Ren: You're moving?

Tae: yea. Yongen Jaya is great and there's a growing amount of people who come to my clinic, but…

Tae: I got an offer. Something really, really good. And it's something that I probably won't ever get the chance to do if I don't take it now.

Ren: Oh. What is it?

Tae: Well I'm still gonna be a doctor, obviously, but it's somewhere a lot more future-focused. And don't worry; no matter where I go, your secret is safe with me, my guinea pig. We'll definitely see each other again. Lots.

Ren: I'll hold you to that.

Tae: Good luck with you-know-what. I won't be gone for a months or so, so come by when you need me.

Ryuji, gasping for air and soaked in sweat, clapped the back of Ren's equally damp and heaving form in congratulations. The two were outside in a park wearing their running clothes and had just completed a pretty big goal of theirs, 5 miles in just above 30 minutes. Nothing particularly special in a world of heroes and super speed, but it was an impressive pace nonetheless and something the two had been slowly approaching for some time since they started running together. The blonde teen let loose a happy cheer as he stretched out to retrieve his phone from his pocket, and with a rough grab and a sudden pose, he took a selfie of the two of them. The photo immortalized himself smiling and giving a two-fingered peace sign while Ren stared in ugly and haphazard confusion. "C'mon man, smile! We did it! And while I'm still drained of charge too!" Ryuji's laugh broke into a rough wheeze.

"Ye-yea…" Ren leaned and stretched out his back. "It does feel pretty good… or at least, it will."

"It'll feel good once we get some good food in us! C'mon, we can stop by Marufuku and get some ramen before we go home." His chipper and congratulatory mood quieted and a more somber look infiltrated his eyes, even if it only did so for a moment. "Besides, there's some stuff I wanna talk to you about."

The two agreed on the detour since it was a relatively short trip from where they were, but as they boarded the tightly packed train to get there Ren couldn't help but pick up on a specific conversation. "So, what do you think about the Phantom Thieves?"

"Huh? Who are they? Oh, is that a new band or something?"

"No, silly! It's a group of mysterious vigilantes! Remember the whole Medjed incident, and the stuff with that artist guy before that? That was them!"

"Oh."

"Oh?!" A mixture of disappointment and curiosity got the better of Ren so he tuned in a little more consciously to the conversation. "Whaddya mean 'oh?'"

"It's just like… not really that interesting? Like the whole 'Change Your Mind -"

"It's Take Your Heart."

"Okay, yeah whatever. It's a fun gimmick and brand, but I dunno. It's not anything special - I'm waaay more into hero stuff. Their targets have all just been dudes letting mediocre power get to their heads, right? The Medjed thing was kinda cool, but everyone knew nothing would happen."

"I mean… I guess. It's not exactly big league stuff, even if it is fun watching assholes beg for mercy. Now that you mention it, I'm not really that excited anymore to hear about their next target unless it's some really big shot. They'll probably just end up fizzling out or getting caught anyway." The voices trailed off into different topics and it seemed as though the Phantom Thieves were entirely forgotten about.

Ryuji bumped Ren's shoulder to get his attention. "Yo dude, you hear that?" Seemed like he was also listening in. "Looks like the P.T.s are struggling a little with keeping a big profile. The Aficionado website also got a new question; 'Are The Phantom Thieves Important?'" He growled in frustration. "Man, can't they see how much we're trying to do for th-" his complaint was cut short by a quick elbow jab into his gut. "Ow! Sorry… it's just... eh, let's put it on hold until we sit down and eat." Ren nodded his agreement and the two put the topic to the side until they got their food.

As usual, the food was amazing. Hot and steaming the deep bowls of ramen Marufuku provided were delicious and well worth the trip to them. The heavenly smell and perfectly tender noodles were an incredible pick-me-up and energizer after their intense workout, and the two dug in pretty intensely before they even considered re-upping their conversation. "Aahhhh, man, this is the good stuff! Damn!" The blonde teen slapped his palms together as though he were praying to some ramen-based deity. "I hope this place stays open forever!"

Ren shot him a weird look. "You hope this place stays open? What?"

"Oh, yeah. There's been a load of shops like this closing down lately. Ramen places, souvenir shops, cafes, pretty much any small business in this area. They're calling it 'The Curse of Ogikubo'…" his eyes boiled with fuming rage beneath their surface and turned downward to stare into the ramen broth. "But some people are saying it's something else."

"Something else?"

"Yeah. I've been doing some research of my own." He grinned and flashed his shark-like rows of sharp teeth. "See? I can do recon too." The grin faltered when whatever was weighing on his mind fell upon it too. "But uh, I wanted to talk about that afterward. There's something else first."

There was a long stretch of silence before Ren finally spoke up. "Whatever it is Ryuji, you know you can talk to me about it. Besides, heavy stuff isn't ideal to be dragging into battle, and we're sending Okumura's calling card soon."

Ryuji seemed to snap out of his stupor enough to wave away Ren's concerns. "Nah, I know. I won't let anything slow me down. It's just… My mom is getting worse." He winced at his own words as if saying them and acknowledging them was painful. "She's having more seizures lately so she's been admitted into a quirk center."

"Oh, man."

"Yeah. I'm pretty lucky that my body can handle the charge I produce, huh? But I can't help but wonder, 'What if my body goes the same way?' She's never been compatible with her quirk, but it's getting worse and worse lately."

"It won't."

"Heh. Don't say stuff you don't know, man. And even if it doesn't, my mom is going through it right now anyway. It makes me feel helpless." Ryuji's grip tightened to a dangerous level around the wooden counter and for a moment Ren was afraid it might splinter the wood. "Like when we fought that big dude, Muscular. He was so strong even my biggest hit couldn't put him down and I'm still feeling the low charge it left me even now. Then those heroes we were trying to save…" His intense grip loosened only to form a fist and come back down on top of the counter in frustration. "Dammit! I thought I was done being this weak! I thought I was done not being able to do anything. It feels like all I do is screw shit up and get in the way."

"You're an idiot." Ren's harsh words cut through Ryuji's fog of pity and the latter stared at his leader in confusion. "I saw the videos. I don't wanna think about what would've happened to those heroes and probably loads of civilians if you guys hadn't stepped in. You were crazy cool, Ryuji."

"I-"

"And think about everything else we've done! Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, and all the criminals between them? You're trying to tell me none of those mattered? That you were weak then?" Ren's words were slowly lit and impassioned by some fervent intensity and gradually increased in tone before suddenly dropping back down into a somber and respectful tone. "I'm sorry about your mom. I can't imagine and I don't know what you're going through. But I do know that Ryuji Sakamoto is a tough bastard and I know that he'll charge through everything in his way. Right?"

"…heh." The pause was brief before the blonde teen guffawed and landed a light punch on Ren's side. "Hell yeah, man! Right!" The two shared a quick laugh and took a moment to engage a bit more of their ramen. "But seriously. The reason I brought it all up was 'cause I wanted to thank you. You, and the rest of the Thieves… I don't know what I'd be doing without you."

"Probably getting into trouble?"

"I doubt I'd be able to get into more than I do now." Ryuji swiveled on his stool to properly face his leader in what could be interpreted as an act of respect or reverence. "I just wanted you to know that I'm here for you as much as you've been here for me. I'll repay every bit a hundred-fold! If you need my legs, they're yours. If you need my arms, you've got 'em. Hell, I'd even give you my quirk, if I could!"

"Thanks, Ryuji. But I'm not done helping you out either." Ren paused, suddenly remembering an earlier topic. "Oh yeah, what was that about 'The Curse of Ogikubo'?"

"DANG - HNG - BRATS!" An enormous fist crashed into and through the roof of a small car park, narrowly missing its target. "All you're doing is making this harder on yourself!" The purple-gloved hand awkwardly retreated through the concrete rubble it had reduced the section of public property into. "Ah! Nooo… look what you made me do!" The booming voice whined in a mixture of frustration and exertion as the giant slowly retracted her boulder-sized hand in a way that minimized more destruction. Her words were loud but she wasn't actually shouting - it was simply the grand size of her entire form that made her words echo as if they were shouted into a megaphone. Joker, hoping to have a moment to catch his breath, slipped behind one of the few nearby vehicles parked in the garage. Of all people to be hired by Okumura, it had to be the up-and-coming giant hero, Mount Lady. "Where'd you go, huh? Well, it doesn't matter!" The purple and white-suited titaness turned from the car park and Joker bit his tongue in frustration and realization that he'd be allowed no reprieve. "You're not my only target!"

As she moved to leave he confidently leaped from behind the car and out of the open 4th level of the parking garage; with body gracefully spinning in a wide arc through the air he cast a dainty shadow on the street which lay over 40 feet below him. A fall from this height would likely result in death, or at the very least grievous injury, and the many bystanders and civilians in the audience gasped with the same realization. To his right, he could see the giant hero Mount Lady who, as her hero name implied, stood at an impressive 70 feet tall and an equally impressive expected rank on the hero polls. With back turned and blond hair bouncing wildly she carefully half-ran and half-tiptoed down the street, her crashing footsteps quickly catching up to her target. With a singular and endlessly smooth motion, Joker twisted and fired his grappling gun with a satisfying click, bang, and whir. The cable whistled through the air to catch itself on a nearby building,l and whipped with sudden tension. Only those with incredible perception could look past the mad bravado and cool confidence to notice a tinge of nervous energy that exaggerated his movements in what was, after all, a relatively new trick of his. While he had had a grappling hook for some time, Noir's grapple gun invention and enhancements had allowed him to do far more and far faster.

Gravity finally noticed the free agent and vengefully caught him in a rapid descent that was accompanied by audience gasps and screams. Many parents covered their children's eyes and some turned to run in fear as most fully expected to see his broken body crash into the pavement and grotesquely burst. With skill to match his bravado and a strong desire to not become a piece of macabre art the grapple wire shined as if it were winking and the screams below him transformed into shouts of surprise and exhilaration behind him. Joker whipped through the air; buildings swept away and behind him and his breath caught in his throat. The small mechanism connecting the gun to his arm strained concerningly and he fleetingly recalled the warnings left to him by Noir, about how too much weight or use would cause it to weaken or even snap. Still, he didn't have much freedom to play it conservatively, so he swung from the cable with incredible speed over the streets toward the once quickly fleeing Mount Lady. She turned in confusion at the mad cackling quickly approaching and with another click at his swing's highest point the grappling hook unlatched from its secure location before whirring back into Joker's sleeve with some force. The Phantom Thief used the last of his momentum to launch himself up and past the giantess to land on a nearby building, but he recognized that his cognitive bullets and theatrics were quickly losing their potency. He had to do more lest the hero ignore him and focus her full power on apprehending his friends, so as he spun through the air his pistol flashed and exploded in a barrage of fire that peppered Mount Lady still shocking effectiveness. The shots caused the enormous woman to stumble back from the impact and pain while the thief landed with a graceful tumble atop another building only about 30 feet tall.

"What?!" The hero stared down at her tiny wounds and at the vigilante who inflicted them. To her, they were barely visible pinpricks of red but her skin pulsed in sharp pain where they landed. "That's no normal pistol, huh? Most can't get past my skin…" She carefully pushed herself up but winced when she heard some of the buildings crumble behind her. "Damn. I've gotta finish this quickly or I'll end up paying more than I'm paid." The tires of her target screeching down the road gave her pause - what course of action would even let her finish this up? The other heroes who'd been working with her were still back at Okumura Gadgets, being assaulted and stalled by a bunch of kids.

"No time to think! Keep up, hero!" A metal cable latched into the building next to her and was quickly followed by Joker but not too quickly for her to react. As her hand swung up to meet and catch the annoying vigilante a large flashbang exploded with an ear-twitching bang and blinding light that succeeded in disorienting and briefly stunning her. Gloved hands wildly swung and managed to catch Joker's cable, forcing it free of its safe place and throwing the thief backward through the air. He tumbled wildly and uselessly before crashing into and through a window. Shards of glass exploded around him as he landed in a heap in some person's apartment who now threatened to deafen him with screams. "Sorry! Sorry - agh," Joker patted himself down to check for injuries as he picked himself up. He glanced up at the shocked woman and had a small double-take himself. The screaming woman had red skin, black sclera, sharp teeth, and a pair of curled horns, all of which invoked the image of a classic 'demon.'

"Honey?!" Another figure burst into the room - a man with stark white skin and hair as pallid as paper. He stuttered as he awkwardly jittered across to his significant other and Joker couldn't help but bemusedly imagine what a child of theirs would look like.

"Sorry! Put the bill on the Pro Hero, Mount Lady!" He dove from the window back into the fray.

"Get that weirdo villain, Mountain Woman!" A few voices from the ever-growing crowds cheered for the hero and jeered at Joker. "You got this!" Empowered by the supportive voices of her fans the hero blinked away the effects of the stun grenade to strike a cute pose.

"Thanks for your support, everyone!" She smiled and waved before her demeanor suddenly shifted into something a lot less cheery. "But my name is 'Mount Lady,' get it right!"

"And I'm not a villain!" Joker leaped past her outstretched fingers and dive-kicked at her right eye which instinctively shut tight in defense. Mount Lady shouted in pain and swung wildly to try and knock away the annoying attackers. "We're here to do good; you're getting in the way!" Her limbs went wild and just barely missed the fleeing teen, but despite her frustration, Joker knew none of the damage he was dealing was gonna be enough. "Pro heroes are a pain…" Muttering through gritted teeth he narrowly dodged another minivan punch.

The group had made extra sure that Oracle's chair was large and exceedingly comfortable due to how much time she spent in it. It was cushioned in all the right places, posture supporting, dynamically cooled and heated, and it even had several cup holders. It was incredible and Oracle frequently found herself just sitting there and appreciating it. The gang had all pooled together some money and replaced her old swivel chair and she was infinitely grateful for that move since her last chair was closer to something you'd find in a low-budget office than a command station. She always made sure they knew how grateful she was for it and even now some part of her was considering how fortunate she was that it was so well-made. If it was ever gonna break from stress and use, this battle would be the one to do it. Around and around she went, zipping back and forth to various computer screens and live video feeds, desperately trying to keep up with the madness her friends were having to deal with. As she shouted "Skull, behind you!" she simultaneously swiveled to the screens displaying Joker's battle with Mount Lady. "Joker! In a battle of attrition, she'll win!" So thin did she split her attention that she even was forced to react to a screen behind her head light up with warnings. It was only thanks to her quirk, 'Oracle,' that she was able to keep up with the demand; the moments she had to express her exhaustion and frustration were only long enough for growls and frantic exclamations. She spun around to the blinking screen and her furious typing nearly doubled its already incredible pace. "Stop it already… Tech heroes are the worst!"

"Uhh, Futaba?" Her door creaked open and a concerned end-of-middleaged man poked his head in. "Food's ready…?"

"Not now Sojiro! Also, we talked about you not knocking!" Oracle spun around to one of the screens and tapped at her headpiece. "Fox, Skull needs help! We're almost there everyone, we got this!"

"Ooookay…" the older gentleman shook his head with a mixture of endearing bemusement and pure confusion. "I'll just leave some curry here."

"How did this happen? Are we screwed…?" the hopeless words slipped from her before she was even aware they were there. While she was doing her absolute hardest to keep herself and everyone else in high spirits and confidence, the situation was undeniably bad and she cursed at herself for letting it get this way. The group had been staking out near Okumura HQ waiting for Noir's signal when Okumura sped away in his fancy car and the group was attacked by 3 Pro Heroes at once; she had been completely helpless to prevent or stop anything, and even if they got out of this, they wouldn't be doing so unscathed. Livefeed was frying so many of her systems and deleting so much of her stockpiled info and data routines that she was going to be practically crippled after this. She needed help as much as the group did, and she recognized this with a twinge of shame and pain, but a bolt of determination shot through her fear and redoubled her efforts.

She didn't have any help, but that was fine. She was Oracle of the Phantom Thieves, and she was a badass.

Down the road from the giant and the thief raced two vehicles that both weaved dangerously between and through the sparse traffic. The one ahead was a fancy and powerful luxury car holding Kunikazu Okumura; it swept past other cars as quickly as it could but its size and the occasional patch of vehicles slowed it down enough for its pursuer to keep pace. Okumura's pursuers rode a gorgeous but ethereal bike of shocking size, one that seemed to radiate power and energy and whose front juxtapositionally displayed a sleeping and peaceful face. The bike roared with power and force but its speed seemed only barely able to keep up with the luxury car through dangerous and risky maneuvers. "Noir, are we good?" Queen, the tactician and rider of the Phantom Thieves, gunned it as fast as she could down the street while her scarf flapped wildly in the wind. Noir sat behind the leather biker and faced the opposite way they rode.

"Not quite! Joker's doing his best, but it looks like Ms. Mountain realized she should focus on us!" The young woman wore an outfit resembling a stylized and dramatic rendition of 17th century articles which was accented mostly by a large pointed cavalier hat with a feather plume and her dark black domino mask. "But don't worry;" she glowered at the rapidly approaching titan who now ignored Joker except to swat at his swinging form. Reaching into her Tote Bag, Noir pulled from nowhere a large caliber grenade launcher and a bandolier to go with it. Quickly moving she threw on the bandolier of ammo and steadied her nervous hand - this was to be her first act directly against a professional hero. All her life she had been taught deference by and for her superiors and those who 'knew better.' To do this now would be to take what was once just a rebellious act against a corrupt father and evolve it into something more, something permanent; this knowledge was both grand and terrifying. She, of course, didn't hesitate for a second. "I'll show them not to mess with the Phantom Thieves!" The grenade launcher lowered and Noir let out a final cry as the launcher clunked, thumped, and thoomed! The explosive canister whistled through the air and cracked into Mount Lady's head with an echoing and thunderous BOOM; it seemed to split the skies and rumble the land with how violently and surprisingly it appeared; in truth, it wasn't the canister that caused such a deafening crash but Mount Lady's stumble and cataclysmic fall. The hero expertly twisted in a way to minimize her fall and the destruction it would inflict by catching herself on a nearby building, but fall she did.

"What the - what are these kids?!" Her frustration was cut short by another barrage of bullets from Joker. While blocking the brunt of the attack with her arm she swiped through the air and just barely missed the swinging thief. "Stop that! No matter how much you do it, it's not gonna keep me down!"

As Noir continued to fire at the Pro Hero, Queen looked ahead at the heavier spot of traffic that Okumura had already made it past. "We can't afford to slow down! If we're gonna make it to Okumura's home before he does…" Both the spikey biker and her shimmering bike growled in unison. "We have to gun it! Go, Johanna!" As Queen shouted out Johanna roared in approval and the wheels screeched in excitement; almost eager the bike pulled up into a wheelie that let the front wheel slam into the back trunk of a nearby car. The spinning wheels screamed and the bike pulled itself up and over the vehicle by using the whole thing as a makeshift ramp to ride off instead of a blockade to break through; the occupants of said car stared in amazement and shock as the ethereal motorcycle glided through the sky before slamming back down into the car ahead of them which, despite the loud crash of metal and rubber, seemed void of serious damage beyond dented metal and shattered glass. It seemed the ethereal motorcycle was too light to leave any great damage and was light enough that it could bumpily ride on top of the traffic.

"Holy crap Queen, you're going crazy!" Oracle crackled in over their earpieces. "But you need to hurry! Okumura's penthouse has already started its lockdown procedure! If Mr. CEO gets there before you and is able to lock himself in, our one chance is over!"

"I know!" Queen couldn't help but growl in focus and frustration. "This was supposed to go a lot smoother! Can you get into the security systems and delay the lockdown?"

"No can do, sorry. I only had access to Okumura HQ, not his penthouse - and besides, Livefeed would probably lock me out anyway."

Mona popped his head out of Queen's side bag and mewed in encouragement. "We've got this! We're so close to victory that we can't let just a couple of heroes stand in our way!"

Back at Okumura Gadgets Headquarters, a full-on brawl was taking place between 3 of the Phantom Thieves and 2 Pro Heroes.

The blonde Skull moved to block a heavy fist from the number 44 Pro Hero, Fourth Kind, but the blow proved too intense to negate. Knuckledusters scraped against metal before blowing past Skull's defense and slamming into his stomach. "Sorry, kid, but you're on the wrong side o' things!" The mighty strike knocked the air out of the vigilante and sent him careening backward, struggling for breath. The rank 44 hero grinned and cracked his knuckles - all four of them. The Pro Hero was an imposing figure when even disregarding the four thick limbs attached to his heavyset and bulky body which itself was framed by its silhouette thanks to the now somewhat tattered and torn pitch-black suit. Splashes of color in the dark form were almost entirely void except for his white button-up underneath and the large cumbersome-looking metal jaw that didn't do much besides showing some real personality. "When I heard you all were a bunch of kids, well… I can't lie, I felt a little bad about what I'd be doing!" A tree trunk of a leg stomped forward to the wheezing Skull who still struggled for breath. "But a hero has to uphold justice!" Two enormous right hooks careened through the air at the hapless thief but were stopped at the last minute when an almost invisible blur of pain and speed struck him. Fourth Kind stumbled backward and tried to recount what on earth had just happened.

"There is no justice in what you do…" behind him, the smooth and unwavering voice of Fox, the artist of the Phantom Thieves, taunted. "If it is chivalry you seek, then step aside. We have a criminal to expose." Fox's katana sang as it swiped through the air threateningly. "Skull! Assist Panther, I shall deal with this misguided fool." One puffed sleeve and motorcycle-gloved hand at the end of it rested at the top of his kitsune mask as the other crossed over his lithe form and pointed dangerously at the Pro Hero. All in all, it was an impressive and practiced pose.

"Got it!" Skull scampered up and toward the struggling Panther as Fox glowered at Fourth Kind.

"Oh no you don't! You're not- huh?!" When the large man moved to stop the fleeing vigilante he had found himself unable due to the thick ice that had sneakily grown over his stocky legs and pinned him to the ground, cracking and shattering as he roughly pulled himself free. "You'd best give up now kid, you're facing a top 50 Pro Hero."

"That may be, but the polls aren't decided by your strength alone. You feed off of other's perceptions, regardless of what you may call yourself." The so-called 'Chivalrous Hero' glowered at the teen.

"You don't know me at all kid and you don't know when it's smart to call it quits."

"I see enough that you are defending a vile man." Fox disappeared in a blur and Fourth Kind was only just barely able to block the katana from slicing into him. The Phantom Thief had traveled almost 30 feet in an instant, a feat comparable to All Might levels of fast. "And I know enough to not give up before I've even tried."

"Heh, maybe you will be a fun fight!" Fourth Kind swung a bottom fist into the Phantom Thief but it and the two fists he'd been using to block the attack only caught air. He fell forward as Fox had fully disappeared but in the next instant, he was struck 3 or 4 times - a blow to his legs, several blows to his gut, and a blow to his metal jaw. Each hurt like hell and some left cuts or bruises but none were so bad as to be lethal. "A blunt katana, huh?" Fourth Kind shook off the encroaching ice on his hands and rapidly punched the air to heat the freezing flesh. He looked up at the stoic teen whose body and expression worked to betray no emotion; however, Fourth Kind was experienced and could detect something else. Fox was already breathing hard and he was rubbing at his shoulder in pain, and the nearby lamppost coated in ice except for a large and conspicuous mark about the same size and shape as the Phantom Thief's shoulder told all the story he needed. "Ah. Gotcha now, kid."

Quirk: Kinetic Thief

Yusuke's quirk is entirely combat-focused and quite powerful because of it. Kinetic Thief allows him to steal the kinetic energy and heat from objects and people to utilize himself. This allows him to move at unbelievable speeds and with impossible acceleration that proves unreactable to even most Pro Heroes while simultaneously cooling, slowing, and even freezing the surrounding area. It's severely limited by its uncontrollability.

If you want to know more, check out the 7th chapter of 'Quirkipedia' on my profile.

Fourth Kind raised two of his fists and charged toward the teen while letting loose an intimidating roar. The moment the teen disappeared into his incredible speed the Pro Hero thrust his body backward and slammed his hands into the open air in front of him. The lingering doubt surrounding his risky play was washed away in a triumphic battle cry as the empty space was suddenly occupied by a speedster who was battered by Fourth Kind's heavy fists. He moved to follow up but his second pair of arms were encrusted with ice and it slowed him just enough that Fox was able to swivel out of the way. The delayed attack still went through due to his unstoppable force but instead of punishing the vigilante, it left the hero open to a series of rapid blows across his side and back. Fox dashed up the hunched-over man and gave Fourth Kind's proportionally small head two strong wacks before he kicked off the large hero and gracefully danced through the air to land a dozen feet away. This all happened in an instant while the Pro Hero spun and tried to catch the teen in his grasp. At his failure to do so, he rubbed at the damage the young man had done; Fox's headshots had broken skin and dazed the Pro Hero, but the experienced combatant shook away the pain and trace blood.

"Damn, kid! You're impressive! Imagine the good you could do if you were on the right side of the law." Fourth Kind stretched his arms and prepared for another barrage on the Phantom Thief. "Unfortunately, we're here instead, and you've gotta have your ass handed to you by us."

"It's true, you Pro Heroes are on a different level… especially those in the top 100." Fox gasped for air and thumbed away a bit of his own blood dripping down his kitsune mask. Fox was fast and his attacks hit hard but this guy was a tank - a slow tank, but a tank nonetheless. Fourth Kind crunched his large fingers into concrete and lifted up a hefty chunk of it out of the ground that rained dirt and dust and crumbling infrastructure back into the enormous pothole the Pro Hero created. The four-armed beast teetered back from the weight before launching the improvised projectile through the air. It was slower and smaller than the boulder Muscular had thrown, and with ample time to react, it proved little threat to Fox. The concrete chunk iced over with frost as it sailed through the air and a moment later it had been split and broken into several crumbling pieces from a viscous and defensive flurry of blows that ended with Fox several yards closer to Fourth Kind. The thief swiped his blunt katana into a brutal uppercut that knocked into the hero's metal jaw and reverberated with sound before sidestepping Fourth Kind's retaliating attack and striking with the katana's hilt. The attack was caught by the large man and another fist fell upon Fox's head, nearly knocking off and away his mask. Fox wrenched his katana from his enemy's grasp and retreated with a few quick backhops to maintain distance.

"You've got some serious spunk, huh? Make you a deal; If you turn yourself in and serve your time, I might be willing to take you on as an intern." The hero rubbed his metal jaw to check for any serious damage, but his words seemed sincere.

Fox shook his head and equally inspected his weapon for any chips or breakages. "I have no desire to become a hero, but the offer is appreciated." The offer ended with that and the two silently agreed to carry out their fight till the end. Fox hoped that his companions, Panther and Skull, were having a better time.

Panther and Skull were not having a better time. Panther ducked and weaved to best avoid the long, swinging cables and wires bursting from the medium-distance hero. The metal cables acted almost like tentacles but in large enough groups they had the speed and power to whip through the air and crack concrete. Skull struggled to keep up in general - his speed was slowed and his power was dulled due to the battle against Muscular only two days prior. The overexertion he had risked to end the fight as quickly as possible still strained his system and his fighting charge hadn't yet built up properly yet, meaning he was at a severe disadvantage.

"Hehe! Sorry guys, but it's gotta be done! Try not to die!" The monitor-face of their foe displayed ";D".

"What the hell?! This lady keeps popping up and she's seriously starting to bug me… get her, guys!" Oracle cheered over their earpieces before the communications line crackled with the familiar sound of someone joining the line.

"Oh hey, what's this? Hehe, good to meet you! I'm Livefeed!" A nearby car exploded to life and barreled screeching down the road towards the two thieves. Due to the more expensive area they were in it was a luxury sports

car with a powerful sounding engine that rumbled like thunder and roared like a beast as it peeled down the road toward the vigilantes. "I love this part of town, almost every car has an onboard system. So futuristic! I'm excited, excited, excited! And even happier than usual!" The Pro hero spoke in an overly cutesy and high-pitched tone and with sing-songy intonations.

"Woah! Hey!" Panther dove into the distracted Skull in a desperate tackle that brought both to the ground and out of the deadly path of the car. The sports car roared past their tumbling bodies and crashed into a nearby building with a deafening crumple, accompanied by the jubilant cheers and childish applause of the Pro Hero. "You're gonna kill us! You're a hero, I'm pretty sure that's not cool to do!" The two quickly gathered themselves as several other parked cars rumbled to life.

"What? Kill? No, silly!" Livefeed struck a cute pose and her display shined with a blushing ";)". "I'm just heroing!" When another giggle erupted from Livefeed's electronic casing, Oracle grumbled in frustration. "Let's all agree to have a nice, fair time! Sorry if I go a little overboard, I can be kiiinda ditzy!"

"Stop. Trying. To. Hack. Me! That's my thing! And get off our comms, this is private!" Even with the filtered microphone the group could hear Oracle's furious typing, desperately trying to keep ahead of Livefeed's quirk infiltrating their systems and their data.

"Honestly I'm impressed, you're good as heck as heck is good! You wanna come work for me at my agency? We have 1-hour lunch breaks!" A section of Livefeed's armor clicked open and a tightly wound bundle of wires and cables whipped out through the air and tore into a nearby car's thin metal chassis. "It'd be worth it, I pwomise!"

"'Pwomise?!' Who the heck are you?! Last time I saw you, you were all stoicism and business. Where'd this weird, cutesy, idol persona come from? Argh, just shut up!" Oracle's demand was more a frustrated distraction but something about what she said seemed to momentarily quiet Livefeed. Before the hero could crackle back in retort Oracle gleefully shut her off. "Ah ah, no thanks! This is my comm network and I get to decide who plays in it!"

"Nice, Oracle!" Panther leaped past a wave of whipping cables in the same movement she cracked her own whip back at the hero, but a sudden change in movement of the dodged cables stopped her attack in its tracks. The force of her weapon smacking into the sudden defense ignited the small pockets of explosive charges she had activated along the end of the whip, all of which blasted the cables with explosive bursts of flame and power and knocked the cables aside to clear a brief path to the hero. Skull moved to follow up on Panther's opening but was forced to shift into a diving roll out of the way of a roaring car.

"Damnit, for real? We can't even get close to her! Oracle, can't you do anything more?" Skull hopped backward and out of the way of another racing car, just barely managing to avoid serious injury.

"Too busy! She's attacking me at the same time! Unless you want our names and identities leaked, I gotta focus on this!"

Panther fired a smattering of igniting rounds at Livefeed in the hopes of discombobulating and giving pause to the overwhelming force. "Then what're we supposed to do?"

"Just hold her off! You don't need to win, just delay then escape! When Joker and Mona infiltrate Okumura's cognition we'll be set!"

"'Infiltrate Okumura's cognition,' huh?" Livefeed's voice crackled to life once more.

"What the- I thought I kicked you off this network?" Oracle's anger was ignored as Livefeed's physical actions transitioned into more of a defensive style.

"Is that how you do it? Is that how you Take Hearts?' It's not some trick or a brainwashing quirk? You're actually manipulating cognition?" There was a sudden and infectious tone pervading her actions and voice. Gone was the cutesy veneer, now Livefeed spoke with excitement and burning scientific curiosity. "How do you do it? Like, you physically enter it? How does that work? Is it the quirk of your leader, Joker?" A barrage of interrogations erupted from her and her attacks slowed to a crawl. Skull and Panther, both breathing hard, ducked behind a nearby totaled car for cover and recover. "If you don't tell me then I guess I don't have any reason to not just stop playing around and kill you all." The two vigilantes froze in fear as a nearby car rocketed towards them. Right as the approaching ton of metal reached a terrifying crescendo it screeched to a halt only feet away from crushing the two into paste.

"Wha-what?!"

"Yup, that's right. But don't worry! All I want is a little info. You've piqued my interest - congrats!" Livefeed stepped up onto a nearby car and sat with her legs and arms crossed.

"Hell no! Skull popped out from his almost-crushed cover. "We ain't telling you nothing!"

"Th-that's right!" Panther hopped up on top of the car that almost crushed said cover. "Just give up already, 'cause we sure aren't!" Her declaration was interrupted by the car she stood on shaking and bucking slightly from Fox's bruised body being thrown into it. The artistic thief gasped in pain but quickly clambered to his feet, staring down the approaching Fourth Kind. Fox was beaten up but so was the Pro Hero who himself was now covered in cuts and bruises and who wore a torn and mangled suit. He angrily stomped toward the Phantom Thieves and slammed his fists together.

"Friends! This is not looking great…" Fox rested for a moment against the crumpled vehicle. "But worry not - I'll keep fighting." The shine of metal breached his scabbard once more and he crouched in preparation to attack the encroaching human tank. There was a brief moment of quiet tension - broken by a large truck crashing into and carrying away Fourth Kind. "Oh dear."

"Oops! Sorry, Fourth Kind!" Livefeed turned to the thieves, suddenly serious. "That'll keep him away for a minute. Now, like I said, you guys piqued my interest. You have the power to manipulate someone's mind and personality? Seriously? Why the heck are you running around in costumes and spandex?"

Fox glared at the hero in suspicion. "We root out and expose corruption."

"We make sure that no one suffers in silence!" Panther cheered on.

"We stick to those idiots who think they can get away with whatever the hell they want!" Skull loudly stomped while tapping his bat against his shoulder. The three were beaten and bruised, but Livefeed seemed to marvel at their persistence.

"Well… if you guys do metacognitively change the perceptions of those you think need it, that's some crazy stuff. In fact…" her voice dropped into a dangerous timbre that held a hint of desperation and her normally cheeky screen turned blank. It seemed utterly incongruous with the rest of how she had presented herself but something about it held the Thieves' attention. "Enji Todoroki. He's someone who desperately needs your guys' intervention."

The name hung in the air strangely and thickly, familiar to most. It was a name they'd heard before, but it wasn't someone they'd met. "Who?" Skull questioned Livefeed's pleading voice and suddenly meek body language unsure of how to respond. It was the first time an enemy had acted so weirdly vulnerable and it was weird.

She reiterated. "Please. In return, I'll keep Fourth Kind busy so you have time to go after Okumura - although, it might sour your reputation a little."

"You think we're gonna believe you, for real? Eff that, you're just gonna turn around and stab us in the back!" Skull clambered past Fox and threateningly shook his bat at the woman. "We ain't falling for that, dumbass!"

"Wait - she's totally dropped off our network. She's not making any more attacks - holy crap, she even exposed herself. I can totally lock her out with this." Oracle sounded with a mixture of amazement and annoyance that she wasn't able to do it on her own. "I don't think it's a trick? Ughhh, I don't know! Why can't the bad guys just be bad guys?!"

"Oh! Fourth Kind is already coming back, and he's definitely not gonna believe me if I 'accidentally' hit him with a second car~ This is your last chance. I'm proposing a mutually beneficial deal - and besides, if you look into him and decide he isn't bad enough, you don't have to steal his heart, right? What's your alternative here, get arrested or worse?" Livefeed's costume beeped in agreement and the teens recognized that at the very least she was likely telling the truth about Fourth Kind. While they couldn't see him, she had access to street cameras all over. The three glanced at each other before Panther took charge and moved to pull the other two away from the scene, realizing that there wasn't time to consider alternatives, nor was there time to contemplate repercussions. This fight was too much for just three of the teens and while they'd done an impressive job holding off two Pro Heroes simultaneously they couldn't do it forever. In the moment Panther understood that better than the ever determined Skull and the ever chivalric Fox.

"Fine! We'll check him out, but if this is a trap you're gonna regret it lady!"

"What?! Panther?!"

"No, she's right. This is too much for us, Skull. Come! Let us depart! Perhaps we can still make it to Okumura to assist in the other battles!"

Livefeed's display showed a ";)" as she waved the thieves away and murmured under her breath. "Sorry about this Mr. Kind, but a deal is a deal - and I need them to seriously consider what I said." As the six-limbed Pro Hero stomped back into view and shouted after the fleeing vigilantes Livefeed flicked her wrist to unleash a torrent of cables and activated a nearby car's onboard system. "Fourth Kind! I'm sorry, but I can't control myself! I think those villains brainwashed my body, or changed my heart or something! Look out!"

Across the city, a woman cracked a wide and self satisfied smile. "What do you think, EMMA? I'm glad we took Okumura's deal since it's providing some pretty fun times." The woman hummed out a small but catchy tune. "That being said, we gotta watch how we proceed. One misstep could be pretty bad, and we really don't wanna get on his bad side. That being said, this is the perfect opportunity to get on his good side! How about…" she clicked a few things on her keyboard as the video feed on her screen lit up with a fight breaking out between two Pro Heroes. "We make sure the Thieves are interested. We'll make those whispered rumors just a teeny bit louder."

Joker spun around the nauseously large fist of Mount Lady in a smooth movement that just barely dodged the tire-sized knuckles and just barely resisted the gale of wind that came with an acrobatic touchdown on the back of her fist he quickly recognized the immense danger of his position when her other hand came up to swat at him, so he ducked and threw his second-to-last flash bang. Unfortunately, the mountain woman was now wise to this trick and she reacted appropriately, squeezing her eyes shut and looking away before the flash bang could stun her. Fortunately, in doing so she had to slow her chase and wasn't able to react when Noir launched another concussive grenade into her sternum. The titan coughed up a bit of spittle as Joker sprinted up her arm and fired his grappling hook into her decorative horns.

This fight was quickly souring. The giantess was slowly overcoming all of their tricks and learning to brace against their attacks. The Thieves, especially Joker, excelled in quick decisive fights that started and ended in just a couple of sneak attacks. Mount Lady's existing cognition of being almost bulletproof meant his shots would normally do even less than a normal gunshot would, but the general populous surrounding them provided enough psychic overlap and fear that it ensured his attacks were doing some damage. That effect could only last so long though, and both hero and vigilante could tell that with every shot Mount Lady was feeling his attacks less and less. She was consciously and subconsciously realizing his gun couldn't do anything substantial to her and that understanding was slowly becoming strong enough to overwrite the collective atmosphere.

Joker knew that he had to pull out his trump card or the entire operation would fall apart.

The metal of his grapple caught the material of her horns studiously enough that he was able to pull himself up and onto Mount Lady's face, stomping in order to get her attention. He perched on her nose and waited for her blurry eyes to focus on him and the pistol he had pointed directly between them.

"Prepare for pain." As the hero quickly moved to snatch the tiny thief away her arm was blown backward by another grenade courtesy of Noir. Joker took the opportunity and focused as intensely as he could to coalesce and utilize his quirk. Luckily, this wasn't the first time he'd dealt with the 'bulletproof' problem, and he had found a way around it. By focusing his quirk he could take and enforce other's subconscious understandings of the world, albeit for a very short time. In an instant he mentally searched the audience of civilians around him, looking for the perfect -

There. The guy he latched onto had been shot before and he remembered it well. The pain, terror, and lifelong injury he sustained made sure he could never forget. Even now, while he marveled at the chaos of a hero battle and feeling protected in the herds, he winced at every gunshot.

Joker took that thinking, that innate and unspeakable fear, and imposed it upon his target. Mount Lady's brazen confidence wilted behind her eyes and he watched with some degree of satisfaction at the rising panic. Terror-sweat, smacking lips, shaking eyes - she was absolutely frozen in terror at the relatively minuscule pistol, and Joker's satisfaction at her horror melted somewhat into some strands of sympathy. Regardless, he had to act. The power cared not of his swaying feelings so the effect wouldn't last long, and he could already feel the exertion of the technique beginning to fray at his mind.

"I'm sorry." His pistol clicked.

"Wa-wait!" That moment would be seared into the hero's mind for weeks to come. The vigilante stood above her with pistol drawn and eyes wild, but Mount Lady could see something else as well. There flickered a faint and weak ethereal blue fire wrapped around the edges of Joker writhing and crackling in anticipation. It looked hungry, as if it were desperately ready to pounce and consume her, but weakness held it back. It shook and quivered as it swelled then fell, like a writhing tide trying to take human form only to fall back into foam. She took in all these details in the moment before he fired but as he pulled the trigger and her mind began to scream in primordial panic, she saw something else.

"Fall." The ethereal voice echoed in her mind as the pistol exploded in a torrent of overwhelming fear, panic, and pain. The shot burst through her mind and exploded out the other side instantly, shocking her system into a state of panic and shutdown while her quirk automatically recoiled in instinctual defense. A moment later, Joker caught her normal sized body and gently lowered it to a nearby rooftop, struggling to maintain his own strength in the process. He struggled to roughly tumble in a way that kept her from hurting any more than was necessary, but his own drained ability made it difficult.

After a quick glance over her unconscious form to make sure the hero wasn't too injured, he quickly stepped away and took a moment to catch his breath. Forcing a person's cognition onto someone else left him feeling mentally weakened as well and he hadn't even been sure if the trick would work against a Pro Hero. It was a risky play that paid off but there was a great likelihood that it had only paid off because she was still an inexperienced newbie that had only made her debut as a full hero months prior. Admitting that to himself garnered no small frustration and his red gloves squeezed tight.

His rumination was cut short by the Pro Hero moaning and beginning to stir. With an easy movement he scooped her up to bring her inside the building they stood at the top of and as she began to wake he hastily handcuffed her to a railing inside, knowing that to do so meant that she wouldn't be able to gigantify and chase after them without destroying the entire structure first.

Before she fully woke he took his leave and grappled off the building back in the direction of Okumura's penthouse, hoping to reach it before his friends did.

He grimaced as he swung and his expression darkened. Mount Lady was a decent Peo Hero, but she was also brand new to the scene. It was an impressive victory but against anyone else it would've never happened. His quirk excelled in stealth and nonlethal asssaniation but in a proper fight he was beginning to fall behind the rest of his team. As they grew in power and experience and usage of their flashy quirks he had begun to rely more and more on his own acrobatics and support items. It wasn't a shameful thing, but it also wasn't sustainable if he was going to continue to be the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

He had to find something new, and fast. Red gloves squeezed in thought as he remembered that strange feeling that sometimes overcome him - the strange flickering blue 'flames' that licked at the edge of his vision when his quirk strained its hardest. It reminded of something he'd seen inside palaces before. He wondered…

But this wasn't the time. He could see the racing vehicles a few blocks ahead and tried to speed up his swings.

This was their chance. Potentially, it was their last one. They were at Okumura's penthouse, but Okumura himself was ahead of them. Just barely ahead of them. The luxury car roared as it raced down to an already halfway closed security barrier, and Noir, Queen, and Morgana knew that if it got beyond it it would lock before they could they would be done. Okumura would feel safe and his cognition would be shut off forever.

Something had to be done immediately. So Noir and Queen did something.

Noir spun around and leveled her launcher at her father's car. She hadn't shot at it until now because it had been speeding past civilians and because she didn't want to actually hurt him. Now was the time that the risk had to be taken. A concussive canister fired from her launcher with a satisfying thoomph and whistled through the air before cracking into the road just ahead of the speeding vehicle, exploding in a violent and sudden blast of energy that caused the car's tires to squeal and spin wildly as the driver lost some control. It wasn't enough to stop the car, but it was enough to slow it down enough for Queen.

"Don't worry Noir, I'll be careful." As Johanna raged on, Queen clambered to her feet atop the moving vehicle and struck a preparatory pose. Noir reached clumsily past Queen's legs to grip Johanna's handles and lock its wheels in place in effort to ensure the bike kept steady as Queen made her attack. "Johanna has been riding constantly for almost 30 minutes now. I'm practically as overflowing with energy," Brilliant cyan energy, the same color and make as Johanna, began to more prominently leak from her eyes and mouth as she said this. "And it's gotta go somewhere!" Johanna shook violently and Noir squeaked in fear as Queen pushed off the ethereal bike with incredible strength and speed enhanced by a blast of power. She twisted in the air and glowed brightly as pure and violent power coalesced around and encompassed her knuckle-dusted fist.

You got this Queen!" Noir cheered from the abandoned bike which was now slowing to a halt.

"You tried to run from what's coming, but you can't escape! The Phantom Thieves are gonna bring your crimes to light, Okumura! It's time to feel…!" A brilliant streak of light and energy followed her as she cascaded down on the car's front like a meteorite, wherein cyan energy blossomed and exploded around her with a deafening blast. Her fist tore straight through solid metal and crushed the engine like a delinquent done with a mediocre soda. Unlike the simile the absolute force of her attack stopped the speeding car in its tracks, cratered the pavement below, and caused a nearby lamppost to break from its base and fall to the ground. Fire raged around her as Queen slowly picked herself up from the wrecked engine and breathed heavily to clear the exertion wincing across her face. She stood in the center of what remained of the car's hood which itself barely resembled any part of a vehicle. A gloved fist thrust forward menacingly past the shattered window and the dazed but mostly unharmed driver towards the terrified Okumura in the backseat. "It's time to feel the fist of justice."

Quirk: Torque

Torque allows Makoto to summon and maintain a quasi-real motorcycle that consumes her stamina as fuel. The motorcycle is quite slow as a vehicle but has decent pulling power and works shockingly excellently as a weapon. As 'Johanna,' her bike, continues to run it converts Makoto's excess stamina into a powerful kinetic force that she can then expel and energize her attacks with. It is an extremely exhausting quirk to use, so Makoto has worked to be able in a fight without it.

If you want to know more, check out chapter 8 of my 'Quirkipedia' story!

"Haha, sometimes I forget how scary Queen can be." Mona meowed from a nearby perch he'd found atop the fallen lamppost.

"Queen!" Noir called out as Johanna came to a rough and amateurish stop that almost tumbled its rider to the ground. Fa- Okumura is escaping!" Queen blinked in surprise as she swiveled to where the heiress pointed. An angry growl escaped her when she saw a young boy speed walking away and she slammed her fist into the crumpled remains of the dashboard. The bruised worker still in the front seat yelped in fear and the fake Okumura behind him disappeared as the driver's quirk ended. The young boy, now undisguised Okumura, forced his body forward towards the closing security gate that would forever shut the front door of the building. Queen and Noir quickly clambered past the car's wreckage and chased after the older man but both could tell they weren't going to be fast enough. Okumura threw himself underneath the security gate and it finally slammed shut, sealing the fate of the Thieves biggest mission yet.

Or it would've, if the sleek form of Joker hadn't blurred past his scrambling comrades and tumbled free of his grappling hook, roughly bounced along concrete, and threw himself and caution to the wind. Great desperation filled him which blinded him to both pain and danger as he struggled to keep their last chance alive, but a sickening crack and a blindingly sharp pain rocked his mind and he knew he'd just made a damaging choice. The crazy maneuver had broken his arm but he was determined to ensure that it was a step towards success, not a punishment for hubris. His body rolled underneath the quickly shutting metal security gate and he braced against the painful drop of the metal with his one good arm and both his legs. The weight and force of the mechanisms behind the security gate cut into his skin and threatened to crush him with every passing second.

"Get here! Now!" The words coarsely erupted from him only a moment before the gate charged up with electrical energy. The entire metal slab crackled with energy and Joker silently screamed as the electrical charge flowed into him and burned away at his nerves. His muscles spasmed and his mind burned, and it felt like the world slowed to a crawl as his body gave out. The metal sheet broke free of his desperate bid and cascaded down on him like a lightning charged waterfall.

Or like a guillotine.

Noir, Queen, and Mona were sprinting as fast they could to reach and free him, shouting and reaching out as if that would help them arrive faster. Okumura was halfway down the hallway to the elevator inside the building but had turned to watch in a strange mixture of horror and relief at the Thief's doom.

A blue butterfly fluttered past his vision.