"Are you shitting me? It's the middle of the day. Where the fuck are all the heroes at?" Izumi shouted, looking around in disbelief. Across the street, a man was on a rampage. His shape was obscured by a thick sludge that coated his skin, dripping from his limbs as he moved. The concrete sizzled and dissolved wherever the sludge landed, and nearby cars were marked with wide holes. "This guy is just eating through buildings. People are in fucking danger. When will they get here?"

Rei balanced on the balls of her feet, trying to figure out literally anything they could do. "Hey, wait. Izumi. Our adaption suits. Are they able to help against acid?"

"Yes, but only to an extent. With how strong it looks like this guy's shit is, our suits won't be able to hold up against it," Izumi explained.

Rei frowned. "Logan, you wouldn't happen to have any special adaptation abilities when it comes to acid would you?" She looked at her other friend with a glint of hope in her eye.

"No, acid also has to be a gradual buildup so I'm not sure I can help with this one," Logan said, shaking her head. She looked around, spotting a small grocery store down the street. "I might be able to just run to the store and try to build up my acid defense. Until then maybe you guys can keep them distracted?"

"Okay well, fortunately for Izumi and I,our boots house both our suits, but unfortunately for you Logan, your normal adaptation vigilante clothes are at home and your boots only house your absorption suit," Rei said, and followed it up with a tense sigh. As the villain continued to eat through a building with his acid, she nudged her friends towards an alleyway. It was cramped, but it was also empty, and right now, that was a lot more important.

"I'm probably going to end up having to sacrifice my dress, aren't I?" Logan groaned, running her hand along the soft fabric of her navy blue, open-back sundress.

Rei nodded as she and Izumi began pulling off their clothes. They quickly activated their suits and helmets. "Just be glad you didn't wear a custom designer dress today so it can't be tracked back to you."

"Can't I just borrow one of your outfits?"

"We don't have time for that!" Rei snapped. "Now move. Izumi, you are good at range, so you focus on the attacking. I will try and get us a perimeter set up."

"Yeah. I'll just go pour lemon juice on myself I guess. Be back in a minute," Logan pouted, dragging her feet a little and letting her arms hang sadly at her side. She turned out of the alleyway and picked up the pace, running for the grocery store.

Izumi burst out of the alleyway in her adaptation suit, charging down the road that the villain was laying waste to. "Hey! Yo! Over Here! That's Right! I'm Talking To You. Crazy Mother-Fucker." She quickly aimed her pistol at the villain's arm and pulled her trigger. The bullet disintegrated as it hit the slime coating around his body. "Oh, for fuck's sake. Come On!" The man growled as he turned around and began an aggressive stride towards Izumi.

"Hey. Everyone, stay calm, please!" Rei shouted, waving her hands over her head to get the attention of the civilians still lingering around the street. "I need some help here, people! We need to clear a few blocks out. I'm asking you all to head at least out to 4th street. Is that okay? Would you all be able to just scream when you are outside of buildings and just let everyone you pass in that direction know that they need to head to 4th street?" The civilians began to take her advice one by one, running away from the villain attack and shouting into any buildings they passed. Rei switched on her helmet's com. "Okay guys, I have people to the north clearing out to 4th street. I'm gonna get people to the west to head down towards the freeway."

"Okay well the bad guy is in active pursuit of me," Izumi replied. Judging by her breathing, she was running as she spoke. "So any help would be appreciated. We need to hurry this along guys."

Izumi kept the villain chasing her around a small area of the city and away from the paths of others. Rei had successfully managed to get people headed out of the city in all different directions. Luckily the groups she had talked to, although being afraid, were shouting out the directions she had asked and their perimeter was expanding as people successfully evacuated the few city blocks she had asked for. Logan's burning sensation from the lemon juice she was pouring over her body subsided and she figured she was as ready as she would ever be to take on the villain.

Logan ran up to the villain from behind as he was distracted with Izumi. She landed a superman punch directly to the back of his head. "Okay, I have good news and bad news. Good news is that while it still hurts, it looks like it can only leave scalds on me. His acid isn't burning fully. Bad news is that the punch I landed definitely should have knocked him out, so he has to be hopped up on something strong."

"If I had to guess it's probably that trigger drug," Rei speculated. She'd finished clearing out the civilians, and now she was making her way back to the fight. "It explains how this guy's acid is so strong. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Oh fuck. He hits like a freight train," Logan groaned as she picked herself up from a punch that sent her flying down the street. "What are we going to do? Do we wait until the heroes get here and just try to escape?"

Izumi snapped at her. "No! We don't fucking need heroes. We can do this ourselves goddamnit!" She heard the signature clip of an empty mag. "Shit. I'm out of ammo." Acting more on anger than rationality, she rushed the villain and attempted to punch him. Before she was able to land the hit, he grabbed her arm and threw her into the windows of a local hardware store. The suit managed to slow the acid slightly, but it still managed to eat fully through where he grabbed. She was lucky that he let go of her right before she got burned. She hit her head from the fall and slowly got back up, looking at the shelves around her, still slightly dazed. "Drain cleaner?" She brought her hand up to the back of her head. "DRAIN CLEANER!" She snatched up a jug and checked the ingredients. "Bingo. Sodium Hydroxide, bitch."

"Drain Cleaner? What are you on about? Did you hit your head?" Rei asked, grunting as she tried to avoid one of the villain's attacks. "Fuck, his acid ate through my gloves."

"Yes, but still, listen to me!" Izumi insisted. "Sodium Hydroxide is a strong base. It can react with the hydrogen ions in his acid and it'll leave us with some form of salt, depending on what acid he's using, and some water." She spun around, spotting a worker standing by the broken window, his mouth agape. He held his phone upright in his hand, the camera pointed at her. "Hey store clerk! What are you still doing here? It's dangerous you need to evacuate!" She said in the deepest voice she could, hoping it would make her sound older. Izumi tucked the bottle of drain cleaner under her arm and grabbed half a dozen more from the shelf, balancing them precariously. "I'm taking this drain cleaner." The clerk remained speechless, staring at her with eyes the size of dinner plates. She looked left and right before making her way to the window. "Just charge it to the Midnight agency," she said as she hopped out. "Thank you for your service." Izumi ran down the street, carrying all the bottles in her arms. "Grab 'em and go ladies. Grab 'em and go. We need to drench this motherfucker."

Rei grabbed two bottles and opened them. She ran up on the left side of the villain, flinging the drain cleaner onto him. "How do we know if it's working?" She asked. "Is it supposed to have little bubbles? It has little bubbles."

Logan and Izumi followed Rei's actions. Izumi ran up onto the villains right side and she began to fling the liquid on him. Logan took a slightly different approach and she vaulted onto the man's back and began pouring bottles of liquid directly onto him. The sludge bubbled as the drain cleaner touched it, reacting to produce water. The sludge fell harmlessly away from his skin, and even though he tried desperately to produce more, it continued to do so. Now safe from burning, the girls began to wildly strike the man with everything they had. "Man I wish we had literally any of our signature weapons. All we fucking have is Izumi's emergency pistol. We can't fucking do anything!" Logan cursed.

"Shit. My pistol," Izumi realized, scrambling to find the weapon. "Where is my pistol? I need it now!"

Rei spotted the pistol laying by a car. "It's over there. Hold on, let me grab it."F She ran towards it, scooping it up. "Wait, didn't you say it was empty?"

"Just throw it to me!" Izumi replied. Rei tossed the gun to her and Izumi caught it by the barrel. She leaped into the air, aiming carefully and bringing the butt of the gun down hard on his temple. The man crumpled to the ground in an instant, leaving the girls standing over him, breathless. Izumi took a moment to catch her breath, then smiled. "I guess you could say that this villain's been neutralized."

Rei and Logan stared at her. "Uh, yeah, you could say that," Logan said with a shrug.

"He's been neutralized," Izumi repeated.

"Yeah," Rei said. "No one's arguing with that."

Izumi sighed, shaking her head. "Oh, forget it."

Logan straightened herself up and looked around, doing a double take as she scanned the horizon. "Hey, so uh, does anyone else see that bright glowing red and orange light headed this way?"

"Oh, hey, look at that," Izumi said, following her gaze. "Number two himself is coming. Guess that's our cue."

"Get back here you Villains!" Endeavor shouted, but the girls were already well on their way out of there. They ducked down alleyways, winding through narrow streets to throw him off their tail. By the time they stopped to catch their breath, he'd already lost them.

Rei took a few deep breaths, steadying her breathing. "So. We have a problem. We left our clothes in the alley."

"Fuck. What if the cops find them when they search the city?" Izumi asked, bracing herself with her hands on her knees as she waited for her heart rate to go down.

"They were next to a dumpster so if they find it they will likely just assume it was meant to be thrown away," Logan pointed out. "Besides, It's not the first time someones gotten naked in an alleyway. Everyone has crazy Friday nights sometimes." She looked down to her dress that was already bleached from the lemon juice. "I guess we are all going home with one less outfit today."

"I dunno. I think the bleached stains can be a bit of a look," Izumi said.

Logan rolled her eyes. "And this is why I am responsible for the aesthetic parts of our suit design."

Logan: Rise and Shine babes. Rise and Shine. We need to meet up at the tree house ASAP. I've got news.

Izumi: Huh? Dude, it's six. We only got home like five hours ago and it took a whole thirty minutes to sneak in unnoticed. We are exhausted

Rei: Is it actually important?

Logan: Incredibly important.

Rei: Fine. I'll drag Izumi with me. I'll just text my mom that we all want to go out for breakfast or something.

Logan: Sounds good. Meet you there in twenty?

Izumi: I hate you

Logan: Love you too.

The girls met up at the tree house and took a seat around their relatively new centerpiece, Nomu, who was sporting a brand new cowboy hat, courtesy of Logan. Rei sent Logan a questioning glance. "So, just how many hats do you plan on getting that thing?"

Logan smiled coyly. "Oh honey. Just wait until Christmas."

"Is this against the Geneva Convention?" Izumi asked casually. "Also, what was this ever so important news?"

"Eh. I'm sure it's fine. As for the news, though." Logan leaned in and looked left and right between the other two. "Congratulations. We have officially gone viral."

"Huh?" They responded in unison.

She grinned and straightened herself back up, clapping her hands together once to accentuate the announcement. "Some store worker didn't evacuate and ended up filming the whole confrontation. Also it turns out a bunch of other people were taking pictures of us as they left. We trended on twitter and everything."

"Huh?" They repeated.

"Yeah. The video has over three point four million views in less than twenty-four hours. It's crazy. People love us. I mean, check out all these comments. We have a ton of supporters now!"

The other two gawked at her, confusion scrawled across their faces. "Uh… Huh?"

"So, I did the only logical thing," Logan continued. "I made us a bunch of social media accounts, so now we have a strong and growing online presence."

"You WHAT?" Rei blurted, jumping to her feet.

Izumi furrowed her brown, baffled. "Dude. What if they track us or something?"

"Relax," Logan dismissed them. "You know I've got mad software skills. They won't have a chance to track us back." She shrugged, completely waving away their concerns. "I made a program that randomly pings off of different cell towers and I installed it on a phone solely dedicated to the Sideline Squad. Also I have my IP changing every ten seconds, give or take."

"You did all of that since we left you five hours ago?" Rei asked in disbelief.

Logan nodded, pulling out her phone. "Yeah. Now look. We have fifty-four thousand followers on Instagram and thirty-seven thousand on Twitter." She put a hand on her hip "I'm also just saying I went through a lot of trouble stealing the names for these accounts from people that had already named themselves after us. We have a few dozen fan accounts already." Logan scrolled through her phone, switching between apps to check up on the activity.

Rei shook her head. "That's bizarre. What a world we live in these days," she mused. "You know, I thought we were supposed to try and stay out of the spotlight."

"Yeah, but we can use our platform for real good," Logan argued. "We can use it to keep people informed about important issues."

Izumi sighed. "I dunno. I'm hesitant. I guess it's nice that people like us," she admitted.

"Some people like us. It looks like we have quite a few people that are unhappy with our illegal status."

"I mean, technically in the video we didn't do anything illegal," Rei pointed out, sitting back down. "We didn't use our quirks to harm people and we were clearly helping save people."

"Yeah, but I guess the law doesn't see it that way." Izumi folded her arms. "Well, actually no, the law does see it that way, but the police think we have some sort of combat quirks we are using. Probably assume our speed boost is from some kinda quirk and not technology."

Logan nodded, glancing up from her phone. "Yeah. The law is clear. You can't use your quirk in public unless it's an emergency. You can't use your quirk to harm others. I'm lucky my quirk isn't visible so there is no way to prove whether or not I'm using it." She met Rei's concerned gaze and flashed her a reassuring smile. "We really have nothing to worry about. Let's say they catch us, right? The most they will probably end up charging us with is withholding information. I mean, realistically, as long as we don't kill anyone or cause permanent injury, I doubt we would get jail time. If anything, they would want to keep the fact that a bunch of kids were the ones doing this a secret too, for their own appearances. It wouldn't look great for a bunch of kids to be more successful than a police force."

"Why do you know so much about the legal system anyways?" Rei asked, dropping some of the tension she was holding in her shoulders.

"I need to know what kind of trouble I'd be facing depending on my actions. Especially some of my more questionable online activities."

"You mean your hacking hobby?"

"Listen, I just like being kept in the know. Also, if it so happens that I end up getting very useful information about test questions or any sort of upcoming surprise quizzes, is it really that bad?" Logan shrugged, leaning back in her seat. "Besides, you know as well as I do it's useful. It's come in all sorts or handy with our other after school activities. I just wish we could get into that stupid hero Facebook bullshit. I can't open a backdoor, but if I could just get in there once I could make one from the inside out and it wouldn't even be detectable. Think of all the information we could have access to." She leaned forward again, grinning at the prospect. "It would put saving people in easy mode."

Rei was less receptive to the idea. "Yeah, but I don't know if we would actually be able to take on real villains. I mean, we do a lot of back alley and underground crime, but real legitimate villains?"

"Of course we can beat some stupid fucking villains. We have fought plenty of people with quirks," Izumi broke in.

"Not useful ones."

"We beat a fucking acid villain today," Izumi reminded her. "That guy was at least a solid B-tier villain. I mean, fucking Endeavor showed up, so clearly that villain must have been some kind of solid threat. We beat the man-whore acid trip without a quirk too, so he can get fucked."

Rei finally relented, relaxing in her seat. "Yeah. Yeah. His acid did eat through some of our suits, though, so how about we use today as a vacation? Go ahead and get the suits fixed this morning, so we can have them all ready to go in case we run into any trouble," she suggested. "Then after that, let's just call up Etsuko and go to the mall or movies."

"Yeah, you know with all this Sideline Squad stuff going on in the media right now, I'm sure everyone has forgotten about us at the sports festival," Izumi said hopefully. "Maybe that will make people less awkward around us."

Rei groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Oh my god. Our parents still haven't stopped talking about it. Apparently they recorded it and everything. Sent copies to all of our extended family."

"Yeah, well," Izumi sighed. "A nice non-eventful day sounds amazing, but I think I would rather work on upgrading these suits some more. If I can get the nanos to bond together stronger I might be able to make the suits bullet proof. I'm not sure if it'll work but I think I have a pretty strong idea to test out."

"So you are saying you can make us invincible?" Logan asked, raising a brow.

Izumi shook her head. "No. IF, I can get it to work, you will still get one hell of a bruise in the morning. Might even break bones from the bullet impact, but it won't pierce skin. It should also be able to prevent some slashes and stabs depending on whatever angle the strike is at." She stopped, realizing the other two were staring at her and brimming with questions. "I mean, I'll do a few test runs with it. Worst thing that happens is that it messes up the flexibility of the suit and the entire thing breaks into pieces like a bunch of glass shards or locks us in place like an unmovable exoskeleton."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't do that," Rei said. She smiled a little. "If it works though that would be incredible!"

"Yeah. Even if it does work the way I think it will, it's gonna be risky," she explained. "I'm gonna have to strengthen the linking mechanisms, but think of it like bones. If it works the way I want the suits will be able to block things, but the more they get hit the tighter the bonds will be. Imagine it like a seat belt." She touched a hand to her shoulder and brought it over her chest to illustrate the example. "Once it gets stretched it kinda locks up? Except in this case the locking up will happen progressively."

"Once it locks up too far?" Logan asked.

"It'll start by restricting our movement."

"What will it end with?"

"Potentially compromising the entire structural integrity of our suits."

Rei thought for a moment. "Well, that means if it works we just have to not get hit by too many bullets," she reasoned. "I mean, it's not like we would just run into automatic fire or anything, anyways. It shouldn't be any sort of problem then, but will it be possible to reset the links of the suit or whatever?"

"Yeah, the nanos pull in all of their connectors when they go back into their housing unit." Izumi tapped her shoe. "Our boots, in this case. It should reset as long as all the bots get back into their housing."

"Well if you can do it, then it is nothing but a win for us. As long as we just keep careful then it won't end up being a problem," Logan said.

"Peoples actions can change even if they don't want them to," Rei replied. "Especially in high intensity situations. Your actions might be different just because you subconsciously know that your suit is bulletproof and end up putting yourself in more danger."

Logan shrugged casually. "Yeah, but it will still be less dangerous than getting into a gunfight with no protection."

"Yeah, well just don't get your hopes up too high," Izumi sighed. "I'm going to head home and get to work. You guys should go have fun with Etusko. Tinkering is how I relax the best anyways."

Izumi stretched out her arms as they walked and rolled her shoulders to loosen them up. "Man. Airsoft club has been getting really fucking intense lately. People are getting really competitive."

"Yeah," Logan agreed. "I'm not complaining though. It just means people are really getting into it."

"Turns out that sports festival was actually a pretty good club advertisement too. I guess people realized there are ways to fight even without quirks, so they figured they wanna try too," Rei added. She smiled, thinking about the new club members who had joined today.

"Maybe they should set up a hand to hand combat club for them or something, though," Logan suggested, throwing a mock punch at Rei's shoulder. "This is more for fun. Actual firearms are still very much illegal over here. This isn't 'merica."

Izumi took a few quick steps to pull out in front of the other two, making sure she had their attention. "So, onto something more pressing, where do you guys wanna patrol tonight?" She asked. "I've heard through the grapevine that there's a group of douche-bag guys from that newer college downtown that have been robbing people at knife point."

"Ugh," Logan groaned. "College boys. Some are cute. Most are just fucking terrible. All of them can handle getting knocked down a peg or two. I'm on board with that."

"If we are heading out of town, then let's skip dinner tonight with my parents," Rei said, pulling out her phone. "We will just say we are going out to eat with some people from airsoft club or whatever. If we are heading all the way down town, we need to get the move on as soon as possible. If we run into the guys, it's a win, but if not, we can take down any other bad guys we happen to see tonight." She paused, glancing up from her phone to look at the other two. "Make sure you guys at least take a few snapshots of them committing crimes before you actually step in though. We need some evidence for them to put people away with."

Logan waved one hand dismissively. "Yeah, Yeah. We know, We know. Let's just go get geared up. I'm ready to kick some ass tonight."

"All three of you sick son's of bitches had better get your fucking hands off of that woman right. GODDAMN. NOW!" Izumi boomed, looming over the group of people in the street below. Three young men crowded around a woman, backing her up against a nearby wall. All four of them looked up to see her standing there on the edge of a building.

"Rei. You need to meet up with us. Forget whoever you were tailing. This is much more important." Logan swung her staff as she jumped down from the building, hitting a man directly on the top of the head and knocking him out from the impact. As soon as her feet touched the ground she sweeped the foot of the man to her right creating an opening for the cowering woman to escape from.

"Lady. Run," Izumi urged the woman as she leaped down to join Logan. "Get out of here. Keep in the lights once you hit the main road and make sure to get somewhere safe. I'm going to cover you as you leave. It's okay." The woman hesitated, but decided to take her advice and ran towards one end of the alley, rounding the corner of the building and disappearing. Izumi watched her leave out of the corner of her eye, and once she was sure that the woman was gone, she turned her focus back to the three men.

"Shit," Logan said as the man who was previously standing behind the woman wrapped his arms around her. Just as she was about to grab his wrist and shift her position to gain leverage it was as though all of the bones in his arms disintegrated. "What the fuck?" She asked as his arms continued to wrap fully around her. She looked down and noticed the man she had previously sweeped making his way back up. When he attempted to push back up off of his knees, Logan stomped as hard as she could on his head. "Stay down, bitch. SNIPES. SHOOT THIS LAST PIECE OF SHIT RIGHT NOW!"

"I can't get a clear shot with the way he is holding you!" Izumi yelled back as she took shocking shot at the man Logan shot at making sure he was going to stay incapacitated for a while.

"Ugh! Let me go, boneless bitch," Logan yelled as she crouched down with as much power as she could before exploding back up and thrusting her hips as high as she could for leverage. Using the leverage, she was able to flip the man forward over her landing lying on top of him. He let out a grunt as the wind was knocked out of him from the takedown and added weight of Logan. The man loosened his grip just enough for Logan to slide down out of his grip. Before she was able to slide out fully, the man regained his senses and tightened his arms again. This time they were around her neck.

Izumi yelled. "Oh No! Fuck! Hey man! Let her go, now!"

"What are you going to do? Risk shooting your own friend?" The man gloated, an audible quiver in his voice. "How about this, huh? You just turn around and leave and I promise that once she's asleep, I will just let her go and head my own way with my buddies." His gaze flickered over his unconscious friends. "We won't do any harm. You have my word."

"Snipes… Do it… I know you can." Logan wheezed out, not loud enough for the man behind her to hear through the helmet.

Izumi's finger hovered uselessly over the trigger. "I don't know… I'm scared," she said in a small voice.

Logan launched into another fit of coughing and wheezing. "Hit the arms."

"What? He's not going to pass out from that." Izumi noticed Logan's eyes beginning to roll into the back of her head as she continued to choke. She lined up the shot on the man's arms and squeezed the trigger. She managed to hit his arms even though he was slightly rolling around with Logan. Once the electricity hit, his quirk was interrupted and all of the bones in his arms reformed at once. Due to the position, however, they all completely shattered upon their formation, leaving the man screaming in agony as he crumpled to the ground.

Logan took a few staggering steps away from him and began taking heavy gulps of air as soon as she was let go. Once her breathing caught up enough for her to move, she wrapped her legs around the man's waist and began punching him repeatedly in the face. "How does that feel?" She gloated, her voice gravelly. She heard another sickening crack from the man's nose. "Does it feel good?" She hit him in the face a few more times before standing up and kicking him in the ribs. Eventually, all of the pain caught up to him fully and he passed out.

"Shit. Sync. We need to call an ambulance," Izumi said, walking over to the two. "The man is going to go into shock. He's probably internally bleeding from all the shattered bones in his arms too."

"I can't stand fucking perverts," Logan spat. "What are these guys, eighteen to twenty? And already wastes of Oxygen." She kicked a few pebbles in his direction.

Izumi rang the usual number and turned back to Logan. "Alright, I called the cops and gave them our location. They are sending an ambulance. Let's just go now."

"Are you guys good?" Rei asked over the mic.

Logan unscrewed the parts of her staff and strapped them into their holsters on her back. "Yeah, we are fine. We are heading away now." They left the alley and walked down the street not noticing the woman they had saved earlier was tailing them from a distance.

"Okay, I'll still meet up with you guys in a few. I'm on my way."

The girls walked a few blocks away when suddenly Logan felt something wrap around her from behind. "Not again."

"You villains left behind quite a mess a few blocks ago," a man behind them said in a familiar, scratchy voice. "In case you were wondering, everyone is still alive, but it seems as though that doesn't matter to you."

Logan struggled against the binding, trying to turn her head to get a good look at him. "Shut up. They deserved it. Now be a dear and just let me go. You are picking a fight with the wrong people. If anything, we are on your side."

"People who use their quirks illegally and hurt others without proper authority are not on my side," he said firmly. Izumi tried to grab the cloth binding her friend so she could create enough slack for her friend to escape. Before she was able to get a grip on the cloth, the man flung Logan forward into his striking range. He released the cloth as he kicked her in the chest with a force that should have put her on her back, but instead Logan only stumbled back a few steps. "So you have some sort of durability quirk, then?"

Logan attempted to punch him but he grabbed her wrist with his cloth. This time as soon as the cloth wrapped around her wrist, Logan pulled back attempting to bring the man off balance, but their difference in strength thwarted her attempt. He tugged on the cloth and gave her wrist a sharp twist. Logan heard a distinct cracking sound come from her wrist and felt her shoulder jerk out of place, radiating pain up and down her arm. Still, there wasn't nearly as much pain involved as she expected, a fact that she attributed to adrenaline. "Oh, come on. You are deceptively strong," she grunted.

Izumi attempted to run around and get behind the man. "Clever. You must know who I am. Not many people do. Trying to make it so I can't cancel out both of your quirks at once." He flung the two girls together using his cloth. "Didn't work, though."

"Oof," both girls wheezed as they had the wind knocked out of them.

"So, that's it. You both have a shock absorption quirk. Let me guess. Sisters? Speaking of, where is your third?"

"Well that actually wasn't a strategy, but yeah we do know who you are. You are that erasing hero," Izumi began. Logan elbowed her, and she quickly switched it up. "Pencil Dick or some stupid shit. Seems like you know a lot about us too."

"That was a really good one actually. Eraser Head. Pencil Dick. It kinda fits perfectly." Logan whispered to Izumi through their helmet comms system.

He did a double take. "Well, your attention seeking has had new all over the news, so it's not exactly surprising." Aizawa used his cloth to wrap up both the girls together. "I'll be honest, I've been called a lot of things over the years, but that was a first."

"Hey Snipes? What the fuck is this shit made out of?" Logan asked as she struggled to get free of the cloth. "I can't break through it."

Izumi craned her head to look at Aizawa. "Hey jackass. How much does your wardrobe cost? This is a durable ass scarf. Can't be very comfortable though."

"It's not a scarf. It's a weapon," he said, giving it the slightest tug.

"Rei, we really need some help here," Logan whispered into the helmets comm system. "Izumi. On the count of three, let's do a corkscrew on our left side. If we do it at the same time we should have enough momentum to at least take him off of his balance." She waited for Izumi's confirmation, which came in the form of two soft taps on her forearm. "One… Two... Three." The girls both did a synchronized corkscrew which created enough momentum to send Aizawa falling forward on his face. It gave just enough slack for the girls to get out and Izumi ran down the street, leaving behind Logan. "Wait. What? Where are you going?" Logan asked, surprised. "You're just running?"

"Shhh. Just keep him distracted. I have an idea," Izumi said as she ducked into an alley, quickly changing out the magazine in her rifle.

Aizawa quickly jumped back up to his feet and attempted to wrap his cloth around Logan again. Anticipating his actions, Logan grabbed the cloth and wrapped it in her hands leaving her in a losing battle of tug-o-war. "Babes. I'm trying here but he's a lot stronger than me. I'm not going to keep him distracted for too long, so whatever you do had better be quick."

"Make sure to stretch out his cloth as much as you can for me," Izumi said over the comm.

"I already am," Logan grunted as she struggled with the man slowly pulling her forward. Izumi rolled out of the alley and switched her gun into automatic fire mode. She fired an entire clip down the middle of the street that the binding cloth was stretched between. Several of the rounds hit and latched onto the cloth.

Aizawa almost looked amused. "For someone so immature, that was another smart move. Sadly for you though, even though it's metal, this can't conduct electricity."

"Logan, let go of the cloth and back up," she whispered.

"Hey, can someone tell me what the fuck is going on, by the way?" Rei yelled into her comm. "Who is Pencil Dick?"

Logan quickly dropped the cloth in her hands and whispered back to Rei, "It's Eraser Head. He's trying to capture us."

"Sadly for you," Izumi said to Aizawa, lowering her rifle. "That wasn't what I was counting on."

"Huh?" He muttered. The binding cloth began to smoke and flames were growing from the areas that had bullets latched onto them.

She smiled a little too gleefully. "How much heat can your metal take? Think it can stand up against the thermite? I'll be honest, I doubt it."

Aizawa was forced to remove the cloth as the flames began to grow along its length. Logan quickly whipped out her staff and Izumi reloaded her gun with a shock magazine. Logan rushed at the man, now with a striking distance advantage, but the man was able to hold his own. He managed to grab onto the arm with the broken wrist and managed to twist the arm cracking the girl's elbow. "Owww. Fuck. Seriously man? Another bone? That's just cruel." Her adrenaline was still running strong, but it wasn't enough to cover the pain from both broken bones.

"You could always just give up and be taken down peacefully." Aizawa was constantly moving making it impossible for Izumi to line up a safe shot on him without risk of hitting Logan. Izumi sighed and dropped her gun instead rushing forward to help her friend in hand to hand combat. Even with the two of them working together, Aizawa managed to keep up his defenses, only allowing them a few hits. Because of their numbers advantage though, he was unable to ever get on the offensive.

There was a whooshing sound from behind the tussling group and suddenly Aizawa was dropped on the ground, unconscious. "So, sounds like I missed out on quite a bit," Rei said, breathing hard from her run. She held her shocking escrima stick in one hand, which still sparked with electricity. "Glad I could show up to still help finish the fight, though!"

Logan groaned, tenderly cradling her arm. "Okay. Guys, I need some help now. My arm hurts really bad. Like really, really bad. He broke two bones and my shoulder feels dislocated."

"Hold on. It's okay," Izumi assured her, looking around for the discarded cloth. "We can figure out what to do. First though, I really need a piece of that scarf. Ehh. It's messed up anyways, so I'll just take the whole thing actually. Well, whatever isn't a molten puddle."

"Wow. So sympathetic," Logan said, rolling her eyes.

Izumi shrugged, picking up what scraps she could. "Hey man. I got shot. It's just part of the gig."

"Umm. Excuse me," came a gentle voice from across the alley. "I might be able to help you out, but I can't do it here." The girls turned to see the woman from before emerging from around the corner, taking a few hesitant steps towards them.

"What?" They said collectively.

She paused, looking at Logan. "I can heal your bones, if you would like. You saved me earlier and I would like to help repay you."

"Why can't you do it here?" Rei asked, watching her warily.

"It would be too dangerous. High risk for infection, and you would also have to take off your suit," the girl explained, holding her hands up in a gesture of peace. "I know you have no reason to trust me, but broken bones take at least six weeks to heal. I also promise I won't reveal your identities, but if I do it here someone else might be able to see who you are."

"How do we know you aren't lying?" Izumi demanded, looking over the girl's shoulder to make sure that no one else was there. "Maybe this was a police set up."

She shook her head. "It's not. I'm just a nurse. I only started out recently, and my quirk isn't that useful, but I would like to help you girls. I understand if you don't want to though, so I won't force you."

"I trust her," Logan said suddenly.

Rei shook her head. "You are just saying that because you are in pain."

"She does actually seem pretty trustworthy, though," Logan insisted, taking a few steps toward the girl. "Something is telling me that we should believe her. If she can heal us, she can be an ideal ally. We can get patched up without all of the questions, and with all the media frenzy right now, that will be very useful. Eraser Head over here knows I have a broken wrist and elbow." She nodded towards the unconscious hero, giving him a hard glare. "They are going to be checking hospital records for people with both those injuries, and if I don't go to the doctor, I have class with the man. Having a broken elbow and wrist will bring up a lot of questions there too."

Rei sighed, looking from Logan to the girl, and then to Izumi. "She's right. It might be our only real option."

"Wait, before I go," Logan said, crouching by Eraser Head. "I want to leave a note or something for him. Just to piss him off a bit more." She grabbed a receipt from a nearby dumpster and looked for anything she could write with. She ended up finding a worn out Expo marker that was just barely legible that was lying towards the top. "Good thing we are next to a school, right?"

-Dear Pencil Dick,

You looked like an insomniac so we figured you could use a nap

You're welcome,

XOXO Sideline Squad -PS we owe you a scarf.

Rei read the note left behind by Logan and had a brief lightbulb moment. "Oh my god wait, that's what Snipes meant earlier! I just got it. Pencil instead of eraser and dick instead of head. Because like, pencils have erasers and dicks have heads. I see what you did there, it was very cleaver."

"Well that is a little bit petty and immature, but come with me, ladies," the girl said, watching Logan stick the note to Aizawa's forehead. "I live a few streets away."

Rei nodded, pulling Logan away from the unconscious hero. "Okay, just make sure you duck into alleys or hide if we pass people. It will cause problems for you if you are seen with us."

"Welcome to my apartment," she said, swinging the door open to her little one bedroom place. "I know it's small, but I like to keep most of my money in savings. Plus I don't live with anyone, so it feels less lonely this way." The woman guided them down a short hall into her living room area. She grabbed out a few fresh towels. "Okay ladies, can you lay out these towels on the couch for your friend here? I'm going to grab the supplies I need."

"What are the towels for, exactly?" Rei asked as she took them and passed a few to Izumi. "I thought you said you could heal her. I just kind of assumed you had a quirk that could do that."

The girl nodded. "I do. My quirk lets me mend bones," she explained. "But the thing is, I need to touch the bone to fix it." She smiled apologetically. "It sucks, I know, but it's better than the alternative. A properly stitched cut can heal in one or two weeks. Bones take a lot longer. Plus, with the anesthetics I have here, your friend won't be able to feel it at all. I do need to make sure to properly disinfect everything I can before we start, though."

"You know what? Having a broken arm isn't so bad," Logan said, looking nervously at Izumi spreading a towel over the couch.

"I promise you'll be alright," the girl assured her. "I've been a nurse for at least two months now."

Izumi was distracted, scanning the room. "Hey. Isn't that Recovery Girl? Here in this photo?"

She paused, looking from the photo to the vigilantes staring at her. "Yeah, that is her," she confirmed. "She's my grandmother."

"Isn't she a hero? Are you tricking us?" Izumi asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes, she is a hero, but as far as I'm concerned, you all are heroes too," she said quickly, and then sighed, collecting her thoughts. "Listen. You all have saved me, so I'm going to do whatever I can to help you all out. I think that will make us even, at least. I've seen you guys on the news before and it looks like you have managed to get into all sorts of danger before. If you get seriously injured, but you feel like you can't go to the hospital, please just come visit me." She walked over to the desk that sat against one wall, pulling a paper and pen from the drawer and scribbling something on it. "My name is Kazue Shuzenji. People call me the Bone Doctor. I'm going to give you all my personal numbers. I'm also trusting you to not tell anyone that I've helped you because I could risk losing my medical license. Even though we just met, this is going to have to be a relationship built on trust." She folded the paper and held it out to Rei, who took it quietly and slipped it into one of the pockets on her suit.

"I do trust you," Logan reiterated. "You know you look wildly different from your grandmother though. Your punk aesthetic is actually super cool. Also love the bone earrings. Very on brand. I hope you do understand that we still won't be able to show you our faces for all of our safeties."

"Okay, this might be a really, really stupid idea," Rei sighed. "But I also trust you. Is there any way we could communicate with you? If we could trade emails or phone numbers?"

Izumi glared at her in disbelief. "Strats, NO! We can't just give people ways to contact us. It will make us easy to track."

"Listen, I'm good at reading people and I trust her. She has a great deal to risk from not immediately calling the police. Plus, she could get in major trouble for treating us here at her house, even if she does work for them. I really think she could be on our side," Rei explained.

"Ugh. Oh well. If one of us goes down we all go down," Izumi muttered, glaring at her adopted sister. "If we get caught Rei, I blame you entirely. Anyways, Logan, deactivate your suit for the doc."

Logan deactivated her suit, but left her helmet on to keep her face hidden. "Can we worry about being caught a little later? I get that it's important and all, but I'm really starting to feel like shit."

"Oh, right," Kazue said, snapping into work mode. "Sorry. Hang tight. I'm going to go get the supplies." She disappeared down the narrow hall that led to her bedroom and bathroom, returning with a medical kit and a roll of gauze.

"Hey doc, out of curiosity, can you still help with other injuries too? Like gunshots or bullet grazes?" Izumi asked.

She shrugged, setting her supplies down by the couch. "Technically, I can, but not any better than a normal nurse. Plus, I won't have all the supplies I would at the hospital, so if it's ever life threatening, then don't come here. Go to the hospital. I don't need you girls dying on my living room couch, understand?"

"Yes ma'am." The girls said in unison.

"Holy shit. This is some strong anesthetic. I still can't feel a damn thing on the left side of my body," Logan groaned, poking at her left arm with one finger. She could feel pressure, but nothing else.

"I told you. You wouldn't feel a thing," Kazue said, securing the bandages. She stood, pulling off her gloves and tossing them in the waste bin nearby. "Now, I'm sorry to have to kick you out so soon, but they need me back at the hospital as soon as possible. Apparently some idiot managed to shatter every bone in his arms. I do wonder who that could be." She couldn't help but smile a little. Grabbing her purse from the counter, she sighed dramatically and gave the girls a quick wink. "I've used up so much calcium today though, so I don't think I'll be able to fully heal him."