[Rui Matsui]

Rui felt her whole body go numb as it slammed into the side of a building following a torrent of purple water emitted from the hero Whytide. The hero in question, with short hair and an eyepatch radioed for her partner. ''The villain Mummy has been apprehended.'' With a painful gasp Rui's quirk kickstarted its healing, regenerating her injuries and forcing her back up to her feet. The hero seemed unperturbed and continued. ''Have you located Bakuretsu yet? We can't let her slip away, not after...'' She stopped talking when Rui took a step forward, sending her back into the wall with another torrent of water shot from the palm of her hand.

She wasn't given a moment to recover as she laid there, dazed, trying to recall why she was even here. Her and Retsu had met up to commit some crimes? To what end? Whose idea was it? They got separated for a couple of minutes and before she knew it, this hero had showed up and started blasting her with her quirk. They probably knew by now that they didn't need to hold back against her, that she was near immortal thanks to her quirk. Still, this hero wasn't aiming to kill her, right? Heroes weren't allowed to do that sorta stuff.

Hopefully her Bomb Bestie had run away by now. Heroes were a lot of trouble and if she wasn't going to get a chance to recover then she was probably going to get captured again. As much as she hated it, better she get captured than the both of them. Getting back up to her feet she smiled at Whytide. ''Hey bestie, got more gatorade?''

Bakiri Retsu

[Bakiri Retsu]

In slow motion a grenade flew through the air, tumbling end over end as it drew closer to its target. Almost as if she were a character in a movie stepping across the tape from frame to frame a woman with long dark hair stepped past it while it hung almost still in the air, bound to the very frames the hero moved through seamlessly. The grenade moved ever slower the closer it got to her and only sped up once more when she was past it. The fragments flung in all directions by its detonation likewise never managed to get close to her. Answering her radio as she took a glance back to double check that all civilians had managed to get clear the figure stopped momentarily.

A sane person would've used the opportunity to get out. Bakiri Retsu was not that person. To flee like a coward would be an affront to everything she'd built up so far and would sink her reputation to the point where achieving more would become very difficult. No, she'd fight. No matter how terrifying the pro hero Null seemed. 

"Stop. Your resistance is futile."

"Eat my futile ya b'tch!"

Another grenade was thrown right at the hero's face, its results no more promising than those of the last. Dashing into an alley Retsu realized her current approach wasn't working. She'd need to fight with her head if she was to win this. A few strips of breaching charge blew a rectangular hole roughly the size of a door in the side of a two-story house.

Without pause she rushed through the moment the opening was made and took the stairs two at a time to reach the next floor. From her duffel bag came several C4s. One she threw onto the ceiling just above the door, another behind a sofa and a third beneath a cabinet. Several more went onto the ceiling, floor and walls as she rushed to get them in place, for already she could feel her actions slowing down as the pro hero reached the stairs as well. Retsu rushed for the window. The same hand that was holding the detonator pried it open, conveniently hiding it behind the window frame when the hero entered the room.

"Yo, if ah jump y'll need to chase a whole lot longer," Retsu said while making sure to make her mouth movements as clear as possible for the first part before wiping blood off the corner of her lips during the second. "So let's negotiate, shall we?"

"Finally. This was getting tiring. What terms do you wish t-"

She didn't get farther before Retsu pressed the detonator and let herself fall backwards out of the window, the explosion clipping her legs and sending her spinning. She'd tried a similar maneuver before, throwing a piece of C4 into a crack in the pavement and waiting until Null was just above it to press the detonator. It didn't do anything, not even the signal being able to get through the spherical slowing field around her. Yet the hero had answered her radio all the same and had no difficulty talking to her whenever she pleased. It all led Retsu to two conclusions. The first being that there was a small area around her that wasn't affected by the slowing lest the hero herself would be unable to move and the second being that she could toggle it and likely did so in small bursts to allow for communication. How else would the sound waves be able to reach her during conversation after all?

So her plan had been simple. Set bait by letting her lipread, get the hero to deactivate her field to hear the rest of her words and then keep her talking to ensure the field stayed down long enough for the signal to get through.

The back of Retsu's head slammed into the wall on her way down causing her to land even less gracefully. Pushing herself up regardlessly she looked up at the sphere of slowed debris with a crooked grin. Retsu was under no illusions it'd stop the stupidly strong hero for long but a little time was all she needed. Sure, she probably couldn't beat Null alone but maybe she didn't have to. If she could get Rui in on a certain plan Null was all but done for. Which reminded her.

"Where'd she go?" Retsu muttered as she pulled out her ENKI phone and used the locator function before taking off in a run -glad the fall didn't break anything essential-, less than half a minute passing before she reached the scene just in time to see Rui get blasted into the wall. Buying time. It seemed that was what her role would come down to once more.

"Oy, catch ya one-eyed freak!" She shouted while pulling two grenades off her harness and throwing them at Whytide, one aimed at either side of the hero while she herself charged in from the front with her knife drawn. Should the hero fire on her she'd throw herself sideways immediately. Retsu deemed it unlikely she'd be the first target given that the other two -even three- were far more volatile but she wouldn't risk being caught unprepared either.

Besides, it was unlikely she'd need to be the one to take the hero down or even delay them for more than a few moments. Mummy had gotten frighteningly fast while she wasn't looking.

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Tags:Rui Matsui 

[Rui Matsui]

''You disgust me.'' Whytide scoffed at Rui, aiming her palm firmly at her to make sure she could blast her with more water whenever Rui would try to move. ''I'm gonna be famous one day.'' Rui smiled, her eyes lighting up at the thought, completely unbothered by the one-sided beating she had been taking so far. ''And you're gonna be super dead, like soooo dead and I'll have lots of money!''

''It feels like I'm fighting an actual child.'' Whytide sighed, suddenly alerted to Retsu's presence when she emerged.

She was an experienced hero, already firing a torrent of water towards Retsu, before quickly leaping away to dodge the grenades. Whytide wasn't just some newbie, she had taken down many villains in the past and presumably, so had her partner. What she didn't account for was that fighting Retsu and Rui at the same time was a lot harder than trying to pick off any one of them individually. The second Retsu attacked she also forced the hero's hand, taking her attention away from Rui. While she was still dodging the grenades Retsu threw, Rui had gone in for the kill, stabbing her knife through one of Whytide's hands. Rui had originally aimed for her throat, but even under pressure it seemed like the hero knew to defend her vitals.

''You're screwed now! You can't shoot with that hand anymore, can you?'' Rui grinned smugly, before looking over at Retsu. ''Thank you bestie! Did you kill the other one already?''

''You..'' She grimaced, looking at Retsu. ''Bakuretsu!'' She gathered her purple water into the palm of her hand, making a huge ball out of it that she tried to lob at Retsu like a bomb.

Mummy had been a menace to hero society lately, but Bakuretsu was a name most heroes of Tokyo were all too familiar with by now.

Bakiri Retsu

[Bakiri Retsu]

Beginning her dodge even before the torrent came her way turned out to be the right move for once. Which was definitely a good thing, she'd have looked quite silly banging her elbow onto the concrete mid roll for no reason otherwise. Nonetheless the move caught Retsu off guard. What kind of sane person would focus on someone with a knife over two grenades about to blow their sides off? A grin crept onto her face. Did the hero see her as an even bigger threat than that?

"Ah'm here. She ain't." Retsu shouted in reply with a maniacal cackle. "Oy, watergun! What's y'r partner saying over the radio? What? She ain't answering?"

It was a gamble but Retsu didn't think the hero had the capacity to let up with her null field for even a moment lest she get crushed by several tons of concrete. Nah, her bluff wouldn't be called for a while longer. It'd have to be eno- 

Holy hells what was that thing coming at her?

Rolling along the floor Retsu narrowly managed to scramble away from it, a random grenade unclipped and thrown vaguely in Whytide's direction as she went. For a moment Retsu considered what would have happened had her 'bomb coming her way' instinct honed through much trial, error and hitting objects that rebounded her own grenades been a bit slower or if the hero had used a different method of attack. Then she put the thought aside, no point getting caught up on near-death situations. She'd never get anything done if she did that every time.

"Oy, catch!" Retsu shouted at Rui while lobbing an unprimed grenade towards her in a wide arc. Whether the devil caught it or not was secondary so long as it added another factor for Whytide to deal with.

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Tags: Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

Even though this street had turned into absolute chaos when this fight broke out, Rui still managed to catch a glimpse of Retsu's fast reflexes dodging that initial attack against her. It looked a lot more impressive through her eyes, like her bestie was somehow several parallel universes ahead of Whytide and simply saw the attack coming before it was even made. When Retsu then mocked the hero and claimed she had already taken out the hero, Rui cackled alongside her, believing her wholeheartedly. ''Heroes are losers!''

Whytide didn't look amused at Retsu's taunt and especially not at the fact that she dodged her water bomb. She tried to dodge the grenade coming at her, but couldn't avoid some of the shrapnel flying into her arm. Bakuretsu as far as anyone knew was absolutely quirkless, but it didn't make her any less scary as a villain. Especially when paired with that small one, Mummy. Whytide was quickly realizing that this fight two on one wasn't a winnable scenario for her. Was her partner really dead? She turned on her radio and waited for a signal...

''Ooh fun!'' Rui said gleefully, catching the grenade and unraveling part of her stomach to stash it inside, before sealing it back up. ''Now, I'll stab!-'' Before she could finish her sentence Whytide slammed her with another torrent of water. Their training with Sho had helped Rui improve a lot, but she was still working on her dodging skills. With a cold rage, Whytide turned to face Bakuretsu and fired another three torrents of water, hellbent on trying to hurt the villain so bad that she couldn't fight anymore.

Bakiri Retsu

[Bakiri Retsu]

The very same act that saved Whytide's life likely saved Retsu's as well. She was just in the process of aiming her pistol when Whytide launched her own attack. Without already being in motion there was no way she'd be able to dodge, her instincts defaulting to hurting her enemy more than she herself would get hurt. When both her own movements and those of the torrents of water slowed just before she pulled the trigger, coming out of the exchange unscathed became a much more feasible option.

After all, it was rare that you got even just half a second more to think in a combat situation. Far slower than Retsu would have liked she turned just enough that the torrents would glance instead of putting holes through her. A sideways move of her eye let her confirm the reason. Null had caught up. Retsu had to clench her teeth to stop herself from screaming in pain. Nonlethal as it may now be feeling the torrents tear through her skin in slow motion wasn't a pleasant experience. Sandpaper was the closest reference she could think of. The moment one of the beams finished prying Retsu's pistol out of her grasp the field went down.

"I assure you, cretin. Not answering the radio was a purposeful act of mine. Your plan was not nearly as good as y-"

"Mummy shower drain hair over there is all yours ah'll deal with sprinkler!"

With her knife in her offhand she threw a grenade towards Whytide with her main while she dashed for her gun, moving her further away from both Null and Rui. Retsu laughed. Null would have no choice but to both reactivate her field and follow unless she was fine with her partner taking several bullets to the face. An action that would carry her right into Rui's path if she did. After all, the one throwing bombs was obviously the bigger threat, right? Her laughter grew louder at the thought. Null was in for a nasty surprise.

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Tags: Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

With the hero duo reunited they were sure to turn this fight in their favor, doubly so as Retsu was getting hit with a torrent of slow motion water. An excruciatingly painful attack. ''Shower drain, you and me!'' Rui shouted, pouncing at the other hero, leaving Retsu to deal with Whytide. ''Those bombs are getting on my nerves.'' With a torrent of water shooting upwards, she managed to change the course of the grenade, making it detonate overhead instead of directly on her. Still, it was a distraction that bought Retsu the time she needed.

Meanwhile, Rui was sizing up her new opponent. No need to hear what her quirk did or anything, Retsu believed in her and she was ready to go. Rui might be a simpleton, but after a bit of guidance and training with Sho she had figured that Retsu handing her the grenade was a sign, a hint that she needed to follow-up on. With Null pursuing Retsu, reactivating the field it was all too easy for Rui to get in the way and consequently, also get caught in the slowing field. Confused, Rui was wondering if she was slowing down, or just getting tired. Either way her her legs and arms weren't moving at the speed she wanted them to. That probably meant Retsu couldn't throw grenades at Null, explaining why she left her for Rui to deal with.

She was probably unsuspecting. Short villain, armed with nothing but a knife, firmly charging through and caught in the slowing field. Heck, Null probably had more martial arts experience than Rui too, and could most certainly outpace her even with her slowing field turned off. All these factors might lead to what would ultimately become as Retsu put it, a nasty surprise. Making her way through the slowing field, Rui's bandage skin around her ribs started to unravel, revealing the hand grenade Retsu had tossed her earlier, the pin dangling off her ribs precariously. Now that she had managed to get this close to Null, it would be a shame if she didn't pull it, right? With a grin that told the hero that Rui did not fear death, she pulled the pin and set off an explosion.

It was deafening, bright and most of all so sudden that Whytide couldn't help but get further distracted. What had just happened? Was it the grenade Retsu had given Rui earlier? Was her partner okay? In those split seconds a million questions raced through her mind, leaving her defenseless against Retsu's next move.

Bakiri Retsu

[Bakiri Retsu]

There was one very important thing that Rui understood and Null didn't. Offense is the best defense. Retsu's laugh grew positively maniacal as the slowing field went down with a loud boom. When all you have is a hammer everything starts to look like a nail and Null's quirk gave her an incredibly potent shield. It didn't matter how fast or hard you could hit after all, everything required motion and with time grinding to a near complete halt when you got close to her, inflicting potent hits was as good as impossible.

If that was all there was to it though how did she herself move? There had to be a safe zone around her where time wasn't altered. In a close quarters fight there was no way Retsu could stand up to the Pro Hero but Rui? She had exactly the right kind of insanity required to take down the Pro Hero that had captured so many of their kind over her decade and a half of service. 

"Eat lead, b'tch!" Retsu shouted as she fired the remainder of her magazine straight into the unmoving Whytide the second the slowing field went down, making up for her lack of good one-liners with an excessive amount of bullets. Luckily for her words weren't what got rid of Pro Heroes. 

For a moment Retsu heard nothing but the ringing in her own ears and her own blood rushing through her ears, her heart beat sped up by adrenaline to the point it sounded like even more gunshots.

"Yo, Rui. You still alive?"

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Tags: Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

Once the grenade went off, Rui's life faded with it, her contemporary existence vanishing from this world like a candle in the wind. All her bandages weren't wrapped around herself when the bomb exploded so she couldn't heal back fast from it. In fact, she took the attack with so much force that her quirk immediately kicked into its drawbacks and she laid there motionless. She couldn't hear, see, feel, taste, or think anything. For a brief moment in time Rui was gone completely, like a robot that had been switched off and might not turn on again.

Her existence was nothing, until she suddenly woke up again as her body put itself back together, much slower this time. There was a gap in her memory, but she was alive. ''What?'' She blinked her eyes as they healed back up, then she looked at Retsu. ''What happened? Did we win?'' She didn't wake up in a cell, so she had to assume they had either won, or Retsu had managed to carry them both to safety. She was still disoriented from her lack of existing, to suddenly existing all at once very much. Standing up, still a little dizzy she looked at where Null and Whytide used to be standing, opposing them. ''Wanna get a drink, bestie? I know a place.'' Somewhere far away from this messy crime scene.

Bakiri Retsu

[coffee]

I'M COMMANDER SHEPARD, AND I APPROVE THIS MISSION

Dang. Talk about a skill issue. Nice work, you two!

Rui: 16,500XP + 7500XP = 24,000XP

Retsu: 33,000XP + 7500XP = 40,500XP

tag: Rui Matsui Bakiri Retsu