"So where are we going this time?" Sae asked, hanging back a little from the small little group of three.
"Remember Eiri?" the information broker asked, "we're going back to the prison's chapel to meet the chaplains again."
As the inmate with oleanders in her hair brushed some strands out of the way, she asked, "she's back?" still in that stoic tone of hers. "Do you believe she might have some lead for us?" she added, looking back a bit.
"Mhm! It doesn't hurt to ask, you know!"
"Is this a part of the plan to find a lead? Is this how you get your information?" the usually distant Sae was a lot closer to the other two now. She practically power-walked her way closer.
A shake of Ashita's head. "I have a different way of getting all that info!" tilting her head over her shoulder, she noted the oleander prisoner. "Something the matter, Yua?"
Giving a look to the taller inmate, Yua crossed her arms. "Earlier, it felt like we were being watched."
"Huh?" Sae blinked. "Why didn't you mention that sooner?" The cold distant tone and expression cracked a little for a brief moment.
"Hm, might be worth checking out, but for now..." she paused for great effect, "we're here! Again!"
Sae kept her sigh to herself, "I guess it's better to focus on that later, I suppose."
As they entered the chapel for the second time as a group, the two convicts watched the cheerful woman approach another woman after a brief look around the added chapel of Styx.
She was a tall woman with long elf-like ears with a fair complexion. Long lilac coloured hair but her eyes were closed, not once did they open, even when Ashita approached. And of course, she was in a similar get-up to the other chaplain guy that Sae talked with.
"So this must be Eirianwen..." thought Yua as she took in the closed eyed woman's appearance as she approached the dyed haired information broker.
"Eirianwen!" waved the broker as Yua noticed the slight smile that appeared on Sae's face.
"Ashita," a warm smile popped onto the chaplain's face. "Good to see you, I hope you're doing well."
As the chaplain smiled at the broker, she looked up at the other two and not once did she open her eyes. "It's good to see you again, Sae."
"Likewise," the distant prisoner gave her a nod with a slight smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Yua just stood there, watching as the pointed ear chaplain locked onto her.
"Ah, I believe this is the first time we've met," the smile never faltered on the nun. "It's good to meet you."
With nothing to really add, the stoic nerium inmate just gave a brief nod. It was enough.
"So what brings you here?" Eiri asked, gesturing to one of the prison chapel's pews.
"Nothing much," Ashita grinned, taking a seat. "You know me!"
"So, what do you wish to know?"
The youngest inmate of the three, and also the tallest, stayed back as Ashita and Eiri sat on one of the pews. "Do you reckon that feeling you got earlier is related to what we were asked to find?"
"I don't know," Yua calmly huffed, light pink eyes glancing towards the taller woman. "It could be, but it could also be someone's grudge against one of us."
"...a grudge..." looking down at her own hands, Sae silently sighed. "...would it be because of me?"
It wasn't a secret within Styx that Sae had quite a bit of enemies.
Sae herself encountered a few of those inmates who held a grudge against her. She had the power to defend herself of course, but they definitely didn't give up...from the looks of it at least.
Meanwhile, Ashita was already talking with the nun.
"So you wish to find out about anything unusual?" Eiri tilted her head as the two sat on the church pew.
"Mhm," Insatsushi hummed. "Can't really leave the wards."
Smiling at the ever playful tone, Eiri waved her hand around. "It seems a lot has changed since when I was gone on personal business. It seems like a few people are on edge and I've noticed a slight decrease in the guards."
"Hm," another hum. "Yeah, from what I was able to gather, that had something to do with Akita...but on edge? Ah, that might be because of the mystery murder."
"I haven't heard much but it seems almost everyone is tight lipped. Something else definitely happened recently, but I can't tell what."
"Huh...something else happened?" the info broker almost frowned. Almost. "Anything else?" she asked, trying to think about anything else that happened recently.
The more she thought about it, the more she came up empty. "Damn it."
Maybe there would be one guard that might know something...
For now though, it was on the backburner as Eirianwen brought up, "I do believe there is also something else..." she trailed off, "It might not be much though, but I only really heard gossip."
"Gossip?"
"Mhm, just chatter I heard from some guards," Eiri began with her hands on her lap. "It might not be important but you never know."
"What was it about?"
"It was just talk about going to watch the match or betting on said matches."
As she frowned a little, Sae remained standing next to Yua thinking, "ah, I can see why she's frowning at tha-"
"I don't even know what these matches are, but I do know that I could clean them all out. I cleaned the house in three different winning betting establishments, you know!" The nun pumped her arm up, placing her other hand on top of arm like she was flexing. "If I knew what it was they were betting on, I would have won it all."
"...eh?" Sae's shocked expression didn't last long as the nun laughed.
"That's quite the expression, Kumiza."
"Wha-" quickly turning around, red from embarrassment, she decided to take a seat towards the back of the prison's chapel.
"You know, I have overheard a couple of guards talking about those matches or whatever, never really given it much thought. It's just a sport, yeah?"
The closed eyed chaplain gave a shrug, "Sorry. No clue. I assume so," taking a second to herself, she continued. "The only other thing I know, unless I'm forgetting something, is that they gave each other mints in tic-tac looking boxes." she soon pouted as Ashita leaned back on the pew.
"Mints?"
"Yeah! They definitely didn't look like tic tacs though. They shared them with one another when they were out, one talking about how they needed one before they went to talk with one of the wardens I believe." As the lilac haired nun pouted, she grumbled, "when I asked for one, I was denied. So much for sharing is caring, hmph."
"So...an event I have no idea about happened, probably and there's not much to go one...but I have seen the guards talk about some matches and a few sharing those 'tic-tacs' very recently...maybe I should start using 'IT' on the guards more often? Seriously, what happened?"
A sigh came from the dyed haired woman's lips. "What have we been roped into?"
It seemed like there wasn't much to go on here. "What about the inmates?" Yua asked as she stepped forward. "If the guards and staff turned up empty, were there any inmates that seemed suspicious?"
"...I think a lot of convicts here are suspicious..." sighed Sae from the back pew.
Eirianwen turned her head, facing towards the church altar. "Inmates that come here are on their best behaviour, so there's not much else to say on that."
"...so there's nothing?" the stoic woman asked, pink eyes unfaltering in their stare.
"Hm, at least with inmates in the chapel here, sure." Eiri waved her hand around. "...oh! I know there was some gossip on some of the inmates too."
Ashita and Sae both gave the pointed ear nun a look. "Hm?"
"I don't know if it's really gossip, but I heard that Mariko is walking about again," she began, "It was mostly on certain inmates I think, it's been a while..um, Inyoku was mentioned I think, as well as some Kuroneko. I couldn't catch all of it though, I never really paid it much mind. That's all I know though, sorry. Going over everything that I overheard, it's pretty much only day to day gossip..."
"Ah, thank you, Eiri." Ashita Insatsushi stood, "that's alright. Thank you for your time!"
"If that's all, then we should be off." as the words left Yua's mouth, she turned around and was already on her way out.
"Oh! We have to check what you said too!" Ashita called out to the prisoner in a modified, pink prison jumpsuit.
Sae gave a friendly nod to the nun before quickly following Yua.
When the info broker was about to follow, Eiri had one last thing to say.
"Oh, and Ashita," it was almost an unheard whisper as Ashita stopped to turn, Yua and Sae already making their way out of the prison's multi-layered and warded chapel. "I'm sorry, while I was out I decided to ask around about Satori, but sadly, I couldn't find out much."
"Ah...that's okay," Ashita exhaled after a second. "Thank you, Eiri. I really appreciate it."
With a smile back on her face, the nun bowed right as the information broker quickly followed the other two out, back to whatever Yua had mentioned earlier.
"I wish you good luck."
"I'm surprised to hear that the prison's chapel is pretty quiet," Sae mentioned as the three left the chapel. "No matter how many times I go there, not once did anything happen."
A cheeky smile was already on Insatsushi's face. "That's thanks to Eiri! The last person to cause trouble, well, let's say they learnt their lesson."
"Oh…" Sae could only imagine what that meant, but nothing came to mind. "Nah, that's impossible."
It wasn't long before Sae changed the topic pretty quickly.
"So it was around here?" Sae asked, looking around but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "You're sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure." replied Yua as they arrived back at the previous destination.
As Sae looked around once more, she couldn't help but think back to when Shi asked for this favour. The only reason she really took up the offer was because, upon thinking back on it, the damn jackal played into her past.
"How did she get those two to accept the offer?" she looked back over her shoulder as the smiling information broker who just sat there and the stoic woman who didn't flinch at anything. "...really, how did she get them to agree to this?!"
To Sae Kumiza, it was pretty much a mystery.
Meanwhile, as she stretched her arms as she approached Yua once more, a veiled figure from before sighed from a fair distance away, out of sight.
"It's been a couple of minutes, but it seems they're back," the veiled woman sighed, resting her head on her hand. "...almost forget how cold this could get..."
The muscular figure next to her frowned, pulling out a small container. "Then we have no choice but to engage?"
"No idea," the veiled one replied, "we have no idea if they have information on Limbo or not."
As the taller, muscular partner held up the tiny container, she asked. "Should we use these?" a little shake to the container to rattle around the contents.
This time the veiled woman shook her head, "nah." a wave of the free arm followed. "If our information is on the money with Ashita's quirk, then that won't help."
Putting the container away, the larger of the two looked down at their partner. "How so?"
"Eh," an odd look was thrown at the other, but went unnoticed thanks to the veil. "It might work with Argyris, but it counts as repression."
"...I see...so do we act?"
All the second figure got was a shrug.
For now, it really was the act of a waiting game, but… "it seems they noticed that we were watching them before," the brawn noted. "We might not have a choice if they discover us."
"We'll deal with that when the time comes."
As their attention turned back to the group of three, making sure not to be as noticeable as before, Yua continued (or started) the conversation.
"If we were being watched here, then that means that something of importance is hidden nearby," as usual, Yua Aoi's expression didn't budge an inch as she said it so coolly. "The fact they didn't let themselves be seen is an indicator that what's hidden is important."
"Assuming it's not a grudge," Sae added. "As you said before, we can't deny that possibility."
"Only one way to find out," the older inmate of the group mused.
"And what? We're just going to wait here?" Sae gave the broker a look.
"Of course not!" she got a smile back. "You're a lot more open nowadays, you know, Sae."
It was then that Yua stepped in. "If whatever is hidden here has people watching us, then they'll jump out when we find it." she said in a very nonchalant way.
"...you can't be serious..." Sae watched as the light green haired inmate with a pink-dyed off-the-shoulders jumpsuit walked right on by.
When she looked at Ashita, she only saw the bandaged covered arm broker shake her head, as if to say that it was up to Yua or something.
"...great..."
However, unbeknownst to the three. Something began to stir.
"She's getting close," the larger one whispered.
"She might not go for it, stay calm." the smaller whispered back. "Don't act so hastily."
As the whispers went unheard, the composed oleander inmate headed in a random direction of the female ward. It was mostly to scope out the area to see if the feeling of being watched returned and if her hunch was correct about something being hidden and possibly guarded (thanks to being watched), then...
"It should be around here."
With a quick observation of the surrounding area, there wasn't much that was out of place. There were some paths that lead into hallways, the open space they were in and a few doors with most being awake from her current position.
However, there was one close by and it was a good chance that it might be what was being protected.
It was worth a shot.
The door in question was one of many locked doors, only accessible by the guards.
It wasn't unusual by any means, many guards went through these doors and whatnot. An inmate going through one of these locked doors usually meant one thing: they were being escorted by one the guards, usually after doing something that the guards frowned upon.
Like sending an inmate to one of those isolation cells.
The only time one could see what lies beyond the confining walls of Styx's wards, was when these sacred doors opened.
Yet, as Yua approached the door...
She felt the lingering gaze of a pair of eyes!
"It seems that this door is the way through," she turned her head to Sae, knowing full well that the door was locked...but, "Sae, come here."
"What is it?" she asked, already heading over. "You figured something out?"
Yua didn't nod, instead turning back to the locked door. She even put her hand on it. "Get ready to use your quirk, we have a door to get through."
Seeing the sideways glance from Yua, it didn't take Sae long at all.
"Alright," she began, "I got the hint."
As she passed Yua to the door, that's when she felt the lingering stare...no, it was more akin to a glare!
"So this is what she meant by the feeling of being watched..." Sae didn't want to turn around thanks to the feeling, instead she reached into her prison uniform's pockets. "Give me some space, it'll be open in a second-"
"No wait," a whisper came from the veiled figure, unheard by all as a large, bulking figure lashed out. "God damn it...Kumamoto..."
As Sae paused, she turned to see a tall, muscular woman. They were more buffed and taller than Shi! Scratch that, she was taller than a lot of regular inmates.
This woman, the veiled silently referred to as Kumamoto, had sharp brown eyes and even darker, long brown hair going just past her neck in a messy, unkempt way. On top of her brown hair was a pair of short, brown bear ears. While she was mostly human looking, her hands seemed to have sharp bear claws and her forearms were covered in brown bear fur.
She wore a sleeveless white tank top like quite a few other inmates which showed off what seemed to be two identical scars on her right shoulder. Other than that, she wore a pair of black and white striped prison-like pants.
Yet as Sae stared up at her, she swore she was staring right at a grizzly bear.
That specific feeling of encountering a wild animal out in the woods, that feeling of meeting a predator face to face. No matter how quirks changed and either strengthened or weakened humans, these feelings remained in many. A trigger of the fight or flight response!
"So you're the one watching us," Yua turned to face the taller, scowling woman. "Seems we were on the money here."
"You have one chance. Leave."
"Like hell we're leaving!" growled Kumiza, stepping forward, practically choosing to fight. "You're hiding something, aren't you? If not and this is just a grudge against one of us, I'd suggest you leave. Now."
A bearish growl rumbled in the taller woman's throat.
"Excuse me, can I have your attention for a second?" the dyed haired prisoner asked, causing the bear woman to turn around.
As Kumamoto's eyes slid over towards the oldest one of the three she intercepted, they soon locked eyes as Ashita was about to use her quirk!
However, it wasn't that easy.
Right as Ashita was about to make her move, someone landed right in front of the broker, leaving a nice little tiny crater where they landed. They went to dust off their arms and legs, making multiple metallic clanking sounds with each brush.
The new arrival was a lot shorter than the muscular Kumamoto. Her face was covered by a dark veil and the most detailed and interesting thing about this woman was her limbs! A slick, silver sheen of her arms and legs. The way they clinked together when she brought them together revealed to them their metallic nature.
These limbs were akin to robotic implants? No, they were robotic!
"You didn't need to come out too, Maul."
"You're the one who rushed in, Kumamoto." As Maul turned to face the broker, she waggled one of her robotic 'fingers' around. "Not so fast there." the veiled woman huffed, in a dark uniform that Ashita wasn't too sure about as she scanned for details.
"Is that...a guard?"
It was a shared thought among the three.
The information broker didn't realise how close she was to this new arrival as they turned to face her. "She blocked me..."
"If you say something about, 'I don't know what's going on here' and act like a regular guard, I'll assure you that it won't work." Sae huffed, turning to face the new arrival.
This Maul person just threw her hands up in the air. "The point still stands, you know," despite the veil, she was definitely glaring right at her. "If you try to break into guard-only areas, you'll be locked away for…let's say a week or so."
"Doesn't matter," Yua took over with crossed arms, "we were given permission to check out anything suspicious."
"..." Kumamoto turned to face her smaller partner.
Sadly, Maul only shook her head. "Sadly for you, the only thing suspicious here is you three. Look at you. This whole formation is suspicious."
Well...they couldn't exactly deny that...
The information broker stepped forwards, figuratively. "Then why did you land in front of me back then?" she questioned, slowly beginning to circle around back to the other two. "Right as I was about to make eye contact with your friend there, you landed right in front of me."
The two stared each other (at least from what Ashita could tell) down. "It's almost as if you know how my quirk works."
After a bit of silence from the veiled woman, she suddenly raised her metallic arms. "Oh, you got me! Haha!" a clearly fake laugh, it even made Kumamoto roll her eyes. "So what do you want to know then, detective?"
Ignoring the blatant disrespect thrown her way, Ashita Insatsushi stood her ground with the best playful smirk she could muster up. "It's simple, isn't it? We wanna know just what's beyond that door you're all so fond of protecting. Not like you'll-"
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" came a rude, interrupting laugh as metallic hands clapped together. "Oh, wait. You don't know?! I thought you knew this! Some info broker you've turned out to be huh? If you want, I could tell you, but...nah."
Sae watched as Ashita's hands clenched into hard, pale fists. That playful, carefree smile now slightly upside down as she just stared at the laughing veiled woman.
It was the first time Sae (and even Yua) had seen Ashita's playful expression...dip.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that," the smile returned with force. "For a second there, I thought someone was bragging about something important."
Taking a step forward, the broker kept Maul in her line of sight. "I doubt someone like you would have any meaningful information. A pawn is just a pawn, after all."
Meanwhile, in the middle was Sae. "What just happened?" she didn't have much time to register just what had happened as the robotic legged woman clapped her hands together.
"Oh? In that case... let's start, shall we?" Maul never budged an inch as she started the fight with the first strike!
Despite not moving an inch, something had lashed out towards them. It looked exactly like the robotic armed Maul!
It came close and kicked away the long, black haired Sae. As soon as it kicked the prisoner away, it vanished. Instantly.
Phantom Strike: Maul can create a solid yet translucent copy of herself that will perform set actions the user decided on beforehand! The ghostly image of the user will disappear after the actions have been performed or another image is sent out while the first is already playing. It can also disappear when struck, making it shatter like glass.
"So it's a fight then," sighed the stoic inmate as she prepared to use her quirk.
As Yua's oleander petal eyebrows blinked, she witnessed the bear woman right in front of her. It was quite easy to guess her quirk at a glance.
Grizzly.
She was a bear, after all.
And she charged with a lot of power behind even the simplest of actions.
Going in with a low sweeping kick, Yua had easily dodged the sweep from a quick jump. Yet, she could feel just how much power that kick contained.
The only problem was that phantom strike that came at her next.
As soon as she swung first, she watched at how easily these phantom images shattered, but of course, the bear was back on track as she swung her fist down at the petal eyebrowed inmate.
As the light green haired woman easily evaded the powerful swing, she began to use her quirk's pheromones. It would now be a battle of stamina against the slow build up of poison.
Meanwhile as Sae was whacked away by a few other phantom strikes, Maul approached the information broker.
"Ah, that's right. You're not a fighter, are you?" she asked, walking around the prisoner who dyed her hair. "Yet, you committed a murder, did you not?"
"Sorry, but it sounds like you got the wrong person at the end there." Right as Maul lunged, Ashita managed to dodge the strike. Not only that, she started to run!
"Eh? Are you running?" Maul called out as Ashita dashed away. "Boring...hm?"
Maul watched as Ashita ran not away from the battle, but towards Kumamoto who was too busy with Yua Aoi! "Wait a second...no! Come back here!"
Quickly running after her, she watched as Ashita called out to her companion.
The bear-featured woman slowly turned around as the information broker reached her hand out towards her shoulder. It was then they locked eyes when Yua backed away to give them space.
As Ashita stared Kumamoto right in the eye, her hand touched the bear woman's right shoulder before the feeling of having their skin carved shot through Kumamoto.
A real bearish roar escaped Kumamoto's throat as Ashita was whacked to the ground as the word 'BEAR' appeared in full capital letters suddenly on her right shoulder like a tattoo. It was more of a scar though.
"Huh? Bear?" Ashita didn't have much time to consider just what she did to get that as Maul came right at her thanks to the primal roar.
With strong robotic legs from the looks of it, Ashita braced herself for anything, only for the dark haired, emerald green eyed distant prison loner to suddenly re-emerge from where she was whacked away from.
She decided to return the favour by kicking her right back!
"Maul!" Kumamoto shouted out as Maul was kicked away by Sae Kumiza.
Though as she was kicked away, a translucent shadow shot out from behind her, only to catch her from being blasted away too far.
Maul had to admit. It was a pretty strong kick. As expected of Dark Feather.
Sadly, that was overshadowed by something else.
"I can't let them know...not after what he did for us." Maul's eyes glared through the dark veil. She would not let some random prisoners discover just what Limbo really was!
Many years ago, located a short drive away from Musutafu city was a young girl. A young teen with dreams of grandeur! Why?
She wanted to be a hero!
"Just in a few months, the entrance exam will be underway. I'm so excited!" claimed the girl in question as she turned to her best friend. "Should we aim for the top? Yeah, let's aim for the top! We'll take top spots together!"
"...hm? Yeah..." her best friend smiled, the corners of her lips twitching, forcing themselves up.
Soon catching up with another pair, the now group of four headed home for the day. "Oh," a teacher called out, "you two are taking the hero exams in the next few months, right?"
"Yep!" the young pair nodded, though only the one soon-to-be called Maul responded.
"With what I've witnessed from you two during the sports festivals, you both have a lot of potential," they said, turning to 'Maul'. "Especially you Ms. Recommended. Always remember where you came from alright." the teacher laughed as some loud huff went unheard.
"Anyways, keep up the good work alright. I won't keep some future heroes back. I'll be glad to say that I taught some well known heroes." and with that, the teacher left the Phantom Striker all alone.
When Maul turned around to talk with her friend, the clique was already on their way home. "Hey, wait up..."
"Sorry, I didn't want the scouted heroine to be held up," her best friend gave the same smile as before. The edges of her lips curled higher than normal.
The girl that would go by Maul had short black hair with soft green eyes and a pale complexion. Meanwhile her best friend and member of the school's archery club with her long blonde hair continued walking.
"So," Maul began. "Since we're graduating soon, we should celebrate after that!"
"Well, before we become heroes, we might as well spend our last days as normal students," her best friend mused, "hey, we always talked about camping, so how about we do that?"
"Great idea! Then we-"
Her friend raised her hand as the other two talked with each other. "I'll work it out, I'll give you the date later."
"Sounds good. I'll be waiting then!"
As the days passed, the girl that would soon go by Maul sat on her bed, occasionally glancing at the instant messaging features on her phone. Just when she was about to call it a night, she suddenly received a beep that caused the smartphone to drop on her face.
"Ow..."
When she picked up the phone, a large smile replaced the pain. "Yes!" a time and place for the camping trip!
It wasn't long before the night finally came and then, in the next month or so, she would become a hero!
That night, young innocent Maul hopped into a small van-like bus. "I didn't know you had a license, when did this happen?"
One of the other two friends shrugged. "It was a while back, really..." They kept it brief as they drove to the campsite. It was an uninteresting drive as when they arrived, they already unloaded the van and set up their camp for tonight.
"This is a pretty dense forest for camping..." Maul pointed out only for her best friend to respond.
"It makes it easier to protect. We are soon-to-be high school hero students, aren't we?"
"That's true," the driver mentioned as they parked the van quite the walking distance away. "We're protected by heroes."
After a bit of a campfire, ghost stories and s'mores, it was time to call it a night. A very windy night at that.
It was the middle of the night that the sound of something breaking woke the recommended hero student up. Instead of lazily rising and rubbing her eyes, she was wide away. Alert.
As she exited her own tent, she looked around the camp. "What happened here?" The fire was out because of course it was, her bestie was the one to put it out before they went to bed.
But it was what she noticed that gave her cause for alarm.
The breaking or shattering noise she heard came from the camp.
But, two of the tents that were set up were...gone. The van was gone and the soon-to-be hero student froze at what she saw. A loud, nasty roar boomed through the forest.
"What the..." she could barely whisper the words out as a giant bear stood on its back two legs, roaring as it tore through a tent that was left behind. Not only was this bear really big, it was super pissed off with two arrow looking sticks poking out of its right shoulder.
"Arrows?!" she thought to herself, "that would mean that she-"
She had no time to think, the bear already locked eyes with her. It didn't take long for the bear to charge!
Playing dead would do nothing! The beast wasn't just pissed, but looked super hungry! So, the only choice she was left with was to run.
Fleeing the scene immediately, calling out for her friends, she sent her own phantom strikes at the bear. As she did, she heard it shatter within seconds.
As she passed by a tree, using it for protection, the bear's own pure strength easily smashed through it. "Shit, shit, shit." the girl thought to herself as she ran from the pissed off giant bear. "What the hell happened?! Those arrows of hers aren't actually helping!"
However, no matter how many phantom strikes she sent, it did not hinder the bear at all. Even climbing a tree for dear life was to no avail as the bear either climbed up a bit of the tree only to begin smashing into said tree with all its strength.
Falling and running again, the bear got closer and closer. Only the saving uses of her phantom strikes were able to give her some space between her and certain doom.
But compared to that of a wild animal and a teenager.
The bear had way more stamina than her. It had way more experience in traversing the forest.
It was the predator of these lands.
It wasn't long before the inevitable was about to occur.
The young girl fell to the ground, panic clear in her green eyes as she scrambled as fast as she could. "ARGH!" she screamed out as the claws of the large bear easily tore through her back.
The first part of her to go was one of her legs, ripped off by the big bear's sharp teeth. "HELP!" the girl called out as she kicked the bear with her other leg, calling out again for her friends or anyone to help. As she lost her second leg because of her self-defence, the bear's claws went to her side, silencing any cry for help for a brief moment.
The struggles of fighting back, using her own hands to push back the bear didn't help anyone as they too were mauled off eventually, it was like wet paper with how easy the bear got rid of them.
"I'm gonna die!" was all she could think about, how her friends were suddenly gone. The bear stood tall as it easily left more wounds to the poor, dying girl in immense amounts of pain.
As the bear raised its paw high into the air, going straight for the kill.
It froze.
"It seems we were too late," the voice of a man said, huffing. "But just in time for a life to be saved...barely..."
The weak girl just stared as the bear suddenly became tranquil. It just sat there, its eyes almost changed from those of pure rage to...something almost human.
As the man who arrived just in the nick of time, the suited man stared down at the bloody girl who barely held onto life somehow right as a younger man rushed to her side.
"You're very lucky," the suited man began as he pointed to his acquaintances. "If it wasn't for Tsutsui here, you might have actually died tonight."
The girl went to ask something, but it only came out in a bloody, garbled mess.
"Save your strength," the young man hushed while the suited man kept his hand on the bear.
"I'm sure you have many questions," the man gave a look to the bear. "It's a shame that both of you were forced into this situation."
As the bloody girl was being treated, she couldn't help but wonder what he meant as the bear seemed to mimic the same feelings to a degree.
"You see, we were actually in the forest looking for this exact bear. A tragic tale. You see, this mother bear here has lost all her cubs and well, thanks to overhunting and multiple towns being abandoned, it caused her to come closer into towns and this nearby forest was just one of many." the man in the suit began, "today as we were tracking her whereabouts, my acquaintance treating you noticed that a group of girls in a van fired an arrow into her, once to get her moving out of rage and the second as they were driving away."
As green eyes widened dramatically, blood shot out of her mouth, causing the young man named Tsutsui to hold her down.
"As soon as we heard that, we found your camp...and...we managed to arrive just in time."
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?" was all that Maul could ask herself silently, her brain trying to find the answer...but none came to mind.
Soon the older, suited man kneeled, offering a hand despite the lack of any from the young teen. "I do hate to see wasted potential like this," he began, "I can offer you a helping hand if you let me. According to him they drove right on by..."
"They...they set this up?" the girl thought to herself, trying to stay conscious. "Why...the signs...why?"
"Don't worry about a thing, we'll fix you up and if you want it, we can help both of you get your revenge." the man turned to the bear. "Poor girl, tricked into hunting a young innocent child. Don't worry, that archer won't get away with this."
As he turned back to the bleeding teen, he asked, "do you want to get your revenge?"
After a couple of sputters, coughs and wheezes, she managed to sputter out. "I...do..."
The man gave the bear a brief glimpse. "Then, let me give you both a helping hand with my quirk."
The girl's weak, green eyes watched as the bear stood up straight, calmer than before while she was picked up. She watched the man and his quirk before her eyes gave way and darkness engulfed everything.
She couldn't believe it.
...
It had been three months since she became a hero...student. Studying to become a great hero. She took to the callsign she always had thanks to her quirk, Arrow.
Her quirk was pretty basic.
Arrow: She can produce thin wooden arrows out of her palms.
It was no wonder why she took up archery.
The hero student known by Arrow grinned to herself, she was finally on her way to become a pro-hero! Her lifelong dream! It was a dirty and hard road, but she was already halfway there!
All she had to do now was get through the next couple of years, debut and then work her ass off to claim the title of number one. Hell, even the top ten was perfectly fine with her.
Armed with her support gear foldable bow, dressed in her hero attire which was a standard yet modified Japanese archery uniform, she also wore a nice orange visor with a aiming reticle on it with a belt that held a few vials to coat her arrows in paralytic poison.
She was living her best life.
"Wow! So you're one of the top of the class, right?" one of her loyal friends asked as they met up at an old local diner they celebrated at when they graduated. "So cool!"
The other friend however wasn't looking the best as she held the cup that was clearly shaking in her hands, the unlicensed driver took a sip, doing her best to smile as she just chose to listen.
"Yep! It won't be long before I'm the top of the class!" Arrow grinned. "Three months isn't a long time, but it just goes to show how well I've done in so little time."
"Ha, true! Not even 'Phantom' could compete if she was still-" the giggly friend was quickly silenced by the glare from the actual hero (student).
"Don't ruin the mood like that," Arrow quickly returned to that friendly smile of hers. "Anyways, back to what I was saying, I think one of the rep-"
"Um," the nervous one spoke up as she pointed to the window, ruining the conversation. "Who's that?"
As Arrow turned to the window, there they saw a large, muscular woman staring in at them from the darkness. Maybe coming to the diner late at night wasn't the best idea…
"Don't worry," Arrow stood as her bow unfolded itself, one of her wooden arrows emerged from her palm. "If they try anything, I'll take care of them!"
Before she could take aim, the muscular woman smashed through the window. It was only thanks to her hero training that she was able to dodge the attack, but firing the arrow missed the woman completely.
It was then that the muscular woman spoke in a deep voice, "you won't be able to land another arrow."
"...damn villain!" she cried out, ready to pull back another arrow as she didn't even spare a glance to her two friends that were taken out in a single attack.
As she pulled the arrow made from her body back, the bow was knocked out of her hands with ease as metallic arms revealed themselves. Arrow didn't have much time to react as one of those strong, metallic arms punched her through the diner's counter.
"Egh..." with a grunt, and wondering just where the fucking owner was, she looked up to the metallic armed woman stand before her with equally metallic legs and a dark, hard to see through veil that hid her face, but their voice was definitely familiar...somehow...
"So much for a self-proclaimed top ranking hero," the veiled figure scoffed, looking down on the archer.
That voice was clearly familiar to her…but where? The more she racked her head around it, the more she couldn't figure it out.
"Damn, you really don't remember? Then again, maybe you're looking at who's still alive. How narrow. Let me give you a reminder," the veiled one growled right as the hero student got back up, charging at their foe.
It was less than a second as something launched forward.
Eyes grew wide as a solid, translucent lookalike of the veiled woman shot forward, slamming Arrow into the wall while their hand squeezed tightly around their neck.
"It looks like you've seen a ghost."
The veiled woman
"No...no way...it can't-"
"Oh but it is," her robotic hands, not quite a full set, removed the veil, showing a scarred face as a metallic plate surrounded her jaw. "It's me…Maul."
"Maul?" with the pressure around her neck and how the other woman was nearby, ready to strike, she couldn't force any words out.
"Yeah, after being mauled thanks to you, I think it's a fitting nickname for my new identity."
It was getting harder to breathe as Arrow's hands dropped to their sides, before suddenly…
An arrow shot out.
In the three months of going to a hero school, Arrow created just one of many super-moves! However, it might as well be for naught as soon as the phantom shattered, a second pinned her back to the wall, knocking the shot arrow away.
"Kumamoto, turn the TV on, it should be ready."
Arrow's eyes followed the muscular lady as she grabbed a remote from behind the counter, turning the television on. The young hero was starting to figure out just what might have happened with the owner if it was a joint effort, but her mind was completely taken by the television screen.
On the television screen was a detective. "A crime scene that has been under investigation has revealed new evidence," came the report of one Tsutsui. "Looking into the case, evidence has shown that among the crime scene that two wooden arrows have been discovered. We have processed and analysed these arrows and it came back to us that the wood used for these arrows had genetic material not belonging to the tree in that forest."
Arrow watched with wide eyes as the man continued.
"Blood found on the arrows does not match the person in question, but it's highly believed to belong to that of a bear." The detective talked more and more, bringing up more and more points. It was growing more and more clear with what the detective was saying.
Her little fit of jealousy was coming clean to the world.
"An act from a villain." the words echoed around her head. She was being branded a bloody villain! It didn't help as the taller woman suddenly assaulted her with incredibly powerful punches!
And it felt like only seconds had passed as she laid on the floor, slouched up against the wall as she could feel blood pour from her face, all those vials (with one missing) empty as she couldn't even move.
"I'll get you for that..." she tried her best to move as the TV was STILL going.
"If you see this villain, please report her to the authorities-" the television was turned off as the man who was just on the TV walked into the diner.
"Arrow, I believe you call yourself that. You're under arrest for the 'murder' and attempted murder of your classmates."
As Arrow shot an odd look at the man, her gaze eventually turned back to her two other friends.
Not once did they move when that bearish woman attacked.
"No...no…!"
She tried her best to locate Maul and Kumamoto...but they were nowhere to be seen. "No, no, no!" she wanted to scream as she was removed from the wall.
Arrow, the locally branded villain, was shortly arrested.
As the two returned back, the man in the suit stood in front of the young teen. "I see you got your revenge." he said holding the arrows from Arrow as well as a vial. "...hm, these might come in handy..." he thought to himself.
"All thanks to you, sir." the re-veiled young lady nodded.
"Do you have any plans on what you want to do now?" he asked as Kumamoto stood by his side, looking down at the young girl. "If you don't have any plans, you can come with us. As you know with the short time you've been with Kumamoto, I bet she'll be happy if you came along with us. It's your choice though."
"...I...yes, I'm in your debt for saving my life." Maul bowed. "You gave me my revenge, the means for it and saved my life before it was lost."
The suited man smiled. "I might require favour in the future, but for now, you can work for me."
As the man in the suit started to walk away, that left Maul and Kumamoto facing each other as the older woman knelt before her.
"I apologise, for everything. A lot has happened and I-" the woman began, only for the robotic handed girl to stop her.
"No...Thank you, Kumamoto." she interrupted. "A lot has indeed happened and with Arrow gone...a weight has been lifted, yet ever since we've met, from a rocky start, I thank you for everything you've done for me. You don't have to do that anymore. We're partners, right?"
The muscular bear woman nodded. "Right," but that wasn't all. "However, I will still stand true to what I told you before."
"Huh?"
"I will not allow any harm to come to you again."
Years had passed since that fateful year and now an older and upgraded Maul accompanied by Kumamoto approached a prison in the distance. It was an amazing experience as their lives seemingly went back to normal in a way, though of course now working for the suited man.
But now it was for that future favour.
Going into a prison called Styx to act as 'protectors' for a little thing called Limbo.
They apparently weren't the only ones as some white eyed guy was also doing the same, among a small few others.
"I just hope this goes smoothly..." grumbled the muscular bear woman as they approached the prison.
"It better be a smooth ride," sighed Maul, though a smile graced her hidden face. "At least we don't have to go through the regular stuff the staff and inmates do though!"
"Let's go over our job."
"Which one?"
"Hm?"
"Our actual job or the one they told them about?"
"Both," Kumamoto sighed. "Our main priority is to make sure that Limbo is never discovered."
Maul rolled her head around. "And our 'secondary' job?"
"Just a general undercover role type business that has us go and find-," Kumamoto trailed off, continuing with whatever it was she was talking about as Maul just looked out the window.
She couldn't help but feel that...
All roads lead to Styx.
In the prison, not even a second passed by as the robotic limbed woman got back to her feet thanks to the ghostly image from her quirk that faded away in an instant.
"We cannot let them discover Limbo, no matter what!" As Maul stood straighter, it was clear. They weren't going down without a fight.
She already sent out another phantom strike at the inmates.
Kumamoto even got back to her senses as she hunched a little, as if mimicking...no, using a fighting style that highly resembled a wild bear.
The surprise mystery duo attacked!
It had only just begun!
