Chapter 4: Ren Kimura

Ren had not put her ear piece in when she left the agency. She knew Timeswapper would not be happy with her about that since now they could not communicate, and she couldn't get updates from their members back at the agency who were keeping tabs on the visual of the villains via agency drones. Buzz cut was on her heels as they ran. Nezu and the blonde student, Yamada was the name Nezu had called him by, had gone a different direction. Finally, Ren turned a corner and found two villains at a plaza that were destroying property. There were several civilians lying on the ground seemingly unconscious about the plaza. Hopefully just unconscious thought Ren.

"Ito, was it?" The boy nodded at her. "What's your quirk?"

Ito blinked at her and stammered for a few seconds before answering. "Um, when I activate my quirk my arm strength doubles and needles like a porcupine's come out of my forearms…"

Ren nodded at him, "Okay, there are two villains ahead. I can't tell their quirks, they seem to just be in destruction mode. Let's enter the plaza from opposite sides. The guy on the north side seems to be giving orders to the other one. I'll subdue him and you can deal with the other one. Think you can handle that?" The boy nodded again. "I'll keep an eye on you as well. I got your back!" They split up. Ren had less cover to catch her villain unaware than Ito did, that was also one of the reasons she had him go after the less threatening villain as well. She ran to the North plaza opening, crouching as much as she could while running to hide her position. The villain was about Ren's height, had an average build, and seemed to have the ability to melt things with his hands. He had destroyed several items in the plaza. Mailboxes, benches, bike racks, and he was now working on some abandoned food carts. Using the food cart to hide from his view she ran up quickly removing one of her gloves. As he reached his hand to rip the stainless still lid off the base of the cart she assumed, she grabbed his bare arm. He immediately screamed out in pain. She held on for three seconds. This would ensure he would be unconscious for at least two hours. As he fell backwards towards the ground, she used her gloved hand to grab him and break his fall so he wouldn't be too injured.

She looked towards Ito now and realized he had found himself in some trouble. Instead of the one villain she had seen before, a small but sturdily built woman with long black hair, there were now many duplicates of this woman. At least twelve from her point of view. Ren ran towards them. She deduced they had to be either holographic in nature or organic. As she approached the one closest to her, it turned towards her and swung an arm. Ren quickly ducked and reached her bare hand out. Her hand went through the arm like it was air. When she brought her hand through it, the hologram disappeared. She looked over at Ito and he was swinging his fists and arms fighting off the duplicates. One of the porcupine-like needles that extended from his arms grazed one of the holograms and it disappeared. She ran towards a few that were standing around together watching Ito. As she approached them, two of the four lurched towards her and attacked. She ignored them and went straight for the two farthest away and now watching her. One of them had to be the real villain. But before she could reach either of them, a burst of air threw her backwards several feet and she landed hard on her back. She immediately got on her feet and saw now that there were over a dozen new holographic clones. A perfect defense mechanism for the quirk thought Ren. When the holographic clones were created, they sent out a huge blast of air. It would be impossible for her to get close enough to touch the real villain unless she and Ito could possibly exhaust the woman. Ito was now running towards her having dispatched the duplicates he had been fighting.

"Ito, we need to keep pressing into the clones. When she creates them we'll keep getting pushed back but I think we can possibly exhaust them. We need to hurry, there are a lot of hurt people here who need to be tended to."

Ren and Ito pushed in. They put minimal effort into dispatching the clones since it only took a touch. When they narrowed down to four left, the woman looked up at the sky, raised her arms outward and the blast of air pushed them back, but this time with much more force. They were thrown back about forty feet and both hit the ground hard. They stood up as quickly as they could, disheveled in appearance, bruised and slightly battered. Ito's school shirt and pants had rips in them and his face was scratched and sullied. Ren saw debris sticking in her long tresses and noticed her left side ached from the impact of being thrown against the asphalt walkway. Now they both saw over twenty clones. "Again!" Ren bellowed. They started to clear clones, but after dispatching only a few, the woman ignited her quirk again. This time they were blasted even further back. The woman and her clones were at the end of the plaza now. Luckily this area looked clear of any injured people. It took them both a few seconds to stagger to their feet this time. "Hold back, Ito. We need to regroup and reassess." Ito looked disappointed.

Suddenly a noise immensely loud and ear piercing ripped through the plaza. Ito immediately covered his ears and looked at Ren, and she followed suite. Ren saw the air become distorted near them and observed what she assumed were the aftershocks of the soundwaves rend the air and barrel through the clones. It dissolved them all immediately. Ren saw the lone villain being knocked to the ground and pinned there. She made her way to the villain, hoping she could reach her before she used her quirk. The ungodly noise ceased and Ren ran as fast as she could. She reached her hand out now only twenty feet from the woman. She sat up and their eyes met. The woman reached her arm out. Ren leapt at her and wrapped her fingers around the outstretched forearm. The woman screamed in pain and seconds later slumped back to the ground.

"Yes! Barely!" Ren shouted in relief. Yamada, the other UA student, ran up to them with Principal Nezu perched on his shoulder.

"Was that you? With the soundwave?" Ren asked out of breath.

"My quirk: Loud Voice is at your service!" Yamada replied quickly and with immense volume. He had a huge grin on his face and was brimming with energy. "What's your hero name, Yamada?"

"Present Mic!"

"I'll be sure to keep tabs on you in the future, that was impressive. Thanks for your help. That villain wasn't the best match-up for Ito and me. Now, let's tend to these civilians." Ito scowled at Yamada and Yamada volleyed back with a very smarmy grin.

Nezu took over with the rescue efforts, coordinating with the local shops. Ren hoped the rest of their agency would be there soon. There was so much damage in just this one area and so many injured.