I was falling - all out of balance, hurtling towards my fate -

And Tokage's detached arm grabbed my back, catching me just in time - another hand, other pieces balancing me in time to stop the impact.

I was winded, I tried not to lose my head as her pieces guided me to the ground - where my legs gave out from under me again. I looked up and saw that I was not the only one. The civilians who had crashed their cars and survived were pulling themselves out of the doors by arms that could barely flex and dragging themselves along as though their legs had become useless.

"You okay, Creati?" Tokage's head was floating near me. I shook my head. "The villain's quirk appears to make others lose their equilibrium."

"Hm. You're right...my leg pieces aren't working right."

"How fortunate. Tokage, you should engage this villain...Use your limbs! Find them and keep them occupied, try and knock them out."

"Gotcha."

"Here." My quirk, thankfully, was still working, and I could produce a tranquilizer gun. "Take her down."

Tokage took the gun in her teeth and winked at me to say yes.

I felt awful as soon as she'd left. I could barely see anything and certainly couldn't do anything about the horror around me. I dragged myself forward by my barely functional arms, until I could see at least some of what was happening.

Atop the construction site, I could see the villain. Even from a distance, it was clear she was wearing glittering clothing, jewels in her hair and all over her body; that she had long curly hair done up atop her head, and that she wore some sort of mask. She waved her hands about, perhaps the activation of her quirk.

Tokage's legs and torso came flying towards her and smacked her off the construction site, grabbing her to avoid killing her. She was dropped off in front of me.

"What insect dares to lay a hand on me?" a sneering voice came to me through the mask. I could see now that it resembled the kind used by Noh theater actors, painted with a sneering lip and a turned up nose.

"More like a foot," came Tokage's voice. It was not muffled, so I assumed she'd given the knockout gun to her hands.

"Come out and show yourself, coward," the villain snapped. "Fight like a grown-up."

Tokage's disembodied head floated around the corner to grin at her. "Hello!"

The villain handled the sight well, though I could tell she was grossed out. "What a disgusting quirk," she said, after doing a double take. "Or are you just a living severed head? Must be a terrible existence. What a pathetic excuse for a hero!"

"Do not speak to my friend that way!" I shouted foolishly.

The villain turned to me. "And what's your quirk, prostitution? What's with that skanky getup?" I blushed, humiliated. It had never been uncomfortable to know that my quirk would require wearing as little clothing as possible until recently, when I'd been made painfully aware through Mineta of just how most people treated heroines in skimpy clothing.

"Aw, you embarassed, hero? How lame. And you barely put up a fight! Some forces. I deserve better enemies. Give me someone decent, like All Might or Endeavor. Or if they're gonna send some Class 1A punk," she added, coming towards me, and I had the unpleasant feeling that she recognized me, "Maybe that dark shadow kid, not his leftovers."

The sports festival...

Crap...

"You-"

Snap!

The villain toppled over from Tokage pulling the trigger of my knockout gun. Immediately I felt sensation returning to my legs.

"Glad I finally shut her up," said Tokage, as her hand floated into sight. "Thanks for distracting her."

"It wasn't..." I was going to say planned, but I decided it wans't important. "Let's work on rescue. And Mr. Majestic!"

"Right here!" came his voice, and he floated over to us. "Lost my equilibirum pretty quick. HEard a bit of that battle. Nicely done! Let's get to rescuing."

"I'll secure teh villain," I said, creating a capture alloy and heading towards her.

From beneath our feet came a sound - something stirring up. A rumbling and then - WHOOOSH -

Water blew up through the nearest storm drain, flooding over us - over the villain lying on the ground - As I threw up my hands to stop sewer water from getting in my face, I made out hte villain's body being pulled down through the nearest cover -

"No -"

But it was too late. The water retracted, and we were left with no villain to show for our efforts.

Fortunately the casualties were not too high, but there were at least four, and that was four too many. Many were injured. And the villain had escaped. Majestic's backup, pro hero Tigress, had arrived too late to do more than apologize. We went to the police station and I gave the details of our attacker to a very interested Officer Hayashi.

"A noh style mask, huh?"

"Yes. Is that significant?"

"Seems they've been popping up at a few scenes lately. Some new gang or gimmick I guess. Get a name?"

"No. And I think the hair may have been a wig. It would be difficult to place her identity."

"She have some special attitude?"

"ERm...she was very rude, I suppose. Condescending and mean."

"Would you call her arrogant?"

"Very."

"Hm. Guess that fills out the roster." She said that quietly, and I decided not to ask, for now, what that meant.

The next day I held one of my study parties, guiding my classmates through our most recent experiments in chemistry lab. As I bent over my own experiment notes, I sensed a familiar figure coming up behind me and smiled.

"Hm...fifteen, sixteen...If Mrs. Zenzu had thirteen apples and took away four..."

"Wouldn't you dump four if you were married to Zenzu?"

"Hello, Jirou."

"Hey. Tea?"

"Thank you ever so."

"Still pouring over books and doing it by hand? There are some nice computer things, you know, nowadays."

"I like to see it physically."

She grinned, then her grin became a more serious look. "How was the work study?"

"A little rough," I said quietly, as my other students were busy in conversation. "I wasn't able to save anyone, and the villain got away."

"That's too bad."

"I just wish I had some idea what I could have done differently."

"The only thing that matters now is doing better next time." I got the feeling she was talking from experience.

I nodded simply, and turned my focus back to my current job. It was stressful, wearing all these different hats, preparing for a busy semester...Deputy Class Rep, Tutor, and Work Study pro, not to mention staying top of the class.

It was going to be a busy year.