[Lucille Arbogast]

Pain shot through her body as she was kicked through the window of a small boutique. These villains were not only persistent, but incredibly powerful and coordinated. It was almost as if they didn't just come to the islands seeking knowledge, but was expecting a team of heroes to follow them. Letting out a cough as the dust settled she was about to get up when her colleague, Hotshot, a fellow pro hero at Maxima offered her a hand. ''Phantasmagoria! You okay?'' She took his hand and let out another small cough. ''I'm fine, just a little shaken.'' She smiled weakly at him. ''Where's Tiburón? Oi!! Tiburón where you at?!'' He shouted into the comms. ''She's chasing the other two villains.''

''Other two? So she's goin' at it alone.''

''They wanted to separate us like this. The guy I'm fighting-''

''Yeah. He's too fast for my flames. These bastards are no amateurs.''

Speaking into her own comms, Lucille tried to reach Mar as well. ''Tiburón, let's regroup and fight these villains all together! Keep an eye on the sky!'' She put a hand on Hotshot's shoulder. ''Hotshot-san, can I borrow your fire to send a signal?'' The hotheaded hero grinned and pointed a thumb at his chest. ''Damn right you can!''

Stepping back out of the boutique, the flying villain that had sent her crashing was nowhere in sight. Maybe he was just biding his time? Transforming into a harpy, Lucille flapped her wings and lifted Hotshot by the shoulders as they took to the skies. ''Hotshot!'' She called out to which he exclaimed with just as much fiery vigor as his quirk could produce. ''All right!! Get ready to see some cool shit, Tiburón!'' He started kicking the air as he activated his quirk, firing off fast shots of pink fire and lighting parts of himself up in the process, Phantasmgoria and Hotshot's combination move functioning as a makeshift signal flare for Mar to know where to go to meet back up with them. ''That oughta do it.'' He grinned, wiping the sweat from his brow.

''Foolish heroes, is that the best you got?'' Emerging from behind one of the buildings, the villain Lucille had been fighting earlier floated out to greet them. A flying serpent, his quirk was a transformation type similar to hers, only he also possessed elemental properties, making his range far superior to hers. ''There you are you overgrown snake! Come over here and insult me to my face!'' Hotshot started shadowboxing the air in the direction of the villain, while Lucille did her best to keep him stabilized and not drop him as he moved around. ''You do realize I left your precious friend to fight my allies? There should be nothing left of her by now.'' The serpent chuckled, before opening his mouth as he started charging up a blast of lightning. ''Hotshot, we gotta go!'' Lucille called out, pulling him and herself around the blast just in time to avoid getting fried.

Mar

[Mar]

Mar's tail lashed out in a sweep to try and slap one of the two villains aside, but the other was quick to intercept and tank the hit. This guy was larger and heavier and bracing himself like that he was able to take the hit while only getting staggered back a few steps. They were in a brief standoff, her pursuit leading to a not-quite-dead-end up still a spot where she had thought she had an opportunity to take one of them out long enough to deal with the other. The problem was they kept covering for each other every time she tried to do something like that, and she'd have been impressed if it wasn't annoying to fight against!

"Oi!! Tiburón where you at?!''

"I'm at-" Mar was quick to try to reply, because if they were calling for her over comms they must have needed her help or something equally important. Unfortunately that split her attention just enough for her original target to quickly grab her tail and with a big twist yanked her off her feet and sent her spinning through the air like she was a hammer at the Olympics. Landing with a flop on her back, she was once again both annoyed and impressed that the smaller of the two was strong enough to toss her up onto the roof of the small building she had tried to pin them against. She could hear them debating down below on if they should go up after her or if it'd be better to try and attack her when she tried to come down, or if they should go help their friend deal with Hotshot and Phantasmagoria. That was last one spurred her into action, quickly getting to her feet when-

''Tiburón, let's regroup and fight these villains all together! Keep an eye on the sky!''

Lucille's voice came through and she couldn't help the little bit of amusement in her voice as she replied: "One step ahead of you." Not because she was already planning on regrouping, although if the other two had tried to jump them she technically would have been regrouping with her and Hotshot, but because she had coincidentally ended up already looking at the sky when Lucille's message came in. Sure enough she caught sight of Hotshots flare, bright enough to stand out against the gray sky even though she couldn't make out the actual color, and the darker silhouette of what was probably Lucille carrying Hotshot. Taking off as quick as she could, the other two villains cursed as they caught sight of the flare as well.

Now it was a race to see which group could meet back up first and overwhelm the other!

Lucille Arbogast,

[Lucille Arbogast]

It was a rough landing, but Lucille got her and Hotshot back on the ground safely. Before she could even get her bearings, Hotshot was already taking aim at the serpent villain, missing fast shots of fire. ''Conserve your energy, Hotshot-san! He wants you to lose your cool.'' Lucille pleaded as the villain just laughed and weaved around his attacks by flying around in circles.

''Tiburón!'' Hotshot exclaimed with a smile as their friend emerged unscathed, swiftly followed by the two other villains. ''Are you okay?'' Lucille was immediately by her side checking on her while Hotshot was posturing, ready to throwdown and arrest the troublemakers. ''So it comes down to this...'' He grinned, cracking his knuckles. ''Maxima vs...'' His grin soured as he squinted at the villains again. ''Oi! What are you knuckleheads called?'' The villains looked at each other, the bigger one shrugging.

''We're friends from Shinjuku.'' Said the serpent, looking at his comrades. ''We never bothered with group names.''

''I see, that complicates things.'' He muttered, putting a hand up to his chin as he got lost in thought before ruffling his hair with his hand. ''Whatever!'' He exclaimed. ''You're criminals, you picked a fight with Maxima!'' He pointed a finger at them. ''As far as I'm concerned that makes you three big idiots. So it's Maxima vs 3 Big Idiots!'' Lucille giggled from behind him. ''He's getting all fired up.'' She smiled at Mar. ''Shall we?'' She indicated towards Hotshot, walking up to join him and stand by his side.

''How juvenile...'' The serpent frowned.

''The serpent is fast, but I'm the only one of us who can fly.'' Which probably left her with the best odds in that match up.

''Leave the small guy to me! No one beats me when it comes to raw power!'' Hotshot said confidently. Besides, his adoring fans would love seeing videos and pictures of him fighting and beating a fearsome villain like it was just another Tuesday.

''Think you can handle the last one, Tiburón? Did you see their quirks?'' She awaited her answer, but ultimately felt like even if they went in with little to no knowledge of their opponents they were still going to pull through. They were a team after all.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose, Hotshot and the smaller guy budding heads as the big guy came for Mar, while the serpent and Lucille took to the skies. In a clash of talons and dragon claws, the two flying types came to a standstill.

''If you surrender now you can get a lighter sentence!'' She tried to persuade him. ''You haven't killed anyone yet, right?'' Their call was about hostages and mayhem, but there had been no confirmed deaths yet. ''Why are you doing this?'' The serpent just growled and fired a blast of electricity at her, which she narrowly dodged.

''Just try and bypass me, shark hero.'' The big guy lunged forward trying to slam her with his palms. ''You must be tired after all that running we just did.'' Sending out a flurry of palm strikes he tried to catch her off guard. ''Well I'm not.''

''Ora!'' Hotshot and the last villain exchanged punches, beating each other without their quirks until he felt his hand hit something hard. ''Ow!'' He took a couple of steps back, his opponents skin having turned gray and hardened. ''You fool! I wanted to fight you all along! I know you burn things up, Hotshot, but you won't be able to burn my Stoneskin!''

Mar

[Mar]

"Fine!" Mar shouted back to let Hotshot know she was good. A bit sore, and definitely getting tired, but no concerning injuries. Cracking a sharp-toothed smile of her own in response to Lucille's, she brought her arms up over her head in a quick stretch as the three heroes successfully regrouped. "Don't worry about it if I pass out the second we're done here." She noted quietly, more for Hotshot's sake than Lucille's. Lucille was already well aware of how quickly the shark hero could slip into a nap after a fight.

"Yeah, I got him. Some kind of blocky, armored-arms thing or something." She wasn't sure how to describe it really, so she called out a quick: "Oi! Big guy! What do you call your Quirk-hands-things?"

The big guy looked surprised and like he was about to reply when suddenly his two allies were on the move and he wasted no time in following suit. While Hotshot handled the small one and Phantasmagoria handled the fast one, Mar had to duck and weave to avoid the barrage of palm strikes being sent her way. He was advancing on her too, forcing her into a slow retreat. Probably trying to break them up again. The attacks was one thing, but his tough talk prompted her to scoff as she dodged and twisted, tail slapping out to catch against the side of his extended arm and forcing him to stumble to the side. "Yeah, I'm tired, so the sooner we deal with you guys the sooner I can sleep."

Mar followed up with a kick, the man blocking with his palms as he tried to regain his footing and momentum. Mar didn't press the attack though, slipping around to the side as he lashed out with another palm strike that would have caught her in the side if she hadn't been ready to dodge. As it was it still glanced against her like she'd gone sliding shirtless across a brick wall, leaving a stinging abrasion where his hand had passed by.

"Then let me send you into an early nap with these hands of mine - I call them Hammerhands!" Another tail slap pushed the big guy back a little as he continued his pursuit of Mar, and the hero paused long enough to ignore the stinging in her side and ask: "Like the shark?"

"No!"

Apparently he didn't like that comparison because his charges came faster and more reckless. The problem was, her attacks didn't seem to be bothering him all that much either. Phantasmagoria and Hotshot seemed to be in standstills of their own too, but Mar wasn't too worried. She just needed to wait and find the right moment to give a decisive strike.

Lucille Arbogast,

[Lucille Arbogast]

''You don't know what it's like, do you?'' The serpent started. ''We were raised on the streets, all three of us. I've known these two for as long as I can remember. Poverty is all we have ever known.'' The air battle was temporarily put on hold as Lucille took in what he said and actually listened to him. ''Before we learned how to read and write we were working for villains in secrecy. We never got a fair shot at life.'' He definitely had a chip on his shoulder, but she couldn't blame him. Kids at that age should never have to go through something like that. ''Do you know what's that like? To be born into this world with no one to care for you, no one to love you and no one to look after you?'' Unfortunately, she did. Her mind drifted back to her own past, how she was an orphan too and it was only because the right person, Diego, gave her a chance and showed her the light that she was even here at all. ''I do.'' Her eyes were full of empathy. ''And that is why this needs to stop.''

''Liar!'' He growled. ''Your kind could never understand!'' Opening his maw again he fired another electrical blast at her and this time he clipped her wing, almost causing her to go crashing down. Fortunately she managed to recover, but the pain stung all the same. She took on a determined look as she began spitting sludge in his direction, missing every shot and getting puddles of sludge stuck to the pavement below. ''Is that the best you got? Measly pellets next to my electrical surge? This victory is mine, hero!''

Meanwhile down below, Mar was fighting the guy with the big shield hands. ''You want to know my quirk's name, shark hero? Is it because your quirk has a terrible name? You can't hold a candle to my Hammerhands!'' The big guy proclaimed confidently, confident in his ability to outlast a shark who could only move in short bursts of speed. From his point of view, Mar had been cursed with a bad quirk. He groaned as her tail slap hit his arm a lot harder than he expected, causing him to stagger. ''Touché! Let's finish this!'' Just then he slammed his hands together, trying to crush her in his grip if she wasn't fast enough to escape. ''Your superior speed is useless in our match-up!'' He grinned, knowing he could win this fight. So long as Mar was his opponent all he had to do was beat her through attrition.

''Just give it up.'' The last villain frowned at Hotshot was doubled over and out of breath. ''You lost this fight the second you started chasing us. Pro heroes are supposed to be pros, you know? For being members of Maxima I'm kind of disappointed in you guys.'' He let out a sigh and looked around at the surrounding battles, seeing Mar and Lucille struggle on their own, but knowing his villain pals were going to pull through like they always did. ''Screw that!'' Hotshot exclaimed, pushing himself back up. ''You think you're so special? I'll prove to ya that your quirk is nothing against me! I was just assessing you because if I kicked your ass too fast I wouldn't get to enjoy this at all!'' Besides, a hero who took a beating first and then secured the win afterwards was not only more admirable, but it was something his fans would love to see. ''Oho? Are you carrying explosives or have you just lost your mind?''

Mar

[Mar]

Back when she had first become a pro hero, the brief glimpse she got of lightning clipping Lucille's wing or Hotshot's clear exhaustion would have distracted her and she definitely would have gotten herself squished. Today though? Mar knew to have faith in her fellow heroes and knowing when and where she needed to intervene, and sludge raining down from above was all the signal she needed.

"It's called Hollow Hunger, I'll let you judge if that's cool or not." She answered, dipping backwards as the hammer hands barely missed crushing her. The two big blocky quirk-enhanced hands slammed together with a thunderous bang, Mar's foot coming up as she turned to the side and slammed her foot down on the top of his hands hard enough to make him stumble forward. Then she was hopping over him before he could recover, tail smacking him in the face as she went and making him stumble backwards with an angry growl as he whirled around to try and swipe at her before she could follow up with an attack at his back. Except, Mar wasn't there and his fist hit nothing but air as the shark hero bolted away from the fight.

"Running away? Some hero!"

Instead of replying Mar shouted: "Shift Change!" and jumped onto the nearest sludge puddle as hard as she could. Instead of splashing or getting her feet stuck it it she was launched into the air like she had jumped on a trampoline. Mere moments after Serpent declared his victory Mar's sharp teeth dug into his right shoulder seemingly out of nowhere, the Shark Hero clamping down at just the right spot to make it hard to use that arm without getting too close to his neck. At the same time one hand came up to slam against the bottom of his jaw pre-emptively, forcing his mouth shut as he reflexively yelled in pain and snapped his head down to try and blast her off him. The pair zigged and zagged in the air, Serpent doing his best to try to shake her loose without getting himself hurt further and struggling to get a clean hit on her with his claws.

As long as she kept Serpent from getting her with a solid claw swipe or a blast of electricity, all she had to do was wait it out. A little blood loss wouldn't kill him, but it would ensure he couldn't fight much longer at his full strength. The landing might be a little rough, though, if they did fall... but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

Lucille Arbogast,

[Lucille Arbogast]

''That's not what the sludge is for.'' She said with a smile, bearing the pain and exhaustion as she knew Mar would pick up on the clue and take the opportunity to strike. The perks of having worked together for so long was that their teamwork wasn't just quick, they understood each other really well with minimal communication. Lucille was struggling against the serpent, so rather than try to hyperfocus on him...

''Shift Change!''

Once Mar shouted those words, that was her cue to dip down, flying under the serpent and diving towards the Hammerhands villain at her maximum speed. The serpent let out a pained cry as Mar bit into his arm. ''Where did you come from?!-'' He was about to protest more, but Mar made that impossible for him. The serpent struggled to shake her off, but eventually tumbled to the ground, exhausted and defeated. At that same time, Lucille brought her body around to turn her dive from the sky into a diving kick. ''Huh?'' Hammerhands barely saw her as she cut him in a flash, by passing his massive defensive hands with ease thanks to her aerial attack, causing him to fall over at the same time as the serpent hit the ground.

''Phew...'' Lucille sighed, turning off her transformation quirk as she inspected her injury, her upper arm and uniform singed where she had been clipped by the electric blast earlier. Already taking the extra measures to restrain Hammerhands despite his unconscious state, she looked over at Mar and gave her a thumbs up, before looking at Hotshot, not a shred of worry in her as she called out. ''We're all done here, Hotshot-chan!'' She sat on top of Hammerhands and took out her phone to start filming him, knowing he might want the footage for later.

''Don't you 'chan' me, Phantasmagoria, check this out, I'm about to make an explosive finish!-'' Hotshot's cool line was cut short as he received another punch from the Stoneskin villain.

''Oh my. ~'' Lucille giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. ''Are you all good, Tiburón?'' She looked over at Mar and shifted between holding a thumbs up and thumbs down, as if to signal she should hold up whichever thumb she currently best felt described her wellbeing.

''I've had enough of this, I'll crush you with all my might, then I'll kill your friends!'' Stoneskin wrapped his arms around Hotshot and pulled him in tight as he began screaming, causing the hero to cry out in pain, but it quickly turned into laughter. ''You'll crush me will ya?'' Gritting his teeth and straining against the hold, Hotshot's body began to grow hotter and hotter, until he suddenly combusted, going full flame apparition on Stoneskin to scorch his way out of his grip. ''COMBUST!!'' The name of Hotshot's extremely hot supermove. The last place you wanted to be when he activated it was right next to him. Stoneskin panicked, letting go as he writhed from the burns. ''I'll let you in on a secret, your quirk's not even half as tough as old man Callaghan's! You're a decade too early to challenge me!'' He posed dramatically, because of course. Thankfully Lucille was catching it all on video.

''Ora!'' With a dramatic punch, Stoneskin was sent flying past Lucille and into a nearby building, his quirk turning off after the impact as he also lost consciousness. Still covered in his fire for a few more seconds, Hotshot walked over and greeted his colleagues with a casual wave. ''Great job, you two hurt or anything?'' He hoisted the villain he had just beat up, carrying him over one shoulder before dumping him next to Lucille and Mar. ''Hotshot, I think you're the only one of us who is bleeding...'' Lucille smiled nervously, turning off the video and putting her phone away. ''No way! You recorded that?''

''I did! ~'' Lucille chuckled as she waved her phone around. ''You owe me and Mar Mar a bloody steak dinner.''

''Tiburón too?'' He turned to look back at his shark colleague with a smile. ''It was her idea. This video will do numbers on social media.'' She hopped off of Hammerhands. ''Speaking of which, Mar Mar, do you want to call this in? I'll guard the villains and make sure none of them escape when they wake up...'' She walked over to Hotshot and gave him a pat on the shoulder. ''Ow!'' He whined, ''-and you speak to the press, they love your fiery spirit and we need more of that these days!'' She smiled. ''That hurt!'' He frowned at Lucille as he crossed his arms. ''Don't let yourself get hit then, just go all-out from the beginning.''

''There's no fun in that! I would've beat him immediately!''

Mar

[Mar]

Plummeting towards the ground with Serpent, Mar's tail slapped against the side of a wall they were fortunate enough to fall near and redirected their momentum sideways. It was still a rough landing, but far safer than falling straight down into concrete. Not for her own sake - she used Serpent as a cushion anyways - but to make sure the villain didn't get too hurt. Between some blood loss and the impact though, he was definitely down for the count. Opening her mouth to make sure she didn't make the bite worse, the shark hero had a sleepy look on her face as she went through the motions of using a piece of Serpents own clothing as a makeshift bandage.

Even though he was unconscious for now, Mar kept one hand on the side of his head so he couldn't try to aim at anyone and get them with a sneaky blast as she went about restraining him properly.

"Good work, Phanta-aaahhh-smagoria." Mar returned the thumbs up only to bring her hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn mid-sentence. She was exhausted after using so much energy and could really use a nap around now. In response to Lucille's question she held her thumb out sideways in a so-so gesture that meant she was fine but tired before asking: "Arm okay?"

Finding a cozy enough wall to prop herself against while Hotshot finished up with Stoneskin, the villain ended up crashing through the building barely a foot away from her. It didn't bother her any, arms crossed under her chest and head down as she did her best to resist the call of a nap for a little longer. She was listening though and she chimed in with a deadpan "That's right." to go along with Lucille's teasing. Besides, a bloody steak dinner sounded good right now. With a nod and retrieving her cellphone, with a blue and white shark case on it, and finding a wall to lean up against she called it in. "Tiburón here. Need pickup, three villains. Minor injuries."

Hanging up after the extremely concise call in, Mar gave her side a rub before chiming in once more on the banter between Lucille and Hotshot. "It's good exercise anyways, Lu-Lu..." Head tipping down, Mar fell asleep on the spot.

Lucille Arbogast,

[Lucille Arbogast]

''My arm's fine! The fight didn't last too long so now I can rest it.'' She reassured Mar cheerfully. ''Speaking of rest, you look like you could use a nap right about now.'' And there it was! Mar's eerily efficient report! This was why she liked letting her call for back up, she said everything she needed to and not a word more. Someone like herself would start rambling before they could get to the actual point.

''Then it's on me! Steak dinner when we get back to the mainland.'' Hotshot chuckled with his hands on his hips.

''Bloody steak dinner.'' Lucille corrected him with another teasing poke.

The hero winced, but didn't blow up at her. ''Must suck to not be able to taste anything.'' He replied with a sigh. ''How do I look for the cameras?'' Lucille stepped in front of him, ''Not when blood is so tasty,'' holding her hands up in a frame like they were a camera. ''And you look like you just fought a villain and won!''

The two continued to banter until Mar started falling asleep. ''It appears it's time for her nap.'' Lucille said softly, walking over next to Mar so she could rest her head on her good shoulder. ''She worked hard chasing those guys all around the island. You two rest up, I'll take care of things from here.''

Soon enough help would arrive, but as they were waiting Lucille couldn't help but think about the villain's words. The implications of what could be out here at the islands, and the lengths people were willing to go to get them. In a society like theirs it wasn't wrong of them to want to social climb, they were just going about it wrong.

Mar