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Brockton Bay

Saturday, December 12, 2009

11:31 AM

One of the reasons the Empire was a constant thorn in the city was due to their large cape roster. Even when members would leave or get incarcerated, there was always someone willing to fill out the ranks. Some of them may truly believe their abhorrent ideology, some might only believe in the surface tenets, some come simply looking for a fight.

A big issue was always how the Empire could recruit members through misguided teenagers and adults, who clearly had no qualms about throwing in their lots to actual nazis. The PRT claimed to do their best to cut the problem out from the roots, but the Empire's support base never wavered over their long history in the city. Selfish idiots who would rather engulf themselves in hedonism and villainy even as the world around them fell apart.

Due to their widespread reputation and support base, the Empire would always have another dreg of society to fill out their cape roster. Every few years, or even every few months at times, Brandish and the rest of the city's heroes would have to adapt to all-new threats as they pushed their advantages.

Several PRT officers were injured and, in the worst cases, killed when they suddenly lost their ability to drive or properly shoot their weapons when Victor first appeared. Stormtiger and Cricket were recruited within a few weeks of one another, their control over air and sound respectively sending several heroes to the hospital due to surprise attacks, including Brandish herself at one point.

Now, Brandish had to deal with a cape that could freely move around as a literal ball of fire. Brandish had been attempting to maneuver the two of them into a building with sprinklers, with little luck so far considering her opponent's superior speed, cutting her off at nearly every turn.

If it had been Hookwolf alone, Brandish and Manpower could have dispatched him well enough. Manpower would have been able to hold him down, giving her enough time to cut through his metal exterior.

However, neither of them held any advantage over Blitz. Neil was unsuited to fight a mobile enemy that could move around in all directions, and Brandish's burning weapons only caused Blitz's Breaker form to swell even further, likely siphoning her power's energy. Brandish was unsure if her sister's Blaster power would be subject to the same siphoning effect, which would mean none of New Wave could easily counter Blitz. Unfortunately, due to her ability to at least deflect the rushing fireball using those self-same weapons, Brandish was at least better at defending herself.

Although, defending herself would be much easier if Brandish was able to access her Breaker form. While there was nothing stopping her from doing so, Brandish and Manpower had already learned the hard way that Blitz could easily envelop the entire space around Brandish's Breaker form, effectively trapping her in the center of the fireball. Manpower had to tackle Brandish out, which left him open to receive a fairly deep cut from Hookwolf.

Brandish tilted sideways to deflect Blitz above her using the bulwark on her left arm, taking care not to accidentally trip herself as Brandish's feet once again felt unsteady.

Additionally, it would be even easier if Victor had not stolen some of her skill in using a shield as he passed by. Brandish was still able to properly hold, deflect, and redirect, but it was a nuisance knowing that there was something off about her form.

Blitz reformed into her human form in the air, before lighting a rag with the flickering flames around her. Of course a fire-based villain would have molotov cocktails available, when villains could care less about the lasting damage they could do.

Brandish, despite being aware that the distance between her and her opponent meant she would be unable to stop Blitz from throwing the molotov, rushed forward nonetheless as the glass bottle flew in her direction. Knowing from past experience that using her power, even her shield, would be severely bad against a molotov cocktail thrown at her, Brandish dodged to her left.

As Brandish expected, Blitz reformed her fire Breaker state before flying directly towards the molotov flames. However, the size of Blitz's Breaker form meant that if Brandish did not step further away, Brandish would still get burned.

Accepting that, Brandish stayed her ground as Blitz approached.

Let us see whether Blitz stayed unharmed if Brandish swung a large maul directly through the center of the fireball, at the point where the flames were at their brightest.

Considering how Blitz flew past unimpeded, the answer was that Blitz did stay unharmed, at least in her Breaker form.

The only saving grace was that Brandish confirmed that her fire-resistant costume could at least hold up against the heat. Even if the charred ends of her gloves indicated it would not be for very long.

And with how Blitz's Breaker form had effectively doubled in size by consuming the flames from the molotov cocktail, that heat resistance was about to be tested.

Brandish blinked sweat out of her eye to better gauge the situation around her, at least slightly inundated against heat from the few prior encounters against Lung. It occurred to her that it was likely that ability to absorb flames that was why Blitz was previously slated to fight against Lung.

After taking a wide curve to collect most of the flames created by the molotov cocktails, a much larger Blitz flew directly at Brandish.

At that new size, Brandish had no confidence in being able to redirect Blitz's momentum without heavy burns.

So instead, Brandish transformed into her own Breaker state.

Throughout the fight so far, Blitz had not shown the ability to instantly turn herself around, instead having to take longer curves or returning to human form to do so first. Therefore, it stood to reason Blitz would be unable to stop her momentum when flying at a fast enough speed.

Brandish sensed as Blitz attempted to slow herself down to pull the same trick from earlier, but failed as the fireball slipped directly past Brandish's Breaker form.

And directly into Hookwolf.

Even if they had been fighting somewhat separately, the Empire capes looked to have forgotten this was a team fight.

Manpower took a hard stop next to Brandish, ready for the moment their opponents would disengage from one another. It would be harder to pull off a second time, but teamwork was an advantage that New Wave held in this particular fight.

Except moments continued to pass, and Hookwolf remained in the center of Blitz's blaze.

Before Brandish could start wondering if something had gone wrong, the two Empire capes moved once again.

Bradish's eyes widened as Hookwolf's feet left the ground, before a giant flaming wolf barreled into Manpower's chest in the blink of an eye.

As Manpower managed to barely remain standing, Brandish felt a piece of metal whip around and cut into her arm. There had also been a burning pain, but there was not enough time for Brandish to even check if the wound had cauterized, as unlikely as the thought was.

Because now the two of them had to deal with a Hookwolf that could fly and had a Mover rating.

And was on fire.

11:34 AM

Good news: having an allied Master on her side made it more difficult for Dad to fight her.

Bad news: Dad was fully aware of this and was now doing his best to attack her temporary… teammate? Teammate.

Which meant Glory Girl had to play a glorified game of keep away.

Glory Girl flew backwards as a tree collapsed where she and her teammate had been moments prior. It was impressive how adaptable Dad was, switching his aim so that he would attack the environment whenever his motions were messed with. Having trees fall on her or dirt thrown into her face was not a fun time at all.

Her teammate patted at his chest and complained the moment she let go of his collar, "You could be a little more gentle. My ribs are still bruised from the sudden princess tackle."

Glory Girl would've apologized if he didn't say it in a painfully mocking tone, while looking at her with what she could only interpret as sheer disregard. Instead, Glory Girl picked him up again by the back of his collar as she scathingly replied, "I get that it's not your problem that it's my dad, but can't you take this seriously? Like, keep him still at least for a little bit?"

"Eh. Sounds like too much effort." He blandly complained as she carried him further away, irritating Glory Girl enough to tighten her grasp to start pinching at his skin. "Ow. Hey, I already said to get me behind the guy, didn't I?"

"How is that supposed to-" Glory Girl began to say before clamping her mouth shut at seeing another two of Dad's orbs being flung in her direction. She didn't even see him throw them, when did he even get the chance to do that?

The two orbs detonated in rapid succession, destroying her forcefield and blasting the two of them back and sliding alongside the dirt as Glory Girl lost her grip on her teammate.

As Glory Girl got up from the ground with a groan, getting painfully reminded that she wasn't that used to taking any actual hits in a fight. Considering the last real fight she was in, she ended up getting taken out by a stupid bullet, she really needed to shore up that weakness sooner than later.

"You suck at this, don't you." Her teammate monotonously commented. It almost reminded Vicky of Amy on a really bad day, even though Ames probably wouldn't be callous enough to snark in the middle of a fight.

Glory Girl angrily clenched her fist with a twitch in her eye at that completely unnecessary criticism, even if she had to admit it was partially true. She had to pull her punches against dad, even if she could get close enough, and her aura wasn't working on him either. Glory Girl seriously considered whether to ditch the fight altogether and call for backup, but thoughts of what they might make Dad do in that short absence stopped her from entertaining that option further.

And it's not like she trusted her 'teammate' enough to do it in her place. Scanning around her, Glory Girl spat out to the guy who was still lying down in the dirt. "Well, I don't see you doing anything about it, either."

Vicky winced immediately after she said it, realizing how whiny and petulant she must've sounded just then.

"It's a Master fight, moron." He said with listless eyes staring directly at her. Little bits of dirt flaked off of his curly black hair as he tilted to face Glory Girl directly. "Other guy's got a better grip on your dad, it's a pain making him do literally anything. Also, dealing with how the other guy's trying to Master us too is even more of a pain."

"Wait, what?" Glory Girl said, theories flying through her head. "They've been trying to Master you?"

"...You mean you've been sucking this much without fighting the mastering? Ugh. Can I switch teams?"

Okay, that's it. Having spied the white of Dad's costume, Glory Girl ignored how her teammate complained, "Ah. Here we go again," as she picked him up by the front of his shirt.

"You wanted to get past Dad, right?"

"Wait, you aren't-"

Whatever her teammate was about to say was cut off with a yelp as Glory Girl flung him directly forwards. Despite the weird shape of the projectile, her aim wasn't off as her teammate was set to collide directly with her dad.

Glory Girl made sure to follow behind at a decent delay as well. If she was right about how Dad wasn't fighting to kill or even severely incapacitate, an idea that got reinforced as the fight progressed, then her teammate was awkwardly at his safest when he was being thrown at a speed that anything Dad would do might seriously injure the guy.

She was willing to apologize if she was wrong, but he was asking for it by being so grating on her in the middle of the fight. It wasn't like Glory Girl wasn't about to abandon the offense to protect the guy if absolutely necessary.

Something that didn't need to happen as Glory Girl watched Dad swerve himself to let her teammate fly by without interruption.

Which also meant Glory Girl could finally exploit her speed advantage, taking that slight moment where Dad dodged the unexpected projectile to bring down her interconnected hands to club her Dad in the head.

Though Glory Girl did have to make sure to hold back some of her strength, she wanted to knock out her dad, not knock off his head.

A flash of light caused Glory Girl's eyes to wander downward to her Dad's chest. Where what looked to be a dozen of his orbs were being cradled in between his arms.

Dad wasn't going to-

They exploded.

Good news. The explosion was only a singular impact so her forcefield protected her even if it sent her flying anyway.

Bad news. This time her forcefield didn't come back in time before her body slammed into a tree.

Glory Girl gasped out from the pain of bouncing off the hard bark before slamming into the dirt. Again. Agh, she swore she really needed to get better at judging how to pull back her punches.

"Fucking princess." A certain annoying someone said in an exasperated groan nearby. "You actually. Really. Suck at this."

"Shut. Up." Glory Girl responded in between pained exhalations of her own. "I got us past Dad, didn't I?"

"There had to be a better fucking way of doing it." He spat out. "But yeah, maybe another bitch feels like joining us on the ground, huh?"

Glory Girl darted her head to where she heard a feminine yelp. That quick movement was how she was able to barely see some sort of optical camouflage effect 'pop', revealing a teenage girl who tripped herself into the ground.

The newly revealed cape was wearing a plain violet robe that reached down to just above her knees, with a flowery-looking white masquerade mask on the upper half of her face with a similarly violet outline. There was also a vibrant purple flower tied tying her black hair into a bun.

Considering Glory Girl doubted she was wrong a second time about the new teenage nature-themed cape was Lost Garden, Glory Girl couldn't help but vindictively feel satisfied at seeing the newcomer desperately scratch at her throat while heaving her lungs out in deep breaths.

"Wow. From a princess to a prissy-looking bitch, huh." Her teammate mockingly remarked as he got up to his feet. He paused in his motions for a moment before continuing, "Wait, did insulting you seriously make you lose control of your power?"

"Fuck. You." The purple-themed cape barely managed to spat out in a coherent manner while still emptying out her lungs.

"Maybe later. I'm not into the whole flower-power hippie thing, to be honest." Her teammate shrugged before tilting his head. "Holy shit. Does making fun of you actually make you lose your control on me, because that's hilarious."

In lieu of words, the new cape's blue eyes balefully glared at the two of them before locking onto what was in Glory Girl's hands.

"Also, from one Master to another, you really should get better at multitasking." Her teammate shrugged, referencing how Dad had been forced to throw his cell phone in your direction moments earlier. "It's really sad that I'm the only one actually good at the whole fighting thing."

Glory Girl sent off a text with a smile, as stretched as it was as being needled for being inadequate. Heh, to think her skill at texting fast could come in handy.

[X] Stay on standby. You still did not know whether or not there would be a situation that needed her and it would be hard to find Eric in a timely manner.

11:35 AM

Amy was the first to respond to Crystal's mass text informing everyone that Eric was missing. There was a push notification from her saying Crystal should stay on standby unless she knew exactly where Eric was going. She couldn't read the full message at the moment, preoccupied with sending the third text to Eric, yelling at him for being an idiot as Crystal started floating downwards in the front of the house.

A beeping noise coming from Eric's room once Crystal sent the text caused her expression to fall. Flying back through the window, Crystal saw as Eric's phone was abandoned on his bed, slightly buried underneath his blanket.

…Holy shit, her brother was a complete and utter moron. Crystal genuinely couldn't even tell if Eric left it home on purpose, remembering past times he forgot important crap at home.

Crystal took the moment to read the rest of Amy's text. It sounded like her power suggested that Crystal probably wouldn't be able to find the moron anyway.

Her best guess was that he was heading directly towards the center of action at ABB territory, so hopefully Mom would be able to intercept the moron before he did anything dumb.

Still no reply from Uncle Mark or Mom though, as Crystal began surfing the internet again.

Wait, people were saying the mercenary guys showed up in Empire turf next to the Boardwalk? But there was nobody even there- oh that's probably why actually. Shit, they can't really do anything if there isn't even a real fight.

Crystal stopped contemplating when her phone began ringing, her screen being replaced by Mom's caller ID.

Answering the phone and holding it up to her ear, Crystal greeted, "Hey, Mom."

"Eric's really missing?"

Ah. Mom's doing the 'I'm worried but also seriously pissed' thing.

"Yeah, and he also left his phone in his room."

Crystal waited for Mom to finish making unintelligible noises of frustration. Holding her phone between her ear and shoulder, Crystal looked up more details as to what happened with the mercenaries. From the skim, it sounded like they swept in and set up but they weren't doing anything violent yet. Actually, they were being careful even around the idiots that were recording them.

"I'll have to keep a look out then." Mom eventually said with a follow-up sigh. "He better not have gotten into any trouble."

Good job Eric, you got Mom all worried about you. That knucklehead better come back alive. "Is everything alright over there? How's Dad or Aunt Carol?"

"I don't know yet, I think I'm going to check in on them, it sounds like they aren't fighting every cape in Empire, most of them are still on their way here."

"Isn't that bad?" Crystal questioned, getting up and moving away from the computer towards the door. "Do I need to come help?"

"No, not right now-" Mom stopped talking, probably because she got the same text notification as Crystal. Moving the phone away from her ear, there was a text from Uncle Mark- no, it was from Vicky.

Crap, Uncle Mark got Mastered.

"I'm going to Vicky." "Can you help Vicky, Crystal?" The two of them spoke at the same time.

"Yeah, I'm on the way." Crystal reconfirmed, already flying towards where Vicky should be. "Is everything going to be alright where you are, Mom? Since it sounds like you can't come to help."

"Hopefully." Mom said, and Crystal could picture Mom saying that with a thoughtful frown. "It sounds like we're going to have to deal with the bulk of the Empire, Chorus Gang, and from what it sounds like, Mirrors showed up too."

"That's-" Crystal began, wondering if she should slightly change her flight angle.

"No. The PRT's here and coordinating with me. It sounds like they already expected this and were trying to keep things quiet. Almost all of the Protectorate are heading here."

"All of them?" Crystal asked in disbelief. Wouldn't that just cause things to escalate way quicker?

"Except Miss Militia apparently. They're waiting to surround every single villain that's coming to try their luck, something about better mobility." Mom clarified. "This entire ABB area was set up as a big trap."

[x] Handle Oni Lee and any conspirators. It was a familiar threat and one that may not need to escalate if you interfered. The Protectorate may have vehicles better suited for the other conflict

[x] [Energy] 3

Current Emulation Energy: 18

11:35 AM

"This fight is meaningless! Lung is already gone!" You cried out, clicking your tongue as your third Miasma spell flew into a cloud of ash.

Between the limited space of this translucent street and his superior mobility, it was starting to feel for every movement you made, Oni Lee was able to make two. Lysithea was somewhat prided on her swiftness of her reactions but it couldn't compare to an enemy who was functionally a Trickster fighter that had no limit on how often they could use the Foul Play Combat Art.

Only instead of the Trickster switching another individual with themselves, Oni Lee was essentially doing constant short-range self-Warps.

Your student batted another grenade aimed directly behind you, with movements that tried to emphasize her inherited yukata.

The two of you had already attempted diplomacy but the only thing that had any pause on your opponent was when his eyes drifted to the yukata, at least according to your student.

You assumed it was because some part of him was willing to listen to your past self, but after a few failed attempts to talk him down, it occurred to you that whether or not you were willing to let Oni Lee know you were the same person, he had not even seen your current form's face.

Several pellets pounded into Oni Lee's body, only for it to be revealed to be yet another body of ash. Only a minute or so ago, a few vans had left the Protectorate Headquarters, presumably in response to the vehicular combat you had not prioritized. It caused Oni Lee to swap targets, worrying the two of you until your current ally in Miss Militia prevented conditions from worsening by quite literally dusting the enemy combatant.

Although, with how many clones had been dusted, visibility was starting to worsen. Was that the goal? You were used to the idea of using mages to worsen visual conditions, even if enchanted torches could counter the effects somewhat.

"Behind you!" Amy called out to your new ally. The green and black energy in Miss Militia's hand shifted from a shotgun into a some sort of dagger that she silently swung behind her.

However, rather than meeting another ash clone, Miss Militia's knife caught onto Oni Lee's vest at an odd angle. You could see as the weapon began reforming into something else, but at a rate that would be too slow to react to Oni Lee swinging a knife of his own. Miss Militia leaned her chest back from the incoming blade to buy herself more time.

It also gave your student enough time to interfere, using the longer range of her bokuto to stab underneath Miss Militia's arm to deflect Oni Lee's knife and continue forward into his chest as well.

This time, Oni Lee once again exploded into ash. The burst of particles left you unable to fully perceive your two allies.

"Thea!" Your student yelled, the bokuto suddenly flying in your direction. You failed in your first attempt to catch it, the wood stinging your hand as the bokuto bounced off of it. You inwardly cursed as you grabbed the weapon with the other hand, berating your failure when you should be far more dexterous than that.

Regardless, you now had a solid grip on the weapon, although the shape of the bokuto was different from the swords Lysithea was used to. Even so, it was a weapon you could use to attack the enemy that was abusing line of sight to attack you from behind. Something that would have worked if you did not have another set of eyes looking out for you.

Twisting your foot to solidify your stance, you crouched low before leaning your whole body forward with the next strike.

The Crest of Charon activated, the brand appearing in the air around you, as you activated Soulblade- even this would use energy?! No, this wasn't a clone. If shortening your existence was the quickest path to end the fight, so be it.

Current Emulation Energy: 18 - 1 = 17

"I don't have time for this!" You felt your strike break bones, Oni Lee unable to react to your strike.

You still grit your teeth as the body collapses into ash, only moments after you connected the blow. No, even without the full follow through, that strike should leave him on the verge of unconsciousness if not knocking him out entirely. He shouldn't be able to continue-

A dark magic circle expanded underneath your student, the flickering form of Swarm attaching itself to a target. Oni Lee was on the floor, but with the glimpses claimed in between the ash, he was still conscious.

What level of resilience would one need to have to still be fighting after that?! The sheer amount of magic you could pour into Soulblade was enough to fell literal monsters! It was as if he was trying to mimic your past self's endurance!

The sound of buzzing intensified as the insect facsimiles formed on Oni Lee, but you could tell the spell's might was lessened with the lack of actual insects over the ocean as you were. At best, flies were attracted from the nearby Protectorate Headquarters, and whatever could catch on the other end of the spell's range from the Boardwalk further away.

Even so, it was clear the insect assault was unexpected from the way Oni Lee was now flailing against his new much smaller opponents.

And then the buzzing suddenly multiplied. Again and again as the buzzing started to expand in a circle around your group.

Wait, was he transporting the insects with each clone as well? That meant you could actually track his movements by listening to where the buzzing would suddenly sprout from.

Your student was the first to react, attacking the sound coming to her side, followed closely by a discharge of bullets from Miss Militia.

You and your student's eyes widened at seeing the grenade rolling on the floor. It occurred to both of you that with his new injuries, the only thing Oni Lee could resort to was trying to catch your group on the edge of as many explosives since he could no longer risk getting any closer.

You had been hoping to avoid using any more emulation energy, and while you could reason that Amy could likely survive the incoming storm, that was a risk you were unwilling to take when you had an easier solution.

Form the matrix. Mark your allies. Designate the point of origin.

Finish the spell.

Current Emulation Energy: 17 - 1 = 16

"Luna!"

A black circle formed in the sky besides your group, drawing in anything it could that you had not already marked. The grenades, the ash, several Oni Lees, and even light itself.

The way light twisted made an illusion of a full moon form around the spell, giving it the namesake of Luna.

"Is that a black hole?!" Your student exclaimed worriedly, though you would have to ask what exactly she meant later.

Now none of the grenades should be an issue, even if they went off, the spell should catch any fragments as well-

Your eyes narrowed. Was something interfering with the spell? You still held a connection to it, and it almost felt like the center of your Luna was stretching and splitting apart. When the grenades went off, it almost felt like the center of the spell was significantly further away from where it truly was. Why did it-

Your thoughts were once again interrupted as you darted your head around to the shoreline, where the sound of buzzing began once more. Swarm was still activated, even if you could tell the effects were fading.

Oni Lee was being hefted up into a car by some other figures in the car that you could recognize was wearing red and green. From how he was being bodily handled, it looked like Oni Lee was in no condition to help himself any further.

It left a bad taste in your mouth to do nothing as they retreated, but unless you used more energy to Warp, Miss Militia was the only combatant that could engage at this distance-

"Do it again! The black hole thing!"

You turned back to the voice to see a small young dark blonde girl in a white and green costume that almost reminded you of Flashbang's costume. You could vaguely recognize a determined look directly aimed at you through that green visor.

"Vista, what are you doing?!" Miss Militia ordered, though there was an underlying tone of worry in her voice. "Get back in the building!"

How did you respond?

[ ] You could tell the girl was serious and you knew better than to underestimate someone by their age. Cast Luna again. (± 1 Emulation Energy. Net zero, causes synchronization).

Brockton Bay

Saturday, December 12, 2009

11:33 AM

~Optional BGM: Three Hopes OST - Between Heaven and Earth [Inferno]~

Spoiler: Three Hopes OST - Between Heaven and Earth [Inferno]

Brandish despised how she felt trapped in the dark. Yet she had to continue relying on her Breaker form against the combined forms of Blitz and Hookwolf.

Manpower had already taken a significant amount of damage from taking the first hit unguarded, and those wounds were exacerbated when he attempted to block the next pass as well. Manpower's shield was strong, but there was only so much it could hold up against consistently.

Realizing that it would not be long before Manpower might outright lose the ability to hold up those arms if the pattern continued, Brandish had to take it upon herself to shore up their defenses. It wouldn't be long, Hookwolf charging headlong into her Breaker form would only give them mere moments of extra time for Manpower to not take the charge head-on and properly leverage his electromagnetism against a metallic enemy. Even so, mere moments were necessary against any Mover of substance.

At the least, the two of them had a few seconds of respite between each pass. It appeared that having Hookwolf in the center of the blaze further compromised their ability to capably turn around.

It was not until the fourth pass since Brandish had become the primary line of defense that the pattern was broken.

Instead of swerving around mid-air, Hookwolf's metallic claws tore into the asphalt of the street. His body whipped around before halting roughly, Blitz's Breaker form following closely but stopped overlapping as the flames continued after Hookwolf stuck himself in place.

Hookwolf swiftly dislodged his claw from the ground before bringing the chunk of metal of an arm down onto where the Blitz's Breaker form was centralized, no longer being in the center of the flames themselves. Additionally, there were deformed parts of Hookwolf's metal body. It was a lethal combination attack, but if Brandish inferred correctly, it was not something their enemies could continue without end.

Blitz was harshly pinned to the ground hard enough for the asphalt to crack in response, her Breaker form disengaging after protecting her from the brunt of the impact. Brandish could make out Blitz's pupils looking around wildly behind her goggles before crying out, "Wait, what the fuck just happened?!"

Brandish focused intently at Blitz's apparent disorientation. Was she only saying that due to their combination attack or could that hold some sort of hint as to a potential weakness?

Then again… looking at Manpower's newly bloodied knuckles, Brandish was unsure if they were in a position to capitalize on it regardless.

An outright growl escaped from Hookwolf, and he said something Brandish was unable to catch at their current distance. Whatever it was, it snapped Blitz out of her stupor into anger.

"Fuck you too!" Blitz exclaimed, struggling against the grapple. Could she not access her Breaker form as long as she was pinned?

"Hookwolf!" A commanding voice shouted. Although Brandish did not have a view of the side street the voice came from and where Hookwolf's attention was now focused on, she still had a fair guess as to who that voice belonged to. "Stand down!"

Brandish had worked with the PRT regularly enough, but it would be harder for her not to connect the voice to other publicity events held for Brockton Bay's upcoming golden boy.

A line of electricity shot out from the side street, Hookwolf rotating himself around to meet the attack head on. The moment Blitz was no longer pinned, she rolled alongside the ground before reentering her Breaker state.

When Dauntless finally entered Brandish's line of sight, she could see that the hoplite-inspired armored hero circle around the two Empire capes to be on the opposite end from where Brandish and Manpower were standing.

As he assumed that flanking position, Dauntless's arclance was retracted from Hookwolf before immediately extending once more at Blitz, though it was not aimed at the center of her form presumably to avoid any potential lethality against an unknown cape..

Unlike Brandish's weapons, Dautless's arclance did not cause Blitz's Breaker state to swell any further, instead a rippling disruption went through the flames.

Despite that effect, Blitz did not stop in her movements. As much as Brandish appreciated the Protectorate back-up, Dauntless did not shore up that particular vulnerability in the fight.

None of that meant Brandish was willing to give up this fight.

11:36 AM

Okay, text finally sent, Glory Girl could expect some reinforcements soon. As much as she wanted to punch out the Master, not only did she not want to risk her Dad being in trouble any longer, but she still had no idea how he got Mastered in the first place.

Without any guarantee Glory Girl wouldn't fall prey the same way, she'd prefer if someone knew that a human Master was around.

If she judged right, it would take 3-5 minutes if Aunt Sarah were to come, or 4-9 minutes if Crystal were to fly straight here from the house, ignoring Eric.

But now that the text was sent and Plan B was secured, Glory Girl could finally start on Plan A. Pocketing the phone before cracking her knuckles, she approached the flowery girl on the ground. "Alright, let's try this again. Stop-"

Glory Girl paused when her teammate lazily held up his opened hand in her path. He didn't look at her as he said, "So the other guy going to show up too? I doubt you were actually smart enough to do the Stranger hiding thing like that."

Glory Girl… was a little upset at that. She was hoping to bait the Stranger more directly, not by verbally provoking him. Whatever, there wasn't enough time for this, Glory Girl didn't know if Dad would start attacking them at any moment.

"Let's see, eenie meenie- whoa." Her teammate put down the middle finger he was using to point at random directions as he stumbled when Glory Girl brushed past him.

Perfect, now Glory Girl could actually focus on her original plan.

At least, that was the intent before there was another visual 'pop' in the air and an absolute behemoth of a man attempted to shoulder tackle her- no, he was going for her teammate?!

Glory Girl barely managed to reposition herself to throw a left hook at the upper arm of the incoming juggernaut. Her forcefield broke upon impact as it felt like her own upper arm took the brunt of the damage, but she did manage to push back the new enemy. The new guy was even flailing their arms around before he regained his footing.

Good. Glory Girl had the strength advantage then.

She took a moment to side-eye her teammate. It didn't even look like he even bothered to try and dodge. Glory Girl assumed it was something about his power because there's no way an annoying prick like him trusted her enough to be there in time.

"You're here, Oak?" The flowery Master questioned. Her voice was still strained from having emptied out her lungs earlier, but there was palpable surprise and relief in her tone.

The newly named 'Oak' said nothing as he put up his dukes again. This guy wanted a slugfest? Glory Girl could oblige.

Glory Girl analyzed her new opponent as quickly as she could. On second look, the new guy wasn't quite as tall as Uncle Neil, though he was taller than Dad. His 'costume', if you could even call it that, looked like someone hollowed out a log, put themselves into it, and called it a day. His 'mask' was also just a wooden bucket that the guy put on top of his head, with slits for eyes. It made Glory Girl assume he was an amateur at fighting, since there was no way he was properly breathing through that thing. Unless whatever his power was covered that weakness.

And considering how strong the impact was on her earlier hook, there was no way this guy wasn't a Brute. If the ridiculous musculature of his bare arms and skinny jean-covered legs wasn't already making that blatantly obvious. It long passed the hot-buff-guy territory and into the disconcerting-exercise-freak territory.

Between his wooden 'armor' and the flowery Master girl's unflattering attire, maybe Lost Garden could be recognizable by how low-budget their nature costumes looked?

Oak flung his hand back before trying to deliver one of the most telegraphed haymakers Glory Girl had ever seen. Yeah, her earlier assumption about the novice fighter thing was right. The guy didn't even seem to consider she was probably quicker than him. All she had to do was jab him in the stomach-

Glory Girl widened her eyes as she noticed a bright light out of the corner of her field of vision. She was familiar enough at this point to realize Dad was about to lob something at her again.

She could hear her teammate behind her quietly say 'Ugh,' with a slight slur.

Okay, priorities.

First, punch the guy. Glory Girl flew in close, flaring out her aura. The injected fear caused Oak to flinch, even if it was unnecessary with how far back Oak's fist was. Glory Girl buried her own fist into where Oak's solar plexus would be. There was an oddly satisfying crack as the log 'armor' was unable to hold up against her punch.

It felt like Oak hadn't even braced himself for the impact considering he got knocked back into the dirt right next to his flowery buddy.

Now she had to grab her teammate so he could-

Glory Girl abruptly doubled over from a sharp pain of something pounding into her stomach. She felt the wind getting knocked out of her, even if she valiantly recovered mid-air.

Her forcefield was still activated. What just happened?

The sound of the flowery cape coughing caused Glory Girl to refocus her attention. The flowery cape was scrambling backwards, no longer heaving her lungs out.

Her teammate probably had his hands full with Dad again, but rather than help him, she decided to try just knocking the Master out to see if that would cut off her power. Her teammate would only need to hold his own for a few seconds at most.

Flying forwards, Glory Girl didn't slow down as Oak clumsily scrambled to a standing position between her and the Master. It was annoying Oak managed to do that when he should be terrified of her, but that fear meant he didn't even have a proper guard up. Glory Girl could literally punch past him-

A thought suddenly cut through her head. Wait, was that what was going on?

Instead of punching Oak, Glory Girl harshly grabbed his right forearm before yanking him in another direction, away from her direct path.

Sure enough, Glory Girl felt the pain of something constricting around her right forearm before a subsequent force pulling at her shoulder, completely ignoring her forcefield.

Oh, that was an annoying as hell power.

Resolving to deal with it later, Glory Girl quickly closed the distance between herself and the Master. Gripping the girl's shoulder, Glory Girl turned her around before punching her in the face. Glory Girl did hold back, but not as much as she did with her Dad earlier. If it caused a broken nose, the girl honestly deserved it anyway.

Once the flowery cape went limp in her grasp, Glory Girl turned back towards her Dad.

Damn, it looked like Dad didn't even pause. Glory Girl flared her aura to test for a reaction before punching the limp Master again to no avail.

Alright, we're doing this the hard way then.

[X] You could tell the girl was serious and you knew better than to underestimate someone by their age. Cast Luna again. (± 1 Emulation Energy. Net zero, causes synchronization).

11:36 AM

For a moment, you hesitated. You were unsure what casting Luna at this distance would accomplish, and some hypocritical part of your mind couldn't help but question the judgment of such an obviously young girl. Even Lysithea had to have looked older when attending the Officer's Academy at age 15.

But disregarding someone based on their physical appearance and no other factors would leave a bitter taste in your mouth. This 'Vista' knowingly chose to put herself in danger and wore one of the bright costumes that denoted those willing to stand up as symbols.

You would not belittle that resolve.

Current Emulation Energy: 16 ± 1 = 16

It seemed that your student also caught onto your thought process, stepping back from where you were holding your hand directly upwards into the air, looking directly towards the escaping vehicle..

"Luna!"

The pitch black dot reformed, nowhere far enough to reach Oni Lee and his conspirators. It was only a few meters away from your estimation.

"Vista, what are you…?" Miss Militia's questioning voice came from behind you.

However, you were far more preoccupied with your spell to even turn around.

For one, it was utterly fascinating at how you could feel the Luna spell split apart and stretch. The center of the spell was being shrunk whilst the area of effect was expanding. Nothing about the spell wasn't being manipulated by an outside force.

For another, nothing about the spell wasn't being manipulated by an outside force. A spell that you were responsible for maintaining the structural integrity of. Changing a spell mid-cast was something that was never done, especially with dangerous Dark Magic. Yet the core of Luna remained, and it wasn't the caster manipulating the spell.

Faith Magic spells like Silence could cut off another mage's access to their own magic, and the practice of manipulating others' magic was documented. However, it only dealt with outright denial of magic or rallying effects that could bolster the spell before it was constructed. Editing a spell mid-cast was unheard of.

You could feel the spell matrix threatening to fall apart and you were the only thing that was keeping it stable as you had to make improvised adjustments.

Oddly enough, it was due to your past failures when first researching Luna that was currently keeping you afloat. Remembering what caused specific mistakes, like when the pull caused Luna to collapse in on itself, the ally marking wasn't stable, or having the central circle take on odd shapes, was how you were course-correcting.

So many failures, partly due to outright refusals to have anyone's assistance. Professor Byleth was odd in how she persevered in her attempts before eventually cracking her way in.

Those lessons with the Professor were naught but fond memories now.

You felt it before you saw it. Luna reappeared over Oni Lee's escape vehicle. Yet the core of the spell remained at the point you casted it somehow. '

Realign the effects before the core explodes outward.

Luna split off into four smaller pieces, two for each side of the vehicle.. You bit the inside of your cheek. That was going to be a bit trickier.

Split the spell circle itself into four separate compartments. They still needed to be held together by one overarching matrix; don't abandon the original spell.

The edges of Luna were… attaching themselves to parts of the car?

No, question later. Change the direction of the extended output now. If you had to imagine the original Luna as a full moon, you were adjusting it into a crescent instead.

And now something was causing Luna to avoid the people inside the vehicle. You… weren't sure how to fix that, but this was the only manipulated effect so far that was promoting stability rather than the opposite. So there was no need for any extra focus.

…You should also avoid killing your enemies this time around. Luna wasn't ever the most lethal spell, but it was consistent. There was also no excuse for experimenting spellwork on people lacking magical resistance, simply for the sake of cruel experimentation.

It also seemed you spoke too soon about the latest effect promoting stability. There was now ash being drawn into the split Lunas, as the appearance of one of Oni Lee's clones reset the spell's filtered targeting.

How vexatious. The sudden shift in priorities was causing the spell to collapse in on itself as if it did not know how to handle a regulation being broken. However, Dark Magic was notorious for detonating whenever a spell reached its limit compared to how standard Black Magic would instantly deteriorate instead.

You had no frame of reference for what this current form of Luna would do. You had to safely disengage the spell.

Unraveling it piece by piece… wouldn't work. The synchronized harmony between the four sections you created earlier would only cause the spell to collapse even quicker and potentially more violently.

No, this time you'd have to rely on faith. There was a reason that you advanced in your combined magic studies enough to easily claim the title of Gremory. You'll have to overcome the failing stability of the Dark Magic through nothing but willpower.

And willpower was something you had plenty of.

A Faith spell matrix that diametrically opposed your edited Luna spell circle appeared before both canceled each other out of existence.

The crescent Luna spells harmless dissipated, much to your relief. You watched as pieces of the vehicle clattered to the ground, from the peculiarly shaped metal doors to the black tires, all now missing the attractive force keeping them from experiencing gravity. All that was left was the husk of the vehicle and the panicking people inside.

~End Optional BGM~​

You fell to the ground on your knees. That was a mental exercise that you had not been expecting whatsoever. From an outside perspective, it would've looked like you had been standing still for a few scant seconds. Yet this must be the most exhausted you felt as this emulation.

"Oni Lee's retreated." Miss Militia reported.

"No, no." Vista said. "I think I'm still tracking him, I can still feel the lingering effects from where parts of him were being pulled in. He duplicated a bunch of times but I think he stopped not that far. I think we can get him!"

As Miss Militia reported the current details of the situation, your student approached your collapsed form.

You could hear the concern in her voice as Amy asked you, "Are you okay, Thea?"

You straightened yourself out to present confidence. "Hmph. Do not underestimate me. Sorcery is my natural talent. Something like this is nothing."

"Uh huh." Your student replied, though her lidded gaze indicated to you that she was falsely believing that you were putting up a front.

Without another word, your student extended an open hand. You looked at it skeptically for a moment before accepting the gesture to help you back onto your feet.

Perhaps this would be a good time to try lightening the mood. "On another note, when exactly did I become just Thea?" You teased with a slight smirk.

However, instead of getting embarrassed or otherwise, your student sucked in a breath before adopting a stoic expression.

"Um?" Vista said before you could investigate your student's curious response, having drawn closer to you. "Thanks. For trusting me."

You raised an eyebrow knowingly while staring directly into Vista's green visor. "You are welcome, but I don't believe I need thanks for doing the natural thing."

Vista broke away from your gaze to look downwards with a complicated expression, "That's a new one. Hopefully everyone else thinks the same."

Vista turned towards the shoreline where the husk of the vehicle was, though the angle suggested she was looking to something even further beyond. "But it feels really good to have made a difference."

A PRT van would soon transport your group, following Vista's instruction as to where Oni Lee should be while another group handled those around the vehicle.

You found Oni Lee collapsed over a set of plaza stairs, with a few bystanders standing around him.

Rather than immediately arresting Oni Lee, his injuries dictated that he would receive some level of first aid. It was increasingly concerning as Oni Lee failed to respond in any shape and form to any stimuli, including pain.

It was your student that was the first to suggest Oni Lee may have slipped into a coma.

Brockton Bay

Saturday, December 12, 2009

11:04 AM

The Marvelous Adventures of Shielder.

No, that sounds a little off, kind of like one of those cartoons for really young kids where they call out, "Can you spot the hero? Dot dot dot. How about now?" when there's some firefighter or PRT officer clearly in the middle of the TV screen.

Maybe, Swords and Shielder?

Eric winced before he even finished that one. That sounded like some fantasy series or Dungeons and Dragons thing and someone got the name wrong. Who would even play the sword in that comparison? Aunt Carol? Maybe Amy? Wait, why was he considering this again?

Okay, how about the Amazing Shielder and Friends?

That sounded okay? Although Eric should probably look up whether some other hero already came up with something like that. It sounded generic enough to have been done before. Eric would also need actual friends for it.

Aw man, he just soured his own thoughts. Sure, Edwin and the guys were pretty cool and stuff but Eric knew that it was honestly more of a surface level relationship. Not the kind of thing where they'd all have each other's back, to hell and back and all that. Hell, he probably learned more about Connor and Julia from like the two times he met them at Winslow. That Kyo- wait, no, Kiyoko girl also showed up at his house but it's not like he knew her that well either.

But comparing that to Edwin, when Eric had never been to his house or met his parents or anything and vice versa. I don't think Eric knew what Edwin wanted to be when he grew up or his birthday and stuff. All their group did was hang out a bunch, could Eric count that as friendship? Eric scratched at his chin, thinking he might be the bad friend in the relationship. How do you actually do friendship anyway?

Eric clasped his hands behind his raised hood, taking care not to reveal his blue hair underneath. He might've still had his costume on, but it was under his zipped-up jacket. Someone might recognize him and tattle to his family.

Going off on his own might've been hasty, but come on, it was obvious things were gonna get bad and it was obvious where things would get bad at. What the heck was staying at home going to do? Eric could do so much more just by coming here and being there when he was needed.

Plus, if his family really needed him, they'd for sure call or text him. He hasn't felt his phone vibrate yet so things are probably still fine.

The Amazing Shielder and Family instead? Like, Eric was New Wave too, and they could do a family of heroes-type of cartoon. Eric didn't think something like that happened before.

Best Eric could think of was back in elementary or something when there were a bunch of cameramen documenting their daily lives back when Jess was still alive and New Wave was a lot more famous than they used to be. But that was part of a documentary series, since Mom wanted the media attention to be more focused on seriousness and accountability and uh. Stuff.

Eric was thinking more about a name for cartoon series right now, or maybe an adventure drama, not a documentary.

Eric admitted to himself that he wasn't any good at this. Some other person would have to figure out the details.

Speaking of other people, Eric asked himself, "Where is everyone?"

It wasn't like things were completely deserted. There were still a few cars passing by and the occasional person on the sidewalk like him, but compared to what Eric was used to when he normally walked around in the middle of a Saturday, this was nothing.

There was no way that the Lung thing would make the whole city grind to a halt, right? How many people even tuned into the news these days anyway?

Not to mention Eric still wasn't actually in ABB territory proper. He was pretty sure he was only about to be barely on the outskirts if he remembered things right…

Actually, which way was ABB again? Eric was positive it was in this direction, but which way was where he was supposed to be going exactly?

Before he could ask the one person near him on the sidewalk, Eric's ears pricked as he heard another car about to pass by. At first he wasn't going to think anything of it, but he caught the incoming truck with the edge of his vision.

That truck was coming real quick, no way, were they coming to him? Nice.

"Hey asshole!"

Oh man, they were doing the cliche thing, yelling bad words and waving guns around. Count on the Chorus dudes to have perfect timing to let him go do the hero thing-

Wait, they weren't actually looking at him? Why not-

Eric stopped thinking, and started beating his feet rapidly to catch up to the guy he had just been about to ask for directions.

His classic blue forcefield formed in a curve around Eric and the other guy, moments before a few bullets crashed futilely into it.

Eric kept his forcefield up even as the truck kept driving away. They were still loudly yelling obscenities that Eric would probably forget to look up the meanings of by the time he got home.

The Chorus guys kept driving away though, so Eric finally had a clue where to go if he wanted to go do the whole hero thing.

Oh wait, first things first.

"You okay?" Eric asked the guy next to him. Eric was sure nothing got past his shield, even if he didn't know if it would've actually hit either of them. Better safe than sorry though.

"Y-Yeah. Thanks." The guy nervously replied, patting himself down with one hand with the other clenching at his shirt.

"Cool!" Eric gave a thumbs up before chasing after the Chorus Gang truck. "Make sure to get somewhere safe and stuff!"

Eric hoped he didn't fall too far behind. Kinda sucked that those Chorus guys went for the other guy instead of him for some reason.

Maybe they didn't want to shoot a kid or something.

Wait, that guy was totally Asian now that Eric thought about it. Maybe because of that? Then again, Empire was the racist bad guys, right?

He'd have to think about it later.

Eric dug out his blue visor from his backpack and unzipped his jacket, hovering slightly above ground at a speed barely faster than what he could achieve by running.

For now, he could finally go do a heroic thing!

11:36 AM

Man, how many detours did that make it now?!

Eric inwardly sighed. He had already lost that one Chorus truck.

Not to mention he was also… just lost.

At some point, Eric had gotten turned around and completely forgot where he was supposed to actually go.

It might've happened when Eric had to help bandage up that old guy who was standing too close to a store window when it got shot at. At least none of the glass hit him anywhere really bad, like his eyes, from what he could tell.

Or the time where he had to get a man and woman out of their broken car. It took a while for one of them to regain consciousness so that one of them could answer the paramedics when they came and Eric could head off with peace of mind. He also spent way too long wondering if they were a couple or siblings or something.

Not to mention the whole sequence with the burning building. Eric had no idea how that one even happened, Lung wasn't even around, right? He had to make two trips inside to get people out before things got bad enough to the point of, like, one of those excessively burning buildings in the cartoons or something. The firefighters did show up and Eric left it up to them after that.

Eric still didn't appreciate breathing in the smoke there was though, forcefield or no forcefield. He even had to ditch his jacket since it wasn't as durable as his costume. Probably.

And just now, Eric had to help a group of people properly evacuate since the rush of people knocked a dude down. He didn't want to see the guy get trampled on accidentally.

But at least, Eric finally had a lead on where to go! Apparently Empire passed by and one of people running said Hookwolf was fighting around here.

After following where they pointed, Eric hovered towards where the sounds of what he probably thought was fighting were coming from.

Finally, Eric could start doing the hero thing, and Shielder could make his appearance properly.

~Optional BGM: Three Houses OST - Fodlan Winds (Rain)~

Spoiler: Three Houses OST - Fodlan Winds (Rain)

Once Eric was close enough that he could start hearing grunting noises, he carefully peeked around the corner.

There was a lot Eric saw that he needed to take a moment to process. Dad and Aunt Carol were there- oh wait, Manpower and Brandish were there and were beating up Hookwolf, and Dauntless was beating up a fireball? Wait, never mind, fireball turned into a person.

They were all moving around a lot, and honestly, Eric wasn't sure when exactly he was supposed to drop in. He didn't want to make a stupid mistake where he revealed himself and then got someone else hurt because they wanted to protect him or something.

Eric was here to help after all.

Doing something like that would be a rookie mistake, and he wasn't a rookie even if he hadn't really done a lot of fighting yet.

Manpower looked hurt too, and Eric wasn't about to make things harder for his dad either. Even now Manpower was actually getting pushed back by Hookwolf somehow, when that shouldn't really happen. Manpower was getting a bit closer to Eric though, so maybe he could-

Eric's eyes widened, noticing the big bright fireball was suddenly aiming at Dad.

No more time to think! Shielder ran out from cover, approaching Da- Manpower. Manpower briefly paused as he was turning to face the new threat, likely noticing Shielder was running up from behind him.

Shielder would first do the thing he was really good at and make a forcefield wall between them and the fireball and then-

Wait, whoa. His forcefield was way bigger than it should've been. Huh.

Awesome.

Anyways, with his bigger, better shield that he definitely did on purpose, Shielder would block the fireball that was trying to slow down and then, uh.

Shielder watched as the fireball slammed against his shield. As the flames flattened across the surface of his forcefield, instead of bouncing off like Shielder was expecting, the fireball was reconstituting the person before the flames spread apart too far.

It was really trippy watching something sort of explode but then, like, reverse-explode and turn into a girl.

Shielder barely even felt the impact, and only once the girl was fully reformed in that split second did her body bounce back from the shield and harshly onto the floor.

Before she could get up, Shielder decided to use one of his beams to hit the fire girl again. They were weak enough that it should still be fine hitting anyone with almost full force. At the very least, his beams weren't that much slower in comparison.

Shielder winced as his aim was a bit off and he ended up blasting her face instead of her chest area. The fire girl was raising her head at first, but it went straight back into the ground after the hit.

Shielder attempted to run up to her again, only for his path to be blocked by Manpower's hand. Shielder took a moment to see Manpower was still looking directly at the fallen fire cape, which made Shielder realize that he shouldn't have looked away from his opponent.

Although the other people were still fighting, and both of them knew it, Manpower and Shielder repositioned, walking around in a wide arc while waiting for the fire cape to get back up.

Except… she didn't?

No way it was that easy, right?

Shielder immediately put up another forcefield, as Hookwolf had just stepped away from Brandish, before tumbling backwards in the air to shift targets to Manpower and him.

Even if he was paying attention to the fire cape, Shielder wasn't going to get blindsided that easily.

Shielder flinched from the weight as Hookwolf landed on the forcefield, metallic claws clutching at the top.

And then Hookwolf vaulted nearly instantly over Shielder's forcefield, getting right on top of him.

Shielder panicked at that, not realizing how quickly a big metal wolf could get over the forcefield wall. Shielder tried to raise the forcefield wall to try and catch Hookwolf's feet, but was stopped when he felt himself get roughly kicked in the side.

Shielder tried to reorient himself as he tumbled, but couldn't do it until the moment he came to a complete stop a few meters away. Manpower must have kicked Shielder away so he could take the brunt of the impact himself.

As Manpower was outright balancing Hookwolf above him, the metal form scarily close to Manpower's face and already digging into his hands, Brandish and Dauntless had run up holding a lance each, positioned to stab upwards.

Shielder threw in his own assistance by placing a forcefield on the side of Hookwolf where Brandish and Dauntless weren't in as much of a position to attack, blocking off that entire avenue.

A metallic club-looking thing extended out of Hookwolf's neck before swinging around to smash into Manpower's chin. The impact knocked aside Manpower, further cutting up the hands he was using to grapple Hookwolf, and freeing Hookwolf himself to launch himself towards the other two close-quarters heroes.

Forced to abandon the attack, both Brandish and Dauntless stepped aside before the mass of blades fell onto them. Brandish replaced the spear with two small stave-swords to defend against the metallic weapons slashing at her. Meanwhile, Dauntless's shield expanded into a white energy forcefield, and the crackling noise of the forcefield intertwined with the scraping noise of the storm of blades and other weapons against said forcefield to produce a sound deafening enough that Shielder was forced to cover his ears.

The noise subsided immediately once the three of them broke away from one another. The subsequent standoff was broken nearly instantly as Dauntless extended his lance to strike at Hookwolf's side, even though it didn't seem to actually do anything.

It was then that some other loud noise came from somewhere behind Shielder, but far away and above. While he first assumed his messed-up hearing was imagining it, Shielder tensed as the other three standing fighters paused as well. Hookwolf made some odd movements, but Shielder had no idea how to read the body language of a weird metal wolf nazi.

Shielder wanted to turn around to see what the thing was himself, but turning away from Hookwolf would be really dumb. Especially when he could barely handle Hookwolf while facing him directly.

It didn't take long for the brief respite to end as Hookwolf sidestepped over to where the fire girl was lying, completely ignoring Dauntless and Brandish as they both attacked him. Shielder was able to place a forcefield of his own between Hookwolf and the other villain despite the distance.

However, even though Shielder had no idea if his forcefield could even withstand Hookwolf tearing into it, metal chains wrapped around the forcefield and grabbed the fire cape. His forcefield barely slowed Hookwolf down.

And then Hookwolf ran, the fire villain in tow. Shielder felt taken aback at the idea that Hookwolf was running and rescuing an ally, since from what he knew about Hookwolf contradicted everything about that idea.

It's not like it was all that effective, considering Dauntless was easily able to chase to keep up the fight, using that superior mobility to continue attacking Hookwolf at odd angles. Although Hookwolf didn't look to be slowing down at all, he was also unable to really scratch Dauntless in retaliation.

Shielder prepared to chase after Hookwolf himself, until a hand planted itself onto his shoulder before he could start flying away.

"Leave it to Dauntless for now, Shielder. Help me with Manpower." Brandish ordered.

Shielder darted his head around to look at where Manpower was slumped unconscious against the side of a wall.

Dad?!

11:39 AM

Glory Girl slapped away Oak's arm. It was getting more progressively more difficult to deal with the guy, but mirrored pain or not, Glory Girl wasn't going to be dumb enough to let an amateur fighter grapple her in place.

On cue, there was a stinging pain of being slapped on her arm. Only far worse. It didn't take long for Glory Girl to confirm that the pain returning to her was getting more potent with each hit.

Her head was still feeling the after-effects of when she attempted to knock Oak out in one blow and withstand the consequences. Glory Girl nearly knocked herself out from how bad the blowback was, and she was fighting off the dizziness now. She hoped it was just the pain that was mirrored, because she knew from experience that black eyes suck.

Except the jerk didn't go down even after that hit. And also heavily tended towards the fight end of the fight-or-flight fear response.

It was easy enough to get around the guy, but it was really getting on her nerves that each exchange felt like Glory Girl was teaching him how to properly throw his fists around in a practice spar. She couldn't use her full power, and he was getting slowly better at not being a complete mess when fighting. Nowhere near a rate that could be considered power-assisted thankfully, so there were still openings to exploit with her better speed. It was just getting harder.

Then again, Ames did throw off her idea of accelerated learning so she might be wrong about that bit.

Oak wouldn't have been a big deal by himself, but having to deal with her mastered Dad on top of things was the only thing stopping her from ending the fight. Every moment Glory Girl tried to press an advantage, Dad would interrupt her momentum. Every time she tried to back off, Dad set things up so Glory Girl had to choose between getting blown up or getting corralled back towards Oak.

In a way it made sense, Dad was the area denial Blaster of the team for a long while, especially now he doesn't have Lightstar and Fleur to help him out in that regard. Even if New Wave, and Dad in particular, don't get into as many fights as those days, everyone still pitches in when they can. Hell, it was why she and Dad were here in the first place. She just wished that Dad's talent to funnel people to the frontline fighters was on her side.

Once they all got out of this, she was gonna ask Dad how to better handle herself so this doesn't happen a second time.

Just like Oak, as much as Glory Girl really didn't want to admit it, it was only because of her own teammate that she hadn't either gone down or been forced to cowardly run away and abandon Dad.

A teammate that had grown concernedly quiet since she had knocked out the Master earlier. It's not like they were effectively communicating with each other anyway, but Glory Girl figured there had to be something happening on his end of things to make him actually shut up. She appreciated that he was at least sticking around instead of ditching when things got difficult.

Case in point, Dad awkwardly dropped another one of his orbs. It looked like his fingers forcible pried themselves open.

Dad was even leaning sideways as if he was about to fall, and Glory Girl was about the charge straight at him before he could recover.

At least, until Dad kicked the orb. No, it should be fine, the angle was awkward and it wasn't going to hit her- wait, no, it wasn't aimed at her!

Glory Girl redirected her flight path. She wasn't fast enough to make this gentle, but tackling her teammate was probably just as bad as getting a concussive grenade in the face anyway.

She had to trust that he could recover from getting tossed aside a bit fast enough, despite how stiff some of his movements were. Glory Girl slightly passed him by, before grabbing his sleeve and using the momentum of her sudden stop to swing him around.

It didn't take long for Dad's orb to detonate after that, and Glory Girl instinctively lifted up her arm to protect her face from the blast. It was a bit worrisome that her teammate looked like he still caught the edge of the blast radius, but not as bad as it could've been. Her forcefield also tanked the blast fine, and she could clearly see that her teammate thankfully stayed on his feet after stumbling a bit.

Lowering her arm, Glory Girl was about to attempt to close the distance before Dad could fully regain his balance. Except that thought was once again interrupted by seeing Oak outright leaping at her, having been visually blocked by her arm by sheer coincidence.

Despite knowing she was physically stronger, it was still alarming to see a giant muscular guy jumping at you. Not to mention her aura should still be activated, so it was a scared and annoyingly desperate giant muscular guy jumping at her, which didn't help.

As much as she could, Glory Girl squeezed out her aura further to try and throw Oak off-balance mid-air, especially if his jump meant he was forcibly getting closer to where her aura would be at its strongest. Something that clearly worked unless there was some other reason for Oak's posture to turn into a misshapen and shaking thing.

Glory Girl instinctively took Oak's left arm with her own arms, stepped slightly to the side, and got ready to flip him into the floor.

And then she hesitated.

If she did that, that might end up ruining her arm, mostly her shoulder, with pain. It was a thought that came fast enough to make her stop, but not fast enough that she had any time to properly react. That hesitation resulted in her turning slightly as Oak landed on her back, his superior height at least making it so he was back on the ground instead of forcing Glory Girl to piggyback him.

Her grip also loosened when her left arm stiffened from the mirrored tension of having the phantom feeling of getting held itself. Glory Girl could feel the giant body behind her shift, and a fist about to be hastily hammered into her, like an impulsive attack towards a jumpscare.

Glory Girl felt her forcefield get broken from the impact on her shoulder, and she was about ready to abandon thinking about the consequences and crush Oak into the ground before he could get a second hit in.

It didn't end up happening considering a crimson beam of energy rammed into his side at a downward angle with enough force to cause him to slip out of her grip and slide into the dirt.

Glory Girl instantly turned her head towards the air to see Crystal had shown up and must've instantly attacked the guy clearly attacking her. Glory Girl hadn't seen her coming at all, and that meant she didn't have a chance to warn her cousin about Oak's annoying power.

Then again, maybe a Blaster hit wouldn't count-

Nope, it counted. Crystal let out a cry as she suddenly dove downwards in a flipping motion. Even knowing why it was happening, it looked ridiculous. What even were the conditions for that dumb power?!

And then Glory Girl involuntarily took a dive forward herself. It caught her completely off-guard, especially when nothing should've caused it and there hadn't been any pain.

The subsequent bit-out response of "Focus, princess" gave her both an answer to what had happened and a rude awakening.

Although admittedly, the rude awakening part was more due to the fact that another two explosions hit her from behind. Glory Girl realized she had taken her eyes off of Dad for way too long, and it was only the small distance she gained from the involuntarily dive that there was enough distance for her not to be violently sent flying away.

It was still a harsh blowback, but she could at least catch herself properly in a roll.

And then Glory Girl hit a tree.

Wincing from the forced stop, one that wasn't diluted by her forcefield again, Glory Girl inwardly cursed at having to fight in a stupid forest. She further cursed when she realized that she was getting up too damn slowly, with how her body protested from the gauntlet of pain she had been subjected to.

"You know, I get that white goes with the dumb heroic do-gooder thing." Oh, great. The comments were back. "But it makes it really obvious when you eat dirt."

"Shut up." Glory Girl hissed, purposefully ignoring how her costume was probably covered in dirt at this point. "What are you even-"

When Glory Girl looked up, her annoying temp-teammate was lazily pointing a finger. As in he wasn't even bothering to fully extend his finger to actually point.

Still, she followed the finger to see two trees collapsed where her Dad had been earlier. And a third one fell onto the other two to make a haphazard pile. And that was it.

Dad and Oak weren't there anymore. A quick glance to the side showed that the unconscious Master wasn't there either. Did they seriously run away?

~End Optional BGM~​

Glory Girl clenched her fist, some dirt getting crushed in the process. She stood up and said, "Come on, I'm faster, we can-"

"Yeah no. I'm done."

Glory Girl darted her head to look directly into the composed gaze of the teenager behind the wooden mask. "What?"

"Listen, princess, this was… like a lot of work. I hate work. I did it 'cause it didn't look like a lot of work, but then the other guy came and then when the prissy bitch got knocked out, her power apparently goes into overdrive and I had to deal with that shit. And then the other shit. And your shit." He complained, rolling his wrist around with each added point. "And like, ugh. Ugh."

Vicky clenched her fists in anger again. It was irritating, but it technically wasn't his fight. "Fine. Whatever. I'm gonna-"

"You know it's like not that far to get back to the magical forest of wonders and shitbags, right?" His words stopped Vicky from rushing away immediately. "Hate to say it, but dear ol' dad's a real fucker to mess with and you probably ain't gonna do shit, princess?"

"I don't care." Vicky spat out.

"Oh good, neither do I."

Okay, she definitely had the time to slug him before chasing.

"Vicky, you alright?"

Vicky blinked. She almost forgot about Crystal. Her cousin had approached them, and she was eyeing her ex-teammate suspiciously.

Said ex-teammate raised his hands up in surrender for a second before immediately dropping them. "Hey, how about we don't do the blonde stereotype again and not do the whole attack me like an idiot first and ask questions later. My ribs are still stinging here."

Vicky couldn't help the blush when Crystal's lidded gaze turned towards her. "So where's Dad, Vicky?"

"Right, Crystal, we gotta move, Dad's getting away that way and-"

"Even if you do catch up, you know they'd probably just stall until they got into the fancy forest." He said, turning towards Crystal. "You should probably stop princess before she becomes the damsel in distress."

Vicky glared at her ex-teammate. "I didn't ask."

He shrugged nonchalantly in response. "See this is why I don't do things out of the kindness of my heart anymore."

"What heart?" Vicky hissed, before wincing immediately at the venom.

"Vicky." Crystal said, the scold obvious in her tone. Vicky already understood, grating as the guy was, he was the only reason she even stood a chance in that fight, not to mention actually find the Master.

"Eh, not really a big deal. I could say a lot of things back honestly, but right now, I'm sadly too tired to actually open my mouth much longer." Her ex-teammate shrugged before turning and walking away.

"Where are you going?" Vicky couldn't help but ask.

"Well, a certain princess blew up my chips." He replied.

"I didn't-" Vicky cut herself off with a sigh. Arguing wasn't going to help anyone here. It would only make her feel better for a moment before the inevitable retort.

"Who are you anyways?" Crystal asked, causing him to pause in his steps.

"That's… hm." He hummed, before Vicky noticed his eyes turning in her direction. "Well if she's a princess… and I ain't a knight in shining armor… how about you just call me Prince Charming?"

Vicky was not calling him that.

[X] Vicky sent a text saying that Mark was mastered. You were nearly the entire city across from where she was, but you were worried for your student's father.

11:44 AM

Current Emulation Energy: 16

You really didn't want to admit that you were having trouble with the small contraption that your student had given you.

Amy had left it to you since she couldn't properly use the 'phone' while driving the scooter, even if she thankfully decided not to use the booster function. Even so, you could barely maintain your balance with how fast she was going regardless, when you were far more unfamiliar with how the scooter moved and turned in comparison to a standard horse.

As such, you had to figure out the contraption with a fairly annoying handicap. The two of you had already driven quite a far distance as is, leaving Miss Militia, Vista, and those other PRT people behind.

Amy had chosen to inform her about her destination and about her dad being mastered, but Miss Militia said that her orders were to deal with the immediate threats that were already in the Boardwalk, like the aftermath of that vehicular conflict you had witnessed earlier.

You did appreciate that Vista had stated her eagerness to help, even if she was ultimately not given permission to assist.

It was then that the phone vibrated, nearly causing you to drop the small device.

Err, you were supposed to tap the little box with Crystal's name using your finger, if you remember correctly.

Doing so changed the screen to display the full message history. There had been a lot of messages earlier when Carol texted that Eric was with them, and that Manpower had been temporarily incapacited. You remember how your student had paused, questioning if the two of you should go to Heal him immediately, but Vicky's issue had still been ongoing as a pressing concern.

However, if you were reading correctly, it was no longer quite as pressing. Mark was still being forcibly controlled, but had retreated with other enemies in tow.

Crystal and Vicky could potentially overtake them with their higher movement speed, but Vicky herself was reportedly not in the best condition, even if she was still fighting fit.

You had your own opinions but first deferred to your student, "What did you want to do?"

You noticed how your student gripped at the scooter's handles, remaining silent for a moment before saying, "I don't know. This is…"

Your student didn't say anything more after trailing off, distracting herself by focusing on the road ahead.

Hm. In that case, you would suggest:

[ ] Have Crystal and Vicky go ahead, see what they can do to cut Mark off. You could catch up later, and you didn't want your student's father to slip out of your grasp.

[ ] Ask Crystal and Vicky to wait, you were only a few minutes away from their location so all of you could group up before moving out.

[ ] Make the hard decision and don't chase Mark today. None of you knew what you might end up getting into, so it would be best to regroup and recover with the rest of the team.