Chapter 8: Trouble in America
Marie was on edge that night. She didn't know what it was, precisely, but she just had a feeling that something was wrong. It wasn't her kids; she had called them as soon as she had that funny feeling; all of them were fine if mentally exhausted from UA's workload. Marie right now was walking along near the Charleston Museum, wondering why she felt this way. She had animal instincts as part of her Quirk, and often moved in battle based more on her instinct than thought and those instincts of sensing danger had served her well. So now she needed to rely on that. Marie took a minute to take a deep breath and smelled the air. She smelled something off and then focused on her ears, and realized she heard glass being cut.
She touched her ear mic and said, "This is Wolfheart, someone is breaking into the Museum." She heard the rest of her team, The Frightening Five, respond, "I'm too far away," Frankenstein's Daughter said. "Same here," said Slither. "I'm on the way," Willow Wisp declared, "I'm five minutes away. Heading to you," their leader the Headless Rider said. One minute later a ball of light appeared next to Marie from the South and turned into a small woman who looked like a zombie in flowing rags. "Let's go," Marie told Willow Wisp, and they headed to the source of the noise. They saw that a staff entrance door had been broken into, and Marie took the lead.
She heard footsteps in front, three people if they were bipedal. "Three targets," Marie said aloud to Willow Wisp and her comrades on their mics. She heard the footsteps going faster, and realized they were going up the central staircase to the second floor of the museum. That was where many exhibits of art and antiques were exhibited, including centuries old china, silverware, and jewelry. "They're heading for the second floor. Willow Wisp, get up there, I'll take the stairs." Willow Wisp said, "Got it, Wolfheart," and turned into a ball of light like her Hero name's sake the Will O'Wisp and flew forward. Marie nimbly ran up the stairs on silent feet after taking off her shoes. She kept her ears open the entire time, focusing on the thieves.
"Hurry, hurry! I'm sure someone's here now!" a woman's voice said. "I can handle any of those Halloween wannabes," another woman with a deeper voice said. Marie smiled as she transformed and felt her strength increase tenfold. "What was that?" a man's voice said, and the First Woman said, "Grab it and get out of here!" That was when she heard Willow Wisp fly through the air and slam into the Second Woman's face with bone breaking force. "Willow Wisp!" the First Woman yelled, and Marie ran up and followed the noise to a hallway of 18th and 19th century jewelry. She saw Willow Wisp in her human form standing over a tall woman with large claws that looked like diamonds, knocked out, while the man was a small man, barely four feet tall, and the First Woman was tall and striking. All of them wore dark blue outfits that covered their bodies but were skintight enough to show their sexes.
"You're not getting out of here, so surrender," Marie growled as she ran up. The woman said, "You can't catch all of us!" The moment she said 'Us', there were ten copies of the First Woman and the Small Man, all of them running in every direction. Marie ran at the crowd and struck out as fast as she could, landing knockout kicks and palm strikes to every copy that got close to her, while Willow Wisp transformed and bounced around like a pinball of light. Within a minute, nearly all the copies were knocked unconscious. Marie looked around and heard two pairs of feet running. "Willow Wisp! Stairs!" Marie yelled, and Willow Wisp darted after the two fleeing thieves.
"No you don't!" the Large Woman yelled, and then a beam blasted from her hand and struck Willow Wisp! The Heroine screamed as she fell, turned into her human form. Marie didn't waste time to say anything, only charged at the Large Woman and went for a hard kick that would have shattered her skull. But the Large Woman blocked it and tried to blast Marie with a blast from her other hand. Marie barely dodged it and said into her mic, "Willow's down! Two thieves fleeing the Museum! I'm fighting a real tough bitch! Get the other two, one's a tall woman the other is a short four-foot-tall man! Woman can make copies!"
As she yelled Marie traded blows with the Large Woman, who ably blocked all her attacks and threw several kicks and hard punches at her. "You're the one I really wanted to fight!" the Large Woman said as she tried a claw slash at Marie. Marie caught her hand and immediately swept her opponent's feet and threw her to the ground as hard as she could, cracking the floor. "UFF!" the Large Woman gasped in shock, and then Marie finished with a hard axe kick to the side of her head, knocking her out again. She didn't waste time and quickly used the standard anti-Quirk cuffs all Heroes had to apprehend her.
Once she was secured, Marie went to her friend. "Lilith, you okay?" she said as she turned her over. She had a bad burn on her chest, but Marie saw she was breathing and not bleeding. Marei quickly tore her friend's outfit to get a closer look at her chest, it wasn't burned but did have a dark bruise already forming. Lilith groaned, "Ugh…what hit me?" Marie helped her up and said, "She has multiple Quirks…SHE HAS MULTIPLE QUIRKS!" Marie realized and quickly yelled into her mic, "Be on the alert! The one I took had at least three, repeat she had three Quirks! Other's might be powered up too!" Lilith stared in shock at this and looked at the Large Woman, "Is she a Nomu?"
"We got multiple hostiles!" Frankenstein's Daughter yelled through the mics. "There's a bunch of women and little people running around! Police are on the scene but it's crazy out here!" The Headless Rider declared as the sound of police and their fellow Heroes shouting filled the air. Marie hoisted the defeated thief on her shoulders and asked Lilith, "Can you fight?" Lilith responded by turning into a ball of light and flying out. Marie kept her grip on the prisoner and followed her out, she had to be ready for anymore tricks the Large Woman had up her sleeve. She wasn't a Nomu, she knew that much at least. The Large Woman didn't have their smell.
Marie left the Museum to a scene of chaos as police and her fellow Frightening Five members and a few other Heroes all struggled to capture the numerous copies of the Tall Woman and Short Man. Marie stopped and took a deep breath with her nose and realized that none of the copies had the smell of living people; they were all fakes! Marie took smelled more and more, and soon found the trail of the real thieves. "The ones you're fighting are fake! The real ones are escaping!" Marie yelled as she tossed the Large Woman to the ground and ran after the trail of the other two thieves. She ran as fast as she could, and soon realized that they were moving with superhuman speed; judging by their general direction they were heading for Gadsden's Wharf and from there to one of the ports on Charleston's coast. They had to have a boat waiting for them. Marie ran faster, running on all fours like a true wolf as she tracked her prey, determined to catch them.
Marie caught up to them just as they were reaching the site of an old aquarium. The aquarium was long shut down, but the physical wharf and port used by it to release injured animals the aquarium had cared for and released was still there. Marie spotted the Tall Woman and Small Man just as they reached the old aquarium and yelled at the top of her lungs, "YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!" The Tall Woman saw Marie running at them and yelled, "Die!" then lifted her hand and pointed a finger in Marie's direction. Marie quickly turned to the side just in time to avoid a small, fast laser beam that left a small smoking hole in the ground. Marie didn't slow down and dodged another laser from the Tall Woman. Marie was just about to pounce on the Tall Woman when suddenly the Short Man slammed into Marie like a small cannonball.
"Distract her! Meet me at the other point!" the Tall Woman ordered the Short Man as she ran off. Marie growled as she got up and told the Short Man, "Get out of my way!" The Short Man yelled back, "Never!" then suddenly Marie heard an explosion from the Short Man's feet, and he slammed into her again, this time into her stomach. She barely had time to flex her muscles and absorb the impact, and the air was still knocked out of her. Marie grunted but then grabbed the Short Man in a tight bear hug. "I got you now!" The Short Man looked at Marie and his eyes glowed. Marie tossed him aside in time to avoid getting her head frozen by an ice beam from the Short Man's eyes.
"All of you have multiple Quirks! How?" Marie yelled at the Short Man as she got ready to fight. "You'll never know," the Short Man said as he shot at Marie again. Marie was ready for him this time though and caught him, making sure his head was down since he slammed into her head-first. She was sent back at least ten feet and almost went into the water before she stopped his momentum. Marie slammed her knee into the Short Man's head hard enough for her to hear his nose and teeth break, and then she lifted the stunned thief and knocked him out with a hard slap that broke his jaw and rocked his brain enough to knock him out.
She then turned and watched as the Tall Woman got away on a boat, already too far for her to swim or jump after her. "Damn you!" Marie growled as police arrived. "Anti-Quirk cuffs! Now! This one has at least two Quirks, maybe more! We need to make sure that he's nullified!" Marie hurriedly ordered, and an officer handed her the cuffs. She quickly cuffed the Short Man and then the pain really hit her she coughed up blood. "Ugh," she groaned as she fell to her knees and returned to her normal form. "Call a medic," Marie groaned as her stomach convulsed and she vomited out what was left of her dinner along with a lot of blood.
"Marie!" all her friends yelled as they arrived. Marcus aka The Headless Rider picked her up and drove his motorcycle straight to an approaching ambulance. "She needs help! She's puking blood!" he screamed as the ambulance stopped and EMTs came out. That was all that Marie heard before she passed out.
Denki was woken up with a call on his phone. He answered, it was Francesca aka Frankenstein's Daughter on the other end. "Denki, it's Marie," she said. The second she said Marie, he was up and getting dressed in pants and a shirt. "What happened?" he asked as he looked for his shoes. "There was a break-in at the Charleston Museum, three thieves, all of them had multiple Quirks. She took down one at the Museum," Fancesca said, and as Denki got his shoes and headed out his house, she told him what had happened. Denki got out his electricity powered hoverboard before he left the house. He strapped himself in and put on his goggles before he asked Francesca, "Where is Marie now?" Francesca answered, "She's at Charleston Emergency Hospital." Denki said, "I'm on the way. See you there. Bye." He then hung up and activated his hoverboard, heading straight for Charleston and his injured wife.
He arrived at the Charleston Emergency Hospital in record time and immediately went inside. He struggled to keep his voice under control as he said, "I'm Denki Kaminari, I'm here to see my wife, Marie Kaminari." The receptionist looked up and said, "Please sign in sir, and I will check on her condition." Denki took a deep breath as he took an i-Pad the receptionist gave him and signed in, focusing on it while trying not to imagine the worst. Marie was prone to getting hurt often and had the scars to prove it. She was a tough nut to crack, but her stubbornness often meant she refused to back down when retreating or waiting for backup would be smarter. He was sure being trained by Mirko was part of why she was like that.
He finished signing in and the receptionist said, "Marie Kaminari is now in recovery and can receive visitors. She already has four guests waiting to see her." Denki looked up and saw the rest of her team were already there. "We can see her now," he told Marcus, Lilith, Francesca, and Sammy. The four Heroes all stood up and then some police officers followed them as they were led to the room where Marie was resting.
Inside they saw Marie, conscious but her torso was wrapped up in bandages and plaster along with her forearms. She was nodding to something the Doctor said and saw her husband and friends. "Hey guys," she greeted them as they went inside the room. The Doctor was a disturbingly thin, almost skeletal man with no hair on his head but a grey goatee on his face and eyes that were completely black. "Aw, you are her husband, Kaminari Denki, aka Chargebolt," the Doctor greeted Denki with a very thin voice. "How is she?" Denki asked as he shook his hand. "I am Dr. John Bones, and my Quirk is called 'Bone Pills'. Basically, I can make pills that help restore broken bones. I have given one to your wife just now, however, I cannot repair the soft tissue damage she suffered.
"Essentially, she suffered minor fractures to her forearms, and severe fractures to ten of her ribs, her lungs were pierced but we managed to repair the damage and drain the blood from her lungs so those injuries are not life threatening. However, she is extremely bruised, and it will take at least two weeks for a full recover, as long as she takes one of my bone pills every day," Dr. Bones explained as he handed a prescription bottle to Denki. "Until she is fully healed, she cannot do active Hero work." Denki nodded, "I understand." Dr. Bones then said, "She must refrain from other strenuous activity as well, especially any exercises that involve her torso. I will provide you with a brace to help restrict her movements. You may need to help her bathe until her ribs have recovered."
Denki nodded at this. And Marie said, "I'm allowed to go now, right?" Dr. Bones said, "Just let me finish the paperwork and get your brace and you can go." After another half-hour, Marie was allowed to leave, by then the sun was finally starting to come up. "We're going to grab a bite to eat and then we'll go home. And when we get home, you're going to bed, babe," Denki told Marie. Marie smirked, "Sure. I guess we'll have to tell the kids what happened. At least I'll be able to talk to them more, just to give them some advice. Plus, I can still work a desk job; I got a mountain range's worth of paperwork I need to work on anyway, maybe now I'll have time to deal with it."
"I pity you," Denki said as they walked to a nearby Waffle House restaurant and ordered breakfast. As they waited for breakfast, Marie's smile faded, and she had a serious look on her face. "What's wrong, babe? I know that you don't like not being able to workout or do active work, but you need to take care of yourself," Denki told her. Marie sighed, "The woman who was the leader of the thieves got away. I'm worried about what she has planned, if she's actually in charge. The fact is that this was a strange theft, all of the thieves had multiple Quirks, at least two or three, and they were robbing a Museum. I'm worried that this is part of something bigger, like someone is trying to make another All For One." Denki swallowed at the thought, and they ate breakfast quietly.