Here’s the thing about being a hero. A big-name pro, one that gets the checks. If you wanna make it anywhere in your career, you gotta keep your ear to the ground. Not a wasted moment; the instant you can start patrolling, you keep doing it until you can’t anymore. Always be the first to the scene of any crime, because the public doesn’t give two shits about the one who shows up second. It’s all a PR game, and if you’re not playing it? Then you’ve already lost.
Billy couldn’t care less about any of that, but he knew damn well the people keeping an eye on him did. So he’d keep his chin up. Play the part of a good and proper hero, because it wasn’t just him that’d be paying the price if he didn’t. Of course, given that he wasn’t a full-fledged hero yet, he didn’t really have much. No patrol routes or agency help. Mostly, he just wandered around.
A notification on his phone. Robbery at a nearby burger joint. With a sigh, he discarded the banana he was eating — not ripe enough, tasted like cardboard — and leapt into the air, leaving a cloud of red fur in his wake. His tail latched onto a streetlight as he flew up, twirling him around it before he let go to fling himself even further up, coming to land atop the building he was in before. He dropped down to all fours the moment he touched ground, launching forward faster than he ever could have on two legs, speeds so fast he left pieces of his rubber soles behind.
Monkeys were quadrupeds, after all, and Billy was the king of them all. He was nearly a blur as he flew over rooftops, leapt across streets, and slid down drainpipes. There was no obstacle that would stop him, no hazard that would slow him. The city was a jungle, and he was its one and only lord. The honks and rumbles of the cars below him, the frightened squawks of the birds he passed by, they signaled that this was his domain. His, and none other.
The destination was a mile away. He got there in three minutes, landing in front of the entrance with a resounding thud, and flinging open the glass doors to see… two identical-looking men tied up, blindfolded, and handcuffed on the floor, shouting obscenities that he was sure would get him expelled if he ever so much as whispered one. A snarl almost snuck itself onto his face, but he forced it back down. Wouldn’t do to have the civvies scared of him. Or rather, civvie. Singular. He looked to the only other person here. “Got a call. What happened?”
The girl behind the counter — deep blue hair, rumpled uniform, slightly stained, not her first day then — scratched her head and gave a weak grin. One with teeth. Billy flinched and glanced away. “Darndest thing, sir. These two guys came in here and asked for all the money. Y’know, standard robbery stuff. I hit the alarm, but a few seconds later the lights just… cut out. Couple flashes later and they came back on like…” she gestured vaguely at the robbers. “Well, like that.”
“Koh.” He let out a silent little laugh. “Nobody takin’ the credit?”
“No sir.” Polite, she was. Because he was a hero or because she was a service worker? Too early to tell.
“Hm. Not a hero then.”
A bit of nervous laughter from the girl. Interesting. “What makes you say that, sir?”
“No ‘sirs’ here, lady. I’m not your boss.” He was hardly older than her. “An’ there isn’t a hero out there who wouldn’t stick around. Not if nothin’ else was happening. Normal heroes want the rep, underground heroes want to keep an eye on ‘em.”
She relaxed slightly, her shoulders drooping down and the forced grin — all teeth, like it was a dental ad — replaced with a softer smile. “And which type would you be?”
“Don’t much care, myself. Spotlight isn’t for me…” He took a guess here. The girl wasn’t a very good liar. “…but even less so for your friend, eh?”
Tense again. Damn. Any investigator could read her like a book, even if she didn’t say a single word. “…I’m afraid I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” Oh, but she did. Anyone with half a functional eyeball could tell.
“Koh. Sure you don’t.” He’d play along. Less complicated this way, anyway. “But it wouldn’t be good for whoever happened to put a stop to this if the cops came pokin’ about, yeah?” Relaxed again. “They’d know somethin’ was up if no hero was around for the credit.”
“Don’t know what you mean.” The girl smirked, gesturing to the men on the floor. “A very polite—” He snorted. “—hero stopped by and handled them. What a shame that he left to respond to another case. And these guys on the ground can’t see a thing, either. Looks like I’m the only one who can act as a witness. How awful.”
“Koh. Damn shame, ain’t it?” He let a smirk slip onto his face. “I’ll call ‘em in.” A short message to the cops — situation handled, move in for arrest — and he turned to face the door. “You have a good day.” The girl parroted the line back at him as he exited.
Billy was, perhaps, being more than a little lax in his duties. He wouldn’t deny it. No doubt Rosethorn would have some words with him if this got back to her. More promises forced on him so he could break them in the future, so she could force even more. But he wasn’t irresponsible. There was a difference. First interesting case all week, and he intended to pursue it ‘till the end.
He’d caught a whiff of something on the men, and that whiff led him right out the doors and down the street. Banana bread and coffee. Faint, but unmistakable, with an undercurrent of… something else. Chemical. Unless a burger place suddenly decided to branch into pastries — he saw the menu, they didn’t — there were really only two explanations for it. Either the men were enjoying some dessert and drink before deciding to rob a fast food place, or the person who stopped them was.
Well, he’d find out soon enough. Billy wandered down the sidewalk, nose in the air as he followed the trail.
“Thanks a Latte, huh…” he looked at the signboard hanging above the store with a smirk. The smiling coffee cup mascot gazed down at him, looking remarkably smug. It certainly didn’t seem like the place where hardened criminals would gather, but the smell was definitely coming from inside.
He pushed the door open, a bell chiming above him as he entered and scanned the room. Cozy place. Most of his sight was obscured by the various planters scattered around the place, full of… plants. Of various kinds, none of which he recognized, since he hadn’t taken Bio in years. Dimly lit lanterns hung low enough that he could probably reach up and grab them while sitting.
There weren’t many patrons around at this hour, only two people sitting on opposite ends of the store. Billy mentally filed their appearances away, just in case. Guy with an oyster for a head typing on a laptop, window seat. Lady in a brown coat looking over some files, second booth from the back. She glanced up at him briefly, then returned to her business. Neither of them looked like they did anything illegal — the oyster guy was wearing old man glasses, even — but you never knew.
“I’ll be right with you!” The voice of a girl — or a woman, he really couldn’t tell — rang out from the back. He shrugged and took a seat at the counter, eyeing the pastry shelf. Damn, that banana bread looked good.
The door to the back opened and a midget of inscrutable age walked out.
Alright, she wasn’t quite that short. Still, he was sitting and she was only barely taller than him. Most of the freshies had more height on them than her. Scratch that, all of them did. More importantly, though, that strange chemical smell got stronger when she came in the room. Maybe if he kept her talking, he could get something out of her. He gave her a lazy wave from his seat, and she nodded in response.
“Evenin’. What can I get you?” Helene — he’d just read her nametag — asked.
“Hmmm…” Billy, scratched at his chin. “Banana bread.” That wasn’t even a question. “An’ Turkish coffee, if you got it. Light sugar.” His usual order, the method by which he determined if a coffee place was worth returning to. A lot of them failed that test. He placed a few bills on the counter.
The girl — or woman, he still couldn’t tell — perked up at that, brushing a strand of gray hair out of her eyes. She let out a chuckle and reached beneath the counter. “Finally… Finally, I get to use this.”
She sounded downright sinister when she said that, if he was being honest. He was half-expecting her to come back up with a gun or a bomb or something along those lines, but instead it was just… a bag of sand. He raised an eyebrow. “Koh. Authentic, huh?” This place rose up a few tiers in his mind.
“Best way to make it. Nobody orders it these days, though.” Helene sighed, grabbing a pan and filling it up with the sand.
“Their loss.” Less for them just meant more for him.
“Ha. True, that.” She turned to place the pan on a burner behind her and went back to rummaging through drawers. “Now where did I put that cezve…”
Billy found his eyes drawn to the stove. The gas stove. Surrounded by plants and wood. Then again, seeing as the place hadn’t made the news for going up in flames yet, he’d assume there were precautions against that. What was far more concerning was…
“…the Patriots? Really?” Yes, above the burners hung the symbol of the (in)famous football team.
Helene poked her head back up. “Oi. Got a problem with the Pats?”
He laughed. “They ain’t won in forever. Worse ‘n the Cubs at this point.”
A flick of her arm backwards switched the fire on, and she came back up with a bag of coffee grounds and a copper pot in hand. “Laugh all you want, but I am a true believer. Brady’s legacy will not be forgotten. They’ll rise again, just give ‘em a shot.”
“He left a century ago and they’ve been losin’ since.” Billy didn’t even really follow football, and he knew this.
Coffee grounds were poured into the pot, alongside a spoonful of sugar and some water. “Ah, but the Cubs were losing for like, 70 years. We’ll have our comeback soon, I tell you.” She placed the pot into the sand, two mugs in her other hand.
“Koh. Sure. How’re the trades lookin’ then?”
She grimaced as the coffee in the pot boiled up, pouring some of it into the mugs, then putting it back in the sand. “We got our hands on a flyer. Guy can turn into an eagle, so we won’t get washed by Greggs on the Jets anymore.”
“Feelin’ a ‘but’ in there.” He grinned. It was a constant of the last hundred years that nothing good could ever happen to the Patriots.
“…Giants finally found an actual giant. 30 feet tall.” There it was. She slid a mug over to Billy and opened the pastry cabinet, pulling out a slice of banana bread. “This topic’s making me sad, honestly. Feel like we should move on now.”
He took a bite out of the banana bread. He was right, before. This was damn good. “Move on to what?”
“Well, you know that classic thing with bartenders listening to people tell their life stories and dispensing sage advice.” Helene smiled. No teeth, thankfully. “And if you think about it, baristas are really just PG bartenders. So c’mon, gimme something to work with.”
“Koh. You old enough to be dispensin’ ‘sage advice?’ Don’t look it.”
“I’d make a crack about how it’s impolite to ask a lady her age, but I get this question too much.” She sighed. “27. Laugh it up.”
Woman it was, then. “Takin’ back my last sentence.”
“Yeah, yeah. Got anything you want advice on?” She took a sip of her own drink and leaned on the counter.
“Pushy.” Almost suspiciously so.
“I’m bored, man. Look around you.” She gestured around the café, and its sole other patron. The oyster guy left at some point. “Nothing here for me to do, really. Tell me a bit about yourself.”
“Nothin’ much to say.” Another bite of the bread. “Billy. Hero Student. Shiketsu. Senior. ‘s all you need to know.”
“Still a student?” Helene tilted her head. “The hell are they feeding kids these days?” Billy merely lifted his plate in response, and she laughed. “Damn, if only I knew before. But uh… how’s that working out for you? No offense but you’re… well, surlier than the usual students I get.”
“Not great. Not terrible.” That was all he really could say. He didn’t remember a damn thing from the last three years, all his activities blending together into a whirlwind. Blurry colors and muffled voices, the sound of a fist hitting a bag. Over and over and over.
She frowned, muttering something beneath her breath. Billy heard something about it being ‘Yui all over again.’ He vaguely remembered that name, along with a fuzzy blob that might have been a person. Good kid. Maybe. He thought.
“Sorry if I’m overreaching a bit,” her voice broke him out of his thought process, “but… why’d you decide to be a hero? You remind me of someone.”
She was overreaching. Not that she could have known. But for a few seconds, he was back at that snow-dusted playground, screams filling the air, knuckles bruised and teeth bloody. He was back at his front door, staring down the armor-clad hero. He was back at the airport terminal, gazing up at the jet that would take him far away from his home.
He was back in the café, Helene looking at him with concern. Not pity, because he never would have accepted that. Not understanding either, because he could tell she didn’t understand. Not really. She hadn’t experienced what he did. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. “Parents.” That’s all she would be getting out of him.
“Want to make them proud, huh?” That was the ideal. The ultimate goal. But he would have settled for not being a disappointment, proof that they didn’t raise a failure. That they did their best, and their best was enough. He didn’t say that of course, but she nodded regardless. “I get it. You talk to them a lot?”
“Hm. Postcards, mostly.”
“Friends?”
“People tried.” Some tried to become even more. He shuddered a little at the thought.
“And you didn’t, huh?” Helene closed her eyes. “Got practical experience, at least?”
“Internships. No permanent stuff.”
“Tch. Let me guess.” An unpleasant expression appeared on her face. “Spent all that time—”
“Training.” There was a corner of the gymnasium that was his, and no others’. A bo staff that had his handprint indented into it. A punching bag with a robe just starting to fray. Cracked flooring, worn down mats.
“Of course you did.” She groaned, continuing on by muttering “there’s one every year.”
“Koh. Got a problem with that? A hero’s gotta train, no?”
“Ye—well, no, but—I—ugh. It’s diminishing returns.” She placed her cup down on the counter and leaned back, seemingly winding up for a speech. “Stronger you get, slower you get stronger. Working out for an hour might make you five percent better at heroism at first. But then you’re strong enough, you get less, and it becomes four. Three. Two. One. Eventually you’re improving so little all you’re doing is keeping in shape. That’s the problem with this… this laser focus on getting stronger. It’s not the only thing a hero needs to improve on. Hell, I’d say it’s not even the most important.”
“Hm.” He took a sip of his drink. “An’ what is, then?”
“Communication. That’s what sets the high-rankers apart. Guy could be the weakest goddamn hero you’ve ever laid eyes on, but he’s got a way with words that makes the people love him, and he knows how to work with other heroes. Sure he’s useless for normal hero stuff, but he stays on ‘cause they want him to coordinate for the disasters.”
Billy snorted into his coffee. “Talkin’ ‘bout someone in particular?”
She sighed. “Maybe. Look, I’m not saying you have to do a 180 and start making friends left and right, you know. But if you want to be a good hero… well, good heroes know how to work with people. Civilians or teammates. Or police, actually.” She looked up to the other patron, the woman in the back with the trench coat. “Oi, Makoto.”
The woman in question flicked her eyes from the pile of papers. “Yeah?”
“Your number one problem with newly-graduated heroes. Shoot.” Helene gestured in Billy’s direction.
“They can’t write an incident report for shit,” she fired back almost immediately, continuing to shuffle through papers. “Don’t know what the hell they’re being taught in school. If they’re being taught at all. Are you?” Makoto glanced at him.
Billy scratched at his chin, searching through his memories of Shiketsu. Classroom. Arena. Gym. Classroom. Arena. Gym. Roof. Classroom. Auditorium.
There it was.
“Got a seminar in it. ‘Round the time we were doin’ our first internships.”
“What, was everyone asleep for it? I mean, look at this.” She pulled a paper out from the middle of the stack. “The stuff about the location is all fine, but then the report says, and I quote, ‘I engaged the villain and defeated him in combat.’ No elaboration. They blew up like two stores and that’s all they have to say?”
He raised an eyebrow, then thought back to what he actually remembered from that seminar. Stuffy, damp air. Dusty auditorium seats kicking up clouds that the spotlights filtered through. Too many bodies smushed together. A man on stage, saying… words. Words and some boring slideshow. But he didn’t remember a single picture, a single sentence. Billy came back out from his memories to find the woman returned to her work, glaring daggers at the files.
Helene picked up the pan behind her, pouring the sand inside back into its bag. She nodded at him. “Back with us, eh? Thought about what she was saying?”
“Hm. Might look into it. Might not.”
“Well, if you do decide to look into it, Makoto’ll probably be happy to help you out. One more hero who knows what they’re doing is one less pile of paperwork for her. Or find one of your teachers, I don’t know, maybe they’re better.”
“Maybe.” He rose from his seat and stretched his arms behind his back. “Thanks for the sermon, I guess.” Honestly, it was better advice than anything Rosethorn had ever given him. Didn’t mean he was really going to listen, but still. He turned to leave. “See you ‘round.”
“Come back again, yeah?” She wiped down the counter behind him.
“Keep stockin’ that banana bread and I will.”
She laughed. “I’ll tell Masa to keep making it.”
He took a few steps forward before the bell rang again, front door flinging open to admit a girl with dark blue hair. She leaned against the doorway, panting. “Yo, Hisashi’s getting robbed again, I think you gotta—” she looked up. Her eyes darted between Billy and Makoto. “Oh. Uh... hello, Mr. Hero sir, Detective Seki.”
It was the same girl from the burger place. Billy looked over to Helene and raised an eyebrow. She only sighed. “Every goddamn time, Sumi.”
The girl winced. “Sorry. I… don’t suppose you two—”
Makoto didn’t look up from her papers. “I didn’t hear anything. As always. Might be going deaf in my old age.”
Helene chuckled, taking off her barista’s apron and pulling a hoodie from beneath the counter. “You really ought to get that checked out. Hearing loss at 32 can’t be a good sign. I’d take you myself, but I gotta go for… ‘family emergency’ reasons. Keep an eye on the place, will you?” She nodded at Sumi, then turned to Billy. “Don’t suppose you’re willing to tag along? Having a friendly hero around does wonders.”
He just stared at her for a moment, before speaking. “Didn’t know we were friends.”
“Hey, we like the same coffee and we talked about football. Good enough for me.” She stepped around the counter. “Look, you in or out? I’m goin’ either way.”
“Koh. You do this with every hero you meet?”
“Only the ones I know won’t rat me out. Which is a lot of them. I give ‘em the credit, after all, no reason for most of ‘em to say no.” The bell jingled again as she held the door open.
“Don’t give a damn about the credit. But… I’m goin’.” Billy walked through the doorway, letting the cool night air wash over him. The streets were quiet around here, especially at this time. No rumbling engines or honking horns, hardly any pedestrians. Quiet was good.
Helene walked up beside him, staring off into the distance before shaking her head. “Right. We’re on a time crunch. I’ll get us over to Hisashi’s. Just gotta check the wind…” She held an arm out and a glowing balloon appeared in her hand. The streetlight above them dimmed slightly. Wordlessly, she released it into the sky, watching it drift for a few seconds before it vanished, the light returning to its normal strength.
Interesting quirk. Very interesting quirk. She muttered a long string of numbers to herself, pointing a hand to their left. Then, without warning, a massive blue catapult appeared in front of them. The streetlight went dark, as did their immediate surroundings. Unnaturally dark, like her quirk ate all the ambient light too. She grinned. “C’mon, grab hold. We’re flyin’ our way there.”
“This safe?” He asked. He’d probably survive splattering against the concrete, but her? Billy took another look at the miniscule, wafer-thin woman next to him. She barely came up to his shoulders, and that was only because her hair added an extra few inches.
“Safer than the other options. Don’t fancy a ride on the Fairy right now.” Helene clambered up the side of the catapult, seating herself in the bucket. “Hurry. Before the wind changes.”
“Koh. Fine.” With a single leap, he flung himself into the air and landed next to her. She nodded, a mildly impressed look in her eyes. “Now what?”
“Now hold onto me.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she sighed. “This ain’t picture day, kid. This is us getting flung out of a catapult at high speeds. Don’t wanna get separated.” He wrapped an arm around her, less like he was holding a person and more like he was carrying a particularly large pillow. “Eh. Works for me. Now then… fire.”
The rope holding down the arm of the device vanished in an instant, and in the next they were flying through the air in an arc that just barely covered the building across the street. The wind roared in his ears, his jacket flapping wildly in the breeze. Billy spared a glance at his passenger next to him. Helene seemed entirely unbothered by the force of the air, a mildly smug look on her face like she did this every day. Which she probably did, now that he thought about it.
They reached the apex of their flight when a glowing glider materialized in the air ahead of them. Needing no instruction, Billy grabbed onto the bar, their fall slowing considerably until the wind died down to merely ‘whistling in the ears’ level. “Not bad,” he said. Pretty damn useful way to get around.
She merely hummed in response. “Start pointing the glider down ‘bout thirty seconds from now.”
“Right. Got anythin’ to tell me about this place we’re going to?” Running into a place without learning anything about it was a recipe for disaster, something he’d seen a lot of younger students do. Never ended well. He’d need to gather all the information he could.
“Hisashi runs an… antiques place and pawn shop. Old jewelry, furniture, trinkets, just about everything that’s not food.” If things went bad he’d have no shortage of weapons, then. “Guy’s got top-notch insurance, but selling antiques means that most of it can’t really be replaced. I’d ask you to be careful, but…”
“Can’t always bet on a safe bust.”
“Yeah.” She gazed down below them as he angled the glider downwards, frowning in its blue glow. “His lights are off? That can’t be right…”
That didn’t make much sense. It couldn’t be easy to rob a place in the dark… unless you had a night vision quirk. Or some quirk that allowed you to create shadows. They’d find out soon, he supposed. The two of them touched down onto the street, glider winking out of existence as suddenly as it appeared. He let go of Helene and she stepped forward toward the storefront.
There was a man standing in front of it, leaning against the door of the darkened building. Although now that he was closer, it didn’t seem to be a simple darkness. The streetlights still shone through the window, illuminating the dressing—various tools he couldn’t name, paintings, chairs—but stopping right behind them. Like they hit a wall that stopped light from going any further. Almost certainly a quirk, then.
The man himself seemed remarkably average. Short black hair, mildly stained t-shirt, ripped jeans. Like any average Japanese guy you’d run into in a McDonald’s. When the two of them approached, though, he noticed something odd when the man turned to face them. Guy was shivering like a leaf.
Helene let out a sigh when she saw his face, shaking her head. “Really, Kayo?”
“…H-hey Nocti.” His eyes were flickering around, hands jittery. “F-fancy seeing you here.”
“Care to explain?” She asked him.
Kayo seemed to relax slightly upon seeing that the two of them wouldn’t attack him immediately. Or rather, seeing that Helene—or Nocti—wouldn’t. He hadn’t spared Billy more than a single glance. Honestly, it was a bit insulting… but he’d stay quiet for now. She seemed to know the guy, he didn’t want to screw this up.
Finally, he pushed himself off the door. “…I got d-debts. Lots of them that I w-wouldn’t have a chance in hell of paying off.”
She tapped her foot. “Go on.”
“W-well I… I was approached by some guys. Wanted a lookout for a robbery… easy gig, they said. Just… just keep an eye out and tell us if any heroes come by.” He laughed. “D-didn’t think… we’d be going here. Never would have agreed if I knew.”
Helene closed her eyes, leaning back against a nearby light post. “Masa’s hiring if you’re looking for a job. I’ll put in a good word.”
With that, Kayo seemed to deflate. “Thanks. No fighting, I guess?”
“I don’t know.” The light flickered above them as she opened an eye, a blue glow shining out of it. “Do you want to?”
“Gods, no.” He chuckled. “I’ll… I’ll get out of your hair. First, though…” Suddenly, his voice seemed to layer atop of itself, filling the area as if a dozen Kayos were speaking, whispering, shouting simultaneously. Billy clenched a fist and made to move in for an attack—that was clear quirk usage if ever he saw it, and he still had no idea what this guy’s did—but Helene caught his arm and held him back. “All clear,” Kayo said, nodding at her.
She flicked her head in the direction of Hisashi’s store. “How many guys are in there?”
“Six. I’d be careful. They’re… strong. Real strong.” A hint of fear tinted his voice, and he looked at Billy. “Look out for yourself.”
“Koh. If they’re so strong then why’re they robbin’ a damn pawn shop? What quirks they got?”
“They said they were looking for something. Didn’t tell me what. And most of them didn’t show off their quirks, either. Only ones I’ve seen were the barrier guy,” he pointed at the dark wall barring the doors and windows of the store, “and the leader. He’s… fast. Like a blur.”
“Thanks for the info.” Helene nodded at him, and he returned it. “Now get the hell out of here.”
“Don’t gotta tell me twice.” With a grin, Kayo saluted and turned about before walking off into the distance.
Rosethorn would want Billy to arrest him. He was aiding in a robbery, after all, and he’d done it willingly. He sighed and looked at his companion. “Lettin’ him go?’
“Yeah. What, did you think I was some paragon of justice or something?” She chuckled. “If I was, I’d have become a hero. I just like my friends to be safe. He’s one of them. Even if he slips up sometimes.”
“Koh. Fair ‘nuff.” That guy didn’t look like he’d be causing much trouble in the future, anyway. “So what’s the play?”
“We don’t know a damn thing about what’s going on in there. A good two-thirds of them have unknown quirks, we don’t know where they are inside…” she groaned. “This is going to be a nightmare. How good are you at winging it?”
“All I do is train,” he replied. She could complain about his focus all she wanted, but it’d come in handy here. “You don’t gotta worry ‘bout me.”
“Right. I’ll break down the barricade, then. Soon as I do, we jump in, alright? If you see an old guy in there with a really long beard, that’s Hisashi. Don’t beat him up or anything.” He nodded at her, and she reached an arm to the side.
Six streetlights went dark, and beside her appeared an enormous glowing… machine. It stretched across the street, as tall as she was. In the front, aimed at the door, was a chisel tip, and pistons poked out of the rest of the body at seemingly random intervals. Tubes ran along its length, weaving in and out beneath luminous plates and grills, and by the front was a massive crank and lever.
“The hell am I looking at?” Billy raised an eyebrow.
“Hydraulic ram,” Helene grinned. “I worked on this design for my master’s degree. Last I checked they were using it in some mine in Colorado. Normally I’d make it ready-to-go, but...” she gestured at the night sky. “Not enough light for it. I’ll get it started, though. You ready?”
“Koh. Ready as I can be.”
“Alright. Let’s get to business.” A seventh light down the street flickered and died, and a cube appeared on the end of the crank, the machine creaking as it pulled it around. When it touched the bottom, it vanished and was replaced by a giant balloon and chain, the pistons on the body drawing back, the tubes pulsing with liquid, the chisel pulling back into the machine. The crank turned and turned, the noises growing in volume as it did, until finally it stopped. She held up a hand with three fingers. Two. One.
“Launch.” She pulled down on the lever, and with blinding speed the chisel shot out, blowing the door clean off its hinges and crashing into the barrier. It crumpled like paper beneath the unstoppable force before shattering into pieces which vanished as they touched the floor. Billy’s eyes scanned the newly-revealed interior.
It looked about how he’d expected it to, from Helene’s description. Piles and piles of miscellaneous trinkets spilling off of shelves, furniture stacked haphazardly, walls covered in various paintings he didn’t recognize. There was an attempt at organization, the vague outline of what could have been shelves which made up aisles, but it was mostly a chaotic mess with some parts packed beyond belief, others mostly-empty voids in the floor space.
He saw five people inside. One was behind the counter in the back, white hair with a beard that ran down half his body—Hisashi, the store owner. Two were seemingly lost in the maze of shelves on the left, rifling through the endless streams of merchandise that seemed to flow from the aisles, and the other two were systematically clearing every item in one of the emptier area on the right.
The left side of the store plunged into darkness, and Helene ran in. “Right!” she called to him. He didn’t need to be told twice. With a single leap he flew past her towards the pair in the lit half of the store, fist drawn back as he approached his targets. One, a woman with nearly floor-length black hair. The other, a gaunt man holding a knife in his hand. Both looked up at him the instant he approached, and the woman’s hair drew up and wove together into a shield between them.
His fist smashed into it with a mighty crack, the force causing her to slide backwards and crash against the wall. Her hair, however, remained entirely unharmed, unraveling itself and reforming into a dozen spears which struck out at him with speeds that caused the merchandise nearby to tumble off of the shelves. Billy’s eyes widened as he leapt to the side, just barely fast enough to evade what would have been a lethal hit. The spears flew past and embedded themselves deep into the wall. They tore themselves out an instant later and took chunks of it with them before returning to the woman’s side and unraveling once more.
A quirk that allowed for both incredible defense and offense, with durability he couldn’t surpass and enough strength to take him out in one hit if it got his head. That guy wasn’t kidding when he said this group was strong. Were he a few years younger, Billy was sure he probably would have just attacked harder, believing that with enough brute force anything could be beaten. But his more experienced eyes had already noted a weakness for him to exploit. Before he could continue, his train of thought was cut short by a sudden realization.
There were two villains when he started, and the other man was nowhere to be found. He didn’t have much time to think about it, though. Hair Lady launched another attack at him while he was still unbalanced from dodging the last, and he wouldn’t be able to get out of the way of this one. In the brief second before her attack landed, his eyes swept the surroundings and fell upon a humble cast-iron skillet.
It was the best he could think of in such a short timeframe. Blurring, his hand shot out and grabbed it by the handle, holding it between him and the spears of hair. They slammed into it mere fractions of a second later, puncturing it through, yet being held back right before they could turn his skull into Swiss cheese. Cast iron saved the day. Billy let out a quick “Sorry!” to the owner whose stock he’d just wrecked.
“Don’t worry, I’m insured!” came the reply from Hisashi, giving him a double thumbs-up from behind the counter.
There was probably some comedy inherent in the image of a guy who looked like an ancient wizard making that gesture, but Billy was too busy playing tug-of-war for his life to appreciate it. He dug into the ground, straining against Hair Lady’s attempts to pull her hair back out of his shield. He was stronger than her. That much was clear from the fact that he was currently dragging her forwards with every step he took backwards. The poor pan, however, was not nearly as strong. The handle bent and creaked before snapping entirely, sending him flat on his ass and flinging the pan at Hair Lady’s face.
It would have been real funny if it clobbered her on the dome and knocked her out right there, but she was fast enough to duck under it. Still, it gave Billy a few seconds of reprieve and allowed him to scan the store for his second opponent. His gaze first fell on Helene’s side of the battle, the woman lit by the blue glow of her creations and light pouring out of her eyes as she battered a barrier with some kind of giant armored gauntlet and shining chains wrapped around floating spears and swords. Two opponents. Not on her side, then, unless…
He heard a crunch behind him and immediately responded by striking backwards with his tail, following it up with a leg sweep that would have broken bone if it connected. If it connected. He turned with the kick to see absolutely nothing behind him, his mind shifting into overdrive as he jumped back onto his feet. Couldn’t have been telekinesis. No point in using it for a distraction when you could just drop a bowling ball on his head instead. Invisibility wouldn’t explain why he couldn’t land a hit with his speed. It could have been intangibility. There was a guy in UA with a quirk like that, reasonable to assume that there could be others with similar ones…
Billy shook his head. Too much uncertainty, he wouldn’t get a straight answer out of thinking right now, not when there was a more immediate threat. He leaned to the side to dodge yet another spear, ducked under the next, and grabbed a rolling pin off the floor to fling at Hair Lady. She aborted the rest of her attack in favor of blocking his projectile before he followed it up with another. And another. As long as he kept the pressure up, she wouldn’t be able to launch any attacks, and there were plenty of objects around here to send on an express flight to her face.
A whistle of wind and a rustling of fabric sounded out to his right, and he lashed out with an arm. His hand closed around what felt like a wrist, the inside of it seemingly disappearing, but as he pulled back for a punch the presence vanished in an instant with small burst of wind. Invisibility, with some form of… temporary intangibility. Dangerous. He’d need to finish Hair Lady quick. The brief disruption to his rhythm provided her with the relief she needed to start attacking once more, this time staggering her spears one at a time. Higher pressure, less downtime for him, but also easier to dodge… or at least, it would have been if he wasn’t also occupied by an invisible assassin at the same time.
He needed some way to reveal him, to know when he was intangible or not. Something that would stick to him. Flour would be the ideal, but out of the many things Hisashi seemed to sell in this store, that wasn’t one of them. Billy’s tail twitched behind him, whipping left and right to clear his flanks as he continued dodging Hair Lady’s assault. Duck. Spin. Weave. Block. Narrow misses every time, the woman growing more and more frustrated as she found herself hitting nothing but air.
And then he stumbled over a snowglobe. Her eyes lit up in triumph as the spears all drew back in unison for a single massed attack, flying forwards just like they did for her initial strike. Billy grinned. “Gotcha.” With a mighty shove off the wall he corrected his momentum and pushed himself to the side of the spears, arm wrapping around the mass and pinning it to his side.
He’d figured something out from observing her attacks, from the strikes that pierced the wall and the pan. Hair Lady couldn’t unravel her weapons until they were back at her side. If something kept them away from her? Well, she was out of luck. He gave her hair a mighty pull, dragging her clean off her feet and sending her flying towards him. His fist met her face in the air, knocking her out cold in an instant.
One down. One to go. Now that he no longer had to worry about the constant ranged attacks, though, he felt a lot better about his chances. Billy’s tail slowed down behind him, the whipping noises making it difficult to hear footsteps, to feel the air. He’d need all his senses in peak condition for this. His arms were kept in a wide stance, his tail tense and ready to strike out again in an instant.
If his enemy truly turned intangible, that meant there’d be air displacement when he came back—it happened when he’d vanished. The hair on his arms—he had a lot of it—stood on end as he took slow, guarded strides down the aisle, turning constantly. And in some unseen breeze, they bent. To the left.
Without hesitation Billy flung himself in the other direction, arms outstretched. He collided with the invisible figure and pinned him down to the ground, landing a punch to his head. The man appeared again moments later, the invisibility dispelled alongside his consciousness. He pushed himself off the floor, breathing heavily. Unscathed from the fight, but that didn’t mean much when one stab from either of his opponents could take him out in an instant.
A coil of rope landed at his feet and he looked up at the man behind the counter. “Koh. You jus’ keep that back there?”
Hisashi chuckled. “Of course I do, son. I get robbed twice a month. Now hurry up and deal with them before they wake up. Nocti’ll be fine.”
Billy looked at the man on the floor, then back at the rope. The first thought that came to his mind was that he’d just slip out again with his intangibility, but that line of reasoning was killed by a simple observation. The man was still wearing clothes.
Thinking in terms of quirks, it didn’t make sense for intangibility or invisibility to function on his clothes, not if he himself was the one turning invisible. The next most logical idea, then, was that he emitted some sort of… invisibility field around himself, which would also explain why Billy’s hand vanished. It’d be fine to tie him up, and he did so with swift, simple knots.
Hair Lady was more straightforward, if more time consuming. Arms and legs, obviously, but he also had to tie up her hair to make sure she didn’t just cut her way out. Still, it was simple enough, and once he finished that up he stood and looked at the other side of the store. Maybe Helene needed some help clearing out her—holy shit.
One villain was thrashing in his bonds, strung up in the air by a dozen thin chains of light that anchored themselves in the walls and ceiling of the store. Helene stared impassively at the other, pinned down on the floor as she clamped a hand around his mouth. A glowing gas seeped out from behind her grasp, the man’s struggles growing weaker and weaker as he struggled to breathe. Her eyes were like searchlights, their blue glow almost blinding in their intensity. Eventually, the struggles ceased. The gas vanished without a word as the lights flickered back on, the other man dropping from his bindings and landing in a heap. Before he could make a single move, she latched her hand onto his face and repeated the procedure, releasing him once he'd fainted.
Billy approached cautiously, rope in hand. “They…”
“They’re alive,” she scoffed. “I’m not a killer, kid. That’s not my job. Now c’mon, tie them up, we still got two more in here, remember?”
In the chaos of the battle, he’d almost forgotten. Kayo had mentioned that the villain group had six members, and they’d only beaten four. Hisashi spoke up again. “They’re in the back. Soundproofed, so I don’t think they heard the fight.” He was about to ask why a pawn shop needed a soundproofed back room, but there were more pressing matters at hand.
“Gotta get these four somewhere those two can’t let ‘em out,” Billy said. “Any ideas?”
“Pile them up behind the counter. Best we got,” Hisashi replied. “Keeps them out of sight.”
It took a minute or two to move the unconscious bodies next to the old man, but they got it done. The two of them found themselves standing in front of the passage to the back room, debating how to proceed.
“Runnin’ in is a bad idea. We got no idea what they do.”
“Well, we know from Kayo that the leader’s got some kind of speed quirk.” Helene frowned. “But given that he’s the leader, that probably makes him stronger than the other chumps we fought.”
“Wouldn’t call ‘em ‘chumps,’” Billy responded. “Tough bastards.”
“Strong as they are, they got put on ‘sift through the giant piles of junk’ duty. I doubt anyone above grunt status is doing that. Means the other guy in there is probably stronger too… set traps, maybe? Or we could—DOWN!”
He instinctively followed her command as a glowing wall appeared in front of him, a yellow blur of a person swinging a punch as he approached. Fast. Unbelievably so. The punch connected with the wall and then slid over it, the arm coming back down to clothesline Helene and carry her out the front door in mere seconds. Billy jumped back to assist her, but the approach of the footsteps down the hall stopped him. Tall and broad-shouldered, a hulking man in tattered and ragged clothing, with wild eyes and unruly hair.
He took a cautious step back. Fighting a man with an unknown quirk in an enclosed hallway was a recipe for disaster. Instead, he waited for his opponent to enter the main store, grinning at him before he pulled a diamond out of his pocket and… ate it. Billy flung himself at the man at full speed the instant it came out of his pocket, bringing both his hands down in a hammer slam as he neared. Not fast enough. The instant the man bit into the diamond, a crystal shell formed around his body and he raised his arms in a cross guard.
Flesh met crystal with a deafening roar, the shockwave reverberating through the store and knocking objects around like a windstorm.
When Nocti—she was ‘on the job’ right now, as it were, so that was her name—left the café earlier, she expected a lot of things. She expected to fight criminals, obviously. She expected to maybe crack a few jokes with Hisashi about insurance, see how the hero kid was in a fight.
She certainly wasn’t expecting to find herself carried out of the building and thrown onto the street by a man with a banana for a head. Or rather… the head of a banana for a head? The top bit, with the stem. Did that bit have a name? She might have spent more time thinking about that if she wasn’t busy fighting for her life.
The Banana Man swung at her again, and she created a wall to block—well, redirect, she’d seen before that you couldn’t really block him—his attack. As intended, his fist slid over her head… before it almost instantly reversed direction and an elbow drove into her back and sent her stumbling into her own wall. Banana—that was what she’d call him now in her mind, it was easier—continued past her, sliding on the asphalt. A change of plans was needed, then. His quirk so far appeared to be some form of super-slipperiness, meaning any barrier she created wouldn’t do much unless it covered her entire body, and losing sight of someone that fast for even a second would end disastrously.
No, if she couldn’t block, then she’d need to dodge. With distance, hopefully, given how fast he reversed his attack on her. A simple duck wouldn’t do much. Banana pivoted around on a single foot, sliding towards her once again with high speed. As he neared, a sudden explosion of luminescent gas flung her to the side and blinded him for a mere fraction of a second before he came out the other end and it vanished.
When Nocti created compressed gas with her quirk, it didn’t like staying compressed. It expanded. She flipped through the air, landing on her feet as she hit the ground and forming a net launcher in her hand. A click of the trigger launched it at her foe, the four magnets on the corners attracting one another and clicking together as the net surrounded him… for no time at all before the entire thing, which fully wrapped around him, just slid over his body.
Another pivot on one foot flung him in her direction, a single push off the ground nearly doubling his speed as he approached. She swore and created another point of hypercompressed gas beneath her, sending her in an arc over him, at which point she made use of her classic ‘get in the box’ tactic. A wide cube around the opponent, an inescapable cage. Couldn’t be used in the shop because of how much stuff was lying around, but out in the streets? He wouldn’t be able to slide his way out of this one.
Unless she failed to account for something. A failing she’d discovered with her quirk, where projections took longer to create the further away from her they were. Mere fractions of a second, nigh-unnoticed in any normal circumstance. Combined with her other restriction, the inability to create projections inside of other objects, meant that theoretically anyone who managed to shove a body part into her projection before it finished forming could disrupt it entirely. It had never come up before, because who the hell was that fast?
This guy. This guy was that fast. His fingers brushed up against the edges of the cube, the projection destabilizing as he pivoted once more and flew—figuratively—towards her. He lifted one leg up in an arcing kick as he continued to slide on the other foot like some kind of badly animated fighting game character, forcing her to create another explosion beneath her to get out of its reach. As she flew—literally—she noted that the shockwave itself seemed to part around him, his slipperiness bending the very air.
The ground fight was untenable, to say the least. He was a lot faster than her, more maneuverable, stronger, and he'd just broken out of one of her most effective—if straightforward—tactics. What else could she use? She could heat her creations, but causing severe burns on her enemies was an easy way to burn up any goodwill she had. Railguns? Theoretically she could, but it would probably just slide off of him. And if it didn’t…
Well, she didn’t want to go to jail for murder. She needed more time to think. More time in the air, where he couldn’t get to her. That, she had a creation for. A pair of tubes formed themselves on her back as she flew, twin plumes of compressed gas blasting out of them and sending her skywards.
The magnetic net didn’t work. The box didn’t work. Given how slippery he was, it was likely that any projectile she could launch would just slide around him. Physical attacks in general were out, then. What did that leave? She needed to figure out his quirk more. Was it as simple as it seemed at first glance? Testing needed to be done.
The net launcher appeared in her hands once more, this one five times larger than the last and firing a net that blanketed that street beneath her. Even someone frictionless would be caught underneath it, or at the very least slowed. But the instant a single thread touched him, the entire net slid to the side as he came out from under it.
It was beyond merely having no friction. His slipperiness was seemingly physics defying, his friction coefficient seemingly… negative. Anything which stood even a fraction of a sliver of a chance of touching him was fully forced past, as it flung by some invisible force. His movement was continually accelerating as he pursued her down the street, even though he’d long since stopped pushing against the ground.
And then he jumped, touched the wall of a building, and slid up it. The sheer disregard for the laws of nature stunned her for the brief second needed for him to reach her elevation, then leap off the building at her. Even the air wasn’t safe. Right before he reached her, she reversed the direction of her “jetpack” and created another gas explosion inside it, flinging her down to the ground. She bounced off of a cushion created underneath herself and flipped onto her feet, watching Banana with apprehension. What new bullshit was he going to pull to get himself out of this?
The man spread his arms to the side and his fall speed slowed to a crawl as he touched down lightly on the ground. That… was not something that could be explained away with mere slipperiness. What the hell? She didn’t have time to reflect on this new ability, as he was immediately upon her again at full speed, throwing out a sweeping kick at her. Nocti used the gas yet again to leap backwards, but she already knew he was getting used to it. She needed to keep innovating if she wanted to keep up at all. As she flew through the air, a glowing pair of boots formed around her shoes. She landed on them, continuing to slide backwards on the frictionless fluorescent footwear—alliteration was fun—with more and more gas explosions forming and disappearing to propel her away. A faint inkling of a plan started to form in her mind, but getting it to work required Banana to stand still for more than a few seconds. At this point, that seemed a downright impossible task.
Especially when he was still gaining on her. He popped out of her glowing clouds mere meters away, lashing out with another sweeping kick, which she responded to with another explosion of gas to send herself away… not fast enough. His foot merely grazed her leg, a glancing blow which should have slid right off.
Which only made it all the more surprising when she was pulled bodily along with his movement, seemingly stuck to him. He released her a second later, but the surprise had swept her off her feet and sent her tumbling across the ground, fresh burn marks making themselves known on her leg.
Of course. He wasn’t just making himself more slippery, he was fully manipulating his body’s friction. With his trump card revealed, he brought his leg down for a brutal axe kick, shattering the asphalt as Nocti propelled away once more. Not an iota of momentum to be wasted. Banana’s foot caught on the ground like glue and he rushed forward in pursuit of her as she slid away on a thin sheet. The bottom side entirely frictionless. The top side… very friction…ful? There wasn’t really a good word for that. But she wasn’t above stealing some ideas every now and then, and this guy was giving her some damn good ideas.
He lashed out with another kick that just barely sailed over her, but brought with it a wave of heat that cracked her skin. Her arm latched onto it as it went overhead, grabbing on for the barest fraction of a second before it slipped off… but that fraction of a second was enough to cause her some heavy friction burns on her hands. Was… was he experiencing reentry heating from how much friction he had? That shouldn’t have even been possible.
A sudden explosion of glowing liquid distracted him for a brief moment, allowing Nocti time to create a lasso around him—beneath the arms, so it was literally impossible to slip out—before she pulled it taut. Banana merely spun as he slid, yanking her off the ground as the lasso snapped and a fist cracked against her cheek. She rolled down the street from the hit, wincing as she felt the burn on her face. That’d take forever to get out.
She realized by now that as long as she kept running, there would be absolutely no way to slow him down or stop him. If she wanted to pin him in place, she’d have to stay there herself. Nocti forced herself off the ground and saw him rush in once more. It was the last thing she saw before her vision became nothing but luminescent azure, a set of armor encasing her figure. Low-friction, to weaken attacks… but you couldn’t really stop them entirely if you were following the laws of physics. His first blow rattled her, unable to dodge due to her lack of sight. The follow-up caused her to twirl around from its force. But as he beat the shit out of her, she was constantly creating gaseous explosions around them, filling the streets with a growing cloud.
All her creations were the same color, as long as she didn’t change them. All of them were the same texture, the same luminosity, the only difference being their shape. In the gas cloud, she was effectively invisible. A kick against her stomach send her sailing backwards into the fog, where she created an exact copy of her armor to push at Banana. Meanwhile, she slid out of the mist and got to work. Glowing walls encased the entire cloud, while within it constant crashing noises could be heard—her opponent absolutely battering the suit of armor, which she’d adjusted to weigh just as much as it would have with her in it. He hadn’t noticed the difference. Why would he? She hadn’t done anything when it was the real her, and now the fake her wasn’t doing anything either.
The walls went up, and the noises became muffled, dampened. Nocti dispelled her armor and created in its place next to her a giant dynamo with wires connected to the walls. The principle behind it was simple. A magnet moved through a magnetic field, cutting through the lines of flux and generating voltage due to Faraday’s law. In other words, magnet spin, make zappy. Since physical attacks did nothing to Banana, this was all she could come up with at the moment. The gas filling his cage was made especially conductive for this moment, and as she activated the dynamo, it would carry the charge and hopefully shock him unconscious.
She gripped the crank on the side, wincing at the pain radiating from her hands. And arms. And just about everywhere else, really, he did a number on her. But still she turned it again and again, the dynamo creating a humming noise as it worked. The sound of crashing metal inside the box became irregular. Then slowed. Then stopped. She kept going for a few seconds more, just in case, but soon dispelled all of her projections, allowing the streetlights to once again function.
Banana lay on the ground, twitching slightly, but the rise and fall of his chest indicated breathing. Still alive then, that was good. She created another frictionless sheet beneath him, dragging him along behind her as she headed back to Hisashi’s.
The storefront was still intact… sort of. From here she could see shattered glass and crystal chunks littering the street in front of it. Nocti approached cautiously, net launcher appearing in her hand. Hopefully Billy was alright. He seemed like a good kid, and frankly she really didn’t want this weighing on her conscience.
Luckily, her worries were dispelled as she stepped through the front door. Both Billy and Hisashi were alive, though the same couldn’t be said about the store. Spears of crystal protruded from the walls, a good half of the shelves in the store having fallen over in the battle. The merchandise was at least mostly intact thanks to Hisashi’s quirk. Useful thing, that.
The hero student sat atop a mountain of shattered crystal, underneath which lay an unconscious man. Tiny slivers of crystal riddled his face and arms, where his clothing didn’t cover him, and Billy winced as he pulled them out one by one. He had large gashes on his legs, though they’d already been bandaged up.
“You look like you went five rounds with a cactus, kid.”
He looked up at her and snorted. “An’ you look like you jus’ came out a tumble dryer.” Nocti raised an eyebrow and gazed around the room, finding a mirror buried underneath a pile of other assorted knickknacks. Was it really that bad?
She pulled it out of the pile, wincing both at the pain in her hand and her revealed appearance. Her clothing was singed, charred in places, while her body was covered in burn marks and bruises. She sighed. “Rough fight. You?”
“Almost got me.” He tilted his neck to the side, parting the fur to reveal a thin line of blood on its side. “Tough bastard. Probably would have done me in if it wasn’t for him,” he said, pointing a thumb at Hisashi.
“You’re welcome.”
Nocti sat down on a nearby chair and leaned back, letting out a groan. “Sorry for dragging you into this, kid.”
“Koh. I’m a hero student, aren’t I? ‘s what I’m s’posed to do,” he replied, continuing to pull crystal fragments out of his body. “This is work experience.”
“You’re a hero student. Haven’t graduated yet,” she sighed. “Still. guess it’s better to get this kind of experience now so you don’t get blindsided on the job. Can’t believe these guys were robbing a pawn shop… no offense.”
“None taken,” Hisashi said. “They weren’t after money though. They were looking for my sales records. Don’t know why.”
“Did they get ‘em?” Billy asked. He pulled out the last of the crystals and let out a sigh of relief.
“Nope. I keep them in a safe that’s behind a wall safe that’s hidden. They didn’t have enough time before you two showed up. Thanks for that, by the way.”
Nocti sank further into the chair. “If they didn’t get it, I got a feeling that someone’s going to come back for round two.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair before looking at Billy. “Oi, kid. You lookin’ for a job, by any chance?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe. Where’s this come from?”
“Honestly, I’ve been looking to hire someone for a long time. It’s hard running the whole place myself. It’s what, eleven, twelve hours? Starting to lose it, man.” She chuckled. “But uh… more importantly, you’re a competent fighter and you’re not an official hero. I don’t fancy going for a second round against these guys on my own. Pay’s good if you need the cash… can’t exactly be payin’ minimum wage if I expect you to fight villains with me… I’m rambling. Look, offer’s open if you want it.” She pushed herself free of the chair’s ensnaring cushions — why was it so comfortable? — and stumbled towards the doorway. “Feel free to take the credit, just say you got Banana with a punch while his guard was down or somethin’…”
“…Thanks, I think.” Billy snorted. “’course, now I’ve gotta think up a proper cover story. You pushin’ the work onto me already?”
“Hey man, you got a witness right here who’s gonna go with just about anything you say.”
Hisashi nodded. “You were very heroic, rushing in to save me by yourself like that. Should get some extra credit. Do hero schools do that?”
“Koh. Last kid got detention with Rosethorn,” Billy answered, shuddering slightly. “Think that was less ‘cause of the crime-stopping and more ‘cause of the property damage, though.”
“Well, it’s my property that got damaged. I’m not complaining.”
“Look, work it out yourselves,” Nocti said, stepping over the doors on the ground. “I’m heading out now. Makoto’s gonna kill me…”
“See you ‘round,” Billy called out to her. “I’ll think ‘bout your offer.”
“Guess I’ll fly back,” she muttered to herself, reaching out an arm. Beside her appeared a massive version of one of those flying fairy toys, about five times taller than she was. Without much fanfare she yanked on the cord, the fairy spinning up into the air and carrying her along with it.
She really wished she got paid for this stuff, sometimes.