Here it is, the seventieth full chapter of Miraculous Quirks released on the set day that I promised each week. We are still in the original arc I've done for this, that being the Guardian Agency work study arc, but this is an important chapter in it for reasons you will soon read as will the next one which will be the final chapter in this brief original arc before we return to the next of the canon MHA arcs in this story. Anyway, that is all the administrative stuff I have for now though and as there are no review questions to answer or guest reviews to respond to I will end this note here. Do keep the reviews coming as I enjoy hearing from y'all. Now, though, it is time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the 70th full chapter of Miraculous Quirks.

Disclaimer: I do not own either of these great works of fiction

Chapter 70: Patrol Problems

"Now can any of you tell me why all heroes do patrols in the areas in which their agencies are located?" Mage asked as they walked through the streets of the ward in Tokyo that the Guardian Agency was located in. "Creati, I am assuming that you actually have done a proper patrol so hold off answering just yet as Ladybug and Cat Noir haven't done a proper one. Ladybug, you're on the spot for this as I know that I've told Cat Noir the basics even if our patrol during his internship was interrupted so you're the only one with no knowledge or experience of one, in Japan at least."

It was the evening of their first full day as work study students at the Guardian Agency and the trio of U.A. first years were out on their first patrol with Mage who was running it both to teach them about it and show them the area that they had to cover during a patrol. It had certainly been an eventful day, and this was the final event of it before they called it a day.

The day had begun bright and early at 7am with breakfast with the sidekicks who were on shift that morning after a good night's sleep following their battle trial against the latter half of the odd hero and Guardian sidekick known as BB. The former half of their name, Ben, was with them at breakfast though he was off to do a workout afterwards before Beth came out for an afternoon patrol with another sidekick that she was scheduled for, so they didn't spend much time with him or the other sidekicks as they all had their own tasks.

As for the trio, after breakfast they reported to the main activities floor of the agency for their first lesson on what it would be like as work-study students that dealt with the main purpose of the Guardian Agency; international investigations. This was going to be the bulk of their work here, so they had to learn what was going to be required of them right away.

In order to hide in plain sight, the Guardians had created their international agency in the wake of the Providence Accords that codified the first set of hero ethics to do just that and in the process became the only such agency in the world. As such they did their job properly and functioned as the agency that dealt with cross border issues and lending aid to local ones when asked or that were within the vicinity of their branch's location in that nation.

This had led to them actively recruiting normal students from the top schools in the countries that they had branches in to be sidekicks rather than just staffing the agencies with Sub-Guardians from the fourth branch as they'd done at the start. As they knee, each branch was led by at least an officer within the Sub-Guardians with a few lower ranked ones making up senior sidekick and administrative positions but outside the American branches, and a few key international agencies in specific, important, cities the majority were just highly recruited sidekicks.

The Japanese branch was a bit different as it was one of the handful with an actual Guardian running it so less Sub-Guardians were needed, but the general composition remained. Mage explained a little more about how that worked when they met him in one of the conference rooms on the sidekick floor.

The sidekicks here were all graduates from hero schools across Japan, mainly U.A. and Shiketsu but there were some from Ketsubutsu and others, and all had been recruited for three factors: their Quirks, their academics, and their language skills. Given the international nature and cooperation with other countries the last was a must.

It was also the most important thing for them as they gathered in the conference room as they'd be starting off with an investigation into an international smuggling outfit that the Guardian Agency had been asked to undertake. This was an important case and one that Mage actually needed more help with given the rise of international smuggling of illicit items into Japan in the last few months.

Smuggling, be it drugs, sex slaves, illegal support items, or whatever else was desired in a place but illegal to obtain was one of the two main things they dealt with. The other was international fugitives but right now that wasn't so much of an issue for them as none had been reported heading towards Japan, let alone being confirmed to have entered the country, so smuggling was on the agenda for the day.

This case was one that dealt with illegal support items manufactured in China, Korea, and eastern Russia where regulations were easier to skirt and the areas harder to search for such outfits so they could be made there and then moved into Japan for the criminals here. Since the retirement of All Might there's been a huge uptick in black market items, so many in fact that the key players in Japan either had to, or were now able to import them and as such Mage had been asked to task people to look into it and that was where the work study kids came in.

Adrien, given his fluency in Mandarin, was tasked with aiding the sidekicks who were dealing with the Chinese front of this issue. Meanwhile Marinette, who despite her heritage wasn't even proficient in Mandarin or Cantonese and for which Mage wouldn't do the same for them as he'd done with Japanese as that had been a one off, was tasked with aiding the sidekicks dealing with the Japanese criminals and brokers who were receiving the goods. Meanwhile Momo had been given a different, more specific, task, learn Russian.

That was because with her linguistic skills and almost photographic memory she could pick it up pretty quickly, the girl had managed to reach near fluency in French in a semester and proficient enough to hold a conversation with Marinette in only a two weeks, so she would be learning a 7th language to aid with it. There were a few in the agency who spoke Russian, Mage himself did but, well, being an immortal Guardian did have some perks, so she'd aid them when the time came but the numbers weren't as high as Korean, which Momo did speak, so he wanted another set of eyes on that front.

Therefore, they'd spent the morning from 9 when the meeting ended until 1 aiding in the investigation with their set teams. That basically consisted of going over reports, calling either local agencies where the leads were or the ones overseas for information, reviewing footage, going over criminal records of suspected individuals or other public records, and noting what the next steps needed to be.

Well, two of them had been as Momo spent those hours in a small side office reading over books on Russian vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation to get the gist of it as best she could, this would be a task she had to continue throughout the semester but one she was still looking forward to. It would take longer than even French for her to fully master it given the different alphabet and no common roots to what she already knew but she'd manage it in the end, and she knew it.

Overall, it had been a productive morning for them. Adrien had ended up helping locate a potential manufacturing facility in the heart of China that had gotten the sidekick he was working with to call up the Guardian Agency in Shanghai to detail a team to investigate the area with the aid of a local agency in that part of China that they had worked with before. It was the first solid lead they'd had in a month which excited the sidekick as the stuff out of China, while poor quality, was still the largest quantity that was being produced so cutting off even one factory was a good start.

Meanwhile Marinette had ended up finding a potential shipyard that was being used as a front for receiving illegal support items. To add to it the location was right where Mirko had been last seen so she ended up calling the battle crazed bunny to see if she could check it out for them and confirm if they were receiving such goods. That had been a fun call as Mirko had cared more about the fun of breaking up an important smuggler location that was bound to have many guards to fight than anything else though she did thank Marinette for the heads up.

It wasn't as glamorous as they would have liked but it taught them one key lesson, not all hero work was fighting villains and rescuing citizens from disasters be they natural or man-made. Momo had seen a certain side in her internship though at least this stuff related to being a hero even if it was just prep work. By contrast Marinette had spent hers dealing with the cleanup that Mirko left in her wake, and Adrien had either been training or in a hospital with fighting Stain separating them and as such they never saw this side of being a hero.

However, it made sense as there was more to the life than patrolling, rescuing people, and fighting criminals. Hell, this stuff was what made the last one possible as it identified the major villains and what they needed to do to take them down. To top it all off, their work was paying off already as it was looking like they might have a lead on a major importer of illegal support gear or materials necessary to make such that would need to be arrested so there would likely be some action in a few weeks.

After the work on investigations and a quick lunch, they had a full afternoon of training which included Quirk training and standard working out to increase their stamina and strength. The agency had the latest in all the equipment, so Adrien and Marinette had a punishing workout to help their stamina while Momo worked on developing her Quirk more so that her body was ready for some of the ideas she had in mind. Then they had a full simulation in the sim room that Technus had made, a hostage situation that felt very real, before an early dinner and a few hours of rest to get ready for their evening patrol.

Now, after a long day, they were on their final aspect, a 2-hour patrol with Mage around the ward on a set route, one of many that were used by the sidekicks but that were randomly assigned to sidekicks with no set pattern for when a route would be in use so that the criminals didn't know who'd be around when, where, or which heroes would be patrolling at any one moment. Mage had taken the lead in the formation with Marinette and Momo a step behind him and to each side while Adrien with his heightened senses was at the back keeping an ear and nose open for potential ambushes from behind.

"You haven't done one Ladybug?" Momo asked as they walked. "Not even in your internship?"

"Well, it was with Mirko after all she's known for her rather unique perspective on being a hero." Marinette pointed out. "She's got this whole new wave ideal of how things should be done so for her a 'patrol' is actually her hopping around from crime nest to crime nest that she's found in the area she's currently in so as to stop them. She doesn't do normal patrols in the classic sense."

"And for me my one patrol was in Hosu." Adrien added. "And that one kinda devolved fast given what occurred there during our internships."

"Oh, right, that makes sense." Momo said understanding now. "Alright well I'll answer when I can, it was the best part of my internship with Uwabami."

"Wait you interned with Uwabami?" Marinette asked Momo as they walked. "I got an offer from her, but I couldn't turn down Mirko's seeing as she never makes an offer."

"Yeah I thought it would be good as she's a famous hero and at the time I felt that she was above what I deserved after my performance in the Sports Festival, so I was excited to get her offer, well any offer for that matter." Momo said with a sigh. "You know how I'd had my confidence shot by losing so quickly to Tokoyami, and only getting that far because I was on Todoroki's team for the cavalry battle and really doing nothing of note but create things for them beforehand, all the while comparing myself to Todoroki and you two given our statuses as recommended, or akin to recommended, students. You all did better than me and it really made me doubt."

"I can see that." Adrien said from the rear constantly keeping and eye out as they walked. "It was your first real sense of loss due to how you grew up in such a sheltered environment with a keen mind and powerful Quirk so loosing like that can be jarring. You lost to me in the battle trial, but you had me on the same level in you mind and realized that my Quirk cancels yours so I'm a bad matchup. However, you needed to lose to learn you're Quirk, as good as it is, wasn't the best to face Tokoyami's which is much better for battle compared to yours."

"That is all true and, well, I internalized a lot, and how my internship went didn't help." Momo said not surprised that Adrien could assess her situation through the Sports Festival so well given how he was second to her academically and had a rather similar background to hers despite more than two centuries between their childhoods. "I chose it because I thought it was best and ended up more or less in her entourage the entire time with Kendo. Then I learned that one of her main reasons for the offer was because Kendo and I are really cute and that didn't help my confidence at all."

"That I can see even if she's not wrong." Marinette pointed out. "You are a classical beauty Creati and when you become a hero you will get modeling offers so being with someone who knows that aspect of hero work like Uwabami does help teach you for the future."

"Huh, I never thought about it like that because that's not what I really want out of being a hero." Momo said blushing a little at Marinette's complement and seeing some logic in what the more experienced girl was saying even if it wasn't what she was after. "I did see a lot of that side but then getting roped into that whole hairspray commercial was just the icing on the cake for my experience as it had been half the internship by that point, and it all played into my confidence issues until Todoroki helped me in the finals. That said I did at least do a patrol with her after the first cut of the commercial was shown to us which was fun and showed me this aspect of hero work which I appreciated."

"Uwabami has always been like that from what I've been told by the longer tenured sidekicks here." Mage said as they walked. "She knows that she's beautiful and a little exotic what with those snakes of hers and has used her status as a skilled hero, one that is well earned because she is a good hero and an expert at urban rescue who will prioritize that when its needed, to boost that her marketability and supplement her governmental salary. Her vanity gets the better of her at times and that can be felt with her intern offers as they're often attractive females though she doesn't take work study students. Still, when the shit hits the fan she'll be in the thick of it. She was key in saving many lives after Hosu."

"I know she was, it was just hard at the time." Momo said. "Which is why I am so happy for this work study and seeing more true hero work be it investigations, patrols, arrests, or whatever else that is more in line with what a hero is supposed to do and not the side gigs for personal profit that many like to do which is of course their right. I am a hero to help people, I don't care for the side jobs or fame part."

"Good reasons and part of why I made this offer." Mage said switching to French to be safe while Marinette resisted pointing out that one of the reasons for that was because of Momo's family wealth though that was a good thing if done right, as it was with Momo, as it made her more selfless in her heroic pursuits in a lot of ways. "You've got a knack for investigating Creati and the social skills to get what you need without arousing suspicion even over the phone, in person you'll be very good at that aspect of the job I feel, with a little specific training that is. While it wasn't an actual test because, well, you weren't supposed to find what you found but you still showed skills that I couldn't ignore."

"I didn't expect to discover what I did." Momo said in French realizing what they were talking about right away though still keeping it as vague as she could just in case someone they passed actually knew the language as well. "And honestly it's all still a process for me to come to grips with everything I've learned despite the proof that I've seen that backs all this up. Thankfully with everything else that has been going on I've not had the time to dwell on it so it's kinda become easier to accept but still, it's, um…"

"Unbelievable because it is." Mage said. "This is something that can break minds if they are too rigid to comprehend it, but you were clearly strong enough to manage it. One thing we've learned is that in the current Quirk society that humanity is in is that acceptance of the unbelievable is easier even if what we are is beyond even today's norms."

"Yeah it actually wasn't too hard for us to adapt when we learned the deeper truths because we already knew that magic was real thanks to our Miraculouses." Marinette said enjoying using her native tongue for a change even if she'd gotten comfortable with Japanese being her default these days. "So, we got used to it pretty quickly and nowadays I am used to referring to my power as a Quirk than what it was before and fully embrace it for what it is these days. Only the item and its name is still ingrained."

"Well, you're powers are Quirks and if you two have children then they'd inherit some form of your powers, which given that you are creation and destruction is saying something." Mage said causing the French teens to blush, though only Marinette's was visible due to Adrien's support mask, but it was something both wanted one day when they were fully settled as heroes in this new world they'd ended up in. "But anyway, back to my question, what is the purpose of patrols Ladybug?"

"To have a presence in the community where we can be spoken to by those who look up to us, to put the people on ease that we are here to protect them." Marinette said sticking to French as she though on her past in France and why she and Adrien patrolled there. "And to keep an eye out for trouble that may arise so that we can be there the moment it arises. We stopped a few akumas within moments back in the day because of our nightly patrols."

"All good reason and valid for sure." Mage said in French with a nod. "But those are why you did them in Paris, there is more to why we do it nowadays. Course when you are all full heroes you and Cat Noir will be able to do those kind of nightly patrols again but there is one more reason that they are done by heroes in this era as well, one that is more important than the others and which wasn't really applicable in your day as the only villain you dealt with was Hawk Moth and the akumas he made."

"There is?" Marinette asked as she racked her brains for it but came up empty on what it might be. "What is it?"

"Cat Noir?" Mage asked switching back to Japanese as there was no need for French anymore as they weren't talking about things that were best left unknown to others and not looking back at Adrien as he spoke. "I know I told you before the chaos in Hosu started so care to answer."

"Deterrent." Adrien said as he recalled the conversation before he ended up helping Midoriya, Ida, and Todoroki deal with Stain in that battle that had forged the four of them together in ways the rest of the class still hadn't properly experienced. "By having our presence here, being seen in costume out in the open, we can deter crime before it happens because it makes the criminals less willing to engage in it, well publicly. It's not going to affect the darkness beneath us, but it will at least make the streets safe for people normally."

"True the stuff behind closed doors won't be found out which is an issue which is why we investigate to end the threats of those villains or put a stop to their evil actions that have been on going." Mage said. "But there is plenty that can be deterred in the open especially with Quirks a constant presence these days. Then, when you add in a hero's reputation and skill it really helps. The areas with the lowest crime are the ones in the jurisdictions of the top heroes as they know their areas best so have really brought the crime down and can act on a dime whenever trouble does arise. Endeavor may be a jackass but he's the current number 1 for a reason."

"I get that." Adrien said. "And…"

Suddenly Adrien heard it from behind them and stopped to look back causing the other to stop with his sudden silence. He wasn't sure what had caused it, maybe it was the steady footfalls that had been consistent for a while despite their nonlinear path through the streets, maybe it was the slight scraping sound of something being removed, or maybe it was just years of training that did it, but Adrien heard something that had caused the hackles on his back to raise. Danger was near and he had to see what it was so that he could act right away.

Adrien turned to see a man behind them, not too far off, with a hand inside a royal blue jacket drawing something out. The look in his eyes was what gave it all away to Adrien, it was the look of someone committed to a mission for a cause he fully believed in similar to the zealot he'd seen in Stain's eyes when he'd clashed face to face with the Hero Killer.

"Mage, behind us." Adrien said as he extended his baton and summoned Cataclysm to his left hand, but his pause had been enough to get the Guardian to turn and suddenly the person behind had a gun drawn that instantly caused the people to scream and run at the sight of it. "We're under attack."

"Damn that kid must have some good sense, well at least I've got this." The man said in English as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a large, circular, device with a large button on the top that seemed to glow with an unnatural blue light from within. "Let's see you fight without that vaunted power, Guardian."

With that the man pressed the button on the center with his thumb and what seemed to be a blue sphere shot out of the device and surrounded the area including to four of them and instantly the black energy in Adrien's hand disappeared and he couldn't reactivate it for some reason. In addition, all three students felt an odd tingle in their bodies and a slight fuzzing in their heads while Mage seemed to grimace in pain or frustration as soon as the sphere was created.

"It works on Quirks too, but you should know that by now seeing as we've used it a few times before on you vile fiends that narcissistically claim to guard the elements of the world." The man said as he raised his gun and turned it to Momo. "I think I'll take the bimbo first; she seems the most vulnerable here. I wonder how you will be seen when 3 work study students die oh powerful Guardian of Magic."

"My Quirk!" Momo said her eyes wide as she tried to use Creation to create something to protect herself, but nothing was being made, her Quirk wasn't listening to her though she still felt its presence at least. "It's not working."

"Down Cat Noir and roll clear, Ladybug grab Creati and get high, your strength isn't a Quirk, so it won't be affected, and you still have your yo-yo." Mage ordered as Adrien hit the ground so that Mage could leap over him and charge the man as he leveled the gun and began to squeeze the trigger while trying to put himself between it and Momo. "I'll take care of this; this is Vengeful who's openly attack me so I can engage without an issue."

What happened next could have been in slow motion as Marinette acted on instinct grabbing Momo around the waist and leaping up as high as she could just as the gunshot rang out before Mage could get into its path. Thankfully the bullet shot beneath their feet as Marinette cleared 10 feet easily, pulling out her yo-yo and tossing it up to ensnare around a protrusion from the nearby roof before yanking it hard to reel them in and up to the rooftop and to safety as fast as possible.

All Momo could do was blink and still try to process why her Quirk wasn't working and how fast Marinette had just been in getting her clear. The actions, and the fact that Marinette didn't put Momo down until they were well clear so that she could calmly stand on the edge of the roof and look down at the scene below, showed just how experience Marinette was in situations like this. Momo already knew that Marinette was the best in their class, at least in her opinion, but it was moments like this that really reinforced that belief. Marinette was truly on a whole level above what Momo was on at the moment.

Meanwhile Mage had clenched his fists and the blades his gauntlets held shot out as he ran at the villain while Adrien rolled to the side to get clear. The gunman turned to Mage but by then it was too late and with a slash of the left arm, the razor-sharp blade of a special metal that only the Guardian of Metal could create slammed into and then through the gun destroying it though the blow was lower than Mage had intended, and it hit the handle, taking out the man's middle finger and splitting his palm down the middle in the process.

As the man screamed in pain Mage brought back his right arm and thrust it forward so that the blade there drove through the man's left shoulder and out the back eliciting another scream as Mage reached him and took him to the ground as they collided. The force of the impact easily bowled the attacker over and sent both men to the ground.

The man fell back, and the blade was buried in the concrete with Mage on his chest to ensure he didn't go anywhere. As he hit the ground, Mage mentally disengaged the system on his right gauntlet so that it opened up and he removed his arm thus freeing it for what he had to do though the metal weapon he used was still in the man's shoulder and pinning him in place while not being fatal.

"You are a fool to think I need my element to fight, we train for situations like these because your boss is so fond of showing that she has found a way to nullify out powers." Mage said as he reached behind him, still on the attacker's chest, and drew his knife, the one all Guardians carried that they received when they ascended. "Now let's find out what the fuck you are doing here but first I've got to stop that damned contraption that you brought with you as I hate not being able to feel the magic I represent coursing through me no matter how much of my consciousness is present in this form."

With that Mage spun the knife in his hand and then drove it into the device that had been used to nullify both his power and all the Quirks within its area and which was now on the ground, stabbing it through the button and destroying the sensitive materials within it ending the blue sphere before withdrawing it. With that done Mage felt his element return to him in a flood and he quickly called out with it to his students to join him.

Adrien heard from the street where he'd rolled and rose to approach the apprehended villain, his staff ready just in case, while Marinette and Momo heard it from the roof. Marinette just put her yo-yo away, picked up Momo princess style much to her shock as it was a first for her, and gently leapt off the roof. The fall cause Momo to yelp in fear but it was nothing for Marinette as she landed on the ground, her knees bending slightly, unharmed and put Momo down. With the taller girl a little unsteady they approached the scene before them again surprised by just how strong Marinette was after that descent.

"Good now let's get some privacy." Mage said as the knife never left his hand but flashed and suddenly all sounds seemed to vanish, and Momo looked around confused to see that no one was moving. "We're going to have a nice little chat with this guy before the cops arrive."

"Um what did you do?" Momo asked surprised.

"Froze time briefly, a little gift Dominus gave me just before Ladybug and Cat Noir returned just in case I needed it." Mage said as the pressure of what he'd done started and he began calling in more of his consciousness to handle it. "I can't hold this for long, so I'll explain how later. For now, let's deal with this asshole."

"Fuck you Guardian and fuck your Quirk wielding students." The man spat at him pain and defiance in his voice. "I ain't saying a thing."

"You already said enough." Mage said as he retracted his left-hand blade, he'd clean it later, but it wasn't needed out anymore. "So, you're from this era and born Quirkless then. That explains the gun and the vengeance needed for Vindicta to sink her claws into you."

That got the man's attention, and his eyes went slightly wide at what Mage had just said. Mage just grinned at that confirmation.

"How'd you know that I'm Quirkless?" The man asked the pain, and not all physical it sounded like, clear in his voice. "I used the nullification device, the Guardian Killer, so you shouldn't have known."

"Your statement was enough for me to deduce it." Mage said ignoring the inaccurate name of the thing though if a Guardian was hit by it and then suffered what would be a fatal blow to humans in the presence of witnesses it would ensure that that Guardian would have to lay low for a generation or so making it partially accurate. "Vindicta does love to recruit those with a vengeance against the world as their hatred is the most intense just like hers, hence the name she chose, and in today's Quirk society the Quirkless are easy targets for her or that nutcase Flect Turn out in Otheon. So that's how they got you, makes sense. Now why here and why me? There are others of my order you can go after."

"I was just doing as I was told." The man spat out. "Proof of concept so that our associate here would be willing to accept our money and advice when he's finished developing his drug that I for one really approve of as it will cure the sickness that is Quirks that has infested this world. He's got the solution, a true drug that destroys Quirks and it's almost ready."

"Wait really?" Momo asked her hand over her mouth though that could also be because of the blood present, however as a hero she did know that she'd see plenty of this in the field, she'd seen her own blood thanks to a villain after all, and a lot worse so it was likely the Quirk destroying thing that got to her. "That shouldn't be possible. No one can destroy a Quirk. Sure, if you destroy a person's Quirk factor then you render the person Quirkless but that only works with those who's factors are specific like eyes or hands. That villain from Hosu, All for One, can steal Quirks but it doesn't destroy them."

"We live in a society where almost anything is thanks to the advent of Quirks and over 200 years of them working through the generations, growing and mutating as they did." Mage said glaring down at the man under him. "So, it's not a surprise that someone has manifested a Quirk that can do that or has the potential to do so as a side effect of what it actually does, and if this asshole is saying that they have an associate then it's bound to be organized crime or some villain group which if it's the League that's not good."

"You think the League would be involved with the Vengeful Spirits?" Adrien asked. "I get that the members of it have some issues with society, but they seem small compared to what you've told us about your ancient foes."

"No, All for One is too smart to be duped by them but Shigaraki, who knows, he might turn to unexpected allies given his current status." Mage said as he felt the taxing of the use of this gift begin to get to him. "But we don't have the time for that. I'm going to end the time pause soon and let the authorities deal with him, between the gun, attempted murder, and membership in an international terrorist organization, which is what the Vengeful Spirits are designated as, charges he's looking at a few decades in a prison here before we take custody of him. They'll interrogate him and get the truth out about the associates and report it to us as this device is smuggled in so he's within our purview."

"But can't he tell your secret to them?" Marinette asked.

"Who'd believe him without proof." Mage said while the man just snarled at them. "He'll just come off as crazy, that's how they usually deal with these people and then they get killed by another of Vindicta's agents for blabbing. No, he'll only spill what he knows they'll believe or how the Vengeful Spirits have adapted to this new, more open, age for us."

"Wait you can confirm he's with these Vengeful Spirits?" Momo asked.

"Yup like us they tattoo their followers." Mage said as he twisted the man's neck to the side, hitting a pressure point in the process to render him unconscious. "See."

All three looked down and saw that on the man's neck was a tattoo that they hadn't noticed before. It looked like a pair of strange, curved swords of different designs crossed to form a crude V with a single rapier-like sword down the center and all under the crook of a scythe. It was certainly a strange design.

"What is it?" Marinette asked looking at the tattoo.

"The weapons of the 4 Vengeful Spirits who run it, their crest is an amalgamation of them to show that they're willing to fight to achieve their goals." Mage said as he stood. "Vindicta wields a rapier, Scimitar a scimitar as his name indicates, Ulcisci a khopesh, and Spirt was the only Guardian to ever use a scythe. A bit on the nose for her but she was a little like that before she betrayed us. Now Creati, make a bag and grab that item so we can look at it back at the agency."

"Surely it is evidence?" Momo said as she made the bag instinctively glad to feel her Quirk again. "Also, I can use Creation again, that was weird."

"That was because the item, an exceptionally rare and hard to make item that I'll explain it later." Mage said. "And no, that abomination falls under our jurisdiction as it is a specific, smuggled, item made by the organization which the Guardians have primary authority on bringing to justice. Only problem is that I can't touch it."

"You can't?" Marinette asked surprised as Momo did as instructed and picked up the device with the bag so as to not get any fingerprints on it just in case it was needed to convict this villain though she didn't expect it would be necessary after such a public attack. "Why?"

"Because it's infused with Vindicta's power and that doesn't exactly mesh well with my own Guardian signature that all immortals give off to show which pantheon or branch they are in." Mage said. "How she developed this we don't know, one of her many secrets, but these devices can't be touched by a Guardian or else we are hit with her power and rendered unconscious for a few days at least while dealing with the aftereffects for a while longer. Since the advent she's made these things even more potent so that they can stop Quirks as well, but I'll explain it later when we have a moment to assess it back at the agency."

With that Mage sheathed his knife and let out a sigh of relief as the power ended and time resumed its normal course. It was draining and required more of his consciousness than usual to use hence why he seldom used it. Still, it had done what he needed it to do which was the key thing.

"Alright the police are on their way." Mage said as the sirens could be heard, the panicked civilians having no doubt called it in already. "We have to stay here to deal with them, sort out some forms, give some statements, and I have to sort out my justified use of force in bringing this guy down then we can return to the agency where we can go over this device and more. The patrol is over for tonight though, next week we'll do a proper day patrol that should be less dramatic to really get a feel for them."

The three students just nodded as they waited for the authorities. This was a part of hero work, so best that they'd learn how to deal with it now and then, after this, they'd have another important meeting. It had certainly been an interesting first day of their work study and little did they know that what they'd just stumbled into was part of a grander conspiracy that would require 4 major agencies, several smaller ones, and a few notable independent heroes to bring down. All in a day's work however for aspiring heroes.

Ah nothing like a good old-fashioned bit of foreboding as we move into the Overhaul arc, and I am sure that y'all can guess who the associate is in this situation. I had to figure out a way to bring in the Guardian Agency into the whole take down Overhaul and save Eri mission and this is how I've done it so now Marinette, Adrien, and Momo will all be a part of that mission with of course more twists than the canon version to fit in with how they got brought in but of course more on that nearer the time as we still have to assess what happened and give a little bit of backstory and context for it before we can move onto what comes next. That is all I have for you however so I will leave this chapter off here. As always, if you like it or have any questions please let me know in reviews or PMs, I will try to answer them as best I could and post any questions asked between uploads at the start of the next chapter and do follow and favorite this, so you are alerted to future uploads. Do keep the reviews coming as I like hearing from y'all as you enjoy my work, it motivates me to keep producing the best work I can for y'all to enjoy. Until next time.

Stringdog