Fandom MHA: The Ivory Circle

[Merciless Medic]

(Only myself and Xillia )

"Ugh, Sara?" A disgusted male voice spoke up behind the cat woman, her ears flicking back to hear his soft noise of a complaint, as if he were afraid of getting on her bad side. It was painfully obvious he was from America with his accent, but he was speaking in Japanese. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder with all of his things bobbing up and down.

"What is it, Matthew?" Her voice held a marriage between an American and Japanese accent and was curt, due to the ringing in her head and the annoyance it brought. Maybe using her quirk so much this morning wasn't a good idea. But she couldn't be too careful. She wore an oversized, dark grey sweater, baggy dark jeans, and sneakers. She felt weird not wearing her usual clothes. Sara also had a backpack hugging her slumped shoulders, all with her own personal belongings that weren't destroyed when she left.

"Um... Where are we going? Do you have a place? I feel gross, and... I don't know, I don't really feel safe." Matthew fussed over his off-white sweater, which had gotten dirty from a fall they had. He darted his hazel-green eyes around the place, his hands reaching up to at least fix his short, black hair a little, despite it being rather useless as it fell back the same way it was before.

"I told you I have an apartment. It should still be there. It's just going to take a while to get there. Luckily, Japan isn't as big as any of the states, so getting there by foot shouldn't take too long." She ignored how he didn't feel safe. She wasn't his babysitter and he shouldn't have followed her. But here they were, Matthew not trusting Sara and Sara not wanting to have to deal with his complaints.

"I'm also hungry..." Matthew whined softly, holding his stomach. He tried to find something in his faded blue jeans, grabbing his phone from his pocket. That was when Sara shot him a look, completely halting her movements. Matthew's eyes widened and his lip quivered, his feet feeling cold.

That sight. Sara flinched away, scrunching up her face before letting out a deep sigh. "Okay, Matt, please. No cell phones."

Matt, finally finding some bit of his courage after his safety was practically denied, glared at her with as much bravery as he could muster, his voice becoming frantic. "What do you mean 'no cell phones'? You don't think people can track my phone? We have only been here for a couple weeks! I highly doubt that will cause any issue if I just turn on my phone right now so I can at least understand where we are."

Sara raised an eyebrow, her brown eyes staring through him as she gathered his thoughts and it made the poor man shiver. Despite the similarities in height and weight, Sara was more muscular and limber than Matt, who was just average. "You are afraid we won't make it out of this? Matt, we both lived here for a time. Please, my migraine feels like it's splitting my skull in half."

"You should get med-" Matt stopped himself and let out a frustrated sigh. "Sorry, I just... This is getting ridiculous. I doubt there's anybody within our reach who has a quirk who can just sense phone signals. You do realize how common that is here, right? Adding my phone to the mix might as well just give them even more of a migraine."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Sara sighed gruffly, pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Then what?" Matt asked timidly, his hands clutching his safety device to his chest.

Sighing once again out of exasperation, Sara turned her gaze skyward, realizing they were arguing between two building structures. The alleyway was wide enough for a small car at least. What building structures she saw, she couldn't tell. It hurt too much to focus on that right now. "I'm worried that those who were trying to find you - find us - back in America, have figured out where we went and are trying to hunt us down."

"You-... You're so paranoid, Sara! I can't- you're freaking me out." Matt's eyes were practically bugging out of his skull as his hands clutched at his hair with his phone still in hand, and Sara looked worryingly at Matt, her eyebrows furrowed with concern.

Sara scratched her brown and black tabby-colored hair, her ears laying towards the sides as her tail swished with mild concern. "Matt, I'm not trying to freak you out. I've just seen a lot, and-"

Matt cut her off, backing up a bit. "No, Sara. Stop it. Enough with this paranoia."

Sara glared at him, making him freeze and his blood run cold, his hands dropping to his chest as he immediately regretted talking back. "I'm not being paranoid, I'm being careful. Careful has kept me alive when I shouldn't have been."

"Are you sure that's what that was? What if it was someone helping you, or, or, or, you know... Something else-"

Sara's voice rose and Matt backed off, taking a few steps away from her as her pupils became slits "Matt, this isn't some kind of video game or some heroic tale in your comic books. I understand the appeal, but this is real life."

"Sara, just stop, please!" Matt pleaded with her with a cracking voice, finally taking a few brave steps forward, tears welling up in his eyes. Sara looked away quickly, shaking her head to rid herself of the emotions that could cloud her judgement. "Please, at least just... Just let me live in my ignorance."

"Ignorance can get you killed."

"Damn it, Sara!" Matt crouched low, hands in his hair, before standing back up and walking off. "Quit scaring me, I don't care how much you have gone through or how many people you have lost! I'm not you! I'm not a Pro Hero or some vigilante, I'm some tech bug who tries to see the good in things and and..."

Sara flinched, her head pounding. Something was nearby, she can feel it. She put a hand to her head, her eyes squeezing shut and pulling the dome of mind reading so it was only a few feet from her. So, she didn't have to hear the frantic wails of her friend's mind. When she finally opened her eyes, they were glowing with a bit of blue from her exertion of her powers.

Finally, she spoke up, her voice gentle and her gaze soft. "Fine, I won't say anymore. Just please come with. We're almost to my apartment. I called the landlady before I arrived and she should have it open for us to get freshened up and get back on our feet. Okay?"

Matt blinked a few times, watching her tail wag the tip irritatingly, her ears picking up sounds nearby and flicking towards them, but her ears were still slightly back, trying to make herself seem less terrifying to the poor man. Her eyes were between slits and saucers, and he can make out the exertion flecking her brown eyes with blue that reminded him of a mana bar in a video game. After what seemed like minutes when it was only a few painstaking seconds, Matt nodded, conceding with a troubled sigh, his voice weak. "Alright, alright. I just... I don't feel like we should be going through alleyways."

"But this is faster. And I do have a battle-hardened quirk, Matt. I've protected you for a long time." Sara tried reasoning with him, with Matt falling in step beside her as he shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah, it's just... It hurts you too much to use it. I'd rather you not have a big ol' mess just because of me." Matt was holding his arm in a self hug, looking away with a furrowed brow and a frown as he's reminded of the fact she's using her quirk right now.

Sara shook her head, choosing to speak in English. "Alright, alright. I getcha. But I can handle it. I'm a big girl." She smirked, making Matt smile a little in turn and match her language.

"Okay, I trust you." Matt seemed to calm down enough, his thoughts having simmered down and Sara can ease control over her mind reading bubble to encompass her friend again and the alleyway around them, her eyes finally returning to their shade of brown.

 

[Xillia]

"Musutafu... It's boggling how a place can undergo such tragedy one decade, and in the next look like it's gunning itself over the horizons of a golden age."

Crimson ears whipped upward through their straw hat as peddled smoke from the end of the cigarette caught within the brim of the angular item. A huff of nicotine pushed out through flared nostrils as azure eyes scanned the streets below. Ornate kogake pressed against the guardrail of the pharmacy as a flutter of birds scattered off into the distance when a child ran over toward them. The action itself brought the flicker of a smile to her pale-pink lips. A deep inhale sucked in from the device in her mouth as the ash fell from the end of the cigarette, fluttering into nothing more than dust in the wind before it hit the ground below.

It was like that most days, where she would come and stand, one leg propped upward against the same worn rail, forearms draped across the lifted knee, waiting, listening, watching. A big break loomed on the horizon, she could feel it, something that would have crowds cheering the name of Scarlet Edge for years to come. But was there even a point to that glory? Was there a chase that lingered within her heart to be known? Or was it more just a means to an end, to survive and make a comfy living where she could do what she felt was right?

The last option seemed the most accurate. Before long the silence beyond the hustle and bustle of daily life drew to a close, and it was then that she heard it. To the untrained, it was like the slamming of a car door, but for the freelancing hero, it was another sound altogether; opportunity. The cigarette that had been so comfortably nestled between her upper teeth and bottom lip fell to the street below, with the figure on the roof of the pharmacy, vanished.

An explosion.

---

BANG!

The side of the wall blew away as bits of debris flooded into the alley at the side of the Musutafu Provincial Bank. A flood of dollar bills followed suit, with the real prize lingering in the burlap sack draped over the massive man's shoulders. The coated darkness was not enough to hide away the shimmer and gleam of blue resonating from the man's body.

"Never forget the day you were robbed by the one, the only, Diamond Storm! The hardest man alive!"

A haughty snarl of laughter erupted as he stepped out into the sidewinded path, breaking off into a thudding sprint, away from the blaring sirens and ringing of the bank's alarm system. Before long, all of the noise had become something of a distant thought, lost within the roar of the city, cars, and trains, laughter and screams all taking over. It was the noise of the city, the way its man-made abnormality beat in a different tune, ever-moving, ever-changing. It covered his tracks as the caper snuck his massive frame between the active eyes of the street and into the veering darkness of the alleys.

The further he got from the inner-city, the better, as the sack on Diamond Storm's back jingled with reverence. He was taking the precious things from their captivity, restoring them to their proper home. Longer and longer he kept on his feet, actively moving before the thudding of his heartbeat in his ears began to simmer and he was sure he wasn't being followed.

"Suck on that one... Heroes my ass... Can't even catch the legendary D.S."

The large figure came to a halt as he moved over toward an empty loading dock at the back end of a vacant produce store where he laid the concealment of his treasure between his legs as he flopped down. Greedily he eyed the rope around the bag as his gemmed fingers began to undo strands holding it together. Once the opening gave way, his face reflected the glimmering luster of blueish light.

"Oh, my poor babies... Look at what they've done to you..."

The man reached in and scooped out a handful of the distinctive gems, and hoisted them into the air.

"So beautiful, so innocent, so..."

Gulp.

"Tasty~"

After having whet his appetite, the brutish man stood once more, retying the bag, and began sauntering off, he'd have proper time to enjoy the treats when he was out of the city and out of the grasp of the pros. Fortune favored him on that day, or so he thought. The beginning of the end as he rounded the corner of the side street and came face to face with two individuals across from him.

---

Civilians were evacuated from the bank as the lanky man twirled his fingers over his finely trimmed mustache. Hizashi's eyes watched behind mirrored glasses as the police began questioning the witnesses and the tellers, as other pro heroes took up shop investigating the nearby area. Meanwhile, he was just on a couple of weeks of paid leave, his teeth gnashing away at the piece of fried chicken held in his left hand.

"Huh, isn't that something?" He muttered absently to himself as he took another bite, his eyes turning over towards the side of the building where detectives were examining the shattered pieces of the building that had been splayed all over.

He finished off the meat with a resounding bite and tossed the bone toward a nearby trash bin, turning on his heel as he wiped his greasy fingers off on his Hawaiian shirt until he heard something that caused him to outright freeze in his tracks. Just a couple of feet away, one of the witnesses told the police officer something that boiled his blood up within his body.

"...The hardest man alive. It was really dumb, but he was keen on letting us know who he was, Diamond Storm, no doubt about it. The same one that's had a bounty out on his head for months now."

Diamond... Storm...?

Hizashi's mind recollected the poster at the agency, the name, and the fat amount of numbers that followed beneath. Eyes went wide as saucers beneath his frames as he turned toward the alley and took off in a sprint.

"Aw screw vacation! Pay day coming early, ya dig!?" He blew past the inspectors and made hard for the alleys, tracking the faint blueish glimmer of crushed diamond powder. "It's all mine!"

 

[Merciless Medic]

As Sara and Matt walked beside each other to get out of the alleyway, Sara's ears perked up and pointed over to the side. The soft thumping from afar stopped the two in their tracks, and Sara's tail swished irritatingly. Matt noticed this and he looked at Sara, concerned, his hazel-green eyes wide and his breath quickened. Sara instinctively put her hand out to cover Matt, blocking him with her body from whatever danger was arriving. They both stared ahead, looking, watching, breaths bated in anticipation of whatever could be there to stomp around the corner.

Then.... A large man, covered in what looked to be diamonds - or maybe his flesh was diamond - carrying a bag, walked into their view, stopping short in front of them.

Sara felt Matt freeze beside her, his mind going blank and she curled her lips in smug disdain. "Run." Matt didn't need to be told twice. He bolted away from the two and back the way they came, knowing too well that getting caught in a struggle was going to be death for them both. He dove behind a corner, resting his back against it as he attempted to calm his breathing from burning his lungs, his legs and hands shaking as he tried to keep calm. Well, to no avail, of course. The poor man was shot.

Sara's gaze stared straight through him, determining what his thoughts were. Growling with a grin, she leaned forward, her hands out of her sleeves with flexed fingers. Her eyes glowed a light blue as she channeled her energy through her forearms, forming blue psychic glass around her forearms and having them orbit until she was ready.

"So.... I'm guessing you're a villain, hm? I think I've seen your face on a poster before. You got quite the bounty. Granted, you are worth your weight in diamond." She snickered, baring her teeth as her ears laid back, her tail becoming abnormally still as she used it to counter her weight more.

With a flick of her arm, she sent shards of glass spiraling towards the behemoth. However, contact with any of the diamonds caused them to shatter and bounce off, drifting away in sparkling dust. Realizing he was actually made out of diamonds, Sara's grin turned into a concentrated frown. Her hands formed an 'x' as she created a blue-tinted translucent wall in front of her to stop any of his attacks.

Any attack will cause the psychic barrier to crack like actual glass, but she will do her best to push the man back out of the alleyway with it as it moved towards him, her migraine throbbing considerably as her vision began to double. Each attack made against the barrier will cause more cracking, and it would feel like her skull was cracking with it.

Fuck, why did we have to have a run in with a villain?

 

[Xillia]

When the behemoth rounded the corner and came face to face with the Neko and the young man, he found himself bewildered. Surely he hadn't been followed out to the outskirts of the city that quickly? Or with such precision on knowing just what deadened path of alleyways he would've taken. Yet, the longer the two stared each other down while the third ran away to hide, the more Diamond Storm began to understand the true irony of the situation. A heart laugh bellowed up the sides of the vertical walls at either side, the diamond-coated man reaching up to wipe away a glimmering tear from his eye.

Pure coincidence.

Amusement filled him as the cat-like woman before him as his gaze traced down her arms towards the stiff fingers poking out beneath her sweater.

"So.... I'm guessing you're a villain, hm? I think I've seen your face on a poster before. You got quite the bounty. Granted, you are worth your weight in diamond."

Her words tickled his ears. So his name was getting around. The man sighed and grinned, setting down his burlap sack at the side of the alley before returning his gaze to the woman who'd pulled glass, as if from an ethereal plane around her, poised to strike, all at him. Though he didn't seem to consider it much threat as he wagged his hand at the wrist in front of him.

"You must be another hero, eh? Look, don't mean to get violent considering your looks and all, you've got a pretty face, would be a shame to ruin it--"

Before he could properly finish his sentence, her arm moved in his direction and the glass began to fly, like bullets as they thudded against his shelling like drops of rain. Diamond Storm remained unflinching as the barrage continued, the high-pitched shattering of the psychic weapons dissipating as if they were nothing more than wads of paper being tossed in his direction. The man studied her expression as it went from cocky to focused in all under a second, her arms now moving in front of her in a way that seemed almost comically tacky--but not as tacky as his own catchphrase.

The wall that came up between them was something that he'd not seen before, transparent in appearance but with the milky hue of blue surrounding it.

"Nifty trick." The criminal grunted as he dug his heel in behind himself, storing up power in his leg. "But I'm afraid you're in my way."

The first impact felt good, it felt solid, resonating off of the barrier and sending him back a meter or so before the second blow. It was like punching a padded wall, while it didn't hurt, it just wasn't leading anywhere, yet each time he struck against it with his massive fists, it was apparent that the figure behind it was wavering, slowly but surely.

"Do yourself a favor and get out of my way!"

 

[Merciless Medic]

Sara didn't exactly care for villain monologues. It was almost flattering that he thought she had a pretty face, but she couldn't be emotionally bribed from her duty as a Pro Hero. She watched as her barrier did the trick twice, but the points of impact caused her barrier to crack, lighter lines spidering out from the impact. Sara didn't think she can hold this up for too long.

Maybe.....

When she heard Diamond Man yelling to get out of his way, she sneered, feeling blood trickle down her lip from her nose as her migraine reached a crescendo of pain from gathering enough psychic energy, building it up within her mind as her eyes reached an aqua color, her hairs standing on end and tipped with the same saturated blue. Breathing in a harsh hiss inward through her teeth, Sara growled before letting out a shrill roar from the likes of death metal singers that would leave her throat hoarse, a blast of psychic energy radiating from her in an almost invisible conical wave that stirred dust in its wake, ready to infest the man's mind with a cacophony of rampant, errant, and gibberish thoughts of her own. Her forearms twisted and her stiffened fingers looked like she was going to scratch an 'x' shape in the air. Her arms swung apart, the barrier cracking painlessly of her own accord before becoming dull chunks of misshapen spheres. They then tried to push against the man's chest and shoulders, attempting to push him to get him to lose his balance and fall back. Another chunk of glass tried to smash his knee to the side to further her attempt.

However, the glass chunks would be no match for the man's diamond body or his fists, and they'll break if punched. Still, the force of the glass driving into the man's diamond body made high-pitched squeaking and scratching noises, the diamonds cutting into her psychic glass.

Matt peeked over the edge, his fingers digging into the building's concrete, his panicking eyes watching the Pro Hero seeming to struggle from the man. His eyebrows furrowed with worry and he became paler from fright and his blood ran cold. He tried to think of what he could do. He hummed in a high pitch out of anxiety before willing his lead-laden legs to move, running out of the alleyway in search of someone who could help his friend.

A few psychic chunks of glass had missed their target, and they flew up into the sky before fizzling away due to Sara's inability to keep up with her quirk's power input and concentration required. But Sara did this on purpose as she felt herself losing control.

It was a subtle call for help.

 

[Xillia]

Hizashi was making a brisk pace following the trail, moving fast and breathing even faster. His heart was thumping in his ears and he felt the urge to lurch over and upheave, though the promise of payment stemmed that discomfort, at least for the moment as he tore across streets, waving his hands in front of oncoming traffic to keep them from running him over and letting his eyes track the ground, the only real clue he had to go off of. That is, at least, until his eyes lifted to the faint shimmering light of what he could've only thought was glass.

A puzzled and curious brow lifted upon on his head as the sounds of thudding beyond that of his heart began to grow nearer and nearer. Eventually, he could hear the boarish grunts as he rounded the corner, with Diamond Storm standing tall, his back to Hizashi and his focus entirely built on the woman before him.

"H-Hold it right there!" The man huffed, his hands falling to his knees as he began sucking in air with a bent frame.

Diamond Storm stopped his barrage, if only for the moment to crane his head over his shoulder, glaring at the lanky man with ill intent. "Ho-ho! I'd recognize those squirrely glasses and ridiculous mustache anywhere... And seriously, what is with that hair!?"

"H-Hey! D-Don't you ever..." He sucked down some more air, "...Make fun of the hair!"

Though as he glanced up at the monstrously large caper, his eyes seemed to gravitate around him towards the nose-bleeding Neko on the other side.

"Well, I'll be damned. Psyche-Kitty? I thought you were in America? What ya doing back so early girl!?"

The heat of the moment had been sheltered, as he got a better look at her condition and his features fell slack, turning back towards D.S. "Hey, cover your ears, don't mean to interject like this... But this one is mine."

 

[Merciless Medic]

Sara's psychic abilities died away as she heard someone behind Diamond Storm catch his breath. Sara peeked over and her eyes widened, her cheeks currently flushed from her exertion and exhaustion. Present Mic..... She felt her body wanting to give out from the internal smashing within her brain, but she still held strong, not wanting to show weakness or give out. She let out a breathy chuckle at the hair comments, shaking her head.

She mumbled tiredly to herself. "Oh, he doesn't change, does he?" It was nice that he was a constant and was still himself. Him being here had made her feel a little better. The fact that he remembered her English vigilante name was interesting. How did he know? Everyone here knew her as Psycho-Neko. Unless she told him a long time ago and had forgotten. Oh well, she'll remember later. She shrugged her shoulders and straightened up, an eye becoming half-lidded from the pain that moved behind it.

Then, Mic said he was going to take this one. Sara smirked, but then it faltered when she realized he didn't have his speaker. In fact, he looked like he was on vacation or at least not on duty.

"Oh, fuck." She breathily growled, putting up her hands in front of her and a domed barrier encircled behind D.S., hoping that the sound would reverberate off the now pink and weaker, translucent glass and become stronger since the sound won't be as concentrated without her help. The barrier will vibrate if hit by the soundwaves, but it should be enough to make it more powerful against D.S.

However, the yell will be enough to make her cringe and growl, gritting and baring her teeth as the decibels reverberated off the walls of the buildings to hit her. Even if she had covered her ears with something, it would still bother her enough to make her nearly lose her concentration. Her barrier was already wavering unsteadily as is.

Luckily, Matt had ran back to see a man with strange yellow hair help Sara. Maybe she will be okay? But then he heard the man say to cover her ears, but she wasn't doing it.

Damn it, Sara....

Matt, against his better judgment, ran towards Sara and grabbed his Doom-themed headphones from his backpack, placing it over her ears from behind, unsure if that will really help against the reverberation, but she will be able to keep the barrier up.

Unluckily for himself, he doesn't have time to cover his own except with his hands, and that wouldn't exactly do much for him.