[Rui Matsui]

There was nothing quite like going on a blind rampage. She didn't often do contract work like this, getting hired by people to kill other people just to get paid. It was stable, but like, so predictable too. Do it too much and it would swiftly become the most boring job on the planet.

She had been tasked with cleaning up some small-time gang that had upset the wrong people. She didn't know the exact details, but it was something about money not being paid because the small gang thought they could fight back and take control of their own turf. She was too impatient to listen to the reason why bleeders fought each other. As long as someone was willing to pay she would side with the highest bidder.

''Didn't you hear me, girl? I said get lost!'' One of the thugs stationed at the end of the street was trying to get her to back off, but she just kept approaching with her cup of coffee. ''I warned you!'' He swung a crowbar at her head, breaking her neck in one strike. Only for her neck to spring back into place moments later, as if she had never been struck. ''Are you done?'' She asked matter-of-factly before throwing the cup of hot coffee in his face, giving her ample time to take the knife from his belt while he screamed. She stabbed him several times until he went down, then a couple more times before turning to the rest of the gang with his blood on her face. ''Yeah hi, so I have to kill you all now. Do any of you have quirks? That guy was pretty boring.'' She pointed back at the guy she had just stabbed, grinning maliciously as a few of the other gang members charged at her.

Nobu

[Nobu]

It wasn't earned yet, but Nobu read a weather forecast indicating storms later in the week and knew that someday the lightning of such storms would terrify those aware of the merciless Raiden. Remembering the way he fought with electricity clutched in his hands, he pondered if he'd reach the potential he displayed before his mentor struck him down. It took years to recover, and now there was a newfound determination when Raiden appeared.

Spite and hatred filled his heart, having little faith in the system and wanting to eradicate the most rotten as a way to make the system question itself. He wasn't good, a shimmer of that light trapped in a dark cage. As he armored himself for the night, he reminded himself in the mirror of this while hands-free smoking his cigarette. He had everything on, his visor was open, and he just stared into the mirror with his hazel eyes.

"You're a disgusting piece of shit." Securing the last few bits and bobs of the Hoshiguard, he finished his cigarette by pinching off the ashes and tossing it in the trash and triggered the visor to close. Some time later, he was atop the roofs of Shinjuku. The chaotic heart of Tokyo. As his suit hummed in response to his quirk, the crystal in the center as well as the light of his visor would light-up red.

The job was simple: take out the bad guys, avenge someone taken by their recklessness. He dipped and dived through the tight spaces that made up Shinjuku's shadows, the alleys. Eventually, he would come upon a gruesome fight. The person taking on his very same targets had a level of brutality to her, which piqued his interest. Making his way back down to street level, he walked in on the little demon as the gangsters readied to fight back.

Their hesitation was palpable, so Nobu acted. Or rather, Raiden. One guy turned his head once the armor-clad vigilante was noticed. Side-swiping the criminal's head, a cherry-red flash of light and a deafening roar of thunder filled the streets and rattled the nearby glass. In that flash, the criminal went cradling into a nearby light pole and felt it shape his contorted body. Staring at Rui, features hidden under his visor, he scoffed.

"This is awkward, job overlap? Are you hear about the boy that died because of these guys?" Acting casual, the criminals around them yelled as if they couldn't hear due to, quite literally, point-blank thunder that would normally come from lightning.

Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

Taking every strike and getting back up again, despite her small size she moved at a slow and methodical pace, like a monster from a slasher movie. Or at least she would have had a robot not suddenly joined her descending from the skies. She watched in awe as cherry-red light lit up the night in a flash, a deafening roar filling the air as all the gang members either froze in place, backed off entirely or lost their footing in a display of shock and panic.

When the robot started talking to her she started to question her own eyes. Was this a robot or a person? Maybe if she cut him she could find out. ''The boy?'' She shrugged and raised her eyebrows, looking around her for a moment as if she was expecting this all to be a hidden camera prank. The other thugs were still stunned from the sound, but Rui was already slowly recovering. Enough to have this conversation, anyway. ''I don't know no boy, I'm here because of the money.'' While they had this conversation she let her arms swing from side to side impatiently, playing with her knife while staring at him. ''Are you a person in there? Are you like a robot from the future that shoots lasers?'' She asked with a sort of innocent curiosity.

One of the gang members charged forward, screaming at the top of his lungs despite his inability to hear he was hellbent on trying to take out Nobu with a crowbar. However, before he could get to the vigilante and feel completely powerless against his armor, Rui intercepted and stabbed him, tackling him to the street. Pulling the knife out she stood back up and looked at Nobu. ''You can't kill these guys, I think the people that hired me will get really angry if you do.'' And she didn't really want to make them angry if it could affect how much they were going to pay her. ''I'm Mummy, maybe you've heard of me I kill people all the time, it's sort of my thing.'' In a desperate attempt to get him to back off she mentioned her villain name. She wasn't as notorious as someone like Bakiriretsu, just due to the scale of the stunts the explosion villain was able to pull off, but she was at the very least just as psychotic and killed more people with reckless abandon, making her one of Tokyo's most wanted villains.

Nobu

[Nobu]

"I am a person. You may call me Raiden." His reputation wasn't very widespread yet, but he was brutal in the villains that he has left in the wake of his introduction. Vaporized, burnt, fried internally; it was not clean what he did in order to clean up the streets. Nobu adopted the Raiden person as a judge of great aggression in the field.

The beating this girl could take was extraordinary. Nobu looked in disgust, but as he entered the ring, he knew that something was wrong beyond that. Quirks could do a great number of things, but he knew better than to think she was okay in the head with how her body spoke. No, it wasn't the illusion of something breaking internally every time she took a hit. It was much worse. When she clarified that she was simply paid to take out the goons, it felt very rich.

Two birds, one stone. It wasn't the fact that someone hired her to kill them for money and she simply focused on that, assassins were a very useful euthanizer for villains. It wasn't the fact that she needed to be the one to finish the job on all of the goons. It was the fact that she simply said it's her thing to kill people. Not criminals, people. With crackling lightning building up across the surface of his armor, he kept it at its red level for now as there was a number of gangsters.

As a goon recklessly swung at him, he ducked it easily and clenched their head. "Mummy, do you prey on the innocent?" As rings of red lightning trickled up his wrist into his finger tips like a singing pylon, Nobu awaited her answer as the disoriented man's head began burning from the heat. As spots of energy began to glow, he tossed the man who went cradling into a brick wall. With his arm extended, the bulbs of energy formed a corona that swallowed itself.

Bursting, he made sure the goon was far enough to avoid his recoil as a the thunder and flash accompanied the bolt of lightning that shattered the wall. Collapsing that part of the building, Nobu stared down Mummy. He was the merciless Raiden tonight. This fight wasn't going to be easy, but he uncovered a potential problem and it would be wrong of him not to solve it then and there if necessary.

"If you only hunt cretins like this, then we'll have no problem."

Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

''Okay.'' She waved her hand and waved casually like she was catching up with an old friend. ''Hi Raiden!'' His name sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn't clash with strong people all too often and especially not armored ones, so the full context was escaping her. Her style was much more scummy, preying on those much weaker than her, picking fights she knew she could win. If a hero or vigilante came after her and she had to fight to get past them she would do it, but it was always fun going after those that were much weaker than her and toying with them before delivering the final blow.

''Isn't it hot under there? I think I would feel really annoyed if I had to wear that thing.'' Could he even see out of that visor? How did any of it work? Armor was entirely foreign to someone like her who had grown up with supernatural healing powers. One thing she couldn't deny was that watching him work was entirely too entertaining. This time she had a better view of it too, that crimson lightning that brought devastation and destruction to whoever he directed it at. She was eager to watch him fight a hero, no, kill a hero! She needed to see him do it! See how he fought! She was content to hang back and just watch him fight despite having been sent to kill the guys he was brutalizing.

His question made her furrow her brow. ''Innocent?'' She asked to reconfirm what he was saying. ''Is that a trick question?'' She sat down on the ground and inspected her knife before looking back up at the ironclad vigilante. ''Raiden, bestie.'' She smiled, blood still stained her face and teeth from the last guy she had stabbed. ''In my world everyone is a cretin. No one is innocent, everyone is just another... You know, another target I can kill as I want.'' She sounded proud of herself as she talked, almost as if she was boasting about her own life philosophy. ''This, what you're doing right now is a riot.'' She giggled, pointing her knife at the goons he was taking down left and right. ''I wish I had some popcorn.'' She shook her arm and the hollow sound of something rattling inside of it filled the air for a moment. Unwrapping the skin around her forearm, Raiden would easily be able to see her bones and more importantly, the fact that she didn't bleed or have any tissue or organs at all. Almost like she was just a skeleton wearing a skinsuit. After shaking her hand a couple of times a pack of raisins fell out, which she gleefully picked up after wrapping her skin back in place. ''Sweet! Good enough for me!'' She hummed as she put her knife away and started eating. She chewed with her mouth open, looking at him for a few seconds before offering him the pack with a little shake. ''Want a raisin?''

Nobu

[Nobu]

Mummy was certainly unhinged, which was going to make the answer he desired even richer to respond to. Raiden wasn't perfect by any means, there was an evil that has been cultivated by his life experiences. The world wasn't what he wished it to be, and he willingly tossed aside laws and morals to pursue his own form of punishment for those he deems truly evil. A fight fire-with-with type of mentality. To the good, he would not blame them for executing him before he would attain his goals, but he wouldn't go down easily.

This person took it a step further than him. They deemed everyone as absolutely guilty. He couldn't do that to someone who was just living without trying to harm others. It's one thing to have the responsibility of firing another, but that doesn't even scratch the evil that is introducing drugs and violence into the streets. She enjoyed him obliterating another, but it was clear that it wasn't because the target of his lightning was bad.

Mummy was demented. Evil. She had to be eradicated, just like the other cretins. Raiden was flawed, demented in his own way. As static scintillated across his dark armor, a red bolt would burst from his chest. "Mummy, I hereby declare you an enemy of the people. My thunder sounds my decree, my lightning hammering as my gavel." It was so serious, so official, but the killer intent burned brightly behind it.

"I will execute you."

The bolt was fast. While he could control the power, lightning was lightning. It vaporized the air around it, the explosion causing deafening thunder with a flash unraveling from its crimson appearance. This bolt was not a warning shot, it was a shot to kill.

Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

She was fully expecting him to take a raisin. After all, who wouldn't accept a free raisin when offered one? When he said that whole thing about lightning and gavel and enemy of the people she just blinked her eyes at him. ''A what now?'' He was starting to sound all hero-like, but he didn't fight like a hero. Usually they held back when fighting weak people and stuff like that. ''So you're not a villain?'' She had no time to react when he said he would execute her, as moments later she was engulfed in the bolt he fired forward, letting out a pained scream as the shock traveled through her and the loud sound assaulted her eardrums.

Once his attack had settled she flopped onto her back, smoke rising from her body as it started regenerating the damage she had taken
right away. An attack like this couldn't kill her, not one attack, but the feeling of being shocked took her back to that time when her quirk was gone. That time she really, truly actually died, that time when all she could feel was electric shock and pain. The result was an intense fear response as she sat back up, immediately looking up at Raiden with fear. ''Wh-What are you doing?'' She exclaimed, reaching out for her knife in desperation and throwing it at him, only for it to clink! unceremoniously off his armor. ''H-Hey that's cheating! I thought we were besties!'' She started backing up, getting back to her feet with some effort. ''I'll be your bestie! H-Hey do you want to like, make bombs with me and throw them at a shopping mall?'' She offered with a panicked smile, clearly not understanding why he was targeting her.

Nobu

[Nobu]

Was Raiden a villain? No, he felt like a necessary evil, but he wasn't one. His intent was to strike fear into the hearts of villains that committed crimes and atrocities for their self-interest. Vengeance was what separated him and taking another shot at hero work. That and ideology, as he didn't have faith in their system and wanted to be direct and unrestrained. With heroism, there were laws and a level of false piety that pulled him from the reproach.

Standing before the smoking, trembling Rui, Nobu would let the lightning course as adrenaline filled his body and his heart began pumping faster. This was a feeling he missed, a feeling of raw and unbridled energy that he couldn't help himself. Intensifying, the lightning would brighten from red to yellow as he brought up its potency a notch. Staring Rui down, his grim expression hidden by his visor, it was like a nightmarish knight staring down a lowly goblin.

"We are not friends, Mummy." The yellow would radiate before shifting into the bridge between the spectrum of colors that was Green. Clenching his fingers like he was holding an invisible ball, miniature bolts danced along the air between each digit. "You want to threaten the people for fun. I could never be friends with a cretin like you." The anger boiled and simmered on top of the adrenaline heating him from within.

The lightning became blue. He kept his distance to not suffer the catastrophic recoil that came from his blue lightning. True to his moniker, Nobu was ready to unleash the might of his quirk after so long without fully engaging it. There weren't many opportunities to do so. Where he stood and she lied was at the entrance of a narrow allow, open street aligned perpendicular to it. Whatever feelings he had coursing through him didn't feel knew, just acknowledged for the first time.

Every night that he prepared to be Raiden was another night of reminding himself how bad he was. The internal monologue kept it going after his ritual before the mirror. There was acceptance and disgust, but no denial to the call to action he felt. "You're a disgusting piece of shit." A line he told himself so many times, maybe even presently as well, but it was swiftly followed up by a terrifying display of energy.

Bringing both hands together while thrusting forward with a spear motion, he used them to brace his body as pure energy emerged once more. This time with so much heat, so much intensity that it singed the area around him. Nearby glass shattered from the thunderous explosion and the buildings shook at their core from the vibrations rippling throughout. Was this against Mummy?

Or was Raiden really rotten?

Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

Fear was running rampant in her mind at the thought of getting struck by his quirk again. Why was he doing this? She wasn't even killing him! She implied she wasn't going to kill him and he was still going after her! ''W-We are! You said we are best friends and you said you wouldn't hurt me!'' Her face was pale and her whole body trembling as she blurted out obvious lies trying to gaslight him into thinking he said something he didn't. ''Not just for fun! Sometimes I kill for money too! I have to make a living somehow, bestie!'' As the lightning became blue she put her hands together. ''You have to believe me! I have done nothing wrong! The whole world is after me, everyone hates me!'' She looked over at the gang they still had yet to fully dispose of. ''H-Hey weren't you hired to kill those guys- they're gonna get away!'' She pointed at them in a desperate attempt to save herself, trying to get him to turn away. ''I'm not the enemy here! I've never even killed a person! It's a lie! A prank! The hidden camera is right behind you!!''

She hadn't felt fear like this in months. Was she going to die? Her quirk usually had her back and healed back the damage she took even if it hurt like hell, but was she actually going to die this time? She couldn't help but feel like it. Between how much his quirk hurt her and the cold, dead expression of the visor hiding his face from view. This wasn't a fight, this was an execution. Glancing at the alley stretching out behind her she knew it was her only chance of escape. Screw the mission, she needed to get away from this guy!

Like a scared animal running for its life, Rui sprung up and started sprinting in the other direction. She had never worried about outrunning lightning before, but for once she wish she could. ''You're mean! You're a liar! You're evil!'' She exclaimed while she ran away, tears streaking down her face as she almost stumbled over herself like a horror movie character trying to outrun the monster. ''I-I'll call the police!'' She threatened, but there was probably nothing she could do to scare him.

Nobu

[Nobu]

The heat of battle was sorely missed. Releasing his quirk in full-force was a pressure uncapped unlike any other. The more this deranged Mummy spoke, the sweeter it felt. To bleach the streets of Japan would mean to eradicate beings like her. Ones that truly reveled in their evil and savored the blood drawn from it. As the blue lightning would swell from Nobu's body during the time it took for him to summon it, Mummy cowered.

She ran down the narrow passage. She ran and begged and pleaded. Swearing he said things he had never said, it didn't need words for it to be understood that she needed to be put down. Yet, there was one problem. Nobu had powerful control over the potency of his quirk, but he was just coming back to the game. Despite the killing intent being there, he might not strike her as precisely as he needed to.

Still, it would hopefully send the message that was necessary. He wouldn't have the energy to chase her down fully, but he enjoyed watching her squirm and cry. As the bright flash would beam through every opening and the glass would shatter, this torrential bolt of lightning would tear through the alley and attempt to engulf her. The heat was so intense that it scorched all that Nobu breathed his lightning upon.

Many in the area would feel the concussion of nearby thunder. Not that it would injure them, but a sign that they were dangerously close to a storm. It was for their sake, but cutting a deep ravine into the alley wouldn't be telling of that very well. As concrete collapsed and mix dust with smoke, Nobu would stand there with heavy breathing. Static would dance along the surface of his Hoshiguard and he would wonder if she made it out alive.

Winded, he knew that he couldn't hunt her and use his quirk recklessly. It was either strike the fear of god in her or more patiently fight her to the death. "I will find your corpse, Mummy. I will find it and I will burn it if you're not already ash." A grim threat, one that Nobu was unsure how possible it was.

Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

This guy was a stone cold killer. It didn't matter who he was under that armor, robot or human, he didn't like her and that was bad news for her. It wasn't even fair! She was so cute and lovable, how could it be that he wanted to hurt her? ''I'll give you money! Tons of money, a-all the money!'' She stopped and turned to face him, having put some distance between them. ''When I become Prime Minister I'll make you my right hand man!'' Even though nothing was getting through to him she was still trying to bargain for her own safety.

Clutching her phone behind her back, she got ready to dial an emergency number.

However, just then she heard glass shatter and dropped her phone as she cowered from the torrential bolt of lightning, letting out another scream of agony as it tore right through her. She normally wasn't this afraid of pain, but her body was responding irrationally to electricity, especially when it was this potent, not to mention loud, she could barely hear herself breathe. As if she had been swallowed up by the eye of the storm itself, Rui fell onto her back, lifeless and charred.

Just then, she died again.

However, whether it was intention, or fate just playing a cruel joke on her, her super regeneration soon began to undo the damage that had been done to her and moments later she woke up again. With a start she gasped and sat upright. ''Where is it?'' It took her a moment to remember that she was supposed to be scared and was getting killed, but she quickly picked her phone back up, only to have the lightning from earlier mess with the display. ''Come on, work!'' She slapped it a couple of times hoping that would magically fix it, before hiding behind a dumpster. ''Nuh-uh! I don't wanna!'' She yelled back at him, before finally getting through to the police.

''Hello police? I want to report a murder! I-... No it's me it's not someone else- yes, he already killed me once. Yeah I lived, I'm not dead otherwise I wouldn't be talking to you!'' She nodded her head, growing increasingly frustrated with the operator on the other end. ''He's a big robot and he shoots thunder and lightning and stuff! Aren't you guys hearing this? Do your job and come save me!'' She grew increasingly desperate and scared when Raiden threatened her. It wasn't about whether he could kill her, it was about how much it hurt when he used his quirk on her, and how she couldn't cut through his armor. Throwing her phone away, she instead took matters into her own hands and used the bandage skin on her arms as a makeshift rope, tossing it up at something, whatever she could wrap it around up on the rooftops before hoisting herself upwards. ''Let's call it a draw! If you lemme go we can call it a draw!''

Nobu

[Nobu]

The begging, the pleading. It was disgusting coming from the deranged little demon such as Rui. It drew him in closer, as it made him wanted to finish her off even more. As he destroyed the alleyway and left behind char, the explosive might of his lightning would ignite a fire that quickly spread along the walls of this dark corridor. As she crawled and attempted to hide poorly, yelling back out to him before trying to get the police's help, Raiden laughed.

Lightning coursed up his arms, color scintillating against the dark metal. Despite being a killer, she wanted to turn to the authorities in an act of desperation. As the force of firing his blue lightning for the first time in a long time had built up so much heat, he could feel that he couldn't let out a real onslaught like he could in his youth. Still, he wouldn't rest until he tried to incinerate her.

"Prime Minister. Vulnerable Citizen. What act comes next? Are you truly that afraid when you enjoy blood as you do? It's fun when you can draw it from others..." Charging up, the beacon on his chest would shine radiantly. Finding her attempting to climb a building, smoke would curl through the branch off the alley and roll against Raiden's armor. "The only draw you've known has been the bloodletting of your assassinations. No, we will not call it draw you imbecile."

Venomous in his words, he knew he had her with one more good bolt. She was using herself as a hope, which was interesting. Futile, as he simply needed to aim high before she could zoom away. "It's not so fun when death is at the door, is it!? Dying isn't so great, is it Mummy!? I will smite you for your crimes. Die." Erupting from his chest was another blue bolt, lightning so mighty that it would sunder the building.

He would be too close, unfortunately, as it would recoil and bury him into the ground. Out of touch with power versus discipline, this would severely injure him at the same time that he would engulf the area in light and shake it with thunder and the might of his bolt. Like a roaring dragon, he would try to engulf Mummy. To her fortune, he would not aim directly for her and would bury himself so hard that she'd have ample time to escape.

Frying the nearby electrical systems and spreading the fire, there would be the sound of evacuating people and incoming sirens. This was bad. That meant heroes. "Blasted Mummy..."

Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

''I'm not joking, bestie!'' Her cries got more desperate when she heard him laugh in response. If only Retsu was here to throw bombs at that guy, or Sho, he would be able to cut through that suit of armor. ''I have really powerful besties! They're gonna come after you and kill you dead!'' Her last ditch effort to try and intimidate him and save herself, but this guy clearly wasn't going to back down. ''Shut UP! That's not the same!'' She shouted back down at him. He was basically equating hurting random people to hurting her, and that wasn't right at all! When he shocked her it hurt, and regular people didn't feel pain the same way she did. ''I don't bleed! I'm not a bleeder!'' People without super regeneration couldn't possibly know what it felt like to get hurt.

She would have loved to stick around and shout at him some more, but she was much more occupied with trying to climb her way up to safety. Unfortunately, it became abundantly clear she wasn't fast enough, and as he ordered her to die she closed her eyes and braced for the impact... Only for no shock to hit her. She gingerly opened her eyes and looked around and as she realized what was happening she quickly crawled up to the top of the building. With the sound of incoming sirens fast approaching below she kept running. Kept running to get away from that psychopath.

She didn't stop until she knew she was far enough away from the scene of the crime, taking shelter behind a dumpster as she struggled to breathe. She didn't even care that she couldn't finish the job, she was just glad she got away from that guy. ''That jerk!'' She growled, kicking the side of the dumpster, not even budging it. ''He's evil! I'm gonna kill him someday, somehow, with bombs and stuff and a tank.'' She collapsed with her back against the wall. ''How much does a tank cost? Maybe I should get... An anti-armor gun. No... Anti-Raiden gun.'' As her quirk got overloaded and its drawbacks kicked in, Rui's consciousness slipped away completely, falling onto the alleyway, lifeless and still. Her consciousness wouldn't return to her for the next six hours, and she wouldn't be able to recall the gap in space that passed since her encounter with Raiden.

Once she woke up, it was going to feel like she had just gotten away moments ago. Adrenaline and fear pumping through her all over again.

Nobu

[Jinx]

☆ MISSION SUCCESS ☆

Stop, stop, she's already dead!
Great thread you two!

+ 7,500 EXP!!

Rui: 11,750 // 19,250
Nobu: 0 // 7,500

tag: Rui Matsui,Nobu