Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my stories. Therefore please do not take any legal action against me because I can guarantee you that whatever you get from me won't even cover the legal fees of the lawyers you send after me.
Note: sorry for the long wait but RL(Real Life) and a desire to focus on other neglected stories took up a lot of my time.
Note 2: As always positive reviews will be greatly appreciated, constructive criticism will be considered but not necessarily acted on and negative/venomous/bashing/trolling/hateful/hurtful reviews will either be ignored or burned as fuel to keep this story going. The only people capable of stopping this story or forcing me to change parts of it are the moderators/owners of the websites I post my work on. Considering the fact that I've been writing the same way since 2001 and they've yet to send a single email or freeze my account even once I doubt they have a problem with me or my work.
Note 3: For those of you who have concerns about me having Rogue/Xander being able to call up past absorbed powers it's actually canon if you look at the comic titled 'X-Treme X-Men' that came out in May 2001 and went on for forty-Six issues. During the struggle against the villain known as Vargas it was shown that Sage used her powers on Rogue and afterwards Rogue was able to call upon past powers at will. True by the end of the series she lost this power but it was never clearly explained as to why this happened. Did she burn it out? Was it always meant to be temporary? Was it the result of a near fatal wound inflicted on Rogue by Vargas? Or was it simply because the writers made a choice either due to future story arcs or because fans were reacting badly to it? There's no way to know for sure but since it's canon it's not me just forcing things for plot reasons. Remember that it was never specified which Rogue Xander wound up getting turned into on Halloween and since we all know Janus loves chaos it's entirely possible that the Roman deity cherry picked the best elements of Rogues from across the multiverse.
A Few Days Later
The Nearby Mountain Range
Tsuchikawa Ryuko's POV
"This good enough sugah?" Xandria asked while floating in mid-air and holding a length of tree in place.
"It's perfect! Hold it right there." She replied before using her quirk to manipulate the earth to lock the tree in place with a combo of dirt, stone and clay.
They'd been doing this for awhile and while not super important it still needed to be done.
While the focus of Wild, Wild Pussycats was mountain rescue that didn't mean they couldn't go the extra mile to help prevent problem from occurring in the first place. With that in mind it'd become something of a regular thing for the four of them to go about the area looking for spots that could lead to trouble in the future. In this case it was finding areas where potential landslides might occur and using a combination of earth and wood to counter the possibility of them happening. Either it would lock down any loose dirt and plants that might slide free during bad weather or would act to divert the landslide away from areas known to be frequented by civilians.
Most of them had been patched up soon after the Pussycat agency had been established so what they were doing now was more maintenance than building from the ground up.
Normally it'd be her and Tiger who'd be doing this but since they had Xandria interning it'd only made sense to rope the girl into the task. As it was this was proving to be an excellent idea since with the girl's flight and superhuman strength quirks were helping to get things done in half the time. At the rate things were going they'd be done late afternoon when with Tiger it wouldn't have been finished before late tomorrow morning.
Nice! It'd give her some time to head to the local mini-mall to see if there were any cute guys there. Sure it was probable that it was just the same old crowd but occasionally some fresh blood came through either to rough it in the woods or to look for someplace to do a movie. As such there was a chance someone new would be there and that alone was worth making the trip.
"So Xandria…" she said as the last tree trunk was locked in place, "…what kinda guys do you like?"
It proved to be a good idea for her to wait until the last tree trunk was set in place because the shock the girl expressed would've definitely caused her to drop it.
"Where'd that come from?" Xandria asked the shock not gone from her face.
"What? It's perfectly normal girl talk to ask about guy preferences." She said a little puzzled by the reaction, "So what kind of guys do you like?"
The shock changed to thoughtfulness and a little bit of anxiety making her think that this was a type of girl who was probably self-conscious or didn't feel confident about discussing such things. It was kinda cute since it ran contrary to the powerhouse of quirks the girl possessed but it still left her wanting an answer.
"To be honest sugah…dating's not exactly been a big thing for me." Xandria replied finally voicing her thoughts, "Kinda hard ta think about stuff like that when mah core quirk is in the way. Dating for most folks is pretty heavy on being able to touch an' kiss an' hold."
"You still gotta have a type." She said acknowledging that a core quirk like Xandria's would make intimate contact a problem.
Sure there'd be people who'd say that tactile contact wasn't an absolute necessity but humans were a touch oriented race to begin with so only exceptional love could overcome its absence.
"Ah guess ah'd like someone with a sense of humour, who likes some of the same stuff ah do and maybe some stuff ah've never even heard of." Xandria said sounding like she was putting it all together in her head, "Someone strong instead of one of those faint at the first sign of trouble type. Someone that could defend themselves if Villains went after them for some reason. Someone who'd inspire me to become the best version of myself possible. That's the sort of person ah'd see mahself datin'."
"Sounds like you'll be looking for a Pro Hero then or maybe someone from the police force." She said after going over the possibilities in her head, "Seeing as how you can fly I can see you and that Rookie Hawks getting together. He's a cutie!"
"He's definitely rising up the ranks pretty darn fast." Xandria said floating to the ground, "Heard rumours that he's gonna be settin' up his own agency soon."
True.
For a Pro Hero that had been discovered by the HPSC at a young age and trained by specialists from a young age Hawks was still ascending so fast it almost defied belief. Still she'd seen the news reports of the winged man in action and there was no doubting that the training had forged a truly respectable hero. She'd also heard the rumour that the blonde would be heading his own agency but couldn't quite bring herself to believe it. No matter how much of a prodigy an aspiring Pro Hero was it still took time to raise the funds and support needed to open your own agency. Was the HPSC backing it? Even if that were the case the only people that'd want to join such an agency would be the ones wanting to suck up to the government commission and reap the benefits. She refused to be one of those kind of Pro Hero and anyone who chose to be like that were boot lickers that were probably worthless to begin with.
"Better have some sense when signing on sidekicks though." She said taking out her smartphone to see where the next spot was, "Letting a bunch of suck ups work under him'll only cause his agency to self-destruct."
"Got that right!" Xandria declared with a smirk of agreement, "When ah open up my agency ah'll only let in Heroes who're serious about helping people and tossing Villains in jail. No glory hogs or money grubbers!"
"Getting a bit ahead of you aren't ya?" She asked rhetorically with amusement, "You're still a U.A High School student and this is just an internship. You're years away from starting an agency of your own."
Still it was good to see that girl had a nice dream to work towards.
The last few times that the Pussycat agency had taken in an intern the kids had been more interested in the flashy parts of being a Pro Hero. None of them had any real plans in their heads aside from 'become the top hero' or 'becoming rich and famous' without any of the details worked out. Sure she remembered what it was like being that young and having big dreams but Xandria sounded like she was serious about starting up a Pro Hero agency.
Not a dream but rather a goal to be worked towards.
"Ya may be right but ah'll get there soon enough." Xandria declared without hesitation, "Just you watch sugah!"
Hearing those words and sensing the resolve behind them she found herself with barely a pinch of the doubt she'd normally have at such a proclamation.
Huh.
Surprises came in all shapes and sizes.
The Next Day
The Work Area of the Pussycat Agency
Xandria's POV
~I know I wanted to find out what it was really like being a Pro Hero but who knew it could be so dull.~ She thought even as she worked to fill out some supply requisition forms.
While Pro Heroes were expected to pay for any of the big things out of their own pocket if they wanted to improve their agencies the smaller things or essentials came from the government. Medical supplies for the infirmaries, maintenance for their basic equipment and when necessary repairs for their gear as well as their costumes would be paid for by the HPSC. However like with most bureaucracies they liked their paperwork filled out expediently as well as accurately when it came to things like this. With only four Pro Heroes working out of the Pussycat Agency there wasn't a whole lot that needed to be put through the system but since she was the intern she'd gotten saddled with all of it.
~^It can't be all adventures and action Xandria.^~ Echo Willow thought chastisingly, ~^Even with all the costumes Pro Heroes are basically super cops. That means paperwork, meetings and answering to a chain of command.^~
Not like in the comics.
Not like in the memories she'd inherited from Rogue.
In the comics the heroes had their day to day civilian lives but when the time came to costume up there was no pause or waiting for clearance. The heroes just dove into action, saved the day and then struck a pose for the final frame on the final page.
Rogue and the X-Men might've had things organized more but they were more a family and a team rather than some official organization or branch of the government. They had a chain of command and designated roles to fulfill but each of them were allowed to act on their own judgment if they suddenly found themselves in a situation where they wanted to take action. The only times when they couldn't act freely was then the stakes were simply too big to leave the outcome to things like chance or luck.
Whatever the case the only thing that she could do was abide by the rules and procedures until they asked her to do something her heart would never be able to condone. She didn't want to become a Villain or a Vigilante but if the choice was to follow the rules or betray what made her who she was she would stay true to herself regardless of the consequences.
.KNOCK.
"Huh?" She muttered turning towards the front door of the agency.
"Hey Xandria? Can you get the door?" Mandalay asked from the top of the stairs.
"Sure thing!" She yelled back before saving the document she'd been working on on the computer.
Getting out of her chair she walked over to the door and opened it up to see who was on the other side. It was curiosity she felt when she beheld a man with a barely there moustache, a woman with short brown hair and in the man's arms a boy that couldn't be more than three years old.
"Welcome to the Pussycat agency." She said putting on her best grin, "Y'all need something?"
"Well…I'm here to see my cousin Sosaki…I mean Mandalay." The woman said looking surprised that someone she didn't recognize had opened the door.
Hearing the word cousin she thought back to all the photos she'd seen on the second floor to see if any of them matched. It wasn't that she'd gone through the entire upstairs and memorized everything but rather she had a knack for spotting things that others had missed. As such she remembered many of the photos and soon recalled one with the people before her in it. The haircuts and clothes were different but the faces were a solid match.
"Hey Mandalay! Yer cousin's here!" She yelled over her shoulder loud enough that it'd reach the woman upstairs.
"What!" Mandalay yelled before the sound of footsteps could be heard running down the stairs.
It didn't take long for the leader of the agency to reach the bottom and when the woman did she immediately charged forward to wrap her arms around the woman in a hug.
"Meiko! What're you guys doing here?" Mandalay asked sounding overjoyed.
"Someone wanted to see you and the others." Meiko replied looking at the boy in the moustached man's arms, "We figured since our vacation is almost over we could let him have his way."
"You wanted to see us Pussycats Kota-kun?" Mandalay asked the boy with a smile on his face.
"Uh-huh! You all help people!" Kota replied simply with a nod.
"That's right! We help whoever needs it and do our best!" Mandalay declared reaching out to muss up Kota's hair.
It was a heartwarming scene that made it easy for her to grin in her usual lopsided way. This was what it meant to be part of a loving family filled with members that truly cared for each other. It was for people like this that she would devote herself to becoming the best Pro Hero she could be and if it kicked Endeavour out of the Number Two spot then it'd be doubly awesome.
"So who's this Mandalay?" The guy asked looking her way, "Did the Pussycats recruit a new member?"
"Not exactly. This is Alexandria Clairemont." Mandalay replied turning half towards her, "A U.A student doing her internship with us."
"A U.A student? Don't they usually have Pro Hero names by the time they intern?" The guy asked holding up the kid without difficulty.
"Haven't figured out one that fits yet." She replied with a shrug, "But I guess I could go by an old stand by from when I was a kid for now.
"What was it?" Mandalay asked with curiosity since the topic hadn't really come up before.
It was true from what she'd heard around the hallways of U.A High School that by the time the student was judged ready for the internship they'd already chosen a hero name for themselves. According to Snipe it could be changed at any time during the three year hero course but once they officially got their license they'd pretty much get stuck with their choice. Mostly this was because the bureaucrats didn't want to have to update records too often but also because by the time you got your license the public had already seen you in action and gotten use to a specific name.
"Rogue: the One Who Is Many." She replied feeling a little embarrassed but not for the reasons the others thought.
She knew from all that she'd learned since coming to this world that Pro Heroes didn't just have their Hero names but also something else added on. All Might was called the Symbol of Peace, Mirko the Rabbit Hero and Yoroi Musha the Equipped hero were just a few examples of Hero names that'd gotten things added on. Sometimes the Pro Heroes did it themselves but other times the media or civilians did it and it wound up catching on.
She'd actually decided from the beginning that she'd take on the codename of Anna Marie LeBeau since it was cool and no other Pro Hero was using it but the add on was something she'd just come up with. It'd sounded better in her head but it did describe Rogue's mutant power accurately.
"That sounds so cool!" Kota declared looking like he really thought it was awesome.
"It has a nice ring to it." The guy said adding in his two cents.
"Better than your first choice right Shinnosuke?" Meiko asked playfully as she looked at her husband, "Or maybe I should call you-"
"MEIKO! You promised you'd never bring that up!" Shinnosuke exclaimed looking like he'd die of embarrassment right then and there if his wife spilled that secret.
"Hahahahahahaha!" Both Meiko and Mandalay laughed at the man's reaction.
Honestly she almost didn't want to know what the man's first attempt at a Pro Hero was because as a former guy she'd be ashamed too that a Bro thought of something so lame.
Fortunately for Shinnosuke an audible gurgling noise caught everyone's attention and when they looked to the source they found Kota blushing with embarrassment while holding his stomach.
"Looks like someone's a li'l hungry." She said with amusement, "Let's all head inside and get him somethin' before his stomach starts eating HIM."
With nods all around the door was closed and everyone ascended to the living area on the second floor.
What followed made it all too clear that while Pro Heroes had amazing powers and could do sensational things they were still human beings where it mattered.
Two Days Later
The Second Floor of the Pussycat Agency
Izumi Meiko's POV
"Well I'll say this about Rogue she's got a way with kids." She said watching through the window as the intern from U.A took Kota on another flying ride through the air, "Kota's face is going to crack open if he keeps smiling that much for too long."
Indeed while she hadn't known what to precisely expect from the intern upon first meeting her but it didn't take very long for that to change. Once Rogue finished her work for the day she settled in with the rest of them on the second floor and without being asked began to pull stuff out of the agency's guest room. When asked by Mandalay why the girl said she figured since they had guests that were family it'd be best that they had the bedroom instead of her. Said that the couch would be good enough until the family vacation was over and done with. Naturally she'd tried to turn down the offer saying that the three of them would stay at one of the village inns nearby but Rogue wouldn't hear of it.
After that she could up with her cousin Sosaki chatting about all the things that'd happened to the two of them since they last got together. Nothing too remarkable was there to be said given the areas the Pussycats and Water Hose operated in. Oh stuff happened but it all stayed within the same range as before so it was difficult to come up with any interesting stories. As a result Shinnosuke had asked Rogue about her time at U.A and how her internship with the Pussycats was going so far.
What followed were stories that took her back to her own time undergoing Hero training at Shiketsu High School alongside her husband. It might not have the reputation that U.A High School had for producing quality heroes but she thought she'd turned out to be a pretty good Pro Hero. She had to admit that she'd been stunned when she'd learned that Xandria had more than one quirk and that her core quirk allowed her to copy the quirks of those she touched. She did experience a moment of unease at the news but then she remembered everything she'd seen of the girl since the door to the agency first opened.
What she'd seen was a kind young lady who thought of others before herself and treated Kota like a little brother.
No one like that who wanted to become a Pro Hero could possibly have evil intentions.
It was disheartening to hear that there were students at U.A who couldn't see past the fear they had of Rogue maliciously using her power on them. Didn't they trust their teachers? Couldn't they see with their own eyes that Rogue was more like them than the Villains they were preparing to oppose once they got their licenses? She'd mentioned this to Sosaki the day before and the Pussycat agreed with her that it wasn't right to judge a person based on the villainous applications their quirk had. At the end of the day a quirk was just a tool and it was up to the person who possessed it to decide whether it'd be used to protect or hurt. That was why more anything it was important to nurture the better natures of the students who possessed such quirks in order to ensure they didn't go down the path of Villainy.
Still it wasn't without its bright spots.
Rogue's friend Kaoruko sounded like a lot of fun and some of the crazy things that U.A did in order to forge their students into Heroes led to hours of interesting conversation.
"You got that right." Sosaki said from her chair near the window, "You'd think someone with a quirk that's activated by touch would be afraid of getting too close to people but I haven't seen any of that. Sure she makes sure to cover up as much of her skin as she can but you'd still think she'd still have some anxiety."
"Guess she's made of sterner stuff than most people think." Shinnosuke said after swallowing a mouthful of snacks, "Definitely Pro Hero material with a backbone like that."
True.
Whether it was search and rescue or fighting villains you wouldn't make it very far if your resolve was weak. When civilians looked at Pro Heroes they needed to see powerful protectors that'd always be there for them and convince them that everything would be okay in the end. That was a tall order for any hero to fulfill and not every person who tried succeeded in their goal to earn their Pro Hero license. Society couldn't continue to function if anyone able to fit into a costume was granted the title of Pro Hero. There had to be a standard that all students were held to and needed to meet before they could be recognized as a Pro Hero.
From what she'd seen since Xandria had shown up the girl had all the raw materials needed to become a great Pro Hero. All that was needed was for her teachers at U.A to show her how to assemble those materials into the best possible configuration.
She was about to ask her cousin if she'd recorded the last U.A Sports Festival so she could see how the students there had performed when she felt her pocket vibrate. Pulling out her smartphone she recognized the number as the local branch of the HPSC but more than that it was the one usually reserved for important calls.
"This is Water Hose." She said after picking up the call.
"Sorry to call you on your vacation but reports are coming in of a particularly strong Villain in the area." The local police chief said through the phone, "So far all we know is that it's a man with some sort of transformation quirk."
"Nothing else?" She asked feeling a little puzzled.
Usually whenever a villain wandered into their area of operation they were able to find their file in the system once a physical description was fed into a computer. While there were instances of first timers showing up most of the time it was repeat offenders that they wound up dealing with.
"Most of the witnesses…did not survive the encounter." The police chief said with sadness and regret, "We only got this much from one that survived long enough to give a statement before slipping into a coma."
This filled her with worry.
While not as busy or experienced as the Pro Heroes from the big city all who'd earned their licenses knew what they were doing and had done much to master their quirks. For those that first responded to this villain to be killed with only one surviving albeit in a coma implied much about the Villain's threat level.
"I need you two back here to be part of the net we plan on laying out for the Villain." The police chief said pushing past his sadness towards the fallen, "I've put in a request for a more combat oriented Pro Hero but it's anyone's guess when they'll get here though."
"So what're our orders?" She asked knowing with such a threat present it was every Pro Hero's duty to answer the call.
"Water Hose will be assigned to a specific section of the target area where we believe the Villain is. You're not to engage the Villain though." The police chief replied firmly, "Just report their position and provide a detailed description. After that you two will be reassigned to help clear the area of civilians so the fighters can do their jobs."
While she didn't like the implication that Water Hose couldn't fight she had to concede that given the people that'd been killed already she wasn't eager to prove him wrong. Working together she and her husband could deliver pressurized blasts of water with all the speed and accuracy they could muster. It was good enough to knock many villains off their feet and even pin them in place so long as they were careful with the pressure level.
Put it up too high and they'd risk getting slapped with an 'excessive force' lawsuit from the Villain.
"Understood. We'll be back at our agency inside of eight hours." She said coming to a decision, "We just need a bit of time to drop Kota off with the neighbours."
"No problem. See you when you get back." The police chief said before hanging up.
"Problem dear?" Shinnosuke asked though it looked like he already had an idea.
"A Villain's popped up. Took out an entire group of cops and a few heroes solo." She replied not wanting to worry her cousin needlessly, "The chief's calling us back to set up a net to catch the guy."
"Sigh…I was hoping Kota'd get to have a bit more fun out here but I guess there's no helping it." He said before putting on what he called his 'Hero Face', "I'll go get Kota while you start packing."
"You guys need backup?" Sosaki asked looking interested, "It's beet pretty quiet here."
"Nah. We got this." She replied with a smile and a shake of her head, "Besides you've got an intern to teach the ropes to."
As much fun as it'd be for Water Hose to fight side by side with the Wild, Wild Pussycats a feeling of unease inside of her gave her reason enough to decline her cousin's offer. If this Villain was truly as dangerous as the chief made them out to be she couldn't justify putting others in harm's way needlessly. With the police and the agency working together they'd be able to find the Villain and keep them distracted until the combat Hero the chief requested arrived.
Everything'd work out fine.
She was sure of it.
The Next Day, Late Afternoon
The Pussycat Agency
Xandria's POV
~Gotta keep at it.~ She thought from her position on the couch sitting crosslegged, ~I know they're there and if I can call them up faster I'll be able to do more as a Pro Hero.~
~^Assuming that it doesn't max out your body before you can do anything.^~ Echo Willow thought from within the mindscape, ~^Are you sure this is worth it?^~
~If it means saving lives and catching Villains before they can do a lot of damage it is.~ She thought even as she explored her mind for a recognizable psychic imprint.
Besides she figured that the reason why she'd been so out of it after helping Toya was because she'd tried to use two powerful mutant templates at the same time. Both Charles Xavier and Wanda Maximoff were powerhouses of the highest order as evidenced by the times they almost destroyed the world singlehandedly. Even if she hadn't been using Charles Xavier's telepathy she still had been using a powerful template just the same. All she planned to do with this training was manage to summon up a single template at a time, see how long she could hold it and then successfully release it.
She wasn't being a complete dummy about it of course. She was focusing her search on templates whose abilities were more mental than physical so as to minimize the potential damage to the agency building. By using this limitation she hoped to have an easier time locating a template since most of the time when Rogue got tactile with someone it was because they had physically destructive powers. If she ever went up against someone with psionic abilities or a power that could be used effectively at a distance things didn't go nearly as well for the X-Woman.
DING! DING! DING!
"Shit." She muttered as the timer she'd set previously went off.
One of the things she'd set up when she'd begun this training was a timer that would act as a signal to stop. She knew she was stepping into uncharted territory with her idea and so to prevent herself from getting lost within her own mind or falling victim to one of the more coherent echoes she'd limit her brain dives to thirty minutes apiece. Each time the alarm went off she would get up off the couch, walk around a bit and clear her head before giving it another go.
This would make three times she'd tried to find a template within her that met her requirements and all had ended in failure.
Were the templates just not there or was she missing some element that'd allowed her to do it when helping Toya and before when she fought All Might?
Getting up from her crosslegged position she walked towards the kitchen to get something to drink while she pondered what she might be doing wrong. Once she had a glass in hand she went over to the refrigerator to ponder her options. As far as living areas was concerned the Pussycats' home was pretty standard. Sure when she'd originally started settling in this new world she'd had some difficulty adapting to Japanese cuisine because while some things were international other things wren't.
For one thing the assortment of canned drinks available both in stores as well as in the vending machines was decidedly different from what she was used to.
Still through trial and error (only some of which sent her to the bathroom) she got a better feel for what meshed and what didn't with her tastes.
"Huh? Guess Kota left this behind." She said upon spotting the three year old boy's cartoon themed drink bottle.
She could only presume that it'd been overlooked hidden away in the corner of the refrigerator forgotten. Deciding it'd be best to put it someplace where it wouldn't be overlooked a second time she reached for it and picked it up…
…only to be hit with something that made her wonder if she really had received an exact copy of Rogue's power and templates.
FLASH!
"He's too much for us!" Shinnosuke exclaimed even as he ran down a devastated street, "We gotta get everyone out of here!"
FLASH!
"Shinnosuke! Are you okay?!" Meiko asked her voice a mix of fear, concern and pain.
"I-I'm fine dear." Shinnosuke replied with an almost perfect expression of nonchalance on his face, "Let's keep going! Just a little further!"
FLASH!
"Is that it? Is that all you weaklings have left after all that talk about 'taking me down'?" Asked a blonde haired battle maniac of a man with pink fleshy fibres wrapped his body, "Tch! Fighting weaklings like you is no fun at all! All that's left is to see how well you bleed!"
A fist raised even as the mass of flesh fibres doubled in muscular mass around the arm the fist was attached to.
FLASH!
^Do you really want me to tell you what's going to happen next?^
"Irene?" She asked with a gasp and a mix of emotions that were both hers and those of an echo within her.
This…this had come out of nowhere.
It was true that she'd been trying to call upon the template of a power that wouldn't harm anyone but this one had manifested without her consciously seeking it out. It was sort of like how during her fight with All Might she'd found herself with telepathy and telekinesis out of nowhere that she'd bet good money had come from Jean Grey. But how was this possible!? While she knew that if the contact between Rogue and a powered individual went for too long the template gained a mind of its own and has the potential to take over her body that wasn't what happened either time. There wasn't a mind other than her own trying to seize control of her body or even make its presence known aside from the manifestation of powers as well as some skill in using them.
Before she could think on the matter further a sound caused her to look down and she discovered that without realizing it she'd dropped Kota's drink bottle.
That brought her back what she'd been shown and a sense of urgency came over her. Destiny's mutant power enabled her to perceive in her mind possible futures by scanning what was termed the probability spectrum. Out of the uncountable amount of possible futures and if she concentrated she could bring forth only the futures most likely to happen. The accuracy of what Irene saw decreased proportionally to the number of possible futures that existed from one second to fifteen minutes away. Long range scans of the future were harder to pin down often leading to Destiny only seeing bits and pieces that had the highest likelihood of coming to pass.
If what she'd just experienced was a manifestation of Destiny's power then given that she was not focused on using it this could only mean that what she saw was all but certain to happen!
Acting on the calling of her soul more than anything else she flew to her room barely taking the time to open the door before setting down in front of her coffin sized container. Without hesitation she opened the panel on the front and pressed her hand against the scanning pad beneath causing a bar of red to pass beneath before flashing green. Then a series of locks disengaged before the front opened up to reveal her armour pieces with each of them being held in place by niches formed specifically for them. With a bit more force than was needed she removed her hang out clothes not caring if they were torn in the process and began to slip into the full bodysuit. Once on the armour pieces came next until in the end she was geared up and ready to go completely unaware that she'd beat her previous suit up time by a full twenty seconds.
It didn't matter.
Leaving her room she'd almost made it to the glass door leading to the back deck when Mandalay reached the top of the steps.
"Xandria? What're you doing in your armour?" Mandalay asked looking both puzzled and concerned.
She could've brushed the woman off and just left but given what was going to happen that wouldn't have been right.
So she decided to go with the blunt truth and then force the leader's hand.
"If we don't get to where Water Hose is right now Meiko and Shinnosuke are gonna die." She replied as she reached the window, "You and the Pussycats got ten minutes to suit up and get into yer car or ah'm going after them solo. Your choice Mandalay."
With that she threw the glass door to the second floor rear deck open and flew out of it heading for the Pussycat agency van.
~There! I told the truth, explained the situation and gave them an option to come along! ~She thought touching down next to the van, ~If they don't come then it's their own fault!~
~^Somehow I don't think that's how it works Xandria.^~ Echo Willow thought at her with mild exasperation.
A second later the sound of what could only have been an alarm went off but instead of something official it was just really loud cat meowing over and over again.
~You were saying?~ She thought back at Echo Willow.
All she got was silence.
The Skies Above Heading in the Direction of Hyogo, Japan
Mandalay's POV
"You okay down there Rogue?" She asked through her costume's com-gear.
"No problems here sugah. Yer all light as a feather." Rogue replied even as she carried the vehicle through the air with enough acceleration to break any posted speed limit on the ground.
"Then can you tell me now why you think Water Hose is going to die?" She asked deciding she'd put off this question long enough.
The look on Xandria's face and the fact that whatever had been driving the girl had been enough to get her to armour up had been reason enough for her to scramble the Pussycats. However she knew she'd need more to justify leaving her agency's area of operation without requesting permission or getting authorization. In the old days Pro Heroes went wherever they thought they needed to go in order to help people but ever since being a Hero became an official government approved job things had gotten complicated. Now there were procedures, protocols and ungodly amounts of paperwork. The system wasn't perfect but for the most part it proved to be effective enough to allow it to function effectively.
If she was going to show up with her team plus one intern during a manhunt for a dangerous Villain she wanted something more to give the local police chief.
"Well…did any of ya watch the U.A Sports Festival?" Xandria asked sounding a little hesitant.
"Of course we do!" Ragdoll replied joyously, "Never miss it!"
"I bet the top three Pro Heroes of every agency in Japan watches it assuming they don't get a ticket to be there in person." She said recalling the few hours she'd spent watching.
As much as she'd like to say that she'd watched it from beginning to end she knew that any of the participants that made it past the elimination rounds would get scooped up by the city based agencies. As proud as she was of her agency she knew that being out in the mountains and a relatively new agency not many Hero course students would want to learn from them. As a result the closer they got to the last two events the less attention she paid to the festival since she knew anyone who'd made it that far would be the focus of the big league Pro Hero agencies.
"Well during mah match with All Might ah kinda…used a quirk ah didn't know ah had and didn't turn on myself." Xandria said sounding like she was taking he plunge, "You'd have seen it as red energy around my fist. Well…it got me wonderin' what else might be under the hood that ah didn't know about. It's part of the reason why ah chose the Pussycat agency when internships came up. Ah figured ah could use meditation to dig around and try to dig some out if they were there but until today ah'd gotten nothing to show for mah work. That all changed when ah picked up Kota's juice bottle outta the fridge."
She could tell that this wasn't easy for Xandria but at the same time it really brought back to the forefront that the girl wasn't like anyone else on the planet. For as long as she could remember it had been a rule: one person with one quirk. No matter how it might appear to others no one could possess more than one quirk. However that all changed when Xandria showed up and both the government and the faculty of U.A confirmed that she possessed multiple quirks with the core one being the source of the others.
It was a surprise.
"Ah don't know what happened next but ah started getting these flashes…visions…" Xandria said sounding uncertain if she had it right, "…ah saw Water Hose afraid saying that someone was too much for them, ah saw them trying to get away even though they were injured and then…ah saw this body builder guy with weird organic ribbons wrapped around his arm…kill Water Hose…
"…ah couldn't just stand by and do nothing." Xandria said with her voice steadying, "That's about where you came in."
"Can you describe this body builder guy?" She asked a feeling developing in her gut.
"Blonde hair, muscle shirt, cargo pants, boots and the ribbons kinda remind me of muscle fibre to be honest." Xandria replied sounding like it took a moment to find and phrase her memories.
That did it.
One of the things that she'd done after her cousin Meiko had left with her family was look into the possibilities of which Villain they might encounter. She didn't have a lot to work with, just the preliminary information the police had managed to uncover during the course of their investigation, but it'd helped narrow down a very long list to something manageable. Nevertheless there hadn't been enough to go on in order to help the police so she'd kept quiet about it.
However with Xandria's description she now had enough to reduce the possibilities to one.
Imasuji Goto aka Muscular the Carnal Murderer.
His quirk was muscle augmentation that allowed him to amplify and manipulate his own muscle layers to the point where they emerged from beneath the skin. They increased his physical abilities to the point where neither stone nor steel were much of a problem if he didn't want them to be. Speed, strength and durability were all increased exponentially but did not quite reach All Might levels. At best the report indicated that it'd take a Pro Hero with a similar quirk or the skill of one of the Top Ten in Japan to bring him down. Further reading indicated that Goto could use his quirk for defense by covering his body in a suit of armour made up of the augmented muscle fibres.
Thus far no one had managed to take the Villain down though there were a few close calls.
~If Muscular really is the Villain Water Hose was called back to help with then they don't stand a chance.~ She thought her imagination already coming up with nightmare scenarios.
"You have a plan? Or are you just going to make it up as you go along?" She asked even as she worked with her own mind to come up with some ideas.
"Mah plan was ta have Ragdoll find out where the action is, drop ya'll just outside of it and then head in ta tag out Water Hose." Xandria replied sounding mostly sure of herself, "Ah might not've been a match for All Might but ah can handle this bruiser. The rest of ya can keep a five block radius around us clear of civilians."
"But you're just a student intern!" She exclaimed balking at the idea of Xandria facing off against Muscular, "Sure you're strong but you're still learning how to be a Pro Hero!"
"Not much of a choice sugah. Ah don't fight him then Water Hose dies and Kota loses his parents." Xandria said sounding set on her path, "Ah fly off with'em and that'll just leave the Villain to go off after someone else who won't survive the experience. Neither of those sits right with me."
She struggled to think of some sort of argument to convince the girl to play it safe, to just buy time until a more experienced Pro Hero took over. She was sure that others had likely trimmed the list of suspects just like she had and might've even reduced it to three possibilities so whoever got sent would be up to the challenge. However when she considered the possibility that Xandria really had gotten a glimpse into the future then it became pretty for certain that whoever was sent they wouldn't be in time.
"Fine but we're staying in contact via comm-gear and when I give you an order you do it!" She declared in a no nonsense tone of voice, "Got it?"
"Yes m'am!" Xandria replied sounding like she might've given a mock salute if her arms weren't full of car at the moment.
While the majority of her believed that the girl would obey she had to concede that when it came to teenagers they were often ruled by their emotions and desires. If something happened that pushed one of Xandria's heart buttons there was probably a good chance of the intern ignoring her orders and taking action.
And there wouldn't be a damn thing she could do to stop the girl.
Great!
Ten Minutes Later
Xandria's POV
"Wish me luck ya'll!" She yelled even as she took to the air and flew in the direction Ragdoll had told her the fight was in.
"BE CAREFUL!" Mandalay yelled after her before distance made any talking pointless.
~Sorry sugah but somehow ah don't think careful's gonna cut it.~ She thought even as she used some of the functions of her helmet to look for visual confirmation.
~^Doesn't mean you can be reckless Xandria^~. Echo Willow thought at her from the hallways of the mind, ~^Just because the Villain can't hurt you that doesn't mean your armour's the same way. If it gets damaged or torn off your mutant power could wind up activating.^~
Something she was all too aware of thanks to that bastard melting some of it and the damage done saving Toya from his own quirk. Despite some of Power Loader's best efforts her armour wasn't indestructible and unless she stumbled across this world's equivalent of either Adamantium or Vibranium that wouldn't change anytime soon. They'd even tested to see if she could fire off a full strength punch without damaging it any and while it did hold up the support teacher did hint that repetitive full strength punches one after another would put serious stress on the suit. This would accelerate the wear and tear hastening the time when it'd become necessary for maintenance and component replacement.
Bottom line: while Power Loader did quality work it wouldn't hold up against the power she had under her hood if she pushed her luck.
~Then I'll just have to be careful.~ She thought back to the echo of her best friend, ~With any luck whoever this guy is won't even come close to being in All Might's league and I'll take'em down easy.~
Yeah.
Just cause this guy was on the path to killing Water Hose and had killed others that didn't mean that the Villain was in the same league as her. Rogue was one of the powerhouses of the X-Men and through her training under Mirko she'd managed to make some respectable gains in the brute strength department. Sure there was no way to train her body to be more durable or at least not to such a degree that it'd be worth the effort. There were after all training methods in various martial arts for toughening certain parts of the body to make them more resistant to kicks or punches or the like. However she had no particular desire to partake in any of them at the moment.
BBRRRMM!
Looking ahead at the cloud of dust and debris that'd been thrown into the air she knew she'd found the battle zone and she prayed that she'd arrived in time to make a difference.
As she began her descent and the obstructions fell away she saw that her departure had been aptly timed because there before her was Water Hose looking more than a little roughed up and their would be murderer stalking towards them clearly intent on violence.
This was it.
She was arriving moments before the Villain would deliver the killing blow ending the lives of Meiko and Shinnosuke thus orphaning little Kota.
"Not on mah watch!" She growled before kicking her flight speed up a notch and plotting an intercept point.
"Is that it? Is that all you weaklings have left after all that talk about 'taking me down'?" Asked a blonde haired battle maniac of a man with pink fleshy fibres wrapped his body, "Tch! Fighting weaklings like you is no fun at all! All that's left is to see how well you-"
BAM!
With a punch that had just enough strength behind it to knock your average killer robot on its ass but the asshole must've had a pretty sharp danger sense since from feel alone she could tell she hadn't hit normal human flesh. Still she was pleased in seeing the Villain get knocked away from Water Hose a good twenty to thirty yards before coming to a stop. Seeing in person the way the bands of muscle writhed and wrapped themselves around his body it was easy to understand how they could be used to provide increased durability. They acted as impact absorbers negating the impact of blows proportional to the number of layers between the open air and the Villain beneath.
Would this guy be able to take a full strength hit from All Might?
She didn't think so.
All Might was known to be able to demolish entire city blocks with his punches and one article she'd read claimed that the Number One Pro Hero had even altered the weather with the amount of air his punch displaced. No amount of flesh protection, even quirk derived, would be enough to make a difference against that sort of power. Seeing as how she'd managed to take a hit without armour from someone in that power level she had confidence that she'd be able to take any hints sent her way.
"Rogue?! What're you doing here?!" Meiko exclaimed half with belief and half with relief.
"Got wind ya might need some help." She replied not taking her eyes off the Villain, "So don't ya worry none. Cavalry's arrived."
She took by their silence that they were stunned but as she watched the Villain finish standing up and look at her with manic glee she knew that they didn't have time for a long chat.
"Now get goin'! Pussycats are hookin' up with the local cops as we speak." She said steeling herself for her first Villain fight, "Get to 'em and if ya can help keep people away from here 'cause it's gonna get a might unpleasant for the next while."
"Fine but just keep him distracted for another twenty minutes!" Meiko ordered even as the sounds of the woman and the husband getting to their feet, "Last time we talked to the local police chief he said a Pro Hero would be arriving to take this bastard down! Stall him until then!"
"Sure thing." She said with her usual grin though it was unseen being beneath her helmet and all.
"Well you look like you could be some fun!" The Villain said sounding quite excited at the prospect, "I wonder how well you're gonna bleed!"
"Yer never gonna find out big guy." She said keeping her cool to counter the man's battle lust, "Now normally this'd be the part where the Pro Hero tells the Villain to give up quiet like but you don't strike me as the type to do anythin' quiet. So let's make some noise!"
Propelling herself through the air with the power of flight she brought her fist back to deliver a blow with a third more power than she'd used before. The guy didn't look shaky at all from her first hit so it was safe to say that he could take a couple of punches at that level without any problem. If she wanted to take him down quick before he caught his stride she needed to find the right level of power to put behind her blows. Enough to to put some shaking in his steps and hopefully send him off to la-la land until the cops could click some restraints on him or drug him up for the trip to prison.
~Let's see how well he takes a punch that made Colossus loopy for a few seconds!~ She thought before executing her attack.
Fast as she was though the Villain was able to slam his own fist into hers covered to a ridiculous degree with muscle fibres. She could see the force behind her punch ripple through the fibres and transmitting it through the rest of the mass of quirk muscle but aside from pushing him back a few feet there were no other results of her attack.
~Great! His muscles can dull the bite of my punches!~ She thought even as the Villain brought his other fist back to retaliate against her.
Deciding one good turn deserved another she copied his move and countered his punch with one of her own. To Power Loader's credit there was no tell tale sound of metal being crunched or otherwise distorted so whatever level of strength was being brought to bear against it wasn't enough to damage it. As for herself she definitely felt the blow but it was more like someone someone hitting her with a particularly firm pillow rather than anything worrying. Still considering her Rogue inherit invulnerability the fact that she could feel the impact to this degree gave her some idea of the weight class of her opponent. He'd knock her brain around some if he landed a punch but aside from that she very much doubted that she'd need to worry about more than that.
"Wonderful! I can tell you're better than the trash that ran off!" The Villain said even as he continued to throw quirk empowered punch after quirk empowered punch, "GREAT! I was getting so bored! Now I can have some REAL fun!"
With that she saw something she didn't expect and that was for the muscle fibres to double in mass around his body and as she quickly found out both his speed and strength grew with them. The bastard didn't move so fast that she couldn't keep track of him visually but the increase in speed was just so great and so sudden that it caught her off guard. As a result the moron's punch connected with her head sending her flying backward her mind becoming as foggy as a glass of beer for a bit before she recovered and righted herself mid-air.
~Definitely felt that.~ She thought before charging back towards her foe, ~If he powers up any more than this I might have some real trouble on my hands.~
Best not to give him the chance.
Much like she expected the guy was anticipating a straight up fight mano-e-mano so at the last second she turned a hard right before looping around to slam hard into his back. Knocked off his feet the two of them hit the pavement but she didn't let up determined to wear down his muscular armour until she could get a clear shot at the human side beneath. When she felt him begin to push off the ground to get back to his feet she backed off but not because she was afraid but rather so could line up another shot. As soon as she saw his face she executed a flying knee aimed right at his jaw but before she could hit it the muscle fibres wrapped around it to protect him. Still since it caused him to fly away a bit before bouncing a few times across the pavement she felt confident that even if she hadn't knocked him unconscious his thinking processes would've been affected.
Still she saw him pushing himself onto his hands and knees so he wasn't out of the fight just yet.
Flying for him head on she put on a burst of speed at the ten yard mark before grabbing hold of two clumps of muscle mass and heading skyward. She climbed for about five seconds before throwing him back to the street below upping the level of power once more in the hopes of making him too sore or dazed to continue fighting. Pavement gave way at the impact cracking outwards from the point of impact for a full fifteen feet with nothing but dirt and dust being tossed up in the air.
Cautiously she descended towards the point of impact, ready to dodge at the first sign of danger, because if he muscled up even further she might not get more than a second of warning. When the dust finally cleared away she could see that he was still covered in his muscles but that didn't tell her much. Most memories she had of people with powers indicated that when they lost consciousness their powers tended to switch off because their mind was no longer consciously keeping it on. However it was also a valid possibility that the Villain's quirk would remain in place even if the bastard lost consciousness.
Nothing could be taken for granted.
Turned out this was good advice since a few seconds later the guy began to stir but to her benefit it looked like he was moving sluggishly. Assuming that his quirk didn't also grant him some sort of accelerated recovery ability then this fight was almost over with. One more solid blow to the head should be enough to knock the Villain out and put an end to it all successfully preventing the vision of Water Hose's deaths at the muscle man's hands.
"Hope you had enough fun sugah 'cause it's the last yer gonna have for a long ol' time." She said preparing to ring the Villain's bell one more time, "Time ta say goodnight!"
With that she dove down reaching with her right hand to grab him by the head and slam it into the ground with measured strength intended only to render the man unconscious. When the last bit of force from her action faded away she immediately hopped outside what could be considered the Villain's reach and waited. Personally she believed that she'd succeeded in knocking him out but she couldn't be sure and remaining too close might prove foolish.
When two minutes passed without any sign of movement or continued combat she concluded that she had indeed succeeded in subduing the battle maniac.
"Mandalay? This is Rogue." She said after establishing a comm-connection with the Pro Hero via her helmet, "The Villain's been taken care of sugah. Best get here with restraints strong enough to deal with a physical powerhouse."
"You did what?!" Mandalay exclaimed in shock making her wince, "How?!"
"Ah just asked him real nice to take a nap an' he obliged." She replied with a bit of playfulness, "Don't know how long he'll stay sleepin' though so don't dawdle on those restraints 'kay."
"R-right. We'll have an Iron Maiden to your location in five minutes." Mandalay said getting over her shock, "Keep an eye on him until then."
She was about to confirm that she'd watch the Villain when she spotted something rather ominous.
A single point of dark mist floating about thirty yards from her position swirling around a central point that all of a sudden expanded until it was the size of a small swimming pool. This was not a natural phenomena but likely someone's quirk and while she was not the sort to judge a person's character by their power she had a feeling the user did not have benign intent. When ripples began to form in the wall of mist she tensed as she prepared herself for the emergence of the quirk's user but instead three forms emerged none of which looked human to her eyes.
No.
If she had to describe them they looked like some mad scientist creations built for just one purpose: death and destruction.
One had a perpetual amount of smoke leaking from the edges of its eyes but showing no sign of physical discomfort or even an indication that it was doing this intentionally. Another was the obvious muscle of the group looking the worst steroid case since that one bodybuilder turned pro wrestler she'd seen on TV before being relocated to this new world. The third had multiple arms that at first glance looked far too thin and gangly to be much of a threat but she wasn't stupid enough to take things at face value.
Looks harmless doesn't MEAN harmless.
With their skin mostly a sick shade of green with patches of black here and there none of them could be classified as human especially since their brains were exposed for all to see. Honestly she was pretty sure there was some biological reason why a brain shouldn't be exposed to the open air but she couldn't recall it at the moment. The most troublesome part though was that no matter where she looked for signs to the contrary she couldn't spot a single sign of a consciousness in any of them. No intelligence, no emotion or any sign of intent could be found either on their faces or in their movements.
It was like they were nothing more than dolls being manipulated by some sort of unseen puppeteer.
"Capture her." A spooky voice said from within the black mist, "Bring her to the master."
That was apparently all the trio needed to hear because with noises better suited to mindless Hollywood zombies they charged her.
Taking to the air to maintain some distance until she could get a grasp of what quirks they had she didn't get too far before the one with the leaky eyes suddenly started seeing red in a very literal way. Then in a scene that jogged some memories from her Halloween inheritance crimson beams of energy shot forth from the sockets with her being the clear target. With a swerve that was two steps shy of being desperate she dodged the beams figuring that they'd be like Cyclops' optic blasts meaning they were rather direct and to the point.
Imagine her surprise when out of nowhere the twin beams turned in mid-air and continued to head straight for her!
On instinct more than anything else she began to maneuver through the air away from the potentially harmful beams of light but no matter how she maneuvered they stayed on course for her. Deciding to try one of the moves she'd seen heroes in the comics back home do she changed course for one of the other monsters heading straight for him. She wasn't going to risk going near the larger one but the other option in the hopes of taking one of the trio out right from the beginning. Doing her best to keep her flight speed at a level that'd keep the beams from hitting her she also kept her guard up in case the weakest turned out to be the strongest. Right when it looked as though she was about to enter into the creature's reach she dropped as close to the street as she could…
…and flew right between the creatures legs.
It was a simple enough idea: use the quirk of one enemy to eliminate the other. While she hadn't had enough time to get a feel for the homing laser's adaptability if she was right it wouldn't be enough to keep the weaker looking monster from getting hit. While it was true that it'd be heroically questionable to let the monster die she didn't think she had the luxury considering how unknown the trio were. If she held back now it could wind up costing her down the road.
Slowing a bit and rotating her body so she could look back the way she'd come she wondered just how much damage the eye blasts were capable of doing to the third monster.
All she saw was red.
Then pain.
She didn't know how long the pain lasted but the jarring nature of impact cleared her mind and allowed her to register the fact that she was partially embedded in a wall and her chestplate was smoking. The good news? None of the warning symbols were showing up on her helmet HUD which meant while there was some damage to her armour it wasn't enough to be worried about. By her reckoning it'd probably take two or more direct hits from those eye beams before she'd have to worry about them getting through to her skin.
The real problem though was the fact that even though it didn't get through to her skin it'd still been enough to cause her pain and knock her into a wall hard enough to be embedded in it. Had the energy somehow been passed through the armour like electricity until it reached the skin? That seemed likely. If the pain had been caused by the blunt force trauma there'd be more damage to her armour. The pain had to have been caused by some form of energy that was strong enough to cause her armour to smoke and knock her back hard.
Whatever its nature getting hit by it was not a good thing.
~But why didn't it hit the weak monster?~ She thought pulling herself out of the wall, ~It should've hit.~
Looking back to the trio she got a hint when she noticed a shimmering effect fade from the weak looking one's skin quickly disappearing from view entirely. It had a quirk that allowed the red eye beams to pass through it without doing harm rendering her tactic pointless.
~O-kay! One with homing laser eye beams and another one with a quirk like Shadowcat's.~ She thought as the muscular looking one began to advance towards her, ~The third one's obviously the power type of the group. Brute strength and nothing else. Question is: does that make the big guy slow or fast?~
Most people figured that those with bulky muscles were slow and were only dangerous if you weren't fast enough to dodge or the muscle guy somehow made it impossible to dodge. However through the memories she'd inherited through Rogue she knew that even if someone looked like they'd be slowed down by their muscles it could very well be the opposite.
~Guess I'll find out if all those sparring sessions with Mirko were worth it.~ She thought before doing one very important thing.
Alerting the others to the threats.
"This is an all points alert to anyone capable of picking up this transmission." She said after tapping the concealed controls for her armour, "The Villain with the muscle fibre augmentation quirk is down but we have three new arrivals with hostile intent and ah seem to be their target. One has eye lasers that can home in on a target no matter how hard ah tried to dodge, another ah believe can turn intangible and the third is a powerhouse. Ah'm gonna try to lead'em someplace isolated. Use the chance to slap restraints on the muscular Villain before he wakes up. Send backup my way when ya can. Over and out!"
With informing the others done she took to the air clearing the rooftops and making it so that even if more eye lasers got sent her way she'd be able to evade in any direction she wanted. However if her plan to lure the trio someplace isolated was to work she couldn't get so far ahead of them that they'd be tempted to give up or lure her back by endangering innocents. She was the carrot on a stick and such a tactic only worked if the one it was being dangled in front of really believed there was a chance of getting what they sought.
"Ah understand ya want to capture me fellas but ah'm a girl who likes ta play hard to get!" She declared down to the trio, "Ya want to grab me? Then yer gonna have to work for it!"
With that she took a quick glance about the area for anything that'd be suitable as a battlefield with three unknowns and locked onto the first one she spotted before flying that way. From what she could see it looked to be a local park and while not even close to the size of Central Park in New York it still gave her room to work with. With vegetative cover to hide behind and hopefully no civilians present it'd either help her win or buy time for backup to show up.
~Far enough ahead to be safe but close enough to be irresistible.~ She thought taking regular glances backwards to ensure that her wannabe captors were following, ~Kinda feels like Sunnydale before Halloween but without the pain.~
It'd been a tactic that Giles had come up with soon after it became clear that things wouldn't be going the way it usually did with a strictly Slayer-Watcher combo. While there was a risk involved in being bait it could be mitigated by ensuring the trap location was relatively close by and by sticking to areas that weren't conducive to pouncing on prey. Vamps back home knew that drawing too much attention to the supernatural would not do great things for their undead futures so they'd only act when the number of witnesses were either non-existent or few enough that they could be dealt with.
In this case though, as far as she knew, none of the trio could fly meaning they'd either have to run or leap in order to follow her. By dancing in and out of their line of sight the one with the laser eyes would have a hard time getting a shot in even if the energy had homing properties. Even if the weak looking one could turn intangible it wouldn't matter much if it was under orders to stick close to its teammates. When added to her airborne location intangibility would be useless in capturing her and as for the muscled one even if it could jump at her she had more than enough space to evade him.
Properly managed so as to keep their feelings about capturing her high her plan might just work.
However when she spotted a flash of red to her right she acted on instinct evading multiple times at different angles but all that did was let her see the twin energy beams coming better than she had last time. Bringing her arms up into the strongest defence she could manage she also braced herself for the pain to come. When the beams finally hit she found that a little preparation went a long way to reducing the negative effects. It still hurt but no longer to the degree of making it difficult to think and while it had some power behind it enough to knock her back she was able to recover quickly.
Looking to where she believed the beams came from she quickly spotted the monster that produced them on a roof AHEAD of her rather than from behind.
~How did it-?~ She thought before the answer came to her in the blink of an eye, ~The quirk user that brought them here! Must've figured out where I was going and sent their long range guy ahead to knock me outta the sky.~
If that was indeed the case then she needed to get to the park sooner rather than later.
Seeing as how most teleporters weren't limited to either the ground or the air then the teleporter could drop the muscle guy on her from above if they wanted. The more she thought about it the more she realized that with the ability to open up gates wherever they wanted at any angle was potentially the same as being surrounded. The only thing that brought her comfort though was that evidently the laser eye one apparently needed to see who he was shooting at in order to be effective. When the trio originally arrived it wasn't like she could see where they were porting in from so the opposite was likely also the case. This meant no eye beams emerging from dark portals at random. At most the monster would have to stick its head through the portal before shooting them giving her a small window of opportunity for her to perceive the attack coming in and evade it.
A VERY small window.
With the most adaptability she could muster she flew towards where the blast had come from intent on getting behind the monster breaking the line of sight. However at the same time she continued to head towards the park as quickly as she was able to. By doing this she hoped that by forcing the teleporter to continually reposition the laser eye monster it'd buy her the time she needed to reach her destination in one piece. Mix this with using the surrounding buildings as additional opportunities to break the line of sight and while harder victory was still possible.
Or at least it should've been like that.
Then out of nowhere the muscle bound monster filled her field of vision and just as she thought to get out of his reach something slammed into her from some direction or another knocking her mind for a loop. This time, as best she could tell, it took her going through something solid twice before her brain rebooted and she could once more think straight. The first thing she noticed was the fact that the lenses covering the eye holes of her helmet had been trashed leaving nothing but open air between her and the outside world. A bit of checking with her hands confirmed that the helmet had sustained significant damage and while it wasn't a complete write off it was a safe bet that most of its electronic functions were offline.
~Still need it though.~ She thought pulling herself out of the rubble of the building she'd been smacked into, ~Can't let another hit like that lead to skin to contact.~
While she hadn't seen any signs of personalities or intelligence in the monsters that didn't mean that none existed. She had enough mental baggage already without adding more to the pile and if this was a planned abduction she wouldn't be surprised if the mastermind was targeting her 'core quirk's' weakness.
Overwhelming her mentally by forcing her to absorb the powers of others.
Granted most would think that quantity would be required but she knew that if the minds were disturbed enough and powerful enough a mere handful or in this case three would be enough.
~But how did that lug pop up so fast? Ah didn't see any portal or anything.~ She thought once more on her feet, ~Are his muscles just for show and the real quirk is super speed?~
No.
The punch she'd been hit with couldn't be explained with just super speed. It'd been powerful enough to send her down to the ground and through two walls. Both what she'd learned reading comics and what she'd been taught at U.A made it clear that a person's quirk had its foundation in biology. Someone with super strength would naturally have bones, muscles and cartilage possessing the necessary qualities to prevent the person from injuring themselves using their quirk. If super speed was the monster's true quirk then its body would possess qualities that reflected it and she doubted one of them was increased bone and muscle density. Speed meant shedding excess weight and mass while developing muscles you'd see Olympic level sprinters possessing.
With the sort of muscles that the monster had the only comparison she could draw was a guy in the top ten body builders on the planet amped up on steroids and maybe some surgical implants.
So why did someone with the physique of a powerhouse possess speed enough to catch her by surprise? And why didn't the monster use it earlier?
It was as the very same monster popped up in front of her once more, fist raised to strike, that the answer came to her and the fight took on a whole new level of seriousness.
All For One.
He was the one behind these three monsters.
Shit.