights flickered. Even with pain coursing through her body Mari turned to see what was happening and though Agi was battled damaged she gives a simple command;

“Go! I said no escapes! Their Terror ends here and today! Trust in me to hold!”

"No tapping out on my pit." He replied calmly as shot a solid metal ball towards one of insectica's limbs, likely maiming for the remainder of the fight and preventing her from travelling far. The remaining insects were of little threat to him but they did serve as a good distraction for a certain shovel-wielding enemy to get him with a cheap shot. The shockwave managed to cut through his rear shell as well as the wings it was protecting, prompting him to turn around in tranquil rage.

He was losing a good amount of blood from the wound, but something like wouldn't stop him from doing what needed to be done. He reared back once more before kicking himself off the ground and launching himself with an explosion, sending him flying towards this psycho girl that has taken so many life's. Grabbing her by the head, Kaizen would drag her across the floor, going past Agi and Mari before slamming into a wall, creating a crater. Pressing her head against the wall, he would let out one more attack that would surely knock her out, right?He began pumping air into his arm, causing it to expand and "priming" it for a blast.

"You are not the villain of my story! You are not anything!"

Kaizen exclaimed with great disgust as he unleashed a point blank explosion that would send her even deeper into the wall.

“Guh… Alright,” Ion Storm responded, halting in his tracks as he surveyed the field from the violent shakes caused by Kaizen's finisher; it was probably valid to count Shovelier down for the count. By all records Insectica, and Shovelier were a duo, partners in crime for years of blood slaughter. Psychopathic relationships like that where both parties were equal meant Insectica wouldn’t leave Shovelier to her fate. Being close to the sight of impact Agi built up all of his nanobytes into one collective plunger like device that he slammed into the ground as the kinetic force from his Code VOid built up into one hand as his arm was absorbed into his strange hand.

“Kaizen be ready to follow up as my tank,” Agi waited till he felt it. That moment of earth moving underneath him, and once he did his construct shrank. Unleashing a seismic pulse into the very ground that would be felt by everyone as Ion Storm dislocated his own hand to force Insectica to come out.

As Shovelier was rammed and taken across the way, her knock off hero gear was taking more damage than before as her face was dragged across the ground and her body with it. Screaming in frustrated rage she laughs psychotically even as she was slammed into the wall before she was slammed through it head first and then had a blast fired into her. This would have killed the normal person and even some of the abnormal as her hand twitches, she reaches up with her good hand, letting go of the shovel as she bent the Bugsters arm away from her.

“..ha..ha...ah..no..this...is..my..” With that she emerges from the rubble dirty and bruised, blood seeping from her like water from a fountain, her eyes darting back and forth. “..story..” with that she forces her bad arm to swing the shovel, reaching near Kaizen's neck, but then stops, hitting into his right shoulder, as like a sack of potatoes her body lurches forward and collapses in a heap, she is unable to continue with this battle, or even in holding consciousness.

The shovel hits the ground with a metallic clank that resounds within the derelict station.

For his part Agi was partly correct on Insectia’s planned path as his wave forced the injured woman out of the ground. Snarling and hissing her razor sharp teeth shine in the reflecting light, as she attempts to rebound from her current position to attack Agi while his defenses were down, screaming out. “I’ll take one of you out at least!”

Kaizen stared at shovelier's final act of defiance, he too was ready to strike one last time, with a blow that would pulverize her head, fortunately for both of them, it didn't come to that. His own blood continued to drip from his back as well as his shoulder, leaving a trail of it in his path of carnage. Did he go too far? No, she deserved much worse for what she did. All this blood, at this rate he might actually die.

But his job wasn't done, hearing Agi beckon him to take a blow for him, something he would gladly do. "Right...behind...you.." he spoke, forcing his leg to move despite the damage they have endured. As insectica rose up to take a big bite out of Agi, she would instead bite into the hardened arm exoskeleton of a very angry bug. "No more running for you." Kaizen grappled her to the best of his abilities, despite the damage he had sustained. "Give it your best shot!" He shouted, allowing the others to attack.

In response Ichika came spinning down from a high jump bringing down hard her mace tail shattering the rock candy attachment against Insectica’s head rearing for critical damage. In equal response Ichika latched a hand around the woman's throat trying to help Kaizen grind her to a halt via suffocation.

From her new position of being disadvantaged, Insectia glares at the two and then something else seems to happen, something not in any of the field reports, and it suddenly started to make more sense, that one key question;

Why did the two girls get along much less habitat around one another? Shovelier was too far gone for it to be something like love. So then what?

Suddenly it seemed not all of the bodies could be laid at Shovelier or the insects feet alone. Suddenly along the areas with the tied ribs did they tear away and along her spine large legs of the centipede emerged as along her face in parts did poisonous barbs emerge, her muscles became more taunt and larger, her eyes looked distinctly like a mix of a human and something else, divided internally into four lenses as antenna sprouted from her head, with this second phase of the boss fight she glares. Poisoned barbs “reach” out like a centipede to the hands closest to and on her throat aiming to inject them with venom as she kicks out with her legs, aiming to know the two away.

The insects that were left started heading that way though a hint of fear was in them, yet willfully they obeyed.

Mari for her part had partially rewired the lights and went to where Shovelier had fallen and put a number of binders on her as she went to check on the rest, not yet in range to do much, being a little slower than usual.

“Bittersweet, Apex DISENGAGE,” Ion Storm yelled out realizing the woman's new mandibles were definitely of the design of an extremely poisonous nature. With a growl to himself he grabbed his own arm as his nanbytes created a miniature rope, and rather painfully reset his dislocated hand back into place causing him to howl in pain as he formed Code void around his damaged arm leaving him with just enough active nanos to do a thinner nanoblade on his good hand.

Bittersweet reeled back immediately rolling away backwards before the monster could jab any poison into her bloodstream hissing as she formed a new set of rock candy claws. Hoping Kaizen would do the same, she shot a single blast of gum at Insectica’s mouth to hopefully temporarily halt her progressive attack.

Kaizen, upon seeing her achieve a new form, immediately released his grip and gave her a solid punch to the face before retreating. Unfortunately for him, one of the barbs had made its way through his exoskeleton, during the retreat. He landed on his damaged leg, prompting to lose his balance and fall to the floor. “No tapping out.” He took a death breath as he shot web to his mace, dragging it back to him. Upon retrieving his weapon of choice, he would use it to get himself back on his feet. The venom was running through his body, he was essentially on a timer. “Let’s go….round two.” he laughed. He pointed his mace towards the insect girl and activated the thrusters. “Try this one for size!” He released his grip, allowing the large metal object to fly towards the girl at great speeds.

“Ichika! Deploy the crystals on her at close range! Do nothing else! Your Sugar bombs can be used in another way! Agi Deploy a wire with your nanites! Kaizen as you are!” It seemed Mari has some sort of plan as she asked for the last strength of her whole team, this would work or they all would die. The question was if they would trust her. With that Mari heads towards the group leaping into a run as she did so.

As Kazien rammed his mace into Insectica, she would bleed from a few locations where her skin and exoskeleton were breached, as she grabbed onto the thruster moved weapon or at least the inertia from its initial movement. With some damage here and there she was still holding on, glaring as she did so. Laughing a bit bitterly, the Insects that were left in the tunnels finally make their way through the gum and cave-ins caused by the team earlier. “Kehehehe.”

With no room for argument the team trusted Mari as Bittersweet rushed back in shattering her claws as she unleashed a torrent wave of rock crystals at Insectica as she kicked of the final form villain right into a weaved web of nano wire from what was left of Agi’s nanobytes as he held onto the spiral point holding the now trapped Insectica in place as best she could.

“Right” was all Kaizen managed to say before he was forced down on his knees. The venom was finally starting to take effect. His breathing became heavier and heavier. Fortunately for him he doesnt feel pain. “Is it done? Did we get her?” there was an uncharacteristic shakiness in his voice, but he was confident his friend would carry on with the mission with or without him.

With the combination being deployed, Mari rushes in, as Insectia throws the mace aside, going a bit lungless as she did so, looking down at Kaizing mockingly. “Long.. Live..”

“OF WITH HER HEAD!” Mari yells in reply, though this likely wouldn’t kill Insectica, she highly doubted the other would be able to fight, as she cut her off, Mari places her hands upon the alloy thread and deployed a heavy amount of her electricity into the makeshift wire, causing a spark as a fiery inferno developed from the sugar dust, a bit like a flour explosion.

*WWWOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSH*

“AAAAAUUUUHHHHH!” Insectia yelled as the flash fire swept across her and the airblast tossed her high into the air as she landed with a thud on her back and stopped moving. Mari turns back in time to see Ants starting to overwhelm her as they started their attack, suddenly and with swiftness they shrank. Confused and with no queen to control them, most of the insects left or simply wandered in circles, too small for the human eye to care much about. With that Mari reaches into her utility belt and throws an anti-venom needles towards Kaizen and rolled out another two towards Ichika and Agi.. She herself had just been torn up a little by ants, but didn’t need the anti-venom.. “KAIZEN CATCH!”

Rolling over to sit on her ass, the cat girl just heaves in the poorly lit tunnel before speaking aloud.

“...We..We Won.”

“Th--hanks..” He stuttered, grabbing the needles with the last of his strength and stabbing into the open wound before completely collapsing onto the ground. “Then...all...is..well” Kaizen went silent for a while, though based on the expansion and contraction of his abdomen, most people could tell he was still alive.

“Well that was fun,” Ichika sarcastically sighed plopping on the ground as she felt her strength leave her as the insects became no longer a threat though for solid measure she crawled over to Insectica placing some gums shots all over her body to solidify her from being able to move much less attack again upon waking up.

Agi himself limped over to Mari sitting next to her as he gave ample attention to the arm that had been both dislocated, and relocated back into place. Given how everyone was at exhaustion he plopped with his face landing on her lap.

“Just let me have this,” Agi hilariously muffled through her lap, too exhausted to get back up as this was now the most comfortable damn spot ever in his whole life to rest at.

Not caring much about Agi using her as a pillow, Mari scolds him lightly before patting his hair. “You could wait till I’m not bleeding.” Her own injuries weren’t as bad as the others but she had her own share as she sends out the signal for help and reporting the capture, bouncing it across any and all lines.

“Bittersweet, Apex Bugster, are you two doing alright?...well all things considered?” She asks, in the lull of the moment she could afford going back to their hero names.

“I’m hoping the ANVIL Prison system will deal with them rather than the normal Justice system. Those two were something else.. Good work everyone... Lets go home.”
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Azurian Dream
Collab with @The Dapper Mog @Thaleko @EmperorsChosen @Reanimator Spuds @Cresion Breezes @RedArmyShogun

As the teams were announced it made Mari do a double take as Ota read them aloud;

“Team lead Goto, team members Hotaru, Amon, Kikyo and Vigridis.”

The mission they had was rather simple on paper, Hosoo Matsu or known by his villain name as Zombie Matsu was spotted in a region, a known or suspected member of the Cult of the Seer they were now tasked with investigating. Not a high ranking villain he was rather strong, but he was more known for his appearance and seemingly being unable to die and for having an assortment of hidden weapons and for hero killing. Though the latter wasn’t so much what he normally did. The man was a former Yakuza and fights much like one, preferring to beat his opponents down with superior strength and hidden weapons.

Their mission was to shadow or capture Zombie Matsu if he actually was in the area as reports to the police had stated and with their numbers and powers Matsu would not be enough of a threat to need a pro hero, never mind the principles maneuvering to get her school at the front of the line with investigations and combating the Cult and Assassin Guild. They would succeed because the alternative would be defeat at the least…

And Death at the most. Fortunately not all hope was lost, provided this overly confident group had lost it in the first place, a Detective was to meet them and drive them about the district in a nearby city.

A Detective by name of Matsuru Akiba would be their contact to begin their investigation via way of train to a station where the middle aged, greying police man would meet them. The team would be left to set up its plans and strategies or to disregard them in the travel time in between.

How the hell did Goto end up here? It was Hideki training 2. Except this time he was leading for real. Like an actual mission. Who knows, maybe he did something the last mission worth this spot… Not a chance. Still, he had faith in his team. Amon was a close ally and one he had been able to rely on this whole time. He was his starter in a sense. Reliable and the one he trusted the most. Meanwhile, his ace was definitely Vigridis, though she still got on his nerves at times. Likely running Frustration over Return. After that Hotaru was his bulky physical sweeper, Kikyo his Prankster support, and himself as the Offensive Pivot.

As they approached the station that the Detective was to meet them at, Goto stepped forward, raising a hand half way. "Yo Pops. You Detective Akiba?"

Kikyo was pleasantly intrigued when she was told that she would be going on a mission alongside Goto. Mostly because she was informed that he would be leading the team. It wasn’t that she thought he wouldn’t be a good leader, just that she couldn’t help but question whether or not he would have the appropriate people skills to be a good leader. That being said, she didn’t really trust herself to lead a team. Her head had been way too...in a bad place as of late.

When they approached the man that she believed to be their contact, a detective no less, she frowned at Goto.

“You know, you really should try to speak to adults with a little more respect than just calling them “Pops.” She muttered to the boy before looking at the man.

She was almost certain it was him. This guy even looked like a cop, if that were even really possible. She offered him a polite bow. She glanced over at her two other teammates, curious to see how they would do. Everything she had heard about Vigridis told her that she was going to be fairly aggressive and eager to get things moving. Amon, on the other hand, she had only met once, but at least she had that one meeting. Kikyo felt fairly confident that he was going to be fairly useful in the field, but as for his mentality she had no idea.

Deciding that she should probably at least try and get to know her comrade a bit before things got serious again, Kikyo offered a bow to Vigridis as well. “Hello, I am sorry that we haven’t been formally introduced yet. I’m Kikyo Asuka, and I hope that we can be friends.”

Looking over at the kids, or rather young adults stood a man with a 5 o'clock shadow, a large brown coat common to detectives, brown slacks with a pair of slightly lighter shoes and a white button-up undershirt. Overall they greying man looked the part of 90% of detectives in TV shows and to an extent reality. Grinning at bit at being called pops by the blue haired hero, as well the response of Kikyo.

“I’ve been called worse, Son.” He says a bit tongue in cheek at being called pops. “And I don’t know, seen many detectives?” With that he reaches into his coat and holds open the flap, a badge was shown with an ID card above it. “Detective Matsuru, but you can call me Detective Akiba, Akiba, Detective, you kids will be in more danger than I am.. Or young adults.. Whichever you see yourselves as.. But, ah yeah, what do I call all of you?”

Vigridis grinned at the information about the villain they were after. It was a welcome change of pace, as most of their opponents had been total surprises. Not that that mattered much to the white-haired vampire. She relished the challenge, and would overcome whoever, no matter if she knew who they were or not. But still, hearing about their target was good. She had begun to wonder if the entirety of the hero society was incompetent. Or perhaps just her current superiors.

Hearing about who the villain was, in particular, made her excited. “Ooo~! Immortal? Then it jusst means we can go all out and wail on him unlike ushual!” Usually Vigridis held back some, knowing everyone around her would not appreciate it if she suddenly cut the villains' heads off. Or if she stabbed them to death with a burning sword or something similar.

Her deep silver eyes fell upon the detective as they came upon him. She showed respect to her elders and her superiors, so she agreed with the other girl. However, it was up to the elder or superior if they lived up to and maintained Vigridis’ respect.
The tall woman’s eyes switched over to the girl at her side, when her voice reached her ears. “I seee. I am Vigridis Alucard,” she introduced herself. “If that iss what you want, then it iss a good thing we’re assigned to the same team; thosse who fight together become friends.”

Vigridis turned back to the Detective and gave the smallest of bows. “I am Vigridis Alucard, sir,” she repeated, just in case.

Amon yawned and stretched out a bit, he gave the detective that came onto the scene a wave with a flick of his wrist, his tail moved in unison with his hand behind him. “Heyo, Deakaha Amon,” He introduced himself with the Japanese name format despite also having a foreigner’s name like the girl that went before him. “Jabberwock in the field, but I’m not the type to get hung up on titles. Feel free to ask me things if Goto decides to fly into the stratosphere.”

He had a certain awareness that Goto was chosen to be a leader for a more...particular reason. Perhaps problem children understood other problem children better, which this team did have a good portion of. Looking around just confirmed the young man’s thought, although he wasn’t sure if he himself qualified as the “problem child” he callously slapped onto most of his team (and class).

Hotaru followed in tow with everyone to rendezvous with the detective. Some seemed wary that Goto was put in charge, though she didn’t have many qualms with it, at least not yet. Aside from mistaking her as a guy when they met, she didn’t really have many interactions with him, negative or otherwise.

Raising a hand in greeting, Hotaru introduced herself. “Sunemizuki, Hotaru. Or Titan. I prefer the latter when we're in the thick of it,” She said. “Also… how immortal are we talking about this guy? I have a regen factor too, but it doesn’t exactly make me a god.”

“Alright then. Man can’t die, big deal. We can capture him or tie him up or whatever.” Goto looked back at the detective. Any information would be helpful so he didn’t need his contingikies. “Was there anyone else we know about here?”

“He has some goons with him I would be pretty sure, other than that was some girl in a mask, though we’ve got next to nothing on her, your problem to deal with if it is one. And he’s not that Immortal...we think.. Least he’s not invincible.” The detective says as he motions for them to follow towards a van… “Are you all really up to this? You guys are the backup plan.. As to contingencies, our plan is just to call for more heroes if you all fail. And for myself, I’m getting out of here if that happens.”

Waiting for them all to get in he speaks a bit more on the previous questions. “He’s been killed more than a few times, had his head cut off or split in half, lost some fingers, things like that, he doesn’t bleed out and he can reattach parts, though there are some limits we’ve seen.”

With that all said he gets inside of the driver seat and turns the van’s engine on and waits.

Kikyo appreciated that Vig seemed willing to accept her friendship, though her definition seemed to be a little different than usual. Nonetheless, it was nice. The others introduced themselves to the detective, and she was sure to note them as much as she could. Truth was she didn’t know any of these people very well, and the only one she thus far really felt comfortable around at all was Goto. Frankly, that was tested as well.

She followed after the others, getting into the van alongside her comrades. “So, if you can tell me where we’re going exactly, I can send out one of my reflections or two to scout out the area. They can get a good lay of the land and find any potential threats. People don’t usually think much of seeing a strange reflection in a mirror outside of it just being their imagination.”

Kikyo still was uncertain about her quirk and the dangers of it, but she was learning to be more confident in what she could do. Combat wasn’t her forte, but recon was usually pretty simple for her.

“As far as the villain being immortal, that’s not difficult to deal with. If worse comes to worst, I can trap him in a reflective surface. Using my reflections I may be able to contain him effectively, though I can’t guarantee anything.”

Vigridis got into the van with everyone else. She had a wicked grin on her face. “So, the villain can be sliced to piecess. That’z good news. No need to hold back at all.” She said as she sat in her seat, eagerly awaiting when she was face to face with this man.

“Eh?.. You guys really heroes…? My how the world has fallen.. So tell me killer, minus maybe one day being in a police car backseat or joining the villains, what do you plan to do? ANVIL tries to keep a more..public friendly face...and Hero Association, I don’t see wanting that sort of Association.”

“Huh, reflective traps. Interesting…”
He says of Kikyo, taking a bit of an interest in her. “Any more of you have any more deranged hobbies I should know about?” The detective asks.

“Your job iss to hunt who committed crimes, right detective? Not question upcoming heroes or act like their counsselor, right?” Vigridis responded. “As long as we help you catch the villain, that shhould be good enough, right?”

A yawn came from the back of the group as Amon leaned back against a wall, eyes almost half closed. He wondered if this detective's stereotyped impressions of 'hero students' have cracked yet. "Now, now, people become heroes for different reasons. Some of us are heroes because we want to be heroes, and some of us become heroes because...it's hard for people like us to do well in anything else."

The boy gave the detective a bright, cheery smile along with a bouncy energetic hand gesture as he spoke. "I'm sure you can tell who's what if you've ever worked with actual heroes."

Kikyo watched and listened to her peers. Vigridis seemed quite excited to be able to go all out against her enemies. Her quirk must be pretty intense. Then again, she was part of the distraction team on their last mission together. The thought made her frown. Kikyo was never happy when it came to combat training and actual fights. Her rudimentary martial arts were decent, but when it came to dealing with quirks, she wasn’t really able to stand up. Even her reflections could be dangerous with some of their newer tricks, but against combat oriented quirks, not so much. Especially if they were good at fighting multiple opponents.

“Being a hero is about helping people, isn’t it? I mean, the entire reason I chose this is to help people and to pay it forward after I was saved by heroes.” Kikyo spoke softly to her peers, eying the detective for a moment before looking back to them.

The detective seemed to fairly well have his mind made up about them. As far as Amon, he seemed pretty cheerful, which she appreciated. But she definitely didn’t like the idea of some heroes becoming heroes just so they could beat up villains. She turned her gaze to the window, noting the smirking vision of herself in the glass.

Goto waved his hand at all of this. “Yeah some of us may be a little fucked in the head. But I’ll be honest I don’t give a shit. I’m here because this is what I am. And as long as people make it out alive then we’ve made progress.” He looked back at his team.

“Well, speaking of, we should get moving. The distance means nothing to me, but I doubt I can carry you all. Lets go.”

“Hmm..” says the Detective towards the answers given by them all. “Do not take him so lightly.. His body has seen several upgrades and he is a fan of using hidden weapons.. As to my job, a Policeman’s job is to protect the peace and bring others before a court of law.. Though I cannot say the police’s hands are bloodless.”

With Goto’s next addition he waits for the rest to pile in, Detective Matsuru drives them all off, being silent most of the ride, letting the kids talk to themselves or with one another, or so he hoped. As they move from the station it was only a matter of minutes till they were in the area of the previous sighting.

“From here on out it’s just keeping your eyes open for the large bastard.. I’ll be shadowing some of you, unless one of you wants to guard me, we’ll ask around and patrol, backtrack towards him if we must. The actual fighting I’ll leave to you all, you’re the team lead so it’s your show now.” He says, gesturing to Goto.

Kikyo perked up a bit at the detective’s insistence that it was about finding the villain. That was something that was actually within her skill set. The young woman glanced over to Goto, who was, at present at least, her current leader in the field. Getting over the initial weirdness of it, she leaned toward him.

“Goto, recon is kinda my specialty. With your permission, I can send a couple reflections throughout the area and see if we can get a visual on him. If we’re in the general area, range shouldn’t be an issue.” Kikyo spoke with a degree of confidence even she wasn’t accustomed to. Though, there was still a fair degree of her timid nature in her voice.

Hotaru pondered the detective’s answer. The villain’s regenerative factor was far greater than her own. That would be a pain to deal with, though most such quirks had ways around it, even with simply battering them enough. “Well, I’ll leave that to you, then… I’m not really suited for recon. I’ll be ready to tank, though,” She said to Kikyo.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Spread out wide and see what you can find. I guess we'll sit tight until then." There wasn't much they could really do. Kikyo was able to scan a larger area than most of them, and Goto could fly around too, but maybe being obvious wasn't the best thing to do right now. This seemed like the easy play.

That said, Goto was itching for some action. Hopefully any second now would lead them to this Zombie guy.

With leave to do her thing, Kikyo nodded to Goto, looking back at the rear door of the van, she got out, making her way around to the driver side window, then the passenger side, making certain her reflections were right there and read. Then, she instructed her two reflections to fan out in the mirror dimension and look for anything that matched the description of the villain they were pursuing. From what she had been told, noting them shouldn’t be difficult.

With the two of them jumping back into their respective reflective surfaces and taking off, she simply climbed back into the van where she had been, looking at Goto, then the others.

“Okay, I sent them out. If either of them find what we’re looking for, they’ll revert and I’ll get the information. Now it’s a waiting game.”

“Someone who seemingly can’t die, and is able to reform when parts of their body are cut off...ah, I’ve fought someone like that before.” Amon mumbled to himself, thinking about the detective’s description. Of course, it won’t be completely like his previous encounters, but in principle the counter measures would be the same. He looked around at the team they have and sighed, “perhaps it would be much simpler if Amano-san was here.” But it would still take the actual encounter to know.

“Well that isn’t exactly true. He’s been iced a time or two to use the words of you young people.. But he always gets back up with a few new scars sooner or later. Like I said, he’s had his head cut off.” With that and as Kikyo did her thing, getting out of the van and sending her clones ahead. In short order it seemed they had found the man, he stood in at 6 foot 7 and was a fairly large man. With his long ears and his smiling face the man made no efforts to hide, he in point of fact was discovered stopping a car with his hand placed upon the hood as an old lady slowly crosses the road, a collection of seven men were with him as well as the woman with the gas mask and pointy ears, her hair was blonde and her eyes were green. Otherwise the cult seemed to mostly be behaving itself and as the large man shown, while being disruptive were being helpful. Regardless of this revelation it seemed at face value they were either unaware or unconcerned with the hero students being sent after them.

Kikyo’s reflection stepped away from the window pane inside her separate dimension, closing her eyes as she reverted to a glass statue before shattering, as they usually did. Kikyo groaned softly and rubbed her temple for a moment before looking at Goto.

“Found them. They stopped a car from hitting someone, so, that seems good. They also seem to not care that they’re being pursued. Hard to say if they know we are coming or not. If they do, they don’t seem bothered by it at all.”

She spoke quickly to get the information out, as well as informing them the street and nearest intersection in regards to where the target was. This way the faster people wouldn’t need to wait for her in order to get to where they were going.

“What’s the call?”


A sinister grin spread across the white-haired woman’s face. “Fools. But good news for uss! Seeems like we’ll get the fight we crave,” Vigridis hissed. “What are we waiting for? Letz go and fight them right now!”

“That’s up to all of you, I’ll do a little drive past and you can all jump out or whatever it is you do.” The Detective says, looking at Goto and the rest as he starts the engine back up, wondering if the students had anything else to say or some other plan.

Right, how can he get things going… He had learned quite a bit from his time studying. Specifically he learned how to put things into terms he understood. "Right. Kikyo, we'll lead with you. Send in the clones and hit them with a Fake-out. Then switch out and Vigridis will run in and break their line. After that Amon and Hotaru will take on whoever they can. I'll be nearby to assist combos, switching whenever I can. Kikyo. I think you’re best running interference as frequently as possible."

It was… Surprising that he was able to formulate that, even if most of his tactics were littered with video game and sports lingo and jargon. But it was the only way he was able to think this up. "Kikyo, hit it, Vigs, get ready to jump in."

Kikyo looked back to the detective, flashing him a bit of a smile. “I’ll stay here and try to help keep you safe, Detective. I can send my reflections out for combat and hang back to cover you.”

With that said, she looked back to Goto and nodded with affirmation before looking at the window, bringing her pair of reflections out again. She took a deep breath, and sent her clones out.

“It should only take them about 60 seconds to get there for them by mirror walking. So I recommend going ahead and leaving now. I’ll know if a reflection is destroyed and can send reinforcements as needed. If you need me to join you in person too, just let me know, kay?”

The reflections dove through the windows of the van, making their way to the street that was about to become a battlefield.

From nearby store windows, the two reflections dove out of the glass, landing in a roll before charging at the villains.

“Hey, villains! Guess who’s about to have an extended stay in prison?” One reflection asked as she jumped and took a swipe at the big guy who stopped the car with her glass cat claws.

“Rhetorical, Obviously it’s you!” The other reflection added, also taking a big right hand swing with her claws at the masked woman.

“Feast of Legends,” Vigridis intoned while in the van, as it came up to the mark. Various weapons constructed in silver and gold light, trailing after the vehicle. All radiating some sort of Soul power. “Claíomh Solais,” she said next, leaping out of the moving van, landing squarely on a large, flat, floating blade that had a bright yellow-orange glow, like the sun.

She flew up into the air, and attacked right after the mirror clones. Diving in, Vigridis waved her hand and a rain of spear constructs fell upon the gathered cultists. She gracefully landed with a roll, and grabbed her ride’s handle, swinging Claíomh Solais right at the tall man she assumed was the zombie-villain. Her slash was strong enough to ignite some of the area and flames erupted on various foliage and cloth from the super-heated construct, despite trying to hold back a bit to avoid bringing too much harm to the nearby citizenry.

Hotaru went out next. With Vigridis and Kikyo focusing on the larger man, she took the opportunity to attack the others. Both arms morphed into whips and shot out at them. One went towards the point-eared girl with a gas mask and the other snapped at a couple of the other cultists, aiming to coil around them and yank them to her.

A cough came out of Amon as the heat and smoke that suddenly burst into the scene troubled him somewhat, seeing that the site with the large man had pretty poor visibility, and that Kikyo along with Vigridis were already there, he decided to support Hotaru’s endeavours.

He conjured up the same red brambles and aimed to bind any cultist that Horatu may have missed, half dragging them back and half “persuading” them with the spikes on the bindings that may or may not dig deeper into one’s flesh the further they try to struggle away from him. Side eyeing his rather large teammate, Amon didn’t know if it was a good call to grab people in just like that, if one of them had a quirk good for close ranged combat it would be quite troublesome indeed.

Staring at the most unique looking cultist, the strange girl with blonde hair and pointed ears, she had some special equipment - a gas mask. A piece of red construct split off of the bindings of the cultists and wrapped around the girl that Hotaru also seemed to focus on, though he didn’t want to mess up the pacing of his teammate. The red whiplash blade simply followed the other, but it hovered oddly close to the gas mask girl’s chest and neck the whole way.

“Can you handle this? I don’t trust Goto to deal with a fire alone.” Amon mumbled under his breath to Hotaru, being able to smell a bit of smoke coming from the field.

Goto was moving. There were a lot of people nearby. It looked like his team was fairing well at the start. He could move in to sweep some people out of the area, working to mitigate any damage. He swooped in near where Vigridis attacked, sweeping people out of the way. “Not safe here, clear out. We’ll take care of the rest.”

Goto then sped back working on rescuing as many people as he could, keeping a close eye on his teammates to the best of his abilities.

As the trio took their actions a series of events were to play out in rapid order, the cultists were ambushed, but didn’t seem all that surprised or worried, though the girl in the gasmask glared at the two that were trying to restrain herself.

The big man for his part was attacked by the two reflections and guarded in kind, turning his head to see who or what it was as he grabbed hold of the reflection that got too close, by her leg after her claws cut into him. He did not bleed, nor flinched as the claws impacted with his shoulder, his other free hand went for a baseball bat that looked to be of rather good quality.

“Didn’t you le-” As the others join in, including Vigridis, setting fire to some of his surroundings and even himself to a small extent as his face turns into an angry expression.

“FINE! I’ll beat a motherfucker with a motherfucker!” He says throwing the Kikyo clone at Vigrids face first as he rolled his shoulders the flame staying on his body for a bit. As a green gas would emerge from the body of the pointy eared woman, rolling over everyone and everything in the immediate area, a thicker amount on the heroes and a thinner amount on her allies, minus those closest to Hotaru. Visible from the air and ground only Goto and Kikyo had escaped its effects.

The gas put out the fires and healed the damaged tissue of Zombie Matsu and the other cultists, as the big man was already readying himself to respond to a follow up strike as he swung his baseball bat up and over, aiming to bring it down atop Vigridis as the flames were smothered out. For the heroes the thicker concentration of gas did not really heal so much a sense of melancholy would wash over them, with nausea. Their sense of time would seem to speed up then suddenly slow down, as if under the influence of a strong toxin, a hallucinogenic or a psychedelic, it was hard to say but the influence was strong and immediately felt and lingering. Already a few were attempting to escape the hold of Titan. Between the actions of the trio the seven mostly normal humans went down rather easily or were skewered as the gas went about patching them up, if they would stay down or not was another matter all together.

For his part the Detective continues to watch the situation and the display with a sort of detachment. “Troublesome is it? Though I say the odds may still favor your friends, your quirk was also unexpected, though I don’t think that gas is lethal, it would be too late for everyone if that was the case.” He says to Kikyo.

The reflection cried out against the grip of the villain, and then was promptly thrown at an ally again. This was becoming a theme. At least this time they were the ones doing the ambushing. As she flew through the air at her ally, she tried to scream out a warning as she tucked herself into a smaller object by curling into a ball. Fortunately enough, it seemed that she was ready for it.

The other clone however, was unfortunate enough to be caught in the sudden wave of green smoke. She held her breath, hoping it would be enough to protect her. Even with their synthetic nature, the reflections seemed mostly human until enough damage had been inflicted to reveal the false nature. It was probably best to try and help Goto evacuate. The other and more aggressive reflection could try and assist in combat.

Moving quickly, the secondary reflection moved to assist the civilians, gathering them and guiding them away from the scene. “Let’s go, we need to get you out of here! It’s gonna be okay, just move, we’ve got you!”

The prime Kikyo glanced over at the detective with worry on her face. What he said made sense, since it seemed everyone was still standing. The gas looked awful though, whatever it was. He claimed that they may still have the advantage, which was definitely possible. She could feel her body tremble a bit, hoping she wouldn’t have to go out there herself to help too.

“Yeah, they’re fine...they’ve got this.”

There was a brief moment that the Alucard noticed her attack had a bigger area of effect than she had intended, and had inadvertently threatened some nearby pedestrians who were apparently too stupid to make a run for it. Whoops. But it seemed her allies had a handle on it and were busy rescuing the people and pulling them out of danger range.

With her attention back on the opponent before her. Vigridis easily caught the strange clone of her ally with one hand, and dropped her off beside her, with nary a care that another girl had been tossed at her. She was getting used to allies being impromptu weapons and thrown her way. She had only a moment to react to the man’s bat coming down on her. The lance, Longinus, flew into her hands, where she caught it just in time to block the man’s bat. The clash was strong enough to shake her arms and legs. Vigridis realized she needed to put more strength into defending, so she sent more Soul Energy into her armor -specifically around her arms, to compensate.

That’s when she noticed the strange gas, and began to feel its strange effects. Its effects made her mind sway. Vigridis was used to gas attacks, having trained with Vitalis when they were younger. But that was when they were younger, and she hadn’t properly trained with Vitalis in years. For what it’s worth, she managed to hold the zombie man’s attack back, deflecting it enough to call Claíomh Solais. She staggered due to the gas, nearly collapsing to the point to allow his attack to bash her. But she caught her large sword with her hands and let it pull her up. Her hands burned on the blade, as she wasn’t used to having to hold onto it, and due to the gas, wasn’t properly regulating the heat of her quirk.

Vigridis finally stood atop her blade, she hoped being out of the gas’s area would make its effects wear off. Still, with the effects of the gas in her, she stumbled and fell right off. She hit the ground, but quickly got to her feet. Staring down the zombie man, she shook her head to try to clear it a bit. The Alucard held up her spear, reared back and pumped Soul Energy into her weapon. The Holy Lance, Longinus glowed with a bright white light, flecks of energy sparking off of it and falling like ash. Before she launched -threw the spear directly at the zombie man. The spear had an area of intense Soul Energy and heat, and it looked like a falling star, or mortar.

“Go, I can take’em,” Hotaru replied to Amon, giving a nod of her head. As the cultists began to struggle and it became more apparent that the gas was centering from one of those she grabbed, Titan gave them a harsher squeeze as her limbs altered from whips and lanky appendages to more muscular arms. However, as the gas began to hit her, she started to feel sick and disoriented. “W-Wha-What the hell is…” Her head grew more faint, though with a growl she released the pointy-eared one to grasp the two other goons in both hands. Her face shifted to black, signifying her quirk usage, and after reeling her head back she slammed it into the two’s. Stumbling back a bit, she whipped her arm in the direction of the woman while fanning the gas away from the group with the other hand.

Amon was staggered a bit as the strange gas hit, his view got slightly blurry from the nausea. It was strange, a gas attack like this was indiscriminate to enemies, allies and bystanders alike. The villainous group didn’t look like they planned to launch an attack on the city before. Remembering what the detective told them, perhaps the man with strong regenerative abilities was immune to this type of attack as well, letting his ally use it without hesitation. Their reasons for showing up were still unknown as well, the entire situation just seemed troublesome.

“Ugh…” His head was quite foggy, staying in this condition wasn’t an option right now. Looking down at his hand Amon pulled up a small blade and made a shallow cut on his hand, the sharp pain helped him to clear his mind a bit. Although after his senses recovered somewhat, it was clear that something strange was happening to the wound. Amon healed faster than average people, but he knew that it wasn’t this fast. A puzzled frown climbed on the young man’s face. The only differentiating factor he could think of was the strange gas present, did it help with healing? Was that to synergize with the other villains regenerative properties?

Having something like this on the field was bad news. “Titan, we need to get rid of that girl.” Amon said calmly to his now towering teammate. Some crimson brambles whipping towards the gas masked girl.

It looked like the gas was causing his party to stumble. Fine, Goto knew he was the best for taking care of this. After dropping off some other civilians with Kikyo’s help, he turned back toward the fray, where there seemed to be a stand still, as his party questioned the effects before them.

There was a sudden rush of wind, as Goto came flying by, and turning himself sideways in the air. The sudden rush of wind as it whirled in the area helped collect the gas and disperse it faster near his party. “Don’t worry guys. I can take care of the gas. Give me a call and I’ll come running.” He went back to his whirlwind, his tactic for the time was to disperse the smoke and to be ready to swing into someone’s fight as soon as an opening came in for the mix-up.

As Vigridis throws her spear at Zombie Matsu, he didn’t really have too many options in what to do, so he made use of the car that was in front of him and ripped the tire off the front end with its wheel hub assembly and used it as a makeshift shields to take the brunt of the blast. Just what in the hell was she or this? Either way, fuck her and her spears, she wasn’t fighting like most heroes, so was no point in him holding back either as the spear nicked him.

“Lets see yah dodge this!” He calls out, extending his left hand his fingers fall away in places with chains, unveiling a four row gun volley as he let rip with large caliber rifle shells, barraging at her as he drops his bat for the time being.

The girl for her part was being overwhelmed, this was not the sort of situation she was used to, truth be told she rarely fought at all, this was meant to be Matsu and the others jobs. Speaking of the ones that had been speared and threatened by the one with the demon look were now back and moving, trusting in their belief and in her to save them, or to die for the cause, or to be imprisoned for it. A cause she understood well, she was thankful as fight of them fight their restraints or climb to their feet, deploying rather low leveled quirks or brandishing handheld weapons as they went for Amon to fight off his attempts to capture her, she for herself drawed back and produced a thick cloud of the chemical substance around herself, tensing up.

“Ha.. I suppose it’s time I do my job..” The Detective says as he steps alongside Kikyo, pulling out his service revolver. “Such an uncivilized weapon… And I was enjoying my studies of you..” With that he holds the weapon up and quickly moves from aiming it at Matsu as he pistol whipped Kikyo across the back of her head, she would have time to focus on the Detective smiling with a twisted grin as bit by bit his face became that of a man, but of a man without eyes, without a mouth, without nose holes, a blank slate born of shadows.

“I cannot allow you to take her..” Ripping off the detective coat and shirt, a ninja uniform was beneath as with a simple tug the workmen's pants fall to show the same attire underneath. Reaching into his rob he grabs a few items as he deploys a smoke bomb and then throws a small handheld explosive mine at Titan, detonating it above her “face” with rays of light and a deafening boom. Already the old man was running a device was left with his detective robes as heavy static emerges across all communication lines, should Goto had the presence of mind or time to look at his records nothing would come across on this figure, minus he was considered to be a legendary warrior and person of interest to ANVIL and the HA, a fifty or more long years record followed him but it seemed to be all shadows as the man himself seemed to be. If Vigridis had the time to sense it, she could tell that in most terms this man was something else.

Continuing his run he goes for Amon intent on engaging in Melee, but before he lands his hidden hit and dodges the tail, he handstands and flips over the hero, letting fly with a powder that seemed to be an irritant dust made up of pepper and ground up glass, to the others face, landing behind some of his allies that were now trying to fight against the constraints he had left. “...leave..”

The blow came out of nowhere. Kikyo had looked back to the detective when he had started speaking again, but diverted her attention just long enough to not notice any of his movement. Then again, with how fast the hit came, maybe she wouldn't have been able to react even if she had seen it coming. A pained, but soft grunt escaped her lips as she fell forward, collapsing in the van. There was a warm feeling running down the side of her head, the familiar sensation of blood running down her face. What the hell was going on?

Kikyo managed to catch a glimpse of the man’s true visage before he left the van. She wanted to cry out and alert her allies, but the blow to her head was harsh. Everything was fuzzy, even the sound of the battle outside seemed to be strangely warped. She must have had a concussion or something. The young woman reached out towards her comrades, lifting herself up a bit to get to a knee, clutching her new head wound.

Meanwhile, her reflections were still in combat and finishing up on the civilian evacuation. It seemed that things had gotten worse, with the zombie man going full force against Vig and a newcomer showing up, dancing through the front line with debilitating attacks. This definitely just got much more complicated. Both reflections lined up, noting the dispersal of the gaze. Of course, the creator of the gas had pulled back and just created more. One reflection looked to the other, flashing her a grin. The secondary reflection’s expression was quickly turning fearful, her head shaking in response.

With a pained groan, the first reflection’s body shifted slightly, shards of glass piercing through her skin to form an almost spike-like armor around herself before she grabbed a shard forming from the side of her head, withdrawing it so it resembled a sharp and jagged knife made of a broken mirror. Not thinking, she charged for the enemy front line, diving directly into the gas to try and stab the masked woman in the shoulder. A shriek of a mix of glee and rage sounded from her.

The secondary clone stepped back, taking a defensive posture, hoping to try and defend her allies if at all possible. Trying to stop her counterpart now would be rather pointless. Maybe the brawl between Vig and the zombie would catch her in the middle and she’d be dispersed for a while. It was strange that she suddenly went berserk. The realization that maybe the prime was in trouble took her, but was she needed more here or there?

Vigridis was annoyed that he managed to deflect her attack so well. Did she not put enough power into it? Maybe, due to the gas effects. Or maybe he was just that strong to divert most of the danger. Why would a zombie need to defend himself so well? She wondered.

Her eyes flashed when she saw him retaliate by holding up his hands and his fingers fell away revealing guns. Normally, she’d be able to defend against this easily, as she was not really afraid of gunfire, but the gas was still affecting her equilibrium. While she saw him withdraw his gun-fingers in slow motion, it was followed up by speed she couldn’t seemingly react to. And Vigridis hissed in pain, feeling a shot through her left arm and right leg. But by then, she had managed to construct a large shield of white gold between her and the barrage.

In the moment, she felt another threat nearby, and glanced over. Something else was happening! A new villain had appeared that seemed to be just as dangerous! She wanted to fight it, and it posed a great threat to her allies, but she had her hands full. All she could do was erect more white-gold shield constructs near her allies, and maybe they’d have the wherewithal to use them to defend themselves. She had to put a lot more focus in than normal because of the way the gas was affecting her mind to keep their heat regulated so they were usable. But she also didn’t want to leave her own situation so precarious. So in the same moment, Vigridis held up her hand, and a spear construct from her “Feast of Legends” flew over. The spear was shiny black and the Soul Energy that radiated off of it was like a blackish smoke. She flexed her hand and Gáe Bulg split apart into smaller barbs, all which launched themselves at Zombie Matsu, some piercing into him. Other sharpened barbs rained down on the area, cracking the ground, and breaking windows, and hissing when they sunk into metals, or nearby vehicles.

Goto surveying as best he could to keep an eye on his team. But he was still too slow to catch Kikyo being assaulted by the detective. Or at least whoever was pretending to be him. Goto instantly sped down to check up on her, a feeling of anger rising up.

“Kikyo!” He called out as he landed beside her and held her up. “Hey, you alright?” He looked over at the van as the man climbed inside. He could catch them. He looked down at her. “Hey…” He looked around. That was when something clicked. That smoke from before. Didn’t someone say something about it…

He picked her up on his back and sped toward the mist. “Hang on.”

Hotaru took a moment to catch her breath after Goto dispersed some of the gas. She looked over to the girl with a gas mask and it was fairly obvious that she was the cause. However, before Titan could pursue, she heard the thud from the faux detective and turned. Readying herself to pursue him, she had to hold her arms up and harden her body to protect from the explosion. With a grunt, she took the explosive, growing larger and denser as her armored form took over. “Try that again!” She challenged, grabbing the materialization of Vigridis and chucking it at the traitor with force. Then, kicking off the ground she broke into a sprint with each step cracking the pavement, charging at with a fist reeled back.

It was the sort of thing that made Amon’s hair stand on its end, this newcomer was. This wasn’t the first and won’t be the last time this type of instinct saved him, as the villain approached Amon did a slight backstep, keeping your distance was good if the opponent wanted to engage in melee. But it was a feint. The moment that peculiar movement came from the villain the red brambles that were latching at the gas mask girl disappeared, instead converging into a sealed prism shield around Amon.

He caught a few times and rubbed his eyes, a bit of the powder got into the prism anyways despite his best reaction. It would be hard to fight that man, perhaps impossible if he was alone like this, the way he moved had the characteristics of an experienced fighter, much more than any of them at least.

A rumbling sound can be heard as well as the vibrations that rang throughout the ground and the whooshing pass of a Vigridis construct. No, that won’t do. Amon thought quietly, this villain was much too fast for Hotaru to catch up with. With that thought the prism shield melted away a bit and began to penetrate under the pavement, as Hotaru approached a red web of wired fencing like constructs sprang up around the relative vicinity of the new villain as Amon hoped to buy a few moments of time. At least until he could figure this out.


~~~~ Vigirdis & Hotaru vs Matsu~~~~

As Matsu is burned and pierced by the shotgun like barrage, the wounds seemed to pass through the tissue, catching some of the surrounding flesh in flame before what gas remained smothered them out. Aiming up with his right arm, the arm flies off with a chain as he wraps it around the leg of Vigridis to pull her down to himself, taking note of Arata’s moves he also takes stock of the other team, that one tall thing with all the black...whatever it was, she was the most serious threat for the plan, firing the rest of his hand cannon ammunition at her to get her attention, he yells.

“Did your mother kiss that face ever, or did she run away too?!”

Pausing as the red net erupted around the new villain, Titan recoiled a bit as the ammunition collided against her, bringing up her arms and tucking herself in for added defense. Looking over to the big man, Vigridis couldn’t take him by herself. “She needs help… I’ll leave the shinobi to you guys. Yell if you need me!”

With that, she switched targets, charging straight at Matsu. “Don’t worry--Yours will look a lot worse in a bit!” She retorted, lowering herself as Hotaru drew close to spear him and give Vigridis some space.

Vigridis held up her hand and called over a double bladed axe made out of swirling gold-red Soul Energy, called Heaphestus, after the Greek god. She brought the labrys down and smashed through the chain that had been pulling her, to put a stop to being reeled in. Now she could focus once more on attack, so she then forced the barbs to reenter the zombie and begin to mess him up from the inside. At the same time, she noticed the two bullet holes she sported suddenly closing, which was curious enough for her to focus on that. So the gas had some sort of healing effect, too? That was useful.

“Heh!” As if pleased with this, it was rather shocking how so many limbs had been replaced with mechanics, or maybe they were always there? Either way it didn’t matter as when the left over of the chain came his way, he took aim back at her, the interior of this arm was a scatter shot launcher. Opening up with grapeshot, he hoped to bring her down to earth, or maybe fuck up her legs a little bit. It was then that she had arrived, the other one he marked as problems, as her spear went for him, the biomechanical terror would soon find itself being grounded up and spitted out of holes in his leg, before pulling away the jigsaw puzzle pieces and showing he had one hell of an industrial saw hidden in his lower leg, which he used to king up and both ladies.

“Fuck’m think it’ll be that easy? I’m mother fuckin Zombie Metsu, prasie the bhudda that protects the roads!”

Hotaru saw the flesh start to shift and altered her tackle to a shove with her shoulder. She recoiled a bit at the sight of the saw, taken aback by it. In hindsight, she shouldn't have been that surprised. "Or Frankenstein's monster if he were high when making it!"

She pulled her arm back, and then it began to shift into a large blade. They cut his head off before so Hotaru figured she didn't have to worry as much about dealing damage. "And I'm fucking Titan!" She let out a shout as she brought the cleaver down at the saw, aiming to break it or chop the damn thing off even cut the saw into pieces.

Vigridis was still swaying from the gas, but she saw what her ally was attempting. It was what she had wanted to do, but eh, beggars couldn’t be choosers. Silver chain constructs came up and wrapped around his arms, waist, and whatever other parts to hold him down for Titan. Vigridis would have normally been able to do this and defend herself at the same time, but with the gas affecting her senses and timing, she opted to go for the win instead of defend herself. So while chaining Zombie down, she took his grapeshot like a champ and fell over, bleeding from the new wounds.

Pulling at the chains there was little Zombie Matsu could do in response as he worked his way free bit by bit, the hot material leaving marks upon his flesh, growling a bit as his saw takes the first blow, the chain was severed but the metal was intact. “Hah.” With that the big man gets an arm free and puts his leg back over the saw, before cracking his neck. With that the gas starts to die down around them as the girl in the gasmask puts more space between her and them, as he endures the pain and the heat flowing around and burning into his hand as he rips the chains up and swings them at Hotaru. Matsu had no illusions over his chances, but even so he must fight.

Hotaru glanced over at Vigridis who took the rather large hit. Seeing the blood expunge from the vampire’s body shocked her. With a growl, Hotaru grabbed the chain as it was swung at her with her left hand before bringing the bladed arm down on him. Even if he could regenerate, she was more concerned with incapacitating him for long enough to go take care of her ally.

Moving slightly, the blade cleaved into his left arm, bit by bit cutting it down, freed from the chains he was content with watching Hotaru check up on her ally as he picked up his hanging arm. “Heh, what would you do if I weren’t me? Hero.” He says in an insulting and mocking tone. “Go play wet nurse.” With that he aligns the arm with his shoulder and seemingly as if by magic, the arm melded itself. Giving a roll of his shoulder he grins a bit, picking up his carbon fiber bat.

Titan held back a retort at that. If she didn’t know specifically that his healing factor was advanced she would’ve just punched him. Regardless, now with Vigridis, she knelt down to observe the wound. “How’re you holding up?” She asked. Titan knew the girl had a healing factor too, but that was based on that life energy or whatever, wasn’t it? She needed to know if a wound like this was a flesh wound or something to evac over.

Vigridis groaned and sat up. She glanced at her side, feeling someone kneeling there. Oh, her ally. “I’m.. fine,” she grumbled. Her hand had absentmindedly touched her chest area as she said that. But then she lifted it off, and she felt the warm wet blood, dripping from her hand. The gas had helped heal some of the gun wounds, but now that the gas had dispersed, she wasn’t healing anymore. Hotaru was mistaken in how Vigridis’ healing ability worked. It didn’t just work out here like this.

Still, the Alucard stubbornly refuted she was that injured. She began to get back to her feet, angered at her weakness. “I’m fine,” she repeated with a throaty growl of frustration, mixed with pain.

“Heh. We’ll see about that.” The big guy says as he charges at the two, swinging his bat at Titan. With considerable force and speed, the giant advances, aiming to take her head off. “What, thought I was going to wait all day?”

Hotaru was silent, not entirely believing the girl. Though they didn’t have much time as Matsu came running again. Standing back up and in front of Vigridis, Titan brought an arm up to brace against the hit, though the force still caused her to stumble to the side, taking a moment before cocking the opposing arm and swinging it with a twist of her hips at his ugly skull.

Vigridis got up, and braced Hotaru as the large quirk-fueled woman staggered from the zombie’s hit. Then as Hotaru twisted her hips to sock him, Vigridis twisted to the other side and took her mace construct, Kaumodaki, and swung it at his face, too.

Getting hit by both girls into the face, the man staggers and leans forward and back, shaking his head as he reeled from the blow. “Now that hurt.” With that he extends his arms almost in the fashion of a T and goes in for a double clothesline to both girls aiming for their necks.



~~~~Goto, Kikyo & Amon vs Unknown Ninja, Gas Girl and ???~~~~

With Amon acting to defend himself, the way was clear as the Ninja faced off against the construct user, pulling out more explosives of the same nature as before, he deploys a smoke screen and concussive blast grenade at Amon’s feet, and throwing knives were thrown at the mirror clones. As the gasmask girl timidly moves backwards from the situation not wanting any part in it..

Goto’s efforts would be rewarded in a fashion. As he entered the gas it healed the minor wounding that Kikyo has received, unfortunately the gas did not revive people from being passed out or loopy, if anything it worsened the situation. If anything it would set Goto’s nerves at ease, the Ninja had not tried to kill her.

Kikyo’s head was swimming. She felt like she was constantly slipping in and out of consciousness, and her head was killing her. She couldn’t manage to really make her body move, which was all the more frustrating. Some sensation in the back of her head frightened her. It was like sleep paralysis, and something terrifying was lurking just over her shoulder, but she couldn’t move.

Her reflections however, were conscious and ready for combat, with the two of them moving forward to attempt and stop their foes. The newcomer to the battle struck at them, his blades meeting their mark with the reflection A now taking the blade to her chest with a growl, the shards of glass now protruding from her flesh sticking out further. Her eyes scanned the area, catching sight of the gas girl. She had her target in her sights, and she wasn’t willing to let it get away. With a quick lunge, she pressed the attack, leaping in a feral manner at the girl in an attempt to grapple her, wrapping her arms and legs around the target. A successful grapple with her body like this would almost certainly result in puncture wounds, which could then be made much worse when in her grasp.

Reflection B grew more concerned, but was worried about her allies too. Whoever this newcomer was posed a great threat, and she figured her allies would need backup to handle them. With this in mind, she attempted to follow their leader’s example, moving in to pursue the ninja fellow.

In a moment the world went silent, but a cry rang out to Kikyo, or any of Amon’s allies that were close to him or approached him.

“Stay away!” Amon said firmly, almost like an order despite not being a leader as his vision got clouded with smoke. Obscuring vision always meant bad news, and that was realized just moments later with a delayed explosion, kicking up more dust and debris adding to the smoke. Out of the dust cloud a red polygon rolled out as Amon pulled back while the explosion happened, although he has some clear bruises and bloodstains on him.

The red prism dissipated and morphed into a curved blade, with a fast whip cutting through the air, Amon cut through the dust cloud, trying to reveal where the enemies were. He caught a glimpse of the gas mask girl, she was a much easier target to deal with, as they already knew about the gas. Once again red bramble-like constructs began to crawl towards the girl, en route to wrapping around her ankles and dragging her towards the hero student’s area.

Looking at the two girls, the Ninja seemed to pause, not having a face meant there was no way to tell what emotion was perched upon it, as the Devil man joins in with the attack the two were operating under poor conditions, the meeting between the two constructs happening bare inches from the girl, who fell backwards and proceeded to drag herself backwards with her hands, kicking her legs as she did so till she could stand up and turn around, this time making a run for it. With the meeting of the two, that left the third to deal with and she had been foolish enough to clash with the Ninja. While he had no intentions of fighting for long he could now allow a pursuit. Reaching into his suit he produced a balo, a thin, yet strong chain with two weighted balls around it, it was designed to ensnare or even kill if used correctly, without hesitation he twirled the weapon in his hands and threw it right at Construct B, aiming for her neck.

Reflection A was almost on top of her target when something caught her by the ankle, causing her to fall onto her face with an unpleasant thud. She cried out as she hit the ground, groaning with frustration as she was pulled back away from her target. The surprise and the impact caused some of the shards protruding from her to be broken and blunted, which really defeated the purpose of them. Nonetheless, she was still weaponized. The reflection turned over, looking back to her comrade who had accidentally roped her. Or, maybe it was her fault? Heck no, it didn’t matter, she had that villain and now, because of that stupid ninja guy she was going to get away. This could not stand. Her expression turned sour, a grimace expressing a building fury in her chest as, in regards to the prime, she uncharacteristically glared at Amon.

Meanwhile, Reflection B was attempting to assist in the capture, but was struck by a weapon that she didn’t even see coming. The cord wrapped around her neck, the momentum of the thrown weapon pulling her back causing her to fall to the ground. The impact had been rough, doing damage to her vulnerable throat. For a couple of seconds she gasped, ripping at the tied cord to no avail before the color drained from her face, the features of the prime fading until she was an animated glass statue, cracks spidering out from her neck throughout her body before shattering entirely.

As Goto placed her down and saw her wound healing he felt a little better. That was of course until he turned over to see the sight of the faceless man throw something at Kikyo, and her grasping at her neck as she was choked out.

He moved on his own. He wasn't sure when it happened, but he was already kneeing the man in his featureless face. "You son of a bitch!" Twice now, Goto had messed up. Goto relied on everyone to cover his own weaknesses, and he would do the same. And now this guy had hurt her twice. He pushed past him and tumbled to the ground, scraping his shoulder on the fall. It was a minor injury however.

"Amon, fan the gas away!" He shouted out. "I don't want this bastard to ease his pain for a second."

As the kick landed on him, or the knee rather, the Ninja rolls to his left absorbing the impact as he got around to Goto’s flank, speaking up, he seemed undamaged by the blow… Or was it as he was featureless? “And what do you know of Pain, Boy?” Came a raspy voice that seemed to run thick with an unworldly tone.

Somewhat troubling, he had caught hold of Goto, having scraped him with some ninja hand claws as he paused to look at the blood. Adjusting the shuko a little, her turns his hand towards his jacket, then rushes in close, throwing Caltrops behind him. Opening with a series of sweeping kicks, the Faceless man seemed to be testing Goto.

Amon blinked a few times when he felt that he had grabbed onto something, but when the dust cleared a little it was not the girl in the gas mask, but something that looked like Kikyo. No...She should be back at—Shit! Were those reflections moving on their own? He told them to stay away! Was Kikyo controlling them in such low visibility conditions? The red bramble dissipated the moment Amon came to that realization.

Hearing Goto’s shout in his ear Amon fanned out his constructs into thin blades and swung the appendage hard and fast, trying to clear out the gas to get rid of the interference. The visibility getting better let him catch the two reflections of Kikyo, one of which was choked then shattered by a corded weapon and another glaring at him, the one he accidentally struck. Kikyo controls them...right? Does that mean she was angry at him, for messing up her plans? Amon had a lot of questions, but he knew they weren’t going to get answered. He quickly tried to rush over to Goto.

As a flurry of caltrops was dumped by the ninja-like villain, Amon didn’t slow his pace. “Genyuu-”, he whispered under his breath as a snaked-liked red construct shot out. It slithered between the caltrops and with surprising precision, knocked them out of the way with rapidly extruding pieces that branched off of the center construct. As he got close enough, the snake-like construct dissipated and was replaced by an iron maiden, cage-like structure with spikes lined on the inner side, much like the one he used with Mari.

“...Goto.” He eyed his ally firmly, and said something silently. ‘Reel it in.’

Kikyo’s waning consciousness finally slipped away again, fading away into darkness. Her chest was tight, her airway constricted. It was like she was being strangled. The pain was terrible, and matched only by the sensation of watching herself through a mirror-like window. From the perspective of her now destroyed reflection, she saw the change in Reflection A, the shards protruding from her skin, the darker pigment of her skin, the look of rage on her face as she attacked the masked lady. This wasn’t right. Something was terribly wrong. Wrong with her. She tried to cry out, but it was like she was in a dream. She was, wasn’t she? Hadn’t she passed out? She had to get herself under control, she feared what may happen if she completely lost control.

Kikyo’s remaining reflection, though, realized that her quarry was now beyond her reach. While she was tempted to yell at Amon, there were bigger fish. That ninja jerk had destroyed the other version of her, and that was an insult she wouldn’t forgive as easily as accidental friendly fire. With this in mind, she rose to her feet, moving to attempt to attack the ninja fellow. She noted the dispersing of the gas thanks to Amon’s efforts. Hopefully that would help the situation in their favor.

Then she noted the construct, a large iron maiden looking thing, no doubt made in an attempt to capture the ninja. Would it work on its own? It wasn’t like she didn’t think he could handle it, but then again he had caught her instead of the gas lady. Maybe he was losing his touch? Maybe he was affected by the gas and couldn’t handle it right now? No, best bet was to try and handle it herself, and if he decided to get in the way, she’d just have to show him the error of his ways. The passive nature of the prime wasn’t something she could allow to bleed over into herself, and this was just another example of why it was beyond time for a change in “leadership”. A mental mutiny of sorts was at hand.

One shot at this. Kikyo’s reflection growled as she rose up from the ground, dashing towards their mutual foe. If she could just hit him and knock him into that construct they will have secured victory against at least one of their enemies, and they could make up for their blunder from moments before. She just had to strike from the right side where his guard was weaker. This was it. The reflection swept in close, dropping low before leaping up to throw a dropkick into his side, hoping to launch him into the forming trap.

The Shuko cut and tore into Goto’s clothes and into his flesh. Goto grit his teeth though. This geezer was seriously trying to make this some sort of spiritual question? Bullshit. Pain is pain, and there’s nothing else to it. Even with the wound, Goto wasn’t about to give up yet. With his assault of kicks, Goto quickly ducked to the side. He was quick for sure. Goto engaged his rotary drive, after blocking one of his kicks with his arm. The blow hit hard for sure. Hard enough to bruise the bone, but it wasn’t broken. Yet Goto knew that was just pure luck. Any hit like that could have probably done it.

Still, he spun up into the air, hanging for a brief moment. He heard Amon call to him. Looking over he knew what was happening, and he smirked. He loved a good assist combo. Goto sent himself flying a good distance away before, speeding back at the ninja again. His attacks didn’t need to actually deal damage. He just needed to push him back with a flurry of blows that came faster than he could react. His time with Mari at the aquarium still served him well, but now each retreat was more controlled. His strikes would come out lightinging quick and he could keep a combo string going that was safe on block 90% of the time.

He was confident he would be able to keep up with this bastard. But as he rushed in another figure charged in front of him. Goto was going too fast to stop in time. He collided with them.

He tumbled to the ground, shard of glass which had stuck to him shattering and slicing him. He landed on his side, lying still for a moment before trying to raise himself up. He collapsed instantly, looking down he noticed a large piece of something sticking out of his abdomen. “O-oh… Shit…” It was red, with more spilling from the area in a pool around him. He looked over at everyone else. “I can’t… I still have work to-” He couldn’t finish the sentence, as he winced and grunted as he kept trying to stand back up.

As if his face were the start shifting the Ninja stops mid move as the would be allies got in one another's way. Pausing to take in the fact, had they been better coordinated they would have likely posed a problem. With the Iron Maiden construct not having anything to shove him into it, he remained expressionless as he batted away at the overeager clone. Jumping back as he fled, the Shinobi throws down a few more of the devices from before, a mix of gas, explosives and caltrops. Curiously or maybe even gratefully he still had not tried to kill the attacking team, running off at a quick pace, the shadow does something curious, perhaps hinting at his true nature. Waves of energy of a dark nature boosted from his kicks and jumps, leading more speed to his run, all the while the gasmask girl who was left alone for the time being by the heroes finally gets to her feet and runs into a store front shop, making a mad dash into the crowds, in spite of her impressive healing and perception altering abilities she had shown zero combat efficiency.

While it may be looked at as a loss by the students, the actual detective they were to meet was on the way, the jamming device back at the van hindering his ability to communicate the fact they had run across a figure that had existed as a rumor for more years than any of them had lived.

This of course left Zombie Matsu to contend with.

~~~

Kikyo’s remaining clone laid on the ground, her flesh torn up from the severe impact and the glass shards. What hit her? She groaned, her features already beginning to fade as she turned over on her side, looking to her now profusely bleeding teammate. It would be difficult to determine just what was going through her head, as the expression on her face was somehow a mix of concern and absolutet rage. The color drained from her face as she crawled toward Goto, the cracks in her abdomen spidering out to mirror the quickly diminishing condition of the body. Through gritted teeth, she spat out a curse at Goto, her eyes narrow and an abnormally blood red color;

“Idiot! I had him! Why did you have to get in the way and get yourself so hurt?! Damn it.”

The clone pushed herself up on her fists, trying to get to her feet, but only being able to get up to a knee. Her breathing was heavy, but slowing as the aspects of life slowly left her. The anger in her expression lessened, replaced by a confused sort of exasperation, her gaze still fixed on the bleeding Goto.

“Dummy…”

Cutting through the dust and gas and caltrops that the villain had left, Amon reacted quickly when he realized the remaining Kikyo reflection hopped onto the scene without any warning. He cursed a bit under his breath as this was the second time something like this had happened, was Kikyo truly this poor at reading her allies or was her control of those things too loose? He rushed towards Goto, hearing the reflection’s words. It was Kikyo’s voice, but even if Amon had only barely talked to her, he could tell it sounded unlike her.

Kneeling down, Amon pulled out some medical gauze to try to stop the bleeding on the worst of Goto’s wounds. He was wary of the “Kikyo” reflection behind them.

“I don’t know who...or what you are.” He turned slightly to the reflection, who now seemed significantly weakened. “But I’ll give you one second to fuck off.” His tone was ice cold, and a red blade trailed out like a ribbon towards the reflection in a threatening manner.

The fading reflection looked to Amon, noting the crimson colored blade that moved towards her. The reflection’s teeth, a bit more jagged and pointed than one would expect, were exposed as close to a snarl as human lips could create. The last of the color faded from her face, the features finally completely diminishing.

It looked like she was just about to speak, her glass lips moving just as the cracks finally spidered up her neck to her face before shattering in its entirety, leaving a pile of fine shards of bloody glass.

“Amon…” Goto managed to speak up. His wounds were pretty severe, with lacerations and puncture wounds in multiple places. It's likely that pieces of glass also broke off inside as he was tumbling. Still, he wasn’t about to let his team get in each other’s way like this. “We both made-gnrh!” He readjusted himself as he tried to sit himself upright. He was fighting hard against his body. “Don’t let our mistakes slow you down… Get… Get the mission…” Vigridis and Hotaru were still trying to nab their target. This could still be a success. Goto under normal circumstances wouldn’t let something stop him, and he expected that of his team.

So, not even giving the big monster two heavy smacks to the head was enough to bring him down? Vigridis had figured to simply knock him out, if they couldn’t defeat his regen factor. Now she had a different idea. Burn him out faster than his regen factor could keep up.

Vigridis dodged off to the side, while making a construct pop up under Zombie’s feet to help throw off his trajectory. Typically she could’ve easily avoided his bumbling attack. But due to her injuries, she had to do that to give herself a bit of leeway. Standing back up to face him, she held up her hand. “Parhelion!”

Her Soul Energy rose off of her in white smoke and rose up, creating three large orbs of light, connected by a smaller halo.

With Vigridis’ upheaval, Hotaru ducked under Matsu’s arms. As she spun around, she saw Vigridis preparing an attack. Charging him again, she once more ducked under to avoid any grab, slipping behind the man and grappling him in a full nelson hold with one arm coiled over each shoulder from under.

“HIT HIM!” Titan shouted, struggling as she fought to keep him still.

Vigridis noticed the large form of her ally grappled the big zombie man, holding him firm, keeping him in position. Good! Now her attack couldn’t miss! Now he couldn’t escape! This laser would be dangerous for Hotaru, but well, she probably knew that, and made her choice anyway. Vigridis gathered up her energy, and released it at her target.

“AHHH, Empyrean!” She shouted. Throwing the rest of her Soul Energy into the attack, she fired a white-hot laser at Zombie Matsu to burn out his regen factor. The laser shooting from the central orb, bathing Zombie Matsu in a white light. This attack was big enough to light up the area, and warm up the air. “AHHHH!” She screamed, while holding her chest area. Blood leaking all down to pool beneath her. If this didn’t work, she’d be out of the game; she was a moment’s breath from collapsing. She tried her best to focus the laser only on the villain, and not harm Hotaru…

As the beam of light fires from the orb, the heat and radius was rather intense, though focused at a singular point, having proven his physical prowess once before, Matsu fights the grip of titan and from his sure footing on the ground, he bends and turns bending his knees and lurching forward, just enough for the main portion of the beam to hit the lower left side of himself and of Hotaru, as the beam scorched away, there were fortunately no organs in that area to threaten either, though more of in the case of Hotaru. The beam then continued past, impacting into a building adding a little more to the inferno from Vigridis’s initial arrival.

With that all said and done, she was out of energy it seemed, a less rational villain would see this as a chance, but unfortunately Matsu was very much sane. “A’ight. I give.” He says holding his hands open and up with Hotaru behind him as he looked at the other heroes that were with them and now freed from their tasks. “I kill when I need to.. But eh, you kids would likely burn more of the place down if I went that far, plus that little flashlight hurts and I ain’t got no fuck’n healing.”

With his announcement of surrender a police car with another and a fire truck makes the turn, skidding as they drifted towards the intersection, the firemen quick to attack the burning trees and scaffolding with their water hoses, the police were jumping out of their cars as more Sirens could be heard in the distance, quickly slamming tie downs over the wrists of the knocked out figures, as they pondered what to do with the Giant. A man who was likely the real Detective walked over to the van which seemed to be his and smashed the jammer left behind as he directed another officer to administer smelling salts to Kikyo off in the near distance. He then spent the rest of his time organizing the other responders leaving the hero students to their own devices for the time being.

When she saw that the man pulled Hotaru in the way of her attack, Vigridis felt a small pang of panic. She then pulled her beam to the side, to avoid injuring her ally, before she willed the beam to dissipate. Then as the man was mysteriously resigning his surrender, Vigridis fell to her knees, clutching her bleeding torso. She shook her hazy, aching head, and blinked back her blurry vision. The gas had helped heal some of her injuries, but it had dissipated, so it hadn’t healed all.

Most of the beam seemed to dissipate as Hotaru felt the man wrestle for control, though it still nicked her a bit. Thankfully, she was the tank of the group, so a little damage wasn’t that bad. At the least, they couldn’t see any grimace with how she appeared now. “Huh?” She hummed at the surrender, somewhat shocked. Hesitantly, she released him, pausing as if expecting him to go back on his word but stepping back when he did nothing further. Breathing out in a mix of a huff and sigh, Titan walked around him. “Shit, do that in the first place, man,” She complained before turning her attention to the others. Everyone else was hurt pretty badly. Closest to her was Vigridis, so Hotaru made her way over to the girl first to check on her.

As the adrenaline died down Amon felt a bit of pain in his arm and side, it was covered in some burns and cuts from the explosions and subsequent fights. He tried to shake the feeling off as he tightened some grauze around Goto’s wounds, which seemed more severe than his own. The sirens really were a relief, meaning at least the operation is drawing to an end.

“You lost a lot of blood, just...wait here, try not to die.” Amon said to Goto, he was glad that he didn’t leave him, it appears that Hotaru and Vigridis could handle themselves while the rest of them bled out slowly. He ran over to the detective as well as Kikyo, still seeming on high alert. “...Yeah, we might need an ambulance, my teammate is injured, puncture and cut wounds, I’ve stopped the bleeding but I’m not sure if there are still shards in the wound…” Explaining the situation to the detective Amon looked over at Kikyo, right, it would be best to just ask her.

“Oh, Kikyo, when those reflections disappear, if they left glass sharps embedded in someone’s body, those would also disappear, right?” He asked in regards to their teammate’s injury, but perhaps missed the unfortunate implications the question may have had.

Kikyo had come back to consciousness when the incoming backup in the form of the police awoke her with some smelling salts. What an unpleasant way to wake up. It seemed the conflict was finally over, which was good. Unfortunately, even without taking into account that she had gotten knocked out and likely now was suffering from a minor head injury, her team was pretty beat up. Her comrade, Amon, had come over to her. He also looked rather beaten up, which only served to darken her frown.

“What? Oh...yeah. Any glass that is spawned from my quirk deteriorates into a harmless powder fairly quickly. Longest I’ve seen was about a minute after the reflection dispersed.”

Kikyo responded, her eyes focused on the young man’s face to try and glean anything he may have meant by the question. More specifically, why was he asking?

“Right. And whoever is your leader or most able to be it after, we need to have a bit of a talk. You all just ran across and Urban Legend that we’ve been unable to decide if it, or rather he was real or the rantings of the deranged. We’ll also be taking the Prisoners.” With that the Detective places a call summoning a couple ambulances to the scene as he goes back to handling the official response.
 
Abyss of the Shadow Hound

@Jessica @Demon Shinobi @Mr.Scales ⚖

It was a normal patrol assignment, or perhaps not so normal by ANVIL standards. Unlike most other missions given out by government agencies, this was approved after a local commercial building specifically requested it.

When the student heroes arrived at the slightly run down doors of an office building to report their presence, a nervous looking middle aged man wearing a worn out suit and thick eye glasses hurried out from the rows of cubicles. The front receptionist and passing office workers eyed him and the heroes nervously.

“Oh my oh my, you are finally here, hero-samas. Please please have a seat.” The man gestured to a coffee table surrounded by some couches while panickingly trying to clear away some clipboards and other papers piled on the furniture. “You might have heard...there’s been a string of missing persons cases around this part recently, many of which were the employees of this company. Oh my oh my, it’s been such a handful to deal with. Good thing we finally got some heroes to focus patrol the area...what an unthinkable turn of events!”

The office worker wiped a bit of sweat off of his brow and kept on trying to organize the messy papers on the table. An employee ID fell out of the paperworks. The man looked at it for a moment and his eyes drooped with sadness.

WLOf535m.png

“Oh...Inuzuki-kun…” The man sighed. “He is the latest to go missing, it’s been a week since we lost contact...and he was about to resign too, talking about realizing his dream of becoming a writer…Oh, I apologize.” Realizing he was getting off track, the office worker regained his composure a bit. “I digress, but if you do happen to come across this man...he’s the most likely to still be alive, amongst the victims that is...”

The worker went on to describe the missing man a bit more. Tsunegen Inuzuki was an average salary man, although noted for being quite eccentric and brilliant at times with a passion for art and writing. He had a wife named Kirimi Inuzuki, they have a marriage that works quite well to the point where most are envious, as she is quite supportive of his rather strange writing hobby and provides him with suggestions and ideas as a criminal psychology major in college. Tsunegen’s quirk is relatively unremarkable when described by the people around him. The odd colouration at the end of his hair is capable of generating minor illusions. A similar purple colour appears in the eyes of those affected by his quirk. He sometimes used this as a party drink at company outings, the short-term effects are minuscule to none, though long-term effects are unknown.

With the office atmosphere seeming relieved that there are heroes protecting them from whatever is causing the missing persons cases, the students were asked by the officer manager and ANVIL’s mission advisers to simply patrol the surrounding area first.

Daichi could not lie to himself, he was a little anxious to become team leader but he had to push past that, his team would be counting on him and he was not going to let them down.

The mission brought them to the worn down office building where the shambled man went on about their upcoming case. Daichi took a seat down on the couch and listened to what he had to say.

He could empathize with what the man was going through, especially with his obvious connection with this Inuzuki character. “I’m sorry this has all gone down without a heroes eye watching out for your company.” Of course it was difficult to have enough heroes to watch over Japan, let alone every single district but it did alarm Daichi that their have been over a handful of disappearances without ANVIL taking action until now.

“We will keep Inuzuki in mind when we patrol, if we come across any of your employees we will do everything in our power to get them to safety, that is a promise.” He was confident in his group that they would get the job done.
The office environment was, in Yori’s opinion, a nice change of pace from the usual locations he’s gone to so far. Each of which had been an outdoor mission that resulted in him facing enemies that hurt his body and or his pride. He wondered what this particular mission would result.

Katsumi, on the other hand, was on edge. She was waiting for something to jump through the window, or crash through the roof ready to fight them all. Hell, she was even suspicious of the person giving them their mission briefing. After so many missions of something happening, Katsumi wasn’t sure if she could trust anything to end peacefully.

The two were quiet as they listened to the briefing, both sympathizing with the poor man as he gave the run down.

“Yeah, we’ll help out as best we can.” Yori reassured the other man. Though, he had to wonder what the hell was going on that they were taking a bunch of office workers.

“I apologize all of this is happening,” She began. “but if I may… You said many employees are part of the string of missing persons. Why is the kidnapper taking so many from this company in particular? Do you have any idea?”

Maybe she was reading too much into it, but she thought it weird that the kidnapper decided to take so many office workers.

Rosalie pressed her hand softly on Katsumi’s back. She seemed on edge. Maybe this’d offer some comfort. She got it though. After everything, this was certainly something to be cautious of. Missions hadn’t exactly been going to plan recently after all.
“Any information you might have would be more than helpful in us attempting to build a profile on what to look out for,” Rosalie added, nodding along with what Katsumi said. She smiled at the girl. “Try to relax,” she whispered. “We’ve got your back.”

Even Yamoshi was a little weary. Each mission he’d been on had resulted in an ambush or other form of excitement thus far. He liked a little action as much as the next guy, but this was getting ridiculous. Though, he was happy not to worry about a friend betraying them this time. At least, he hoped. Maybe he was a bit optimistic in that regard. But he wanted to believe in his friends. He glanced at Yori, then a Katsumi, then Rosalie, Daichi, and finally back at the man informing them of the situation.

“Adding to that, can you tell us anything else about those who’ve gone missing? Maybe there’s a pattern or something.” Even if the man gave them a file to study, they’d have a better chance of finding a culprit. Maybe they could find a potential next victim.

The office worker went on to provide some information to the group, although due to the nature of the case there wasn’t a lot they knew either. Some were suspicious of rival companies or even the culprit being within the office itself, although police investigations and profiling so far revealed no one that could’ve caused every disappearance that happened so far. But if it was someone totally unrelated to said office, it would be strange for so many victims to have come from it.

Although none of that would be the most riveting thing as of right now, the surrounding commercial district is somewhat old but usually quiet. A few people walked along the sidewalks with occasionally cars passing by, everything seemed fairly normal.

Until a scream broke out and echoed through the street. It was one voice only at first, but as people’s eyes were drawn to the source of the sound, a few more startled shouts came from behind the group.

A blue-ish dark shadow zipped down the street after the screams subsided, though it seemed to have slowed down into a walking pace after it put some distance between it and the group of people it startled. It was now clear that this shadow was some sort of large canine-like creature, a seemingly normal dog with slightly unusual colouration. It approached the group of student heroes, it was holding something in its mouth.

Daichi carefully noted each of his companions and kept quiet as to survey his surroundings, half of the group seemed to be on edge while the rest were composed and determined, Daichi meanwhile found himself in the middle of the two.

He nearly jumped when the screams began echoing through the building, immediately after composing himself he ran to the window closest to the source of the sound. As the figure finally came into recognition, he was confused by the source not being some sort of giant creature like his last brawl but a large canine, seemingly holding something in its jaws.
“Nobody attack yet…” While it very well could be some genetically enhanced animal sent to kill the group of students, it hadn’t attack right away, neither did it seem to have gone after any of the innocent bystanders. “Hey boy! Mind dropping what you got in there?” He slowly but patiently inched closer to the dog, hopefully this wasn’t gonna bite him in the ass, or in this case in a literal sense.

Katsumi gave Rosie a little nod of acknowledgement, a silent ‘thank you’ for reassuring her. It was nice to know she had people by her side, but regardless, it didn't change the fact that every big mission they've had so far ended in chaos or a huge battle that finished with at least one person in the hospital. It was only natural that she be a little on edge about the ordeal.

While Yori himself was a little on edge as well, he figured every hero needed to be at least a little bit prepared for whatever was to come.

The moment the scream broke out, Katsumi's hand immediately went to her sword, ready to engage in battle. Yori braced himself for a potential oncoming attack, and even moved closer to his closest teammate to get ready to protect them in need be.

However, they were given the orders to not attack yet. Though they obeyed, they were still ready to attack the beast if it so much as flinched towards Daichi.

The beast lowered its head a bit, and dropped the object it held in its mouth. The object fell to the ground without a sound, or a slight “thud” sound for the sensitive ears. The wolf-like creature turned around, and disappeared as if it melted into its own shadow.

As for the object the animal left behind, it was a cylindrical object with something attached to its end. The edge of the object is tattered and soaked in red. It was quite clearly, a severed human arm.


Down the street some more screams could be heard as the shadowy creatures could be seen reforming, startling the bustling crowds. A small figure could be seen on top of a building nearby, seemingly watching the scene from above. The figure turned around and hurried to another building top as it saw the creature drop the arm in front of the heroes.

Yamoshi’s eyes widened at the sight before him. Upon the beasts arrival, his hands had begun to glow in preparation for the attack. But Daichi had ordered them not to. He sucked in a breath, holding off.

Rosalie had also charged two bombs, ready to launch them until she saw the arm. The creature dissipated before they could further question the situation and suddenly there were screams.

“Shit,” Yamoshi said, rushing off in the direction of the shouts. If the beast had done something like that, there was no doubt that more people could be in danger. He couldn’t wait around for orders. Indecision and inaction had already plagued him on more than one occasion. He didn’t wanna wait to see what happened.

Rosalie sucked in a breath. “Wai-” and he was gone. “Shit. What do we do Daichi? You’re in charge here,” she said quickly.

Shit everything was happening all at once. When he was assigned team leader he knew what came with the job and how he needed to think quickly or lives would be in jeopardy, but after seeing that severed arm, it pulled him out of his element

Thankfully Rosalie was able to pull him back into reality.

"Okay you're right. Katsumi, go help Yamoshi at the streets and get any remaining civilians out of harms way!" Now all that left was the remaining team to go after that figure on the rooftop. "Yori, can you take Rosalie and I up across the rooftop, whoever is conducting this vanished up there and we cannot let them get away."

He didn't know if he made the right call but his speed was of the essence.

“Yamoshi!” Yori called after him after he’d run off, letting out a curse to see his friend was already out and running.

Though Daichi’s orders were delayed, they were better than nothing.

Katsumi gave him a single nod and rushed in the same direction as Yamoshi, charging lightning through her legs to try and catch up to him. She was right; of course this mission would turn into something traumatic! At this point, she had been hoping for a simple bank robbery!

“Yamoshi, stick together!” She called after him. That way, if they needed to fight, they would be able to help one another.

Meanwhile, Yori had to think briefly about it before he nodded once. “Sure. Hang on tight.”

He grabbed both of his friends and darted to the open window, where he would hold on tight to both of them and spread his wings. Of course, the added weight of two people made it more difficult to fly, but he was getting the job done, albeit at the cost of more stamina.

The shadowy figure on the rooftop turned to look at the group as it fled, noticing there was a member of their pursuers capable of flight, they quickly hopped from the rooftop onto some steel barred stairs mounted on the side of the building. Slipping down, the figure disappeared into the shadowy alleyway, using the narrow terrain and buildings as covering to hide from aerial eyes. It appeared that this figure knew the area very well, despite trying to hide it kept on heading towards a specific direction.

In the same direction as the figure headed, some more startled shouts can be heard as the shadowy creatures roamed the nearby streets ferociously.

Yamoshi’s ears perked up at the sound of Katsumi’s voice. He glanced back at her, giving her a little grin. “Don’t have to tell me twice, gorgeous,” he said before focusing back up on the sound of screams. Shadowy creatures were terrorizing people. At least, that was the sound of it.

“We’ll just have to follow the sounds of chaos. Blast anything that look like a threat or like it might hurt somebody,” he said to Katsumi.

Rosalie let out a small yelp as she felt her feet leave the ground. “O-Oi!” She said, wiggling a bit in Yori’s grasp. It was suddenly, not necessarily the most comfortable, and she could feel Yori’s arm against her… “If you were looking to cop a feel, you could have a least bought me dinner first!” She shouted, a bit disgruntled. “Now move faster. We’ve gotta try and catch our culprit.” She said, though she didn’t like the prospect of being stuck… squished against Yori and Daichi for too long. Lord… the sacrificed she made to be a hero.

Daichi stayed quiet as yori lifted them out of the building with Rosalies words only coming out as murmurs to him. He tried to keep his focus on the shadowey figure that was last seen on the rooftops only fo catch a glimpse of a figure dropping off a nearby building into the dark alleyway. "Drop us off at the building northeast of us!" He pointed to the building closest to where he last saw the figure, maybe if the mysterious suspect stayed in the alleyways they could keep a closer eye with a birds-eye-view.

Quickly after their dropoff, Daichi ran towards towards where he last saw the suspect and began following the alleys pathway from there. "He couldn't have gone far!"

Katsumi didn’t have time to quip at Yamoshi’s words. The screams that echoed down the streets had her attention the most, and had her the most worried. She moved quickly alongside Yamoshi, hearing his directions.

“Don’t have to tell me twice, “gorgeous.” She repeated, “And don’t do anything stupid, like running off by yourself.”

With that, Katsumi kept her eyes and ears peeled. If necessary, she’d shoot a spark of lightning at or in front of the shadow creatures. Anything that posed a major threat to a civilian.

Meanwhile, Yori thought he had grabbed his teammates by their waists. Unfortunately, according to Rosalie, he had grabbed something else.

“I’ll give you a heartfelt apology later!” He told her through the cutting winds. But right now, unless she wanted to fall down, he couldn’t readjust his grip.

He flew along the rooftops, flying until he heard Daichi’s order. Yori would then take him to the ground and put him down. He then used this opportunity to readjust his grip on Rosalie. “Need a longer trip?” He asked her.

Yamoshi growled. Each time they got close enough to actually do anything to the shadowy creatures, each time he shot a blast of neon energy at them, they’d disappear. “Fucking hell.” He griped before looking back at Katsumi. “We’ve gotta try and move faster. Get to them before they can disappear.”

Slowly, a reddish pink neon hue spread across his body and he began moving faster. If he could, maybe he could catch one of those shadowy creatures… or destroy one. Whichever came first.

Rosalie grumbled, but nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s smart,” she said once Yori had adjusted his hold on her. “Although, if you really wanted to keep me that close, you could just ask,” she teased, giving him a little punch to the shoulder. “Daichi, we’ll see what we can from the sky, while you cover the ground,” she said, making sure to keep their leader in the loop. Two eyes in the sky and one on the ground would definitely make more sense, at least that’s what she thought.

Despite the heroes’ best efforts, the shadowy creatures seemed slippery, it was almost like they did not want to fight at all, disappearing whenever a hostile presence approached, only to reform elsewhere up ahead. Even when destroyed, they simply faded into the shadow once more.

The fleeing figure stopped on a smaller road after emerging from an alleyway, slightly away from the commercial district hub. They pressed down their cap and seemed to be breathing heavily in an exhausted manner, leaning against the wall encircling a civilian house. The figure looked at their surroundings conscientiously, and their breathing got heavier as Yamoshi’s neon blasts struck one of the shadow creatures that melted away. A large dark navy hued dog appeared beside the figure, and gently licked their face as any pet dog would do.

“...It’s fine, we’re almost there.” A tiny voice came out of the cloaked figure as they reached to pet the shadow, it was a high pitched and very child-like voice. They then looked up at the sky, noticing the violet hued flying hero and his ally still in pursuit. A smile climbed onto their face as they waved, the black cloak and shadow hound at the side sticking out clearly against the nice light grey wall tiles.

Then, making sure to catch the aerial duo’s eye, the small figure hopped onto the wall, and into the yard of the civilian mansion.

A nameplate hung beside the front gate of the house: [Inuzuki].

Katsumi was growing frustrated with each miss and disappearance of the shadowy figures. Though it meant less terror for the civilians, it didn’t confirm that the person behind this was down. On top of that, the figures were faster than she and Yamoshi could have anticipated.

“Right.” was her response to Yamoshi. She charged more lighting into her legs to try and catch up to her comrade, but considering she didn’t do this with her quirk for as long and often as right now, Katsumi was starting to feel a sting in her legs.

‘Where are you going…’ She asked herself as she ran.

Meanwhile, Yori held on tight to his friend as he took to the sky. Her little banter earned her a smile and a bit of an eye roll. “Silly me, next time I’ll ask for the honor.” He told her, carrying her over the buildings.

Yori kept a sharp eye open, watching the shadowy figures as best he could while looking for anything that could be jumping along the roofs. He didn’t see anything too concerning, except the things on the ground. But then…

“Did the villain just wave at us?” He asked Rosalie, watching the villain hop the wall. “There. I’ll bring us in closer.”

Yori then pressed the button on his headset. “Hope you guys saw that. The villain hopped the wall into the residence. Be cautious.” He reported, flying down to bring his friend to the gate. If need be, he could help the others hop the fence.

Daichi felt like each of the team’s roles were pretty evenly distributed, enough for each member of the team to cover as much ground as possible at least. But from the ground it felt like each building alleyway was like a large hedge maze, which made it difficult to even track anything.

Whether it was sheer luck or his specialized detective skills, he was able to find the figure seemingly responsible for all of this and not two seconds later, Yori had come to the same conclusion.

“Looks like it’s going inside the Inuzuki residence, we gotta take this time to surround the place, seems to me that whatever happened to our missing employees are directly linked to Inuzuki.”

“If I may,” Katsumi spoke up, grabbing the back of Daichi’s shirt. “But we don’t have time for plans right now. The civilian inside the house could be getting mauled, or they might already be trying to do something else. Yori can survey the outside while everyone else starts searching inside.”

She hopped the fence with Daichi in tow. “I’m sorry to overrule you like this, but I refuse to end another mission with someone being injured.”

Katsumi burst the closest window open with her sword, taking a second to clean the glass as best she could before tossing Daichi into the house and herself following suit. Even though the glass made noise, it was a lot faster than breaking down the door; assuming it was locked.

The interior of the house, in contrast to its unremarkable exterior, was decorated in quite an elegant fashion, in an unusual style that resembles the European Renaissance art period. The staircase to the upstairs was spiral and decorated with paintings and small statues. Furniture was ornate with detailed carvings and stitched patterns, and massive bookshelves lined with hardcover tomes stood in the living room. In fact, those books were scattered everywhere, even on the windowsill of the window that Katsumi just bursted through. Glass shards fell all over the fancily patterned rug that was in front of the front entrance way.

There was a woman in the living room, she looked like she was doing some simple clearing, and froze up when the hero broke through her household’s window. A concerned and distressed look on her face as she shakily took a few steps back.

“P-please! I-I don’t know what happened to Tsunegen! I can’t tell you anything, please, please stop it already!” She shouted, seemingly panicking.

Well that made him feel humiliated, the one time he was team leader and he was already messing up. She was probably right though, maybe going slow and precise wasn't going to keep everyone safe, he needed to keep the victims in mind…

Daichi gave Katsumi a simple nod and followed behind her once she jumped through the window. Seeing the woman panicked, Daichi kept calm and tried keep a soft tone to make her relax.

"Hey, hey it's okay! We aren't here to interrogate you, we saw someone come in here, do you know where they could have went?" Tsunegen? "You don't have to tell us anything right now, we just need to know where they could have went."

"Katsumi can you take a look upstairs? I'll keep her safe."

“I...I haven’t seen anyone...no...nothing.” The woman nervously took a step back. “My-my son is upstairs, I...if you are going to check if he is safe or not then-”


“Mother? I heard a noise.” Just as the woman nervously continued, a boy stepped out from the top of the staircase and into the living room. He had teal hair in a somewhat familiar shade, and looked quite young, about eleven or twelve years old despite his calm demour. Although the slight drop of sweat and irregular breathing revealed that perhaps he is more anxious than he lets himself onto.

“...What? What is going on?” He immediately began to look quite defensive when he noticed the two intruders of the house.
“My partner can explain the situation. Please remain calm while I search the premises.” Of course, she would offer payment for the broken window, but right now she was more focused on getting their culprit.

Yori did not mention the culprit running out of the house yet, which told her that this family was either one) unaware of the culprit, two) hiding the culprit, or three) one of them was the culprit. Katsumi didn’t want to think the child or the mother were responsible for what happened at the office, so she would do her best to search the place thoroughly for any clues or, hopefully, the person they were looking for.

Katsumi flew up the stairs and opened the first door she saw, which was the bedroom. She entered the room, searching inside the closet, the bed, under the bed, behind furniture that could hide a person, and every nook and cranny for a trace. She had intentions of doing this to the rest of the rooms until she found something of interest, or found nothing.

Daichi's attention switched from the woman to the smaller boy, who he quickly gathered seemed to be in some type of distress. "Oh hey little guy! Sorry to scare you, my partner and I thought we saw something out of the ordinedy, it seems we were probably wrong."
Daichi let out a quiet chuckle yet its intention was clearly fake.

Going into his back pocket he pulled out a sketchbook and began quickly writing, making sure that the boys mother's vision would be hidden. Ripping out the paper he showed it to the boy, his only worry was that somehow the boy was in fear of the same figure that came into the residence.

The note only read. "Where is the stranger?"

Something was off. Something was really off. The shadow creatures weren't acting hostile. Beyond scaring some people, they weren't trying to cause any damage. Even Yamoshi could see that once he calmed down after the chase which led them to the Inuzuki home. He stopped. Everything happening around him was far from his expectations. He didn't think Katsumi would yeet Daichi into the home, but perhaps that was for the best. "Maybe we should have..."

"Really," Rosalie's voice gave a small huff after Yori let her down. "The door was open. We could have just walked in," she said calmly stepping inside like a sane person with Yamoshi in toe. In truth, she seemed to be about as worried about Yamoshi.

"Ah! Sorry," Yamoshi said upon hearing the woman's reaction. "I'm not really in the business of scaring beautiful women. You'll have to excuse me and my friends ma'am." He said softly, trying to help alleviate the situation.

Rosalie rolled her eyes, making her way over to the boy and Daichi. "Daichi, Yamoshi. Isn't any of this weird to you two? A figure fairly close to that of this young boy entered the home." Surely it wasn't that difficult to understand. "Esora, right?" She asked him. "Why did you lead us here? Does it have something to do with your father?" she asked softly before looking at Kirimi. "Or does it have something to do with your mother?"

The neapolitan haired girl stopped eyeing the boy and walked toward Kirimi. "How long have you been like this?" She asked, cupping the woman's face and looking into her eyes. She leaned in close for a moment, uncomfortably close.

"O-oi," Yamoshi said. "What are you doing?"

"Paying attention. Like you should be." Rosalie said. "Her eyes. She is either under the effect of a certain someone's quirk, or she's facing those uncertain long term effects that we heard about when we were asking for more information about the case."

Katsumi’s search would yield her very little results, as most of the bedrooms were very organized with nothing seeming out of the ordinary. Even the room that clearly belonged to the child was tidy, with some books on the shelves that even high schoolers might struggle to read.

Although one room was a distinct outlier of this pattern, one room seemed like some sort of study. Papers were strewn about, along with wires, old laptops, ink bottles and fountain pens. The strange clash of modernity and antiquity along with the mess had a strange, eerie, but also beautiful feeling to it. The back center of the room was a slightly tilted hardwood desk, the surface also somewhat messy, but one book one the desk without a scratch. The title was “Salome”, placed almost perfectly on the center of the desk, as if a piece of a ritual.

As she passed by some windows, Katsumi could get a glimpse of the household’s backyard. It was a decently sized yard for a household of this size. There was a garden shed in the corner and the grass was lined with multiple dog houses. Though strangely, no dogs, or even other traces of dogs could be seen.

Meanwhile, in the living room, the woman’s expression went from distraught to shock to distraught again at Rosalie’s questions. She took a few steps back, trying to distance herself from the girl, and grabbed her child’s arm, pulling him close.

“Esora...you brought the heroes here, you brought them because you want to help your father, right? Did you overhear? Your father always said he would love to have heroes see his finale.” Kirimi muttered in a strange way, oddly sweet but also unnerving. The boy bit down on his lower lip and his legs began to shake when his mother pulled him closer.

“I...Y-yes, mother...I-” Esora was stuttering as he yanked his arm away and ran to hide behind Daichi.

The woman smiled, in a slightly sad way. Her empty looking eyes blinked a few times. “Yes...The heroes have arrived, that means tis the time, I have to now. Oh...They say that love hath a bitter taste... But what matter? What matter?” She continued to mutter, seeming somewhat riled up and more dramatic than before, and turned around to leave the room.

As she turned, the broken glass shards on the ground suddenly came alive, morphing into bear trap-like jaws that clamped hard and fast onto the ankles and legs of the hero students. She would take this chance to head towards the backyard, as Katsumi may catch a glimpse of.

Katsumi hummed softly as she mulled over the results. No person was present, but she did come across a few interesting items. One in particular being the book on the center of the desk.

"Salome…" She read to herself. Katsumi stopped to pick up the book, looking it over with a bit of interest. Her front faced the window that showed the backyard. Before she could open the book and get a quick look, a glimpse of movement appeared in her peripheral vision.

"Huh?"

Katsumi moved to the window and saw the woman, the mother, walking outside towards the seveb dog houses. The yard was surprisingly clean of toys, food bowls, and the usual dog necessities… she saw no signs of dogs within the house either.

Something wasn't right.

She headed back down the stairs to her team. "What's going on?"

Meanwhile, Yori had kept to the air to monitor the surrounding area for their potential culprit. He hadn't heard much word from his comrades, but he also hadn't seen any alarming movements. He noted all the dog houses, and thought it strange… At least, until he saw someone heading outside into the backyard.

"Hm?"

What the hell was going on down there?

Daichi's confusion for the whole situation went from confusion to absolute horror as he watched the mother utter to herself, so transfixed on her that he hadn't even seen the child hide behind him, "a finale? What have you done?"

He could only watch as the glass around the mother turn into huge jaws that would bite deep into his ankles, causing him to fall over on his side. "SHE'S HEADED FOR THE BACKYARD, DONT LET HER ESCAPE!"

With Rosalie's words finally hitting him at that moment and the woman's words almost piecing up together some type of thought, he turned back to the child, gently grasping his hands in his. "Kid I know you don't mean to have done any of this but for whatever part you have played, you have to let it go and stop this." His words let out of his mouth in broken parts.

Rosalie sucked her teeth at the woman’s reaction and movement. This wasn’t good. She watched in horror as the Kirimi’s demeanor shifted and Esora yanked himself away to hide behind Daichi. Soon the floor was riddled with bear trap-like jaws snapping at them. She grunted, kicking one away with impressive force.

Yamoshi, meanwhile, grit his teeth as his body glowed a neon pinkish-red. “Mom’s either gone nuts or under the effect of dad’s quirk,” he explained to Katsumi quickly. As he did this, he made a quick jump onto the sofa to get away from the jaws of death. Daichi wanted them not to let the mother escape. He didn’t wanna let her go either. “You guys just don’t get eaten alive.”

“Don’t worry,” Rosalie said. “Just listen to Daichi and get after her. We’ll be fine.” More than likely these were just illusions of some kind. Even if they weren’t, they could handle it. Rosalie pulled small ball-bearings from her costume and charged them. “Katsumi, you should help Yamoshi,” she added as she threw the small balls around her own feet first.

Hopefully, the mini explosions would keep the damn things away, if not destroy them all together. Then, she’d throw more at any chompers around Daichi. She wanted to make sure he was safe after all.

Not needing to be told again, Yamoshi leaped from the couch toward the door to rush after Kirimi. He trusted Katsumi would be right behind him. “Lady,” he began as he reached the backyard. “It doesn’t have to be like this. Whatever is going on, we can help.” Talking her down had to be the first option. Maybe she could fight off whatever power was messing with her. If not, Yamoshi was fully ready to combat the woman.

The jaw traps were only there to catch the heroes off guard and temporarily restrain them, as the woman wasn’t one too adapte of combat. The boy that hid behind Daichi slowly let go retreated, he pressed himself against the door and didn’t do anything as he watched the heroes pursue his mother, purposely averting his gaze from the path. But eventually, quietly under his breath, Esora tugged at Daichi’s clothes again and muttered something. “Mother...mom…I think she’s going to...kill dad.”

Kirimi, meanwhile, slowly retreated to the corner of the yard, the place where the garden shed stood. “...No, no, no. This is what he wanted! It’s his wish!” She turned around and threw open the shed with a force that made the structure shake. The inside was mostly obscured by the structure's shadow, but one figure can be clearly seen: a man with teal hair tinted with purple, Tsunegen Inuzuki, his hands bound and tied to the beams of the shed. Yet when light was shed on the man’s face he seemed quite tranquil, or even happy, with a soft smile on his face as he greeted his wife in a scarily normal fashion.

“Good afternoon honey, are you ready yet? I believe you can do it, you’re an amazing person, you always were, Kiri-chan.” He said gently to the woman, who seemed to have calmed down a bit. Tilting his body over a bit, the man looked at Rosalie with the same calm demeanor. “Please do not go too hard on my dear Kiri-chan, Miss Hero.”

Kirimi looked at Rosalie, then her husband. She paused for a moment, pulled out a kitchen knife from her apron pocket, and drove it into the shoulder of the man in front of her. The one being stabbed didn’t resist, and didn’t even seem startled. He smiled again and touched Kirimi’s face with his uninjured arm. “It’s alright, just try again dear, more above this time.” He said as he guided the other’s hand towards his own neck.

Katsumi didn’t need further instruction. She rushed with Yamoshi towards the backyard, following her towards the garden shed. To her surprise, or rather not, there was someone in there. A man. He seemed to be kept prisoner but was… happy? Serene? Katsumi wondered if this was a case of Stockholm Syndrome for a brief moment. The glimmer of the knife’s blade brought her back to reality, and the plunge into the eerily calm man’s shoulder made her act.

“No!”

Enhancing her speed with lightning, Katsumi rushed at the woman. The first thing she aimed to do was grab at the woman’s wrist to stop her from stabbing the man again. Then Katsumi would deliver a controlled shock to try and restrain the woman further.

Rosalie was quick to follow Yamoshi and Katsumi following the destruction of the bear trap-like jaws. They were a hindrance, but with them taken care of, she could help with whatever… whatever… what?

What came left bother Yamoshi and Rosalie dumbfounded. Frozen in place, Rosalie tried to process what she was seeing. It didn’t help that the woman seemed to have fixated on her. She had so many questions and no answers. And yet, this was clearly not a spur of the moment action. Luckily, Katsumi sprung into action. She was faster than Rosalie, so it was best that she go for the woman with the knife. She’d also have the skill to disarm or block a potential attack as needed.

Yamoshi, on the other hand, shook his head, pulling himself back to reality. His body, still glowing and empowered by his neon, moved quickly to back up Katsumi. Though, while she aimed to apprehend the woman, he aim to aid the man. He wouldn’t be dumb enough to release the clearly unhinged man, but he could stop him from bleeding out.

She was going to do what? Gears began to click in Daichis mind about where the mother was going, it was a fenced off backyard after all, nothing but land and a sh-. "Oh god, Esora you need to go to your bedroom and lock your door, I will be back as fast as i can, I'll promise you that." There wasn't much of a plan but his immediate thought was to aid and jump into action.

When he finally got to the backyard, while not stunned Daichi was clearly in horror by what was going on in front of him, so he didn't even try to hesitate as he darted towards the shed along with his allies, hoping to get the knife away from Esora's mother.

As Katsumi dashed to grab the woman, her armed hand had already begun to press down on the bound man’s neck. A solid wound appeared before she was yanked away by Katsumi and went limp from the electrocution, the knife tossed aside by Daichi.

“Hsst-Good...Good, Kiri-chan. You’ve done well.” The man in question smiled as his clothing began to be soaked with blood, he twitched and struggled, trying to kick Yamoshi away while exasperating the blood loss from his wounds.

As more blood pooled on the shed ground Inuzuki Tsunegen simply smiled and whispered weakly. “Quit it, heroes, this is what I chose. Take care of Kiri-chan for me, please. She never did anything wrong.” His skin was clearly lacking colour now as he dragged his hand up one more time, and tried to push Yamoshi away.

Sirens could be suddenly heard from outside of the house now, both of the police and ambulance.

“Hero-san.” Esora walked into the yard, he had a mobile phone in his hand. He tossed it on the ground, the call record on screen clearly indicated that he was the one who contacted the police. In his other hand it was the book from the study, ‘Salome’. “...I...This is what father wanted...I just wanted to…” Shaking, the boy dropped the hardcover book onto the ground as he curled up, drops of tears streamed down his cheek. “Esoragoto...an empty...pointless dream...t-that’s all I am.”

A letter to Suppression's Class 07's students: Katsumi Takeshi, Daichi Ishida, Rosalie Yukimura, Yamoshi Saito.
From someone they have saved.

Dear Voltress, Spitfire, Cherry Bomb, and Yamoshi-san,

Please allow me to apologize for what I have done to your team, I feared that I was going to be arrested for complacency. That is perhaps accurate, as I was taken into custody for the act of my parents. However, nothing ever came of that investigation, I was considered a victim through and through by the police. I am lucky that this has happened while I was so young, it relieved me of my responsibilities, and my need to tell the truth.

I always wanted my father's dream to come true, even though I am sure he did not care for me one bit. 'Esoragoto', 'painting empty things', have you heard of the idiom? It means a pointless, empty dream that cannot be achieved, that is what my father thought I was. Yet, even so, I did not tell the police of his plans, because everything up until now will truly become empty if this story comes out. But I want to entrust it to you, please see this as a token of my sincerity.

My father always wanted to become a writer, although I keep on overhearing that his stories were strange and unsettling. They were not to me, but I suppose I can no longer be considered normal. 'Salome' was father's best and final work, it ended with the heroine killing her lover. Yes, that is what happened between mother and father. Father planned this using his quirk, he truly wanted to bring that story to life, to turn himself into an author who met the same end as his character. I noticed my mother's demeanor change, but I said nothing time and time again. That is until mother asked me to dispose of something with my quirk, I am not stupid, I know what dead bodies look like, but it appears mother thought otherwise, or that father's quirk had damaged her too much then.

They were rehearsing. If you can put it that way, father turned mother into a murderer, so that one day she can become his Salome. After I got scared by the dead bodies, mother began to adopt these large dogs, then soon would ask me to dispose of the bodies of those instead. It was nowhere near as unsettling as humans, even if I know what was in the belly of those hounds. I regret such a decision now, if I had taken in the souls of those unfortunate people, I can at least create a waning image of them afterward.

This house is my abyss, I never thought I would climb out of it because I was scared I would fall. But then I remembered that there were heroes in this world, heroes that were much braver than me, the me who could not prevent my own father and mother from doing evil in front of my eyes. I hope I did not startle you or the people of this city too much.

Please do not search for me, I am already in debt to all of you for lifting me out of that bottomless abyss. Mother and father walked their paths without hesitation or regret, I would like to think father was very happy in his final moments. If you must mourn, please do it for the innocents that paved the way for this absurd story.

From, Esora Inuzuki


The letter had many kanjis that looked wobbly and amateurishly copied, and a few circles that seemed like dried water stains littered the paper.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Azurian Dream
Team Amano would find themselves on route with Gotemba a small rural town near Mt. Fuji where not too long ago a few of their classmates had run into some trouble with some recurring headaches. A potential survivor of the scientist group led by Vitalis and Foxglove had been run into but had disappeared amongst the chaos. The prior group had made two arrests yet had also lost two of the attackers as well as the runaway scientist. There had been a massive manhunt, but nothing came of it. Thus to avoid mitigated leaks of chaos hero patrols were being made in the vicinity of the great mountain.

The group would find themselves primarily in the more wooded area where some construction was currently paused due to some legal rights with the forest boundaries. Their mission was not really to do much, but patrol.

“Fuck me, reminds me of back home. Though we are on the western side rather than the eastern. Areas like this get spotty help at times, makes sense for the fucker to run here. Manhunts won’t do shit if you don’t know the land, though them sending us, we all sure about this? I mean those eggheads were up to some serious shit right?”

Isa says, voicing her concerns with so many of the “city folk” running around in the woods, more so why them in place of a pro team?

“Well fortunately for you I can name just about every path and landmark in the area. I had Mnemu scour maps of the area, so I should be able to keep us oriented.” Amano was prepping her gear, checking it for anything amiss. This was her first mission as lead in a while. With everything she was currently working through, she was hoping to do better than when Vitalis had betrayed them.

“That said, there isn’t much for us to do. It seems we’re just to keep vigil until we see something suspicious. We should spread out and cover more ground, but not so much that we don’t know where the others are.” Amano took out one of her oozes and sent it climbing up a tree at the tallest point. She did this a few more times taking about 200 paces between each one “Try to make sure that you can see at least one of these trees. Hopefully, that will give us a much wider range to keep watch. We’ll move on after 30 minutes of searching.”

“...Understood, Diva-san.” Iniji was silent the whole time, like he always was. His presence was always thin in these group missions, he did as he was told, sometimes in an overly mechanical fashion. That’s just how he operated. The boy lowered his head a bit and looked at the ground they were treading, the person they were searching for was the woman he had injured. Did that mean he made the wrong choice? If he had hurt her more back then, perhaps this trip won’t be needed. But that thought also wavered, she tried to help him, regardless of the reason, so perhaps that woman wasn’t as awful as they expected. The awfulness of people was one of those ephemeral things that are difficult to determine, and Iniji felt like he had no right to judge.

Ren nodded at his orders, “Okay.” he said as he listened. They were after the woman that Iniji had stopped him from capturing. Or rather that Iniji had not captured. Either way, they just had to find and protect her. Fanning out was a fair idea, so Ren started his path, watching to keep his distance within sight of what Amano had told him. From the furthest he could, he looked around. He knew what she looked like and all he had to do was try to spot her.

Around the industrially abandoned complex, and forest there didn’t seem to be much amiss, or for better a term out of place. Yet upon further inspection, one might see something definitely peculiar near one of the factory cut off sections, was a random floating cube that was going inside one of the entrance points of the unfinished building.

“Just don’t get lost on unmarked trails, animals don’t much care about maps and walkways.” Isa adds in before heading off in her own direction, limited to the landmark as Amano had termed a few of the trees. “If yah get in a fight better call for the rest fast.” She says waving her hand to say bye. With their luck she fully expected some sort of ambush.

Amano was actually sticking closer to their original section. She figured she could keep an eye on everyone by connecting with Mnemu up in the trees. This gave her a pretty wide panoramic view of the area. As she looked she spotted something. It was cubular, and hovering into one of the buildings not too far from them. It was small from this distance, but Amano replayed that moment over and over trying to make sure she was seeing things correctly. Amano called over their coms. It looked like Ren was the closest

“Ren, south by southwest of you, do you see a building nearby. I saw something move inside of it. Stay hidden and hold your position. See if you can detect any other abnormalities. I’ll see if I can get some ooze in there to scout it out. Everyone else, standby. We may need to get moving.”

Ren nodded at the order, “On it.” he said as he moved as light a step as he could before stopping where the trees were starting to part a lot more. He crouched down and paused for a moment as he looked around. He looked around for a moment before he paused, looking through a window, he could see movement. “Yeah, I see something there too. Give me a little and I might be able to get a better look,” he said as he looked around for a tree that had enough cover for him to climb. He moved up it as quickly and quietly as he could, before glancing over, and he felt confused, seeing through the window a little better, he noticed it, “There is something there. I would say let me go in, but I feel like whatever it is, is not only not natural, but it’s someone’s quirk or machine. What do you need me to do?” he asked over the radio for orders, there was something there, but he wasn’t sure if it was a threat.

Through the windows of the unfinished building were numerous sized cubes floating about seemingly mindlessly entering, and tracking about every nook and cranny of the facility. Most notable was a thin layer of Cube fused together blocking a downwards stairwell as if guarding, or making sure something didn’t leave.

"Stand by. I'm calling everyone in. This is far too unusual to be left unchecked. Given the scale of what you're seeing, we likely have time to regroup and plan an optimal course of action." She sent out the call for everyone to follow in suit to the building nearby. She gave an order to her oozes who all splattered to the ground and started lumbering toward her, as she commanded a smaller chuck to head on in first and scout. She soon reached to with Ren, the rest soon to follow.

Linking back to the rest, Isa shows off some of her chaotic nature and lack of patience after the slims enter the structure and call back about the cubes and the blocked-off stairwell.

“Three, Two, One, Go!” She says in English before taking up her red form and kicking the closest door in with a swift swat style kick, blasting it off its hinges and straight back into the building floor. “Ring, Ring, Mother Fucker It’s for you!” heading for the blocked off section it didn’t seem she understood or cared much for finer tactics once the scouting was done, no immediate attacks had been done on the slimes and yet to have been done to Isa as she stepped into the compound.

Though that wouldn’t be the case for long as once Isa was in quite a few cubes suddenly halted before zip lining straight for Oni Meetsu pummeling into her like a soul Quarterback getting dog piled on by the whole other team. While this was bad at a first glance it did clear up the rest of the route allowing some of them if they chose to deal with the blockade to the underground stairs, and the others to assist Isa.

What was for sure was their cover was now full-blown, and had probably alerted the forces that be as a lone wall camera moved to see who had all entered spying on the group as a rather particular voice sounded off in the somewhat function comm systems.

“Ah, the second fox hunt has arrived. How unfortunate do be patient, and we will get to you at the utmost haste,” A voice sounded off before shutting down the building’s power completely, clearly not wanting to give the goodie two shoes any advantage.

Ren watched, “Isa, wait.” he whispered, as he watched her rush off to the building and sigh. Well, Amano said to stay back, but if it wasn’t possible before, it wouldn’t be now. Amano had already started towards his position and her slime was already in the building. He paused for the moment, until she growled, “Isa is in the building, alone. I’ll meet you guys in there, sorry.” he said over the radio before he headed in after her. Isa was powerful, simple in a lot of ways, but he couldn’t just let her go into an unknown location, against orders alone.

As he came in after her, he was able to see the cubes attacking her, giving him just enough time to toss his spear into the mix. As he did, he moved one hand to the cubes coming his way and the other to where his spear was trapped in with Isa. He pushed back the psychic field around his spear just enough to give Isa some movement, she would have to free herself from there. While he tried to move back the cubes with his other hand. It hurt a little to do this, splitting his focus was not something Ren was good with, when it came to his own quirk. “The cubes attack anything living that enter.” he called out, so Amano would know at least that. “I got Isa, if you stay back, you can come up with a plan, we can hold them off until it’s done.” He really wished he could have stayed and waited, but he couldn’t allow Isa to come alone and wouldn’t allow it, while he was there to help.

As a large number of cubes clattered and clashed into Isa, pushing her back by the weight of number or force, she was left pinned and a bit hurt by the sheer amount of mass, suffocating though not crushing. With teeth snarled back and the red form running through her veins the age-old secret or influence of the quirk she gained from her mother and grandmother came center force.

Snarling and snapping, even as the cubes tried to crush or block air to her, the pulsating blood leaked a primal if not destructive aura that seemed to swirl with the sensation of something murderous, not out of malice, but of raw anger. So far this had shown three times and would be a unique feeling for everyone on this current team as the Oni bashed her way into the cubes, head butting, biting, and stomping out at them. Focusing her savage attacks on one center of the cube, they could be battered, they could be pushed back, they could be destroyed. The problem was finding the purchase and space to unleash her blows... Something that Ren had helped a little with, though to save her, the Oni seemed to have something much different in mind with this. It was time for an offensive. Continuing she got her grip on one of the cubes and proceeded to use it as a melee weapon against the other constructs. “I’LL RIP YOU TO PIECES WHEN I GET DOWN THERE AND I FUCKING WILL! YOU FUCKING HEAR ME!” She yells at the voice as she fights against the football team of cubes with pure savagery, heading towards the blocked-off stairway.

As Isa ran in Amano buried her head into her hands. “Just once-ONCE! I’d love to actually be able to get some detail before we go charging in like this!” She turned to Iniji her expression somewhat stern, but clearly not about to let this somewhat anticipated course of action slow her down. “We don’t have exactly much time to get in, but let’s see if we can make it to higher ground. With a proper vantage point, we can find the best place to strike and put an end to whatever they have planned with a single well-placed strike.” She stood up and started running toward the side of the building, hoping to find a ladder of some sort to get in with.

“Understood, Diva-san.” Iniji gave a small nod, seeming unfazed by the sudden turn of events. He’s used to this type of mission now, expectations were something that could be trained. “Some sort of autonomous construct...it is best to be wary, the source of those objects are still unknown.” Calmly the boy relayed some of his thoughts to Amano, before following her, his coloured blade slipping into his hand quietly.

……………………………………..

As Isa smashed the cubes left in right a sort of laugh could be heard at the woman of intense auras rage of madness kicking in. It was quite the intoxicating effect one had to admit as the Oni Meetsu bashed, and shattered quite a few of the smaller cube with quite a bit of assistance from Moonshadow. Yet it wouldn’t be long for Isa to get her chance to keep her word as someone ran right at her jumping and placing Isa’s head between their thighs as they flipped in the air wrenching Isa out of the cube pool like a root as Oni Meetsu would get thrown out the window of the complex by non-other than Eum the military girl Villains.

“Hi cutey mind if I ask a personal question,” Eum asked Moonshadow as she pointed a SMG at him before smiling devilishly as her whole body hardened with its orange glow of her own aura quirk.

“How quick are you on the draw,” that she immediately opened fire with some rather strange-looking blue bullets aiming to force the telekinetic immediately into defense against both her and the cubes before chasing after Isa outside via the window.

“Ohhhhh I have been needing some fun like you,” Eum smiled like a sadistic animal as she rushed at Isa firing off a few rounds as she made a beeline for the girl jumping forward to deliver a superman punch.

Ren sighed when Isa got free, a little surprised she had taken his spear and turned it into a club. He was lucky it could withstand her, which he figured it could. It was probably the best weapon he forged, but his father had played a big role and they had tested it many times for this kind of use. He just didn’t expect her to be the one to use it. Either way, he could focus on keeping the cubes away from him as she destroyed them.

But then he heard a crash, turning when he saw the woman in front of him, her gun pointed at him and her question aimed right at him before she pulled the trigger. He made a quick-rolling dodge to avoid them, as he pulled a cube towards him, the others following, but he managed to use his other hand to stop them. The cube he pulled was able to stop most of the bullets, and came through and grazed Ren but that was it.

That was when he noticed Isa was gone and the woman was targeting her, as she left to go outside, where he could only guess Isa was. He sighed, he thought of going after them, he wanted to, but in the end, he decided against it. Of all his partners, Isa could handle herself and she had his spear, which could survive just about anything. He hoped it would be of better use to her.

So, he grabbed one cube and then another as the others started again towards him. Ren took a breath and started using movement to smash the cubes against the ones that were free and crushing them by using more force than what they were hitting. It took a lot of energy and mental strain but he managed the ones that were getting close to him, to smash before he started towards the others.

“GRRRRGG!” Isa says as she finds the spear near her, with her memory enraged and her horns billowing steam, she notes the girl in tactical gear charging her, hefting the spear up, she throws it with full force as it narrowly slides past and alongside the girl’s face, cutting her lightly on the cheek or hair, billowing past that and into two of the other cubes that Ren was fighting off, it skewered two of the constructs and falls to the ground, allowing Ren to reclaim the weapon he actually knew how to use. As she was disappointed in missing wherever she had been aiming, she clicked her tongue a bit as the words of the other entered her mind. Bullets impacted with her body but seems unable to penetrate as the Gi wearing Oni Meetsu glares, as she was recovering from her stance, the fist slams home, hitting her hard as her face twitches and her head turns… However digging in her heels she does not slide back and braces, reaching back with her own right she aims for a gut punch, glaring as she did so. “WE’LL SEE HOW FUN IT IS!” Following her punch, she steps forward with a battle cry aiming to grab the woman to keep her locked into close combat as her aura peaked.

Eum watched in pure bliss of ecstasy as the spear barely clipped her right cheek enough to draw blood as she felt the murderous attempt of the throw. This girl was capable of murder like that vampire bitch, and all that did was bring glee to the mentally deranged tactical girl.

The moment of impact was a resonance of beauty as the two met in a tempest of euphoria, and fury. The strong emotions each made their own aura of madness as Eum’s fist collided with Oni Meetsu’s face digging in as the monk girl dug her feet into the ground as the enhancer girl felt the eruption of Isa’s fist into her kevlar vest, and her gut. The orange glow darkened around the vest holding it from shattering from the oni’s attack. Being aerial caused Eum to be pushed back as she landed with some heavy steps halting her moment quickly. Pulling in a big breath to retake the air Oni Meetsu knocked out of her lungs, Eum smiled wildly spinning her SMG as she pointed it at the mad monk.

“AS MUCH AS YOU CAN SURVIVE,” Eum sung in as she met Isa’s call for close quarts firing a few rounds at the girl’s chest to halt her movement as she caught Oni Meetsu hand in an ironic turn as her own hand-turned a deep orange enhancing Eums grip on Isa’s wrist as she slammed the bottom of her gun into Isa’s face.

With the gun stock to her face, Isa’s head went back a bit, as she leans it back forward, reaching her right hand out for the weapon, she grabs onto the synthetic stock and pulls the telescoping site out by the screws with the metal rod. With that, she throws the collection to the side and grapples unto the gun and by extension the girl returning her hold in kind as she lifted up her right knee and aims kicks into the ribs of the other saying nothing as her face snarled from the impact with an audible pop of her jaw jutting back or maybe out of place as an unnatural smile creeps upon her face.

Upon the destruction of her SMG Eum let out a chaotic chuckle letting go of the now gutted trash as she was delivered a staggering knee strike digging into her side forcing Eum for once in her life to register quite a bit of pain at once. Mid damage, Eums hit spot glew a deeper orange before unexpectedly bouncing the knee off with so much force it pushed both girls. With their grip being the only thing stopping them from being thrown, Eum pulled Isa into a nasty elbow strike to the now popped jaw before twisting her grip to launch Isa into the air performing a wrestling cutter as the two hit the ground hard.

In the quick session, the reflexive military girl spun herself with her legs launching right onto Isa’s back entangling the girl into a cradle lock, trapping Isa’s left foot from being useful as she fought to strangely Isa to death it most surely seemed.

With the new hold put on her, Oni Meetsu be it by instinct, training or some layer of control, the cradle lock was a so-called Houdini move. If it was not escaped immediately or soon thereafter it was considered an end game. While her left foot was left immobile, that was fine, as she moved her right and shifted her legs up into an arc with her body, letting her left arm and then the right in movement to gain a little room to move as she immediately goes to break the hold and reverse it upon Eum.

Realizing what Oni Meetsu was up to, Isa would suddenly feel a large volt of electricity course throughout her body as Eum activated her shock glove device refusing to give Oni the edge as she kicked off the madness of Oni. Barrel rolling away losing her own advantage to the situation as well. With an amused smirk she removed the dead battery in the shock glove and placed it in a new cartridge.

Slowly she started to circle the hero in the works waiting for just the right angle to strike. Upon having Isa’s left side in view she charged swinging the electro glove fist but slinking her hidden hand for her combat knife in preparation for a surprise attack in the midst of the charge. Upon melee range, she full-on swung with her fist while swinging the knife in an impact-slash combo aiming to harm the girl one way or another.

Rooting her right foot into the ground, Isa meets the shock glove with her dominant left hand still grinning from ear to ear with a dark chuckle as the electricity flowed over her and into the ground, its effects being largely nullified With a dark chuckle as the knife swiped at her, it largely did superficial damage to her more or less armored inner abs, but Isa does not stop there, in place grabbing onto the hand and the blade, forcing the others arm to the side even as her own hand bleeds. Now the pair were locked in an awkward sort of lockup, but Isa was not done yet, showing just how ill-tempered or the sort of influence the inherited quirk had over her, Isa remains smiling and then laughs a bit darkly. “What's wrong? Mess with the Bull..” With that Isa lowers her head and rams it forward, aiming at the center mass of Eum, to stab her upon her own horns while blocking a means of easy escape, it would be blood for blood.

“OH SHIT,” Eum yelp as it became clear Isa was a rare left-handed person negating the strategy she had used as the onis dominant hand caught her attacking hand. The electricity still surged into Oni Meetsu. Yet the villain would find themselves trapped in an awkward lock as both her hands had been caught in the act. Yet upon Oni Meetsu’s brutal comeuppance strategy the military girl performed a perfect split dropping under the horn gouging attempt as she didnt have enough time to super charge her quirk to tank the hit.

“You can take the horn,” the girl finished Isa’s words before vault kicking right between Isa’s legs with enough force to turn the two into a spinning human ring hurdling them both away from the building right into a tower of pipes slamming Isa’s head into a stuck position on one of the metal pipes. Even still with her hands caught Eum began to wail on the girl with numerous kicks to Isa undefended sides in rapid session with her legs now supercharged to feel like steel.

With her legs now being used to launch kicks, Isa uses her grip on the other and swings her around by the hands into the pipes, spitting on the ground as she does so, clearly not amused.

Using Eum like a bat the military girl bounces off the pipe painfully rolling away with groaning amusement as she swung right back around sitting on top of it as she glared into Isa with gleeful intent.

“What's wrong not having fun, and here I thought you were a party girl,” Eum spoke jumping back down as she removed her damaged shock gauntlet and broken knife. Taking out some knuckle dusters her quirk bled them into a dark orange much like she had used with her fight against Vigidris.

“Well than lemme get you back on track,” the first punch came fast aiming for Isa left thigh before she uppercut swung for the Oni’s chin twisting in a sorta brutal dance to swing a combat boot into Isa’s right side ending her combo with a downward haymaker. The girl was getting more violent and bloodthirsty.

Meeting the blows, Isa reached a point where she had enough, blocking or taking hits as she caught Eum’s hand on the haymaker and squeezed... Locking her in close, Isa trades hits, aiming for the reply from the other, not that it mattered much as Isa with a kick of her right leg, or knee into the other the was aiming to send her into the walls behind them or even to send her back through another class leading to the structure.

Upon the catch of her attack, Eum was pulled into an abrupt, and powerful close-range knee strike with all the force Isa could muster knocking the very wind from Eum’s sails in unexpected raw power before sending the girl like a flailing bullet through the very building Eum had thrown Isa out of not to long ago. Upon a few minutes passing it was clear Eum was not coming back as more than not she had either been knocked out, or her allies had called her back in.

…………………………………………….

As soon as the two heroes turned the corner a cube construct suddenly formed around each of them catching them in place. At first, it didn’t all that much of a scenario before they were rammed through the building was zigzagging wildly through the other side of the building far away from Isa, and Ren. They were wildly led to a secondary downward path before being released and flung into a wall as their entrance route was closed off by a series of bigger cubes. Though the power was thought to have been cut off the intercom system was apparently still active as a voice called out.

“If you’re quite astute you will behave and stay in place. If not well be warned if you advance into the next area we will be forced to initiate our countermeasures,” the male voice warned fairly before cutting off the connection. Now that they were downstairs they would see in the other rooms quite a few cubes floating about clearly searching not too far ahead there could even be heard some commotion as it was clear they were looking for someone rather than something.

Amano was suddenly snatched from outside of the facility before she even had a chance to do anything more. Great, these things seemed to not be turning their focus on the very loud and very-much-about-to-tear-the-place-down Oni. Amano let out a yelp as she was dragged somewhere down below before she even had the chance to get any of the info she wanted.

Looked like they were in a facility now. Amano rubbed her head after being slammed into the wall. “Well, lovely. I bet searching this place beforehand would have been helpful.” Interesting that they dragged them down here. It would likely be the kind of place that they would prefer to keep secret completely. If Amano had to hazard a guess they were confident they could stop them. That or plain stupid. “Well, then. Let's see what we can find. Amano called out a sizable amount of mnemu as it snaked along the floor, moving up almost 10… 15… 20 feet in front of them. “I’ll use this to scout out corners and see what’s safe.” The ooze was still connected to her brain, letting her see through it’s senses. She hoped to find something useful, keeping an eye out for any cubes or guards.

From her decision the slimes would pick up on quite a few things one the cubes completely seemed to ignore them even when in line of sight, two the facility was filled with cabinets, furniture, and some scientific stuff here, and there, but last and most importantly one of them would see the Villain Maunder who had been in Mari, Kikyo, and Ichikas report a long while back from when they had found the final clue to the Vitalis/Foxglove plot. Also with him would be the slime twins just humming about.

“We need to find that Foxglove grunt now. Knowing Eum she will handle those still upstairs, but one of you keep an alert on our esteemed guest I doubt they will stay quiet given they’re from that damn Suppression group,” Maunder estimated they would act up pretty quick given their record.

“Aye, Aye,” the slime said in unison as Maunder went deeper into the facility releasing more cubes to search the area. It was clear they were in fact looking for the same scientist which meant that woman was somewhere here hiding. The slime girls slapped onto the wall, and slithered off in different directions. Though one of Amano’s slime would notice something rather peculiar one of the shelves had a strange almost invisible scathing mark. If it bore under the big shelf it would notice a secret latch with a pin pad… a secret hiding spot?

“Skycolor, take this and stick it in our ear. You may work as an excellent defense being able to see what I have here.” Still she was set on figuring out what was there behind that shelf. She needed to make sure the area was clear first. She also noticed that none of the cubes seemed to be reacting to her own. She placed her canister on the ground and opened it up, letting out two large slimes. She commanded them to cover them both. “I want to test something here as well. We may be safe from these cubes. They seem to be automated and not directly controlled.”

“Understood, I am at your disposal.” Iniji wasn’t really sure what happened, he had attempted to destroy the cubes from the inside, but they were clearly too sturdy for him to dent without inflicting significant damage on himself. He took the item from Amano and did as she said.

It was a strange sensation, quite disorientating, the room they were locked in was quiet and static, but there was information leaking in from a far away place. This must be Yubiki-san’s...Iniji thought, but there was barely time to think. The world looked strange, or perhaps it looked ‘normal’ for the first time to Iniji, it felt foggy, desaturated, like a veil had been draped in front of his eyes. But Iniji can feel that it was his senses processing it, as foreign as it may be, because he knew he could attack what he was seeing.

“Diva-san...I believe I am able to attack anything we are seeing at will, I will leave it up to your judgement.” Iniji calmly rescinded, his eyes still opened despite being a bit blank, seemingly lost in thought.

From the looking glass, the two could see the room with the shelf in question was bare for the most part minus a few smaller cubes floating about. What was also notable was from a momentary glance the purple slime girl could be seen zipping around on the ceiling apparently reacting to something a ways off meaning their immediate vicinity was now for a lack of a better term “safe”. Though it was noted the location of Maunder, and the pink slime was unknown at this time.

"Oh, dear. It looks like my brother’s fans are here." Amano replied. She was not a fan of either of them, but their stark difference in color may be useful to them, even if their ooze-like bodies would likely be able to repair themselves pretty easily. "I doubt they can spot us for now. Striking the purple ooze would likely not permanently harm her, but may definitely slow her down and cause confusion. She would have no clue where the attack came from in that regard." She looked over at Iniji. "Skycolor, think you're up to causing some chaos?"

“There you are,” the Purple slime spoke up finding the current roaming Mnemu. Clearly, she had to look for the blob very well aware that Diva Vu was one of the two caught. With very hostile intent she sprung at the blob ready to devour, and digest it.

“Understood, Diva-san, I will do my best.” Iniji finally closed his eyes as he “saw” the girl approaching the slime. From battle reports he was aware that Amano had crossed paths with this particular villain before, hence why she was able to identify the unusualness of this slime. But it was different now, as he was here.

His senses were still a little strange, but Iniji was no stranger to hypnotizing himself into thinking the most absurd situations are normal. With that train of thought, he began to do what Amano told him, as vague as it was. A swift slash went straight to the purple slime’s shoulder area, although it came from Amano’s slime, there is no visual cue to where it truly came from. To cause chaos...Iniji made a special note of that direction and attempted to cut in such a way where the attack seemed like it came from behind.

The approaching slime girl was blocking some of his visual senses, but from what he could see, Iniji attempted to destroy every boundary he could catch wind of, whether it is furniture or items lying around, even the ceiling crumbled a bit if any discoloration could be disconcerted on it. Iniji noticed that something was strange, as the attack did not pain him, but that was not of concern right now, perhaps even a good thing.

The purple slime was quickly overwhelmed with a torrent of slices severing the purple entity so much that she was becoming a puddle of a gooey mess unable to form as multiple items dropped on her from the damaged room. If they were to charge for that secret spot now was the time while Iniji had the slime girl completely obliterated at the moment.

The poor slime was quickly shrivelled with each strike, eventually becoming inert. But it was what they needed. “Now” Amano said forcefully as she called a bit sheet of Ooze above them, to keep themselves safe from the cubes. They needed to make it find whatever they were planning here. Iniji’s abilities worked quite well with hers. Furthermore, the structure of their enemies made things easier, as neither had to worry too much about actually killing the other, something Amano still wanted to avoid if possible.

Eventually, she stopped by the room their scouting had found. She asked for help in moving the shelf, revealing the door behind which open very little force opened to reveal the runaway scientist who had definitely seen better days. She was bruised all to hell, malnourished clearly, and was exhausted to the point in the small hidden room that she simply looked up, and simply sighed.

“... better than the fucking assassin I guess… yay right back to jail just to get killed right before I am behind bars,” the woman groaned now noticing Iniji the worse of her luck.

“What want me to help you so I can get sucker-punched again,” she hissed rather understandably though her willingness to compile shifted fast as the gurgling of the purple slim reforming forced her to go deeper into the bunker clearly wanting nothing to do with that.

“OYE WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING TO MY SIS,” Amano, and Iniji wouldn’t have much time to react as both were quickly sucker-punched into the bunker hole by the pink slime as she had returned to find her sister a blobbed mess. Her extended arms pulled back as she slime jumped right after them down the small ladder quickly slithering after them like a snake.

She had the advantage of form here. Her body would have no issue in this tight space, which put Amano and Iniji in a bit of a disadvantage. Seeing this Amano smacked the side of her canister, holding up the silver canister. “Stay back! Unless you want your cytoplasm frozen solid.” She threatened. This wasn’t entirely a bluff, but in this situation she would rather not need to do anything drastic. She hoped she wouldn’t have to use this.

The pink slime halted slowly reforming into her humanoid form glaring at Diva Vu not a hundred percent sure is what she held could in fact pull such a feat off, or if this was a massive bluff. The villain finished her transformation staying at a safe distance as her purple slime sister dropped in. It seemed she was aware at the cards at hand not moving much herself more so seeming to be at the ready to assist if needed.

“And you only have one shot so why should I worry, either I or my sister will get you so you better raise the stakes if you’re going to demand a cease-fire,” the slime hissed.

"One shot is all that's needed. My partner here can blow this on my command. And he'll do it if you move any closer. You're both familiar with the lengths that I'll go, and my scientific mind." She smirked. "This is a pressurized canister of liquid nitrogen. It's a 48-ounce canister with a PSI of 2000." She kept on. As she was talking a small bit of ooze slipped stealthily from her ear in a long thin wormlike form, keeping close to her, and wriggling down toward her partner. She gestured to the thin space they were in. "I estimate this at about 8 square feet in terms of width. If this canister were to blow and unleash its content, I'd say you have a good chance of being frozen on the spot." And this was where she had them. "And that's only one of you. You could send one down, but if you two are really as close as you seem, I doubt you'd risk sending your sibling to death." Truth be told, everything Amano was saying was only half-truths. However, she spoke with such confidence and conviction she may be able to fool them. At least slow them down until Iniji got her message.

As she talked, Mnemu reached Iniji and carried a single message: If they charge us use my slime and strike THEM, not my canister.

The slime while still hostile squinted her eyes at Amano as there was now an air of hostility mixed with uncertainty. The problem was the slime was sure Amano was bluffing, but the problem is there was an extreme chance she wasn’t. Heroes just everyone else learned from their mistakes. This girl Diva Vu was also considered one of the most intelligent of her group meaning that by all means that canister could potentially do what she threatened. The Pink slime was infuriated as she now wanted to strangely the pink-themed hero if not out of harming her sister, the prior exchange they had, and now for the damn brutality, she held them both at. Fear and rage were mixing, but the voice of reason finally spoke.

“Fine you win,” the purple slime spoke up causing the pink one to turn around in confusion as to the purple one-eyed Amano. Unlike her sister, she could see Amano’s subtle hints that the girl was doing something else in the midst of all this. If it was anything like what she had experienced being blender by that smaller slime it meant regardless of what they did they would not come out on top the room was too narrow, and the target was behind the wall they now faced. By all means, no matter if Diva Vu’s threat was a bluff that fact remained the moment they had entered they had lost. There was a silence as the pink slimed scoffed still holding her glare to Amano as she slithered away back up the stairs before her sister slimed back upwards she said.

“This isn’t over,” and with that, the two slimes were gone, but not before the loud ringing slam of a door locking in place no revealed they could not go back the way they came as something heavy could be heard falling over the secret entrance.

If the two were to venture further in they wouldn’t find the path long as the smell of a cigarette could be felt in the air as the rather battered scientist just sat at the end of a secondary door clearly an escape hatch meant for cave-ins. The bigger problem them was the woman had a gun along with a fire pile up in flames that she was watching burn.

“Hmpf… that’s the last of what remained of Dr. Foxglove’s data asshole had a backup encase Mobius betrayed him,” she mulled as the data, and files were clearly unsavable now as they were not, but embers at this point.

“All you do by handing me over to the authorities is secure my death sentence to those psychopaths. Hand me over to Anvil, and it’s just a matter of a spy getting to me,” she spoke void of any actual emotions as she pointed the gun to her head looking at them.

“So give me a reason why I shouldn’t just end it now,” she asked looking at them both.

Iniji looked at the woman, she was someone that he had once planned to kill, now she is about to end herself. That saved him a lot of effort, didn’t it? The whole ordeal was quite confusing to him, he looked at Amano for a moment. Right...he was supposed to save people, right.

Drip, drip, drip. A few drops of blood splattered onto the ground.

“...I understand, I will.” Iniji tilted his head and stared at the woman, completely severing the hand and wrist which held the gun. It was a clean-cut, Iniji knew what area was more fatal than others.

“Diva-san, I apologize for my methodology. I believe such wounds and disjointed limbs can be preserved by sufficiently low temperatures. I have done all I can, please forgive my incompetence in regards to the aftermath.” He took a light bow as he spoke to Amano, she was still his team leader after all.

There was an abrupt pause as the woman felt all sense of feeling in her hand escape her body as both it, and the gun dropped to the ground. There was both a moment of surrealism and then?

“WHAT THE HELL,” the unexpected calm mannerism of the scientist would probably catch them all off guard until the notion of the fact the woman wasn’t bleeding became quite apparent the question how she had survived for days from the assassins clearly hunting her, and how she had even survived the first attempt were now clear as she picked up her arm mumbling as she tried to latch it back on killed the suspension, but not the trauma that Iniji had freaking disarmed her by the literal sense.

“Fucking asshole I saved you the first time I burn the evidence of that freaking quirk killer, AND YOU SLICE MY HAND OFF PRICK,” she hilariously threw the gun hitting Iniji in the head with it, and she was more so just going through a phase of emotions herself. Though upon doing so her hand fell off again as it seemed the healing process of whatever the fuck her quirk was slow.

“Your a freaking nightmare to deal with how the hell is someone like you suppose to be a hero,” she said in her rage just giving up her hopes for an easy way out as he would probably just slice her other hand off at the second attempt.

“My only joy is knowing you cant use this sealed exit,” she hissed in her pain, and rage of everything bad that had to happen to her up to this point.

Amano winced at the sudden sight of her hand being sliced. It was gruesome, and hardly something she ever wished to see. But the fact of the matter was, there would be moments where difficult decisions needed to be made. “It’s fine, Skycolor. It was a split-second decision. It may have been harsh, but I can’t say it was the wrong one.”

She turned to face the woman in front of them. “I’m not here to be your executioner. It is not my place to give you a reason for living.” She approached the woman and began dressing the wounds, fighting against her the entire time. “Mnemu, Black out.” She sent her ooze in. This was a moment where she needed to be concrete about what was happening. If they couldn’t escape they’d need to be rescued, and with her conscious it may be difficult. What ooze she had left slid into Dr. Foxgloves ear and moved to knock her out.

“...perhaps you shouldn’t have,” Iniji whispered barely audibly. He looked at Amano, and then looked away.

The woman fought with Amano for a minute giving the woman quite some hell and in the heat of the moment before Mnemu could make her go lights out the woman got a punch right at Diva Vu’s left eye before the slime forced her into an unconscious state dropping her like a dead tree.

It would take a while, but eventually, Isa would find the entrance and clear the debris freeing both Amano, and Iniji with their suspect now in custody.

…………………………………………………

Ren used the cubes to finish off what cubes came his way, and that was when he heard the sound of his spear. Looking back, his spear was back in the building and as he finally got the last cube destroyed he started towards the barrier. As he did, he reached out to call his spear back to him, it shot to come to his back and rest there as he returned his attention to the barrier of cubes. He started to use the cubes he had under control to smash the first one, both cubes managed to do it, but as they destroyed one, the two he had also got destroyed.

So, he forced on one of the others, using as much of his quirk to pull one out of the barrier to use it in turn, to replace the two he had lost. It hurt his head, but he managed to get one loose and smash it into one of the others, in order to destroy it. He did the same to the last of it and kept control of the last cube as he moved towards the sound that he could hear coming from down the way.

Following it, he kept an eye in front of him, his head hurt and his sight felt a little blurry but he didn’t have time or the option to let the cube go, enough to give his quirk a little break. So that was something he would just have to deal with.

Before he could get far though he was cut off at one corner still pretty far away from Iniji, and Amano’s location by a man dressed in all purple wearing a visor mask with a purple cap. Maunder took a military stance at the doorway looking the boy up, and down with no emotion attached to his thoughts.

“Rather irksome your one of class 7 of Suppression. You have overstayed your usefulness on this matter mind letting us finish cleaning up the house. Besides, you have no need of her she's just a crook after all,” Maunder spoke clearly trying to be logical on the matter seeing no reason to attack Ren yet.

Ren sighed, “Then she is no use to you at all. Being a crook. And I am the best house cleaner in my class. So, we have two options, I take her or you hand her over and consider the house clean.” he said, simply. He wasn’t going to do dialog for long, but if he could convince this guy to hand over the subject at hand without a fight, he would take it. The sooner this ended, the less Isa had to worry about, because her fight would be pointless and could end. Amano and Iniji would also be able to back off and they could all go their separate ways, for now.

“Hmph, I see. So we have met an impasse then,” Maunder smirked at the rather witty comeback from Moonshadow as the man in purple started to move closer with small side steps leaving the entrance now unbarred. Maunder was surprised to meet someone so willing to negotiate like himself, but the problem was the deal on the table was…

“A rather stale offering as I see no validity in surrendering a threat to the way things are. You are aware of what she was a part of. Research that could eliminate quirks, I don’t see you as the type to wipe the floor clean of this threat, but since I doubt you will change your standing well let use play our parts,” he spoke motioning Ren to enter the underground for them to handle this in close quarters in a sort of honorable style.

Ren sighed, well, that didn’t work out. But he didn’t have that much fair that it would. The idea of a villain giving up a witness that had information to share, was not something he expected to ever happen. So, he followed the purple man, “My name is Moonshadow.” he stated as he followed. There was a lot you can gather from conversation, but it was clear that once they were at their destination, that would be something that was off the table. Ren was starting to think that this guy was not as key’n on attack as those he had faced before.

“Maunder and I will remember that name… if you are still conscious after this,” the man in purple spoke as with a flick of his hand upon entering the chosen room of combat five smaller cubes came to life with two bigger ones shielding him as the five launched at Ren like rabid dogs.

Ren pulled the big cube he had with him to break one cube before smashing the others with them. They were Maunder's pets. That made some sense. He did look like someone that would do something with these things. As he smashed the last of the five with his bigger one he flipped his hand towards the one protecting Maunder, his spear shot from behind him towards the cube.

Maunder in turn shifted his attention to the spear, catching it rather quickly inside a thin rectangular cube as he rushed the hero with a fast jab to the left shoulder before coming with another blind jab to Ren's left hip.

Ren felt the jab to his shoulder, shifting his body to the right to avoid the next jab that aimed for his hip. It stung, but it gave him a close range of Maunder. Using his movement, he took hold of the clothes that Maunder was wearing, his telepathic movement lifting him up as he motioned Maunder to swing him over his body and towards the wall, with as much force as he could, before pulling his attention to the cube heading right at him. He used his telekinesis to slow it as much as he could before jumping out of the way, using the cube he had control of, to slam into the bigger one.

Upon impact with the wall, Maunder hissed for a moment but felt Moonshadows hold not last long as he countered the cubes. With that opening, Maunder pushed off the wall kicking Moonshadow in the chest before pushing off the hero as he pulled the cube with Ren's spear and sent it at the hero like a spear. With distance returned he pulled out to blunt-looking gauntlets clearly meant to deliver some knuckle duster hurt on the hero. The two cubes that Ren had rammed into each other had cracked, but had not yet shattered.

Ren got winded as his chest was met with Maunder’s feet and it took him a moment to catch his breath. He had lost the cube he had but had no time to catch his breath and worry about what to do about the cube. Instead, he used his movement to stop the rectangular cube with his spear in it from hitting him. And instead, tossed it back to the center to the crack in the large cube, before he swung it back towards him. His spear was free now, and in his hand as he prepared himself from Maunder’s obvious desire for combat. He might not be able to deal with the square and Maunder at once, but he was going to have to find a way to do it.

With a soft click of his tongue, Maunder created six smaller cubes as he rushed at the redhead lowering for two of the cubes to fire at Ren directly as two more came at his sides. Upon nearing the hero no matter what he had done to the four-prong attack Maunder swung for the base of the polearm aiming to lock Ren into defense as he pushed his other gauntlet into the polearms tip side to off-balance Ren from switching back to attack.

Ren took a step back as the first set of cubes came after him, he swung his spear at them both with some ease before he moved forward to get the other set of cubes that came his way. But as he did that the center of his spear got pinned by Maunder and then the top of it was halted. It was something he hadn’t expected, but without missing a step, Ren stepped back a little, twisting his wrist slightly as he pulled the back of his spear to twist the front of Maunder’s forearms to one side of the spear as his body was on the other. And pulling the backside of his spear, he losen Maunder’s pin of it and hit him across the face with the back of his spear. As Maunder was forced back from the blow, Ren turned his move with a slight step, to strike Maunder’s side with the center of his spear.

The fight would rage on until Maunder would be forced to retreat by the sounds of the police cars, and Anvil units moving in.
 
Haya’s father had sighed as he sat at the door, his brother in law, Haya’s uncle, had made it clear that they had no choice and her mother had added that he was right. But Hoshi wasn’t sure that it was a good idea for Haya not to have visitors, nor was it a good idea to take her from the friends that she had worked so hard to get. But he knew about the family, he knew what they could do and between that, being the only one without a quirk and fear for his daughter, he had decided that he would follow his family’s lead.

Of course, the nurses would come and check on Haya, but other than her family, no one was allowed. That didn’t stop Haya from inviting others. She had asked for Kuroi, Aika and Hideki to be allowed, but was shot down by her uncle. Her father didn’t stop them though, once Haya called out to them and it was becoming clear that he was not going to ignore his daughter. That was why he sighed, seated in the hallway against Hay’s room door. Her uncle had requested she be moved and all visitors would be directed to her old room, as it was a place her uncle was still paying for her. The hospital wasn’ do that, but given her uncle’s standing with heroes and his ability to donate, the business part of the hospital allowed it for a time.

Coming down the hall, Aika wasn’t looking the best. She had spent a few days in the hospital herself, as they needed to treat her for all the burns she had gotten, and for a while it ached to move. But once she saw she was able to move properly, she was out of the room. She didn’t care that the nurses told her only family was allowed to see Haya. She didn’t care about what Haya’s uncle wanted for her. She got the room number and floor out of the nurses and made her way there. A few nurses had tried stopping her and taking her back to her own room, but Aika didn’t let them. They tried telling her about a different, empty room. She was not happy when she found that out.

Arriving at the hall where Haya’s room actually was, Aika glanced in the direction of the room, spotting a man sitting next to the door. She approached, only staring at the man, before putting her hand on the door’s handle ”Touch me, or try and stop me, and your face will meet the floor. I will see Haya.” She stated to him, not caring who he was or why people tried so hard to divert others from seeing Haya.

Hoshi looked at the girl and sighed, “And if you do that, I am sure Haya will feel it. I don’t advise aggression near her.” her father stated as he refused to move, staying seated in front of the door. “Haya is not in a mood for the same things she might understand before, she is between a rock and a hard place and if you plan on seeing her, that isn’t going to end well unless I allow it.” he stated. Before he sighed, “Pink hair.” he pointed out. “You are Aika. The one that has diamond skin and whose mother my daughter disrespected. I suggest you wait here, she’ll hear you at some point and she might be open to seeing you. Otherwise, I do not touch children, but slipping passed me, might do more harm for you, if her uncle finds out.” he pointed out. Haya was not in a mood for aggression, but at the same time, he couldn’t help her against Kagerou’s mood if Haya isn’t the one that stops him. “So, how about you relax for half a second and wait until she is ready to call for you. I know she wants to see you, and your best chance of her talking is letting her be the first to do so. She just learned a lot more than you know; allow her to breath” he didn’t want to stop AIka, but he didn’t want her daughter to isolate herself from Aika either.

Listening to the man, Aika’s grasp tightened around the handle for a moment. She was still pissed at how she needed to find her best friend, but she listened. After he was done, she kept her hand on the handle, before releasing it ”Sorry. It just felt like people were actively stopping me from finding her. Both trying to keep me in my own room and sending me in the wrong way. And I’ve got something I have to tell her.” Aika stated, before moving away from the door, putting her back against the opposite wall and sliding down against it, until she was sitting on the floor ”Guess you’re Haya’s old man? Considering you don’t look like all the other family members from her mother's side.” She said.

Aika shook her head a bit ”And I might not know everything, but Kagerou did share some with me. About his family and how things went there. I also want to punch him for making me keep it from her.” She said, breathing deeply as she did. Even if she mentioned an aggressive act, she didn’t sound as pissed off anymore, trying to calm herself down the best she could ”I managed to figure things out, and I couldn’t tell her. And then I couldn’t save her from them.” Aika muttered, before glancing at Haya’s dad ”And if that’s how you know me, then you’re focusing on the wrong things. We’re friends. She’s my best friend. I don’t care what she thinks about my mother. I care about Haya.” She added, before moving her glance back to the floor and continuing to take deep breaths.

Haya’s father smiled as he listened, “I know you, as the girl that kissed my daughter. The one she plays music with and talks to. You are her best friend. But physically, I know you from the pink in your hair. It was how she mentioned you. After I found out about her disrespecting your mother, we had a conversation. Haya knows better than to have feelings shown so openly against someone. It’s why I have always told her that if she can’t respect someone, she should avoid them. I am her father, and no, I look nothing like the family's familiar traits, white hair, blue eyes, raging tempers, and somehow a shine that attracts others to them.”

He sighed, “Kagerou has done a lot to keep her in the dark, to avoid her looking for his parents. Haya sees something in everyone, a light. He figured if she saw him and her mother as good, she would believe that was good in them. The same parents that wished to kill my wife and who might even want to take my daughter now, in order to make her a killer. Honestly, Kagerou was raised as an Alpha, thought of to take over his family when his father decided he was ready. So he can take charge and ignore others' ideas. I wouldn’t think too much on what he does, or why? He always has a reason and it’s not always a good one.” he commented. “But you are right, until Kagerou’s wishes and my wife's, no one is allowed to visit Haya, for any reason. It’s not a decision I protest, I never had a family of my own. I have never met her family either. I do not know what her older brother will do to my daughter or what his children were after when they tried to take her. All I know is it scared Kagerou and Kagome enough to decide to hide her from even those that Haya cares for.”

Initially, at the mention of the kiss, Aika blushed a bit, but as he kept speaking, the redness faded away, and Aika just fixed her gaze on him. While she could understand the concern, considering how Haya was indeed targeted by her cousins, she felt like this was being paranoid. But she couldn’t argue with Kagerou or Haya’s mom, considering neither were there, only her father was. And something he said did bug her. She shook her head ”You might not have come from a family with siblings and all that. I hadn’t either. No biological ones, at least, and my dad passed when I was young. But you do have family now. You have a daughter. You are entitled to think and act for what you think is best for her. Part of the title of being a parent, right?” Aika asked, though in a tone that made it clear she thought it was more a fact than a question.

”And I can get that both of them are scared. I was terrified, and I was right there. So they feel like the only thing they can do is shelter her under multiple layers of protection now? And yet I still managed to get here. So I can’t say that did a lot of good.” Aika stated ”Haya is a bit naive, I see that myself. Her opinion of my mother was influenced by me. But keeping her like this, completely isolated from everyone she cares about? That can only end up in bitterness. If Kagerou really wants to protect Haya, then this isn’t the right way. This could end up with her being so angry at all of you, that she’ll go chasing her grandparents down on her own. And no one wants that. We need to work together. I don’t know if I’ll get to see him anytime soon, but you can pass that message along.” Aika said, before glancing down at the floor again ”And you know, my hair isn’t naturally like this. It’s actually black. My eyes are really pink. There are apparently fragments of pink diamond in my irises that give them the colour.” She noted as a by the way, before glancing back at him ”And I’m not going anywhere until I see her.” Aika added.

Haya’s father smirked, “Why do you think I didn’t turn you away. Haya is naive in so many things, she has been isolated from the world because we were afraid of her being blind and after she got her quirk, we were afraid that if she didn’t learn control first she could hurt someone. And if that happened, she would fall into a darkness that no one could pull her back from. But now, she has friends, she knows her uncle doesn’t want anyone to visit, but that didn’t stop her from mentioning wanting to see you and Hideki. She also mentioned a boy named Kuroi. Who she has never mentioned before, when we talked. So, I am understanding that being away from the family as she has, away from her parents and uncle, Haya has changed in her ways and how she has been acting has obviously shown that.” he sighed as he leaned back in the chair, against the door.

“I would never want to isolate my daughter, at the same time, don’t think she would be bitter if we did. Haya is loyal to her uncle’s words, she is loyal to her mother and I and when it comes down to it. I know she understands what fears follow each decision made for her. Saying that, I still believe that after finding out about her grandparents, she might want to track them down, just to stop them. Haya doesn’t believe she is a hero, she believes in the work a hero does. That is what makes her who she is and that is why, I know why she wants to see you.” he said as he smirked, but before he could explain, he could hear movement.

Haya called from the room, “Aika.” was all that she called out. Her father sighed, as he stood up and moved his chair, as if it was a sign to do so.

“I believe she is ready to explain herself.” he smiled, to Aika, “You should know, Aika. It’s not only Haya’s life on the line when it comes to her family, it is all three of them. So, if you aren’t sure she can be safe, then you shouldn’t fight that decisions that have been made.” he said as he opened the door for Aika to go in and see Haya.

Keeping her attention on him, Aika could tell he was thinking about more things than she was. And when he stood up and moved away from the door, Aika slowly stood up. She could still feel a bit of aching from her recovering skin. When he mentioned the last bit and opened the door, Aika walked to the door, before stopping short of entering and looked at him ”Even more of a reason to consider working with others. They already found her once. We need to take them down before they can find all three of them.” She told him, before entering Haya’s room.

Looking at Haya, Aika took slow, silent steps, until she was at Haya’s bedside ”Hey. I heard you ended up being our savior. Thanks for that.” Aika wasn’t trying to whisper, but it was as if her voice suddenly dried up. She carefully took Haya’s hand, and held it gently with both of hers, as she felt a struggle to continue speaking for a moment.

Haya smirked at Aika, “I don’t remember any of it, actually. The last thing I recall was losing oxygen and thinking how all of it was because of the air user.” she sighed as she had been seated on the bed, trying not to move, because of the hole on her side. “My uncle told me, his name is Haru Haramatsu. The son of my uncle and mother’s older brother.” she chuckled without any humor, “I didn’t even know I have another uncle. But I guess that was something you weren’t told either.” she pointed out as she turned her face downward, “I am leaving Suppression. My uncle thinks that we should move and my mother is making arrangements. I have to get better to tell Agami-sensai I am withdrawing. Apparently, Hollow is a name that will never get a chance to complete the Hero Academy.” she sighed, “I just wanted to apologize, that we won’t see each other again, well, you won’t see me again and I won’t hear you again.”

Listening to Haya, Aika began tearing up. She bit her lip and moved to her knees, before putting her forehead against Haya’s hand ”I don’t know where to even begin.” she muttered, before glancing up at Haya ”I knew. I knew about your uncle’s family. He told me and asked me not to tell you. And I connected the dots with the wind user, from the profile we had on him. And I still couldn’t tell. And I am sorry. I am so sorry. You could’ve been better prepared, you could’ve known, and I still didn’t tell you because he asked me.” Aika’s tears started to drop onto Haya’s hands.

”And you did save us. According to Hideki, you did. And I couldn’t do anything. I tried to figure out a way, but they got control over Hideki, and I couldn’t take on all three of them together, and then he put a bubble around your head to choke you, and I couldn’t do anything.” She whispered, shaking her head a bit ”And I am so sorry about that too. I couldn’t be there for you. And now, you’re telling me I won’t see you again after this?” Aika said, sniffing her nose ”I don’t care what your mom or uncle decided. I know they’re thinking about what’s best for all three of you, but I also know you. You’ve changed in Suppression. And you’ve changed me. Leaving is the wrong move. Because you'll still go looking for them. Because they are villains who are wanting to find and take your family and you, you beautiful person, you hero you, of course it won’t be an option for you. So leaving is the wrong move, because then you’ll be alone in this. And I won’t be able to be there and help you take them down. Kuroi and Hideki too. None of us in Supression won’t be able to help you.”

Aika sniffed some more as she felt the tears continue to go down her cheeks ”And above everything else, you’ll break our promise. Go and find each other till the end of the world. Not let anything or anyone stand in our way. And I get it, I get it,” Aika rose her head from Haya’s hand and looked at Haya ”Your mom and uncle are thinking about what’s best for you. The logical move. And I’m being emotional and irrational because this would be losing my best friend in the world, the sound that keeps on rocking my life. Without you, my diamond will be hollow.” Aika put her forehead on Haya’s hand again and continued crying ”I don’t want to lose you.” She muttered.

Haya frowned, as she placed her free hand on Aika’s head and leaned down to kiss the top of her head, “I don’t think you could do anything even with Hideki’s help.” she paused as she sighed, “I love you. I love Kuroi and Hideki and I like being with you all. But my family is a lot more trouble than I can let you guys be a part of. And my uncle told me about your conversation. I don’t blame you for not telling me. But I also can’t stay, when I know that this could happen again and next time, I might not be able to talk to you. I don’t want to break our promise, but I have no other way to do it. To keep you safe.” She took a moment before she pulled away, and thought of how to explain it.

It took Haya a few moments of silence before she said anything, “I am a Haramatsu, just like my mother and uncle. I am a mercenary by blood that specializes in assassinations. That is my family. That is what my quirk is used for, how it was going to be used for, before my uncle decided that my mother was worth more than just as a pawn. I am a Kimura because my father was adopted by a family that gave him their name, that is everything I know about that side of his family. There is blood on my hands, I stabbed my own cousin, and from the report my uncle read to me, I was going to kill Haru. I might go after them, but I won’t be alone. I also won’t put you or anyone else in the line of fire with me.” she smiled, “I don’t want to lose you, Aika, you are my best friend, but I can feel what facing my family has done to you and I know that facing Hideki was my fault. The whole mission was my fault, because my family wants me home. For whatever reason, Suppression will be less dangerous for you, without me in it.”

Hearing Haya, Aika was still tearing up, but she slowly raised her gaze and just stared at Haya. After all that time, after everything. She could very much tell how much influence her uncle was truly exerting over her by now. Waiting for Haya to finish, Aika sniffed a bit, before letting go of Haya’s hand and standing up ”You’re a Haramatsu. You’re a Kimura. You’re both and neither. You are who you choose to be, no one else can dictate that for you. I would’ve thought you might’ve learned that much from me, or do you see me as destined to go back into the diamond manufacturing business, and just be exactly like my dad and grandfather, just because that's what they did? Was I blind to that? And you might’ve aimed to kill, but you didn’t. Injuring villains? Everyone in Suppression did that. So you got the same amount of blood on your hands as others there. So you can stop with all that nonsense.” Aika said, taking a step back from the bad.

”As for putting us in the line of fire? Suppression being less dangerous? I think you forgot what type of school it is. What is it that we’re aiming to become. It will never be less dangerous there, and people coming after heroes, or ANVIL agents, it is part of the job. The life we all chose, the life we all decided on, is dangerous from the get go. If we wanted to be safe, we could just go become, I don’t know, a mailman!” Aika said, the tears slowly stopping as she kept going ”And your uncle and mother elected to run and hide. Do you really think they’ll back you up if that is what they did? They want to stay safe, very understandable. But you can’t be certain they’ll come with you to take on your family. But talking to Amagi-sensei about this, about taking down your family, that could give you a lot more support than you realize. You think she’d do nothing upon hearing that a criminal organization is targeting you and your family? And it isn’t just me, and Kuroi and Hideki you’d be leaving. Everyone in class, who I’m sure would be happy at a chance to help protect your life by taking on your family.”

Taking some deep breaths, Aika shook her head ”Running isn’t protecting anyone. It’s only delaying what’s started. Your family knows about you, they made it clear that they want to come after you. It’d be better for you and Kagerou and your mother to accept that, and to come to Suppression to talk about working out a plan to take on them together, instead of running for the rest of your life.” She finished, before wiping away the last of her tears from her face.

Haya looked surprised in Aika’s direction before she frowned even more, “I won’t start a war with my family, while my friends are in the way.” she stated, “There is a lot about my family I don’t know, from the years my uncle has been away. But I know one thing, the danger they could cause, I can’t let anyone else be hurt because of me. Willing or not.” she paused before she placed her hands together and held onto them on her lap, it hurt to move before she leaned back in pain. “You can be what you want to be, Aika, I honestly believe that. But your parents want you to do something because of your quirk. My family has edged something into my genes. I won’t become like them by choice, not if I let myself put people I love in danger. No matter what Agami-Sensai may come up with, we aren’t at the level we need to be to stop them and I am lucky that I didn’t reach the worst of what my genes can do.” she stated.

Her face looked up as she thought of what Aika was saying, “I wish everything was as simple as getting help. But I don’t feel like help is going to save anyone. My uncle and mother might have run, to be safe, but that isn’t something that can be done now. After all, if they were hiding, my uncle would be so well known for his gear work and I would have never been able to go to Suppression in the first place. I just don’t think that any of you will be safe from dangers that are my fault, and I do not want to be the reason that puts anyone in danger.”

Listening to Haya’s response, Aika just looked at Haya ”By separating you from others that helped you grow, you’ll end up only becoming exactly what your cousins want you to be. Because no one will be there to help pull you from the shadow.” She said, before she shook her head ”But this is feeling like I’m talking to a brick wall by now. You’ve made your choice, I can see that. Maybe it was a mistake to look for you so much. Have a nice life, miss Haramatsu-Kimura.” Aika said, with a clear sting at the name, before she went and left the room. She had no desire to keep listening to Haya right now, if she was going to keep being like this. Passing by Haya’s dad, Aika didn’t bother looking at him, instead just walking away in silence.

Haya’s father sighed, as he poked his head in as he say Haya crying. He moved into the room, “Still think that this is wise?” he asked.

Haya sighed, “Uncle said, it was for the best. I can’t…”

“This is the same uncle that ate several non vegetable meals and then told you it was a research project.” her father stated, “Maybe he is right, but I think from your friend’s reaction, that maybe there is a lot more going on around you that you are blind to, just because he is blind to how much you have grown?” he suggested, before he moved to leave the room and closed the door.

After walking in the direction of her own room, Aika turned and entered the nearest women’s bathroom. Locking herself in one of the stalls, she put her hands against her face and just started to cry. She wanted to shout, she wanted to scream, she wanted the whole bloody world to hear. But no voice came.

A woman stepped into the restroom after Aika and she locked the door behind her. She smirked to herself as she placed her bag down and waited a moment before she moved towards the door of Aika’s stall and knocked down the door. “Hello. Aika, was it, I was hoping we could have a word. If that's alright with you. I would like to help Haya.” she mentioned before stepping back. She smiled, she had noticed Aika looking for Haya, but was lead to the wrong room. After that she had to stop following her, in case anyone noticed that she was following the girl. But when she spotted Aika again, she had only the small window of her going into the bathroom to really get a moment with her.

Hearing someone enter the bathroom, Aika still kept crying, ignoring the person, until they came and knocked on their door, offering to help Haya. Raising her face from her hands, her eyes were red. Aika wiped them the best she could, before unlocking the stall door. She didn’t know who the woman was, which was enough for her ”Well, you came to the wrong person. We officially cut ties. So buzz off, I need to get back to my room and continue getting treated.” Aika told her, her voice hollow from emotion, as she went to exit the bathroom and begin making her way back to her own room.

The woman smirked, “I know my son can be a little extreme, but I doubt the information on Haya would make her the same. From all accounts she is much like her uncle, when he was younger. Headstrong, dedicated, loyal, all the wrong person obviously, but still all noble traits. Wouldn’t you rather have Haya in your life. From what I know about you, my dear girl, I would think if you had a chance to keep someone that valued you for more than that diamond skin of yours, it wouldn’t be something that you would so quickly reject.” she stated as she moved just enough for Aika to hear her, “After all, if Kagerou hasn’t changed, this was his idea, cutting ties as you said.”

Stopping in her tracks as the woman spoke, Aika’s hands both turned into fists. Diamond started forming around her arms, causing her bandages to be ripped. And it felt like Aika’s skin was burning again, but she didn’t care. This woman was one of them. Turning to look at her, Aika was prepared to just charge at her. Force her against the wall. Crush her skull. Beat her into a pulp. But feeling her own body shout in pain, she knew she was at a disadvantage. Not only because of her body’s own shape, but also because she didn’t know about the woman’s quirk. Closing her eyes, Aika shook her head and took a couple of deep breaths ”If you know about me, then you’d know better to propose something like that. I don’t make choices for others, and I don’t force what I think is right on them. But you keep suggesting it, and I’ll have to see if we can’t see if perhaps the hospital doesn’t have an open bed for you.” She told the woman.

Turning away from her again, Aika spoke up again ”You’ve made a grave mistake just now. Even if I don’t know your name or quirk, I’ve seen your face. And if I ever see you again, I won’t bother giving a warning.” Aika stated, before leaving the bathroom. After leaving, however, she would go to find the nearest security officer and alert them of a suspicious woman who was asking about Haya.

The woman smirked as she went to get her bag and started out of the bathroom. She watched as Aika moved from her room, before she moved to Aika’s room. She had tried the simple conversation but as expected, Aika was stubborn. So, she left a note in Aika’s room, that said, ‘Haya’s blood is on your hands.’, of course she didn’t expect Aika to read it, the hospital would be concerned if they found it and that would lead to Aika getting the message, if only for the hospital to understand what was going on. After that, she went to the window and tossed her bag out, before she changed her form, she found out everything she could for Aika, it was now time to find Haya, and have a conversation with her.

After directing the officer to the bathroom, Aika returned to her room, and found the note. And Aika read it, her eyes slightly widening after doing so, and she put the note in her bag before the hospital security staff member came to thank her, but no such person was found. It was bizarre and concerning, but Aika just went back into her bed. She’ll deliver the note to Amagi-sensei when she’s able, hopefully before anything happens to Haya.

Haya’s father had sighed as he sat at the door, his brother in law, Haya’s uncle, had made it clear that they had no choice and her mother had added that he was right. But Hoshi wasn’t sure that it was a good idea for Haya not to have visitors, nor was it a good idea to take her from the friends that she had worked so hard to get. But he knew about the family, he knew what they could do and between that, being the only one without a quirk and fear for his daughter, he had decided that he would follow his family’s lead.

Of course, the nurses would come and check on Haya, but other than her family, no one was allowed. That didn’t stop Haya from inviting others. She had asked for Kuroi, Aika and Hideki to be allowed, but was shot down by her uncle. Her father didn’t stop them though, once Haya called out to them and it was becoming clear that he was not going to ignore his daughter. That was why he sighed, seated in the hallway against Hay’s room door. Her uncle had requested she be moved and all visitors would be directed to her old room, as it was a place her uncle was still paying for her. The hospital wasn’ do that, but given her uncle’s standing with heroes and his ability to donate, the business part of the hospital allowed it for a time.

By this point, Kuroi was scowling. The pain from the hole in his side was one reason, but when he was allowed movement, he very quickly found something to be wrong. Everyone else was alright, mostly, but Haya was gone. She was also pretty badly injured, as much as he was or more, so there was no way she was just let go while he was still stuck here. However, her room was empty and most questions just redirected him back to that room. So, either something was wrong, or the hospital was incompetent.

Eventually, he found the answer to be a bit of both. For some reason they had moved her and were lying to anyone asking. He found this out after badgering enough of the nursing staff. It helped that they didn’t have the time or patience to be too loyal to whatever background strings were being pulled. So he made his way to the room that supposedly had her. It was vacant, save for some guy sitting next to it. Kuroi glanced at him a bit, but said nothing, moving past him toward the door.

Hoshi noticed the boy coming his way and the fact that he was heading straight for Haya’s room. He sighed, before positioning the chair enough to where the boy couldn’t get in, “I wouldn’t go in there. Haya has had enough excitement for the day and I'm not really sure who you are.” he commented. Hideki he had met, Aika he had gotten some information about, but this boy was someone he had neither heard of nor had he been told of. He might be the Kuroi, Haya asked about, but other than the name, she didn’t say much else about the boy. Hoshi knew her uncle would be visiting soon, and if this was Kuroi or not, that meant that there was a chance that Kagerou would not be happy to learn that someone was in Haya’s room.

Kuroi paused and glanced at the man with indifference. He said nothing for a few moments, as if doing the math. The guy might be a relative, though he confirmed that Haya was indeed in there. Still, the shifting rooms and hiding it was suspect to say the least. “I don’t know who you are either, and my family’s got its kinks, but my mom taught me that it’s more polite to introduce yourself before asking someone else,” He commented, but nonetheless would give his name. “Kuroi; one of the people who was on the mission she just came back from. You might just be a family member or something, so I’m staying polite, but we were ambushed out of nowhere, admitted to a hospital, and somehow, someway, Haya’s room was changed while the entire hospital staff swore up and down that her old room is up to date. No offense, but I’d rather hear her tell me to leave her alone with her own words.”

It was way too suspect and irrational for something like that to happen. Haya told him plenty enough for him to believe her family was strange, so maybe this was one of their protective hoverings. Given past events though and her being targeted on more than one occasion, he wasn’t taking a chance.

“Hoshi Kimura, I am her father. So you are Kuroi, she asked about you, and no, I am not offended, but for your own sake, I would wait. You think this precaution is annoying, it’s better than what would have happened.” her father stated and thought of him mentioning the mission, “So, you were one of those that were admitted, since hideki came already and I know what happened with Aika, I am guessing you were the one that has a matching hole to Haya’s on your side. Kagerou got a report on the mission. You were the furthest from Haya, meaning you are probably not going to be the best person to see her now as it is. No offense, Kuroi, but for your own safety, I suggest you wait and not here.” He had no quirk, and at the moment, between HIdeki’s conversation with Haya and Aika’s, he wasn’t sure that Haya could keep up her straight face. Or that she was willing to stop Kagerou if he decided to do another about her having a visitor, when she shouldn’t be having any.

“Annoying? ...Annoying…” Kuroi repeated as if it was bizarre or foreign. He paused again, staring at the man not with hostility necessarily, but caution. “For my safety? I’m quite focused on keeping myself as healthy as possible, thanks. I’m also more concerned about her potential safety and if you cared you would explain rather than talking in a way that raises more red flags in my head than makes me understand what you mean,” Kuroi stated calmly. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but you can either explain it in a way that will satisfy me and make me understand, or I’ll go in there and take whatever comes after… I dunno who Kagerou is or why it matters that he got mission details.”

“It matters because Kagerou is her uncle and he just explained everything about where he came from and where she was being kidnapped to. It matters because on the report, you tried to help Haya and managed to be taken from where she was, making you the most likely person Kagerou is most upset with. It matters because as soon as he comes through this hall, Haya should be alone and if she is not, I don’t know if she will have it in her to stop him.” he sighed as he leaned back, “And it matters to me that you not get hurt because of his temper, because you are someone my daughter cares about. There are many red flags, things that you won’t understand unless Haya tells you.” he paused, before he could hear Haya’s voice.

“It’s fine.” was all she said as she sat up in her bed, being able to be heard through the door, she could hear her father move his chair and sigh. She had tried to rest, but there was just too much on her mind to hold back, to even have a moment. So, when she heard Kuroi and her father talk, it was obvious that there was no other way around it, then to tell the last person she cared about everything she was willing to.

Kuroi raised a brow at all that before turning to look at the door where Haya’s voice came from. He glanced back at Hoshi warily. He wondered if that meant the uncle would attack him or something, though he wasn’t that worried about it. It sounded like Haya’s family had its own secrets, but given Kuroi’s situation it wasn’t very surprising or off putting, nor was the threat of this Kagerou. “Thanks, but I’m already pissed enough at myself. I’ll take my chances, sir.”

Really, if that was the case, Kuroi was more worried about having to hurt the uncle than the uncle hurting him. Either way, whatever would happen would happen.

Kuroi opened the door and stepped inside, breathing a soft sigh. He really did think she might have been abducted or something with how everyone was acting. “I’d ask if you were okay, but it sounds like that’s a no…” He said, approaching the side of the bed she was in.

Haya smirked, “I would definitely be better if I never met them.” she chuckled weakly as she sighed, “Are you okay? Aika came by and she was pretty badly hurt and Hideki was okay, but I heard you ended up with a matching hole on your side, like I did.” she half half smiled, “Just something else for us to have in common I guess.”

Kuroi smiled a bit, shrugging with a wince. “I’ll be fine. You know my family… we always played rough, so…” He assured her before raising a brow. Something to have in common, was it? “So… you wanna do the whole thing where you say vague stuff for a few months and I don’t push like I did with you or… do we wanna get it over with?”

Haya sighed a little, “Haramatsu. They are a family of Mercenaries that specialize in silent assassinations. They are even a branch of a clan. That was where I come from, in a way. My uncle was known to them as a Valued member, the youngest son of the Head of the Japanese Branch, I guess. My mother is known as an unvalued Member, which is someone that supports a Valued and must die for them, in order for them to live on. It's their only use, according to how my uncle explained it. Apparently, that makes me a Valued Member, the two that were trying to take me were my cousins, Haru and his Unvalued sister, Makaira. My uncle believes they were trying to get me home to the Haramatsu, since Haru figured out we were related. My Uncle left with my mother from the family when they were young, they hid and he joined the academy, they both did. My mother wanted to just be normal and my uncle wanted to help people, like he thought he helped my mother. But before he graduated he nearly killed another hero, so he dropped out. He always said I had to control my temper, and from Aika said, I think I understand more what she meant.” Haya paused, “So, both our family have killed a lot of people, my uncle included. I only wish I got to know about it like you had. The only real difference is, mine is still actively killing and now, my older uncle, my mother’s older brother, seems to want to get my uncle back and have me join the family. No secrets, right?” she half smirked, “You know about everything I do now.”

“...Wow… That’s a lot,” Kuroi mused, though his story was likely a lot too. Assassins and villains, they weren’t that different. Still, finding all this out at once and this late had to be taking its toll. There was a reason his mom sat each of them down when they reached a certain age. They couldn’t be expected to go along with everything not knowing or understanding. Still, that wasn’t the takeaway. Her roots were one thing, an active threat was another. No one from Akio’s old group, those who were still around, not in jail, and who hadn’t turned, were coming after him. Her familys’ mistakes didn’t matter as much as the ones actively trying to take her, in Kuroi’s mind. “Well, you uncle and mom turned. They messed up and tried to fix it… but that means they might also be in the loop enough to help deal with the problem, right? We can take these guys… probably after the hole in my side closes up, but this is something we can deal with.”

Haya smirked a little more, shaking her head, “No we can’t. My uncle’s quirk is a lot more dangerous than I was told, he can’t see inside things, he can use the oxygen inside anything and use it against it. His brother does the opposite, he uses oxygen outside and a lot more dangerously than Haru can.” she took a deep breath, “This is something my uncle thinks has to be done in the family and I don’t want you to get hurt, I don’t want any of you to get hurt. Not again. And not because of me. So, I am leaving Suppression. I’m not going back to my school, it’s too small to handle anything my family might throw at it. My uncle wants to move us for a little while, so we will probably just leave Japan.”

“You’re kidding right?” Was all Kuroi said. “Handled inside the family? Or, since he knows who the enemy is and where they are, you could tell the HA, or ANVIL for that matter. You know they separated us for a reason, right? That’s what’s favorable to them!” Kuroi argued before letting out a sharp exhale. “You have to have learned from me that trying to do everything on your own is stupid, right? I’m not even saying we form some vigilante group or something, but the association and ANVIL have some overpowered-ass people, and some of them are even related to the people in class. I’m pretty sure Haru and mud guy can’t beat out Kanna, or Raiden, or Jet. Come on, use your head here!”

Haya couldn’t help but smile, “I think they are more concerned with the actual clan than it’s branches and this isn’t really something anyone can help with. I’m sorry I can’t keep my promise, but this is something that my family has to deal with. It’s the best way to keep the rest of the assassin clans out of it and to keep you and everyone safe. Staying would only be trouble and I’m not strong enough to even control my temper. This time I had a target but next time, if I get angry it might be worse and then my family won’t be something I am worried about. My uncle is right, we have to go, I can’t be a hero and I don’t think I should be. It’s one thing to have a family of villains, it’s different when it’s in your blood.” she sighed, “Everything will be better this way, you will be safe and maybe you won’t be in a hospital bed next time.”

“Your uncle also thought it was best to keep this from you until someone literally came to kill you and he couldn’t anymore!” Kuroi said with a growl. “This doesn’t keep anyone safe. They know who you are, who your friends are, your teachers. Nothing’s stopping them from trying to use us as leverage. You also lost your temper on someone who was trying to kill you and us. When has that ever happened with something mundane? As far as I’m concerned, this isn’t even about us. There’s a freaking assassin guild out there offing people whenever they like! That’s like the yakuza, or league of villains. We can’t just leave them alone!” None of what she was saying was making any damn sense. It came across the same as when she said she would run off with him if things went awry and he was classed as a villain. It was just naive and irrational. “Also, you do know I can go and tell any of the people I just mentioned about this, right? ...I’d like to avoid meeting with Kanna as much as I can, but I’m pretty sure she and the rest of ANVIL would want to know about this ninja sect murdering people in secret. I doubt they’ll also let any of you leave after.”

Haya frowned, “You could tell my secret. But would you?” she asked curiously, “If I trust you, shouldn’t you trust me?” she sighed, “I can’t stop you from telling anyone, I’m not supposed to be out of the bed for a little while longer. But it isn’t going to change me leaving Suppression. It won’t change anything. If they take us, I won’t be there anyway and I don’t know where they are. My father is quirkless, my mother is a housewife and my uncle is an inventor. We aren’t doing anything wrong when we leave and the information on my family is limited for a reason. I guess it’s up to you, Kuroi. My uncle is right, he only wants to protect us and sounds like you are more of a hero then you said you were.” she leaned back in the bed and closed her eyes, “You should go. I can hear my uncle coming. And I don’t think threatening him will work, or trying to change his mind. I’m sorry, Kuroi, I wanted to keep my promise, but I just can’t.”

“Trust is a two-way street Haya. You don’t trust that I’ll be okay, just like I’m not willing to take the chance that you’ll be completely fine through all this,” Kuroi told her with a frown. “Hate me if you want, but being someone’s friend is more than just going along with what they say and trusting them.”

That said, it was apparent she wouldn’t see reason, and Kuroi didn’t expect her uncle to be anymore wise. He didn’t want to, but he had some that he could call to for this. Whether they liked him or not didn’t really matter if all of this was as serious as she made it out to be.

Haya sighed, “Not when it’s not your family.” she said but she raised up shortly after, but she had very little chance to say much else, in response.

Kagerou was already suspicious when he noticed Hoshi watching him, but he heard the invoices before he opened the door. And his first thought was that someone had come after Haya again. Instead he found someone else, that could not have been family, his next thought was wondering who this boy was, before he turned to Haya, the concern on her face was not something he didn’t understand. “Who are you and who allowed you here?” Her uncle asked, he was aware of two of Haya’s friends, and those were the only friends she had. He did his best to hold back his instinct to just hurt to boy, to make sure that he was not someone that was a threat or someone that would try to stop Haya from being safe, that was his only concern.

Kuroi scoffed at that. She was really going to try and give the ‘It doesn’t concern you’ argument now? Turning, he saw that there was a new person. Presumably, this was the uncle she had mentioned. By this point his civility had been exerted and he narrowed his eyes rebelliously at the man.

“The door did. Kuroi, and I was just about to leave,” Kuroi stated. “Next time don’t play twister with her room and you won’t have people chasing her around the hospital to make sure she’s okay.” He said, stepping forward to walk around him.

Kagerou made sure not to move, he stayed in the way between Kuroia nd the door, “There won’t be a next time and the door might have been how you got in but it is not how you were allowed in. So I’ll rephrase the question, who told you how to find this room? And why are you looking for Haya?”

Kuroi’s scowl intensified a bit. Instead of answering, he grabbed the hospital cloth he was giving and flaunted it a bit. Beneath it one could see wrappings and some red centered at his side. “Let me reiterate exactly what I told her dad outside. I’m her classmate and friend, and I would’ve let myself in even if he didn’t because this, after being ambushed and her being targeted, is sus as fuck.” As for how he found it, he wasn’t going to rat out the nurse who did. If what he was told about the guy was accurate, he wasn’t that well-adjusted. “And let’s cut the crap. Haya told me everything, I know everything and it’s kind of fucked that I can say I’ve heard worse. I’m not an assassin, or at least not a good one. Clearly.” Motioning over to Haya, she was fine, or at least she was not worsened by his interaction physically. “You’re not going to do shit, or if you tried, it would be very, very bad for a number of reasons. So, can we skip this along where you sternly huff at me or make some threat so I can leave?”

Kagerou glared at Kuroi, with a slight smirk, “You think so. Maybe I won’t hurt you, but I hope you have had your enlightening chat. I’m sure it was the last one. And no, if you were any good with anything, she wouldn’t have been in that ambush. She wouldn’t have been hurt and she wouldn’t have tried to kill someone. You’re not her friend, you are just another weakness she can’t have. Another crack in her resolve that can’t stay. If you know everything, you know she is leaving and stopping her would be a bad idea. Not that you could, and since this place can’t follow orders, leaving is exactly what is going to happen sooner rather than later.” Kagerou sighed as he opened the door and moved aside, “And you can tell any of her other friends, before they try looking for her, she won’t be here. She can’t be here.”

Haya was silent for a moment, before she bite her lip and said, “Please stop. We are already leaving. Kuroi is already leaving. I just want to be done with everything. Just….I want to be alone. Both of you just go.” she said before her uncle said anything else, before Kuroi could snap at him again, before anything else happened. She had hurt Aika, she had disappointed Hideki and now, she was at odds with Kuroi. Anything more and she wasn’t sure she could hold on.

Pausing as he looked back at Haya’s exclamation, he glanced back at Kagerou. “Who knows, maybe I was just trying to mimic you.” He was positive the man probably did hate his guts and his existence, but Kuroi was damn sure he was also pissed off at himself. “Don’t worry, I will. Because I don’t trust you to keep her safe or ‘do the right thing’ at all…” Letting his eyes glow red, he wasn’t activating his quirk fully, not to use it for anything anyway. He knew Haya mentioned something about who was likely his dad on TV. It wasn’t really a threat, more of a fuck you. “... and I can do a lot more than you think I can, but think what you want.”

Letting the redness subside back to black, he continued past, seemingly calm. “Jesus, really gave a big bad speech from a comic… Fuck off,” He commented to no one in particular, followed by a sigh. It wasn’t like he could call in any favors with his parents, but like Kuroi mentioned there were others that could be alerted at the least.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Azurian Dream
A week had gone by since the last rounds of missions, and while there were mixed feelings about all that had transpired the worst had been seen through. The runaway convict caught by Team Amano was successfully taken secretly via Anvil transportation via Kanna’s Strike team in rare use. Many were waiting to hear back what came from those interrogations hopefully to put future light onto all that had been happening lately. However for the here, and now Principal Amagi, and Homeroom teacher Ota currently had all of class 07 attention as some news was needing delivery.

“First off I know you are all still weary from your last missions, and you have yet to have had much time to rest. Yet first is that Vigidris Alucard will be leaving Suppression. It's come to her attention and ours that she didn’t fit with the formula here. She will be returning to her homeland it seems for now.” the laser hero delivered letting that sink in before turning to the next layer of news.

“With the losses you have endured lately, there was a bit of speculation as to whether or not your class should be dismantled. Which I will allow Ota to deliver the decision on that matter,” She spoke, giving Ota the mic to make his announcements.

“I see no reason to do so. We’ve lost three people but were given six more now so long ago.” He says in response to the later bit as he took hold of the mic. “Even normal hero schools tend to lose people to missions or to dropping out more often than not. This really does not impact us.”

“Simply as that,” Amagi spoke back up as the next order of business was brought up as a projector came to life displaying a resort in the more snowy terrain.

“To reward you for all your good work so far we are sending you to Uruyaso Ski resort it has many an accommodation like snowboarding, skiing, Ice skating, and even sky diving partake in whatever you like even if it’s just relaxing at the inn,” she spoke before the slide than turned to the Hero/Anvil mentorship program showcasing a bunch of info multiple facility outlets.

“After which you will be expected to designate yourself to offered hosts from both Hero Society and Anvil. You’ll start getting your offers during your break to go over to select you will be taken through a week instruction program where they can train you, or take you out on the job with them. Please consider your options carefully as they could have negative, or positive results,” she finished before stepping down to let the cast prep for their eventual trips and training.

"Ah before I forget do to the noticeable lack of certain skills we will be adding one classmate from Class 3's roster she volunteered to fill the gap made by Vigidris. Keihō Awate will be joining you at the resort as her team is currently knee-deep in a mission at this time. Her dossier will be in your rooms by now to study up on. Please make her feel welcome. Haya Kimura will be on temporary extra curricular activities so she will not be at the inn with you. Do not worry she will return."

“However to note the scientist survivor she is currently being interrogated about what she knows on the Assassin’s League, and the Cultist group a few of you have been running into. It’s quite clear both are well-built functioning groups, and you among others are starting to catch their attention so be weary I doubt this peaceful wave will last much longer. Villain society is starting to find its legs again, and they’re clearly planning to knock the door down with them,” she finished before excusing them all to Ota.

“Yes and be read for this, you may be out of here a few days to a few weeks depending. It’ll still be late summer or early fall by the time we send you all out again, till then we shall be gathering information. There is also Zombie Matsu and the Cultists that were caught, though they aren’t speaking much. Either way dismissed for now, I’ll see you all again here soon.”
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Thaleko
It had been a while since Agi, and Aika had chatted, in fact, it had been a long while since they had done anything, and even worse had been a while since he had seen Aika really doing much of anything minus class. To this alone was Agi’s current path to find out what was wrong with the hard-headed girl as she was acting much out of her usual actions. With such reasoning, he was now at her door knocking loudly on it in the morning as he yelled.

“OYYYYEEE AIKKKAAAAA OPENNNN THE DOOR SLEEPY HEAD,” Agi yelled banging as loudly as possible.

Laying in her bed with earphones in, Aika could hear the knocking and yelling of Agi past the music she was listening to. But it was a day that they didn’t have any classes, nor any missions. Making the music louder on her player, she switched to a rock playlist that helped conceal any background noises even more. Once that was done, she just closed her eyes. She only had one thing planned for today, so that’s what she intended to do. No reason to do anything past it.

From the doorway, Agi could hear Aika’s music now as she cranked it just with enough loud, and proud force that he could hear it just barely beyond being a mere coincidence. She was zoning him out to which he glared at the door.

“Alright, you asked for this Aika. I wanted to cheer you up like a civilized being, but you have forced me to do this the Ketsu way,” Agi yelled doubting she could hear him, but none the less the fair warning had been sounded. Backing away from the doors as his Nanos started to come off. In the midst of Aikas music the girl would probably start to hear the strange sounds of drilling before he door came falling off its hinges into her room.

The sounds of something being drilled was barely audible over the music that was playing in her ears, and Aika just turned to face away from the door before it fell out of its hinges. Aika didn't care at all about the loss of the door, from how it appeared, as she kept her eyes closed and attempted to go back to sleep.

As Agi stepped in Aika’s stubborn started to raise up a notch it being very clear she was in a mood, and wasnt about to easily surrender to whatever he was attempting at this time. However what would happen next would not be as ignorable as her music player, and earphones were snatched away.

“What the hells wrong with you Aika,” Agi demanded to know as his nano’s handed him the device.

After the earphones and player were snatched away, Aika just sighed. Guess this meant she should get up. Getting up from her bed, she still ignored Agi as she went to grab some clothes from her cupboard. If she was already up, she might as well go and wash up or something.

“ALRIGHT GOTO ROUTE IT IS,” Agi suddenly yelled finally having enough of Aika’s stubborn emo reaction as he full on tackled her lifted her up, and rammed her right out her window… from the third floor as the motion of solid ground would leave Aika as Agi did nothing, but glare at her as they went plummeting down to the ground with him clearly not going to stop it.

Getting grabbed by Agi, she still didn’t bother looking at him as he tackled her out of her room window, meaning the two of them were also covered by a curtain now as they started making their way down to the ground. Sighing again, Aika couldn’t help but feel this was too bothersome, as she activated her diamond skin. The large t-shirt she wore as a pajama would tear up due to just being regular fabric, leaving Aika mostly exposed.

However, as her diamond skin covering her body would become much more visible, Agi would be able to see that it doesn’t appear as solid as it normally was. It had a fractured, weakened appearance all around her body. Her pink irises, too, would have a more fractured appearance to them. Upon impacting the ground, Aika’s diamond skin would even break, with bits from her diamond skin falling off around them.

From the fall to the collision Agi was able to see Aika’s emotional stability from her quirk. He was extremely correct something had happened, and it was clearly eating her up inside. He sat down next to her as his nanos formed the window curtains into temporary clothes surprisingly showing Agi was not as bothered by the opposite sex as she was a bit exposed as he sighed. Though it was probably more to the fact he only saw Aika as a friend that he didn’t react to much to it.

“Alright spill or I am going to be driving you insane all day,” Agi spoke softly.

After being released from Agi’s grasp, Aika didn’t bother to look at what his nanites were doing or at him. She just stood up, looked at her slightly bleeding skin from where her skin had shattered, shaking her head a bit, before beginning to make her way to the inside of the dorms. Now she definitely had a reason to go shower, even if she felt like it was a reason to go back to bed.

However, her path was immediately blocked by a wall of nanobots as Agi was clearly not going to give up. However, his next approach was a bit more laid back, and more to his style as he called her out from his sitting position.

“Am I not allowed to care about my friend? Is making me more concern worth it,” he asked.

Looking at the wall in front of her, Aika turned her right hand into a diamond skin and put it against the nanites, beginning to move it against the nanites. More chips from her diamond skin would begin falling, before bits of blood would start to be wiped against the nanites. Hearing Agi’s words, Aika finally seemed to respond a bit as she shook her head ”Friends will just break you.” she muttered under her breath.

“I see,” Agi stood up walking up to her seemingly about to console her before he without warning slapped her upside the head softly as he turned her around before violently shaking some sense into Aika.

“YOU ARE AN AWESOME ASSHOLE WHO IS FULL OF HERSELF AND IS REALLY A GOOD MUSICIAN/SINGER IS THERE A TERM FOR BEING BOTH I DONT KNOW MUSIC REAL WELL TELL ME,” Agi finally stopped shaking her for a moment. Before letting her go as he than directed a more concrete question.

“Why are we friends?”

Aika didn’t react to getting slapped against her head, nor did she resist or struggle against Agi’s shaking. She just stared at him as he yelled at her, not offering any reaction, before hearing his more serious question, to which she shook her head ”We aren’t.” Aika muttered.

“We are,” Agi simply countered.

Aika didn’t bother responding again, just waiting for Agi to let go of her as she moved her gaze away from him and to the ground.

“Your a terrible liar by the way couldn’t lie your way out of a paper bag. Your lying is as good as Goto giving someone a compliment,” Agi continued knowing Aika believed her own words, but the truth of that was not fully in her soul.

“But you are stubborn, and very much so, but you know what I am your friend your rejection has been denied,” Agi responded seriously.

Still not bothering to give him any further response, she just glanced at the ground. She could still see some pieces from her diamond skin around. And as it was still early, autumn and they were outside, Agi would begin feeling that Aika started shivering slightly from the cold.

Without much warning, Agi took his shirt off and had his nanobites force it on her as he gave her a strangely evil warning as now instead she was making him technically suffer the elements. Yet more so cause he had a new threat.

“Accept thy friendship, and tell me whats wrong. Or prepare to wear my pants,” he hilariously threatened.

After the shirt was forced on her, Aika shook her head, before activating her diamond skin again. Seeing it did nothing to the shirt, she put her left hand against his chest, before beginning to rub it up and down, breaking her diamond skin against his chest until blood started appearing on it.

Before she could bleed herself more he finally stopped her with a firm gripping know what she was trying to do at this point, and now he was at the point where the nice route was no longer the option.

“Is whatever happened to worth all this? Huh? Stop being down Aika,” he spoke sharply rather than loudly this time with a piercing eye rather than his gentle disposition.

“Don’t answer I’ll answer for you it’s not. Regardless of how hard things get Aika, you are stronger than this. You can tank anything, and shrug it right off. You’re a diamond wall not some lazy ass layer of tin foil. I am your friend, and I am telling you your being a brat throwing a temper tantrum being depressed by something you can’t control. Yet whatever that is has you being like this is only going to make whatever that is worse get your head together dammit,” Agi scoffed letting her go as he now stood in her way of the door his nanobites now clearly at the ready to restrain her if she tried to do self-harm again. No matter how masterful she was at defense Agi was more reflexive in response with his quirk.

“So instead of being a sour puss how about you stop, and lean on your friends to help rather than just drown in your own drool of an excuse. Last time I check your Aika Yamada aka FUTURE PRO HERO Ai-Sharp.”

“You want into the dorm? Fight me. I doubt you could let’s face it you’ve already decided your not the powerful woman I know,” Agi harshly shot pissed off at seeing Aika be this way when he knew who she was. She was a badass, she was extremely gifted, and she was not some quitter. She also had a freaking temper that if it didn’t show up now he was about to start swinging cause she was pissing him off now.

“Or that if how you have wanted people to see you. Yet to be fair I know it’s a shell-like I said you’re a terrible liar. To be quite frank I want to be your friend in full, but you refuse to let anyone see you as you really are,” Agi paused looking at her as his gaze finally softened and he sighed.

“But I know your not a quitter, and how your acting right now isn’t either. Cause I can definitely call one thing out about you through all the masks you wear. Your compassionate, and worried,” Agi let out his whole big puff of steam. He paused to consider his next few words before adding. “And someone clearly hurt you recently that you were willing to open up to completely. Yet don’t act like that person is the only one here who cares about you cause I am still here,” Agi answered finally going silent to let her hopefully speak.

As Agi went through his speech, Aika slowly moved her gaze to meet his eyes. And her eyes remained soulless. He kept going about how she was this and that and tough and a future pro hero. Then moved on to how he saw through her, but didn’t know much else. Once he finished his speech, Aika just shook her head again ”You said it yourself. You don’t know me. Never did.” She muttered, not trying to fight her way in or do anything in particular. ”I don’t want friends. Don’t need more heartbreak.” She finished.

“So you want to cause it instead? Cause I still want to know you, and I won’t stop until you give me a chance to help you,” Agi spoke standing his ground as he took a step forward as smaller swarm finally brought him another of his shirts to bring down, and a pair of Aika’s pants from her room.

“Amano won’t talk to me. Doubt she will ever again,” Agi unexpectedly brought up without any warning or attachment to it.

“She was my longest childhood friend, and honestly the first friend I ever made. Yet as we learned our views on things differed greatly we lashed out at each other harshly, and in the process, I broke her respect for me. She needed me to be her friend yet rather than adjust to make use both see eye to eye I stood my ground, and shatter that long bridge we had made together cause we both decided to be stupid,” Agi told her.

“I don’t know what happen to your friend and you, but I refuse to let you let that bridge crumble as I did. Yet to do that I have to break the shield you’re still holding up against me. A shield that I know you don’t want to keep up anymore cause you want to have friends you want to be my friend,” he spoke walking up to her as he held out his hand to her.

“Let someone in Aika dont give up on giving a chance to your own happiness,” he asked of her.

”I did let someone in. And it was the biggest mistake of my life.” Aika responded, not bothering to look at Agi, accept his hand or make any indication of her moving anywhere ” Stop preaching. I’ve heard it all before.” She added in a quieter voice.

Her response was cold and her reaction was hateful yet she didn’t deny a single thing, and now more than ever he could tell she couldn’t reach out. Yet that didn’t mean she didn’t want to be reached for. So with that said he took a step closer his hand now much closer yet this time he didn’t say anything. Yet when she didnt respond to that he took a step forward, and instead of an outreached hand Aika would now find herself being overtaken by a hug holding her tight.

“I am here for you Aika.”

Being grabbed by Agi into a hug, Aika still gave no response. No movements or indications of acknowledging what Agi just did. She just stood there, staying still. All she felt was that this was convincing her more that she should talk to her mother. Maybe speed things along. If more people were going to be like this, then it would become too painful. She couldn’t let anyone else in. She couldn’t let herself go through that again. So Aika just remained still, unresponsive, until Agi would finally let her go.

“And when your ready to accept that I’ll be waiting for ya,” Agi softly promised to let her go as the barrier finally dropped heading up the dorm as he left her to her thoughts. Before hilarious a few nanobites came back with some yen equal to the clothes that had been destroyed in the process of this.

After being released and the barrier was dropped, Aika still didn’t give him any glance. Ignoring the nanobites that brought the clothes, she just started heading to the elevator, to make her way to the room that now needed fixing. Before entering the elevator, she took off Agi’s clothes and dropped them on the floor, and proceeded to head up. After all that, she most certainly needed a shower.

Hilariously though some of Agis nano bites were already cleaning up, and fixing the door. There were even a few bringing in a window replacement as this sort of dorm had backups for this very reason of chance.

Ignoring all the fixing being done, Aika just grabbed a change of clothes from her room and headed to the showers. She also checked the time along the way. She still had a couple more hours until she was supposed to make that call. Perhaps she could grab another nap before then, Aika thought to herself.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Azurian Dream
As the day proceeds and rolls into the next, forms were sent out to apply for under studies within of ANVIL and the Hero Association, retired or active, though in many cases these requests may need a day or two, or in other words the time the students would be killing on vacation. For his part Ota made the needed arrangements and spoke with the students as the need developed or advice was sought. And finally the trip was sat and underway, for his own part Ota would take up posting in the lodge and let his students have fun on their own, he would also compile the requests for training and provided alternatives if denied.

For her part Mari wasn't surprised with some of the announcements while others made their own plans, Mari knew who she wanted to train under and had some minor plans for the vacation. A part of this would naturally be spending time with Agi, otherwise she may do a bit of skating and catch up on some reading or otherwise check up on others.

Isa on the other hand planned to carry out the offer she received for a date with Kuroi and then some extreme sports activities herself, chiefly picked up from her "aunt" Ayame. After that she had picked her trainer as well, though she sort of regretted it, or knew she would come to feel that way, the simple fact of the matter was, as she was now she could do little more than behave as a team tank.

But for both of them training would come later as a small tour bus is chartered and driven to the Mountain side resort, with fall in full swing into winter coming soon, it would be a matter of time till full snowfalls would land on the location and for now some small scattered snows had already collected on the mountain the highlands around the resort which was slowly opening to the public. Class 07 would be free to spend their time as they saw fit within the confines of the trip as Isa hurries to put away her things and Mari calmly stretches.
 
Ren had been searching around the resort for nearly an hour. He had not noticed before how big this place was. But he had Haya’s guitar alongside him as he did. He had bumped into Haya on campus, she looked a little pale and upset, but when he said ‘hi’ she seemed to try to shake it off. It was the strangest thing. Haya asked him for a favor, while she was dealing with something and he thought it might make her happy to know he would do it. But in her eyes, he noticed that her favor had nothing to do with what was on her mind at the time.

But he already agreed, so while she was on campus with Agami-sensei he got in her room and took her guitar. Now, he just had to find Aika. He had planned to take it to her then, but he had o idea where her room was, until he heard the crash of Agi destroying it. He figured a nice resort would probably be the best place to do it, instead.

After some time, he just asked reception where to find Aika’s room, and headed up to it. He wasn’t sure how many times he had passed it, but he was expecting music. He reached the door and knocked, “Aika, it’s Ren. Are you okay?” he asked, he knew she didn’t like him, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t like her.

Opening the door, Aika immediately gestured for Ren to wait, and he would be able to see she was on the phone. Walking away from the door, she seemed to listen to whoever was on the other side, nodding a bit, before finally responding ”I can do that. Already have a few materials prepared.” Aika said, as she stopped by the room window, which was looking in the mountain’s direction ”Sure. Just send the email to me and I’ll send the demo to them. I probably won’t be able to do much further for a while, but it could help us get rolling with this. And thanks.” Aika said, nodding a bit ”Okay. Tell Kanata I’m looking forward to seeing her again. Bye.”

With that, she hung up the call and pocketed her phone, before turning to look at Ren, her arms crossed ”What’d you ask?” Aika asked him, any signs of a more positive mood seemed to have faded away after the call ended.

Ren looked surprised, he wasn’t sure what was strange that she was not yelling for him to get out or that falling out of her own room had seemed to open her up a little from her normal, get away mood she had with him. “I was checking to see if you were okay and dropping this off.” he said, raising Hay’s guitar up for her to see. “Demo, huh? Planning on doing some of that singing again.” he smirked slightly, “You were rather good at the festival, so I guess that wouldn’t be surprising.” he commented.

Looking at the guitar and recognizing it, Aika turned away from Ren ”Either keep it or return to sender. You leave that thing here and I’ll leave it in the trash can. In pieces.” She remarked, regarding the guitar, before shaking her head ”And how I’m doing or what I’m doing is none of your beeswax. So fuck off with asking about that.” She stated ”Only opened the door because I can’t keep avoiding you lot while I’m studying, but that doesn't mean I’m suddenly welcoming you into my life.”

Ren was surprised, she recognized the guitar, and was told that it was important to give it to Aika, “Well, that is more like you.” he chuckled weakly before he sighed, placing the guitar on her bed, “But I was told it is yours. No matter what you do with it. Same to trash it, but the owner wanted you to have it. Said it kind of became just for you, so it was best with you to do with as you want.” he commented. Then he turned to Aika, “So, since you did open the door, mind talking to someone? I figured something happened between Haya and you, she was pretty upset when I bumped into her and then she was just gone. And Agi smashed your room up pretty bad and you kind of just walked it off. Not what I would expect from someone that wants to kill me with her eyes.” he pointed out curiously.

”Doesn’t matter what I do with it?” Aika whispered, before turning, grabbing the guitar, activating her diamond skin and then slamming the guitar against the floor with every inch of her strength. And then repeating the action, again and again, until she barely had the headstock in her hands. And then she squeezed on that until that was shattered into pieces too, before beginning to pat herself down from any shattered fragments from the guitar that might’ve landed on her.

Turning to look at Ren, Aika just glared at him ”Get out. Before I kick your ass out of here. And if you ever think of bringing anything else, you better think five times. And then think about how the answer should be no.” She told him with a cold tone.

Ren was surprised but that was exactly the first thing on his mind, and when she threatened him, the next was that she might have a lot more than that guitar could take. So, he moved to the bed and sat down, “Okay, then do it.” he said, “But I won’t go out without a fight and you won’t be able to keep everyone out this way. Might as well start fighting everyone that gives a damn now.” he said looking her in the eye. “I know you hate me, but you aren’t someone I dislike. I respect you and you are in more pain then you are angry. So, I’ll help with the anger and someone else can help with the pain.” he stated seriously. She was angry, at whom he had a guess but not a reason for it.

After he sat down and spoke, Aika shook her head ”You think you already got me figured out? Well, here are two clear facts you got wrong. I never said I hated you. And I’m definitely not in pain. So unless you turned into some kind of shrink, I ain’t talking to you. And I’m not intent on fighting everyone. Only people who respect whiny little wannabe assassins.” She said, taking a step closer to him. She still seemed angry and considered just outright attacking him, before she turned off her diamond skin and went to walk right out the door herself. He just proved again, in Aika’s eyes, that he wasn’t worth wasting energy on.

Ren listened to Aika, and waited for her to attack him but instead she left the room. So, he jumped on his feet and followed after her, “If I am wrong then why not just say her name.” he pointed out. He wasn't really sure about the assassin bit, but he was sure that destroying the guitar meant that she was upset with Haya. “Why can’t you just say how much you hate her?” He added, still following Aika, “I’m not a shrink, but I am your friend, whether you accept it or not and if you only care to ignore those that respect her, how about those that respect you?” he asked. Whether she answered or not, he was sure he could guess that the fact that Haya wasn’t here meant Aika was upset for that reason and it did something to her personality to make her even more stubborn.

”I don’t have any friends.” Aika quietly remarked as a response to everything he said, clearly choosing to ignore certain bits, as she started making her way down the stairs towards the resort lobby. Aika’s attitude seemed to make it clear that she elected to take a different type of path to try and avoid him, though what she exactly intended to do was unclear.

Ren sighed, “Well, I think being tacked out of a window by Mr. Ball of Energy is kind of the exact opposite of not having friends.” he remarked before he moved a chair in her way, as he caught up and then another as to block her way as much as he could, “And if you were at the snowball fight you would have seen that you had more. She wasn't the only one that cared about you and she wasn't the only person in your life that you cared about.” he pointed out as he tried to get her to either say Haya’s name or at least tell him more about what the hell happened. He was sure baiting her wouldn’t work, but talking to her wasn’t working and he was getting to the point that he was just going to have to pin her down and force her to listen to him sing, which would be torture in more ways then he might like to admit.

Watching Ren pass her and grab a couple of chairs to try and block her, Aika did stop for a moment, just to stare at him, before she proceeded to turn her fist into a diamond and begin to punch the chair, until it broke. Once there was a semi clear path, she started to dash back in the direction of the room, and started making her way back up the stairs.

Ren noticed almost as quickly as she moved up the stairs, “Great.” he sighed as he looked around, he took up a few chairs using his movement and as she got to the top, him behind her he forced the chairs to pin her down, twisted in their own feet as they did so she couldn’t slip through so easily, before he made it up the stairs. “You know, I changed my mind.” he commented as he moved towards her and got up the stairs before she broke free, “I know exactly how to find out what happened.” he said before he started to race up the last of the stairs. “And I will pay for that.” he called out as he did.

Getting the chairs all over her, this time in a more complex manner, Aika could hear Ren start to race up the stairs. Turning her limbs into diamonds, she hopped over the stair railings, before landing with an impact against the ground floor, breaking the chairs against the floor. Aika then began to run once more while turning her diamond skin mostly to normal and clearing any remaining pieces from her diamond fist. With the lead she was able to gain from him climbing up the stairs, Aika made it to the lobby, and then proceeded to exit out, heading in the direction of the lifts.

Ren smirked as he headed up the stairs, there was no way that she would make it before him, seeing as she went back to the lobby and he was pretty quick on his feet. So, when he made it to her room he sighed, before he started to get to work, since she seemed to have left it alone. He started going through a few things, when he found her underwear he closed that drawer immediately, more of an Agi place to search, he was not going to go through that.

While Ren started going through her room, Aika stopped in the snow and turned to look back in the direction of the resort. Seeing he was not following, Aika wondered for a moment if he just gave up, before deciding that if she was outside, then she might as well go get a round or two of skiing done, before continuing to head in the direction of the ski lifts.



A couple hours passed, and Aika felt rather content and calmer, having had a few rounds of skiing done. A bit more than she expected to do, but she just enjoyed herself. There is something just calming to see nothing but white and hear the faint whistling of the wind, as she goes down the mountainside at high speeds. But it was starting to get dark, and she figured she could go take a shower before heading to eat dinner. So she made her way to her room, where she saw the door was still open. With a raised eyebrow, Aika went and peeked into her room, to see its state and if anyone was present.

Ren had taken her room apart, her clothes were everywhere and the only drawer not touched had her underwear. He was sitting on the bed by now, reading a note he had found before he heard the steps. He had found the note under the bed, folded it back up and jumped to his feet as he placed it in his pocket. Looking up he saw Aika, then looked around, “Sorry. Didn’t expect you to be gone so long, but at least you got out of your room.” he smiled at her. He didn’t want to tell her what he found, it seemed there was a lot more than just her idea of isolation. “From the clothes you bought, you didn’t really plan on leaving your room that often and it was interesting that you packed a lot of clothes that say you didn’t want to hang out with many people.” he pointed out. “How was your outing though?”

Seeing the state of her room and that Ren was still there, Aika came inside and closed the door, ignoring him as she started to take off the clothes that she had on her, leaving herself only in her undergarments, before she walked around the room to grab a new top and pants. After grabbing some new undergarments as well, she grabbed her worn pants, took out her phone and music player, before tossing the pants right at Ren, and going into the shower with her new clothes, phone and player. She then locked the shower door, before beginning to take a nice warm shower.

Ren was surprised by her when she started to undress, closing his eyes as she did, until he was hit with some clothes. When he opened them she was gone, and the lock clicked. He sighed as he started to get to work on fixing up her room and moving around to get everything cleaned. It didn’t take him long, he heard the water stop after he was done, so he guessed that she was done. He moved to look under the bed again, to make sure nothing else fell under it, and that he got all the clothes. When he pulled out a blade. It was rather light, but strong, he sat on the bed and examined it. It could withstand a lot, probably even withstand high heat, but it was light. He wondered where it came from, he hadn’t noticed it before and there wasn’t really any sign that Aika could use a blade, not to mention this one didn’t have a handle.

Coming out of the shower, Aika was surprisingly only wearing towels, and having her clothes in her arms ”Still here?” She remarked upon seeing him ”At least you put my stuff back.” Aika muttered to herself, before putting the clothes she intended on wearing on the bed next to him, and sat down. Seeing the blade he was holding, Aika raised an eyebrow ”That seems like a pointless thing. Blade without a handle.” She said, grabbing it from his hands carefully with her diamond hands, while her towel started to fall slightly.

Ren looked up at her and nodded, “I found it under the bed, since I didn’t see it before I figured you brought it, but seeing as you don’t recognize it.” he pointed out before standing up and looking at the blade to avoid looking at Aika, who’s towel was starting to slip, “Not sure where it must have come from though. But I have an idea that you might not want to hear. Since you were out so long, feel like getting something to eat with me? When you get dressed?” he asked.

Listening to him, Aika kept her sight on the blade. If he wasn’t sure where it came from, then she had a hunch as well. Standing up, she went to the window, opened it, made sure the area underneath the window was clear, before throwing the blade away. Closing the window, she turned her diamond hands back to normal, before turning to look at Ren ”Only if you don’t try prodding me for information again. Otherwise, I’ve got instant ramen in the fridge right here.” Aika said, moving past him before making sure her hair was properly dry, then dropping her towels to the floor and beginning to put on her clothes.

Ren went to the window as she moved away and nodded, “Yeah, I won’t ask. Besides, I know more than you want to and more than you probably care to.” he said as he used his movement to get the blade closer to the building for him to find later. Then he turned and smiled at her, keeping from looking lower than her face, “But I wouldn’t count on me not talking at all. Like I said, I respect you, Aika and since this is the longest we have had a conversation, I want to get to know you better. I think right now would be a good time to do it.”

Finishing to put on her clothes, Aika sighed ”I didn’t tell you not to talk at all. Just don’t ask me about my problems.” She said, before going back into the shower and pocketing her phone and player that were left there before. Coming back into the room, she opened the door ”Come on, before I change my mind and try to throw you out of the window as well.” Aika stated.

Ren smirked, as he nodded, going towards the door and stopping, “Ladies first. We can get whatever you want.” he said, offering her to go first, “I can lock your door.” he assured her. He had no reason not to trust that she would come, but she had run from him and he would hate to have to break into her room like Agi did. “Can I ask about your sister?”

Shaking her head a bit, Aika stepped outside and made sure Ren indeed locked the door behind him, before hearing his question ”You can’t, since I still barely know much about her. And step-sister.” Aika stated, before rubbing her right temple a bit ”Family is also off the table as a subject.” She added ”And why do you have such a goddamn interest in me anyway? We never worked together, never properly talked to each other, and the only time I did, I was pretty hostile towards you. You make no sense.” She added.

Ren made sure to lock the door and listen to Aika before he nodded, and then chuckled, “Maybe I don’t. But you interest me because you seem…well, you seem like you have some chips. And to be honest, you remind me of someone. She is pretty hostile towards me too, her parents and mine are good friends. I guess I miss her sometimes, being used to her. And sometimes you look like you miss someone too. I want to be your friend, because I feel like being around you is kind of important for me. It’s just a feeling I have.” he smiled at her as he walked with her, “That and sometimes, ignoring the one that is alone, is a lot more dangerous to their health then upsetting them, just for being around.” he added.

Listening to Ren, she definitely felt like he was only making less sense to her. She reminded him of someone else who was hostile to him, so he misses her and wanted to be closer to her? Ren was definitely weird. After he gave his added remark, Aika shook her head ”Well, I disagree with that. Forcing yourself onto others can make them just as miserable as leaving them alone. All depends on the type of person. And I,” She turned her gaze to him ”Am not looking to make friends. I don’t need friends, and I don’t feel any reason to keep sticking around you. You keep talking like that and I’ll just head back to my room still, because it’s honestly creeping me out.” She stated.

Ren couldn’t help but chuckle, “Okay, Okay, I’m sorry.” he said, “I was just answering the question.” he sighed, before turning to her, “Fine then, how about being friends, I can be more someone you can use. I don’t mind listening to songs you write and giving my opinion and we don’t really have to talk much. You don’t need friends and that is fine, but being alone isn’t really good for anyone. Let’s get something to eat and whenever you need someone to spar with or listen to you play, you can pull me out of anything and tell me not to talk.” he offered, “But I have a question for you, your diamond skin, does it cover everything like your toes too?

”Thanks, but no thanks.” Aika replied shortly to his offer, before hearing his question. Finally, something that didn’t bug her to answer ”It isn’t exactly that it covers, more that the skin turns to diamond. And toenails are made from the same stuff as the skin, so yeah. Toes entirely covered. My hair also turns to diamond. My clothes are mostly made from strands of my hair, so they can withstand the sharpness of my skin and not be torn whenever I use it.” Aika finished explaining.

Ren nodded, “I see, that makes sense.” he commented, not touching the fact that she rejected his offer. He had made it and if she ever wanted to take him up on it, he was up for that. SO, he didn’t mention anything about it, so that the offer was always open. “It’s hard to move with diamonds everywhere I imagine. Diamond is not something flexible or light. I actually tried weight training with Hideki, before the last mission. Is that how you train for your diamond skin movements?”

”Not just weights.” Aika stated ”I don’t think I look like the buffest or strongest girl around. But I know that even with just raw power, I could take on several of the guys in class. And yeah, diamonds aren't flexible. So it took me a while before I was able to start moving at a more proper pace. And it didn’t help that each time I broke my skin, it regrew tougher, so it meant each time it became less flexible again. So, gotta train a few times a week, and make sure my weight is equally distributed across my body the best I can, or I could end up with more than just pulling my muscles.” Aika explained further.

Ren nodded, “Another reason to admire your kind of hero, I guess. My quirk is pretty natural to me and flexible. But yours takes work to use and to master. I think it’s kind of cool that you have that kind of dedication. Did you always want to be a hero or was it just something that seemed to make sense?” he asked curiously, he wasn’t sure if she would answer, but he was curious to understand it. She had a lot of work to do as well as she did.

Aika shrugged ”More wanted to be a hero out of-” Aika stopped herself short of saying it was rebelling against her mom ”Out of none of your beeswax reasons. That’s that.” She ended up finishing her answer, as they arrived at the resort’s dining hall ”You can pick whatever for us, as long as it doesn’t have fish in it.” She stated, before going to grab a table for the two of them.

Ren tilted his head, fish? That was a strange request, but he was fine with that, as he moved to see what they had. In the end he met up with Aika, with a couple of steaks, “Steak okay? It was the furthest thing from a fish that I could think of.” he assured her as he placed the plate in front of her and sat down. “Are you allergic to fish?” he asked curious as to why fish was a no go for her taste buds.

”Not allergic. Just can’t handle the taste. Very weird for a person in Japan, I know.” Aika stated, rolling her eyes. She got that remark from just about everyone in the country that came to learn that, considering Japan was a very marine-food based country. Taking a bite from the steak, which was apparently medium-rare, she glanced at Ren ”Before you ask, I don’t have any allergies.” She decided to add, in case his question brought about another question in the same topic.

Ren nodded, then smirked, “Actually, it’s not being in Japan that made it strange, just the fact that you do. I was born in Japan, but I personally like chicken a lot more than fish. But I also travel a lot, so I was just curious about why you didn’t. But it’s good to know you don’t have any allergies.” he added with a light chuckle, “I would probably be concerned about giving you CPR, if you did, to be honest. You might not give me a chance to avoid the hospital myself.” he half teased.

Aika just shrugged as a response ”In case of a CPR type of emergency, I wouldn’t bother doing shit to anyone who actually worked to save me. It’s also being a hero, after all.” She remarked as she continued eating the steak, before eating some of the broccoli that came along with it ”Good thing to learn, CPR. I know some heroes under sell it and just regard it as something that common people should know, but not them. Idiots.” She muttered between bites.

Ren smirked, “A good hero should know a lot more than how to fight. Quirk use is just the first step. There is weapons training, identifying dangerous molds, spores, poisons, and animals. A hero should have basic medical skills and be able to identify a heart attack from chest pain and a dangerous situation from a silly game of soldiers and aliens.” he pointed out, “CPR is just one of the things I was told to study and only one of the skills I don’t use as often but still have. What about you?” he asked curiously looking at her as he started to eat his own steak. Making sure to only go through half, before he started on the vegetable sides that came along with it.

”I know CPR. Learned back at middle school, and attended a couple of refresher courses after that too. Next year I'll attend another refresher. Trying to always keep it fresh in mind.” Aika responded as she kept eating, going back to the steak ”Those types of things that need to have a lot more specific movements, I always make sure to keep repeating. And can’t really just repeat CPR normally, and always best to hope to not repeat them too much.” She stated.

Ren couldn’t help but smirked, “True. Sometimes I have to listen while I clean to remind myself about all the things out there that I have to remember, but some stuff sticks with you.” he pointed out before he thought of something. “If you want, I have a few books, just in case you come around some moldy old place in your missions, if you want to read through it.” he suggested.

Aika shook her head ”Nope. I don’t do anything except be on a mission when I’m in the field. Plus not that much of a reader.” She responded, before taking a final bite of the steak. Wiping her mouth with the napkin, she tossed it onto the plate and stood up ”You didn’t pick bad, so good job. I’m gonna head back now.” She stated, before beginning to walk away from the table. She didn’t want to slip again. She couldn’t allow herself. And she felt like she was beginning to.

Ren looked surprised before he jumped up, “Aika, wait.” he said going after her and leaving what he had left on the table. He managed to get in front of her, “Have tea with me tomorrow? When I was in England, they had tea and cookies and watched the snow fall. We don’t have to talk, but it’s actually better to do it with someone then alone. “I like talking about hero stuff with you, I would like to have a talk again. But watching the snow with you might be just as fun. Well, you join me?”

Aika sighed before looking at him ”No, I won’t have tea with you. That sounds like something friends would do. And I don’t have friends. She stated to him, with an almost dead voice compared to before. Continuing to walk away, Aika’s gaze turned to the floor ”I can’t have friends.” She quietly muttered to herself.

Ren frowned and turned to watch her go before he called out to her, “I will see you tomorrow. Just think about it, it’ll be nice to watch the snow.” he called out to her, before he sighed. Well, he got her to go this far, maybe next time, she will just let them have a seat together, he would ask later. For now, he was going to finish eating and get started on his plans for that blade. The note he found, told him that Aika hadn’t seen the last of her wannabe assassin friend and hopefully that meant that Aika would come back to her senses.
 
It was an interesting experience for Agi being surrounded by ice for it was something he was usually well avoiding it is a weakness of his, and all. Yet being bundled up in warm clothing, and skating across it was not so bad. He was very unuse to the feeling, and to be fully honest his balance on skates was something to be desired. His reason for doing it was that… well he had heard it was a romantic thing to do so he had invited Mari to join him out on the resort’s outdoor ice skating area.

Though now he was finding himself needing what little time he got to practice to not look like a fool to her which at this rate he was definitely going to need to cheat with his nano bites it seemed.

Coming out to the field, it was a bit odd being on such a vacation this time of the year, the snow was thin and only high up the mountains short of what was made by machines or from the previous season, still it was nice, but she still rather come here again sometime during the winter.. That aside it was nice for Agi to ask to join him for some time on the ice. Mari knew the basics of this and was slightly amused watching him getting in a practice session, not wanting to disturb him she watches for awhile before making her presence known, coughing a bit and speaking up, she was all smiling.

“Hello, darling. Not been here too long I assume?”

“What? No? Maybe,” Agi said as he was too concentrated on his self-training to hear her sneak upon him as she had clearly been watching awhile given her coughing gesture which caused him to lightly blush as he forced himself upright.

“Well then milady shall we have this...dance,” Agi asked in a joking manner as he offered his hand to her so they could couple skate.

“Hmm..” With a smile, she joins him on the ice and grins a bit. “Too bad I have a natural advantage that you do not.” She says as she flexes her tail and uses it to aid in her balance. “You’ve been enjoying yourself at least, haven’t you?”

“Oye no cheating,” Agi laughed at her evil little tail helping her escape the embarrassment of learning this nightmare course from the ground up. Ironically right as he said that his lack of attention cost him as he faceplanted into the ice sliding a little away from Mari.

“... I was until the ground decided to be my enemy,” Agi muffled through the ice to answer Mari’s question.

Looking to make sure he was alright, Mari comes up next to him and speaks. “Agi! Are you alright? Huh, guess so.” She said of his immediate response as she offers him a hand up. “We should skate together, you don’t need to impress me with that, I prefer warm places rather than ice and snow anyways, so for now you can lean on me and I can on you.”

“I’ll live… my dignity not so much,” Agi joked as he took her arm holding onto her closely this time while leaning on her just enough to hold his stance as they started to skate a lot better with less wobbling. It was a lot more fun now that Agi didn’t have to concentrate on not wiping out. That and being this close with Mari was an award in and of itself a treasured moment for them as a couple.

“Well if you want we could later get a bit more intimate and rest against an open fire with some hot cocoa,” he offered with a playful smile as they continued to follow the rinks circular route. “Maybe with some mellow jazz, and such to set the mood, my love,” he added trying to make it sound like quite the romantic lead-up.

“Hmm..” Listening to his words as she skates with him along on the ice, she wasn’t an expert at this but had the natural balance for it as she listens to his offer. “If you so badly want to rest your head on my lap there are cheaper ways than a trip in the mountains and getting cut up by a villain, plus it lets me play with your hair, so I consider this offer acceptable. Though I think I’ll pass on the hot cocoa for some tea and a book.”

“Well, maybe I like to pamper the pretty kitty is that so wrong,” Agi teased rubbing his nose against hers as they slowed down. He did smile however at the offer clearly liking the suggestion. With a small circle to slow them down Agi helped her off the ice, and to the bench to take the skates off.

“Then tonight your place by the fireside. While I serve you tonight so you can read to your heart’s content,” Agi chuckled.

“And how are you serving me by laying on my lap?” She asks in response with a bemused expression to her face. Now that they were on the bench she has yet to remove her skates. “And here I was thinking of putting on a little show for you, with my acrobatics it should not be too hard to do some tricks, but if you wish we could head back now, or was there something else you would like to do out here?”

“Easy nanobots are me after all,” Agi chuckled before raising an eye at her offer.

“By all means, my lady show off for me. Maybe Ill reward you if you amaze me” Agi chuckled motioning Mari to show off to him in her apparent display of natural skill

“Oh, a reward for me is it? Or is it simply something else you wish to do but will dress it up as such?” With that Mari heads back out on the ice and uses her balance and parkour skills to attempt a few jumps after getting up to speed, spinning as she does so, allowing her arms and tail to balance herself she does a few loops before returning, finishing her little act.

“Well?”

"Heh," Agi only laughed at her inquiry as he simply shrugged, leaving it open to interpretation as he watched her move onto the ice. She was definitely a beautiful, and graceful sight to behold… he really was lucky wasn't he? Once she was done she asked for his thoughts to such he smiled.

"I think I am," will that wouldn't make any damn sense as an answer to her he walked up to her with his left hand scratching rift behind her ear in the spot that was her trigger done once her cat reaction would kick in his sight hand would snake around her waist to pull her into a deep kiss parting get lips with his for a minute before pulling away to let her breath.

"10 out of 10," he smiled softly.

“Hmm.” She says returning his kiss in kind before moving out from under his ear scratching after a bit as her ears flick about. “Of course the reward would be something for yourself.” She says with a grin before batting him a little with her right fist in a playful manner. “Though I think I would like to return for the warmth of the fire.” Sitting down to take off her skates, she smiles and stands up, offering her free hand. “Though I’ll keep in mind you liking this.”

“Taking her hand, and her things so she didn’t have to carry anything after her performance the daylight quickly turned to night with the full moon blooming on the classes lodge in particular seemed everyone was rather drained by the activities of the day leaving Mari, and Agi to claim the main lodge room lit with a warm fire that Agi had made by hand. Humming as he grabbed the whistling kettle he poured the tea that Mari had given him carefully placing the cup down on the table across the couch she sat upon. Now in way more comfortable clothes, Agi bowed to his lady of the night.

“Shall I fetch milady anything else tonight,” he asked with a smile.

“Hmm..” With her slit pupils glowing in the dark with the flames dancing across them all seemed quiet for now. Sampling the tea he made she decided to be a bit nice with it all overall while also giving an honest answer. “I find the tea I make to be better, but this is presentable... As to what else to fetch me…” She pats her thighs a bit as she sat on the couch. “..how about you rest your head for your work today, I think you’ll find it more enjoyable when you aren’t bleeding and exhausted.”

“Oof brutally honest my love your arrows hit deep,” he faked being wounded as he did a small spin before dropping onto the couch as if defeated as he rested on her lap lifting up his legs against the end of the couch before letting out a soft sigh.

“Definitely the best spot in the world. We lost three more members though the groups starting to get small again,” Agi sighed letting out some of his concerns to Mari.

“I wouldn’t say the losses have hurt us at all. Five were lost but we’ve picked up six from what the class originally was, and gained a replacement for one more. That leaves twenty, so we can operate five teams of four or four of five. As Nomura-san said it may be nice to have no losses, but that’s not likely to happen. Such is the burden of command.” Brushing his hair a bit as he laid there, her long fingers rake through his hair, gently scratching his scalp. “Do not let such things worry you, those that recently left were not able to deal with what lies ahead. In a manner, this is for the best.”

“I mean more of in an emotional way, my love… kind of a nihilistic way to look at it my love,” Agi smirked as he relaxed into her massaging of his scalp just finally not doing anything for once, and just enjoying the peace.

“Though it’s true one should look for the positive at all times I guess,” Agi motioned to understand Mari’s viewpoint.

“However now we have all these gaining infamy villains to worry about apparently belonging to two separate villain factions that I swear seem to be working together almost,” Agi mumbled.

“Hmm..” Listening to his words it was one of the key differences between them as she continued to stroke his hair.

“If I stopped to worry about you all and never was able to let go, then I could not do the things I do. It may not be positives but it does not change the logistics of what I have, even if we were down to just eight of us I would still have to send us on missions. I hope it never gets that bad, however.”

“As to the villains, they do belong to two separate groups and I am not so sure they are working together, at least not for now, but they all, including the other oddities, do have a common source... I suspect if what I’ve heard about this Seer woman is true, then she knows much of the history of the nation.”

“Which is also a problem, but for another day,” Agi chuckled grasping Mari’s free hand with his own as he decided to rest up well not before adding another food for thought.

“Yet I think its best to enjoy each other for the rest of this night or we will go insane on this topic. Though I think its time you tell me what you know about Iniji,” Agi brought up clearly having heard of what happened on the last few missions and had avoided the topic for a while. Yet after what that boy had done to the scientist, it was time he knew all about it.

“Agi..” She says with a bit of a pause on the subject of Iniji. “You mean more to me than anyone else or at least I hope that will stay the case, but I cannot answer that for you, I’m under an NDA and it’s not my place to speak for him. You may have better luck pressing the boy himself for those answers or try to ask Nomura San, or at least make sure if I can speak or not on this. By now everyone should have known and at least four people now DO know, but out of three of those only one bothered following up on it..”

“Hmmm seem I owe some people a visit than alright. Ill let you off the hook… for now,” he sighed lightly teasing her as he decided to let it go, and relax.

“Oh? Is that how you feel now. Guess I cant allow you to escape me now than,” he smiled with his eyes closed holding onto her hand a little tighter as the fire kept them warm.

“Hmm, next time I should clean your ears.” She says with a small grin. “Though I suppose we can rest like this for a bit.”

........................

Checking her ski straps, Aika felt content with how she put them on. Standing up, she looked at the slope ahead of her. It was one of the longer slopes available in this resort, and probably one of the more straightforward ones. A few small jumps along the way, but otherwise, not much maneuvering. There were a few people making their way down, but Aika let herself take in the view for a moment, before she planned on beginning her way down.

“Upon that moment they locked eyes upon the new stage of battle,” a very familiar voice spoke with renewed cause, and energy as Agi appeared on her left side with a deadly glare of competition burning in his soul. He may have lost at the battle of Dorm Window, but today it was clear he was determined to beat Aika at the battle of Resort Peak.

“Aika knew this was a battle she could no longer dodge as her hunter had been hot on her heels for days,” Agi smiled, prepping his gear clearly challenging her to a race of silly proportions.

Hearing the voice, Aika sighed as she turned her gaze to Agi ”Planning on breaking the mountain now? Or was my room enough?” She asked sarcastically, before moving her gaze back to the slope ”You wanna race, I won’t mind. You wanna do a jumping duel, sure. Just don’t ask me how I am.” She said, and appeared to be waiting patiently for Agi to finish preparing his gear.

“Actually I did that a few hours ago. If you see Ota- Sensei you never saw me,” Agi strangely answered her mountain breaker comment with a laugh as he was now ready. Yet to her last answer he surprisingly gave her a soft smile as he gave her a thumbs up.

“I don't have to cause I am your friend,” and before she could argue a single thing he ushered off starting the race fueling her with probably the desire to now go after him.

Raising an eyebrow at his response to the mountain breaking and Ota-sensei, Aika just shook her head hearing his second answer, before pushing herself, starting to head down the slope. It actually made her be less inclined to race, but knowing Agi, if she didn’t, he’d find a way to go back up the slope and force her to race.

She started off being a bit behind Agi, and kept herself at a safe distance as they came upon the first jump. She saw a few people collide with each other due to being too close. Aika had no desire to join any of those people.

“Engarde,” Agi yelled without warning, doing a flip on one of the small jump slopes landing right back behind Aika with the help of his nanos, unwilling to let her forget he was there. He slowly started to catch up to her with speed of weight catching up to being away from her at her left waiting to see what she would do.

Seeing him go for a flip jump with his nanites, Aika didn’t bother looking back at him. She didn’t feel much like doing any big jumps herself, so instead she just lowered herself a bit further, to help herself speed up further some more. If it was a race, then it did still mean whoever got to the end first was the winner, after all.

Before she could successfully ignore him she would suddenly get a soft budge from snow from his skis as he was catching up to her.

"Come on there's gotta be some competitive streak in you," Agi shouted.

”There is! It’s a race, ain’t it?” Aika called back to him, before slightly slowing herself as she got to one of the jumps, passing it with a small hop, but nothing extravagant ”Unless you already think you can’t beat me?” She decided to shout further.

“Oh ya how about th… THUMP,” Agi was about to show off again but immediately slammed hard into a tree halting all movement as he dropped back front he force getting laid out flat as all the snow in the tree came crashing down on him.

Hearing the crash, Aika came to a halt and turned to look at Agi, who became buried in snow from the tree. Shaking her head a bit, she made her way to him, stopping next to the pile of snow ”Need help?” She asked, straight and simple. She knew he had his nanites that could likely help with digging him out, but also getting hit head first against a tree didn’t look like a nice feeling.

“How many people have left now? Vitalis, Mitsuo, Vigidris, Katsumi, Yori … each time feels rougher than the next quite honestly. Obviously Mitsuo, and Vitalis sting the most though,” Agi spoke up outta the blue as he pushed the snow off himself seeing Aika with the biggest of sweeps of snow being wiped off his view. He looked rather empty, not thought for once with no emotional stand which was definitely a rarity for him.

“I get that Suppression is a rough gig to work through, but very talented hard working people seem to fall left in right on this trail lately. Some with extreme reasons, and others with a soft whimper. I know I am a bit in your face Aika, but that's cause I don't want you to give up on yourself,” Agi sighed for a minute before taking Aikas extended hand as he finally got off the ground dusting himself off with his nanobytes clearly not happy to be cold a second time today.

“I feel like I failed each, and everyone, one of them because I didn't even notice my best friends lose faith in being a hero, nor noticed the black whole growing around Vitalis. Hell I wasn't even aware Mitsuo had family problems until Ichika told me way after he had left,” Agi expressed looking at her.

“So when I noticed you down in the dumps ya… I overreacted, scared that we would lose you to another important person in this dysfunctional second family we all have,” Agi stretched before finally giving her his normal smile.

“But that's not how you roll, you need time, and I need to learn to let you have,” he finished.

After helping him up, Aika stayed there and listened. It was very evident this was something on Agi’s mind for a while now. As he finished speaking with a smile, Aika shook her head a bit ”You’re an idiot, know that? You make it sound like you expected to see everything. No one can see everything that goes on in anyone’s heart. You can work on it for years and still not scratch the tip of the iceberg. Not unless they let you.” Aika then went and pushed him right back into the snow.

”Get your head out of your ass. You aren’t there for everyone. And you never will be there for everyone. But you can be there for those you have already formed bonds with. And if you figured out that I need space, then goddamn give it. You spent time with me, you know I’m not the type to share feelings. And if I wanted to drop out, then you would’ve stopped seeing me after that last mission.”

Kneeling down, Aika stared at him ”Now, drop this shit. I don’t like talking seriously like this, and I doubt you do too. And if I hear another word about that from you, I’m dragging you by the ear right to Ota.” She stated as a matter of fact, before standing back up and preparing to resume their race.

“I really didn't want to be on the ground again,” Agi mumbled as he was plopped back onto the ground as he listened to Aika do the one thing she really needed to do… rant, and oh boy did she do that. She let out quite a bit of frustration at him. To be fair, no one could be there for everyone. That was indeed true, but it didn't make him feel any less on the matter yet…

“Alright mom,” he laughed at her threat as he got back up with him dusting himself off this time as his nanos were in the fuck you mentality if they thought they were coming out to the cold again for something simple.

“...EAT MY DUST,” he laughed maniacally, immediately kicking off letting it go as she had requested.

Seeing him take off, Aika sighed before taking off as well after him. Bending forward, she allowed herself to accelerate and catch up to him, turning her gaze to him briefly, before suddenly slowing down a bit, before they arrived at another jump.

The race would go for quite a bit with Agi watching Aika catch up as they neared the second jump the nano boy surprisingly didn't do anything exciting, or intense. This time it was a normal jump with Agi using the moment to speed up.

Seeing Agi opt to not do anything, Aika used the jump to do a clockwise spin in the air, before landing with slight oomph. As she readjusted herself, Aika once more lowered herself forward, to help herself regain the speed that she lost in the landing.

“Oh? Trying to show off now? What happen to just the race,” Agi laughed smiling at Aika’s little show off as with next jump he did a counter-clock wise spin landing using the new distance to do a wide turn to catch up with Aika.

”If it distracts you from the race, why not.” Aika called out back to him, continuing to remain low as she went over the next jump without any stunts this time, focusing on continuing to gain more momentum.

“Oh then by all means lemme not distract you,” Agi chimed, cutting in front of Aika before taking the official lead to this long drawn draw as he shifted his weight to give a bigger boost as the two were nearing the end of the race.

Shifting her own movements, Aika barely managed to get to be by Agi’s side once more, before they both reached the end together. Coming to a halt, Aika looked at him ”Guess it’s a tie.” She said, before beginning to undo her ski straps.

“Heh, well then it seems we are trapped in this particular cycle. Good match Aika,”
Agi chuckled coming to a halt as he got his gear off before slapping Aika on the back like he would his bros.

“Aight madame before you try to run away, at least join me for some warm coco,” Agi nodded.

”Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. What I want right now is a nice hot shower. And I doubt Mari would be happy if you joined me for that.” Aika said, standing up, before patting him on his back ”See ya later Agi.” And with that, Aika was off, heading to return her gear and then get herself a nice, warm shower.

“Way to make it weird dork,” Agi laughed in response to her response. However he was happy to see her being more friendly. It really made hitting that tree on purpose worth it… well minus the soreness he was going to be feeling for a while.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RedArmyShogun
By now everyone was back from the hospital who had been admitted, including Kuroi, and all had been made known that one was leaving, one was coming, and they were all being given a field trip for a reward. He wasn’t sure how well that would go over given the recent assignments, but if anything, it showed Kuroi that time was pretty short. For once, he felt Agi’s philosophy was the correct one here, in that he should just go forward until he couldn’t anymore. That meant no more waiting.

Taking a trip over to the girl’s side of the dorms, Kuroi had spent the latter bit of the prior evening whipping up a small dessert; a bag of chocolate cubes. Having hid them successfully, he figured that it couldn’t hurt to bring something when he asked. That was a thing people did, right?

Knocking on Isa’s door, he waited for an answer, holding the small bag loosely at his side.

Answering by way of calling out, Isa stood up in what was a very long T-shirt that she used as sleepwear and for lounging around in and one could assume or hope was a pair of shorts under them as the long shirt went down to her knees, opening the door it seemed she had her console powered up and had paused from sitting in the floor to play it. “Ah Kuroi! Hiya! Huh?” Looking at what was in his hand she beamed a bit holding the door open. “Come in if yah want! Though er yeah, what can I do for yah?”

‘Oh, sure… Mainly just wanted to talk a bit though, and give you this,” He said, holding the small bag forward for her to take. “It’s chocolate. I made some yesterday, thought you would like it… Uh, yeah this might be easier not standing in the hall actually…” Musing that, he steps inside with a thankful nod. Even though they’d already been on a date before and seemed to hit it off, it didn’t stop him from being a bit nervous. “But uh… yeah. I’m not good at beating around the bush, and I don’t think you care much for it either. I wanted to bring you something and ask you if you wanted to do something at the ski resort… like another date.”

Sighing a bit, asking for another date wasn’t the difficult thing. “...But also if you wanted to try, like dating, if I didn’t scare you off at the amusement park. Or you can answer and see if I do so at the resort.” Chuckling a bit, he hoped that was only a joke and not something he actually did.


“Huh?” Looking at him and making sure she heard right, she takes the chocolates and grins. “Try’n to bribe me huh?” She says as she tries one of the chocolates before grabbing onto his arm and laughs. “Sure, I can be your girl. I’m not too demand’n but yeah, I think it’ll be fun. Though uh..are you sure you want to date me? I mean if we want ta’take it further you might have a little family test to do, I think you would be fine though but eh that’s a talk for some other time. I can let you go unless you wanna play some games with me, can always just wait till the little trip, yeah?”

Kuroi laughed a bit. “Only if it works. If it doesn’t, then it’s a gift,” He said before she grabbed his arm. “Demand all you want, I don’t really mind… Besides, I really do like you so… yeah.” Though, he raised a brow at the mention of a test. Her mom was Kanna and her dad was—someone that Kanna married, so it may be something to be concerned about. “Does the family test involve scaring the crap out of me and/or killing me?” He wondered, half-joking before smiling. “Well… I don’t really, so I’ll stay. We can talk about some of what to do at the resort too.”

“Er..they don’t go that far, but yeah you have to be judged able to at least take the beatings some of the kids can dish out and absorb. We don’t want to bring someone into the family, quirk carries over and they get fuck’n killed in a tempertantrum. Sides if we do go that far I’ll come with yah in case they do go too far.” She says answering his jest honestly. “My family isn’t as bad as everyone thinks.” Popping another chocolate into her mouth she grabs a second controller and resets the console to find a game they could play together.

“So that’s a real thing… Gonna be honest, I’ve kinda tried to avoid pissing off and/or fighting your mom but… yeah, that makes sense.” It did make sense, though he still wasn’t looking forward to it if things went that far, which Kuroi kind of hoped it did. “I don’t have much room to judge with mine, so you don’t really have to worry.” Besides, Kanna already had the opportunity to kill him if she wanted to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After travelling the way up the snow, Kuroi let out a visible exhale as they reached the resort. It didn’t bring up good memories given his last occurrence at a similar structure. No murder this time—please no murder this time.

He was sufficiently covered with winter clothing as opposed to his usual lighter wear. Waiting for the rest to disembark and get settled, he found Isa afterwards.

“Hey, wanna explore and see what’s around? Or was there something you wanted to do?” Kuroi asked.

Wrapping an arm around his shoulders to hold him from the side, Isa grins a bit before lowering it, she was prone to being a bit physical it seemed. “Nah, just looking around with you is fun, I don’t really know what there is to do around here, though we should come back here during winter when more snow is around. Be some fun, yeah? I can pay too!”

“But yeah, not too much to do here just yet huh? Being in the lodge would be boring, maybe some skiing, well eh I kinda wanna try a snowboard or snowmobile, what about you, Kuroi?”

“Yeah, I haven’t been to one save for… erm… well, I think I told you--Anyway.” Taking her hand in his, Kuroi began to stroll with her in tow. The resort was pretty fancy, containing a spa, restaurants, cafes, and of course the amenities for skiing, snowboarding, and gondola rides. “Snowmobile sounds pretty cool. Do you know how to snowboard?”

“Yeah!” She says in response to his question, letting her fingers entangle with his as they walked hand in hand. “Though eating or the spa would be good for after, wonder if we can drink here, just a nice fire and some cheap beer, Kehahah!”

“But yeah, where we are from is rather hilly so in the winter we would do all sorts of stuff on the slopes for fun, Ma isn’t much of a fan of just spending money cause it’s there, and I don’t mind, which eh now that we are dating, I like nice things but no need to spoil me yeah? Just going out and doing something simple or playing some games is nice yah know? Plus I think I have some other ideas.” Grinning at that she tugs on his arm a bit to lead them off to the rental and fitting booths that had the boards, skis and other things aside. “I’ll take a board, you planning to stick to the machine?”

“I won’t turn down a meal. Though… do you even think they’d serve us?” He was hesitant given the experience at the club. Though she did say cheap beer, which usually wasn’t that tough, or so he’d heard. “My family isn’t much of a fan of that either. I’m pretty low-maintenance; just get me a coffee or one of those frappuccinos if you really want to treat me.”

Chuckling a bit at that, he looked at her as she got a bit of a wily expression. Following suit, Kuroi glanced around at the fittings and such. “Eh, yeah. Unless, you really want to see me tumble down a mountain.”

“Haha. Hmm, tempt’n..” She says of his question. “I rather save money for other things, talk for another time yeah?” With that she selects her own board and grins. “I’ll just show you up a little eh? Still just don’t go too crazy on your ride, unless you want me to carry you.” She says with a grin, getting some gear to change into, most of which she did out where they were. “I dunno if they would serve us or not though, can’t hurt to ask eh.”

“Tempting she says…” Kuroi repeated, watching her locate her garb. “Eh, being carried doesn’t sound so bad. Maybe I’ll wipe out on purpose.” Shrugging a bit as he said that before pondering on the alcohol. “I guess it wouldn’t… you’re a fan of alcohol then I’m guessing?” That was a bit too on the nose for the oni to be interested in booze, but it was kind of funny in a way too.

“Heh. Shouldn’t you be the one carrying me?” At his next question she gives it some thought and answers. “Well yeah, time to time, I like chocolate and beef bowls more than that though. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at alcohol or somethin though. But yeah maybe we should get something to eat after this, I doubt they have ramen here but I’m sure they got some good sorts of food at least.” Isa says as she mounts her board and starts to penguin shuffle on it to walk forward. “Well don’t take your ride into the trees or it will be costing more than a stern talking too I bet.”

“I did at the amusement park; your turn,” Kuroi replied with a smirk as he picked out one of the snowmobiles and began to walk it out by the handles. Hopping on top of it and swinging a leg over, Kuroi began fiddling with the front. “Huh. Like it enough for it to work as a bribe too? My sister’s a bartender, you know. I don’t care for it too much… but then again, that might be cause the last time I indulged I had to carry everyone else home…” That night was interesting to say the least.

Regardless, as he settled in, Kuroi’s hands found the handles and he scoffed. “I’m not gonna-” As he said that, he accelerated the vehicle a bit, unprepared for the push. It cut him off and he looked over at her. “Not a word. I haven’t hit anything ye-eet!” Accelerating again, Kuroi sped off around the local area a bit shakily, though he at least seemed amused and hadn’t run anything, or anyone, over yet.

“You’ll have to tell me about that some time, yeah?” She says of his drinking and chuckles a little. “Come on, you know you liked carrying me around like a princess.” Watching him get jerked around a bit by the snowmobile she grunts a snort and just watches as he goes off again, before following him on her board. “Like I said don’t eat the trees.” She says to herself, half wondering if she might actually have to carry him off.

Pausing as he learns how to turn, he looks at her, seemingly amused by his attempts to wrangle the device. “I can… It was… Well, it was kind of a clusterfuck. Maybe later, so I don’t get too distracted and eat a tree,” He said, copying her verbiage. “No, I think you were the one enjoying it.”

Chuckling a bit after the tease, he twists the handles again and sends the snowmobile off, still having some jerky movements but all in all Kuroi hasn’t caused any property damage. Spending a moment of his newfound familiarity zooming around a bit, whether he was at this point trying to show off or just see what the thing could do remained to be seen.

“You know, I don’t think I dislike resorts that much anymore,” Kuroi mused as he skidded to a halt again.

“And what if I did?” She says with a smile as she turns away from him, sticking her tongue out at him as she passes, trying to keep her pace with his where able to on her board. “I learned a few tricks from Aunt Ayame, not many people that don’t know’er would think that the Red Panda girl was actually into a lot of extreme sports. One of her daughters is about the same, we hung out a lot. I think next time I’m off I’ll go visit her, and don’t worry I’ll still use that time ta go out with you.”

“Oh, so I did get points for that? Hm.” Kuroi watched her pass and maneuver on the board. So she had done it before. “Ayame does this kind of stuff? Kind of weird to see the head of ANVIL into this stuff, though Ayame does seem pretty normal despite the job.” It wasn’t that surprising in actuality. It’d be more odd to imagine the girl’s mother skiing down a hill. He leaned his forearms on the head of the bike for a moment's rest. “Good to know you aren’t replacing me that quickly though.”

“I wouldn’t say she still does, none of us are getting younger..well mostly. My Mom would likely never do this, she hates cold weather, though I can’t say I differ too much there and of course I’m not replacing you! Kehaha!” Skidding to a stop she grins at him a bit. “Why would I be getting rid of you already got more secrets for me to know about?”

“I mean, you don’t hate it enough to avoid being here,” Kuroi pointed out. “And you don’t hate it enough to not know how to snowboard… I kinda like the snow and cold, but I have no idea how to do that,” He admitted, though he still couldn’t picture Kanna doing this stuff. Pondering her question a moment, he ultimately shrugs. She was fairly up to date on everything going on. “Nothing you don’t already know, I think, unless you want me to ruin the mood going into detail on my parents’ criminal history. Though that’s not really a secret, just not something we really talk about in specifics.”

Obviously, she knew enough that he felt comfortable joking about it. Then there was also the Haya situation but--Well, he’d already told everyone who he thought would be best knowing, including her. Now, just thinking about it without being able to do something just put him in a poor mood.

“Anyway, can you do tricks and stuff on that?” Kuroi asked curiously.

“A couple yeah?” She says in response with a question, Kuroi had a lot on his mind, but here and now wasn’t the time for a talk on it. Maybe sometime soon, like after a meal or when they were winding down or something. Isa would make a note to ask then if he was still bothered. Though back to the moment at had she shrugs.

“Well the cold can play with our quirks a bit so are some reasons for us not to like it. Though yeah I know some tricks, I think we better get you used to a board before we do any trick teachin. Or were you want’n a show?”

Raising a brow at that, her quirk didn’t seem like something to be affected by temperature. “Really? How does it mess with your quirk?” He asked, pondering further. “I was more meaning a show, but I wouldn’t mind learning. You really think you can teach me?”

“Huh well I could do both, you just decide, though uh either way we’ll need to go back up the mountain. Unless you want a short trip from here. Still though I think we can do a couple runs yeah?” Thinking on how to answer his question she gives a shrug. “It just more tames the blood or hinders it a little, though as long as you can keep up the flow inside yourself and stay warm it’s not really an issue. But Temps or situations like that are dangerous to most people.”

Patting the snowmobile as if in invitation, it certainly made traversing back up fairly simple. “Well, there’s this. Might as well use it. We can take it back up and then you can keep me from falling down the slope,” Kuroi proposed, not fully joking about that last part. “Wait, your quirk is blood based? I just figured it was a transformation or such.” Come to think of it, he didn’t really have much of an issue using his quirk in temperatures like this.

“Sorta, it's a mutation quirk, you should see how we look when we get mad. Like lots of people think it's some sort of emitter or something, we are just more pretty looking mutants… Well till we start to snarl at least.” She adds in before fighting to remove her board, carrying it off to the side in one hand. “This is gonna be a pain… But Eh I could tell you more about it, guess given all the secrets you’ve told me here lately I can let you in on one. My Grandma from Ma’s side was once an S Rank Villain and Terrorist, the damned funniest thing is that some in our class, their grandparents are who defeated her. Well two of em with gravity playing third wheel.. So yeah as long as your family isn’t kill’n people now, I don’t care, I mean my grandma will likely scare you, though if she turns you on I’m gonna belt you in the face.”

“Well, I know that much… You get all red, bigger horns. Don’t think I’ve heard the snarling, but I don’t think that’s that bad,” Kuroi mused before accelerating to catch up with her. So that was what she was talking about at the aquarium. “Huh, so that’s the secret… I mean, more than Kanna? ...That didn’t sound right…” He was still scared of her, even though he had seen her ‘nice’ side. However, at the last bit he froze, taking a few moments to process. “Uh… what? ...Turn me on…?”

“Huh, nah I’m the only one with the horns. And ah, Grandma barely aged, or at least ages well, same as Ma really, maybe same as me one day. She won’t actively try that, I’m just saying if I see you looking at her wrong I’m gonna hit you, but eh enough of that. Lets just get up the mountain, less you got more questions?” Isa says with a huff.

"The only person I'd be looking at is you… and I'd bet there's still a decent chance of me getting hit," Kuroi joked before shrugging. It was still a bit odd that she felt the need to warn him. Did her grandmother take up modeling after the terrorism? Regardless, he followed next to her. "Nope, so let's go." Edging closer to her, Kuroi nudged her a bit and pulled her onto the back of the snowmobile. "Hang on or we might go into a tree," He warned with a small smirk, giving her an opportunity to steady herself and get situated before accelerating the vehicle back up the slope.

Slowing down to a cruise as they reached the top, Kuroi pulled to a stop with a small chuckle. "So, you teaching me?"

Doing the rest of the ride in silence as she held onto him she seemed to have nothing more to say on the matter as they traveled, till they stopped at least at the top.

“Eh I can try, I’m not as good at this as Aunt Ayame was, hell maybe still is… Speaking of, the Kitty President should be good at it as well. But it’s all in the hips yeah? You ever been on a skateboard or roller blading, surfing, any shit like that?” Isa asks of Kuroi.

"Really? Mari?" Then again she was dating Agi. They had to have some similarities. She couldn't be all books and work. However, at Isa's question he deadpanned a bit. "Uh… not really… at all. I think we tried making a skateboard once," Kuroi answered as he got off the snowmobile.

"But I can balance pretty well I think. I should be able to not fall. Uh… I should probably get my own, huh?".”

“Well yeah, I can’t go with you, get a board and then we’ll start!” Waiting for Kuroi to get his own board and return Isa puts her own back on then took a stance on the board. Once he was back she waddled over to the mountain slope and pointed to a more gentle portion. “We’ll take that one, don’t want you to break anything. Walk over here like I did, that board stays on your feet till the bottom is reached.”

“First you want to go with whatever leg is your dominate in the lead, most people lead off on the right, but if you are more comfortable with your left go with it, what I use. First you want to lower your center, like so and get rooted in there, kinda just squatting down, hold your arms out like this.” She says taking up the stance and lowering herself with her arms trailing ahead and behind. “Then you just keep moving your hips to stay straight, if you start to fall, move your feet straight and lean back so your ass takes the fall and not your face. Also how you slow down and stop minus the falling bit, standing up also helps. We won’t worry about any tricks till you can get down, though I might stay up here and do some on the way down for yah.”

“Questions lover boy?”

Returning with the appropriate gear, he had exchanged the snowmobile for a board and fiddled with them a bit to get situated and locked in. Waddling and hopping after her, Kuroi edged closer to the slope. He had to swing around to adopt the proper lead leg on his right side and mimicked her general posturing. Crouched slightly, arms out, he pondered. "Ooh, my first pet name," Kuroi mused aloud. "Yeah, princess… How exactly do I turn to avoid any of the mentioned trees?"

“You stir the board with your legs, wanna turn right you gotta shift that forward and back foot like you want to turn, but just a little bit, its all in feeling where you are going and then moving with it, sorta like any sort of sport on your feet. You can only learn it by trying and this is the easy part of the hill anyways, so give it a try! And yeah, you got something you rather I call you?” She says, sticking her tongue out. “Or put another way, get good.”

Humming at that, Kuroi pivots a bit trying to do as she says but stationary. Perhaps it was better to just go and see. Scooting closer, he ponders her question before shrugging ultimately. “Eh, whatever you think fits… I kinda like it.” Though, as he approached the slope and began to slide, he heard her comment and narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh, fu-aAckyou!” Midway through the comment he felt his wait shift and his body jerked to stabilize as she slid down. He wobbled a bit, clumsily managing to follow the slope in his descent. Somehow, he didn’t crash into anything, though he didn’t so much stop at the bottom as straightened his legs, then started to lose balance and plant himself forward in the snow. “...It didn’t stop.”

Following behind him, Isa performs a few minor tricks, including jumping into the air and bending her board underneath her as she grabbed it one handily, landing the jump she angles her body to bring the board across the snow, stopping her decent as she heads for Kuroi. “Hehehe! You get used to it sooner or later! Wanna try again or am I too much for yah?”

Grumbling, Kuroi pushed himself up. “If you being a showoff wasn’t kinda hot…” With a huff and a shove, he was back on his feet. He crouched down to fiddle with the restraints and free his legs before picking the board up and beginning his ascent. "That was the first try," He stated with a small huff.

However, the next few attempts fared only a little better. He seemed to control it better on the way down, though the braking seemed rough even when he neglected falling. Waving his hands sporadically to balance as he skidded to a halt, Kuroi looked over at Isa with a mixture of cockiness and a pout. "See? I can not fall."

Grinning at him a bit, Isa pats him on the back. “Maybe I should call you Prince for calling me Princess earlier, Kehahah! Though, yeah not half bad, you got a ways to go still, but this cold is starting to get to me, how about we get something to eat? You get to go first and pick out where, your highness, gondola is not too far from here, fuck climbing this hill.”

Kuroi pouted again, but made a small smirk after. "I think prince is pushing it, but I did say I don't mind so go for it," He told her with a nod. "Sure, let's go eat."

Having an easier time removing his feet from the restraints, he pulled free and picked up the board before looking at her. "Oh, did you want me to carry you again, princess?" He didn't mind the prospect, though it might be more difficult with the boards. More interesting though was the food, and Kuroi wondered what all they had here. "Huh, there were some restaurants, but also a buffet apparently… Buffet?" He asked her.

“Eh I’ll think of a name and heh, I don’t think princess much suits me, but do what you want.” She says in quick reply, listening to his offers of where to eat, she nods at the last one. “That’s good, we can get whatever then, well if they have many options. We’ll do that one then.” Hefting her own board up and to her side she shrugs. “Nah, let’s do that later, you carrying me that is. You seem eager to do that after all.”

Kuroi deadpanned a bit at that. “It’s a buffet. If they don’t I’ma riot,” He replied halfway seriously. “But hum… Maybe.”

Returning the boards, Kuroi takes her hand and makes way toward the buffet. Reaching it, it seemed fairly typical of a buffet, although a bit more upper class being in a resort. Kuroi appeared to approve given the grin on his face. “Looks like it has options,” He says, looking at Isa for approval or second thoughts.

“Fuck.” She says blankly as they looked at what was there. “We both look a bit out of place nah? Huh..” The food did look good though, even if it was clearly aimed at people of a higher social standing than they were. “Hell with it, Let’s go! Yosh!” Leading him by the hand she grins. “Maybe if my side sing’n does well enough or I go Pro hero or someth’n then we won’t have ta look so out of place! Or is that one of those putting lipstick on a pig thingies? You were going to ANVIL yeah? I don’t think Ma would give you too much of a hard time honestly.”

“Who gives a shit? It’s out of season and the hole in my stomach closed,” Kuroi commented, going along with her, looking at her bemused. “Oh? You gonna buy me fancy clothes and hair gel when you make it big?” He didn’t see the point in spending so much money on such things like some others. “Eh, I think I wouldn’t mind seeing you gussied up, but you don’t have to do much to impress me. I like looking at you without a bunch of makeup in the way.”

Pondering that, his stare blanked a bit. “Yeah… Too much, huh…?”

“Fuck no. If I wanted a guy like that I would likely end up pulling my hair out. And I wouldn’t want to just throw money around.” She says of his offer for clothes and gel. Listening to his next words, her face blushes briefly before she grins. “Huh, I can’t say I’ll go that far to look nice, but I could wear a sundress or someth’n for you then. Makeup I’ll pass on though. Anyways let’s eat!”

Kuroi laughed a bit at that. “Good, because I know how long Yori takes getting ready in the morning, and it’s a massive pain in the ass,” He said with a light scoff, before smirking a bit at her. “Huh, well I wouldn’t complain.”

Going with her over towards the line of food, Kuroi begins to rather quickly try to stack the various offerings on a meager plate. It wasn’t a question of if he could fit it. If it looked good, he was going to fit it. “This was the right choice. Though… if any of the places were gonna give you booze, I don’t think this one is it.”

“I ain’t got time to fucking around with all that. Ugh pointless. I like how I look!... Mostly… You figured that. Though the food is nice, we might as well enjoy ourselves, then maybe go find a place to get a couple drinks if we can. Or eh maybe mot, just head back to the Inn and call it a day.”

Starting off at her own tray, Is settled for some sort of meat cuts.

"Mostly?" Kuroi hummed, wondering what that meant. He shrugged a bit. "...Up to you I guess, though I won't have much. Doesn't taste that good to me."

Taking a seat with his plethora of various treats and began to sample them in no particular order. "But yeah, unless you ask me to, I ain't going through Yori's morning routine or hanging myself with a tie, regardless of how it looks."

“Yori has a… No, he would. He keeps more care of himself than most of the girls.. I don’t think he’ll stay with us though. And eh you might look alright in a tie, I could even tie it for yah! But eh, I don’t think I would like it for everyday wear.” Looking at his own plate it seemed he had a lot of treats and sweets, while she had mostly meat. “I wonder what the school pays for all this, or the Hero Association, can’t be cheap.”

“I wonder… and you think? Though not sure I’d be in a position to use it much… Does ANVIL have a dress code?” He asked, suddenly pondering it. They weren’t always in combat gear. Taking one of the donut balls powdered with sugar, he bit into it with a hum and shrugged at her question. “Probably not, but we’re risking our lives, so I think we deserve some good food and stuff at the least, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I think they do, the dress code that is, but it might not just be all uniforms like Ota Sensei wears, I mean I’ve seen Ayame a time or two in a jumpsuit, or fatigues with a shirt.. Ma pretty much wears the same stuff all the time, though she does also wear a black uniform. And eh I dunno, I mean I don’t mind it, it just makes me wonder what they expect us to pay back in kind. I don’t mind a challenge but I get an idea things will just be more dangerous from here on. So might as well enjoy it.”

“Good… seems stuffy,” He commented before raising an eyebrow. “I thought this was the payback? Considering a quarter of us got holes put in us.” That being said, it did feel like everything had gone to shit more recently. Frowning, he didn’t like the idea of things somehow getting worse.”More dangerous than now?” He asked blankly.

“Yeah, that’s what I think, the girl I was fighting seemed to like it a bit too much and she was working for others. Plus the Principle wants to investigate all these things and none of us are detectives, that means throwing us at what the police sees or they come for us. And Eh not like stuffy would hurt you too much, what you thinking you’ll stick with this team shit or going all pro now?” Isa asks.

“So… villain is a creep. That’s not too rare,” Kuroi stated with a sigh. “Though I told you about the assassin shit already. I have no idea how all that’s going to pan out…” At this point it was just trusting and waiting. Shaking his head, it still hadn’t changed his mind though. “No, still going ANVIL. It works better if I want to help my mom, and with all my baggage the PR-obsessed HA isn’t the best fit.”

“Huh..Yeah I’m trying to forget about that, I know a few things about our class, it’s gonna be interesting.. Well one word for it.” She says of the revelations on Haya, she could understand why Kuroi was worried, but she and Haya did not mesh together at all and their team up was a mess. The fact that girl was an Assassin, or related to them also cleared up one other matter she knew about and why she seemingly did not care.

“I still dunno where I want to go. PR I’m not sure I would be much better, this team stuff isn’t exactly my thing and ANVIL I dunno if I could put up with the orders and stuff. We’ll still got half a year to decide something.”

“No kidding…” Kuroi didn’t want to dwell on it too much either, though it was difficult. Mainly when he was on his own. He did everything he could for the moment, so he didn’t want to let himself sulk, especially while he was with Isa.

“Eh, I think you’d be fine. Singing also helps with that. Doesn’t ANVIL have more red tape too? You seem to more fit being a hero than ANVIL,” Kuroi suggested.

“Eh yeah likely, ANVIL would likely just get to me. Not like it would be a problem if I did that either, but uh, huh lets talk about something else, like anything we might want to know about each other or some’thin?” Isa asks, trying to change the subject like Kuroi had tried to do.

“Mm.” Thinking on her question, Kuroi considered what he did or didn’t know about her. “I dunno, that’s kind of first date stuff I think, which we’ve been on a few kind of… Uh, is there anything you want to know about me?” When something popped up, he wasn’t shy of asking about it, though just thinking of something abruptly was a bit stifling. “Oh! You mentioned some, test thing your family does… What exactly is that?”

“Well like you said this is more than a couple dates and we’ve hanged out a few times.. I just didn’t wanna spoil our food over work talk yah know.. But hmm, I guess if you are serious with me I can tell yah.” Pausing from her eating, she gestures with her hands a bit as she carries out the talk.

“Basically it’s what I said, we want to make sure you are strong or durable enough to deal with our quirk on the low end of things. So far it tends to mostly carry with the females of the family with some little changes or spill over here and there on the males. But more or less yah gotta run a gauntlet, not saying you have to beat anyone, but you have to get past, restrain or survive a hit from a few of us. Everyone goes through it and they shouldn’t go at you seriously. If you reach the end then no one in the family will reject you being included. Though my Grandma tends to do something crazy, like throwing a giant tire or some barrels down the path. Like it’s a path that starts at the foot of the Family land and ends up at the family temple we run. Shinto isn’t like Christanity though so don’t worry none, we don’t preach that much. I think you would be fine, so would a couple other males in the class, a couple more I don’t think could hack it. Plus I plan to stick around to make sure mom doesn’t go too far out of spite.”

“Well, yeah. I don’t either,” Kuroi said, feeling tired out of work. Listening in on the thorough explanation, he idly munched on his serving. Cocking his head a few times at some oddities in the details. “If I wasn’t serious I wouldn’t be here, and I’m not gonna stop dating cause of the challenge… either way, I kinda get it.” Basically, most of the kids came out like Isa or Kanna, which was terrifying, but it made sense. “So I get the gauntlet, and I don’t really mind doing Shinto stuff… but your grandma’s going to throw barrels at me like that old video game…?” He questioned with skepticism. “Actually, I know your mom a decent bit, but I don’t think you’ve mentioned your dad much now that I think about it.”

“Well, Grandma is a bit odd, like she’s more, calm than she was in the past, but she rather still enjoys violence and we sorta don’t trust letting her just fight people now days and for her not to turn it into a huge throwdown, so the barrels are kinda therapeutic for her. Grandpa is the reverse though, he has a calming effect on others and is a bear of a man… But hmm, yeah dad, he’s also in ANVIL, funny enough I think he’ll be harder on you than Ma might be, but only cause he’s a training Sergeant, named Taka. He’s where I get a lot of my damn swear’n from, but like he’s a good guy, well you know as good as a Drill Sergeant can be. His quirk is where I got the horns he’s also where I got to drink first keheheh! But yeah, I was always more partial to him and my grandpa. I think you’ll like him...er I don’t think he’ll have one of those odd protective dad factors. But yeah he tends to not like bullshit and I think the only person he really answers too is Ma and Aunt Ayame. He takes physical training pretty seriously too, it was through that and their heavy spars that Ma decided to get with him, or rather took a direct interest in him, me and three other kids close in age were the result.”

“Therapeutic, huh…” Kuroi hoped that was just the physical exertion and not just if one of the barrels ended up doming him. Chuckling a bit at her mention of the alcohol, he sounded okay. Then again, Kuroi would reserve full judgement until they met. “He sounds cool, though I don’t think he has much need to be protective. I’m pretty sure you could throw any guy in class that bothered you,” He commented. “Though I still think your mom will be the harshest judge… even if she was kinda nice the last time I saw her.”

“Oh she likely will be, like I said I’ll just make sure she doesn’t go too far, but fully expect her at or towards the end.” Isa adds in about her mom, not addressing the issues of her Grandmother. On the note of family however; “What about your family? Like I could tell more about my siblings and I know the past of your parents, but how are they now? Like, I don’t give a shit as long as they aren’t jumping for joy at the prospect of kill’n another mother fucker, or wanting to turn any future kids we have towards evil or some shit. I mean my mom’s job is basically being an executioner, so I’m not gonna get all Moral over your family, just wondering if they are dicks or whatever.”

“Yeah… thank you.” Kuroi sincerely was happy that she would be there to protect him from her mother getting too giddy. Though at the prospect of his family he hummed and paused eating himself, chuckling a bit at her worry of either of them conscripting any potential kids. “No, neither would be interested in doing something like that, but hm…” Thinking on it, he supposed he’d go with his mother first. “My mom I think you’ll like. She isn’t very expressive and she can be stern, but it’s more of a maternal kind. She had to grow up pretty young and even when she was a kid she was acting like a mom. She doesn’t have any interest in the villain stuff since she had my older sister. She pretty much devotes everything to taking care of us… At the very least, she’ll like you. I mean, she likes your mom too. I’m… not really sure why; I know your mom doesn’t care for her much. Never said she wasn’t weird.”

Smiling a bit at that, Kuroi sighed thinking on how to start with his father. “Uh, my dad I’m more worried about. I don’t think he’s ever liked the idea of killing someone necessarily, but…” Pausing a bit, he knew his mom at least regretted some of the stuff she did. Kiyoshi was another story. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t regret any of it necessarily… If my mom is weird in a good way, he’s weird in a bad way, I’d say. He has this, interest, in people that I don’t really get. He likes to see how they’d react in whatever situation; seeing how they tick. He won’t be a dick to you or try to hurt you. By all accounts, he was a father to me and my siblings growing up; did all the ‘dad’ stuff. Still, you might find him a bit off-putting even though he acts normal. He doesn’t really feel attachments in the same way most people do, I think.”

“Huh..” Listening to his words, it sounded like his dad was a bit of work. “Well, I mean in wars and the like most people don’t feel sorry for what they did and they would do it again if things repeated.. I guess given he at least tries for you all means I could put up with him, but would be a bit odd for them to have a hero for a daughter-in-law if we go that far. Though then again no more strange than the Guard Dog of ANVIL to have a hero or idol hero for a daughter if I went that far.. I dunno, not to go back to that topic, but I just wanna help people. Ah yeah on that note, I don’t think he would go that far, but my eldest brother has always been a bit of an eldest brother, he’s a priest though, but I expect him to be a bit protective. Then I got another brother, that's a year older than me, he took a totally unexpected route in life and works as a traveling mechanic in the local villages near where we live, does some handyman work, none of us have a clue where he got that from. Then I have a younger sister but I dunno what she plans to do, she’s a student still so guess no need to worry.”

“Eh… I mean, like I said, he won’t be a ass to you. Likely he’ll talk to you like a normal person. I’m kind of the only one who has this hitch with him because of that. Mom loves him, my siblings all do more or less, but… like I said, he’s weird. I wouldn’t strike it out that he’s behaving because the alternative is he won’t be able to watch all the ‘people of interest’ from inside jail,” Kuroi mused before shrugging and listening in regard to her brother. “I get it. I’m protective of my family too. Mainly the youngest, though. We say she’s the ‘normal’ one. Ah, my older sister you shouldn’t have to worry about. She’s a bit like mom; grew up fast to help take care of us. She’s a bartender now. Can be a bit stone faced with dry humor, but not too hard to get on her good side. She may even bring you some gifts if she hears you drink.” Smiling a bit at that, he moved onto the others. “Might have some trouble with the twins; they’re a bit rough and fight about pretty much everything. No friggin clue what those demons are going to try to do. They usually know when to not cross the line though. Baby sister will probably love you. She got the good parts of both my parents I think. Like I said, the ‘normal’ one and probably the only one in our family that will go to college… but ah, either way. None of them will jump you or anything.”

“Heh I would like to see them try. I mean, me and my family did jump one another and when we fought normally walls would get holes in them..might be why we only get cheaper and older vidya systems.. Never thought about that till now..” Seemingly as if caught off guard by her own realization she takes on a more glum expression. “..I always thought it was mom just being cheap, but our insurance has got to be high if we even have any.. Well good thing the house is made of wood. Though eh I’m not worried about your twins, I’ll even take it a little easy and just kick their asses in place of beatin em down if they stray too much. Ain’t I just nice?”

“Hah, then maybe your family can adopt the twins. Sounds like they’d fit in,” Kuroi commented with a chuckle. “Go for it. That’s assuming they’ll learn. Experience would say they don’t. I’m not sure if it’s more funny or annoying that they only go at it over the dumbest shit. I swear they’ve tried to kill each over the last pizza pocket. First time mom took it and the second time I ate it while they weren’t paying attention… If it happens a third time, I’m pretty sure they’re a lost cause.” Smirking a bit at that, Kuroi takes one of the last treats on his plate and pops it in his mouth.

Finishing the meal, they headed for the next stop for Isa’s beer while further discussing family. Kuroi had requested that they keep it light given past experiences and didn’t want a repeat. Somehow, they managed to score a couple of the cheaper alcoholic beverages in one of the upper lounges. Kuroi was hesitant drinking from the beer, making obvious, aversive expressions after each sip. “...This is not at all like what I had before…”

“Well yeah, beers like this are only like 5% alcohol. It’s not like where you got shitfaced with the other morons.” Isa says with a chuckle as she turns up one of the cans. “Ah! Nothing like Japanese beer! Though Sake is nice too. But yeah given our sizes and quirks even a handful of these won’t do much. Still not a good idea to drink all the time. “Though the flavor might take some getting used to, least it doesn’t burn your throat out… Honestly glad I didn’t get asked to that, assholes.” She says of the others before crushing the can. “Like a dozen of these is what it takes to bother me, but I’m not going to drink that many. And there are all sorts of flavors, even chocolate and coffee, but most are Malt.”

Kuroi cringed a bit at the blatant mention of the event. “That’s why I’m drinking it. Fuck hangovers,” He murmured the last bit in spite towards the after-morning headache. “I’m more into the sweet stuff… and you didn’t miss much--Well, that’s a lie. More like you didn’t miss anything you wouldn’t have wanted to. It was a clusterfuck.” Shivering a bit at recalling all the alcohol downing and other behavior, Kuroi didn’t want to go that far into the deep end again. “As long as you’re the only drunk person I’d be carrying… as opposed to last time.”

“Sweet stuff huh? I might know of a few things to let you try later.” She says of his remark. “And yeah that had to suck, the cat would be fuck’n livid if she ever learned of it, tripply so if you all ended up in a tabloid. Ota I think would be disappointed, but just with how he acts at times, I would bet he knows, but he’s pretty hands off huh? Better than my last school, those people were always on my ass. And yeah I’m not mad about missing it, more of that they wouldn’t consider it, but now that the secret is out on my mom, I think lots of people fear me maybe. But eh..”

“Only one that tabloids would care about would be Yori… and honestly, I half think that’d be best for him. The idol shit has more red tape than ANVIL,” Kuroi commented with a sigh. “Haven’t talked too much with Mari, but I don’t really want a lecture from her either… What was your old school again?” He asked before frowning, recalling she had believed that he thought the same at one point. “Your mom is only scary if you’re doing something wrong… or, if your parents did, I guess… Why do you think others are afraid of you?”

“Yeah and pretty boi is gone now.. Ah well, not my type.” She says to the first bit. “Eh she’s on the level mostly, but I can tell she’s one of those proper sorts, and I went to Shiketsu, surprised the Vampire Princess went back. But that school had lots of rules and prohibitions, like pretty much everything we’ve done today could get you in trouble there. I think most of us they threw over here they just wanted to be rid of. And eh? Because I’m the Oni, Demon, Devil. Then there is who my mother is and people like to hype that up a lot. But being here made me see I can’t run from that, she’s my mother, I just gotta learn to get out from under her shadow.”

Kuroi seemed to pout at her comment a bit. “Woow, so I’m not pretty?” He asked jokingly.

He had heard Shiketsu was like that, though he never went. They were like UA, after all, in terms of getting into the school and he had always planned going into ANVIL anyway. “I’m surprised you didn’t start a riot there,” He commented before shrugging. “You’re cute too, though, and no one can say you aren’t nice if you’re hanging out with me. But… no, you can’t. No more than I can run from my dad.”

“Eh, you aren’t bad, but I don’t think anyone in the class took keeping up their looks as far as he did, with reason though.” Listening to the rest, she grins a bit at the first half. “Eh, lets say they have ways of putting a stop to that. Still wasn’t too bad I guess, I just don’t wanna go back. And of course I’m cute! Heheh!”

With the talk switching back to their parents, she takes a more solemn expression then nods. “We’ll be alright, though, I think for better or worse, I’m going to do my training under mom. I think she has what I need.. Well sorta.. I doubt I could copy all she does.”

“Oh, only not bad. Wooow,” Kuroi said blankly, though he wasn’t really offended. He didn’t think he was statuesque or something. He smirked at her ‘humility’, though noted the frown. She brought up an interesting point though, as he needed to accept one of the trainings. “I think that’d be good… I have no real preference. Maybe Ayame’d be willing to train me, but I feel it might be better to have someone with a similar-ish quirk… Might just tell Sensei to sign me up with whoever he thinks would work.”

“Well, you are more my type.” She says with a grin before thinking on his choices. “Might be best to ask Ota-san, yeah? Ayame is nice, but I would expect her to work with my mom, neither of them can take out the time to train us all...well however many go..”

“Maybe…” Kuroi said, pondering the latter. Taking another sip of the beer, he looked at her a bit with a thoughtful expression. “Type, huh... “ He mused with a hum. “In that case, lemme try something.” Lowering the drink, he nudged the bottom of her chin towards him with his free hand and leaned in to kiss her. Pressing his lips against hers for a bit, Kuroi retracted with a small smile, apparently a bit giddy.

Returning the kiss she looks at him with a bit of an amused look to her face. “Heh, so happy about that huh? Well I don’t mind, I was thinking of doing it myself to see what you would do.”

Kuroi appeared to pout a bit at that. “Well, yeah… and if I’m gonna be put through a gauntlet, I think I deserve that much,” He commented. “But feel free to test my reaction anytime… Either way, you wanna head back, princess? Or is this the part where you make me carry you?”

Thinking back to one of her songs that interested him, she grins with a tilt of her head. “Live a comfortable way, baby.” Running a hand under his chin, she pauses and then pats him a little on the cheek. “Oh if we go that far I’ll give far more than kisses. But not now, kehahah.. An’tempt’n being carried.. But eh, nah, not in a resort, we’d never hear the end o’it from the knuckleheads. I’ll make sure to have you do that another time though.”

Blushing a bit at that, he raises a brow at her comment. “Oh? Now I’m curious,” He commented, though he did have somewhat of an idea of what she meant. He wasn’t that dense. Shrugging at her mention of the lecturing, he set aside the empty beer mug and took her hand. “Yeah, I’m sure you will.”
 
Sitting up in the lift, her eyes glanced the slopes. There, almost like a shining beacon, was a bed of pink hair. Considering her previous companion, it seemed pink hair was on the “menu” today, so to speak. She had just finished skiing with Yamkun, but… She wasn’t all that tired, so.

The lift would take a moment to circle back around to the slopes, so she had time to whip out her notebook and draw. It was a rough sketch, but it was of her athletic, pink-haired classmate. She was just finishing up the early stages of the sketch when she was able to hop off and make her way over to the girl.

“Yo, sis!” Keihō began with a friendly wave of her hand. “Remember me? I was just introduced -sort of. Name’s Keihō Awate! Your new classmate! Treat me right! Fufu~”

”Hm?” Aika heard someone call out to her. Turning to look at her, Aika raised an eyebrow. Did Ota mention them having a new classmate? She must’ve not noticed ”Welcome to the class then, or whatever. And see ya.” Aika said, before pushing herself onto the ski route and beginning to make her down the slope. It wasn’t the steepest option for the skiing, but she felt like doing a bit more maneuvering than just a straight dive down right now.

“Woah, hey!” Keihō called, taken by surprise. “This class has all sorts, huh?” she mumbled to herself. Today was literally her first day of skiing, but this slope wasn’t too bad. So decked out in her purplish red ski suit, she hopped on her matching skis and took off after the other person.

“Hold up!” she called, waving. “What’s your name?!”

Focusing her sight on the slope, Aika couldn’t hear much with the wind that started to blow in her ears. After doing the route a few times already, she had gotten used to the turns, it was more challenging to see how sharp of a turn she could make each turn, before she felt herself losing balance. Taking the first turn, she caught a glance of the same girl from before waving to her, but she couldn’t hear what was being called to her. And not wanting to stop mid-route, Aika continued going down the slope, taking the turns and continuing to challenge herself.

“Awaa…” Keihō whined to herself. This chick was as hardcore as she appeared! And a bit stand-offish, huh? Welp, that was no reason to give up! Still, for a newbie skier like herself, there was no way she could realistically catch up! But whatever! She decided to try anyway! So the redhead focused hard, and placed her skis together to go flying down the slope, her red-hair whipping in the wind. It was a bit scary, but Keihō was fairly athletic; she could handle it.

As she kept making her way downwards, she caught sight of a shadow that appeared behind her. Glancing backwards, Aika saw the red hair was still heading down the slope, albeit with a very obvious stance of someone who was still getting used to it. Shifting her stance slightly, she moved herself on the route and got to a jump, getting a bit of air, before landing and continuing forward. She doubted the other girl would be capable of landing a jump if she was on her first few days of skiing, unless she was a ski prodigy.

“Euhhh?! Awaha.. She’s really testing me. Does she want to kill me?” Keihō wondered aloud. Well, it was time to be brave! She just saw the pink-haired girl do it. How hard could it be?

Keihō leaned forward and dashed towards the jump. Feeling fear grip her heart she launched off the jump like Aika before. Since she was a total newbie, she didn’t try to do any fancy movements or tricks. All she did was adjust her balance for the landing. Which she nailed! Albeit with a jerk and stutter. “Ack. Heh heh.. Did it. Woot!” She realized Aika was escaping her, so she sucked up the strain from her legs and continued on down the slope.

Turning her gaze backwards briefly, she managed to spot the red hair doing her jump, but landing poorly. After figuring it must’ve hurt, she kept going down the slope, performing a couple more jumps, albeit smaller but closer ones, before finally reaching the bottom of the slope, where she started heading in the direction of the lift.

She really doesn’t want me to catch up, huh? Is this some sort of hazing ritual? None of the others did that, when Keihō thought about it. Maybe this chick was just mean? Ah, well, that was perhaps even better. It would be easy to not become friends with someone who was mean.

Regardless, Keihō lowered her body to become aerodynamic, cutting down the slope. She followed up the jumps, too. As they were smaller and since she had already managed to land a jump before, these weren’t too bad. So before long, she also reached the bottom of the slope. Only to not really know how to stop, and skid haphazardly, awkwardly flailing her arms around. She finally fell over, face first into the snow.

“Puh! Puh!” She spat, before quickly pushing up onto her feet, snatching up her skis and running after the pink-haired chick. “Heyyyy!” She called out again.

Arriving at the lifts, Aika jumped onto the first passing lift she could find, before turning to glance at the red head who called out to her again ”What?” She called out back, not bothering to get off as the lift slowly began bringing her back up the mountain.

Aika’s lift was already taking off, but Keihō was quick. She lept, caught the bar and swung herself around right onto the seat. “HEE HEE!” The redhead giggled with a big toothy grin. “Hey again. Finally caught up to you, senpai! Can’t escape me here! It seems you didn’t think your plan entirely through!”

Aika blinked twice after seeing the girl hop onto the lift, referred to her as senpai and then claimed her plan didn’t work ”Erm, what plan? I’m just going fast back and forth. No reason to waste time idling. And I’m not your senpai idiot. We’re in the same class.” She said, before moving her gaze away to check the skis. She intended on using a snowboard next, as it was even more challenging, and she had a bit less experience with it. But of course, those were rentals, so she wanted to make sure to return them in an alright state.

“Ah, but you’re my senpai in THIS class!” Keihō pointed out, with a wave of her finger. “And your plan! Your plan to escape me! But, hehe, I managed to keep up! Phew, you really put me through the wringer! Can you believe today’s my first day of skiing?? I thought I was gonna die! Awaha!.. Anyway, you didn’t tell me your name, what is it, senpai?” Keihō looked at her expectantly, with a small, nice, friendly smile.

”But I wasn’t- whatever.” Aika rolled her eyes, before turning her gaze back to Keiho ”Watare, was it? You keep calling me senpai, and that’s the only name you’ll know me by. Drop it.” Aika stated, before moving her gaze to her destination. They still had a couple more minutes until they arrived, but Aika already started to feel like it was taking longer than expected.

“Awate,” Keihō corrected with an abashed grin. “Keihō Awate. Hm.. You drive a hard bargain. Fine then, your name?” she asked again. She didn’t seem bothered by how long the lift was taking.

Hearing the girl correct her name, Aika still didn’t bother memorizing it, as she did see the girl stop calling her senpai, at least for the moment. But it felt too easy. Not entirely believing the girl, Aika sighed, rolled her eyes again, and looked at Keiho ”It’s Shiro. Shiro Aka.” She stated, before looking away again.

Keihō frowned a bit. “Shiro.. Aka?” White, red? That didn’t sound like a name. The redhead smiled. “Alright! Shiroaka-san! Nice to meetya, Shiroaka-san! So, you like skiing? You’re weirdly good at it! Though, this is the opinion of a noob, so...” She shrugged, indicating she didn’t know what she was talking about.

Did this girl just buy that her name was Shiro Aka? A literal reference to her pink hair? Aika just shook her head in disbelief. If these were the type of people that were joining her class now, then they were slowly becoming doomed. Especially since she knew she was a terrible liar ”It’s freeing. Ski, that is.” She briefly remarked, as they finally arrived at the station. Jumping off the lift, Aika headed to the rental place, to switch her skis for a snowboard.

Oh it was true. That was a terrible lie. Keihō could easily tell the girl’s name wasn’t “Shiro Aka,” but if that’s what she wanted to be called, then Keihō would oblige. Even annoyingly. “Freeing?” she wondered aloud, marching after “Shiroaka.” She watched as Aika exchanged her skis for a snowboard, then looked at her own skis. She wondered if she, too, should exchange. “How is it freeing?” she asked. “And what’s snowboarding like?” They seemed quite similar.

Hearing the question, Aika shrugged ”Wind in the ears so I can’t hear anything else. White spread forth with nothing else in sight. Just freeing. And snowboarding is harder than skiing, at least in my own experience. Only one foothold, so you need different techniques to control it than skiing with two. Either way, see ya.” Aika stated, heading to the same slope as before.

“Huh… That sounds neat! I’d like to feel freed, too, one day…” Keihō mumbled. “Why do you want to feel freed? Ah! Wait up!” She raced after Aika. “I think I’ll stick to the sticks, heh, since I’m a total newbie.”

Arriving at the edge of the slope, Aika sat down and started putting on the snowboard straps as Keiho followed her once again. Looking at her, Aika shrugged ”Why wouldn’t you want to feel that way? Unless you already feel like you’re as free as a bird at all times. In which case, fuck off.” Said, standing up, before turning the snowboard and beginning to head down the slope.

Huh, so she didn’t hear Keihō’s comment? Well, that made sense, she said it under her breath. “Nope! I suppose I don’t feel free at all! Fufu, do I seem free to you? Oi!” Once again, Keihō hopped onto her skis and slid down the snow after the pink-haired girl. “Hey, sis, why you so moody, anyways?”

As she started gaining speed on the snowboard, Aika started blocking out anything that wasn’t the wind once more. Focusing on her movement more than she did with the skis, she started directing herself to the first jump, being the tallest one once more. There was still a bit of time until it, but she wanted to make sure she had enough speed. Once she reached it, she got enough air off the ground to do a single flip, before readjusting her movement so she landed back on the snow without falling off, and continued heading down the slope.

“Ah!!” Keihō gasped, her eyes glittering as she watched the other girl flip in the air. “That’s awesome! I want to do that!!” She announced to herself, preparing for the jump by lowering down. Finally she launched off the ramp then landed in the snow and continued on. Shaky laughs left her. Nope! As a total newb, she wasn’t ready to flip yet..! “Hey, hey! Can you hear me!!” She called to the girl in front of her. Probably not with this wind. “Why are you so moody, sis!?”

Indeed, Aika didn’t hear her, as she kept heading down the slope. She went over the first smaller jump, again catching a bit of air, but not doing any tricks this time. Second small jump, same as the first jump, except she touched the tip of her board before landing, and continued heading down the slope, until she stopped at the end. Kneeling down, she began undoing the snowboard strap.

Keihō followed just behind her. She figured Aika couldn’t hear her, but wasn’t so sure that was the reason for her lack of responses. The other girl just didn’t seem the type to engage in frivolous chatter. Keihō’s skiing seemed to have improved dramatically since she began with Aika, as she was keeping a solid pace, slipping through the snow. But she didn’t attempt any tricks or anything beyond normal jumps off the ramps. Her eyes kept glued to Aika, impressed with every movement. The girl had said she wasn’t as good at snowboarding as skiing, but to Keihō that seemed like a lie. Was she being modest?

“Yo~” Keihō casually said, sliding up to Aika at the bottom of the slope. She skid through the snow to a stop, a smirk on her face. “That was fun. I see why you like this sport.”

”Good for you. Maybe keep practicing it. I’m gonna head back now.” Aika said, finishing taking off the snowboard, before standing up, grabbing it and beginning to head away. She wanted to get a shower and afterwards, maybe eat one of her instant ramens. She didn’t want to accidentally run into Ren or Agi in the dining hall, after all.

“Really? But there’s still time for the slopes…” Keihō replied, glancing up at the large swathes of snow. She shrugged. “Guess I’ve had my fair share today, too…” She did just come from skiing with Yamkun, too. So she hopped right into step beside Aika, the redhead smiling at her.

Ignoring the redhead as Keiho started walking beside her, Aika went to return the snowboard, before making her way back to the resort. She briefly pondered which instant ramen she’d want to eat, and that she should also check with her mom if there had been any progress. But she had no intention of sharing any of those with the redhead, considering she didn’t know her, and she was already annoyed by her.

“So, I was askin’ ya up there what was makin’ you so moody?” Keihō questioned, keeping in step with Aika, yellow eyes trained on her. “You can tell me! I know we only just met, but I’m a reliable listener!”

”Alright.” Aika stopped and turned to look at Keiho ”That’s not me being moody. That’s me being me. You can ask anyone else in class. So buzz off with the question.” After that, she continued walking to the resort, clearly not intending on sharing any feelings with Keiho.

“Hm.. You’re not being moody, then tell me to buzz off?” Keihō thought it over, then giggled. “That doesn’t compute! Still, if it’s ‘just you being you’, same question, I guess? Why are you like this?” She asked, in hot pursuit of the fleeing pink-hair.

”None of your beeswax.” Came the response as Aika didn’t bother stopping. Entering the resort, she started heading up the stairs. The sooner she got to her room, the sooner she’d be able to just lock this girl out.

Keihō stopped. Placing her hands on her hips she drew in a breath. “Hmm.. Guess not! Alright, sis! I won’t keep buggin’ ya! But if you wanna chat I’ll be around. Come find me if you do,” she said, with a wave of her hand as she started away.

Hearing the girl leave, Aika didn’t bother returning a gesture or anything. She just kept heading to her room. Just from that girl following her around it felt like the day stretched by a few hours. She really did not enjoy people following her around like that. Just reminded her of what she shouldn’t have. Of what she couldn’t have.

Sitting on the bed in her room, Aika just finished a call with her mom. She started having them in much higher frequency since she was discharged from the hospital after the mission. But, at least unlike before, her mom seemed more willing to listen to what she had to say. And it did help her mood improve a bit. She even talked to her mom about meeting up again, with her little step-sister coming along. Spend some more time together as a family. Perhaps also meet her new step-dad. Pocketing the phone, Aika looked at the window. She wondered if she should go out for another skiing session today. It was basically all she did. Ski and be in the room. But it didn’t seem to bother her as much as she thought it would.

While lost in her own thoughts a small knock was heard at the door as it’s owner speaks up. “Aika, it is I, Mari. Do you have some time to talk?” While she had other things to do, the girl had been stuck in this rut for a long time, and couldn't be left alone any longer.


Hearing the knock on the door and the voice from behind it, Aika stood up, went and opened the door ”Sure. I got time. Just don’t bore me.” She said, being very blunt and ruder than how she was before, before walking away from the door and sitting back down on the bed.

Mari for her part seems to take this all in stride as she enters, smiling as she was given to do. “Aika, is there anything I can help with, or has something happened? You’ve been shut up to yourself for days now and even here you are doing much the same. If you rather not talk about it, that is fine as well, but at the end of the day we are part of the same team. Did something happen on the mission?”


Hearing Mari out, Aika shook her head ”Nope. Everything is absolutely peachy.” She first responded with a somewhat sarcastic tone, before sighing a bit ”Aside from the mission going as horribly as it could, I haven’t spoken to Hideki or Kuroi yet. And I feel like I owe both an apology for my pathetic attempt at leading them. But it is also hard to face them knowing that, so I just figured, you know. Hide away. Not very leader-like or teammate-like, I know.” Aika remarked with a shrug. What Aika stated was true, it had been bothering her and she did want to apologize to both of them as well, but it wasn’t the whole truth. And she had no intent on sharing the rest of it.

“We all have failings, the key is to recognize this so they do not become errors. Errors are failures and mistakes committed again in ignorance.” Mari says of her leadership thoughts before continuing on. “I also would not say the mission went too poorly, none on your team were too horribly hurt and no one died, I consider that a measure of success. Though now would be a good time to talk to them if you wished to do so, or if not today then tomorrow. However I would speak with them, even if you should not wish to lead again, letting these feelings fester will never go away.”

”Yeah, I suppose. I should talk to them soon. Sorry if I made you worried or anything. I guess I don’t process those kinds of things well.” Aika said, rubbing the back of her head as she looked at Mari ”Was that it? Just came to check up on me?” She asked.

“More or less.” She says with a chuckle before pausing for a bit. “Unless you would like to have some tea or tour the local inn grounds, otherwise there is only one thing I had planned for the day.” Mari adds on in a way of offering.

Aika seemed to consider it for a moment ”I’m not big on tea, but touring the local inn grounds sounds nice. I haven’t really checked anything out except for the mountain’s ski routes, and my room.” She remarked ”You can lead the way.” She said, making sure her music player and phone were both on her, before grabbing the room’s keycard.

Giving a light bow at that, Mari heads out of the door, waiting for Aika as she took a few steps. “I don’t think there is too much to see here so much as on the grounds, the Sky Diving I have little interest in, it remains to be seen if I always land on my feet. Other than that there is a spa, some lounges a cafeteria and I think a game room.”


”Can’t say I have much interest in sky diving either. I just get the feeling I’ll always drop like a rock.” Aika remarked, closing the door behind her ”Game room though? What type of games? If they have billiards here, I could be game for a round of that.” She said as she caught up to Mari.

“Hmm, I’m not sure, I’ve never been here, but that may be reasonable to find here. This is ultimately only one way to find out.” With that she heads off down the halls trying to find the game room, which was not too difficult to find. Among it’s collection of games and activities were a couple arcade machines, chiefly winter themed, a billiards table, an air hockey table and an electronic dart board.

“Well what you sought is here after all.” She says, glancing back at Aika.

Following Mari to the game room, Aika was pleasantly surprised at the selection the games room had to offer ”Definitely seems so. Air hockey is also a nice game. I got one back at my home. But come on, I’ll set us up.” Aika said, before walking to the billiards table. Leaning down, she grabbed the triangle and the balls, putting them all in place and setting things up, before offering one of the billiards sticks to Mari, as she went and placed down the white ball at the other side of the table ”You can go ahead and start.” she told Mari.

“Hmm..” Eyeing over the table Mari leans in to rack the balls with a quick shot down the center, not expecting to get much from it she did corner shot one ball and then went to hit another, but missed. “Oh well, your go.”


Watching Mari play, Aika whistled as the first ball went into the hole, before watching the second miss ”Guess I’m stripes then.” She said, before aiming to get a blue stripe into one of the mid holes, only to miss by a bit ”Tch. Your go.”

“Fear not, I’m not that good at this.” She says with a smile, returning to the ball she had missed, knocking it and missing by a little with a chuckle. “Still it is an interesting game at least.”



After their game of billiards was over, and Aika narrowly won after they both were going at the 8-ball, Aika decided to head off and do as Mari suggested. Go find Hideki and Kuroi and let them know of how she felt, before those feelings would end up eating her up. After checking which room was Kuroi’s first, Aika started heading there, hoping he was there.

Grabbing up his phone and tossing on a light jacket, Kuroi stepped out of his room. He had done quite a bit with Isa and some of the others, but the downtime he'd normally be enjoying only ate at him a bit. It was an irritating feeling that he tried to push down, an urge that he had something to do but there wasn't anything more for him in actuality. Isa distracted him from it, as did the snow war, but he couldn't just lounge in his room only with his thoughts to keep himself company.

Though, as he stepped out the door and noticed Aika, Kuroi paused. They hadn't really talked about any of the stuff that happened. Then again, they didn't really talk, period. He didn't predict that would change.


Hideki had been enjoying his time at the snow resort, getting some time to do some snowboarding on the mountain was absolutely something he needed. He had learned to snowboard when he was a kid, his parents were big into snowboarding and skiing when they had some off time from their work. Hideki hadn’t done it in a while, but he picked it up again quickly over his time at the resort.

While Hideki was enjoying his time there, something was still bothering him. He hasn’t really had a chance to talk to Aika and Kuroi after their mission. Hideki wanted to apologize to both of them and check in on them and make sure they were doing alright. Hideki grabbed a hoodie and put it on, he also grabbed his phone and room key and headed out of his room. As he turned a corner he saw the two people he was looking for. Aika and Kuroi seemed to be together right now, so this would be a good time to talk with them. Hideki took a breath before walking over to the both of them. “Hey Aika, Kuroi how you guys doing?”

Seeing Kuroi, Aika went and approached him, and before she could say a word, Hideki arrived. Aika was surprised, but shrugged ”Uhm, doing okay. I actually wanted to talk to you. Both of you.” She said, moving her gaze over to Kuroi ”I wanted to apologize for how I handled things in the mission. I should’ve thought more about the fact that you both already faced the wind guy before and let you tackle him, as you had more experience, while I should’ve gone up against the woman. Not to mention also should’ve tried finding you as soon as possible once the mud guy took you, Kuroi.” Aika stated, moving her gaze between the two.

”So I’m sorry for being a lousy leader.” She repeated her apology ”I’ve already requested to not be a team leader anymore.” Aika added.

Kuroi’s gaze moved to Aika when she stepped towards him. It was a surprise, though not necessarily unwelcome. Then Hideki appeared as well and Aika began with an apology. Sighing, he hadn't really placed blame on either of them--any of them. He was more pissed at the assholes who jumped them.

"It's not like I thought any of it was your fault… I mean," He paused, being thrown aback by the girl's sudden approach. "I'm a smartass, so the prods and all that wasn't completely serious. I'm not a leader." Iniji practically took over when it was his turn. "It was an ambush, you don't get to just assign pairs unless the enemy agrees with you. I was dragged into a fight, and I didn't win."

Advantages or counters, in the end he didn't complete what he wanted to do, and he counted that as a loss. "Not like we knew the mud asshole was there anyway… and I don't think they would've just let you walk off… Either way, yeah… Not like I did that well either."


Hideki stood there and listened as Aika apologized to both he and Kuroi for what she felt was poor leadership on her part. Hideki knew how tough it could be to lead a group as he had been a leader before as well. As he listened to her he was a little surprised, he hadn’t really heard this side of Aika before.

Kuroi then spoke up and Hideki agreed with him. “I think we both accept your apology but it’s not needed. Kuroi is right as a leader you don’t always get to choose every little aspect of how a mission is going to go. We also don’t always get to choose who we fight against. The enemy ambushed us and they had information on most of our quirks, especially because they had fought against myself, Kuroi and Haya before. It wasn’t your fault for what happened. If anyone should be apologizing it should be me. That woman was so easily able to take over my mind and she caused me to attack a comrade and a friend. So for that I apologize because I made your jobs harder especially your job Aika. She had me attack you directly so I apologize about that. In the end the enemy had a good plan and good information. There was nothing any of us could have done. We just need to be more prepared for next time.”

Listening to both of them, Aika did feel a bit relieved. It was good to get it off her chest, and to hear them say they hadn’t blamed her was reassuring somewhat. Turning her gaze more towards Hideki, she shook her head ”Except you said it yourself. We don’t get to choose who we fight. And even though you two did know about the wind guy and when he appeared, the mud guy too, it was still my decision to have you face the woman. I’m just glad I already had some thoughts on how to fight people with fire quirks, considering how my quirk can be countered by it.” Aika told the two of them, before patting Hideki’s shoulder ”And you don’t need to sweat it. It’s likely she would have taken over any of us, if you weren’t the one facing her. You weren’t yourself, so I’m just glad I was able to get you out of it unharmed.”

Turning to look at Kuroi, she shook her head once more ”Even if he got away, you survived. Mari told me earlier that’s one way to see it as a win. Everyone in the team survived.” Aika said, moving to pat him on the shoulder as well ”We may have lost a battle, but between it and the upcoming training, we’ll come out wiser, stronger, and better prepared.” She said.

Listening to Hideki, it was starting to turn into a circle of apologies. He didn't feel it was Hideki's fault either. Kuroi couldn't comment on the nature of the mind control. He wanted to say that he'd resist it no matter what, but who's to say? Gazing at Aika as she patted him on the shoulder. Sure they all survived, but one of them was gone now, and they wouldn't know if they were okay, dead, or worse. "Maybe… It still doesn't sit right with me, though…"…

Listening to Aika and Kuroi, Hideki shook his head in agreement. It didn’t sit righty with him either. Unfortunately though there wasn’t really much they could do about that at the moment. “I have the same feeling Kuroi, but not much we can do about it right now yeah?”

Seeing the reactions of the two, Aika sighed ”I’d be lying if I said it sat well with me either. Kinda kicked myself hard for a bit there. But if we dwell on that stuff too much, we’ll end up burying ourselves under worse feelings. Trust me, I know.” She said, moving her gaze between the two.

”I’m not saying cheer up and just ignore the feelings entirely. But just try and think of how you’ll be able to use the experience to better yourself next time. What we’ll do differently to not fail next time.” Aika said.

"Trying not to." He really was trying to take a page out of Agi's book, and it worked for the most part, save when alone. Giving a small nod at what they said, they had the right idea, but mind and passion didn't always agree. "...I'll be fine, just need to distract myself for a bit is all."

“We all just need to be better. If we want to go into hero work or ANVIL after we graduate we’re all going to have to be much better. So we don’t have the luxury of dwelling on it. We just got to move forward.” Hideki smiled at the two.

Nodding at the two, Aika put her hands behind her back ”Well then, once we’re out of here, guess we all need to give it our all.” She said, moving her gaze between the two ”But, I did say what I wanted to say. I’m gonna go hit the shower. So catch you later.” She said, before beginning to walk away.

“Yeah, sure thing,” He replied to Aika before looking to Hideki. “See you, too… I’m gonna see what else I can distract myself with around here.” Giving a short wave, Kuroi started making his way off too. It was interesting actually talking to Aika, though he still didn’t gather a whole picture of her from the short interaction. Either way, the both of them were right and he couldn’t argue, so he just had to bide his time.

“Right I’ll see you guys later.” Hideki turned as he started to head off his own way. He was happy that he was able to talk with the both of them and get his apology off of his chest. It seemed that all theee of them had things they wanted to say and get off their chest. For now it was good, though they all knew that would have to be better in the future.
 
Last edited:
Approaching the door of one of the resort rooms, Aika stopped before it. Ota had told her that it would be best if he told the rest of his story. And Aika was certainly feeling conflicted about a few things. She came into the life of a hero as an act of rebellion, found a stronger reason to become one, and now she felt as though she lost it. But she didn’t know if this warranted a shift in her life. So, she figured it might be best to ask someone who did have a major change in their life that she knew of. And she couldn’t think of anyone with a bigger change then from a criminal to a hero.

Knocking on the door, Aika hoped that Iniji was in his room. She was aware that it would reveal that she is aware of his background more than others, but she didn’t care about that. She just needed to hear his story to understand things better.

“...Yamada-san? Good evening.” Iniji opened the door, he usually never gets visitors, and whenever he does it means bad news. Aika was one of the people that witnessed him speak to a former college, perhaps she had questions about that. It did make him feel slightly anxious, but after so long it seemed almost a relief to get that fact out, no matter what it brings. Although on the outside Iniji was still Iniji, expressionless and looking a little confused. “Can I be of any help to you?” He added politely.

After Iniji opened the door, Aika nodded ”You can, yeah. But you might prefer it if we talked in private.” She said ”I wanna hear more about how you made the switch in your life. Ota-sensei told me a bit.” Aika explained, keeping it simple but very clear as to what she meant.

“-H-huh?” Iniji blinked a few times, his mind didn’t really turn the right way initially, but it caught up to him soon enough after he paused to think about it. Yes, of course it would make sense. Aika went to ask the school staff about him rather than whatever he was directly. It was a smart move, especially considering what happened to some of their other peers.

“This is...very sudden, Yamada-san. It’s something difficult to speak about, I hope that is understandable” He continued, though he didn’t seem resentful, letting Aika into the room. “...Is there anything...in particular? That you wish to know. It is quite a long story.” Iniji sat down, his eyes still had that tinge of sadness in them.

After being let into his room, Aika went and leaned against the cabinet ”I didn’t think it was simple. And there is something in particular. Your switch from criminal to hero. Like, what made you do it?” She asked. Aika could see the bit of sadness in his eyes, but she didn’t feel she knew him well enough to consider comforting him, nor did she really want to. That was something friends would do, after all.

Iniji sighed and rubbed his eyes, lowering his head. He looked exhausted just by thinking about this. After a period of silence, he brushed his bangs out of his face and looked at Aika again. “I killed an unrelated person because of my own incompetence. Then I realized I was being used.” Iniji didn’t know how much Aika knew of the extent of those past crimes, especially the amount of lives he had on his hands, in the end he still kept it vague. If others do not ask for particulars, it wasn’t a lie to only tell them the most general information.

Hearing the answer, Aika lowered her own gaze to the floor ”Being used, huh.” She repeated quietly. She could tell Iniji wasn’t the most comfortable with the topic overall, considering his responses ”How long have you been under these people before you got to that realization?” She asked her next question, before bringing her gaze back to him.

“It started when I was...thirteen? Fourteen perhaps. A short bit before I finished middle school, up until a few weeks before the beginning of this school year.” Iniji said a bit lifelessly, it was the best way to put those dark years of his life into context, by just stating them as some numbers without much weight. “More than two years I suppose.” But that is short compared to many others, there are those who never realized, or are perfectly content with being used. He was one of those people too, for a long while. Iniji thought to himself, though he didn’t speak that sentiment out loud.

Hearing the answer, Aika seemed to ponder on something, as she looked back on the floor ”Okay, I’ve got a couple more questions. First one,” Aika spoke without moving her gaze back to him ”Did you make that switch on your own? Or did someone else help you decide to make it? And I don’t mean like, the actual switch. I just mean if any person overall helped you make the choice to switch.” She asked.

“...It was only a switch in retrospect. I said it was because of my own incompetence. I was scared, so I ran away. I was too scared of staying there and facing what I’ve done, I needed someone else to tell me about it.” Iniji averted Aika’s gaze, looking down and playing with his own fingers for a bit. He was always that sort of person, every significant decision in his life was made because he got scared and ran away from something. “I never made a choice to switch, I did it because I thought I had no choice.”

Looking back at Iniji, Aika just let her sight rest on him for a moment. As the silence was present, she started to understand a bit better. What she was thinking of, and what he went through, even if she thought they might’ve been similar, they were completely different. The way he answered everything. Iniji didn’t want to revisit that time. But he was still willing to do it, to answer her questions, even if only partially.

”And now it’s coming back to bite you in the ass, huh.” Aika muttered, before taking a step closer to him ”You weren’t the type to choose to stand and help fight for others before, right? Well, from what I saw, you’ve come some way since then.” Without any warning, Aika grabbed Iniji into a hug.

”Don’t think that you’re the same guy as before. If you were, then you wouldn’t have stayed with us at the first sign of your past showing its ugly face. So you did grow. I don’t know if to call it bravery, but you’ve shown yourself to be reliable.” Aika told him ”And from how you answered all my questions, I can tell your past and everything you did, whatever it was, still weighs heavy on you. You would’ve probably been fine if even no one brought it up at all. Well, tough luck.”

Letting go of him, Aika took a step back ”I won’t go sharing what I learned of you. That’s not who I am. But, if you want to take another step further, to show even more that you can be reliable, that you can be trusted, then opening up your truth, even little by little, is the way to go. I can’t say people won’t judge you, but at least they’ll see you’re willing to expose your own wrongdoings. And confronting your past mistakes is probably one of the hardest things any person can do.” She said, moving her hands into her pockets as she just glanced at him with softer eyes.

Iniji leaned back as Aika got closer, he wasn’t familiar with her, this wasn’t something he was too comfortable with. “In some ways I thought I was helping. But I suppose everything, even now, I’m doing just so I feel less sorry for myself.” Iniji seemed a bit more relaxed now, strangely. Perhaps it’s because despite Aika’s knowledge of him, she seemed content with who he is right now. That was a rare feeling.

“I don’t mind if it’s brought up, it’s something that needs to be addressed sooner or later. It’s just that…” Iniji went quiet, it’s not that he wanted to hide his past, it is more that he wanted a better opportunity to tell others about it. It was a piece of information that would likely change many’s impression of him, and that’s best left to a time where that is the most needed.

“Thank you, Yamada-san, I appreciate it. Keeping my secret and all that.” Iniji said with a small smile climbing up his lips, though it was one of those sad smiles like always. “You are free to do what you like with it, it’s not your job to share or not share it.” Sighing a little, Iniji finally looked up at Aika in her eyes. “It’s mine, it has always been mine...as long as I’m still around to do it.” He added, thinking back about what the principal told him.

Aika shrugged after hearing him out ”Live how you wanna live. That’s my motto.” She told him ”And I can tell you right now, you keep waiting for a perfect chance to address it, and you’ll never address it. Heck, it’d be more likely that it will end up that one of your former comrades will address it for you instead, especially if you are in the sights of one of your former employers.” Aika added her own personal opinion about it, before turning to the door.

”Thanks for answering my questions, even if it is obvious you held back on specifics. You still helped me.” Aika said, before opening the door ”Take care Iniji. And if you vanish, well,” She turned her gaze to him ”I reckon the class will add you to the hunted ex-students list.” And with that, Aika stepped out of the room.

After Aika left, Iniji got up and looked up at the ceiling. He seemed exhausted, but he also smiled. “Yeah...vanish, again. When things get difficult, I will vanish from this world. That's how it should be.”

Iniji lightly blew on the steaming mug in front of him, the night wasn’t young anymore as patrons slowly leaked out of the small cafe he sat at the corner of. Watching the bits of tea leaves uncurl themselves, dyeing the water a muddled, lush plant colour, Iniji sighed lightly. As always, he didn’t know what to do. Some of it was because of his last mission. Amano didn’t comment much on his actions, though in hindsight it troubled him a deal. Was that what he wanted to do?

A small stir caused the tea leaves to fly up and swirl around, only to slowly fall back down into sedentary stillness. In many ways, that’s how Iniji felt. His time at Suppression, his time as a “hero” felt like a flavourless cup of tea. The leaves fly up on occasion when stirred, but eventually fall back to the unmoving bottom. Much of Suppression’s heroism was far from what he thought. This was something that he should’ve been happy about, as Iniji knew he would make a poor conventional hero, but even here, at the second chance he was so generously given, he feels so, so out of place.

As Iniji sat enjoying his tea, or rather drifting off into his own thoughts as the tea grew stagnant, a figure did approach him, though it wasn’t likely to alert him, in well mannered and drilled steps, his instructor comes down the avenue and takes a seat at his table, holding a hand up to tell the other to stay or to not be worried, he holds the same hand up and places an order with a nearby serving girl. “Coffee, Black, with a little milk.” With her gone to carry out the order, he smiles in his customary manner at Iniji. “Ah, Iniji-san, just who I wanted to see.. You aren’t in trouble, however given the last two, let us say, the lack of care or attention from your teammates, I would like to do the second half of my job, if you care to stay here.”

“That is I would like to give a little council and to ask some questions of you. The last few days have kept me very busy.” Leaning forward he rested his elbows on the table and crossed his interlocked hands beneath his chin before leaning back. “Let us say I would like to talk about your actions on the last two missions and about your future.”

"... Nomura-dono." Iniji looked up quietly and whispered, he was still quite confused about his own emotions, and there were very little people who could be of any help. It was a deep despair, though the boy never really showed it on the surface. Even if the other students didn't question much of his actions, the school authorities weren't as forgetful. "...I understand, I will answer to the best of my abilities."

“Your previous team didn’t make issue of..” Pausing to be sure no one was being nosey as he glanced with the movements of his eyes side to side before continuing. “..your previous activities. That in turn has led to your situation still remaining a secret.. I wish to share some information with you, what you do with it is up to you. You do have free will here. The next issue is I would like to know how you feel or are holding up considering your maiming of the lady, deserved as it was, I cannot imagine that is what you had in mind with your second chance. The final issue I’ll bring up once I’ve said what I needed, but it is my intuition that tells me that you may have some words to say first.” Ota says in short order, keeping his pose.

"I…" Iniji looked down at the cup of tea and the leaves that bobbed up and down in it again. "I am not a very good problem solver, especially when it involves other people, or 'enemies'." He tried to recall the things that went through his mind back then, he couldn't have done it, he couldn't have given that woman a reason to not pull the trigger. He hardly could give himself a reason to not.

"I'm just...I tried to observe my peers, and follow the orders of my team leader, but all of it, everything I've seen up until now…" Looking outside a few scattered stars were in the night sky, it felt familiar. Had he truly changed since the last time he was looking at something like this? "Everyone...and everything just confused me more. On how 'heroes' are, and how they should act. It's just...not what I thought." After finishing the sentence Iniji scoffed to himself lightly. "As 'evil' as I thought myself was, perhaps I underestimated my own nativity."

“Hmm…” Listening to what Iniji had to say he lowers his hands as his coffee was brought, not speaking till the woman was gone again as he ponders his words. “Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and with ANVIL being around there are more than a few in the class that have no plans to be heroes at all, those you’ve had in your teams up to now likely aren’t what I would call the next All Might, Amono especially. But if I recall she plans on going to ANVIL. Plus the goals and functions of Suppression are a bit questionable to many to start with. Some schools sent their best. Some sent the ones they didn’t want any more. And then with heroes alone as I said you find many variations. Heroes, and I’m sure the Alucards would argue with me, are just like anyone else, minus they have the naivety or the willingness to get into a fight, or to reach out a line to another. Because of how unregulated and individualistic or egotistical they can be, I’ve never had any desire to be a “hero”. Are all heroes like that? No. Are all ANVIL members killers looking for the enemy to jump them? Also no.”

“I am not sure what you hoped to find when you came here, but closure and forgiveness is given by others or found by yourself. At times both. Do not however take the experiences here to be in the normal. Or to put it another way, in your own Mission, Isa did not go full out as she should have against her threat. Or maybe she did what she needed. I’m in no position to judge.”


Turning to his coffee and letting those words have time to be processed, he continues. “Also there is something you should know as honestly I expected your secret to be out by now, I did not expect your team leader to be so apathetic but there are reasons for that… Either way that isn’t what you need to know. Mitsuki Hideki, or Hideki-San, he has cause to be after those who are after you now. His parents were murdered by your over-boss during a hero patrol, and now they know you are alive and turned sides. They shall be coming for you, but honestly at this point, even if we wanted to put you in witness protection, it is likely far too late. What you wish to do with this information is up to you.” With that he pauses.

“I-I see.” Iniji stuttered a bit as he heard the explanation, it was true that he had expected everyone to question his actions and words in the past missions. Even though his teammates' apathy did make him breathe a sigh of relief, it’s still unsettling as that massive weight on his shoulder still remained. “In some way it suits me, the apathy, I mean. It’s eye opening, to learn that my problems may not be so grand at all...Oh, I apologize. That was callous of me to say.” That was a strange sentence to say, it was not that Iniji wanted to make light of his past, it was more like he had accepted these things that he bore much better now.

“Mitsuki-san…” Hideki Mitsuki was one of the people that Iniji purposely avoided, as a hero who was greatly wronged by villains in his past it was one of those things that he in the past couldn’t face, like a light that would blind him if he were to look straight at it. Iniji held the cup a bit tighter, his hands even shaking a little from the force he had put in. “I see. Thank you for letting me know. Past me was quite blissfully unaware of facts like these, or perhaps you may call it willful ignorance.”

“Well.. Like I said, there is a reason for that, but I can’t go into that right now. And I’m not sure which I would call it. You wanted purpose and were hurt. They gave it to you, but it was not the purpose you wanted.”

With that Ota takes up his cup and smells the aroma of the coffee before drinking a bit of it, then continuing. “Which leads me to the third matter I wanted to talk to you about. Iniji-san, I’m not saying this to you as a teacher, but as one adult to another, I’ve negotiated many cases, I’ve fought villains, taught your class and seen what you all had to deal with. For now I can’t do anything given your own deal, but for your own sake and those eyes of yours… Drop it.

All of this. You don’t have what it takes to be a hero, nor do you have what it takes to be a villain. If you want to help others, use that brilliant mind of yours and become a teacher, help people to pay for your sins as you may see them with charity work or teaching new generations. When you cut off that hand, was that really all you cut? That was why I sought you out as I have now. I am saying as an equal that there are other paths. If you would disagree with me and would continue with this path, I won’t try and stop you. But I will say, trying to pay back blood with more of the same, or breaking yourself because of it, is not any way to be a hero. If you continue this road, find a new reason. Or maybe I’m just looking in on things too deeply.”


There was a long silence as Iniji slowly stirred the tea in front of him, it was rare that others offered him advice, and it was hard for him to cope with that. “Principal Agami told me...that it’s a chance for me to do something. She told me that it’ll give me...a purpose, I guess.” To be fair, Iniji didn’t understand much of what the principal once told him, he can only really process it through the lens of a request, or even an order perhaps. To take down his former organization, that will give him some truth and purpose, even if he was just bait or a pawn in the grand scheme of things.

“But I don’t know, I don’t know if I want a purpose anymore. Everytime I try for it everything goes wrong, I don’t think I’m meant to have a purpose if it keeps on turning out like this.” Iniji was always a slightly sad person, even before everything had happened he was one of those children that was always outcasted by others, it was why he was so desperate for a so-called purpose. “I think I realized at some point that I can’t make right decisions, so I leave it to other people. If Principal Agami wants me to do something, I will. No matter what happens to me after that, it shall just be retribution for my vanity, for daring to want any grandiose in the first place.”

Iniji took a deep breath, he looks a little more resolute now. Although that tinge of sadness had remained like always, like he was suppressing something behind the determination he tried to muster.

Closing his eyes a bit at that, Ota takes on a more serious look to his face, the smile gone, opening them, he speaks.

“Man has always longed for purpose, that is true of everyone. Even from the days that men threw spears and hunted Mammoths or marched to their deaths by the millions in the various World Wars and Political Revolutions. I cannot tell you to not do that and I guess there are worse people than the Principle to look into. But at the end of the day Iniji you are free as much as anyone else is able to be. I am just saying to try considering your uses and yourself beyond the quirk you have. The books you read tend to be beyond most of your peers save three. If your quirk is all you wish to be used for then the bloodshed will never stop, though I work for ANVIL I have always considered the times that we had to assault something to be akin to a failure. My superior Suguro would on the other hand consider an assault to be our mission and goal. My overall leader aims for the former but will not think twice in carrying out the second. I will not tell you what to do, I am just saying there are other options to consider.. For now we need to do something about the Assassins aiming to come for you, I just hope it resolves in our favor.”

“I understand, Nomura-dono. I am fully willing to devote myself to whatever is needed henceforth. What is done is done, and one must face the consequences, I should know that better than anyone.” Iniji closed his eyes and nodded at the suggestion. He understood that there are more pressing matters at hand, his tribulations can be left to later, if there was one after all is said and done.

“I am sure that principal Amagi and ANVIL have a role perhaps for. I hope how well I fease in it will resolve in our favour as well.” Iniji replied, trying his best to squeeze out every ounce of confidence that resided in his body. In many ways, Ota was the last person he wanted the concerns of, he really has done more than enough for him.

Finishing his coffee, Ota gives a brief smile, rising to his feet. “Enjoy yourself for now. I need to get back and see if the class has caused any damages.” With a wave of his hand and a slight bow of his head, Ota heads off, leaving some Yen on the table to cover his coffee.
 
  • Sweet
Reactions: Azurian Dream
Collab with @Azurian Dream @TreasureSniper @The Dapper Mog @RedArmyShogun

With the four having requested training from ANVIL, it took a little time, but surprisingly the two asked for did respond, but with a special caveat. They would both train the four, what this would entail and if it would at the same time was not known. Gathering the four, Isa, Agi, Kaizen and Kikyo, a black Van would take the four from the school to the outskirts of Tokyo where a training Camp used by ANVIL was in full operations, though from the looks of it they were in the middle of a training batch, as a few platoons march in formation in the distance, quirk training could be seen and in the distance gunfire could be heard as a helicopter hovered overhead.

The cadence calls of troopers could be heard as the Flag of Japan and of ANVIL fluttered in the Autumn breeze, all four of them would have a duffle bag which included some fatigues and coveralls, the students weren’t asked to bring anything, as one taller woman in a black uniform waits with hands folded behind her back, footing firm, beside her stood a woman mostly in uniformed white with greying red panda features. The former some of them had personally met or knew, and the case was also true of the latter.

“Side by side! Move! Attention!” Calls out Kanna as she stared the four down, walking past them as she eyed them sternly. For her part the woman, mostly in white with a bushy tail and perky ears, said nothing at first as she waited for them to get in order.

“Hello everyone!” She says giving a slight wave and seemingly at odds with her partner. “We’ve decided to take up your request given you all asked for us.”

“But we aren’t free enough in our time to do this solely one on one.”

“Yep! And with the couple of weeks we are allowed we might not can do too much! So we just have a couple questions for you to focus the training on!”

“What is it that you want to gain from this or what is it that you are weak at. Isa you have rarely asked me for help since you were a little girl, just what is it that you want?”

“But ah yeah, you’ll be staying here, we have a small barracks you four can use! Showers and group lodgings, also we are going to break you all down a bit and then build you up!” Ayame says a bit too cheerily.

“And I do mean break you down. State your names and answer those questions.”

Isa spoke up quickly with a clinching of her jaw. “Err.. Isa Suguro? My strength as it is is not enough, I want to try using both of my forms. I want to be able to fight. I have never taken training seriously, but..well the fucking problems we got to face, I can’t just keep going like this and you know our quirk better than anyone… M..”

“Training Instructor. Your ties with me don’t matter when you crossed that line. I will break you and make you better.”

Truth be told, the bugster would rather do one on one training, but he does have to work together with a team after all. This was what he wanted to be trained by the best of the best. Kaizen stood at attention, carefully listening to what his instructors had to say. He was prepared to do whatever it takes to be stronger. "If I may ask. What would our training routine look like during our time here?" He was curious as to what the training here entails.

“This one doesn’t listen too well, does he?” Ayame says with a smile on her face as Kanna looks dead at him. “It’s fine, he did ask for me after all! Still you should pay attention to instructions if you want to end up here. But hmm, I don’t know, that was why we asked those questions. Just training you isn’t worth anything is it? We’ll be hands-on in parts and in the evaluation but your other training will be with one another or yourselves.”

“If you don’t know what you want, then we’ll just find out where you are weak and exploit it till we can think of a way to improve it!”

“You won’t be getting to relax here. What we have you do is up to us. If you don’t like that you can leave.” Kanna adds in with a bit of an edge to her tone.

“I see.” He responded before responding to the actual order. “Kaizen Shinkami, Apex Bugster. My fighting style leaves a lot to be desired. I want to improve in both lethal and non-lethal aspects of combat. I wanna be able to overpower, outmaneuver and outsmart any opponent I face, regardless of the situation and tools at my disposal. To be able to complete the mission, above all else.” His reply simply meant he wanted to fight better. He is sick of losing to opponents he should easily dispose of, lethal or otherwise. In a way, Kaizen returned to his old life, where he would follow orders to the letter, no matter how questionable they may be.

“Agi Mizushima. I need to work on my overall defensive attributes as I have been concentrating too much on every other aspect of my style,” Agi answered straight to the point at Kanna, clearly a bit excited by all this. Whether it was because of the chance to duke it out and learn from the demon of Anvil, or just to learn from his aunty Ayame was hard to tell. Yet the best guess was a mixture of both. Both of his parents had highly good opinions on these two so he was sure he could definitely learn something from them.

Kikyo stood at attention as well, but her form was a little lacking. It wasn’t due to a lack of proper posture, though her forms usually emphasized a relaxed form and frowned upon being too rigid, but was rather due to her nervousness. The sheer strict atmosphere felt heavy to her. The young woman had not experienced even a small amount of military atmosphere, and was finding this whole thing rather overwhelming. That being said, she nodded in affirmation when the instructors spoke, standing upright as much as she could before responding.

“My name is Kikyo Asuka! I want to train my body to be able to better handle fighting, strengthen my muscles, quicken my reflexes, and sharpen my strategies! I...uh...m-my weaknesses are...uh, varied…” Kikyo paused briefly, the uncertainty creeping back in before she steeled herself again.
“I mean, my body is weak compared to a lot of villains and I need to be stronger to better combat them! My mind suffers because of my quirk, so I need to better acclimate my brain to handle the stress of it and the backlash from it as well!”

The expression on Kikyo’s face was stern and almost aggressive, which would likely have been humorous to those who knew her. But one couldn't deny that she felt sincere about her efforts, and was doing her best to take this all seriously.

“Hmm..” Kanna says, studying the four. “I think your training will largely be the same. For now we have what was in your files or what we know of you as persons.”

“Yep. So we are going to team up to fight most of you! Eh to be clear this is just to gauge your abilities, I’m not getting any younger, so once we seen what we need stop fighting when we tell you to. This isn’t a spar or a real battle.” Ayame adds in.

“For now, Isa, you will be setting this one out, I have some...weights for you to move behind the barracks, carry them from one end to the other as fast as you can till you no longer can’t. To be clear this training will be made to push you past what your other trainers have done so far. You will do this and gain some team and individual training based on what we learn. These sessions will be tailored to your needs and short commings. In the case of you, Trainee Shinkami, I don’t think all of your request is possible, regardless of the trainer. For now break up and await us, go change and be back out here, you will be getting dirty for this.”

"Very well, ma'am." was all Kaizen replied before retreated to get changed, as per the trainer's request. He already knew that his request was incredibly high, but he remembered a saying, something about aiming for the stars. Still, it did make him sad to hear that they believed it wouldn't be possible regardless of the trainer.

~~~~Agi’s Test~~~~
After getting decked out in his attire Agi entered the training field concentrated, and ready to go he watched the two women waiting for their orders on how things were going to proceed. Bowing again politely he smiled happily.

“I wish to thank you again for taking my request sensei’s,” Agi smiled.

“So you wished to improve your defenses? Are you sure that is what you wish to do? Hmm very well, I guess I can show you how I use my own power a little. I don’t think she will even need to assist with this one.”

Ayame for her part shrugs. “Dunno, I could short circuit his constructs with my gear, but won’t need to do that till towards the end.”

“What say you?” Kanna asks.

“I think that would be well, your quirk is that of super strength which studying it would allow me to see how your body, and flesh manage to assert the sudden metal piercing force of velocity without ripping itself apart,” Agi chimed a bit to excitedly in his words as he got closer prepped to see Kanna in action.

“Oye I don't need a repeat of my 9th birthday,” Agi squinted at Aunt Ayame remembering her evil plot to make him go into a panic on his birthday as a small prank.

“Very well, your training will mostly be crossed with your peers, we shall focus on improving your physical form with rather strenuous training. “Though I am unsure how much you can learn from me or Isa…,” With her aura building, she gave off the feeling of a primal force of malice or violence, of force and fury. Drawing back her fist and putting all of her force behind it, she punches the ground at his feet, causing it to ripple and crater, breaking apart as Ayame stood back with a few hops to get out of the way.

“Haha, I think a repeat of that would be more kind!”

In quick session Agi’s eyes went wide as he too much like Ayame made track to move fast out of the shock wave of the attack yet unlike Ayame who retreated backwards Agi dodged to the side watching Kanna’s form, and body language as it unleashed its hellish force. He had to continue moving or risk being consumed by the crater, but he kept his eyes glued to Kanna’s body.

Once the attack subsided, and the damaged area cooled down, Agi skin started to turn black as he immediately went to code Black, but only with his left hand as sparks flared, building up kinetic force.

“Sensei Kanna, could you please do that again except upwards this time,” Agi asked weirdly.

“I’m not sure that would be useful if I used the same means of power.” Focusing her power upwards, Kanna did hold back a little in her movements as she jumped in a rising uppercut with a boom filling the air.

Agi intently watched as the explosion force went upward her muscles showing their way of handling the force now clearly revealed to belong more so to the back. Now that Agi thought about it the torso made sense. Whereas Agi was always primarily focused on the limbs during his kinetic attacks he never once thought about optimizing his torso a bit higher than his attacking limb. Slowly he was formulating an idea as he looked to his Aunt.

“Weird question, but do you mind training with me now? I won't be using anything other than my fists, and Legs to attack though,” Agi asked rather strangely.

“We’ll be starting up the training for you all with what we can observe, did you have something else in mind?” Kanna says as Ayame gives a nod in agreement.

“No thats fine, then I can start testing then,” Agi nodded, being a patient student.

“Very well, for now we’ll give you your spar, and when you wish to use your machines, Ayame can disrupt those, or try to do so.”

“Once you have your warm up we’ll likely make use of you in the training of Kaizen and Isa! Your default training will consist of endurance and core training. Just as with all the rest the only breaks you will have is to eat and for sleep and washing.” Ayame adds in.


~~~~Kaizen’s Test~~~~
Kaizen returned to the training area, fully transformed and ready to rumble. He didn't really know what to expect from the training, but it's not likely to be easy, that's for sure.

Ayame and Kanna awaited him, in their own versions of the same gear, Kanna having on what largely looked like a leotard with combat boots, and Ayame had on a jumpsuit with tactical elbow and knee pads and a red-orange scarf.

“It says here that you can change forms.. Or rather not here, but in your file. How does that work?” Asks Kanna.

Ayame for her part says nothing at first but then adds in. “And just which form is this one?”

“I can change forms giving me aspects of a bombardier beetle, spider, mantis or somewhere in between. I am currently in my hybrid form, giving me some extra arms for close-quarter combat, hidden blades in my forearms, a web spitting gland on one arm and a bombardier gland on the other.” explained, flipping his bio helmet on. “It also gives me access to a bio helmet, allowing me to see through the eyes of an insect. I have a wider vision cone than most people and do not blink, making it harder for people to surprise me.” His insect eyes darted back and forth between Kanna and Ayame. “One thing this form sacrifices is protection, I am not as well armored as my first form, so I can’t take as many hits when compared to my tankier counterpart. Though thanks to my insect biology, I don't have as many pain receptors, giving me some resistance to pain.” He explained the best he could.

“Hmm.. Interesting. However I don’t believe you’ll be able to pick up all of that… Hmm… And pain can be valuable at times. Why this form in place of your so-called ultimate?”

Ayame for her part studies him and speaks. “How long does it take you to switch forms or to go from a human to this, what is the size of your human form?”

“Ah...I see my file also contains that detail…” He pondered over how they would even know such a detail since he had only transformed into that form once. “Because the form is far too volatile and unstable. Plus, it takes me about an hour to transform into that. While none of my other forms come close to its sheer power, it also puts me into a battle-hungry state, even more so than usual.” He explained cautiously, not wanting to say anything too incriminating.

“10 minutes from human to any bug. But from bug to bug is about 5 minutes, which is still rather slow. That was the purpose of this hybrid form, to be able to use everything at my disposal at once.” He wanted to always be ready for fight, regardless of the circumstances.

“You’ve been in hero courses for years and been rather violent in your fighting, did you think that would escape notice with the additions to your base form as well as the genetic screening you had as a child?” Kanna asks as if slightly amused. “Ah, so you do not use it as you are akin to a wild animal that needs discipline. And an hour? Hmm.. And those times are a bit slow.. I want to try testing something out on you.. I think the Commander may understand..”

“Ah, with it being so slow and so unused to his own killer instinct.. Kaizen we are going to shave at the layers so to speak, we will test your cocoons by forcing them to form faster or earlier we might save some time, sort of shock your body into it.”

“Otherwise we will need to have you go towards your ultimate form while carrying out some physical training, my quirk in essence is internally akin to tranquil fury. I have a murderous rage that simmers within me and the power to match. Through my studies I learned to contain this and came to peace with it. Something that Isa has avoided. Now which would you rather start off with?”

After giving it much more though the bugster finally replied.“I wish to test speed up the cocooning process. In the past, rushing these transformations can lead to imperfections in the limbs and organ. Worst case scenario I'll end up with something vestigial. Well...here goes." Kaizen explained, covering himself in a cocoon. Shortly after that, it began to pulsate with a heartbeat like rhythm, showing that something was happening inside.

“Very well. We’ll apply pressure and repeat this. In a few tries we’ll see if his ability can adapt towards it.” With that Kanna built up her force and unleashed a series of punches and kicks upon the cocoon, as Ayame followed up with some blasting charges upon the weakened areas, though not charges designed with a lethal use in mind.

Shortly after the series of attacks, the giant cocoon bursts, revealing a mangle mess of deformed limbs covered in a slimy enzyme. “Lets...try that again.” The bugster reformed the cocoon once more. He wasn’t used to being attacked at such a vulnerable stage of his transformation. This time, tried his best form the exoskeleton first, allowing him to survive more strikes before the cocoon breaks, or with any luck, finish forming. Thankfully, such attacks wouldn’t leave any permanent damage on him.

“Hmm..” Pausing to reflect on the results of her initial probes, Kanna focuses her attacks upon one area as Ayame watches carefully.

“Maybe we should have him stand under something that slowly damages for a long time, like a fuel burner?” This was all unique to her if not a bit disturbing.


Kaizen wasn’t adverse to more extreme methods of training, so Ayame’s suggestion wasn't out of the realm of possibilities.

Once again, Kaizen emerged from the cocoon, incomplete, but slightly less mangled apart from the area Kanna concentrated on.

"You wish to put me under a large blowtorch? Guess I gotta regenerate faster than I burn." Something much easier said than done. But perhaps something worth pursuing.

“Well we won’t go that far but more or less yeah.” Says Ayame. “Think of it more like being a blade tempered on an ANVIL, the name may mean Anti-Villain but we are the rock that takes the blows for the nation.”

“We’ll continue your training like this, however turn into this ultimate form of yours, we’ll see what it has to offer, though if your...hmm mind cannot handle it, revert. Then we’ll tell you your training.”

“As you wish ma’am...as strong as it is, I am sure you can handle it based on your reputation….well here goes nothing...though this might take awhile.” The bugster manifests another cocoon around him, this significantly larger than before. It looked...alien.

Approximately 45 minutes later, Kaizen emerges from the cocoon, violently ripping apart the sac that contained him. The organic mass gave way, revealing the bugster a 7ft insectoid humanoid with a jet black body and large powerful wings. The bugster instinctively roared with a sound that shook the heavens, easily audible to everyone else in the room. “Sorry to keep you waiting..” he spoke, his voice sounding more like an animal of some sort trying to mimic human speech. For now at least, the bugster seemed to be in a stable state.

“Good.” Kanna says simply in reply, seemingly not phased, Ayame for her part actually seemed a little shocked but regained her bearings.

“Huh. It’s better that Suguro-san gets to help but hmm.. I think I got something in mind for him with this.” She pauses for a bit, letting Kanna speak up.


“Firstly we need to drill your instinct in this form, Meditation and intense training.”

“Yeah, maybe the egg test, we give him an egg or something else delicate and have him walk back and forth with it as part of the training.”

“So there you have it, short of some sparing time with me, your fellows or some pinpoint strikes from Ayame, we’ll keep you very busy with some training in this form and with the nature of how your quirk forms. For your training and some...hmm humanization, we ask that you take your meals in your human form. A hero that is always on guard does little for the public than say danger is all around. And should you wish to join ANVIL you must learn to trust your squad with your life. A partner is someone with you for as long as you both work or survive…”

“Well unless you don’t get along well.” Ayame adds in.

“For now just find some weights or another means to show your physical prowess, when your quirk becomes too much change back, or do you need a fight now?”

The bugster remained silent for a while, as if he was zoned out. “Egg test? Humanization?” He spoke seemingly in disgust. Something was off with the bugster, his head darted back and forth between Kanna and Ayame, but he remained silent. Slowly, he took a step forward towards them, shattering the ground beneath. He walked strangely, almost as if he was holding himself back. Eventually the bugster spoke. “...Very...well…” he spoke, agreeing to their request for an egg test as well as a show of strength. Kaizen with the strength of a single arm managed to effortlessly lift a large weight, throwing it high into the sky.

The bugster swiftly jumped towards the flying weight and struck it with his fist, sending it flying back downwards with tremendous force, creating a shockwave upon impacting the ground, planting it deep beneath ground with a large crater.

“Alright change back for now. We’ll have a special chamber for you to use to go all out in.” Kanna adds, seemingly done with her evaluation.

Kaizen descended from the skies in a grand display of power and rage. “Change back?!” He questioned with a noticeable aggression. The giant hiss at her, like an angry beast challenging an adversary. He raised his arm, preparing to strike...only to lower it seconds later. “As...you wish…” He responded, taking a few steps back and forming into another cocoon.

A few minutes later, he returns to his usual bugster form. “I...apologize for my disrespectful behavior. But at least I didn’t go berserk this time..” Kaizen tried to make light of the situation, despite being very close to attacking his trainers.

“It’s fine, we’ll break you in over time, though it did teach us a few things. This will help in your training, though short of meal and sleeping hours you will not have a break.” Kanna says as Ayame sniffs at him seemingly.

“Kanna may have not felt threatened by that, but that is as she is more dangerous than you. I however did not care for such uncivil insubordination. If you wish to work in ANVIL that will be tempered back. We may be more lethal than the Hero Association, but there is a time and place. The fact you realized your fault is a good one however. ANVIL does not hire random psychopaths. While we get a training room set up for you, join Isa on the field and carry the weights where she is, you’ll do this till relieved, two hours have passed, or you have passed out. See if we can burn away some of that energy.” It seemed the Red Panda girl was, while afraid of him, did carry some aura of command as she stood up to the much larger man that was Kaizen.

“Understood Ma’am.” he responded, seemingly happy with her reply. He felt strangely comfortable with Kanna, liking the fact that she showed no fear or hesitation towards training him despite his beastly nature. “I see. I guess I just have to prove I am no random Psychopath.” He said half-jokingly while grabbing onto the weights assigned to him.He gave them a respectful bow before moving towards the field Isa was at.


~~~~Kikyo’s Test~~~~

Kikyo hurriedly went and changed. She was trying to psyche herself up on her way back to her trainer, but all she wound up doing was making herself worry with how she had no idea what exactly this was going to entail. The young woman worried that she was just going to make a fool of herself here.

“O-okay, I’m ready!”

“Now we’ll do your test.” Kanna says to Kikyo. “You wished to be more durable, yes? Well no, much more than that. But we’ll have to see what we can do with the time allowed.”

“You use clones too right? Let’s see them!” Ayame says before darting into the corners of Kikyo’s vision as two clones of herself form, though they seemed to be more akin to mannequins than herself, lacking will or ability to speak. Dispersing them, a few clones that seemed perfect formed, though it was hard to tell who the real one was. “Just take a swing at me!” They say in unison.

As the test continued, the pair found destroying Kikyo’s copies and the unusually high amount of autonomous actions of the pair to be as easy as it was concerning and sat off on their own training program for the girl.

~~~~

For her part, Isa was tasked with fighting the others at time and forcing her to draw out both her speed and strength into an Ultimate Oni form, lacking the killer instinct of her mother, or the willingness to use it, her training was more brutal and focused on putting her into positions that demanded the use of “True Oni Form” melding the aspects of red and blue, it drains into her stamina and causes an enormous increase in the inner demon so to speak, with her hair and canines growing out into a snarl. It was a powerful form but one that was more beastal in nature. Isa did become more comfortable with using it and so long as she could vent excess aura she retained control like her mother, but her voice and mindset became more violent.

Kaizen for his part was subjected to repeated training and fights with the instructors, carrying massive weights and forced to do things in his human and full form, with flamethrowers and partial targeted attacks being aimed at his cocoon, building up it’s resilience and ability to do pinpoint transformations or speeding up the process, though there would be some issues to remain.

Agi would learn a bit from his observations with Kanna and training with the others, his quirk and nanos being used to improve his natural talents. His training focused on physical training and combat and overwhelming his nanos. Agi’s stated goals were grueling but simple in a manner to reach, if one could term the nonstop training and battling such a thing.

Kikyo for her part had asked for too much but had received the focus she needed, her copies and herself were broken so many times, broken down and built up. She was taught how to meditate and team exercises were given to her clones, with the trickery of Ayame being used to full effect to draw this out, to get her and her othersides on the same page, though staining she now had a foundation to build off of.

“Very well. How would you like to show us and yourselves what you have learned?” Kanna asks as Ayame looks on with a smile.

“Yes! I like to think you all came a bit further!”

“Heh no doubt thanks to the much needed hellish pits of training you offered,” Agi smiled with a thumbs up, his positive personality surviving the onslaught of Anvil's demon Kanna’s methods. With that said he did have a fun idea how to broadcast what they had learn.

“How about a three on One match with the demon of Anvil herself,” Agi chimed, waiting to see if his comrades would be down to join in on such an element.

“I feel like we’ll be biting off more than we chew, Agi..” He chimed in while continuing his training with the weights. He was pleased with the outcome of the training and could feel himself getting better at mastering his transformations. “That being said, I am interested in the proposition.” He too wanted to see how they would measure up to the best of the best.

“Eh.. Guess’n I’m the third?” Isa asks as she looks at the two and gives a shrug.

“No.” Kanna says flatly. “Such a fight would take longer than you expect and your school needs you all in stable condition. You have all trained under us, so I have confidence in you all.”

“Yep! The Principle of yours was pretty insistent on that! We could all have a fight later on though when you next have down time!” Ayame adds in to the offer with Kanna giving a nod. Now did not seem the time nor place, with an offer to do so at a later time.
 
Featuring @Azurian Dream and @TreasureSniper

Kikyo had a lot to think about after her last mission. It seemed like more and more, every day, she was losing her grip on her own sanity. Like every passing moment, she could feel her feet dragging through the sand in some metaphorical game of tug of war, and that darker part of herself that she tried to keep hidden was trying harder to surface. How long before she wasn’t even herself anymore? It took a great deal of effort for her not to sink her face into her hands and weep.

Fortunately for her, the park was fairly vacant today. With the afternoon sun cooking the area and the breeze not quite being cool enough to satisfy people, not to mention the hour, she was just as surprised as she was thankful for the mild privacy. The breeze chilled her a bit, the beads of sweat still clinging to her skin after her workout now growing cold from the exposure. The young woman looked down at her hands, noting their tanned complexion , but also the slight shake to the appendage.

Something had to give. And soon. Otherwise, she was going to have to do something drastic.

“You look like you have been through the ringer today? Mind if I join you for a moment,” a male voice asked her as a teen maybe two years older than her was standing there in a hoodie over his head but not hiding his face from view. Much like her he had worked up an intense sweat, and was breathing heavy. Her bench hilariously was the only one that wasn’t in need of repair, completely wet from morning dew, or littered with birds.

“I’ll make a barter with ya I bought some deer cookies we can feed them as they come by,” he made a deal with a chuckle revealing a few deer cookies which instantly got the attention of some doe’s in the area as they started to head for them. He dropped a few in her hands as the deer started to nuzzle up against her, and bow politely for them.

Kikyo was briefly taken aback by the sudden conversation. However, when she turned to look at him, her lips formed into an amused smile all on there own. He had handsome features, couldn't have been more than a year or two older. There were signs of exhaustion on his face. She could see a few errant beads of sweat on his face too. It didn't do any harm to those handsome features, either.

When he dropped the feed into her hands and sat beside her, her first instinct was still to back away, but with her eyes looking at him, then the feed, she stayed still. The lovely deer that approached her were keen on the food, and she was happy to share it with them. The gentle affections of the animals broadened her smile, the weariness fading gradually from her eyes. How long had it been since she could just admire nature like this? Not since the farm.

Kikyo spared a glance at the boy as they fed the animals, a bit of a blush covering her cheeks when she noticed her gaze had lingered a bit longer than necessary.

"So...do you just feed deer with every girl you come across?"

The young woman asked playfully, giving into her nervous habit of playing with the white of her hair. He didn't seem perturbed by her appearance so far. That was always a plus.

"Heh, only for the most prettiest of cherry blossoms or when I really am about to collapse," he both flirted and gave honesty in a joke as he watched her nervous nature adorably melt with the interactions with the deer. Taking off some water he took a quick drink observing nature , not wanting to bother her too much.

"So what about you? Stare at all the boys who sit with you or am I just that lucky to have your eyes to myself," he smiled before leaning against the bench happy to relax very clearly.

"Hopefully I am not bothering you too much," he asked.

Kikyo's blush darkened and she wrinkled her nose at the cherry blossom comment. She was never one of the "pretty and dainty girls. She was raised on a farm, after all. Work and dirt were normal for her. Maybe that was why the boys didn't like her much even before the incident.

Nonetheless, he was sweet, and she couldn't help but react to the attention. Then the comment about the staring only made her look away, smiling like a schoolgirl or something while feeding the doe's that were also still showering her with attention. What was today?

She leaned back a bit so she could still look at his face when she spoke to him, shrugging her shoulders.

"What can I say? When I like the way something looks, I stare sometimes."

Kikyo replied with a bit of a flirtatious smirk, again averting her eyes as she scratched gently at one of the deer's ears.

"I get the feeling luck has little to do with why my ears are drawn to you."

Kikyo's voice was still steeped in her higher pitched nervousness, her tone sweet but betraying a bit of a flirty side as well. She would occasionally glance back at him with an amused smile, but made sure she gave the deer the proper attention.

"Alright I won't complain with nice eyes like that doing the staring," he smiled before laughing at hey mimicking his leaning back.

"Oh I have a good voice to huh," he teased at her saying he was good to listen to as who unless she blundered and meant to say eyes instead of ears.

"Heh, names Kaido and you are," he finally introduced himself.

Kikyo laughed softly, covering her mouth as was customary as she leaned her head back a bit. She really was flustered. She totally had accidentally used the wrong word. That was fine, though. The accidental phrase wasn't far off from the truth either.

"Kaido? It's nice to meet you. My name is Kikyo."

Kikyo's tone returned to Its prior playfulness with her laughter at herself now in check.

“Uhm, anyway, it’s always nice to meet new friendly people. In my line of work it’s like everyone is out to get you.” Kikyo added, almost sadly before looking at him with another smile.

She did wonder a bit if he really didn’t mind her appearance, but also there was some small amount of paranoia growing in her gut. This all felt a bit too nice to be true.

“A pleasure to rest next to you in workout pain Kikyo,” he chuckled in response to her laughing as he fed the deer in his area the deer crackers he had left. He noticed the hint of worry in Kikyo's tone as she shared her probably a tiny bit of her problems.

“I can understand that I work as an article writer who tries to unmask corruption in our country. As you can imagine that gets very much nasty looks from those who love those said people… well until their unmasked, and revealed for what they are, but heh none of those people will ever change their opinion on me cause i just did irreversible damage to what they believed,” kaido chuckled patting Kikyo on the shoulder before his hand slumped hilariously back to his side causing him to laugh.

“Huh apparently you're a knockout,” he terribly joked.

Kikyo observed him as he talked a bit about himself. From what he said, he was a journalist, the kind that had a knack for becoming unpopular due to the inconvenient truths that they bring into light. It was a fascinating thing to think about. She felt her cheeks warm a bit when his hand touched her shoulder, and audibly giggled when his hand dropped back to his side, along with his truly awful joke. But, it wasn’t bad enough to put her off.

“Well, pain means it's working, right?” Kikyo asked him with a broad smile, turning to face him, one of her hands still scratching gently at the ear of one of the deer she was feeding.

This was such a pleasant meeting, it actually made her wonder briefly if she had passed out and was dreaming.

“I mean...uhm, anyway, you’re a journalist then? That’s a respectable career. Even people who lash out at people who tell them painful truths eventually come to realize that a harsh truth is still better than a pleasant lie, right? Besides, from what I can tell if they got to know you, they’d feel differently.”

Kikyo’s smile widened a little more, her eyes lingering on his for a few seconds before she glanced back to the doe in front of her, feeding it the last of the food he had given her to feed them.

“Doubtful people don’t like it when you uproot their sense of lulled peace. They instead would rather direct their ire at you as if you are the real villain of their fault rather than take blame for not asking questions,” Kaido expressed surprisingly with a smile. He didn't seem to mind that part much.

“Yet as long as its for the price of fixing things i dont mind it much,” Kaido huffed as he finally leaned forward.

“What about you what do you do,” he asked.

Kikyo figured that he was speaking from experience. Journalism seemed like the kind of career or job that would bring a lot of negative interactions from people who felt wronged, especially when they were the culprits in the first place. She glanced over at him, noting that he had leaned forward. It was almost like his entire demeanor changed, like he was getting more serious. It gave her pause for a moment, but her smile returned before she averted her gaze, pondering on how to respond to his question.

“I...I do hero work. Kinda. I’m uhm, I’m actually not super good at it.”

Kikyo replied, chuckling nervously as she looked to the ground, then back to the adorable creatures that seemed keen to eat more food that she just didn’t have.

“That's pretty noble heh maybe i should do a positive piece on you when you go pro,” he chuckled using his hands to make a pretend camera smiling at her breaking up his serious expression.

“Who knows, maybe you’ll even one day give me an exclusive interview,” he flirted lightly before laughing a little.

The gesture definitely caught her off guard, just as much as the idea of her being a pro in the future. She found herself wondering these days if that was a realistic goal for her. Or if it was even really what she wanted. As of late she wasn’t sure she had it in her at all to be a hero. Nonetheless, she was doing her best.

Then, there was this boy, this stranger. He was flirtatious, which she would have to admit to herself she was enjoying. It was a refreshing feeling, to feel like someone may be interested. Even if only casually.

Her smile grew into a grin when he mimed snapping a photo of her, laughing outwardly. It felt like it had been a long while since she had managed to really laugh like this. The thought was sobering, but at the same time, there was that refreshing feeling to it. LIke she needed this.

“Hey, maybe. I’d be happy to do an interview for you any time, Kaido.”

Kikyo’s smile softened again, but it remained, as she looked at him. Where did this boy come from? More and more she was caring less and less about why exactly he had shown up the way he had. That level of paranoia that had sprung up in her chest since becoming a hero in training. It was nice, in a way, even if only for a minute, to just be happy in someone’s company without worrying about what they would do.

Kaizen was out and about, doing his usual grocery shopping. While flying through the sky, he spotted the familiar face of one of his friends. It was Kikyo. She seemed to be having a good time with this charismatic person. The bugster hadn’t had the time to check up on her since the last mission so he might as well do it now.

“Hail, Kikyo.” He spoke, slowly descending to the ground with his insect wings. His bio mask slid up, revealing his smiling human face. He could see that Kikyo was enjoying her company with this stranger and now he realized perhaps he was intruding on a private moment. “Good to see you going out and having some fun.” Kaizen extended his hand towards his friend, offering her a beef bun. “Care to have one? Your friend can have one as well.``He was never shy about offering food to his friends.

Kikyo was a little sad when the deer ran off, but at least the person who showed up was someone she knew and liked. The young woman smiled up at Kaizen, shrugging her shoulders and taking the beef bun. She spared a glance at Kaido, then went back to Kaizen.

“Oh, hey, Kaizen. Yeah, I’m just out and about, and I met this charmer. Kaido, this is Kaizen, he’s one of my classmates and friends.”

Kikyo gestured toward the Bugster, taking a small bite from the food he brought her as a gift.

She figured he must have just been flying around or something after picking himself up a bit of food. After all, it wasn’t like he had been following her or something? No, Kaizen definitely didn’t seem the type. Still, it was always nice seeing a friendly face.

“Kaizen, this is my new friend Kaido. We were chatting and feeding some deer. Who now ran away.”

Kikyo’s face shifted into a false pout at how the deer were gone, being sure to look at Kaizen with a playful glare to match her pout.

“Ahhh that's why you looked a bit familiar, you two are from Suppression aren't you,” kaido spoke as a sorta light bulb went off in his head at the sight of Kaizen. The bugs' rather high level entrance caught Kaido’s attention as the young reporter in the works caught onto who he was very fast.

“Which would make you Apex Bugster, and the lovely lady Meikyo,” Kaido put two and two rather quickly as he gave Kikyo his leftover crackers with a chuckle at her cute pout as he whistled to catch the runaway deers attention. Slowly as the intensity settled a younger bolder deer ran up to Kikyo to get another nibble.

“I am good, I appreciate the offer,” Kaido chuckled, seeming to flinch a little at the bugsters handed offer, probably not used to such a quirk, or do to Kaizen imposing figure.

“I think charmer might be kind of a title, lucky words just happen to spout out,” Kaido laughed at Kikyos nudge.

“Kaizen Shinkami, a son of the Insect clan of the Animalia Syndicate, you would also be an interesting one to interview, but I don’t think you would like my questions. I have a terrible habit of digging where I shouldn't,” Kaido admitted with a chuckle.

“A pleasure to meet you, Kaido.” Kaizen gave him a dignified bow, its not everyday he made new friends, especially someone who is a reporter. “Don’t worry, I am sure they will come back.” Kaizen laughed at Kikyo’s adorable pouting.

Kaizen was not surprised by Kaido’s knowledge, considering they did publicise his exile. “Suit yourself.” He took a bite into the bun himself. “Oh? I suppose we are pretty similar in that regard, that is after all what got me exiled in the first place.” he chuckled.

“Try me.” Kaizen smiled at this mysterious man. He didn't know him, but he doesn't back down from a challenge. Especially when he knows he is right.

Kiky’s face lit up when the deer came back, and happily fed the remaining food to the deer. Meanwhile, she ate up the beef bun, her now free hand covering her mouth politely as she finished up the snack that her friend brought her. With how busy she was, she just spared Kaido a glance and nodded in affirmation, chuckling softly at her inability to verbally respond.

The young woman sensed a bit of...difficulty between the two boys as they spoke to each other. She wondered what they were both thinking about, given the way they were speaking. The deer finished up the crackers, and Kikyo again gave the adorable creature some scratches behind her ears.

“I’m sure he would be happy to provide an interview for you some time. I would be happy to do that myself, Kaido.” Kikyo added with a confident smile.

“Hahahaha you must be a riot at parties,” Kaido lightly joked at Kaizen's expense seeing the man so gung ho thrown down in an interview. Yet Kaido didn't see it appropriate to take advantage of that.

“When you are out of school I’ll take you up on that. Besides, it's frowned upon even in the reporter world to interview hero students until after they graduate. Then you're a far game to us reporting sharks. Yet I wouldn’t mind just chatting with you, and the lovely lady,” he chuckled winking at Kikyo one last time before standing up, and stretching.

“I am sure I have taken up much of your time, but if you ever feel the need to have someone remind you how attractive you are I am very game to lace you with compliments,” he joked dorkingly flirting with her one more time before transferring his number to her phone before bowing to them both politely.

“I’ll catch you later I am sure,” he smiled before getting back to his jog.

“Hmm, very well. I look forward to when that day comes.” He smiled at Kaido. Looking to the day of the interview would come. This man was strange and yet, he had an inkling that he wasn't the malicious type. He merely smiled and waved the mysterious man goodbye.

"Watch out for that one Kikyo. He is a smooth operator, in more ways than one." He jokingly warned his friend, noting his aggressive flirting technique.

Kikyo pondered on the conversation, a bit taken in by the casual flirtation and the peculiar interaction between the two boys. The silly pout returned to her face when Kaido said he was leaving.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Kaido. I look forward to the interview.” Kikyo added with a shy smile and a faint blush coating her cheeks again.

When the boy returned to his jog, she sighed softly, glancing back at Kaizen. The realization that Kaizen, her classmate, had just witnessed her flirting with some stranger darkened her cheeks further.

“Uhm, anyway, thanks for the bun, Kaizen. Sorry about the, uh...you know.”

Kikyo absently rose to her feet, her fingers playing with the long braid behind her back. How had her time meant for relaxation managed to go from sad, to nice, to so super embarrassing so quickly?

“Hahahahaha!” Kaizen let out a hearty laugh, the events that have transpired thus far have been most amusing to him. From the flirtations of stranger, to an impromptu challenge in the form of an interview. “No apologies needed, friend. The pleasure was all mind.” He said, still laughing at the entire predicament. “Now then, I should probably get going. Do you need a lift back home?” He questioned his friend, unless of course she wanted to stay longer.

Kikyo scratched her cheek idly as she remembered the time that Kaizen had flown her around the dorm. It had been a very nice experience, but now she wondered if there was some secondary significance to it that she hadn’t pondered before. Her posture shifted slightly, a nervous giggle escaping her lips. Oh great, now she was not only second guessing herself but making herself nervous.

“A ride? Th-that would be great. Thank you.” Kikyo replied, regaining her proper posture while turning her head to swing her large braid over her shoulder so it was across her chest.

No more thinking about that stuff. Right now, it was more important that she get her head right. Maybe these friends would be able to help with that. She could only hope.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Azurian Dream
Team Hideki comprised of, Iniji, Aika and Kikyo, all in their respective hero garb, all given a simple mission to patrol the city once again and a clear warning to remain on guard. Help would be in the area but would take time to arrive. Why all of this was mentioned was not known to any on the team aside from two who may have an idea. One as he was the cause and the other as she knew of this.

From their last mission it was not likely all would be forgiven and forgotten, if that weighed heavy on them or was best left hidden, only they could decide. But were the odds really so great after being weeks after the operation in which nothing had happened, more so attacking while there were others around. So far it had been a calm if not boring day and Hideki had to draw up their plans for this patrol.

It looked like Hideki was being given another chance to lead. He was thankful for that. His first time as team leader had went alright but it could have been better. The second time he was supposed to lead he was taken out by an illness that kept him on the sidelines. So he was happy to be given a third chance.

His team was Aika, Iniji and Kikyo, truth be told he hadn’t really had much interaction with Iniji or Kikyo. He knew that both of them seemed nice enough, though he also knew that Iniji was on the quiet side. It also seemed that some in their class didn’t totally trust him. To this point Hidkei didn’t really have to much of an opinion on him one way or the other. At this point though he was a comrade and Hideki wasn’t going to treat him any different, though he was going to keep a closer watch on him.

Hideki was happy to have Aika in his squad, she was someone that he knew he could trust. Plus the both of them were dealing with the sudden departure of Haya.
Hideki and Aika were closer to Haya then just about anyone else so they both were upset about it. Now though was time to focus on the mission.

“Alright guys well our mission is pretty simple today, just a simple patrol mission. There aren’t any reports of any criminal activity going on and the school hopes it stays that way. But our class seems to constantly be a target so stay on guard. For that reason I am not going to split the four of us up. We will stay in a pretty tight four man group. Up front will be Iniji and myself and then Aika and Kikyo you guys will protest our rear. I’ll leave it up to you two to decide how far back you want to be from us, but don’t be to far. Aika will be my second in command. Any questions or concerns or are we ready to get going?” Hideki put on a smile, trying to give off confidence for the rest of the group.

Listening to Hideki, the pink haired girl shrugged ”Why put me second in command, I can’t say I'll understand. But otherwise, no complaints.” Aika stated. She wasn’t the most eager to get back to the field, but at least, after the training she got, it felt like she was better equipped to help deal with whatever might come. She glanced at Iniji and Kikyo. She already said her piece to Iniji before, so she didn’t feel concerned about him. Kikyo, however, was completely unknown to her. And she was now paired with her. But, whatever, Aika figured, as she put her hands behind her head.

“...I understand, Mitsuki-san. Please to make your acquaintance.” Iniji nodded towards Hideki’s direction after hearing the plan. What Ota told him still weighs a bit on his mind, he wasn’t exactly close to Hideki…or really talked to the other at all during the school year. It was slightly concerning, but Iniji was no stranger to being distant from others. He wanted to find an opportunity to tell Hideki about it, but now wasn’t a great time. Like usual, Iniji seemed a bit empty headed as he simply listened and stared off into space, hoping that nothing goes wrong today.

As the group continues their advance, something strange happens, or maybe that would be under stating it, as a figure in shadowy clothing walked out into view a bit hunched over and glancing back and forth until he or she noticed them, jolting up straight back, the figure spun on their heels and ran back from whence they came.

“Because I’ve worked with you the most out of this group and you’ve been a leader before.” Hideki offered a small smile towards Aika. He knew that she wasn’t happy with how the last mission went, but he knew that he could trust her to make a decision if it was needed.

Hideki then turned around “alright well if there aren’t anymore questions let’s get going.” With that Hideki led the group out on their patrol. The first few minutes were nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. Hideki was about to try and start up a conversation with Iniji, he really hadn’t gotten a chance to talk with the boy much since school started. As he was about to ask him a question, Hideki suddenly stopped in his tracks and put out an arm in front of Iniji to stop his movement. A shadowy figure came out of an alley and looked around the street. As soon as they saw the students walking towards it, it quickly went back down the alley which it came out from. Hideki turned back to his group. “We need to check that out. It may be a trap so everyone stay on guard, we don’t know what exactly we’re going to be dealing with. So everyone proceed with caution, I’ll lead the way.”

With that Hideki took a deep breath as he slowly made his way over to the entrance of the alley with his team following behind him.

Hideki’s remark didn’t make Aika feel any more confident or less. Just following the instructions, Aika walked in the back with Kikyo, until some kind of shadow basically begged them to follow it to an alley. Hideki gave his instructions, and Aika personally felt like it was a mistake to just go willingly into something like that, but didn’t voice her thoughts, just followed while keeping her eyes open for anything that may or may not jump them.

To expectations it was indeed a trap, though not one as initially bad as thought or was it even worse? The figure had lead them towards a woman sitting on a exterior chair, legs crossed and a gleaming smile upon her face, wearing red, white and black she looked exactly like what was told to Hideki, though those three colors were common enough, Isa wore or was largely made up of them. The runner bowed to her and then held up a mesh fiber window pane, to disrupt and to slow down Iniji for the time being. Around them was a loading yard for a small business, nothing of major note except the buildings around them and the pavement, the woman on the garden chair and the runaway from before.

Looking at Iniji streams of plasma like orbs and stranges of black and red criss crossed her path. “Oh so it really is you. Are trying to change your stripes now? But this was easier than I thought.” Smiling at that she tilts her head as the ground starts to rumble. “Though someone else wants you dead now.”

The mesh pane would seem like an odd choice to some, but Iniji knew clearly that it was to counter his quirk, so he couldn't just dice her up from a distance. He could through the use of a medium, but his draw speed was far too slow for a situation like this.

"Please allow me through, Mitsuki-san." It was rare that Iniji defied superiors, much less acted on his own. But he knew that Hideki would have too many other things to feel about him to even note this little excursion. Gently he brushed by the arm Hideki stretched out to the front, confronting the woman.

"There are many who would want to kill me, more if we count those who do not yet know who I am. There are a plethora of people who would be glad to see me reduced to ash, perhaps even the man behind me. Right, Hisaki?" Iniji's eyes narrowed, he wouldn't be surprised if that woman followed him here, as he looked onto the other woman in front of him. His vision was always exceptional, though mayhaps not exceptional enough to disconcert the wires of a mesh pane from a distance. But now that distance has closed somewhat, the shapes and forms of the wires were getting clearly just with a small squint.

Watching the exchange that started, Aika let out a sigh and started walking slowly, following Iniji but not making any attempts to pass him ”Great, trouble came for you, like I expected.” She said, glancing in Iniji’s direction. She definitely wasn’t surprised by someone coming after him, after both the conversation they had and what the villain from the previous time had to say ”And regardless of what you’re thinking, I ain’t letting you go in alone.” She spoke in a quieter voice, aiming to only let Iniji hear the last bit.

As the group slowly made its way down the alley, they would soon come upon an enemy at the end. A woman with a wicked smile sat in a chair. Hideki looked upon her and a feeling of despair set upon him. Hideki held his arm up in front of Iniji to try and create a little space between them. Hideki knew exactly who this woman was and his emotions were starting to crack a little. Hideki was the leader of the squad he needed to be calm and coolheaded but right now he wasn’t sure if he could do that.

Hideki barely heard anything that Iniji said, he felt the boy move past him. He could tell that Iniji and this woman were talking but he wasn’t rewound listening. Hideki had one question for this woman and he didn’t care about anything else right now.

Hideki looked up the woman who was still smiling. “You’re Leto right?” Hideki now glaring at the woman, he could feel himself starting to heat up.

Curiously if Hideki or his team had checked their communicators to scan her, a black out notice would be thrown up with S-Rank threat and an automated distress sent to ANVIL with the woman being a person of interest to the highest order. Even now when confronted by the four she didn’t seem concerned in the least as she rises to her feet with her smile cracking a bit. “And what of it boy?” She asks in being asked her name. “I have been called such, but to you I am Enforcer Number Five, Leto the Stigmata.” With that the runaway from before picked up a sword off of the ground behind her, bowing as he handed the greatsword over to her.

“But ah, how silly of me. Iniji did name who else is here and guessed from where she would come..” With that Blood Red Rocker emerges from another building, a cracked horn wrapped in plaster, dark bags hanging under her eyes, at full pulse her vibrations ripped at the ground, casting dirt and a shroud around her as a distinct impression of pure hatred could be seen in her eyes as her armored gauntlet lifts something up to just behind her armored voice box, squeezing a bit more and dropping the hidden item, it seemed to be a pill bottled used in common pain killers as she unleashes a wave of sound from her guitard via her right hand, cursing in spite and yelling in rage.

“YOU’RE FUCKING DEAD INIJI!” Her focus being purely on him, not caring about who else got in the way, or who else was here, screaming his name with abandon.

Iniji’s eyes widened as he felt the vibrations rushing towards him, from his belt he unsheathed the coloured blade he had carried, lifting it in front of his eyes. A slashing shockwave rippled out of multi-coloured eyes as it clashed with the sound vibrations, attempting to cut right through it.

Lowering the blade Iniji didn’t have time to consider the humming aches in his eyes. “...Hisaki.” Muttering under his breath Iniji drew his ampoule gun and fired at the woman who was attacking him, while jumping back to try to get more distance between them. “I will handle this, Yamada-san. Stay here to help, they will need it.” Iniji’s voice was as calm and stagnant as ever in the communicators, although his arm clearly shook while he took aim. With a dive he rolled into a nearby alleyway.

“You’re insane, Hisaki. Surely you must understand…” Iniji held his blade tightly, its hues slowly swirling as he slid another coloured ampoule into the ammunition compartment of his gun. He whispered to himself quietly as he recollected some of the past that he wanted to escape. There was none of that now, there was no point now.

Seeing who appeared, Aika cursed under her breath. And the vibrations started soon after, before Iniji jumped right into action, quickly moving to an alley. Getting instructions from Iniji was not on her things to do today. And at least now, she knew the opponent a bit better. Raising her right arm, diamond skin appeared around it, before slightly inflating, shaping itself into a spiked ball. Using her free hand to stabilize her aim, she shot two spikes at Blood Red Rocker, specifically aiming at the guitar. If she could damage the instrument, then fighting her would already be easier, she figured. Glancing towards Iniji while keeping her arm high and steady, Aika couldn’t help but wonder what he was planning.

Hideki knew the answer before she said anything but still, seeing the woman who killed his parents right in front of him caught him off guard a little bit. Hideki could feel the anger starting to seethe out of his body. He also knew though that the four of them were in a bad situation. Hideki knew that this woman was very powerful. He had been told so by officer Sugaru herself. Hideki wasn’t sure about the others she was with but they were probably powerful to. It also seemed that Iniji knew them and that they were after him.

Hideki bit his bottom lip as he tried to calm himself. He wanted to take her out right here right now, but first he needed to make sure that people knew where they were and to send backup. Hideki turned around to face Kikyo. “Kikyo I need you to contact Mari right away. Tell her we’ve run into into Leto and some allies of her. Make sure she contacts, the school, Anvil the hero association, the police, anyone and everyone and have them send back up we’re going to need it. For now we’re going to have to hold them off.”

Hideki turned back around to see that Iniji and Aika were combating the enemy. He looked to Leto, whose smile cracked a little bit. Hideki took a deep breath as he made her way towards the woman. “I’ll be your opponent, I have some business with you anyway.” Hideki was trying to remain calm, but his emotions were starting to come undone, between his anger and being scared.

“Oh, will you now?” She says, listening to him with narrowed eyes as she shifts her focus to the other. “Kikyo is it? I’m sure a signal was automatically sent, giving me but few minutes, but that is enough for what we need to do. My wayward lamb must be slaughtered, but don’t think I’ll just let you do what you will.” With that she sends a ribbon lance of the plasma, aiming directly at Kikyo.

As Iniji lead the horned woman off down an alleyway she curses at him and uses her armored gauntlet to intercept the shot. “I was sane before I ran into you.. Now the noise never stops, the pain never stops! Even killing you won’t end it! But at least I’ll feel better!” She screams out, likely in regards to her splintered horn from the battle before, no doubt the pill bottle from before was pain medication, antipsychotics or both. As the two diamond shots landed home, her guitar was more akin to an axe in its shape and form, doing little damage, though severing a couple strings, while the beat sounded a bit off, it still produced waves.

“All of your slaughtering stops here and now. You’re going to pay for your crimes.” Hideki fired off a huge flame from right hand that propelled him back towards Kikyo, pushing her out of the way of Leto’s attack. Hideki rolled to his feet as he ran towards the woman who had been the bane of his existence for years now. Hideki was finally in combat with the person that he wanted to destroy the most. He wasn’t sure what would happen, but he wasn’t going to back down now. Hideki ran towards the woman firing off a couple of fire balls at the woman.

Hideki against a plasma user, Iniji against the crazy rocker. Aika wasn’t sure if she could help much against either. Hearing the sound become slightly off, she looked in the direction of the rocker. As her attention was still on Iniji, Aika turned her diamond skin entirely on and charged towards her, aiming to bring down the spiked diamond ball on her horn if she didn’t try and stop her.

“My! So personal! And what a hero!” She says mockingly at his display, with her sword in hand she meets the fireballs head on, slicing or broadside impacting them with one hand as more energy seeped from her hands and feet, forming blackened wings, the aura leeks forth creating ribbons of the plasma that she then throws directly at Hideki, before forming a spear in her free hand.

“My, my, who did I kill for you? Let’s see if I can add one more!” With that she laughs and hurls the spear, right in the space above Hideki, aiming for Kikyo.

Meanwhile back at Hisaku, the Blood Red Rocker, while obsessed and in pain, wanting Iniji dead no matter what, was not oblivious to actions aimed against her. With Aika’s attempted ram and swinging the spiked diamond ball, the woman turns about and intercepts the mace with her armored fist, before turning her “axe” and swinging it right for the midsection of the diamond girl.

Hideki bit his bottom lip as he tries to calm down his anger, but every word she was saying was starting to get to him. Hideki could only imagine his parents final moment at the hand of this monster. He had to find a way to at the very least keep her busy until backup arrived. Then they could all finally take this monster down.

Hideki watched as his fireballs were cut apart. “Tsk I knew this wasn’t going to be easy” Hideki though to himself. He then saw as She threw a spear of Plasma at Kikyo who was caught like a deer in headlights. “Kikyo!” Hideki yelled as he jumped back and hugged the girl bringing them both to the ground. The spear struck him in on the back of his upper left shoulder. Hideki let out a painful scream as the spear stuck into him. He had kept Kikyo safe for the time though.

“Kikyo get out of here and go get help now!” Hideki got the two of them up and pushed Kikyo off towards the street. The fire boy stood up and turned back towards Leto. He grabbed the spear of plasma and pulled it out of his skin. Rage filling his eyes. “Your fight is with me.” Hideki took his right hand and wrapped it around to his back. He could feel some blood coming out of his wound, he held his hand on it and heated it up as he tried to at the very least slow down the bleeding. He gritted his teeth as he felt pain from the spot.

As Hisaki turned to attack Aika, who ignored his request and came along anyways, Iniji took the opportunity to pull out and position a neon coloured card. Its reflective surface and bright colour stood out in the shadowy alleyway in front of his eyes, almost searing.

A heavy slash shot out of his position, directly towards Aika’s attacker, although it targeted her weapon rather than her body. Iniji knew that it would be difficult for him to break a steel forged weapon from this distance in one attack, but it would at least parry the attack enough for Aika to hold out with her own defenses.

“Leave, Yamada-san. I will handle this.” Iniji spoke as he took the time to get more poised for action, although his voice had a slight shake in it from the recoil of his previous attack. “...Please feel free to share what you learned about me with the others.” Into his earpieces Iniji added rather solemnly in a reference to their previous conversation at the resort. “...If I…won’t return to do that job.”

As the attack came in her direction, Aika prepared to take it on, only to see as Iniji came with his own attack, directed at Hisaki, and tried to help her, before asking her to leave. The metal still touched her midriff, but between Iniji’s actions and Aika’s diamond skin, it didn’t leave any signs of impact.

Hearing Iniji, Aika shook her head ”And I told you before. You tell them. I ain’t about to share the life story of anyone else. Especially when there is a ton you still keep close to your chest.” She told him, as the spiked diamond ball started to shrink, until the only thing that was in Hisaki’s grasp was Aika’s regular hand with the diamond skin. Her free hand, however, grew an extra layer of diamond skin, becoming bigger, before aiming to hit Hisaki against the side of her face. And if she released the grasp off her caught hand, she’d get bonked by that hand instead.

Watching him with some amusement, Leto smiled thinly and leaned forward, hands behind her back. “My, how amusing.. Your goal is to delay me, yet you offer yourself up to shield one as weak as her. And so much hate, who are you I wonder? The son of someone I killed I assume.. So many years, so many contracts, so many fools..” With that her smile vanishes as she advances. “A fight you want, a fight you shall have, I’ll even let your little rabbit run off…” With that she recalled her plasmatic lance into a string of ribbons and advanced upon Hideki with a false smile, swinging forward with her sword and a good bit of power behind it.

As Iniji and Aika work together, Hisaki glares at the pair as her axe takes some surface damage from the attack, cutting through the first layer of armor as she uses the voice modulator to scream at them.

“How cute! I’ll just kill you both! I hate you Iniji! You think you can erase the blood you’ve taken, the lives you’ve ended, that you can be some sort of hero?! You’ll never rest!” With that and the strumming, she unleashes a brutal and compacted long range ‘beam’ of energy at the two, aiming to batter and break them with her sonic powers. “No one will hear your story! You’re all gonna die here!” Screaming at that her own vocals joined in on the waves, it seemed she wasn’t limited to just the guitar afterall.

“...Shut up.” Iniji whispered under his breath, he felt strangely annoyed. He never got along with Hisaki, he simply did what he thought he had to, and listening to her was occasionally one of those things. Now that everything came crumbling down, it was one of those few times where he could face his true feelings without feeling awful about it. “Shut the hell up Hisaki! I can shout too you know!” Iniji sprinted towards the woman as he took a sharp turn to dodge the compact energy attack, although the shockwave from the beam still slammed at him harshly. Some bruises and a bit of blood trailed down the boy’s arm as he rolled at an angle, just enough to catch the villain in his peripheral vision. As long as he can see something, he can attack instantly, Iniji often forgets about that when his hesitation is such a deep seated thing in his psyche.

Locking his gaze on the woman’s still rather broken horns, Iniji cut down on it again, but this time it was a downward attack that also extended towards her shoulders, hoping to drop her weapon.

It seemed that Hisaki’s horns were part of her body rather than and extension, they contained nerves, blood, sensory connections to her organs and were a bit hollow once the metallic like structure was broken. It was akin to cutting off one’s nose or ears, it was little surprise the earlier cracking had driven her mad, the damage to her cornual nerve was deep, her balance became a bit lopsided.. But Iniji had made a fatal flaw, he had sundered the nerve, it was akin to cutting off a limb, the initial pain was grave, but the lost nerves lead to a loss of feeling and so did she turn on Aika. As her axe began to fall she strumed it with all her might and brought it to bear into the others chest, causing cracks and splits to showcase all across her diamond skin, a pain akin to being sat aflame would envelope her body as she fail to the ground, for now out of the fight but alive.

Bleeding from the gaping wounds and her balance all over the place Hisaki seemed to have something break in her, while she was always, or at least for her adult life a murderer she hated Iniji, it went past maliciousness and sadism into a primal hate, a sense of taking this all personally as she grasped her metal clawed arm around his body in a swip, screaming from her voice modulator, no longer with a tune, no longer in song, but in pure primal rage, breaking apart her surroundings. There was no talking, there were no retorts, there was only force.

The rage within Hideki was not fading, it was only grown stronger. Leto was now just causally talking about people that she killed, like she doesn’t have a second thought about them. Like she wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. Hideki gritted his teeth as he rushed towards the woman. Leto would swing her plasma sword with some incredible power behind it right at Hideki. The boy would do his best to roll under the attack to dodge it. He was able to avoid most of it, but a small part of the blade struck Hideki on the top of his back near his other wound. Hideki would let out a yell but continued the fight. He rolled back to his feet and now with his right hand lit aflame the boy would send a punch towards the woman that he hated with a passion. “You took everything from me and from others. That stops today!” Hideki would yell as he sent his attack.

“I’ve been doing this since I was eleven, I’m pretty sure you won’t stop me, not alone, foolish boy.” Laughing a bit at that she pulled her sword back and raised her free hand to pile up more of her plasma like constructs as she jumped back, taking the blow and fire from the punch. “The question is what should I do with you.. Hmmhmmhmmm!”

“Yamada-san!” Iniji saw Aika being launched away, and cracks forming on her body, he cursed himself for not reiterating for her to leave, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t have made a difference. He wanted to ignore Hisaki for the time being, perhaps get Aika help and retreat, but was halted in his tracks.

“U-Ugh! Hi-Hi-sa-ki- You-you!” Iniji struggled in the grip of his captor, if only he was stronger, if only he had a quirk that could let him break out, it wouldn’t turn out like this. The screeching pitch of Hisaki’s attacks pounded at his body, without any physical enhancement quirks, taking it for a prolonged time would just make him fall unconscious and eventually bleed out. Their mutual discontent with each other was a well known fact in the past, but Iniji would never have thought in the past that there would be a day such as this, where he had to fight Hisaki head on, blood for blood. An eye for an eye.

Blood that he coughed up and what had trickled from his forehead smeared Iniji’s vision, it made a strange pattern full of reddish brown chunks in his eyes. Iniji was never a head on fighter, if he would continue like this, he would surely die from the blood that he was shedding internally and externally. “...Hi-...Sa…-Ki…Sure-...Surely- You…” Iniji struggled as he got a few broken syllables out of his lips, his eyes were losing focus of the woman in front of him and began zoning in on the blood patches in his vision. It was in this dazed state, blood, pain, knowing that he was going to die, and Aika would die because of him as well, Iniji smiled.

Blood drops flickered and danced in the air as Iniji used the speckled blotches in his vision to launch a slashing attack with all his might, only one of his eyes weren’t completely smeared up, but it was enough. Enough to cut inches into human flesh. Enough to kill before being killed.

“...Surely…You must understand-...that I can kill you…right?”

“Ha..ha..” It was then that Hisaki used the last of her strength to reach out, digging her armored gauntlet into his eye as her sonic pulses battered his body, that of Aika and all of the land around her, then it bit by bit stopped as her grip slackens, her other hand reaches up for his other eye and scratches at it before falling faint as well as she glares at him, blood running out of her horn and out of her eye.

“Never…clean…never..killer..see you…soon..” With those few words, Hisaki falls limp and her body rapidly cools. While a shallow cut it had cut into blood vessels and even reached partially into her brain, while not an instant death, the loss of consciousness was. Currently both of the hero students were in bad shape and Iniji would feel considerable pain at the cost of one eye and to a battered body, but the greater pain may have came from the words Hisaki left him with. That he would never be clean and that she would see him again, likely alluding to hell. Aika would find her skin cratered and cracked, her every nerve on fire, even some superficial bleeding, but the two would live… They had won, hadn’t they?

Meanwhile back with Hideki and Leto, the woman was quick to follow up on her leap away and took notice of Hisaki falling, it seemed the battle was over. “What a shame, I really wanted to kill him. He worked for me you know, as fragile and worthless he was.. But ah, my manners, it is *you* I should be focused on.” With that she places her sword on her back and takes away it’s power, turning the strange black and red energy into a pair of wings, but before that the other strands would form up and lash out at Hideki like a swarm of tendrils, stabbing into his body, his feet, his hands, cutting him wherever they could, aiming to maim, or maybe even to kill as she smiles.

“Well boy, let’s see if you can take your revenge, I’ll be seeing you again I’m sure.. I wouldn’t want to delay your family reunion and Iniji must still die for his betrayal…there is no escaping this life. None at all.” With that she uses her “wings” to glide away from the battle as her assistant picks up after themselves and beats a hasty retreat, only moments later the sirens of the police and the heavy footfalls of a long jumper hero could be heard impacting, the battle was over.

As the team of four were summoned, Ota seemed to be awaiting them in a side room at the school garage for a briefing, on the wall were photos of two people of note and several minor. One of these people would be well known to Ichika.

“A couple days ago a tip off led the Metropolitan Police. Arms dealers with the Cult of the Seer will be doing some business in the lower district, we assume they are in the final stages of completion of this operation and thus the Principle has gotten us into a position to act in this. I’ll be answering any questions you may have.”

“Will we be working alongside the police or be going in solo with them as back up,” Ichika asked while playing with a new orb like ball between her fingers. A small addition to her arsenal that she was going to be testing this fine evening of work. The thought of an arms dealer immediately made her think of that man from before. With a soft sigh she growled in her thoughts.

"...Who the hell are the Cult of the Seer?" Kuroi asked blankly after a brief pause. They were dealing with cults and religious nuts now? Fantastic.

“Your fellow teammates have had a run in with them. We however know very little about them other than they exist, from the information we’ve gotten out of the prisoners, it is called The Forgotten. They seem to pursue arms trade, wetworks, medical care, R&D and quirk related eugenics, to breed stronger quirks or to match the quirkless with quirk holders.. But as an example for both of you, the Dragon man or one Tabata, Yasushi aka Black Dragon works with them, Doctor Mobius has dealings with them, the faceless ninja, Zombie Matsu, the woman that attacked Haya’s team and others aside were members with them. So the Cult and we both have cause now to go after one another.

As to why it is the cult of the Seer, a woman, be she the leader or a figurehead claims to know the future, she has also been around for a long time, but we know nothing about her other than it is said that she has wings and wears blue, has no criminal record and is the head of The Forgotten. Rich and powerful people seem to believe her claims enough to pay her fee for a divination. There are also rumors that she can cause another to relive the past, for better or worse, the time seems to vary. Either way ANVIL really wants it’s hands on her as a person of interest, the Hero Association because of lack of charges has no interest in her.”

“So the prisoners haven’t said anything, and just what are we meant to do here?” Mari adds in.

“The police will be aiding you, ANVIL was not asked for and the Principle wants her star project to have first crack at it. There may be heroes in the area to stop runaways, but don’t expect them unless things go badly. The police have already stated they will be going after the generic threats with an assault team and block off the area, but have requested heroes to deal with any dangerous quirk users or positions of heavy resistance.

As to the Prisoners, they have said nothing of value, and Zombie Matsu killed another prisoner as soon as he was taken in. Which seems to have been his goal all along.”

Ichika’s full attention was caught as she halted the movement of her ball gripping as she gave a deadly stare to Ota’s words. Fathers long time enemy Black Dragon was a part of arming this cult? It made sense with the Yakuzas gone, and most bigger syndicates beyond repair that someone as greedy as that bastard would arm religious madmen. Bittersweet had no problem being part of the stinger attack, especially taking a second shot at nabbing Black Dragon.

“So what's the official strategy for use,” she simply asked ready to go.

"The fat guy?" That one seemed to have pissed Goto off quite a deal. Then there was the one that attacked Haya's team and Ichika seemed to have a vested interest as well. He was more concerned with the fat man, having an understanding of what came with his involvement. "Yeah, are we just jumping on them when they try to make the deal, or what?"

“Yes. That is likely what will be done.” Mari says in reply. “I assume the police will want to bust the deal and have us take care of the cleanup, such is the nature of politics. For now we’ll keep together and make a plan once we can see the situation on the ground. I have no further questions. Arms dealers means they will be armed, the question is who they are selling to, buying from or trading with. Have you have anything else to ask?”

“Nothing else,” Ichika mulled.

WIth that the team is ushered out by Mari and in short order arrive to the police mustering ground where some officers are readying weapons, armor and ballistic shields, one single man was leaning over on a table and seemed to have some seniority judging by the rank on his collar.

“Hey… You the heroes?” Doubting them a little he speaks regardless. “How well do you all handle gunfire? I rather have an ANVIL APC but you all may have to do it. We have some ballistic shields but that's all the help we can offer outside of kevlar.”

“Hmm my suit is somewhat durable, though we could use Goto and myself to rush in close and try to disarm anyone that gets a bit too brave, at least till we find the main targets.” Mari adds in.

“You’d be better off with actual cover, but I can protect some,” Kuroi replied in turn. Thankfully, his training had widened what he could use his quirk for. He couldn’t harden his blood to work like a shield but he had some defensive capability now.

“How about makeshifting a tank with the ballistic shields held together by my gum, and Lifebloods well blood. It will allow us to grab attention while making our way forward giving Kalico, and Jetstream an element of surprise upon those that concentrate on us,” Bittersweet threw in.

“A tank?! I.. How many damn shields do you think I have? We aren’t a bloody Roman Legion.” The Sergeant asks with a scowl on his face. We can give you five at most and they weigh a bit. These aren’t riot shields, you need to strap them to you arm unless you all are stronger than you look, either way Five is the best I can do.” He says in short reply, leaving Mari to ponder it a bit.

“We can do something like you planned, but Jetstream and I are coming in separately and without the shields. A shield wall or well partial wall we’ll leave to you two, though I would leave the minors to the police. We’ll head out as soon as you all are ready and the Sergeant has his men in position.”

“Roger that, I’ll get my boys moving now and we’ll see if we can do a little recee.”

With that the plan was put in motion as the scene before them came into view. At an old Harbor warehouse stood several crates with a few trucks, a perimeter of armored goons with various guns, bats, swords and just their fists stood around as a man in a sharp suit with three others in matching garb stood around at one of the crates, Mandarin could be heard if one got close enough, though from looks alone one could tell this party was Chinese. A woman with a fox tail and ears kept to the back as Black Dragon inspected a handgun… Most curious of all however was the woman with them, dressed in blue and with large wings, she casted a look on all of those present and a bit beyond, seemingly looking right at the assault teams moving in closer.

“..I think that’s her.. Keep with the mission, we’ll consider her a bonus objective or person of interest, the four men in suits and Black Dragon have priority, the rest depends.”

Letting them go back and forth a bit, Kuroi looked on blankly, not much caring how they went so long as they went. Though Ichika's father helped him learn to play defense, he would still prefer to avoid taking hits entirely, shield or not.

As things got sorted and the group came upon the warehouse, Kuroi gazed at them. They mentioned that the winged one might be the goddess or whatever the hell, but to stay calm and continue. That was easier said than done as the woman seemed to be staring in their direction, though Kuroi couldn’t say that with 100% certainty. “Are we sure Lady Cthulu doesn’t have telescopic vision or something…? Or does no one else feel she’s reading our souls from all the way over there?” He wasn’t too concerned with the others as they had some idea of what to expect, but her--Creepy.

“I am not okay with how she seems to be almost… expecting use,” Ichika noted as they waited for Mari, and Goto to ignite the plan. It did feel weird with how calm the one with wings felt in the scenario. Whereas the rest were on alert, and cautious of each other the one with wings seemed way too calm. Whether that was from experience, or expertise with one hell of a poker face was hard to tell.

“Too late to turn back now, like I said, consider her a bonus but not the focus.. Pick your targets, the female with the fox features seems to be staying around the bird, I want our two on the shields to go after the Dragon, Goto and I will try taking on the fox, leaving the rest to the SWAT Team. Let’s move!”

With that the police begin their assault deploying smoke grenades upon the meeting before blowing whistles and shouts of “Hands down!”

Moving in and keeping to the front, Kuroi’s eyes gleamed red as his blood poured from his back. While the police deployed cover smoke, the red protruded from his skin in large volume, lashing out and towards the man known as Black Dragon in the form of various whips to wrap around his appendages and body. He wasn’t fully sure what the man was capable of, so he went to detain the man and prepare for any follow-up.

In the following up response Bittersweet had snuck in with Lifeblood attack sweeping at the man with a tail strike with every intention of damaging him before he could armorize his body. “You will not be escaping this time you stain on society,” she hissed, throwing a heavy amount of force with her attack.

As the pair work together against the main in black, he covers his body in black scales, turning upon the two with some venom in his words as he forms his energy against the two, slashing out with a mixture of the elemental affinity and razor sharp claws on his fingers. “Ah so the little shit is back eh?!”

Kuroi grits his teeth as it becomes clear they won’t be able to just take him in. He knew that he would have to be careful with conserving blood as well. Retracting the tendrils as the man began to swipe, Kuroi advanced, pushing the tendrils into a single mass. The much larger volume of blood surged forth at center mass, aiming to crash into the Black Dragon.

Upon the bastard getting his defenses up Bittersweet pushed back forming her rock candy armement in defense to his fast pace claw assault. Seeing Life Bloods attack she shifted all her body to distract Black Dragon as she vaulted over him with a single jump rapid firing some gum shots.

Deploying his energy attacks to stop the gum, aiming a side kick at Kuroi, the man then reaches his right hand for some sort of assault rifle as gunfire rang out in some sections of the parking deck.

Switching aims, the torrent of blood instead bats at the side kick before striking downward like a pillar. Using it like a vaulting pole, Kuroi sent a kick of his own at Black Dragon’s head to stagger him and keep him from easily grasping for whatever weapon he was going for.

As the two lock in combat with Black Dragon, Goto is tasked with dealing with the fox featured woman, as Mari seeks to separate the blue leader from her followers, where the two engaged in a discussion as Mari’s every hit seemed to not reach her, the details of this conversation she did not share with her team. For his part Black Dragon eventually managed to slip away, promising vengeance upon Ichika. The fox seemed to have a were beast transformation and in a solo setting was able to best Goto, making her escape as well. However the arms deal was well and truly stopped, so not a total failure, and so concluded the team’s mission, a win, though unsatisfying.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Azurian Dream
A normal day with a sunny filled sky, and a gentle breeze wafting through the current group way ruffling the edges of their hero outfits as they headed towards an abandoned warehouse. Apparently, there had been some reports of foul elements lurking around yet from what Agi, and company had scouted around the whole structure there was not a single hint of ominous folks or any folks for that matter around the whole perimeter. Tapping his own shoulder Agi turned to his teammates Ren, Amano, and Isa.

“Well I don’t know about you but there aren’t even any signs of well… anything going on here. I guess we can check inside, but we really would have heard something from our initial search. What do you all think,” he asked looking for their own opinions on this rather turned empty-on lead.

“Eh, fuck if I know... Though should we all be going in there or do we know our way around? I just wanna have a straight-up fight or hell maybe no fight at all. No one has come to kill us yet so I’m fine with nothing happening, case closed, let’s go home, and all that. But we gotta go in, don’t we? I don’t work that well with others and I’ve been teamed with everyone here but you.” Isa adds in squinting her eyes to look at the abandoned structure.

“Diva Vu should be seeing a mnemu scout back soon. If it reports nothing we will just do a once over then I guess, and do an all-clear call to the police,” Agi sighed admitting that today was indeed rather lackluster.

Ren sighed as he listened, the search around was not fruitful, but the idea that they should call in an all-clear was premature. “Actually, I don’t think we should make any all-clear call until we go over the outside and inside better.” he pointed out. Normally he just went with what they said, but he had been in the class long enough to have an opinion of his own. “So, I think Isa should give them one over again outside, while Agi and I go inside. If something is going on, there is a chance that they could be hiding to get the all-clear from us. Agi and I can play off each other enough to take on just about anything, and with mnemu’s help, Amano can take part in both splits. In the last mission with Isa, I noticed that letting her do it alone, pushes her to get it done a lot more. And if she needs back up, she has Amano.” he suggested.

As Agi listened to two very different opinions the hero in the works nodded at his teammate’s opinions on the matter as Mnemue returned to report nothing out of the ordinary inside the abandoned warehouse. With its layout being more like a gutted hanger there wasn’t really anywhere to hide. Yet Agi had to agree a double look didn’t hurt either as he nodded.

“Aight me and Moonshadow will do a sweep inside the warehouse, Oni Meetsu I want you on the roof of the facility for maybe a view vantage of anything weird. While we are doing that Diva Vu will do a mnemu spread of the outside, and if everything comes up empty we will call it good agreed,” Agi asked his team.

“Yeah, yeah.” Isa ways with a hand wave consisting of her index finger and thumb. “I’ll walk around outside, don’t much care to go inside anyways, I’ll find a ladder up, don’t think I can bare hands climb this.”

Ren nodded, Isa didn’t seem to like it, but with all the calls on this place, they couldn’t just let this go, after half-assing it. “Okay, let’s head in and make sure that nothing was missed.” he stated before he smirked, “With any luck, we can put the people at ease after a thorough look around and not have to worry that we missed something,” he added, glad that his advice was being taken seriously. Maybe he should speak up more.

Once everyone was in agreement Agi headed towards the warehouse with Ren. The atmosphere as the doors were opened by Agi nanobytes was filled with a strange absence as the openness of the whole facility was undeniably empty. Throwing Ren a flashlight Agi’s eyes adjusted fast as he looked around there was indeed nothing as shown by the sunlight entering the empty room.

“Well, then Mnemu was definitely right… there is visually nothing to react to here, but something feels really off for being so abandoned why is it so…”

“Clean,” the new voice followed by the doors slamming shut behind them caused Agi to pivot fast as something Red, and white leaped over them looking down at them both with a toothy grin before landing ahead of them. Now in full view was the most bizarre guest a white-furred humanoid with a foxish like face dressed in an almost ringleader-like set red coat, black pants, and to top it off a literal top hat resting at his side.

“Well that definitely fit the description of something weird,” Agi chimed as his skin turned black with a nanoblade immediately forming around his left hand. “Sir these are condemned grounds we will need you to show your ID, and will then escort you off the grounds,” Agi spoke respectfully as the vulpine chuckled.

“Such a polite yet authoritative tone for one of class 7’s team leads Ion Storm, and a pleasure to meet you as well Moonshadow,” the vulpine man smiled with a wide toothy grin to them both giving them a polite bow with his hat.

“I fear though that this is more a planned meeting between us today. You have been giving me, and my co-conspirator some heavy loose ends, and burned edges of late. Growth is impossible without the competition of course, but you lot are starting to grow rather fast. So best to test the waters of what my people have been dealing with,” the fox man chuckled as he placed on his top hat brandishing a cane, and a concerning sharp-looking dagger.

“...Isa be prepared for hostile forces… we just ran into one of the two factions of marionetting Mobius,” Agi channeled in having left his comms open for both Isa and Amano to hear everything this man had to say. “We take him alive,” Agi instructed Ren as the vulpine smiled at the confidence this team had.

“By all means try,” he spoke as he threw the dagger that from the moment of escaping his grasp burst into a hundred daggers like a volley of arrows.

The upside with Isa upon hearing over the comm a sudden tap on the shoulder by a cane would reveal behind her the same vulpine man who gave her the same toothy grin as he flicked a coin up into the air.

“Careful deary it’s quite the storm out here,” upon those words the coin burst up higher into a flood of coins threatening to batter the hell of the Oni if she stayed in place to long.

“Good.” She says be it at Agi, the coin man or her own thoughts was a mystery till she adds in. “Now I can beat your ass myself.” Thinking about the situation she was in, there was just the room on top of this roof to fight, unless she wanted to jump off of it onto the ground below. With the coin shower up above, Isa rushes the man head-on with her hair and fangs growing out, her skin seemed to take on a mixed hue before seemingly going normal as a dark aura burst from her body and steam rises from her horns, leading the way with a hefty right hook. “I can’t beat you unless I come closer!”

Ren took the flashlight and turned it on as they entered the building. As he walked in after Agi, he jumped when the door slammed closed but had no time to check it when there was a voice from another direction. When he turned he looked at the man that spoke to them. Ren listened to what he said but that was something that he didn’t respond to. He readied himself for a fight, taking his spear in hand, it was dark but he would have to figure that out himself. As the daggers flew at him, he used his spear to stop, redirect or dodge them. What he couldn’t stop, redirect or dodge, his telekinesis stopped just as they would hit him and he forced them back to the guy again.

Whatever Ren didn’t negate Agi handled using his Nano’s in response as a spinning storm of shurikens deflecting or negating the thrown multiplying daggers. With Ren going a step further the Vulpine man smiled as his own attack stabbed, and impaled him from multiple avenues. When the hailstorm of daggers was done both students watched as the mortally wounded vulpine dropped to the ground with the profound silence to hear a damn pin drop.

“What the hell,” Agi paused extremely confused unsure how to respond to what the freaking hell had just happened. Running up the very presumably dead man Agi started to radio to Amano.

“Diva Vu get an ambulance call-out now,” It was unlikely one would get there in time, but for a moment a sudden thunderstorm round of noise erupted from above causing him to pause, and look up. Someone was attacking Isa, but as he went to look back down his eyes went wider… the body, and all the daggers were… gone.

“Ren… please tell me I am not losing my mind,” Agi questioned in a cold sweat.

The vulpine on the roof smiled as Isa charged through the torrent of brutally heavy falling coins raining down on the oni as she went straight for him as he didn’t move, but instead took the whole hit. Followed by the sound of cracking bones the vulpine was literally sent flying off the roof ahead falling out of sight. Yet with the coin shower halted Isa would have no problem hearing… nothing? There were no thumb nor crashing sounds. If she went to the edge of the side he had been sent off on there would be no trace of his existence or landing zone anywhere.

“Huh.” With some wounds here and there, it was all rather minor as far as her own damage threshold went, still the fact she didn’t hear him land was a bit odd, shrugging it off she stayed up on the roof.

Ren stayed in place and watched as Agi checked on the villain. It was a little strange for him to have been taken down so easily with what he was saying. But Ren was not going to think too much on the subject. Of course, that was before Agi’s remark, he flashed the light on where the body was and sighed, “Interesting quirk.” he stated. Ren started to flash the light around, “No, you are not losing your mind. But something tells me, we are about to lose our shit.” he stated, not sure how else to explain it. He looked around, “Agi, can your Nanos make light? I don’t think this,” he said motioning to the flashlight, “Is going to help me much.” Ren wasn’t sure what to look for, but if the attacks hit and the body vanished, he could only guess that he was going to need both hands and a lot of focus that the flashlight would only hinder in the long run. “We need to move around, make some light and fast, I doubt from what he said, we have seen the last of him.”

As Isa neared the edge with her lackluster “huh” two pairs of hands would push her off the roof slamming her into the ground below. Before she could try to find the attack she would hear feet around her as the one she had just apparently wiped the floor with smiled his pearly white fangs at her.

“Deary you should really be careful with your footing, the falls are quite rough this time of year,” he taunted her lightly as he walked around her as there were now two of him one on each of her sides.

“Come now you're missing the best part,” they both grabbed her arms before flinging her right through the warehouse’s window not too far away from Agi while causing a sudden light source to flow into the bleak pitch black.

“No need seems that’s been handled,” Agi responded to Ren as he offered a hand to help Isa up.

“Diva Vu’s getting us to support,” Agi hissed not sure what exactly they were dealing with anymore Agi had heard of immortal quirks… was that what they were dealing with?

“I am authorizing lethal force,” Agi whispered without hesitation as a chuckled filled the warehouse.

“Originally we were using you as a means to an end. To deal with a sleight of hand we couldn’t just handle in the open. However, it seems we made an error in trying to marionette you, Suppression kids. Your rapid growth of response efficiency is alarming, and potential garnering a new level of threat from hero society,” the Vulpine man spoke yet with each sentence a new copy of the fox man appeared walking out of the shadows of the areas still in darkness. Quickly the room filled with more than twenty-five copies of the vulpine all talking in unison.

“So you admit to being a leader of the so called League of Assasin… the people who took Mitsuo,” Agi question taking a stab in the dark that this was no regular grunt they were dealing with but the very top of the hierarchy of the group Anvil had given a warning about next to the Cult.

“Indeed, and pleasure to meet you all. Though let me correct that last part Mitsuo came willingly to us, and well we have no reason to make him do anything. When we can handle our personal matter well enough on our own,” the vulpines smirked at the three.

“Why the grand appearance to just us,” Agi questioned.

“An example only needs a few victims of course, and you three are held in high regard in capability in comparison to your cohorts,” the man answered clearly knowing they would be the ones responding to the call in this area.

Ren looked down at Isa surprised before looking out to the light, as the man started his way in and started his little conversation with Agi. So, he was a leader of some Assassination….Ren actually didn’t care to catch too much of the conversation as he looked around, the growing numbers of this one person. He was concerned, as he looked around, and readying himself. But from what he could gather, this was some quirk. Worse, it was a quirk that made clones. With this kind of quirk, the real one would be impossible to find, just the fact that he could be in two different places, outside and inside, concerned Ren. Then it hit Ren, his eyes widened as his spear lowered a little, “There is just one of you.” he said out loud. “And it’s not here.” he stated, as he took in the fact. With a quirk like this, being clones was not as easy as just making them. There was a chance that it was a mental quirk, but that would mean they were all trapped in their minds on a loop. Ren took a moment before he narrowed his eyes, gripping his spear for a moment before he moved it to his back. “You are lying. I can name two others that would have been a lot more effective. You picked us, because you can play your little game. How about we get down to the part where you show us what you got and end this little chit chat? If you are who you say, this should be a one sided fight. But the next time, we will come for you with a real force. Cowards talk a lot, let’s get to the fight.” he said as he raised his hands, he was not a hand to hand fighter, but he was not going to chance his spear in a fight he was pretty sure they already lost. He just had to make sure that they survived.

Rising to her feet, Isa seems a bit annoyed as her eyes adjust to the darkness of the interior, shaking off the blows she waited there, unsure of what to do in this situation.
“Oh such vicious a words,” the vulpines chuckled before rushing them all at once Agi burst out a wave of Nano’s trying to push as many of them as possible, but the numbers kept growing with each swipe of his nano blades more came to replace the fallen. The fight became a torrent wave of pummeling one-sided.

“Fine! I’ll beat a mother fucker with mother fuckers!” Meeting the waves head-on Isa endures the violence in order to grab at least one or two of the attackers to use as melee weapons by the throat.

The three fought for their lives until Diva Vu returned with backup, but by the time they returned Ion Storm, Moonshadow, and Oni Meetsu were completely wrecked stained red with their own blood barely able to breathe normally. They had survived the onslaught yet had nothing to show for it as there was no sign of who they had fought. The day would be spent befuddling both Anvil, and Hero society as no such person by appearance or quirk existed in their systems or files. The vulpine who had claimed to lead the assassin organization was now on the back of the Japanese government, and protectors’ minds.

................................................

The bright lights, the sounds of applause, and the overbearing energy of the bodies in the stadium roaring out their team’s name in a clashing union would be a bit overbearing on the team at hand. For one the team lead Kaizen would be leading the newly minted new member of class 7 Keiho along with Amon, and Haya. Today’s assignment was more a chill event than usual with the quartet doing lowkey security detail for a very fierce soccer game. The excitement of the crowd made it hard to keep to a singular lock of view pulling the sensations all over the place.

As exciting as the soccer game was, the team had their job to do, and the bugster was not one to mess around, especially in light of recent events. He had the team spread out across the different sections of the stadium. He worked closely with the stadium’s own security team to ensure that no part of the stadium was left without a pair of watchful eyes or cameras. “Bugster to team, sector one is clear for now. Please confirm other sectors.” He spoke into his earpiece. He stood at the roof of the stadium with his mace over his shoulder, ready to jump into action at moments notice.

Haya had not gotten a chance to really do anything, when she returned from her training. She didn’t have her blindfold anymore, her thighs each had a round of daggers that lined the outside of them. And she didn’t have her headset, instead were thin diamond titanium collares along her wrist, neck, and waist. She got her orders from Kaizen the moment she arrived and went into position. She leaned against the side of the entrance she was meant to be watching, her arms crossed as she closed her eyes. She sighed, at the sound of Kaizen’s voice, “Hollow sector is clear.” was all she said, before she sighed deeper.

"No signs of abnormalities in sector three, over." A few sparkles floated up and disappeared in the air, barely noticeable in the crowd. Amon used his spreading constructs to feel out the place a bit during the patrol, after his training session it became much more bearable of a task. It was really crowded, and the flexibility saved him a lot of trouble. Quickly swiping a soft drink cup that was thrown from somewhere that flew right at him out of the air, Amon quickly hopped out of the area to the next assigned sector.

The redhead was leaning on a rail, her golden eyes trained down on the soccer game below, barely keeping up with the blistering pace of it. Or rather, she was lazily watching, and hardly cared to. Keihō was not a fan of these rowdy, loud types of places. She glanced down at her hand. All was well. “Eh… Red here.. Sector erm four is fine,” she mumbled into the earpiece. How did they know what ‘sector’ they were in? They all sounded so into it. But with her hand not acting up, all Keihō felt was bored.

Yet before anything else could be transmitted there was a wave of silent confusion all for students would be drawn to the field where the players themselves were watching baffled. A little girl had come walking with white hair, and bright purple eyes wearing a white, and black hoodie with a bear face. As she walked her hand raised up as she said something which was followed by the ground violently shaking as a five circular staircase podium suddenly came erupting up out of the ground in the middle of the field.

The people watching were not sure if this was some sort of event, or announcement yet calls on all radio channels came flooding in demanding to know what was going on. As such was being aimed in the chaos to answer the girl with a soft tap on the mic the little girl gave the answer.

“Oye mates your on lockdown,” with those words given by a thick British accent there was a sudden extreme chill that wafted past everyone in the stadium as the sun seemed to go dark with the whole stadium suddenly pitch black. There were a lot of sounds coming to life all around the heroes before dozens of stadium lights came on with the stadium open-top now revealed to be sealed, and every single exit including the one next to Kaizen… was gone replaced with solid concrete. Panic quickly started to build yet before chaos could erupt in full swing.

“Chain down your pipes and listen,” with those words suddenly everyone on the actual field was attacked, and forced onto their knees by a spiral of chains that jetted out of the ground much like the podium. The extreme show of force silenced the crowd.

“Good. Now let me get to the point. Demon Blade, Sound Vibrations, Insect Metamorphoses, and the State of Emergency,” she called out naming each of the Suppressions students quirk ID’s into confusing the crowd but making it dead clear this event was directed right for them. This was happening in full swing because they were there.

“I know each of your quirks to a science. Doesn’t help much that your country requires every single little detail of your abilities to be written down. Blame that on your rising sun and whatnot,” the girl popped her lips at them in particular.

“I gotta stadium filled with hostages so don’t be aiming to jump to the fray. I don’t know where you all are at the moment, but I am sure you’ll slip up eventually. Yet to even the odds here is my first demand Apex Bugster front and center... would you kindly,” the girl smirked as a few stadium lights directed themselves to a central spot. One in particular close to Amon would see a staff hand operating it… notable wheezing, and coughing… looking rather sick with purple blots on their skin with eyes that looked almost amiss of sentience.

As soon as the lights went out, Keihō felt the telltale irritating buzzing in her hand that gave her warnings. In the darkness, she could see the red flashing off her hand and the strange flashing golden hexagonal patterns along her arm. Holding her wrist, it wasn’t the worst she had ever felt, but it was still agitating. The redhead looked up when the lights came on. She watched all the pageantry the villain was showing them, gritting her teeth, readying to spring into action. She felt anxiety knowing they were locked in here, knowing her own quirk was not great at breaking through such concrete.

Upon hearing the sudden invasion, Kaizen stayed silent observing from afar the formation of concrete all over the exits. It was until the villain finished talking that Kaizen finally spoke out. "Look, sharp team. Seems they have insider knowledge on all of us. And looks like I've been called out…" he spoke, gripping the mace tightly. He only had a short moment to come out with a plan. "Looks like I have no choice. Keep the civilians safe and do not give away your location unless absolutely necessary. There is likely more than one of them. Hollow, it seems like they have something going on underground, see if you can trace the vibrations to a source and let us know what you “see”. I'll put on a show for them. Keiho, Amon, see if you can find an exit route for the civvies." He spoke into the communicator as leap off the roof and into the field. "Apex Bugster, going in." He flew towards the centre of the field. He hovered above the little girl, with mace in hand, not knowing if the chain-based quirk was hers or someone else's.

"You called?" He replied rather casually. His wings fluttered strongly, like the blades of a helicopter, blowing the grass beneath him. "You best let those people go, or there will be...trouble." he taunted. If they knew him well, they would know that they didn't need to capture civilians to get his attention.

"What the hell, what the actual hell." Amon muttered as he quickly slid on a stairs railing to travel closer to the middle and jumped several more railings in the process, using a small flash of light from one of his constructs. Amagi had mentioned that their names were out there, but to be held up like this simply for being in the vicinity? With hostages nonetheless. He wondered why they were sent to patrol a densely populated area despite the fact it was known that they were being targeted.

Quickly scanning around the area Amon considered what they should do, lying low was only a temporary measure as it was clear their attackers knew who they were. The control of the lights and PA system caught his attention though and the boy rushed over. Whoever controlled the lights must be aligned with those people, and likely of a lower caliber as well. When he got to such a position, it was clear there was something there. It was a person, but their movements seemed...strange. Sickly, almost mechanical. Hiding in the crowd, a red ribbon slithered out, pressed close to the floor. As it got to the bottom of the light operator's feet, a quick lash suddenly formed in an attempt to knock the figure off balance, before the construct disappeared into a trail of light sparks.

Haya jumped up to stand when she started to hear the sounds of people and more so when she heard someone in the center of it all. Sound Vibration. She used the exact words that were labeled on her registration. Haya took a moment before she slid a finger across her collars, one by one they unlocked and she collected them together. As she did she moved to where the door she was beside had been, touching the wall that took its place she sighed. “Welcome back.” she whispered to herself before she went to one of the stands nearby and placed her collars down. Kaizen’s orders were for her to find out about something underground. But that was an odd suggestion. There were no vibrations or sounds that she could feel. So, she moved closer to the center of the stadium, out of sight until she could slip in with the crowd. Feeling them, she found herself down on her knees and between two of the ‘hostages’, she would blend in for the moment. Hearing Kaizen take center, she used her vibration softly to get a better feel of the field, of their surroundings, and to locate who wasn’t one of them. Just like Kaizen. That is going to get him hurt. Too late to save him now. She thought to herself.

“Yadda yadda imma big bad bug look at me and my fancy toy merch appearance,” the little girl immediately interrupted with a flapping hand imitating Kaizens sentence once he was done she shook her head.

“Always the same with you ready to brawl wankers. No style no tact just punch punch punch,” she mocked with a hand at her side as she chuckled.

“Besides if anyone is at fault it’s you ya lug bug. Your the whole reason we’re even here,” she smiled revealing she was not alone officially, and Kaizen in particular was the main target. With him their though she pointed where the light fixtures had made a spot for him to land.

“Land right there mate… or do I need to let my friends flex in the crowd, and get everyone riled up. Though quite frankly you can attack if ya want, triggering a far worse ahem S rank quirk to let loose doesn’t seem like such a good call,” she asked ready to speak into the microphone again if he didn’t abide by the full demand. Whether or not it was a bluff was hard to call as the girl kept a calm expression with her cocky grin.

Amon’s attack on the light fixture hand proved effective, not only tripping the staff work but full out knocking them out as they fell to the ground appearing lifeless in response without even a scream or vocal reaction. They just laid there on the ground the only sign they were alive was the rise and fall of their chest. On closer inspection, Amon would see a card ID on the man,, way healthier than what the man looked like now with his purple blotches.

In Keiho’s vicinity without much warning, a woman started to cough extremely bad not too far from her dropping out of her seat as strange purple blotches started to appear on her skin. If Keiho reacted fast enough it potentially wouldn’t get any attention from the lightworkers. Yet if she didn’t respond effectively it could potentially out her position.

While the bugster could easily attack right now, the likelihood of collateral damage and civilian casualties was simply too high. But one way or another, he will find a way to get these villains back for this. Reluctantly, he complied with the girl's request, landing onto the designated spot while still holding onto his mace, ready to pummel anything that comes his way. As worried as he was about his friends, there wasnt much he could do for them apart from being a distraction. "So what do you want from me? Kidnap for some more experimentation perhaps? A duel to the death? Collecting some bounty?" He questioned with a curious tone.

Haya stayed silent and did as the hostages did to avoid detection so easily. Instead she waited and listened. The villain was not someone that was here alone. She could feel that. She counted two or three others and that wasn't all she noticed. Something felt strange, some people were not...they didn't feel like they should. She thought about this for a moment before she recalled that everyone was a hostage. So the comment, 'riled up' would mean something that the villain could control while at the same time doing something with the hostages. Great. One of their villains was able to do something to the hostages that Haya couldn't mimic. It could be anything and if she wasn't careful that would out not only her position but which teammate she was. That meant they would know which quirk she used and potentially the only surprise was how she changed how she used it. Great. Now a game of musical chairs. Plan A had less distractions. She thought.

Amon kneeled down, his tail swirled up to the man’s neck and pressed on the side of it. A pulse beat can be felt, although not much else indicated this individual being alive. He picked up the ID card and raised it up to the side of the unconscious man, there was no mistaking the resemblance and patterns that surrounded this incident.

“...What unsightly powers, no wonder they turned to villainy.” Amon mumbled to himself as he got up, slipping the ID card into his own jacket’s inlined pockets. He tapped his earpiece and began to relay his findings. “I found something suspicious, there’s an enemy who can significantly debuff and likely manipulate others to do their bidding. It’s best to assess any hostile opponents carefully, they could be under some influence-” Turning and casting his gaze around the stadium, Amon caught sight of Kaizen standing out in the open, with a spotlight on him nonetheless. His earpiece screeched slightly as its owner’s grip on it tightened out of frustration. “Damn it.”

Jumping another railing Amon scanned the area for any signs of the strange purple blotches on the people around him, including Kaizen. Although he was too far to observe properly, it would be disastrous if he fell under whatever happened to that staffhand.

So Amon dealt with whoever was messing with the lights. Good. Speaking of light, Keihō barely saw Kaizen fly away and land in a spotlight. Which was obviously what the villains ordered him to do.

The reason she barely saw Kaizen’s actions out of the corner of her eye, was because at that moment, behind her, she heard someone coughing. That immediately drew Keihō’s attention, causing the girl to swivel around to locate the distressed person. She immediately rushed to the woman’s side. Only to notice the strange purple blotches as Keihō knelt down beside her.

Keihō’s hands went up around the woman, but then she paused just before touching her, fearful of the strange illness she had. The alarm on her arm was buzzing worse now, and was pretty obtrusive, but Keihō ignored it.

She grabbed some cloth and wrapped it around her face quickly, only leaving her eyes exposed. “Ma’am,” she began in a soft tone. “Are you okay?” Well, obviously not. “I’m here. How can I help?” she asked, placing her arms around the woman to comfortingly hold her. As if to reassure the woman, she leaned in and whispered, “I’m a hero. I’m here to help.”

She wasn’t sure exactly what she could do. This likely was the work of some quirk, rather than an illness, but still. Knowing what Kaizen ordered over the comms, she said, “Okay, sit tight, I’m going to find us a way out of here, and I’ll find you some medicine.” With that, Keihō got up and began to subtly move and look around. Though she feared it was a lost cause, as there likely really wasn’t anyway out of here. The villains wouldn’t have allowed that. But she could still look for medicine or something to help the woman!

“Those are all stupid suggestions buggy. No, I’ll give it to you straight including myself there are three of us locked down with ya wankers. None of which any of you have met, but our employer know you very well, and wants to see how you react under pressure,” the little girl smiled sinisterly.

“So hears the name of the game you stay feet planted on the field. You try to escape or fly well the hostages pay for your mistakes. You try to attack me the hostages pay. Now to show some sportsmanship your little friends are free of these rules. Ya hear that you tossers do what ya like. Yet just so you don’t think we have forgotten ya one of me pals is slowly stirring up trouble for ya,” she chuckled pretty sure by now they had at least seen one of the purple-like gifts of the house.

“By the way on your left bug,” without much warning, a disturbing screech escaped one of the staff women who had just been released by the now nonexistent chain that had trapped her. Running like a wild animal Kaizen would be quickly overwhelmed as she rammed into him without warning with lifeless eyes, and purple blotched all over her skin. At first, the bug would probably not think much of it, but upon impact, the force, and fierceness of her wild attack would push him back as if all muscle restriction did not apply like a….

As Amon started to make tracks he would suddenly feel tackled from behind slamming both of him and attacking onto the stadium staircases sending them both tumbling and as people panicked and reeled away from the violence. Upon halting it was revealed to be the same guy that Amon had just knocked out growling like a wild dog trying to bite and claw at him with no remorse. To add adrenaline to the situation folks screamed as a elder woman also covered with purple blotches and soulless eyes dove aiming to bite into Amon’s neck.

Over at Keiho’s corner, the woman coughing started to hyperventilate as the blotches disappeared and reappeared as if her body was fighting it to the extreme for whatever was happening. People started to move from the woman as screams here, and there could be heard around the stadium as people covered in blotches started to stand up, and aimlessly shamble forward to the field.

“My…my quirk is a healing factor. I am… a nurse I don’t know what’s happening, but don’t let yourself get bitten, or let them get any sort of skin on skin contact with you,” she told Keiko as her quirk tried to resist the effects. As Keiho aimed to find answers from the crowd a hand with long green fingernails reached out trying to touch the nap of the girl’s neck.

This whole ordeal was frustrating for the bugster. Why couldn’t they just challenge the bugster directly without involving everyone else? Perhaps the worse part was the fact that they were able to weaponize the civvies against him. She was slightly caught off guard by the woman who was wrestling with a strength level above her weight class. But even with such strength, the bugster had more than enough power to overpower the lady. Kaizen grappled with the lady for a short bit before spraying her with a thick layer of webbing. Eventually, he would stop her movements completely by wrapping her in a cocoon, allowing him to leave her to the side. “That the best you got?” He taunted them.

"My my." Frowning a bit as he caught another moving object in his peripheral vision, Amon grabbed onto the neck of the man that pounced on him, his tail wrapped around the man's waist as he held his opponent at arm's length. Crimson irises shifted to the direction of his new attacker, Amon rolled to the side while straightening up. Using the force of the rotation he hurled the man at the woman who was also diving towards him.

But before the two could fly back, they were caught and encased in a red, glowing prism. It was not unlike the full shields Amon employs on himself, but now it has become a prison rather than a sanctuary, completely sealed from the outside world.

"...So…" Tapping his earpiece again Amon asked, half-seriously despite the question's absurdity. "How long can a person go without air before they go unconscious—Tsk." It was difficult containing what amounted to wild animals in his constructs, as the glow strengthened with every retaliation. "...Or I'll just wait until they stop moving."

Haya sighed, the movement was starting to grow, which meant it was only a matter of time before there was someone on her tail. She didn’t have a choice anymore, there was no way that she was going to escape this fight much longer. She closed her eyes and stood up, before sending out a wave of sound from every pore. If she could avoid too many fights in this, she could avoid having to hurt too many people. The sound wave was something like her cousin’s, sending the brain waves into a fuse, before knocking out the people around her.

Haya moved to the stairs and started down them, sending her wave through each movement before she jumped off the edge right into the stadium, using her sound to slow her fall and catch her. Landing on her feet she sighed, as she started towards bug, her sound waves were closer to her now, she didn’t need too many of those things getting through, and not many did, when the wave it them and she moved towards Kaizen and the girl, “Please stop egging her own, Kaizen. We are at a disadvantage, with the two others that are still in hiding and have no way to stay hidden.” she pointed out, “The best way to deal with this. Is to deal with this.” she said before she came closer, stopping beside Kaizen, “And since we are one Bug down, this is no longer your fight.”

Keihō could tell by the tone of the woman’s voice that she should heed her words. “A nurse..” As she was contemplating that, someone reached for her, and Keihō reacted quickly. “Whoa! Hands off!” The redhead, nearly panicked, spun around and shoved away the person extending their hand towards her, with enough force to make sure there was no threat, but not enough force to cause any harm. She had also made sure to not touch any skin.

“A nurse, huh?” she quickly conversed. “Can you do anything about this weird contagious quirk? If not.. I think the only thing I can do is go punch out the one who is the cause of it; they’re likely around here..” Keihō thoughtfully surmised, surveying the area, looking for any suspicious persons. While at the same time, she made sure to keep aware of her own surroundings so that one person wouldn’t try grabbing her again.

“NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST,” Kaizen got his wish in the form of an energy blasting punch from an equally sized bear man with an extremely mean left hook sending Kaizen spinning a few feet as a rather cyber looking bear who had burrowed out of the ground smiled with a bellowing laugh. Before Kaizen could counter Hollow would enter the scene knocking out quite a few potential future zombies.

“And behind curtain two is the Hollow heh. That leaves the alarm system, and the looking glass critter,” causing the little girl to chuckle at the sound girl’s appearance she made a small jab as her bear ally chuckled with a beastly grin.

“I usually don’t do grandstand missions like this, but our employer oh he’s interested in seeing you in full action that the offer he made well hard to resist,” the bear laughed looking particularly at Kaizen as he smirked at Hollow. “I’ll throw with you both little lady, or you can through down with the little bean behind me doesn’t matter to me,” the bear laughed as the hoodies girl smiled clearly not caring how that part went down.

Upon Amon corralling his attackers an unnerving harmony of moans started to erupt as everyone in the seats around Amon’s block started to arise with rapidly deteriorating health as the purple blotches took over… he was now at a ground zero zone as twenty zombies turned to him. Snarling they surprisingly didn’t move at first until five rushed him with two going for his legs and the others going for his upper body. A few of them attempted to break their trapped brethren free as the battle royale erupted.

Keihos own scenario isn't faring much better as the nurse fought from turning. “To be honest that might be your only answer… if this was a legit infection cause the control, and direction those on the field are showing wouldn’t exist,” the nurse expressed as she hissed sitting back down.

Before much else could be said two infected tackled Keiho sending them all rolling down the stairs as three more chased after her making her in a tango of five.

While he was happy to see Haya appear by his side, he was slightly annoyed by the fact that she had ignored his orders or perhaps she deemed it absolutely necessary to reveal herself. “What's the point in me giving orders if you’re not gonna listen?” He laughed, before turning his attention towards the girl in front of them. “But then again, I guess I would have done the same.” He smirked behind his helmet, appreciating Haya’s snark.

Sensing the rumbling from beneath the ground, the bugster instinctively raised his arms, guarding his front, like a boxer. The blow from the cybernetic bear would send the giant bug flying across the field, leaving behind one of his bug balls. before finally landing on the surface, creating a massive dust cloud. There was short moment of silence before Kaizen’s voice could be heard coming out of the communicator. “Red Hazard, Jabberwocky. See what you can do in the back end, either find a way out, or stop their associates from causing more trouble. Seems like I have a duet with Hollow…”. At that moment, a single sharp insectoid spine was shot out from the dust cloud towards bug ball left behind earlier, puncturing it and allowing the putrid stink gas to envelope the area around the bear. A few seconds later, the ground itself began to shake violently. The bear wasn't the only one that could burrow.

“Hollow, disorient them for me.” He spoke into the communicator once more, before bursting out of the ground behind the bear, and slamming his mace into the arm, aiming to cripple it. He knew how strong hollow sound blasts were, and he was hoping they could use that to their advantage. Kaizen would then follow it up with a second strike, swinging it low towards the bear’s leg in quick succession. The bugster would then finish his combo off with a third overhead strike, trying to give the bear a concussion. “You’re the best they got? I must’ve really cleaned out the division.” he wasn’t about to allow the civilians suffer on his behalf. Every single one of these villains had just received a mark on their heads. And if they aren’t lucky, they won’t live long enough to regret it.

Keihō frowned at what the nurse said. Punching people was her forte, sure, but hearing that was the only answer to this ‘infection’ was not good. “Hey! I said hands off!” She cried out when she was tackled by strange infected peeps. Punching people out was her forte, but not defending against the innocent. She didn’t have the armor Kaizen had, or the defensive capabilities like Amon.

So she was forced to tumble down the stairs, gritting her teeth as her bones rattled from the impacts. She hoped the people were okay and not injured! Yet, still, she tossed them off of her, and quickly scrambled to her feet.

“I’ll try, Bugster,” she murmured into her earpiece. Though she wasn’t quite sure how to accomplish either of those. But at this point, she figured there was no need to “remain hidden”, instead she ran out onto the field, leaving the ‘infected’ people behind, aiming to tackle the villains and provide her allies with backup. She saw the ‘little girl’ villain and like a lineman from a sport, shoulder-tackled into her.

“Tsk.” So the infection wasn’t transmitted by the already infected, he had completely barricaded the two people from the outside world, yet this still happened. It was likely that whatever turned people into these things didn’t control them, or at least not completely, it would be near impossible to multitask meticulously managing over twenty units.

Still, there were civilians, most of them weren’t exactly good at fighting, they were mostly acting on instinct to whatever instruction they have programmed in. Seeing one of his teammates run and jump to the field, Amon decided to do largely the same. There was no point in fighting these if they can’t deal with the source of the infection, besides, they were normal people, it’s best to avoid them when possible.

A burst of red energy expanded from Amon as a shockwave quickly expanded out and shoved the infected people nearby away for a little. Taking this chance Amon jumped and stepped onto a stadium chair and stood on the back of it. He hopped over to another chair back and on the railings, this time upwards rather than down in the field. That little girl implied there were multiple villains, yet no one else showed themselves yet. It was even possible that the “infection” was caused by somebody else. It was also strange, why infect the people around when infecting one of them would cause much more havoc? Everything that is happening with Kaizen seems so much like a distraction…

“Ugh-” Nearly losing his balance as his mind was in a mess, Amon dashed and jumped across the stadium, trying to avoid tripping over the panicking people and keeping whatever came after him at bay. “Where…where…” He whispered as he looked around, the noise and chaos dizzying for a survey operation.

“I’m conducting a sweep of the area. I’m blaming all of you if I get 3v1’ed.” He said half jokingly but also half exhaustedly, it was certainly no easy task.

Haya felt the vibration and moved away from Kaizen to clear them before the bear attacked. She sighed when she felt how Kaizen responded. "One rule. Seriously. Can't follow just one rule." She snarled as Kaizen dug himself downward. Stay on the ground. That was what the little girl had said. He could have fought the bear on the ground but that was too much to ask. She sighed as she felt Kaizen come closer. She reached from behind her hack to pull out her baton and extend it. She built up some sound to it and placed her hand on her earpiece. "Your orders are extending this fight without benefit. There are still at least two others that no one has found and the moment we start to focus on these two. They can strike. So no. I don't follow blind orders anymore. I have a job to do and this fight is getting in my way." She told him before shipping her baton against the ground. The sound waves forced the unconscious people that she knocked out a good distance away from where the bear was. All she could do was play clean up while she dealt with the girl.

When Kaizen attacked she turned to the girl and growled, "Seriously." She snapped as she felt more people enter the arena. They were following her 'teammate' who not only didn't locate another target but felt the need to enter an already going battle and bring live rounds. "Where are they getting you guys from? Freshman class?" She snapped at the new girl as she moved to grab the Mic from the little girl. She sighed as she started towards the people that the girl had brought along with her. "You can do both. They said. It'll be a shame, she said. You'll lose out on so much, she said." She snarked as she moved to the path of the civilians now in danger. Her baton swung from left to right and right to left sending sound waves just enough to push them all back and knock them out. In her other hand she sent a sound wave that was low to destroy the Mic completely. It might give them a moment or two to avoid her arming whatever others the little girl had hidding in the crowd. They would be sore and in pain in the morning. But they would be alive. Not squashed by giant bugs or bears or killed by following a newbie. She moved to her earpiece, "New girl is taking my place. I am heading up with Amon. There are two villains and no back up. Try not to kill anyone while I play hero. I am starting my way up and knocking these people out. Making it easier to find someone not infected that way." She informed them before she left. Three on two would be ideal but not when there was a two on one that was going to happen. Or when their other teammate was alone to deal with everything else. Haya sighed, What the hell is going on?

"Nice little trick to bad it's wasted," the bear laughed as his mask covered his nostrils filtering out the putrid stench. However the smoke screen was still effective as Kaizens swimming underground caught the bear off guard as he blocked the first seeing with his whole side begrudgingly getting pushed away not allowing him to block the second strike that forced him into one knee. The finale of Apex Bugsters combo as The bear pushed off his knee to the left dodging the attack. Using his hand to catch the back of bugsters head the near proceeded to slam Kaizen into the ground before forcibly dragging him in a run until enough momentum was built to throw Kaizen straight into a wall.

"Pretty big talk larva," the bear laughed as he stretched out his arms signaling the chains to release the unconscious hostages as they were consumed into his hands turning his upper armor into a full on suit of armor. Revealing that the chains were connected to his quick now left it up pretty high into the air for what the little girls quirk was.

The little girl in question devilishly smiled to Kaizen going underground, but before anything could be said to the scenario she was tackled by the new girl causing her to squeak without warning a before she could recover Hollow stole her Mic. With a his the girl rolled away on the podium to get some distance from Keiho as she pulled out a ear piece mic.

"You broke the rules mate "keep your legs to ground level that included burrowing time for the punishment," she spoke with gleefully insane smile, extending her hands like a maestro as the darkness that had sealed the upper section of the stadium started to extend. Oozing down like tar it suddenly engulfed a good circular chunk of the stadium leaving a good two thirds of the original space left. Though the real concern was the screams that went silent as everyone who didn't move fast enough was engulfed into the tar like shadows. With the punishment delivered the little girl turned to Keiho as her limbs started to get enveloped by the sane tar like oozing shadows.

"Come on, have a go if you think you're hard enough," she challenged.

Over in Amons corner he would notice something strange on the other side of the stadium stand from himself. From the tar like abyss there were blotches from it where the lights originally run by the upper scaffold were seeming to cut legit holes through. Yet even more intriguing was a woman sitting close to the darkness not scared with eyes much like the infected lifeless but with no purple blotches. With long sickly green nails, long black hair, and gothic like mascara. The woman, maybe in her early twenties, noticed Amon and in response eerily waved with one hand to him. It was also noticeable that unlike most of the stands the infected were spreading away from her location.

When Haya entered the stands again one of the looking infected spotted her getting close to the strange gothic woman which in turn made her turn towards Hollow as if sending her somehow. In response a feral roar escaped the spotter infected as more infected started to bombard rush the girl.

Upon being grabbed by the bear and dragged across the ground, the bugster would immediately retaliate by slamming the front end of the mace into his opponent's arm and releasing the pile bunker mechanism into it the hand that held him. Such a tool was made to crack bunkers, so it should have some effect on the bear’s hand. One way or another, he was forcing the bear to release his grip.

While inside the wall,he heard the girl mentioning something about breaking the rules. Guess the bugster misunderstood them. He could from where he was that she began to manipulate some sort of a tar like substance. No more playing nice. He knew that stakes had been raised exponentially. Kaizen exited the hole with blurring speed, immediately returning the favour to bear in full force with a fist to the face with one hand while slamming the tip of his mace to one of the legs and releasing the pile bunker once more to pierce through whatever defenses he had and possibly cripple his leg. He would follow it up with a pincer clap of the bear’s head before releasing a point blank explosion from both ends, aiming for maximum disorientation and shattering his eardrums. All this happened in the span of a few seconds. He didn't have time to hold back. At this point, the lives of these villains would be considered forfeit.”Get out of my way.” he muttered before moving on.

He had a simple plan in his mind. Neutralize the threat, save the civilians. Based on what he has seen so far, he didn’tknow how reliable some of his teammates were, but nonetheless he still had to leave things to them. “Crimson Hazard, knock that girl out!” He recognized, at this moment, the girl was the biggest threat to the civilians.

Continuing his way forward, Kaizen would release a few explosions to push him towards the area where the giant wave sludge was falling. He would try his best to minimize the damage. Kaizen hastily formed bombardier organs into his sub arm, something he learned to do during the ANVIL bootcamp. Kaizen placed himself dead centre of the wave and raised his arms, all 8 of them. Yes. This was his mistake for getting so careless in the first place, so it's only right for him to be the one to correct it. His arms begin to puff up, building up as much explosive force as they can before releasing the biggest explosion he had ever created to hopefully push a good portion of the tar away from the civilians. “I am no hero, but it doesn't mean I can’t pretend to be one!” He mentaly psyched himself up for the task at hand.

“Is she talking to me?” Keihō murmured into the mic of her earpiece, overhearing some of Hollow’s own mumbles. Hey! The only way Keihō saw to follow Kaizen’s orders was what she just did. He told her to ‘stop them from doing shit’ -paraphrased. The best way to do that? Beat the villain she could see. Though, she was a new girl to the group, so there was bound to be some learning process.

Keihō watched as the small girl got back to her feet in disbelief. Her tackle had meant to knock her straight out. This girl was tougher than she looked! The redhead glanced upward as the girl began to use her quirk. She watched as this ugly black mass began to come down into the stadium. “Ew..” she whined, upturning her nose.

She cast her golden gaze around the stadium, watching the horrors unfold from this girl’s quirk. Then she glanced down at her wrist. Sparks and golden hexagons and a blaring red alarm was lighting up her arm. To the point that it ached. She lightly grimaced and placed her hand on her wrist, as if to mildly comfort herself. Then she fixed her gaze on the girl and raised up her arms in a boxing stance.

“That’s what I’m trying to do!” she replied to Kaizen, narrowing her eyes. “Oh, I’m hard. I’m harder than I look!” Keihō said firmly to the girl. Before firing out some crimson blasts of redhot energy right at her. Then, chasing her own blasts, she ran at the girl, attempting to land a few good blows, maybe a haymaker, and if that didn’t work, Keihō intended to tackle her to the ground and choke her out.

Haya sighed, as she started to hear what she had just left. Hearing the question, she sighed, “Yes, she was.” she said in her earpiece. She turned to the sound of the infected, that was starting towards her. She went back to her earpiece, “Kaizen, I will warn you now, this is going to get loud.” She warned as she smirked, Might as well have some fun, while I wait. She thought to herself, as she let out a sound wave extend just far enough for her to move in any way she needed. The sound would still knock them out, with different frequencies. As she started to sway as the music started to leave her body. It took a moment for her, as she started to move forward, dancing and singing to the song in her mind, that she let flow through her pores with no effort. She moved forward, her moves didn’t move too much, as she dodged the falling people until it picked up and she used her movements more, lowering the sound waves around her for more contact. She made it larger as the sound lowered, and when it grew, she shortened it. She moved with the song she sung and through the halls, the lower shield of sound gave her a chance to get closer to the humans, but not to the point that they touched. She didn’t have to do much, but have fun with it.

Amon narrowed his eyes to survey the surroundings more, it was difficult to keep up with all the chaos that had been going on. This was until he caught the eye of a woman who was waving at him. Normally that would be normal, in a dangerous situation such as this one, a civilian waving at a hero for help isn’t out of the question. But something was off. Despite his clearly professional movements and calmer demeanor, there wasn’t much that indicated him as a hero. That woman was also far away, to pick him out of the randomly moving crowd of people just like that seemed off. She had a calm visage, to the point of slight unsettlement.

Locking eyes with the woman for a brief moment Amon took a step back and blended himself into the shifting crowd. Moving through the people he didn’t head straight towards the suspicious-looking woman, rather making a sprint to circle up to the higher rows as the dark tar around seemed to be moving down rather than up.

“...You should be evacuating, right, ma’am?” After arriving in a section of stands that towered above the woman, Amon glanced down at her, most of the other audience members already long gone since the attack started. “Perhaps you should leave, lest something unfortunate happens to you.” Although Amon’s words seemed like ones of concern, the tone of voice they were spoken in had a chill within them. The red light near him glowed stronger and stronger as he stared down at the woman.

With Kaizen’s massive mace cracking the bear’s forearm armor the bear was forced to finally let go as the blinding speed punch made its mark literally lifting the bear off the ground as saliva mixed with blood left the cyber bear’s mouth. Yet the bear was still functional to dodge the leg breaker move getting a vicious uppercut on Kaizen being so close in lower proximity. His claws tried to rip off Kaizens head. Yet the explosive clap forced him to let go as the disoriented bear hit the ground hard.

As Kaizen attacked the sludge he was met with a more alarming sight as the balls were quickly absorbed in with no solid resistance halting their capability to explode on impact. The attempt was futile as the tar acted more fluid, and was clearly absorbing things by touch alone. Yet there was a notable pause as something chemically triggered from the balls while it wasnt the explosion Kaizen was hoping for it seemed to halt the tar quick progression. However before a second plan could be acted on bellowing roar could be heard as the bear sent out some chains from his body catching Kaizen before swinging him in a few fast-paced circles before slamming the bug down hard into the ground. Reeling the Apex Bugster into a brutal lariat the bear continued to wail onto the bug unwilling to give him the time to think he needed.

Keiko’s laser blast was quickly blocked by a small wave of tar that was seared out of existence in response to the heat of Keihos blasts. Before it could turn into a hand-to-hand scenario the little girl backpedaled with ooze quickly pushing off her now shoeless feet causing her to seemingly skate against the solid ground as she sent out flung globs of tar at Keiho trying to catch or detain her with its sticky substance.

Haya’s attacks kept the infected very busy, and distracted allowing Amon to get in close to the strangely looking woman. Upon his clear threat, the woman slowly turned to him with an odd smile as one of the infected simple stood not too far from her watching him. She then lightly tapped on a notable collar around her neck before expanding her hand out from a ball to an open palm as if signifying an explosion.

“I… am… victim… to,” the infected strangely spoke next to the woman as if acting as her voice. She showed no hostile notions nor fear of his words just calm, but her reactions to sound and sights were notably off as if disorient of Amon until the infected looked directly at Amon it was clear she couldn’t tell where he even was.

“I… am… not… suppose… to… be… outside… Stay… at… current… distance,” spoke the infected’s voice.

Although it was far from the result he wanted, as long as the sludge stopped he saw no reason to complain. The short moment of respite was interrupted by the bear’s merciless onslaught. He was numb. He started seeing everything in slow motion. His body felt heavy, from the strain of the speedy transformation. With each strike, he could feel his exoskeleton slowly cracking.

Brute strength wasn’t the answer here. The difference in power between the two individuals wasn’t big enough for the bugster to push the advantage. So he had to rely on.. Something else. He had noticed that there was a crack on the bear’s forearm armor, and handiwork of his mace. Once again, his training with Anvil officers was crucial. While he formed new organs on his sub arms and after much fiddling Kaizen managed to free one of his main arms, that was holding another one of his utility balls. With all the might he could muster, the bugsters slams the ball into the face of the bear to momentarily disorient him with a face full of spider webbing.

Taking a moment to break free from the bear’s bind and step back from the bear, the bugster unleashes a barrage of webbing onto the bear’s body trying to restrict his movements as much as possible while he retrieves his mace with a sling of his web. The mace slid across the ground as it was reeled back into its master’s arm. Kaizen took a look at the condition of his team. They seemed to know what they were doing and saw no reason to intervene.

The bugster raised his mace towards the bear, probably still covered in a lot of webbing, igniting its thrusters and releasing his grip, letting the mace fly towards him like a rocket. It didn't matter whether the mace would hit its mark as its purpose was to close the distance. The bugster, being pulled by the rocket-powered, followed close behind, aiming to get a good haymaker on the bear’s face with one arm and stabbing the other exposed area with a paralysis dart that he had been saving up for him.

That’s exactly what Keihō wanted to do! Keeping civilians safe was her number one priority. However, in her past, she hadn’t had a good track record of accomplishing that goal. The only way she could see to keep the most civilians safe was taking out these villains who were putting them in danger.

Unfortunately, the current villain she was trying to knock out was an extremely slippery little one! “Hey! Would’ya knock it off?! Quit it! Stay still!” the redhead called to the girl, who was avoiding her strikes. She saw more of that strange tar stuff flung her way, but recalling how the heat of her quirk was able to evaporate it, Keihō quickly fired more blasts at the incoming tar goo shots. Their attacks quickly cancelling each other out, as Keihō made progress towards the girl.

However, she considered her own words, then had an idea! “Oi! Uh, you! What’s your name? Villain, real, I don’t care. Call me Red.” Keihō introduced, placing a hand on her chest. “Look, uh, I don’t know why you’re doing all this, but could you like, uh, not? Like, I’m sure some villains have reasons for what they do… more or less. But like hurting innocents? Trapping people in a stadium? I don’t know what yours is, but it can’t be that big of one. Look, I don’t want to hurt you or anyone, I just want to protect people who are uninvolved in whatever going on here.” Keihō said, trying to appeal to the villain, placing her hand on her alarm-vibrating wrist. “So, what do you say? Please, stop. Remove the tar cage thing, free the civilians. Then if you still want to go a row with us, then maybe we’ll accommodate you. Just let the innocents go first so they don’t get hurt. It’s between you and us heroes, right?” She didn’t expect this to work, but hoped it would regardless.

Amon didn’t move, he only glanced at the infected person who was talking. It seemed like this woman was the one controlling them, well, “controlling” maybe just a guess so far. She didn’t seem hostile, as evident by the fact that the infected people she supposedly had power over didn’t swarm him immediately. Her collar was one of interest as well.

Although it appears as if Amon simply stood there, staring the opposing woman down, much else was happening where the eye couldn’t see. One red thread slithered downwards, extending to right below the woman’s feet. It ensnared her leg gently and climbed up, although a bit startling, it did not seem like an attack, or even an attempt to restrain her. Amon flickered his tail lightly, so inconspicuous that it almost seemed like a natural movement that simply came along with every breath he took. It was a rhythmic movement that consisted of fast and slower taps, in a sequence. He paused after one sequence before following up with another. If the woman could tell, it was a simple form of morse code. Her control and infected to speak and stillness made it clear that normal communication wasn’t possible with her.

[Stay still]
[Blink twice for yes]
[Are you threatened?]
[Device lethal?]
[Want it off?]

With Kaizen’s more tactical assault the bear was disoriented, blinded, and wildly beatdown forcing him back further, and further. With each of Kaizen’s known strategies making its mark the haymaker pushed the bear to panic as he shot out his chains right for Kaizen’s chest aiming to impale the bug’s chest.

“Wow I literally got the 2nd idiot of the lottery today,” the girl was dumbfounded and annoyed with Keiho the girl’s quirk alone canceled out hers luckily the opposite was true as well. However, given the amount of time that had passed the man mission should have been accomplished right about now. With a goading smile, she responded.

“What makes you think anyone’s still here to save,” she ominously laughed before slamming her hands into the ground unleashing a heavy wave of tar right at Red before running for a particular side of the stadium most notable the side from where the bear had made his entrance from.

For Amon the sickly woman stood there as the morse code was initiated for a moment there were no responses, but once her secondary sense was transferred she blinked twice for each question. For whatever reason before anything else could be said the infected spoke again.

“They… are… not… here… for… you.”

The sudden violent eruption of countless chains at such close range didn't give the bugster much time to respond. And so, he pressed forward, knowing full well he might not survive this attack, Kaizen turned on his side, making sure that he'll at least have one functioning arm after this attack. His exoskeleton managed to deflect some of the chains, but most of them hit their mark, piercing right through the bug's armor, and even severing some of his limbs and impaling whatever that remained. Even his head wasn't safe, his helmet being completely torn apart by the chains' speed density. A large gash could be seen on the bug's now exposed human face.

Kaizen, despite being stabbed, dismembered, and impaled, flashed a cocky smile to the bear. The dart he already hit its mark. It was only a matter of time before the bear would be left paralyzed from the venom. With whatever strength he had left, Kaizen clenched his fist swung his only good arm towards the bear, sending him flying across midfield and into a wall, pulling out the chains that were impaling him, painting the field with his blood. "....That..stings..." he weakly muttered to himself.

The bugster looked down at his body and the other parts of him that were all over the area, severed limbs and chunks of flesh. The orange blood finally started flowing out, staining the once green glass. This might very well be his last fight. He fell to one knee before talking to the communicator. "...Team...no matter what happens….finish the mission…." He was trying his best to stay conscious. There was no pain, just a strange sensation of looseness, like every part of his body was floaty. He had regrets.. a lot of regrets. Thoughts of his family and friends flow into his mind. Perhaps he should spend more time with them. He never did reconcile with them properly. Vig would probably look at him with disgust right now by how weak he looked. He won't have a chance to one-up Agi at this rate. But if he does bite the dust, at least his recipes will live on through his cooking student, Katsumi.

"Heh..at least I did it… my way…"

He could vaguely spot a girl with a familiar unique looking hoody, fleeing from the scene. With his only good limb, Kaizen would check his tracking device onto her. He wasn’t even sure if it still worked if he could even hit her in his condition.

“Hmph. What a pain, why do I always get stuck with these situations.” Amon closed his eyes and thought for a while as he saw the girl’s responses. He flickered his tail once more to send another message to the girl, the plan he had was pretty risky, he rather didn’t let her know.

[-Don’t panic -Don’t move -It will be OK]

It was his last message before crimson pillars shot up surrounding the girl. Soon the constructs converged into a small box that barely fit her in, completely sealed off from the outside world. Amon waited, he was nervous and could hear his own heartbeat in his head. Another tendril like construct appeared and tapped the girl again, who is now likely feeling the suffocation settle in.

[-Please -It will be OK when you awake]

As the girl began to succumb to the lack of oxygen, Amon began to remorph the red construct. The need to keep the entire setup air tight already drained him quite heavily, a drop of cold sweat slipped down his brow into his eye. “Ugh…Slowly now.” There was no way to tell the condition inside the prism, the only indicator is the slow rise and fall of the girl’s chest as she tries to breathe and how the colour of her complexion would change to be even more sickly due to asphyxiation.

If I wait any longer…that’s going to be too much damage.Amon thought, and the thought of anything in this plan going wrong caused him to flinch a little. But at this point he can’t afford to waver. Slowly, two extensions grew out of the walls of the prism and towards the collar on the girl’s neck, it enveloped the accessory and glowed brilliantly despite its paper-thin finess. Amon knew it won’t hold up to any decently sized explosion, but it was the best he could muster. He wanted to close his eyes, but part of that felt like a great disrespect if he wasn’t even confident enough in his own abilities to do such a thing.

-Snap-

As the girl seemed to be inching to the edge of her life, Amon snapped the collar off.

“What?” Keihō’s face distorted with shock. “What do you mean?!” The redhead wasn’t happy with what the girl implied. As her attack came, Keihō was forced to quickly flee backwards out of range of the tar wave. When she was at a safe distance, the hero stopped to collect herself. She couldn’t accept it. A girl that young that evil already? There was just no way.. She was misguided, that had to be it.

Then Kaizen’s voice came over the headset and Keihō quickly glanced around for him. The mission was to save everyone. And no one wanted to save the people more than Keihō, but still. ‘Everyone’ included her ally hero! She began running towards Kaizen, hoping to help him as he sounded pained and wounded over his voice. She saw him and made her way over to him. “Kaizen! How can I help? Is there anything I can do??” she asked, reaching him and kneeling down to him to comfortingly hold him. “I mean, Bugster.”

Upon snapping the collar rupturing the explosive device Amon was able to disengage the detonation. Upon the smoke signaling his success front he broken collar on the matter, Amon would be relieved to see he had indeed saved the now unconscious severely bruised, but very much alive woman. With that gone however the infected person, she was holding some control of seemed a bit lost. Yet before much could be done about it was sucked into the black tar before it strangely started to retreat, and pull back.

In fact in a massive moment that would be felt by everyone the tar came to life like a massive flood collecting onto the middle of the stadium where the podium had been seeming to funnel into a now forming whirlpool effect sinking into the exact spot. Taking all those trapped with it. Maniacally laughing the tar hoodied girl gave a wave before jumping into the escaping tar.

“See you again never you wankers hahahahahaha,” she laughed before getting sucked into the vortex gone from sight, and mind as what was left were the people Haya had knocked out earlier all of which were already showing signs of recovery. It seemed only those legitly still infected were taken those knocked out were left behind. As the last of the tar funneled into the now obvious hole in the field the question more than likely on everyone’s mind would probably be… what the actual fuck.

After that spectacle, Keihō was thinking exactly that, clutching comfortingly to Kaizen. To her, this had all seemed so senseless. Senseless destruction, hate, and hurt were something that spurred her on to become a hero. And here it was, on full display to her. The villain hadn’t wanted to reason with her. Hadn’t wanted to compromise. It was all too heart-wrenching. Not to mention, for the first mission with these guys… Keihō felt slightly lost. She felt like she hadn’t managed to accomplish anything or help in any way. So was how she felt often in her life.

Even as a bonafide hero, nothing had changed. She still couldn’t help anyone. This is how it typically went with her quirk. Keihō despaired. But at least.. the damage was minimal.. considering. So that was something. Just something. Not much, but something.

Amon took a breath of relief when his plan had mostly worked, he quickly dissipated the construct to make sure the woman in it wasn’t going to suffocate for longer. As she fell over, Amon jumped over a few rows of seats to catch the unconscious woman in his arms and pulled her away from the tar. Glancing at the collar he just snapped off, Amon picked it up with his tail and encased it in a thin veil, in case it had any other tricks to it.

“Phew.” The entire ordeal was exhausting for Amon, as he took a few leaps to get down to where his teammates were with the unconscious woman in his arms. “...Hey.” Amon spoke up to his teammates lacklusterly. Although he had no visible wounds and seemed to fare much better than the rest, he was quite pale. The amount of energy expended to create a fully vacuum environment and to suppress an explosion in a handful of space was no joke.

“...I found…her…this girl.” In many ways Amon was at a loss for how and what he could explain, his track record wasn’t exactly great with these sorts of things. “I think she’s making the infected, but she had an explosive device attached to her.”

“That’s all.” Amon averted his gaze, he wasn’t around for any of the dangers his team had to face, he got caught up in some villain personally again. What an awful habit. He was tired, carrying another person wasn’t easy anymore. He sighed and decided to sit back on one of the numerous seats that was around the stadium, setting the unconscious girl he held down carefully, making sure he can hold her upright while waiting for her to wake up.


Was it bad luck? Or just bad play on his part? Kaizen wasn’t sure why exactly bad things happen whenever he is put into the leader role. I didn't help that the greenhorn has been repeatedly seen disobeying his orders. “..I’ll….be fine…” he spoke, slowly reaching towards his mace. The mangled bug grabbed his weapon and used it as a crutch to force himself to stand up. “...Help the civvies..” He insisted, despite still bleeding out. “..Good job….Jabber….wocky..” he heard Amon’s response, was at least happy about that. “...Hollow…status report…” and now he just wanted to hear thing’s on Haya’s end. Kaizen looked around once more, he didnt even realise one person could bleed so much. But the question still remained. What was the purpose of all this?

Haya sighed when she was done, looking around as she felt that the stadium was now emptied. She moved to feel if anyone was anywhere, but all she felt were those she knocked out and those that were in the arena with her team. She moved to go back to the arena, as she got the call on her headset. She sighed, “A few hundred knocked out, but fine, not counting the groups you have around you.” she reported as she entered the arena, untouched by the mission. “From what I can feel, the ones I was able to knock out and a few others are all that is left other than us. It’s a little more than half, I am sure.” she said as she moved towards them and reported on her earpiece. But stopped when she was in ear shot, “It was a bit much, the mess we are in, but at least we got two of the four. Too bad I never found a fourth. In my boredom, I did confirm four but one just wasn’t locatable, which leads me to believe he is either like that because of his quirk, or he can hide his presents, sound and all. Which honestly is probably the worst part to face.” she said as she stopped towards Kaizen, then smirked, “I warned you, you would get yourself into trouble. Maybe next time, we can have you listen.” she commented, as she moved towards him. Her hand reached out towards him, to feel everything, a wave of sound hummed over him, as she did, and she nodded. “Next time.” was how she ended it.

"...I see.." Who was this mysterious forth member? He briefly wondered. Haya's teasing was somewhat hurtful considering that they too disobeyed his orders. But if nothing else, at least his teammates were fine. "..yea...I….don't think there is a next time…" His vision began to blur, his body finally giving in to his injuries. The bugster collapses, a small puddle of blood forming around his body. He bit off more than he can chew. Super or not, he was only human..

Once things settled down Drill Queen came drilling through one of the many sealed entryways with medical support, and police back up. The stadium victims still left thankfully would make full recovers for the half stadium of people missing Anvil, Hero society, and the Japanese government would have a major response to with the little girl to be revealed as the terrorist Tarmass who was a wanted British villain for multiple high stakes crimes. The cold feeling of the days of the Yakuza Empress could be felt as it was clear something would indeed come from this high-stakes event.

A lot further away where a recently filled tunnel was caved in a load-banging semi-truck could be seen driving away following a dozen more. As a very amused elephant, the man watched a recording of everything that had gone on a happily paid Tarmass got in a Japanese sports car with an amused par of woman one easily identifiable as Transfora, and the other Trance Hack.

“Good doing business with you, and thanks for sacrificing your companion to test the bug for me,” the elephant chuckled as the little girl laughed doing a curtsy as the door closed.

Kaizens recovery would be expertly handled by retired pro hero/ doctor Chimera he would see a full recovery though would be out of school for a week while organ recovery was a slow process.
 
“Stop here,” Amagi’s voice shouted out loud echoing amongst the massive forest she, and Amon had been traversing for nearly half a day. Apparently, this area belonged to the Amagi family and was sort of a home away from it all. A few feet up a log house was seeable yet before the chance to rest seem so in grasp Amagi started walking away from the log house towards semi cleared area… that had clearly seen quite a bit of action in its days. Cuts, burns, cracks, and all other types of damage were clearly brought down upon this thinner wooded area.

“So it goes without saying our quirks have identical properties to them. Yours however is a more advanced version of mine with numerous extra tricks,” Principal Amagi admitted as she placed her duffel bag on top of a table close to the field.

“So with that said my goal will be to train you in the three areas that can make you more of a nightmare to your enemies. You already have a grand use of stealth tact, but your finesse and style rely on others to mostly distract you. So were going to work on your speed of use, and your accuracy to a point no matter where you strike,” Amagi without warning popped off a single laser shot that zapped through a maze of the tree’s all the way to hit a barely seeable archery target dead-on without harming anything in its complex path.

“The field nor your enemies will ever see it coming,” she smiled.

“The third thing we’re going to work on though is a non-combative element, and more the ability to bluff. Your quirk is very destructive in full swing like mine, and at this point, your reputation along with your classmates are now out there which means bluffing is now a card in your deck,” She expressed as she took off her jacket stretching with the normal shirt.

“Your first task of the day is to capture me without damaging a single thing here… begin,” she casually spoke as she slipped behind a tree.

Amon was still a bit confused, he wanted to ask but the atmosphere of the entire ordeal was pretty suffocating. For some reason, the principal herself decided to extend him this offer for their training internships, and apparently, it was only him...at least he’s the only one here. It’s not that Amon had a problem with that, he just wanted some answers. Maybe after it was all over.

Speed...Accuracy...Bluffing? Amon tilted his head at the last one a bit. He wasn’t a huge talker in combat, he does it when he thinks it's effective. Those situations are few and far between, and largely determined by how talkative his enemies are feeling.

“O-oh, okay, roger that.” Blinking a few times as Amon saw Amagi already slip away, leaving some pretty simple but also vague instructions. Without damaging things...huh...A bit of dust kicked up the demon’s tail as it slapped the ground a bit while he pondered. A few missions ago he did that one thing when Kikyo and Ichika were underground, perhaps that was an option.

A steady stream of tiny, thin red threads began to spread and crawl out, centered on Amon. It was like growing mycelium, veins, and reins that spread out on the greenery, only faint red lines scattered out, sending the feeling of whatever it hits back to their creator.

While the move was indeed an impressive tactic the use would find itself quickly more to the backfire as three pulses of energy pooled underneath Amon being the only warning before the blasted upward threatening to slap the boy skywards silly. Upon whatever his reaction two more pools of energy would appear firing at his side, and back forcing him to think, and move fast.

“Holding still is a terrible idea,” Amagis’s voice rang from a higher altitude, and much further away than the tree she had hidden past it was clear now she was in the forest watching with the plan to launch a series of continuous attacks. The training point here was becoming more simple as a game of fast reactions, and on the move thinking of how to stay with the guidelines of not harming any of the environment. If Amon could pinpoint her from her voice alone he would notice she was definitely on the left side where the current wind flow was coming from.

“Ah. That was faster than expected.” It wasn’t much, but it was enough for now, he wasn’t much of a ranged fighter anyways. Most of the tiny red threads vanished and dissipated into the air, but the few that remained nearby twisted together into a thicker, more sturdy construct underneath Amon’s feet. Red eyes rotated from the left to the right. “My my, is this some sort of trick question?” Amon muttered to himself. He wasn’t aware whether or not ‘not damaging anything around’ still counted if he technically wasn’t the one doing it.

The concentrated, twisted series of threads woven into a steady platform underneath Amon suddenly spiked out in a strange angle. As the pools of his opponent’s energy blasts were triggered he positioned himself to be launched upwards. In midair with a few glances to make sure nothing was in the radius, a 270 degrees circular red slash was sent into the energy pools on the sides. Your energy isn’t the only resource you have, it is universal to people with this sort of ability if you understand the feel of it. Perhaps he did learn something from that damn mission anyways.

The momentum of the blast was redirected with platform-like construct and timed detonations as Amon used the inertia to launch himself to the general direction of Amagi’s voice from the forest. It was a little far from his original spot, an inconvenience. As he landed the thin red threads began to sprawl and crawl around the land nearby again, this time spreading somewhat faster although the threads weren’t as fine. Amon himself however took a dash after landing up a tree, hiding beneath the party as the red threats crawled further. “Priorities priorities…” Amon muttered as he extended the thin feelers once more.

“Good your thinking outside, and inside the box,” Amagi complimented him giving her position away two tree’s away on his left. She was letting herself be seen as three far away lasers fired much small than the blasts Amon had seen at this point. Two were aimed at him yet one was aimed strangely right at the branch above him revealing another swirl of energy? She was going to apparently blow him up unexpectedly.
The extended threads that laid on the ground once again regrouped and reformed, it warped around the bottom of the tree that Amon was perching in and with a tug he pulled himself out of the tree faster than just gravity could. He didn’t even bother to waste time getting up and quickly rolled away from the tree. He wasn’t allowed to destroy anything in the environment, but that only applied to him. It seemed that Amagi’s quirk was a bit more collateral damage oriented than his, and Amon didn’t want to risk getting anything dropped on him in the blast.

As Amon moved he took it as another chance to get a bit closer to Amagi. He quickly jumped back up after clearing some distance to turn and dash towards the principal. Only one band of red threads was used to maneuver himself away from the previous tree, a few of them still sprawled out around the wooded area. A few crawled up to Amagi from her backside, they were thin, and used the grassy ground as covering.

During all the moments their would be a pause of awareness that if Amon was paying attention to the sound that there was no blasting noise nor explosive pulse from what he had just dodged yet as he was nearing in to catch her a second glob of energy would build right of both them so close that the blast would catch them both. Yet Amagi didn't move; she simply smiled… as if seeing how he would react.

The ground was silent. Amagi told him to not destroy anything in the premise, Amon assumed it was an exercise of collateral damage considering the things his peers have done. But why give such a restriction to him, who clearly didn’t need such a lesson. What he had imagined didn’t trespass. It led the boy to the conclusion that Amagi herself is bound by the rules against collateral damage as well, it wasn’t that big of a stretch considering this is property of her family.

No risk no reward, as the red threads that crawled up his opponent suddenly thickened and whipped forward to bind her legs in place. At the same time Amon himself sprang up and dashed at Amagi in a straight line, the fastest, easiest route despite the looming presence of her attack. The closer he gets to her, the more similar damage they would take even if she decided to fire.

As he got closer Amon considered dismissing the threads that bound Amagi, in order to give himself some leeway to generate a shield in case anything goes wrong. But the boy clenched his teeth and tightened those bindings instead. The threads got more sturdy as their creator drew near, and Amon leaped towards his target, the crimson glow from those constructs now at a blinding distance.

With that Lazarus was tackled with the two of them turning upside down quickly with Amons threads latching them to the branch like a pulley. With that the woman laughed a bit as the second glob of energy dissipated naturally.

“Good reaction. Heh, heh you really thought I was going to blow us up,” She laughed at his clear unwillingness to chance anything at that moment. With a smile she than spoke rather well upside down.

“Bluffing is both useful, and hard to read no matter how well you know someone in a panic or in a tough corner its hard to dictate whether someone will go the distance. You have a powerful expressionless demeanor Amon. Bluffing on what you will do added to what you have done would a be a grand tool to add to your collection of actions,” she expressed explaining the reason for their rather fast pass round of training.

“I can help your reflexes, and attack time. Yet naturally, I believe you will grow in those areas regardless. So I want to also train you to garner some uniquer growths,” she expressed.

“Unique..r?” Amon got up a bit wearily, he picked some foliage out of his hair and clothes while looking slightly confused. “That is high praise from you, Amagi-san.” Unique was a powerful word, and most importantly a vague word, there was no guarantee that it would even be considered a positive thing. “Although it’s a powerful word, unique…r, that is. It’s real difficult to tell what you want from me just by that alone. If it’s just being a lying manipulative bastard, I believe I might’ve already done that a few times.” With a shrug Amon replied casually, not knowing exactly what the woman had in mind.

“Our quirk type is extremely hostile, and unpredictable to most everyone else. They have no idea what we can do with it nor how it functions I am not making you learn to lie I am teaching you to scare your opponent into submission without having to actually hit them,” Amagi laughed patting the boy on the back.

“Ya, ya, ya its not a real word sue me,” she laughed at his straight to the point logic.

“Sometimes being manipulative is a grand skill to have on the battlefield once you break what someone thinks they know all cards are invisible making you the most dangerous player on the field,” she expressed.

“Now lets eat shall we?”

.....................................................................

“Well well well. If it isn’t my future daughter-in-law. I hope the trip found you well to Iron Agency,” Aurora smiled as the bus opened up to reveal the Calico Kat herself Mari. After the training week with Aika, Aurora was well warmed up to train another new on the scene girl. Aurora gave Mari her biggest smile as just like she had for the other student she immediately grabbed all of Mari’s luggage with her hair. However, unlike Aika, Aurora placed a hand around Mari pulling her into a half-hug while walking her into the agency. Aurora’s motherly charm was in full swing as she was very excited to train her future daughter-in-law.

“So tell me, deary, what were you hoping to work on? Give me the deets onto what you seek of me to help you leap the stars towards,” she chimed excitedly.

Allowing herself to be pulled she does bow a bit politely at having her limited luggage being carried. “Hahah, my, such treatment, Agi would try to outdo you if he seen this… Though, what should I call you while we are here?” She asks of Aurora, her plans with Agi aside, this was a serious matter and she did not expect favoritism. She would likely balk at it in as polite of fashion as possible.

“During my last operation I had to use my bioelectricity to act as a relay for a powerbox. A mission before that I had to put a considerable amount of power into a villain to shock them into compliance.” She says in a correct manner, not wanting to say she electrocuted them into compliance. “I want to see if there is a way I can use my electricity in a more direct and stable fashion and you seem to know a thing or two about them, ma’am. Maybe you have some ideas or a better suggestion?”

“Heh, heh. Sorry to be fair though this is how I naturally am with my subordinates, camaraderie is important after all. Oh I bet Agi is rather smitten with you after all he would try to pull you away no doubt. Yet we can keep it a bit professional if ya like,” Aurora laughed at Mari’s suggestion to how Agi would react to all of this attention to Mari. Much like his dad Agi was a bit possessive which was adorable.

“Iron Volt, Aurora, Mizushima-Sensei, or Mom will do,” Aurora teased with that last one with a wink as they got into the HQ of her agency. Listening intently though the more Mari talked about her last scenario the electrical tank of a woman was clearly in thought to the catgirls question.

“Well, Mari one of the biggest faults of Speedsters/Elemental heroes is they don’t strive to make a fighting style, rather opt to be overly reliant on the sheer force of their power. Electrical users usually fall prey to this the most next to fire users. Your best option would be to start developing a battle style you can stick to. Given the speedster nature of your quirk I would suggest you should start concentrating with your greatest asset,” Aurora chimed as she slammed her leg onto a solid desk denting the poor thing with her weight instantly.

“Speedsters’ most powerful muscles are in their legs. A kicking style mixed in with surges of your built-up electrical force would allow you to adapt a fluid endless assault of kicks, and spins keeping your enemy welted, and confused from where you’re going to hit from next,” Aurora’s first suggestion came in as she pulled her leg out of the desk.

“Hmm.. The last one in due time, I rather not jinx things. Though I am here to train under the heroine Iron Volt. Other names I will save till this is done.. Or in our down time. Do not take it poorly, I seek perfection in what I do and I would not have things taken easy on me.”

“A fighting style huh?” Listening to the rest that Aurora had to say as she glanced down at her own legs. “Hmm.. I suppose cowling of some sort coupled with a fighting style would be as good as any place to start.”

“Where do we start, Ma’am?”

“Alright Calico as you wish,” Aurora chuckled respectfully.

“Well, let's see what we have to work with. I'll meet you at the octagon cage, and we will test out your ability to continuously attack,” Aurora nodded, handing Mari her room key before heading off to go prep. When Mari was ready Aurora in her baggy workout clothes was doing some stretches. The octagon was literally a cage ring waiting for Mari to step into, unable to escape until the training was considered done.

“So I’ll ask once, do you want me to simply play defense or do you want me to be a bit offensive too? When you make up your mind begin,” Aurora smiled willingly to play it out however Mari felt comfortable for their first practice.

“I’ll leave that up to you.” Mari says, returning in her hero garb, she however did not have the gauntlet with her. “I did leave the Gauntlet and it’s knife Agi had made for me. While defensive only would favor me a little more, I doubt any villains will sit there as I run around them. Though a full offensive from you I doubt I will last long. Hmm.. Well, let's see how long I can survive against you, Iron Volt.”

With that Mari leans forward in the cage and makes use of what limited room there was to dash around and get up to speed.

“Alright Kalico Kid let’s rev your engine,” Iron Volt smiled a bit mischievously as her hair started to spread out collecting into threads before expanding out shooting off like rockets aiming to catch Mari, and slam her into the cage. In total ten hair threads were sent out giving Mari ample time to react, and maneuver. Iron Volt wasn’t going to go full speed ahead, but just enough to make sure Mari had to earn her attacks, and strike at ample times.

With her speed and maneuverability, Mari shifts through the strands, unsure what to actually follow through with on the number 1 hero. With the confines, she channels a bit of her electricity and attempts a knee impact from in close.

Watching the cat girl close in Aurora halted her hair attack, and instead used her hands to block the knee impact as soon as she did a surge of electricity like a shotgun could be felt pushing Mari away from Aurora as the pro hero took the brunt of the attack. Once her body had absorbed the electrical leftover Aurora smiled.

“Good now you just need to keep that up for a while,” Aurora smiled as her weaves came back into play the training going on for quite a while. The first day ended up becoming a long term bout of endurance forcing Mari to risk hit and run styles mixed with finding a proper balance of electrical output per style of a hit. When it was all said, and done the two had worked up a well-earned sweat with the cage door finally opening back up.

“Aight young lady I think we can call it a day. That was a good first day, and while we have quite a bit to work on you are definitely on the right track. Also with that said you mentioned Agi made you an assassin gauntlet correct? You could probably ask him to mod it further to handle electrical output like a baton,” Aurora suggested as she threw the girl a towel to clean off some of the sweat.

“I will keep it in mind.. Aurora-san.” Mari says with a smile, wiping away some sweat as she leans against a wall. “I’ll ask that and see how long he gives me to call you by another name. Though I do think such an upgrade would be easy to do with my help. I charge and build capacitors with my power for use in my devices.”

“Good, good. Heh, probably not long I am the source of my child’s stubbornness after all,” Aurora laughed in particular to Maris’s question at how long she would resist calling Aurora by a formal name.

“Indeed it would be a grand chance to build up that trust between you too. It's always good to share hobbies with your significant other,” Aurora chimed.

“Aight shall we go have some tea, and snacks,” Aurora asked with the first training day at its closer.

Nodding at what she had to say she grins a little. “It takes some getting used to, though it is nice we have some in common with one another on that front. Though on the note of the tea, would you mind if I made it? I was taught how to brew a good pot of tea I like to think, while you can focus on the snacks.”

......................................................................