Puddle is Down-Down Y, Down-Back A is Water Ball, Back-Forward B is his Water Slide, and Forward-Down-Forward B is a water form parry. All things considered, he doesn't have a lot to work with, but what he does have is strong. Just that parry is so finicky!

Suiiki went through the motions in his head, but it didn't help him as he still failed to pull out the move and saw his fourth run against the A.I boss thwarted.

"Gah! It's unfair! Zhassu's got too many overpowered moves to fight against, what a cheap boss fight! Who even uses a hydra for a superpower anyway?!" Rummaging in his pocket for another of the many quarters he had saved up in preparation for this day, he popped yet another one in the machine and began again, much to the dismay of Daisuke.

"Can't you come back another day? You still need to get some more training in. I bet all the other students have been getting stronger and stronger."

"Yeah right, it hasn't even been that long. We've still got…" He checked his phone quickly before turning his attention back to the game cabinet. "Three whole weeks to actually do some practicing. Besides, I'm learning some new moves from Mizucho, like sliding and stuff."

"I think he's actually a lot worse than you are, at least you can use ice."

Suiiki ignored his statement when the screen lit up once more with the sound of the first match starting.

"At least show some commitment to this! This thing is right around the corner!"

"Daisuke, the school tournament isn't even until September 28th. You know what starts September 21st?"

Daisuke sighed as he looked at the nearby poster on the wall, advertising a video game tournament for Burning Red 5, currently Suiiki's favorite fighting game. "Let me guess…"

"If I don't even get to the semi-finals, I won't forgive myself. I've played this game ever since the third installment, and I'm not letting this chance to prove my skills go to waste. Besides, I hear Runoso's going to try to win, and I need to prove my superiority in the school. Ooooh! Alright, perfected him! Take that, you weirdo priest man!"

Finding any further argument hopeless, Daisuke went to the entrance of the arcade. "Alright, I tried. Go on, do your thing." He said to someone behind the glass doors.

Party pooper. Can't hurt to have some fun here and there. Suiiki's train of thought was interrupted by two hands covering his vision. "Wha- Hey! I'm trying to…Ranika!"

"How'd you know?" She laughed as he tried in vain to pull her arms down, his character in the game being helplessly beaten until she finally let him go, but only when he had lost yet again.

"You jerk! What was that for?! Now I have to start all over!"

"Nuh-uh, buddy. You're done here. It's been an entire week since I last saw you outside this place, and I'm not letting you embarrass yourself. I wanna fight you too, after all. See what all the fuss is about over your little power, and I need you in top performance. It's no fun beating someone who's unprepared." She'd gotten used to handling him physically since she'd had to do so many times before, and he usually didn't try to put up a fight anymore knowing it would always end up the same way. "Also, I'm pretty sure your first match is gonna be pretty hard unless you have a plan of attack."

"I have a plan! Attack! What more do you need? Fire girl is an easy win since water always beats fire. Then it's either…uh, hold on." Taking the crumpled sheet out of his back pocket, he unraveled it to get a look at the lineup. "Asai, light missile thingies, big whoop, or Kisho. Oh no, Osmosis! The worst quirk in the school! Whatever will I do? There's no way I just completely bowl him over without him even putting up a fight!"

Daisuke re-entered the arcade seeing the two were still inside debating. "Suiiki, you can come back tomorrow, or the day after that, just do SOME training. Maybe you're right and you can deal with Hinote. What about Kisho? He actually counters you pretty well. If you over rely on water-"

"Ice! I'll beat him up with ice! What's the big deal? He's weaker than a fighting game's attempt at a story. And with Ranika, I'm betting on an easy win!"

She cocked an eyebrow in doubt. "If you say so! Whatever, I'm still more afraid of this guy, honestly." She poked Daisuke in his ribs, prompting a squeak to escape his mouth involuntarily. "I've got a game plan for everyone but him. I still stand behind morphin' time being the strongest here."

Daisuke smiled bashfully at the compliment. "I wouldn't say that…"

Suiiki himself considered his mate's strength compared to his, finally conceding the point to his peers. "True, I am worried about Daisuke. Fine, I'll come with you today, but only because I can't let you two steal my crown."

Just as he said that, the door swung open to reveal a boy with light brown hair and a cocky grin on his face that oozed confidence. "I expected to find you here, Suiiki. Leaving already? And I was just about to show you how trash you were at this game!"

"Oh no you did NOT! Bring it on, Runoso, you don't stand a chance!" Putting in two quarters on their respective sides, he hopped back on the cabinet with Runoso close in tow. "This one's on me, since you'll need the change to buy a bottle to suck on when I beat you senseless."

Both Ranika and Daisuke threw their hands in the air in frustration. "AHHHH!"

The smell of tomato sauce ruminated the air, wafting through the police station as the oven warmed the building during the colder months of early fall. Inside a small and cozy room off to the side of the main lobby, Rinasa sat in her office eyes closed, relaxing in her chair after another busy day at the stadium. She'd spent the last couple weeks inspecting the venue for faults and safety hazards, and for the third time she'd had to fail them, this time for live wires being exposed in the main lobby.

"Oh, dearest chief, dearest chief!" Ikasaki came from the kitchen, which was really just his office with a stove shoved in and cooking utensils inside most the drawers. It was quite rare to see him do any work. "There you are, all holed up in here like a little mole as usual! Just for you, grilled cheese with tomato soup casserole, with parmesan just as you like it~!" He waved the plate in front of her before setting it down on her desk. Opening her eyes, she gave the meal a once over before sitting upright and grabbing the fork he'd laid out for her as well.

"Wait, wait. Almost forgot." Producing a basil leaf from his hand, he plopped it atop the plate, his pride in his cooking evident as a wide smile was plastered across his face. "Bon Appétit!"

"Thank you. Have you eaten yet?" She asked before bringing the food to her lips. Though her brief thanks suggested otherwise, she was quite grateful for the meal, her stomach voicing it's approval with the very first mouthful.

"I've yet to, but I am waiting for the little ball of sunshine to return. She said she'd be with Suiiki until dark, and she just hates eating alone. I don't mind holding off until then."

"I see." The next few moments were one of silence, though not exactly one of awkwardness. Ikasaki had always known her to be a woman of little words around most people, even her closest friends. Not to say she was a robot, but it took quite a bit to make her say much of anything.

Eyeing her up and down, he settled his eyes on her chest, tsking in dissatisfaction. "I know you've already refused, but some implants would truly make you look stunning. It would round out your look perfectly."

"Flat is easier to maneuver with." She said dryly.

Walking around behind her chair, he massaged her shoulders as he continued. "Everyone knows you've got the bottom half of a runway model, alongside this drop-dead gorgeous hairstyle by yours truly." Accenting his point, he ran his hand through her lush pink hair, fixing it up a bit as it had lost some of its style over the course of the day. "Though maybe we've worn your deep side part out, perhaps a classic pixie cut is in order? Hmm, but I could do a killer of a rocker style. What do you think, maybe? Possibly? Definitely?"

"Ranika said she likes it like this, so I'll keep it for her."

"Never knew you cared what she thought about that. How about this old jacket then?" He asked, pulling slightly at the pink denim on her person. "You've had it for ages now, it must be replaced! Want to try something new?"

"No."

The tone of the doorbell rung through the station, signaling her little sister's return. "Ikasaki-"

"I'm already there." He left the room in a hurry, making his way through the lobby to the front door of the station, where he was greeted with a pouting lump of pink hair in his face.

"You didn't eat without me, did you?"

"Of course not, dearie! I've been waiting for you to return from…" He trailed off as his attention was drawn away from Ranika and towards the black-haired girl beside her. "Well, hello beautiful! I take it you're the girl who wooed our little ball of sunshine?"

"'Saki, this is Tsubame. Tsubame, this is Deputy Ikasaki, though I'm sure you remember him from the stadium. He's a bit strange, but he's actually really chill."

Performing a gentleman's bow, he made a show of welcoming her inside. "How wonderful! The little misses new partner finally makes an appearance! She's talked about you so much when she's here, I could almost picture you in my head, though I must say you look even better in person! Come! You must have dinner with us tonight! I'll fetch you a plate. Try to behave yourselves until I come back!"

Tsubame lightly chuckled as Ranika's face turned a deep red. "He's…whatever, as I was saying…what is that smell?" Ranika sniffed the air, following the scent that lead her to Rinasa's office, where she'd been keeping to herself the whole time. "You're home already! Casserole? No fair, I want some! Gimme some please!" She went over and opened her mouth beside her sister.

"Isn't Ikasaki feeding you?" She asked, her face still emotionless even when her sister rubbed her face against hers.

"But I want casserole! I want casserole now!"

Ikasaki returned from the kitchen with two plates of meatballs covered in sauce. "Stop bugging your sister, you know she's been busy all day! Pay attention to your guest!"

"Sir, it's no trouble at all. She's always speaking of her sister, so I kind of expected this." Tsubame reached for a fork and began to eat her meal. "Mmm~! Thank you very much! And about Mrs. Rinasa, is it true she's a U.A. graduate?"

"Of course she is! I told you that like four times!" Coming back from her sister's office, Ranika sat in a chair near a computer and dug into her own food. Being much less refined than Tsubame, she didn't even bother with the fork, preferring to pick up the meatballs with her bare hands and plop them into her mouth directly.

"Is that surprising to hear? Top of her class, right next to who else but me?" Ikasaki said proudly, pulling out a diploma from seemingly nowhere. Taking a closer look, Tsubame was impressed that he too was a graduate of the prestigious school.

"Amazing! To think two people from our city's police department were graduates of…wait. If you graduated from U.A., you have quirks then, right?"

"My sister inherited the police force from my father." Ranika answered for him. "You remember him, slick hair, creepy eyes, terrible human being in general. Well, he owns a lot in this city, including the hospital, the stadium, most the stores, and formerly, the police department as well. However, he fucked himself a few months ago and because my sister was so smart, she was able to prove herself worthy to take his spot as chief. Then she hired all her friends and now it's always a big party every day!"

Ikasaki rolled his eyes at her retelling of the events. "Language. But more or less, that's all true. I'm sure you guessed this, but we used to work with your teacher, Erina Kanshi. Which reminds me…Rinasa! Wasn't Erina supposed to come by later today?"

Rinasa finally emerged from the room stretching her arms with a yawn. She didn't respond right away, instead glancing towards Tsubame, who seemed a bit intimidated. "Tsubame Nonoka?"

"Eh? Yes, Ms.… Chief, nice to meet you! I'm Tsubame-well obviously you know that. I- uh, am glad to meet y…already said that, haha! You sound like quite an accomplished individual, and…" When she saw that her girlfriend had started to clam up, Ranika spoke up for her.

"I got this! Rinasa, when's the last time you took an IQ test?"

"Huh?!" Tsubame herself was quite confused at the sudden question.

"Oh please, not the 179 again." Ikasaki groaned, clearly having heard this plenty of times.

"179!?" Tsubame spilled some food out of her mouth in shock.

The door opened before she could answer, and a familiar voice responded in her place.

"Who's Ranika bragging to now? Scratch that, who's she bragging to that she hasn't bragged to yet?"

Both Tsubame and Ranika turn around, confirming who they had thought they'd heard as Erina walked in behind four other officers, removing their uniforms and setting them on the racks. "Ah, hello, Tsubame." Taking a whiff of the half-eaten plates, she kept a mostly cheery attitude. "Sure smells delicious. You know, that woman taught me calculus in college, when she was only 16!"

"Wait, Rinasa taught you calculus?"

"Sure did. At first, I was annoyed that a brat like her would be teaching me, even though she knew more than I did." Pausing for a second to think, she smirked. "Actually, I'm still annoyed."

Seeing Rinasa staring her down, she dropped her smile and excused herself from the group. "Speak of the devil. Pardon me, I won't be here much longer. It was nice to see you two!"

Ikasaki turned the subject away from them and back towards more light-hearted topics. "So, you were interested in our quirks and such?"

Tsubame had wanted to talk to the woman herself some more but realized she would likely be too flustered to speak again. "Uh, yeah, do all of you have quirks?"

"We do, as a matter of fact." He pointed to each person he referenced as he explained. "I have Plant Manipulation. Creating plants, controlling them, you get it. Satori's our Sergeant, and he's got Tether. Shoots out wires with little hooks in the ends, you know, tethers and such. Over there is Rinasa's personal…assistant, Coriette." His coworkers had given him a sharp look before he had finished his sentence, cluing her in to something they were keeping to themselves. "She's got sound control or something like that, though we never get to see it much, shame too. The old fart over there is Rinasa's bodyguard, Aki. He has the power of Serration, and he's also got a charming British accent. Lastly, there's the little bowl of happiness sitting in the corner by herself, Hanako. You'll be seeing her at your tournament, since she's the best healer in town."

Tsubame tried to turn to get a better look at her, only to be greeted with a hateful scowl across the woman's face. Her eyes almost screamed evil intentions as she stared the high-schooler down. Thankfully, the interaction was cut short by Erina's re-entry from the office, with Rinasa giving Satori a stack of papers.

"I've approved of her venue, so go on and confirm its location. Ikasaki, you'll be on the sidelines in case we need to stop any fights that get out of hand. Coriette and I should be able to cover the rear wing. Hanako, you'll be there in the healing tent with Hijiri; in case of emergency, he'll cauterize any severed body parts before you heal them. And-"

"Eugh, Hijiri? Gag me." Hanako came out of the corner and playfully wrapped her arm around Rinasa's shoulders. "So, how about Sunako? I take it you figured something out for her as well?"

Rinasa pushed her hands off firmly, putting some distance between the two of them. "Sunako has agreed to patrol with me and Coriette."

"Aww, you three get to have all the fun. Ever thought about letting me have a go every once in a while? I'm more than just a healer, sis. In fact, I think I've hurt more people than I've saved. I could be helpful in dealing with some-"

"I've already told you what you'll be doing, so I'd prefer if you just stick with it for now."

"With all the brainpower up here, you'd think you would recognize some unused talent."

"You'll be in the tent. As I said." Rinasa asserted, meeting the woman's gaze without backing down. A couple seconds passed until Hanako finally backed off.

The short interaction was still intense enough to Tsubame that Ranika could visibly see her become anxious. She leaned close to her ear. "Don't be afraid, she's not that…well, she is that scary, but just don't piss her off and you'll be okay." Ranika whispered.

"Aren't healers supposed to be nice and friendly? And what did she mean by 'sis'?"

"Yep, Hanako's also our sister. Well, she's our half-sister, maternally. I talk shit about my dad, but my mom was definitely no prude. Pretty sure I have a shit-ton of unknown siblings out there 'cause of her."

Tsubame wondered what type of quirk the mother had to have a child who created sheer waves of force, and another who healed people. Seemed impossible, but she didn't give it much thought. After all, mutations happen all the time, and even she herself was a product of atavism.

"Any further questions?" Rinasa looked around. Most of her coworkers were merely putting away their uniforms and logging off their computers.

Hanako lazily fell back in her seat at her desk. "Not really a question but Coriette can't go with us. Unless she's showing off those double-D's, she has no purpose coming, especially as support for you? Rinasa, you know that's just nonsensical."

"Hanako, please." Coriette tried to reason with the abrasive individual, she herself getting rather close to Rinasa. "It's the job she's decided to give out, just-."

"Don't get so ahead of yourself, third string. When's the last time you genuinely did anything helpful for us? At this point, you're only useful for being bait for the enemies or something, which isn't far off from how you got here in the first place."

"What are you talking about, I've helped out plenty! Why do you always act like I never do anything?"

"Who's acting?"

BZZT "Two armed males have stolen a large truck filled with cash in the Kido District, heading towards Habiko. They have taken a child hostage inside the truck. All previous responders have been avoided. Quirks are unknown. Approach with care. Requesting assistance. Repeat: Two armed males…"

"Great, there's always something."

Rinasa was quickly putting her badge and pink uniform back on, not engaging with her sister any longer. "Hanako, Satori."

"Fine then."

"Got it."

"No, I'll go!" Ikasaki said, rushing to his own station to get ready. "You've done more than your fair share for today, and you absolutely must get some beauty sleep! I can handle this for you, no problem at all."

"Yes, problem at all. You may have a strength advantage, but your stronger plants are also slower, meaning we'd have to predict where the truck would go to use your quirk as a trap, which is highly unlikely since they've reportedly been evading capture. A frontal assault might work, but the hostage is a huge variable that we can't exactly account for, and you don't mitigate the danger in any substantial way. Perhaps you could pull the truck and slow them down if we got close enough, except we don't know what weapons or quirks we're up against, getting that close is a risk. You also haven't been drinking a lot of water recently, which impacts the overall quality-"

"Stop! I get it, I get it, you've "chosen the most relevant team" for the job, as always." He conceded, unable to refute her reasoning.

"Plus, you're not as reliable as her, so…." Satori added, smug look and all.

"…thank you. And for the record, I drank two bottles of water earlier…just promise you won't do anything reckless."

Rinasa clipped her two knives to her sides and gave Satori the keys. "I'll do my job as I deem appropriate."

"Can we go with you?" Ranika asked. The attention was drawn back to the two girls, who'd they'd honestly forgotten about completely. "Promise we'll be good?"

"No." The entire group said at once.

Ranika crossed her arms angrily as they left without further discussion. Soon, the sounds of a siren blared through the night as they went off to the scene.

"Unfair! She's always going off doing cool stuff, while I just sit around all the time doing nothing!"

Tsubame looked a little grateful that things went the way they did. "We wouldn't have been any help at all. In fact, I'd dare to guess we'd just get in the way. I'd much prefer we stay away from the action until we're a little more experienced."

"A wise choice indeed. To bed, you two. it's getting late, and you still have school tomorrow. Chop, chop, to your room." Ikasaki shooed them away to the room adjacent Rinasa's.

"We don't have s-" Ranika was ready to object the demand, but when she saw Coriette looking somewhat depressed near his office, she picked up on why they were being sent out and conceded.

"Fine, we're going."

"Thank you, Ranika." Ikasaki smiled at her for understanding, patted her on the head, and went into his office where he beckoned Coriette to follow him inside.

Ranika led Tsubame to her room and lowered her voice to a whisper. "We'll just sneak back out later, Coriette is usually pretty nice so she lets me stay up late. So, you're sure you want to spend the night here? I'm used to them, but trust me, I know they're anything but normal."

"Oh please, I actually enjoyed meeting your friends and sister…s." Tsubame made the word plural almost forgetting the more aggressive woman was also her relative.

"Yeah, I don't know how she slipped my mind. Sorry about that, she's not so harsh to me, but she can be the worst sometimes."

"That's not true, she just expresses herself to others differently. I'm sure she's not the worst."

"You're literally the worst!" Satori shouted at Hanako, who had almost made it her life goal to make him throw up on every turn. The wheels on the vehicle should surely have flown off the car, but miraculously it stayed in one piece. "I can't get a good shot with Hanako jerking the car every five seconds!"

As he was leaning out the passenger window to get a good view of the truck they were in pursuit of, he narrowly avoided hitting his head on a low tree branch. Rinasa, preferring to stand through the sunroof, merely hacked her way through the foliage.

"Oh really? Sorry, let me just ask them to slow down! I'm sure they'll accommodate if we explain your situation, villains are very considerate like that!" Hanako made an unnecessary swerve out of pure spite.

"Stop arguing! Both of you are…" Rinasa calmed herself before further inflaming them. "We're on a street without a turn-off Hanako, so prepare to close in. Satori, on my signal, pull those doors open and be ready to latch onto anyone we see." Rinasa pulled her right blade, Mordred, out as the truck in front slowed until they were only a few meters away.

Satori sensed something was wrong immediately. "We're gaining on them a bit fast. Actually, are they slowing - GET DOWN!"

They ducked into the car just as the back doors of the truck swung open and a bombardment of coins began pelting them. The attacker was a young man spinning hundreds of the loose change around his body, creating a gatling gun of sorts that allowed him to launch many of them at once and at high speeds. Satori threw out a couple wires to snatch him off the truck, but the same whirlwind of change that provided him his offense also deflected the tethers away with ease.

"Don't mess with us, if you know what's good for you!" He threw another volley of coins at them, forcing Satori back inside the bulletproof car for shelter.

"Crap, I can't get past his shield; he's using his quirk to manipulate those coins to spin around him."

"Seems that way but I'll take care of him, you just try to find the hostage inside. And don't worry about being rough if you see them." Rinasa waited out the second barrage until he had let up again. Quickly, she slung her blade with all her strength and zipped it straight into the man's barrier. This time, however, most of the golden coins fell to the floor to the criminal's bewilderment. He didn't have much time to give it any thought, because Satori had already shot a wire into his body and pulled him from the truck towards themselves, slamming him on top of the police car as Rinasa reeled her weapon back in on its wire and shallow grazed it against his back.

"Augh! You don't have to…what the hell?" His anger turned to fear when he realized he couldn't feel his quirk anymore. "What happened to my quirk!? The hell did you to me?!" He was dragged the rest of the way into the car as Hanako pulled closer to the truck's now open rear.

"No visual on the hostage, do either of you see anyone?" Satori tried to get a better look of the inside, but suddenly the car was pushed back by some unseen force. "Christ! What was that? Is he still playing tricks back there?"

Rinasa shook her head as she clicked Mordred back into place at her side. "It wasn't him. Judging by his method of attack, the power needs to act in a circular motion, and additionally his quirk is negated for now. This is probably the other person's power. Satori, me and you, in there while we have a chance."

The two of them climbed atop the car, Satori anchoring a couple lines inside the truck. "Alright, chief. Hanako, try to keep it-"

The hood of the car crumpled instantly as it was forced to a stop, throwing the two on top of it off at high speed. Thankfully, he acted fast enough to grab Rinasa's hand before she went flying into the pavement, slinging the both of them inside.

Shaking off the rough landing, they were greeted by the image of a child, shaking and crying in very wet pants. "I-I-I'm s-sor-sorry! I d-didn't-"

Rinasa more or less tossed him towards Satori without care. She stayed wary and alert while checking the rest of the truck.

"And here's our hostage. We're here now, it's going to be fine." Satori reassured him. Rinasa meanwhile checked around the truck for the sign of anyone else onboard, finding no one even in the front, the driver's seat unoccupied, yet still somehow keeping itself safely on the road. Rinasa tried to deduce what was going on, but she was suddenly hit hard from behind on her head, stunning her and knocking her to the floor.

"Well, look who it is! Rinasa, how have you been?"

Satori shot out a wire towards the offender. With ease, he redirected Satori's attack, tightly tying him up in his own quirk. "Hey, wait your turn kiddo, I've got a grudge to settle with this one. Iraki didn't like me letting you guys get so close, but it was worth it to see your face again! Do you remember me?"

Grabbing her hair, he brought her face to his, giving her a moment to get a proper look at him.

"S-Sando…Sando Takanori." Rinasa grunted, trying to recover from the pain on her head.

"Bingo! You got it in one! For your prize…" He kicked her hard in the stomach, earning a cry of pain from her.

"It…your quirk…" She coughed, trying to find air as she spoke. "Gyro. How did…"

"Gave your team the runaround, didn't we? The guy you got; his quirk is Surge. It lets him amplify the power output of anyone else's quirk for five minutes. Pretty nifty, huh? And you can't get rid of it by just stabbing him with your fancy little knife. Gotta get us too." Walking to Satori, he watched as the boy frantically tried to untie the bindings around the officer. Laughing, Sando snatched him off and slung him into the wall. "I'd stay there if I were you."

As he retightened the wires, Satori tried to engage in conversation. "Why are you doing this?"

Sando looked at him with complete confusion. "Why? Cause I want money, that's why! What kind of question is that to stall? Villains do what they do because, you guessed it, we're selfish! We're greedy! We want it all, and we want it now!" After having a good chuckle, he turned back towards Rinasa, who looked like she was struggling to pull her right-hand knife out again. "Not so fast! I'm not letting you take my quirk away again. In fact, that should have been the first thing I did. Damn kid distracted me."

Rinasa tried to hold her grip on the weapon, but in her weakened state she proved no match for him, and he easily wrestled it from her grasp. "Thank you, and now!" He stabbed it into her side, eliciting a scream from the woman as blood poured out of her wound. "And now both your quirk and the Iblis are useless, eh? You know, I've done a lot of research and planning in advance to beat you so I shouldn't be too surprised at this. But now that I'm here, it feels a little pathetic, beating you so easily." He stepped on her wound to make her cry out once more.

"Rinasa! You bastard, what the hell are you doing all that for?" Satori struggle even harder to free himself, to no avail. "Stop hurting her, she's already down!"

"Maybe if it was any other ineffectual cop, like yourself. But I know how smart this one is. Always one step ahead of you. Even when she's out, she's got some Hail Mary up her sleeve. I bet even now, she's racking that brain of hers to think of some genius way out of this. Too bad this time, you have nothing!" He exclaimed, giving her another hard stomp where he stabbed her, but now only a pained expression appeared on her face. "Aw, don't be like that. Let me hear that beautiful voice cry out again!"

"Magnetism." She said only one word, and it was evident she'd hit the nail on the head since Sando paused at its mere utterance. "You have a third person underneath the truck controlling its metal. That's why there's no driver, nor do you need one. You had Iraki use Surge on them so they could control the whole truck at once, then he used it on you because your Gyro quirk is much too weak to do that many objects on its own."

At first, Sando looked surprised, then he tried to voice an objection that never came out. Then he finally flung the knife into her body again out of anger. "Of course you know that, you know everything! You think you're so smart! Well, think your way out of this one! See where all that brainpower gets you now that you're quirkless! What do you have to sto-Ugh!"

He was thrown into the dashboard by a sudden blast of air, cracking the glass and giving him his turn to meet the metal floor. The source of the attack was the child from earlier, who was visibly still hurting, but also determined to get him away from her. The boy then rushed over to Satori to free him, this time much more successful as he used his quirk to give him added force to pull back and sufficiently loosen the wires from around Satori's body.

"Damn small fry, you'll pay for that one." Stumbling to the window, he opened it up and shouted to the bottom of the truck. "Magnetar! You can sense everything inside, right? The boost should still have thirty more seconds, so take this bitch's other blade and eviscerate them all!"

"You're insane!" Satori quickly shielded the boy with his body and braced himself.

It was silent, save for the rushing wind as the truck continued on course. A few moments passed but nothing happened.

"What's the holdup?! Didn't you hear? Take it and just start swinging it around! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine!"

"About that, uhh…I can't sense any knife except the one in your hand!" A voice from below yelled.

"What do you-"

"You're looking for this aren't you?" Rinasa called out, holding her knife in her right hand as she slowly crawled to her knees.

"Iblis? I know all about that, you need to run your quirk through that. Practically useless…unless…"

"I…still have Mordred and my quirk. I remembered who you were and I figured out your scheme. When you were talking to Satori, I wasn't trying to reach for my knife. I was unhooking and switching the sides, because I knew that you'd take Mordred out of fear."

"You're lying! Desperate attempt to…" He panickily checked the side of the knife he was holding, the word Iblis etched across its side. His face twisted into pure rage. "RAAAGHHH! I am not going to-"

Two lines tore into his skin as Satori made sure to immediately immobilize him from the start. "Don't move another muscle! I'm placing you under arrest!"

"Satori, throw the kid out the door!" Rinasa yelled.

He blanked. "…sorry, what?"

"Throw him!"

"Ah-okay!" He released Sando and wrapped the child up in his jacket. "Trust me, she knows what she's doing." With that last bit of reassurance, he threw him out the back of the door, feeling bad for how the child would handle such a harsh impact.

There wasn't much time to dwell on it. Rinasa had stuck Mordred into the vehicle, dispelling the magnetism imbued on it and letting the truck run wild. Almost instantly, it lost its balance and the front wheels made a hard turn to the right. It struggled to maintain its center of gravity, as it had a significantly heavier bottom than its top, but it could only remain steady for so long before Newton demanded a return on the investment of momentum, and sure enough, it came crashing down hard onto its side, metal screeching and glass shattering as it slid across the road, careening into different cars and objects along its path. The inside of the vehicle became covered in splatters of blood, and money and torn metal littered the cabin. Satori was luckier and had been tossed out the back door before things got ugly for him. The man on the outside with the magnetic quirk had also narrowly escaped, having his chance when the truck had only started to tip.

The other two had not been as fortunate, feeling the brunt of their final destination as the truck finally smashed against a tree, permanently tilting it to its side and abruptly ending the journey of its passengers. Sando was the first to emerge out from the wreckage, bleeding on much of his body. Having put up a small coin barrier around him, he turned out much better than his opposite. Rinasa had tumbled out of the large doors and was now splayed on the unforgiving asphalt, her body a ragdoll covered with blood and impaled upon her own knife going right through her stomach.

Sando tried to move his arms to pick himself off the ground, but found his left arm was broken from the crash, but his right hand was still useable. Sirens in the distance gave him a warning of the incoming police cars, and he made a run for the alleyway nearby, until he was halted by several tethers lodging themselves inside his back.

"Damn it, I said…you're under arrest." He loaded Sando with everything he had until he literally couldn't shoot anymore lines. "I'm not letting you get away."

Picking up some debris, Sando used his quirk to sling some of the scattered metal around, the Surge boost having worn off by then. It succeeded only in knocking Satori to the ground, but his tethers stayed firmly stuck inside.

"Agh! Let me go! Hey, help! Get me out of here!" He had become desperate to escape, yanking them with all his strength in an exercise of futility.

"And get caught? Yeah, I'm just gonna stay away from that one." The voice from underneath the car was heard from a more distant area. "THAT, however…" The many bags of coins began happily bouncing along into the air, way above the ground on top of the buildings, where a shadowy silhouette could be seen. "Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine!"

"Please! Help me! You're right there, I'll be locked up forever for this! Just pull these out of me, rip them if you need, just do something! I can't go back again! I'm the one who came up with this whole plan!"

"Exactly. I suggested we avoid the authorities at all costs, but you had to have your petty revenge. I say you got your just desserts, and I got mine. Tata, my friend." With a leap, he vanished from sight, just in time for the police to pull up with their blinding lights on Sando, who had broken into hysterics upon seeing the lights, shaking and crying in his own quite damp pants as a group of policemen charged at him with guns.

"She…she got me again! DAMN IT, AGAIN!" He fell to the ground in complete defeat as he was handcuffed by the police.

A medical unit picked up the bodies of Rinasa – who was completely unresponsive – and Satori, who pointed at a figure much farther down the street.

"The boy…he needs…help now." He barely got the words out before collapsing onto the stretcher. Removing the deeply inserted anchors from Sando's body, they sedated the villain and placed him, still handcuffed, in the back of an ambulance. A short while later, the remaining officers had recovered the boy, who had a broken wrist and a gash on his head, but thankfully could still move on his own, though he was discouraged by the medics from doing so.

Surveying the scene, another officer commented on the situation. "How reckless! Completely unprofessional! Throwing a child out of a moving vehicle should be grounds for jail! What were they thinking? I'd like to talk to the district manager about this behavior!"

"I don't think you'll get far, I've heard of this force and apparently stuff like this isn't too uncommon. Have to admit, they get the job done."

"At this cost? I believe this not to be worth it. Think how long they'll be in recovery."

While they were dealing with clean-up and investigations, one of the medics noticed someone wasn't accounted for. "I thought they'd sent three officers. We've only got two here. Where's the last one?"

For the next several hours into the early morning, the streets were scrambled with police troopers, looking for the final suspect, while Rinasa and Satori were rushed to the emergency rooms at the nearest hospital. Satori had recovered much by the time they arrived, only suffering minor cuts, a fractured foot and whiplash. Sando was also in a fairly positive state, and the boy was expected to be able to leave after two days.

Rinasa's injuries were the most severe. With stab points on her sides and torso, her liver had been narrowly avoided, but her intestines required intensive surgery, and she likely wouldn't walk for quite some time. She wasn't able to speak until much later into the night, when she finally had a moment pass where the doctors weren't inside her body messing around. When she finally did, there was only one thing on her mind.

"W-where…whe…"

"You're at Kido hospital, and I ask you don't speak. Your body went through an extensive amount of repair, you need to rest." A nurse responded while stitching up an incision.

"Whe…sh…H-"

"Where are you?"

"No…My-my sister…"

"You are Rinasa Sei, correct? Your sister would be Ranika then. She's aware of your condition as of now, we told her you're past the worst of it." The nurse couldn't hold back a feeling of pride overwhelm her. "If you'd gone to any other hospital, I doubt you would've recovered as fast as you did."

"No…where…where's Hanako? The other officer. She was in the car."

The nurse's face paled though she tried not to show an emotional response. Rinasa picked up on the change in her demeanor despite the nurse's attempt to hide it and became more frantic, demanding an answer.

"Where's Hanako? What happened to her? Is she okay? Tell me now!" The nurse tried to keep her down, her movement was going to cause many problems if she didn't stop.

"Ma'am, please calm yourself. You'll reopen the wounds and cause even more harm than has already occurred." Tears started welling up inside her eyes as she was denied the information she needed to know. The nurse did her best to keep the woman's body under control. "You have to stop moving around! You haven't properly-"

"She has to be okay! Please! You have to get her! She has to help Satori and-"

As she became unmanageable, she requested help from two other nurses nearby. They held her down and kept her movement to a minimum.

"Sorry, Miss." The surgeon quickly jabbed a needle into her neck, a sedative. After a few more seconds of struggle, she had passed out once again on the operating table.

A Few Hours Earlier

Ranika and Tsubame had come back into the main lobby, using the computers to play games Ranika had secretly downloaded. With most of the others gone, only Coriette was watching them, and since tomorrow wasn't a school day she had no problem with them staying up past their bedtime. She'd make sure they didn't venture onto any inappropriate websites on the work computers, but beyond that, she let them roam the internet freely.

"Go! He's going to beat you, go Tsubame!"

"I can't, his car's way faster than mine!"

"He's not even fast, we're just so slow! What kind of racing game expects you to win with a worse car than your opponent? That's rigged! You can't ever win!"

The game flashed the Game Over screen at them for the umpteenth time, complete with a quick catchy jingle to lift their spirits even as they failed yet again.

"What are these set to, expert-nightmare-hell-mode difficulty?" Ranika's exasperation had slightly rubbed off on Tsubame as well, quite frustrated with her inability to beat the course.

"This is shits for the birds, let's play the airplane one again!"

"But it's so repetitive. Going back and forth just flying through rings and shooting other planes gets boring too."

"And what, racing around the same track 5 times isn't?"

Coriette tried to interject to make sure the back and forth stayed friendly. "If you don't pick a game on your own, we'll play the boring life simulator you both hate."

Both girls shouted "NO!" at the same time towards the suggestion, quickly restarting the race instead.

The sound of crackling static from the radio got all of their attention. They could only hear a couple of words under all the white noise coming through.

"Ooh! That's probably them! I bet they've caught them and they're all in jail now!" Ranika rushed over to the radio and adjusted its signal to make it clearer. Coriette also tuned in to hear the report of the incident.

"Just a little more…got it!"

BZZT "-peat: A major accident involving a police car and an armed truck carrying large quantities of money transpired in Habiko. Two of the three suspects have been apprehended with a third believed to have a magnetism quirk still at large. Among those injured include a police chief, who is still in critical condition in Kido Hospital, as well as unfortunately two casualties inside a police car two miles behind the stolen wrecked vehicle."