Reviews:
thehorsemanofpestilence: Makes sense! Sorry, like I said, I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how to classify Midnight's powers. Putting people to sleep vaguely felt like a lesser form of controlling people, thus my thought process on why I gave her a master rating. Anyway, I've changed it to just Shaker 3.
Draco0905: I'm looking at the Wiki, and I don't see anything about Power Loader having enhanced strength or durability. That being said, I did change it to give him a mover rating as per your suggestion, albeit a small one. I'm not so sure about a Thinker rating. That's apparently an information gathering ability specifically. So, Ragdoll and Hawks would have that since that's Ragdoll's main ability and Hawks can hear through his feathers. So that's why in the second chapter I had him imply he might have a Tinker rating, specifically for the technology. He would be a Tinker, not a Thinker.
Kurama skip 89: Ectoplasm having a higher brute rating is due to the fact he can make one giant clone. I could be wrong but I think that clone is physically stronger than Mirko. Also, thank you for the suggestion! I looked it up and it was very informative, as well as a damn good fight!
SeanHicks4: Good point about Saint. I changed it to give Power Loader a Tinker 0 rating like him. Though Midoriya hasn't had a chance to display his analytical abilities just yet, so I'll hold off on giving him a Thinker 0 until he does have a chance. As for Endeavor, here's a quote from the Wiki, "He appears to be immune to other flames, and can easily control the shape and temperature of the blaze as well." The shape and temperature thing meaning his own fire. So he is immune to fire in general. Though Behemoth's kill aura could still cause him to overheat, if not give him serious internal burns albeit to a lesser extent than most other people.
Guest: All seventeen of them will definitely have an impact! Though I'm not going to spoil anything.
Guest: All Might displays Behemoth level feats in the Anime, when he is losing One for All. In his prime, where he was supposedly sixty times stronger than he is in the Anime, he would be as strong or stronger than Behemoth. At least in terms of raw physical force he can output. And the official definition for a 10+ threat is: "In the event of a serious confrontation, additional teams or specific high-rated individuals should be called in to manage the crisis." Where as the definition for a level 9 threat is: "Assume extreme complications, with standard tactics not applying, or the power in question having an additional factor that exaggerates its effect. Parahumans and PRT should evacuate where possible, and should only engage when a specific mission and strategy has been outlined. Major countermeasures should take effect." I think All Might fits a Brute 10 or higher perfectly. That being said, I do agree that 12 may have been a bit too high. So I decided to change it and just give him 10s instead.
Sarah9730: Okay, first, you don't need to apologize for anything. I love reading reviews, even long ones. And I'm counting yours as one long one despite it being broken into multiple parts. Now, no. In my mind a Brute 1 for sheer toughness needs to be naturally bullet resistant without bulletproof armor at the very least. Most of them aren't bullet resistant and thus they can't have a Brute 1 rating.
The reason I gave Hawks a Mover 5 rating is that Purity has a Mover 4 rating. I believe he should be able to fly a bit faster than her so Mover 5 seems appropriate. As for Gran Torino, his Mover rating is in a different context. He has a ground based mover rating, and he's even faster than Hawks, being regarded as one of the fastest heroes in the MHA world. As for All Might, see above for my response. Though let me add that a Breaker is "An ability that allows a cape to shift into another state." All Might can not change states thus he is not a Breaker.
That would put Mirko on par with Mt. Lady who is a literal giant with what I'm assuming is strength proportional to her size. So, no. She's strong but she's not that strong. Also, a lot of Movers don't get thinker ratings as far as I'm aware so no. Also, I forgot about Gang Orca's sonic attack at first. Thank you for reminding me!
I agree that Mirko, Ryukyu, Gang Orca, Ectoplasm, and Mt. Lady should get a small thinker rating for their hearing ability. So, I fixed that. As for Edgeshot and Kamui Woods, you might have a point for Edgeshot being a striker considering that is his body, but I disagree with Kamui. Kamui can break the branches off and not be injured so I don't count them as part of his actual body, like extra limbs or something, and they can extend too far for me to justify giving them a striker rating. So I changed Edgeshot's blaster rating to a striker rating but Kamui is gonna be stuck with Blaster.
Finally, yeah. Exactly. That's why he said it was too dangerous for his liking. He's not stupid. He wasn't lying when he said that. The Endbringers alone are already enough for him to write off Earth Bet as a lost cause.
To all of my readers: Keep in mind, the only reason I wrote a response this long here is because I want other people to be able to read it in case they have similar concerns. In the future I will not be doing this. I will just reply to the person's review via private messaging. This was a one off.
Edit: I just realized I may not have been very clear. I will still be responding to reviews at the beginning of the chapters. It's just that particularly long replies like the last one will be reserved for PMs. Just wanted to clarify that.
"So, the first question we should answer before we start is, should the test be in a virtual reality simulation or should it be in real life using actors like in the test back in our world?" Power Loader inquired.
"Why not a mixture of the two? Instead of virtual reality, we can use holograms or an augmented reality device to simulate civilians in jeopardy without actually needing to put actual actors at risk. It would also make it easier to let the Wards use their powers in the test since it would be difficult to make a fully virtual simulation in which they can do so." Dragon suggested through the speaker on a laptop.
"Difficult, but not impossible. We could make a device to put them in a sort of induced paralysis and monitor the activity of their Corona Pollentia. Though any direct connections to the brain may be difficult." Armsmaster commented.
"Too dangerous. If we did that then their powers would more than likely manifest outside the simulation in the real world and that could be incredibly dangerous. Besides which, the first one in line to take this test doesn't have a Corona Pollentia as 'quirks' apparently don't work in the same way as powers in our world. So it needs to take place in the physical world rather than in a virtual simulation." Dragon stated.
"Hm… Very well. Then we'll need to scout an appropriate location. Maybe the ruins of a city left over from a Behemoth or Leviathan attack. Or perhaps just an abandoned section of Brockton, though we would have to clear out the area before the test. Either way, holograms would be difficult to set up. Perhaps augmented reality overlaid over top robotic civilian simulacrums would be a good idea?" Armsmaster suggested.
Power Loader nodded. "I like it. That would help with the tactile aspect and would help us measure any damage the civilian would sustain from mistakes the Wards make. The main problem I see with that is getting the weight as close to accurate as possible, not to mention the fact that while I can program an artificial intelligence it won't be able to mimic a human well enough for the test."
"If you can make the base A.I. then I might be able to help you with that by improving some things. Though, admittedly, while I think I could get them to behave more humanly I would have an issue with tuning the personalities correctly. I am fully aware of my own disabilities in regards to human interaction and I'm worried that may translate over to the A.I.s." Armsmaster explained. "Dragon, do you believe you could assist in that regard?"
"Uh…" Dragon hesitated for a moment. "I… If you two did the programming I might be able to tweak the personality a bit, but what I can do would be limited. I have trouble with things related to A.I.s unfortunately."
"You do? You never mentioned that before." Armsmaster said, sounding genuinely caught off guard by this.
"Well, it's never come up before." Dragon said in a slightly defensive tone.
"Hey, if your power has trouble with A.I. then that's perfectly fine. If Armsmaster can improve the A.I. enough that they can at least act human then I can work with him to tune the personalities myself." Power Loader stated.
"Oh, good. Then I can work on the augmented reality devices to overlay the human image on the robots for the test while you two do that." Dragon said, sounding relieved.
"Glad to see all three of you are getting along!" All Might chuckled jovially. "Now that all that is decided, let's move on to actually discuss how the test should be conducted, shall we?"
"Yes, while hearing this Tinker talk is… interesting… I'm much more concerned with how you will guarantee the safety of the Wards who are being tested. For example, you suggested bringing them to abandoned cities that have been decimated by Behemoth and Leviathan. I'm afraid I have to veto that idea immediately. The ruined buildings could be unstable and collapse on them, risking serious injury or even death. Not to mention the fact that some of the places that Behemoth has visited are still radioactive." The ambassador from the Youth Guards said, looking at Armsmaster disapprovingly.
"Well, there was always the other option of using an abandoned area of Brockton Bay. We can set up props to simulate a wrecked city, and having complete control over the props we use we can make sure all of them are perfectly safe while still being able to be used to simulate a disaster area." Midnight said.
"And some fully fledged members of the Protectorate can participate as villain stand-ins. I imagine all of them have enough control over themselves and their abilities to give the wards a challenge without actually injuring them. And even if the ones from this world don't, all former U.A. staff members do. And Power Loader can make support items to handicap the villain stand-ins further if necessary." Ectoplasm added.
"That gave me an idea. We could make specialized suits for the Wards who are being tested that could act as armor to protect them from unexpected injury. However, it could have an added function of locking certain limbs in place if they get hit in specific locations by the Villain stand-ins. For example, if they get hit in the arm or leg then the suit could lock their arm or leg in place or make it more difficult for the limb to move depending on how severe the supposed 'injury' they would have received would have been and where on the limb they were struck. Or if they were hit in the head, they could be rendered completely immobile and thus be considered 'dead' or 'unconscious'." Armsmaster suggested.
"Yeah, we could do that. Back in our world the test was typically conducted in the student's own costume so they could get used to moving in their costume. But that's not a strict necessity. I like the idea. And it would definitely increase the test's overall safety, not that it would have been dangerous in the first place." Power Loader agreed.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that would definitely eat into the limited budget we have to design this test." Dragon said.
Power Loader shook his head and waved a hand dismissively. "Bah, that's fine. If we went with Armsmaster's idea, we could completely skip some of the props. We could just make the props overlaid images with augmented reality, and design the suits to respond to them with haptic feedback. So we could simulate heavy debris by increasing the resistance the limbs experience while the student is quote un quote 'moving' said debris. It wouldn't actually be there so we wouldn't have to worry about buying the props or risking the students injuring themselves if they get themselves caught underneath it. Besides which, we can reuse the suits for different Wards over the years rather than having them be used by just one. So that could actually end up saving us a bit of money."
"Is the combat portion really necessary? Helping civilians get free of debris and escape burning buildings is one thing but actually fighting is another." The Youth Guard ambassador inquired disapprovingly.
"Yes, it is necessary. The Wards fight villains just as much as the Heroes. So they need to know how to use their powers to defend themselves. And the actual Heroes being the ones to act as villain stand-ins is the best idea because the only other choice would be to let the other Wards do so. I don't think I need to tell you that adults would clearly have an easier time restraining themselves in what is essentially a training exercise so as to not accidentally hurt any of the Wards than other teenagers and children would." All Might stated.
"Hm… Fine… But the tests are going to have to be heavily monitored and controlled in case anything goes wrong. And if you're going to use abandoned areas of Brockton, then you're going to need to make sure all of the gangs and homeless are cleared out before the test." The ambassador stated.
"Of course. That much was obvious." Midnight stated.
"Okay. So let's talk about grading. We have a rough idea of how it should be, but what will we be looking for specifically?" Dragon inquired.
"First and foremost, we should be looking for how they deal with the civilians because that is one of the biggest keys to hero work. So how they deal with civilians who are injured, traumatized, or are even just panicked. They don't need to do much, just get them to safety, but how they deal with the civilians could make that either easier or harder and that could mean life or death. They also need to be able to judge who to prioritize first. Uninjured civilians who are just panicked can run and get themselves to safety, to an extent. Whereas someone who is truly injured may not be able to move and someone who is traumatized may be in a near catatonic state." Ectoplasm explained.
"And how they deal with the rubble and debris! If they move a piece of debris incorrectly then they could accidentally end up injuring the individual they are attempting to save by causing it to collapse in a way they didn't expect or in countless other ways. For example, if one piece of rubble is holding up another even heavier piece or something of the sort, they need to know how to brace the other piece of rubble before attempting to free the civilian trapped beneath the first piece. Essentially, they need to be able to evaluate given situations and determine what the best course of action should be based on what information they have. A general understanding of basic physics should be necessary." All Might stated.
"And knowing basic first aid would be good as well. If a civilian is injured and bleeding out, they should know how to wrap their wounds to keep them alive long enough for them to receive proper medical treatment. Or if the civilian has broken limbs it would be good for them to know how to make basic splints from what they can find, if possible, to keep the bone from moving around too much to prevent further injury. Then, of course, they need to know how to respond to villains, especially when civilians are around. For example, if Lung or Hookwolf attacks while they are helping direct some civilians to a safe zone, they need to know how to defend themselves while still protecting the civilians to the best of their abilities." Midnight added.
"Understood. I can work on a grading system with those parameters. Though it may be a bit abstract and need to be taken on a case by case basis." Dragon stated.
"Wonderful! Just ask us if you need any assistance and we will do whatever we can to help!" All Might said, jovially. "So, Armsmaster, Power Loader, how long do you think it will take you to build those robots?"
"It should take me a few days to build the base A.I." Power Loader stated.
Armsmaster thought for a moment before saying, "It should take me anywhere between a few hours and a day or so after that to upgrade the A.I. depending on what I have to work with. After that, building all of the robots should take a week or two."
"It should take a couple days to develop the augmented reality suit for the wards too. So the first model should be ready long before the robots are finished. That being said, Armsmaster, if you can send me the schematics for the bodies I can help you produce them. All you and Power Loader would need to do is make the processors and write the programming." Dragon interjected.
Armsmaster nodded affirmatively. "Will do. That should speed things up. So with that in mind the test should be ready a few days after the newest Ward joins Arcadia."
"Excellent! So, do you have any objections?" All Might asked, looking at the ambassador from the Youth Guard.
The ambassador sighed before standing up and saying, "No. The test seems perfectly safe. That being said, I would like to be present to observe the first test when it happens just to make sure."
"Of course. You are welcome to watch with us from the cameras that will be set up all over the testing area." Midnight said in a cordial tone.
"Good. Then I think we're done here. Have a good afternoon, all of you." The ambassador said before turning and leaving.
[Izuku]
Izuku was currently eating lunch in the Protectorate ENE Headquarters when a group of heroes walked into the cafeteria. After getting their own lunches some of them approached him. It was a mixture of heroes from his world and heroes from Brockton Bay. Most were heroes from Izuku's world, "Earth Waw" as the PRT was now calling it, while only a couple were from Brockton. The rest from Brockton were likely out on patrol. The ones who approached Izuku were Hawks, Ryukyu, Battery, and Assault.
"So, this is our newest Ward, eh?" Battery said, sitting down across from him.
"Yeah. This is him. I'm sorry, what was your name again, kid? Hero or civilian name, whichever you're more comfortable with." Hawks said, sitting down next to Izuku. Ryukyu sat down on the opposite side of Izuku while Assault sat down next to Battery.
"M-my name? It's Izuku… Izuku Midoriya. My hero name is Deku." Izuku said nervous about the fact he was in the presence of so many cool Pro Heroes.
"Deku? An odd name. May I ask why you chose it?" Ryukyu inquired in a friendly tone.
Izuku flinched slightly at that. "Oh… Uh… Well, someone I knew used to call me that… It was intended to be an insult, but someone else I met when I got into U.A. helped me to see it in a different light. So I decided to use it as my hero name… I know it sounds stupid, right…?"
"Stupid? No, not at all. From the sounds of it you're taking something a bully was using against you and are turning it into something positive. I can respect that." Assault stated.
"Yeah. While it doesn't sound very 'heroic' your reasoning behind it is great. That is an excellent attitude to have towards bullies." Battery stated. She then chuckled and said, "It's certainly better than the name, 'Clockblocker'."
"Hm? Why's that?" Izuku inquired, not understanding what was wrong with that name.
"It's a pun. And a dumb one at that." Battery stated. "Eh, you can ask him yourself when you meet him. Just don't mention that I said anything bad about his name."
"Speaking of the Wards, when is he going to meet them? I think I'd like to meet them as well, so perhaps I could tag along when he does go to meet them for the first time." Ryukyu inquired.
Assault shrugged. "Could be today, or it could be next week. It depends. He can go down to the station pretty much whenever he wants. Armsmaster already logged his finger prints and genetic data into the security systems along with the rest of you, at least as far as I'm aware. So you should all be able to get into the PRT Headquarters right now if you really wanted. Though the other Wards probably won't be there until this evening when they're off duty. Battery and I specifically took a few hours off to come meet with you all."
"Oh. In that case, Midoriya, would you like to go meet the other Wards later?" Ryukyu inquired.
"Uh… Sure…" Izuku said uncertainly. He had gotten used to Class 1A back in U.A. He already missed all of his old friends dearly and it had only been a couple days since he had seen them. So he was a bit nervous about meeting what would be his new teammates. He was still trying to come to terms with everything and meeting them felt like it would solidify everything in his mind as real rather than just a bad dream he would wake up from any minute now.
Hawks noticed Izuku's somewhat dejected tone and said, "Hey, I can tell you're upset, Midoriya. Let me guess, still processing everything?"
Midoriya said nothing but looked down at his food and nodded.
Hawks sighed. "Not surprised. It still barely feels real to me too. And there are people back in our world that I'm seriously going to miss… So I definitely understand what you're feeling right now. But, chin up. At least there are plenty of other people here with us from our world. So it's not like we're completely alone. Besides, just think, what would your friends and family want for you in this situation? Would they want you to feel sad and mope around, or would they want you to try to move on and make some new friends?"
Izuku was silent for a moment longer before looking back up at Hawks and saying, "They would want me to move on and make new friends…"
Hawks smiled at him and patted him on the back. "There you go! Now, that's not to say you can't be sad or to just try to ignore your emotions, not at all. It just means you should try to look at the positives as much as you reasonably can. And always remember, there are sixteen people from our world available if you ever need to talk about it."
"Sixteen? I thought there were seventeen of you?" Assault inquired.
"Oh, there is. It's just that Endeavor really isn't the kind of person you can just open up and talk to." Ryukyu clarified.
"I see. Well, I'm glad to see you can support each other like this. A lot of capes don't get any kind of support." Battery stated.
This caught Izuku, Hawks, and Ryukyu all off guard. "Excuse me, but what do you mean by that? Surely the PRT has systems in place to provide therapy for any capes that join them. Especially considering the traumatic nature of trigger events which in some cases are sure to lead to PTSD." Ryukyu asked.
"Uh, no. No, the PRT doesn't have anything like that." Assault said, shaking his head.
"That's… insane. How could they not have that? That's one of the first things we thought of after reading up on trigger events. It's the most obvious thing a lot of parahumans need." Hawks said incredulously, his calm demeanor cracking slightly as he heard this.
Battery shrugged. "Don't know why they don't have it. I've never asked."
Ryukyu sighed and rested her face in her hand. "I see… Perhaps I should talk to the director about trying to set something like that up."
Assault shook his head. "I wouldn't bother. She hates parahumans. Trying to get her to approve anything is like pulling teeth. So something like this? It would just be a waste of time. If you really wanted to get results you would have to try to talk to her higher ups, but even then there's no guarantee you would get anywhere."
"Fine then. Me and some of the others from Earth Waw will just skip the Director and try to contact the higher ups in the PRT about this." Ryukyu stated, unfazed by what Dauntless had just told her.
"Speaking of Earth Waw, would you mind telling us a bit more about it? I'm curious what it's like." Battery asked.
"Sure. What do you want to know?" Hawks said amicably.
"I've heard powers work differently in your world. Is that true, or is it just a rumor?" Assault inquired.
"Yeah, it's true. People are born with powers or 'quirks' in our world. And they're genetic. So let's say someone with a fire quirk had a kid with someone with a water quirk. Their genetics could combine and they could end up having a kid that can control both fire and water. Or they could pass on recessive genes and the kid could end up quirkless. Eighty percent of the world's population have quirks. Though, honestly, most of the quirks people have are pretty useless. Only a select few people have quirks naturally powerful enough to become Pro Heroes. So, uh… There are no trigger events in our world and none of us have the Corona Pollentia thing that parahumans do in this world. Oh, and there are no Endbringers either. And this 'Scion' guy that the PRT agent that was questioning us mentioned earlier doesn't exist there either." Hawks explained.
"Wow. That already sounds a lot nicer than our world. Not having to trigger to get your powers? You guys have no idea how lucky you are. So if eighty percent of your population has 'quirks' as you call them, how does becoming a hero work?" Battery inquired.
"Well, it's a bit different for each country but in Japan when you graduate from middle school, you apply to a Hero School. You go to school to learn how to be a hero for a few years, then you graduate. After that you can start your own Hero Agency but generally you apply to a pre-existing hero agency until you have enough experience and popularity to start your own. I'm over simplifying things, though. There's quite a bit more, but that's the gist of it. Though if you want to be able to do any hero work in other countries you need an international hero license, and there's a whole process for that too." Ryukyu told them.
They continued talking for a while while they finished their lunches. Eventually Battery and Assault had to leave to return to their patrols. After that, Ryukyu and Hawks continued talking with Izuku for a while before the sun started setting. At that point, Ryukyu decided to take Izuku down to the PRT headquarters to meet with the other Wards.
[Mirko]
Mirko had gotten impatient waiting for a new costume to replace her old damaged one. So she just put on her damaged costume and was now out patrolling the streets. It wasn't quite like what she was used to back in Japan on Earth Waw. There were no mutation quirks among the crowd, the people had an entirely different attitude, the buildings looked different due to the different building codes, there was graffiti practically everywhere she looked, the city itself had a completely different atmosphere. It was a lot darker, more dour and depressing. Not to mention the fact that she had already stopped two separate crimes and she had only started patrolling one hour ago. She could already tell that compared to Japan this place was a crime infested hell-hole.
But that was fine. That just meant she had more to do. Even if that meant dealing with quirkless goons with guns. She had actually borrowed a bulletproof vest from the PRT because the criminals in America had guns and while she was a bit more durable than a normal person so her body could withstand the forces imparted on it by her quirk, she was unfortunately not immune to bullets. And said vest had already saved her life as one goon managed to get a lucky hit and shot her dead center in the chest. She would have died her very first day on the job here in this world just by pure dumb luck had she lacked the foresight to request proper equipment.
As she walked down the streets into the slums, she heard screaming. Jumping on top of a building she started running in the direction of the scream. Looking down over the edge of the roof into an alleyway, she saw a group of men ripping the clothes off of a struggling woman.
Scowling furiously, she jumped down into the alleyway and immediately started kicking the men off of the woman, being careful not to actually kill any of them. Though she may have fractured a bone or two. She took all three of them down within a matter of seconds.
With the men down she looked at the woman who was sobbing on the ground. Kneeling down next to her she said, "Hey. I've dealt with the men who were assaulting you. You're safe now."
The woman was still crying but sat up off the ground.
"Just sit tight. I'm gonna tie these guys up and call the police to come pick them up. They're going to want a statement from you. Would you prefer it if I asked for a female cop to come talk to you?" Mirko inquired.
The woman just nodded timidly.
"Alright." Mirko said before standing up. Taking some plastic zip ties out of a pouch on her bulletproof vest, she proceeded to zip tie the criminals hands together. When she was finished with that, she took out the radio the PRT had given her and requested police assistance.
After that she spoke to the police, gave them a location, requested a female police officer for the victim, and waited with the woman and tried to comfort her as much as she could until the police arrived. She then watched as the three men were loaded into the backs of the police cars and were taken away.
That was until her radio crackled to life and she heard the dispatch say, "There is a gang shootout between the Empire and ABB happening near the docks. Cape presence has been confirmed. Hookwolf, Cricket, Oni Lee, and Lung. Requesting immediate cape assistance."
"Mirko here. Heading there now." Mirko said before jumping on top of buildings and rushing in the general direction of the docks. She was still extremely new to the city and didn't know where everything was yet, so it took her a bit longer to find her way than she would have preferred to admit. Still, she found her way eventually.
By the time she got there Dauntless, Miss Militia, and Triumph were all already on the scene. Jumping down, she immediately joined them by catching Oni Lee off guard and kicking him from behind.
"You must be Mirko! Glad you could join us!" Dauntless shouted as he blocked an attack by Hookwolf. "We could really use the extra help right about now!"
"I can see that." Mirko said as she jumped and kicked one of the last remaining Empire Eighty Eight thugs who had an M4 Carbine, knocking him unconscious. She then had to dodge a blast of fire from Lung to avoid getting burned.
Then she winced in pain as she realized a high pitched noise was filling her ears. "Gah! What the hell is that god awful noise?!" She growled, clutching her ears.
"That would be Cricket! Just try to focus on Oni Lee! I can deal with her!" Triumph shouted.
Right as he said this, Mirko heard something appear behind her. Whirling around she delivered a roundhouse kick to Oni Lee's face right as he was about to stab her. Not even a moment later she heard something appear off to her side and delivered yet another kick to Oni Lee only for him to appear behind her again the moment she did and stabbed her in the side.
"Grr! This guy is so annoying!" She growled as she jumped away and tried to locate him again. Only for him to appear behind her the moment she landed.
Her fight with Oni Lee continued like this for about two minutes before she started to learn the villain's patterns and was learning how to respond to them. At that point, her fight with Oni Lee started to shift in her favor.
That was, until he did something she absolutely did not expect and teleported behind Dauntless, who was currently fighting Lung, and attempted to grab him and cut his throat. However, Dauntless struggled against Oni Lee's grip and slammed an elbow into his gut before throwing him off. Oni Lee disintegrated into ash not even a moment after he hit the ground. Even so, some blood was dripping from Dauntless's throat.
Mirko didn't even have time to say anything before Oni Lee appeared behind her again and attempted to stab her in the area of the neck where her neck met her shoulder. She reacted fast enough to grab his wrist and throw him, but he turned to ash again. Looking, she saw he was already behind Miss Militia and was attempting to attack her, and was behind Triumph, and was behind Dauntless. Apparently he had been toying with her this whole time up until now, probably trying to learn how she fought just as much as she was trying to learn how he fought.
Fortunately the other heroes all seemed prepared for this eventuality. In fact they appeared to have been expecting it.
"How are you supposed to fight this guy?!" Mirko inquired, a bit frustrated.
"His teleportation relies on line of sight! Try to pay attention to the general direction he's looking and where all of us are!" Miss Militia explained.
Hearing that, Mirko tried her best to adapt her strategy to account for this information. She started paying closer attention to the position of Oni Lee's head and tried to keep in mind where the other three heroes were at any given time. And she was met with some level of success. It wasn't even close to perfect since she couldn't see his eyes under his mask, but she was able to hit either him or his clones a few times before they could attack the other heroes.
After another three or so minutes of this more PRT agents started to arrive on scene with containment foam sprayers. At that point the battle shifted in the Heroes favor as the villains were forced to retreat.
Mirko was about to chase after them when Dauntless grabbed her by the wrist and kept her from doing so. "What are you three doing? Why are you just standing there? We need to stop them!" Mirko exclaimed when she realized the other three heroes were just standing there rather than pursuing the villains.
"It's too risky. At least for right now. If it were just Cricket and Oni Lee that would be one thing but it's not just them. Hookwolf and Lung are with them. That means it's too dangerous for us to try to pursue them right now. We barely managed to hold them off until the PRT could arrive with containment foam, what makes you think we have the capability of chasing after them right now? They left because it was too much of an inconvenience, not because the odds were insurmountable." Triumph stated.
"So, what? We're just going to let them get away?!" Mirko exclaimed.
"Unfortunately, yes. Maybe when your friends get their costumes and we have overwhelming force, we might be able to try to capture them. But until then, we have no choice but to let them go. There's a very serious reason why we haven't been able to capture them yet. This is that reason." Miss Militia told her.
Mirko was absolutely infuriated by this. But when she looked back towards the villains they were already gone. Both groups had run in different directions and both had likely run down different streets. Besides which, not only would Mirko be alone if she tried to pursue either group, she didn't know the city well enough to even try. So she growled in frustration but ultimately relented.
"Hey, on the bright side, we did catch a whole bunch of gang members and most of them are still alive." Dauntless said, letting go of her wrist.
"But we didn't catch the main guys…" Mirko growled before turning and marching away in frustration.
My notes: A bit short this time but that felt like a fairly natural ending point and I didn't have time for much else. So I hope you all enjoy the chapter!