[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun stretched out a little the pair walked down the street. Today was a pretty good day, all things considered. She had begun training with Zaya in earnest, though it was no doubt the kind she wasn't anticipating she'd be doing. They first began with a series of stretches, then some aerobics, then a run. Followed by even more exercises after that then some basic fighting stances. Jun didn't want to target the girl's quirk, at least not yet. Her reasoning behind this was, "You can't challenge someone without touching them first. You need to be able to hold your own in close quarters, which will let you then charge up and blast them!" It wasn't anything insane, merely a few boxing moves she learned. It had been a hard day, so Jun was going to treat her to something nice. She was going to keep it a surprise, but there were many rumors floating about the senior at school. Apart from her being an emotional mess who was prone to temper tantrums, she apparently also loved McDonalds to a fault. Especially the fries that they served. This wasn't too off the mark, as she loved herself a pile of mashed potatoes. Either way, Zaya would find herself with Jun walking down the street towards the local fast food joint. "I think we'll continue to work with the basics before we do any hardcore quirk training. Get a base, some basic moves, you know? Then we can start trying to figure out how to better use that electricity..." zaya

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[zaya]

Jun…What was she to Zaya? A personal trainer? An upperclassman just wanting to help out a younger student?
In any case, it was the closest thing the teen had to a friend; She almost wondered if her dad was somehow involved, paying Jun to be around…
Though having to train with Jun was the hardest thing Zaya had done, probably in her life so far, she was giving it at least half of her all. If nothing else, it was a way to keep active and try to push through her natural born handicap of being tired all the time.
“Hold my own in close quarters…Who cares, I’ll just need to touch them once, the state I’m in doesn’t matter…” Zaya complained, though still following Jun’s instructions.


“Sure, fine, basics are good…Just not too many exercises a day, I get exhausted pretty fast.” Zaya stated bluntly, drenched in sweat from the workout. Getting greasy fast food to cap off a workout didn’t seem traditional, but the goth wasn’t about to start complaining.
“I still think my electricity is powerful enough to not need any specific direction…Long as I hit something, right?” She asked, toying with her hair. As the pair kept walking towards the McDonalds, a passerby caught the eye of the teen; His walk was keeping almost perfect cadence with the girls, and he wasn’t taking his eyes off of them.
“Shit…” Clenching her fists nervously, Zaya’s suspicions of the lanky man were confirmed as he produced a small camera; Not too fancy, but enough to indicate he was out for professional photos.
“Hey, uh, Jun? Can we get our food to-go?” The girl asked, tugging on Jun’s sleeve like a child. “I kinda want to head back to the dorms soon, I’m feeling tired…”
A sight all too familiar for Zaya; What starts as one amateur with a camera soon evolves into a whole mob…Whispers among the crowd, more eyes peeling over to her, more lecherous cameras trying to ingrain her image into their film.

“Is that Zaya Inazuma?”
“I heard she started attending UA…”
“Who is that with her?”

The storm of people around them was slowly building, and unfortunately Zaya’s normal hoodies and longer clothes were currently at home, with more revealing workout gear donning her now.
“Actually, lets just go, I’m not hungry and eating anything will just hurt my stomach…”
Grabbing Jun’s hand, she started to pull back in the direction of the campus, not wanting her cover to be blown so early; She was just starting to fit in, and she didn’t want the paparazzi ruining things already…

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... "Quirks can only do so much," she says, glancing over at Zaya. "Put too much effort into them, and you can potentially find yourself in a position where if you can't use it then you're basically useless. It's better to train multiple parts of yourself so you're not reliant on one thing or another." This was a philosophy that Jun tried her best to follow. By this point Zaya had no doubt seen most of her quirk and how much of a powerhouse it really was, so it was strange for her to emphasize the basics like she was. The stranger, however, did catch her notice. Jun's body had gotten tense, but she carried on like nothing was wrong. Why were they taking pictures? And they seemed to be making Zaya uncomfortable, based on her comment to go back to the dorms once they got their food. Though one comment caught her attention once the whispering started to ramp up: "Inazuma? Wait, like the ship that got attacked? Now that you mention it, wasn't that redhead involved?" That didn't bode well at all for her. And Zaya's sudden grab caught her off guard, so much so she didn't have time to prepare for her anti-touch mantra to prevent a panic attack. "H-hang on," she says, pulling back in order to get herself free. On top of trying to get a handle on the situation and try to understand what was going on, their way out was beginning to narrow, cutting off escape.

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[zaya]

Now Zaya was starting to panic; Her breath became shorter as more and more people crowded around them. It was bad enough getting swarmed by the media like this before, but this time there were more cameras than ever, most likely attributed to her application at UA.
“Hey, Zaya, over here! Is it true you’re training to join the Thunderbolts?”
“Zaya is joining the Thunderbolts?”
“Give us a close up!”

Eyes darting around frantically, the teen finally spotted an opening with less people massed up, and started to shove through them.
“Zaya! Would you be willing to date me?!” Some creepier looking guy asked, his distance uncomfortably close. In response, the girl reach out and grabbed his hand, draining his energy and watching him slump to the ground.
More of the crowd’s attention turned to the downed creeper, and Zaya took it as her chance to flee. Still gripping Jun’s hand tight, she bolted away the group of people, some of whom started to give chase.

“Forget anything you heard! Those are just a bunch of crazy people!” She spouted out, trying for a weak cover up. Assuming Jun was still with her, Zaya would dart around a few buildings, before spotting a staircase leading to a fairly remote residential area. Not stopping, she raced down it, trying to find somewhere to hide, the obnoxious voices of the paparazzi not far behind.
“Jun…Sorry for that back there.” Zaya apologized between breaths. “Tons of freaks on the streets these days…”



As Zaya had ran, another set of eyes had been set on her, those of a tall, muscular blonde man. Calmly sipping his coffee as he watched chaos unfold, thoughts of confusion went through his head.
“The hell…Was that..?”

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Among all the things said, 'Thunderbolts' was definitely a word that caught Jun's attention. What did those low-life poozers have to do with either of them? The panic from being touched was coursing through her, and so she could initially stop Zaya from immobilizing that guy. Sure, he might have deserved it, but just because someone is deserving of bad things doesn't mean they should happen! The distraction was nice at least, and so their getaway was a nice one. Well, she put up a shield to delay people for a bit as they gave them the slip, but that was neither here nor there. Once they were in a remote area Jun would finally take the opportunity to pull her hand away, rings glowing as she finally took the time to address the growing panic she was experiencing. Touch was something she still didn't like, and so the prolonged exposure merely fueled her anxiety. Indicating a pair of plants, she indicate they hide behind them as she leaned against the wall, taking slow and deep breaths. "Creep...but didn't deserve...that..." she says, trying to keep her breaths even and steady. "Why were...why were all those guys there? I know I've been avoiding the press because of my incident, but they were laser focused on you. And someone mentioned 'Thunderbolts'. What do they have to do with you?" zaya

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[zaya]

“Didn’t deserve it?” Zaya spat back, ducking behind the bushes with Jun. “Parasites like that can drop dead and nobody would care.”
Jun was starting to ask questions; Not good. She was smart, and it probably wouldn’t take her long to link Zaya to her father, ShocK-King.
“Look, I’ve got nothing to do with the Thunderbolts.” Pausing, she thought fast and improvised with a lie. “There were rumors floating around that I was a member thanks to my thunder-esque powers, that’s it, ok?”
It was an alibi that was full of holes, but hopefully Jun would be too caught up in the moment to feel for them. Peeking around their hiding spot, Zaya spotted several camera wielding nuisances heading in their general direction; Much smaller than the larger crowd from before, but enough to where getting around freely wouldn’t be easy. Gazing around for any building to duck into, the teen quickly realized most of the buildings were residential areas.

“Lets uh…I guess try to circle back to where the shops were…Maybe we can find somewhere to stow away until these losers go home…”
Spotting a narrow alley leading to the adjacent street, Zaya started to move and motioned for Jun to follow her. Peeking around to make sure the coast was clear, she waved her friend on.

“Ok, I think we should have a clear path to one of the restaurants if we just…”
Her train of thought was caught off as she spotted a behemoth of a man lumbering toward her. Ducking back into the alley, Zaya prayed that he wasn’t coming for her; A hope that was quickly dashed as the nearly 6 and half foot tall giant went right into that same alley.
“EEP!” Impulsively yelping, Zaya launched a lightning bolt straight at the man’s face, hoping to incapacitate him…

Instead his head split straight in half.

“Hey…That any way to treat a family friend?” The half with the mouth asked. No blood was coming out of the split…Instead a mucky substance began to stitch the two halves back together.
“Guess it makes sense you wouldn’t recognize me like this, Zaya.” As his head reformed, it changed into a blank, brown slate, along with the rest of his body. When it reformed into a more human appearance, the man was now a bit shorter, with brown hair and a stern looking face; One Zaya instantly recognized.

“Uh…I think you got the wrong person mister…” Feigning ignorance, she backed away towards the other street.
“Come on, I know you’ve met me before when your dad took you to the office; What are ya doin out here? You alright?” Though he spoke with a genuine concern in his voice, Zaya kept retreating, getting right next to Jun.
“Uh..I think this is another crazy guy…Think you can hit him with one of those constructs so we can get out of here?”

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... "Except we're...we're in the business of caring," she says, finally calming down. "Every person, every life, no matter how pure or sleezy, is precious. Each one of them we have a duty to protect and safeguard with our lives, even if we don't want to. That's what being a hero is about." Jun would allude more than tell Zaya her own philosophy on heroing, but this moment she would get a good glimpse at it. It was pure, naïve, and a little too idealistic, not to mention the tip of the iceberg, but there was a sincerity to her words that told the tale. She wouldn't say anything about the follow-up statement, the cogs in her head spinning. Inazuma was a familiar name...wasn't there some relation to the Thunderbolts? She told herself she wasn't going to dig, but she'd take the time to dig into it once she got back. She'd follow Zaya, and while the hulking mass of a man caught her attention she thought they might be able to get away...at least, initially. As he followed her instincts started to kick in, the fight-or-flight starting to overwrite her anxiety as she started to hook her arm in with Zaya's to drag her to the other side...at least until the bolt of lightning. "ZAYA, NO!-" Only she was too late. His head split in half, and Jun marveled in horror and terror. And then he spoke. Both rings began to glow, and reaching for Zaya she would pull her back and interpose herself between Zaya and the stranger. "I am going to give yourself this one chance to identify yourself before I introduce you to the Atago. And believe me, it'll be an explosive meeting." Jun was not trying to be overtly hostile, but she didn't know what else to do. Some person who she never met followed them down an alley with his head splitting in two and he was acting all chummy with her kohai. That wasn't going to fly. zaya

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[zaya]

Zaya was hoping her upperclassman would just blast this guy so they could run; She didn’t want to give this guy a chance to talk, but at this point it was a bit too late.
“Hang on, this appearance might ring some bells…” Body once again changing shape, bright brown armor encompassed the stranger’s body, courtesy of his quirk.
“Mud Hero; Polymorph, member of the Thunderbolts.”

And he’d said it. Zaya cringed as the man revealed his team affiliation. “Um…Has Zaya not told you yet?” Polymorph asked, puzzled. Zaya started shaking her head ‘no’ and motioning for him to stop talking, which the pro hero didn’t notice.
“She’s ShocK-King’s daughter; I’ve met her a couple times.”

The girl let out a long, exhausted sigh; There wasn’t going to be much use hiding it now; Time to make the best of a bad situation. “Jun…” She started, gripping her friend’s sleeve. “Please, please don’t tell anyone…I get enough ‘publicity’ being in the general populace already, I don’t want people harassing me at UA too…”
Before Jun could get a chance to respond, Polymorph waltzed over and patted Zaya’s shoulder. “Still gettin ‘publicity’, huh? The rest of the guys always give me shit for being able to hide from that.” He let out a hearty laugh as Zaya casually brushed his hand away.

“I know a good ramen shop near here, hows about I take you?” As he made his offer, Polymorph heard faint footsteps nearby. Creating an unseen eye on his back, he took notice of a young man with a camera, hiding just out of sight. His third eye narrowed angrily, while the two that were in the proper place remained calm.
“It’ll be my treat; I can probably help you hide better anyway. Soon as I…” Shifting again, the hero became an unassuming man in a suit, looking like a regular desk jockey.
Zaya sighed and kicked the pavement a bit. “Yeah…Alright I guess…” Ramen did sound good, and at the very least she knew Polymorph could take the heat off from the crowd. “Jun…I’m sorry about this, again…”

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun's blood ran cold. Not only at who this man was, but that Zaya really was related to the group. Everything was clicking into place now, and she realized why her name was so familiar; there was an article not long ago about a civil case a criminal was lobbying against ShocK-King that was currently ongoing. One that she was sure he was going to win. A little of Zaya's behavior started to click together as she glanced back at her kohai, and this man-thing getting all buddy buddy with the two of them. A brilliant flash of light came from one of her rings, and with surprising force a large hammer would fall between Polymorph and the pair. "No," she says, fixing her gaze on him. "I don't care if you're capable of helping us hide, we'll figure out our own way back without you. I refuse to associate with a group of thugs pretending they're doing good work in the name of the people, and I'm not going to let one of my kohai be forced to associate with them either. Especially if her own father is making an embarrassment of himself and dragging his daughter down with his poor decisions." She turned back to look at Zaya, pointing down the end of the alley. "There might be a way to sneak back on campus using the alley system. Might be a little touch and go since there are points where we have to cross some streets, but I think we can make it work unseen." zaya

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[zaya]

Polymorph raised an eyebrow at Jun’s response, looking more annoyed than angry.
“Ahh, so harsh. ‘A group of thugs…’” His face suddenly shifted into a grin. “Well, we’ve been called far worse kid.” His attention turned to Zaya, the girl now stepping behind Jun bashfully.

“You made some interesting friends, haven’t ya kid? Well…I’m sure you two will figure something out. I'll tell your dad you said hi!” Turning around on his heels, the pro hero stuck his hands in his pockets and sauntered off, leaving the two girls on their own.
Out of the sight around the alley, he spotted the man from earlier with the camera, who was now power walking away, praying that the crowd would cover his escape.

“Disrespectful brat…Offer to help and they tell you to fuck off…” Polymorph muttered under his breath. “Good thing I found a way to blow off some steam…” Still trailing the paparazzi member he’d spotted earlier, the hero clenched his hand, solidifying it into a steel ball. Shifting his way through the crowd, a calm smile washed over his face as he kept up his slow pursuit, just waiting for a chance to teach the stalker some manners…



Once Polymorph was out of sight, Zaya let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks for that Jun….I’m…Not really a big fan of my dad’s friends...They're nice to me and all...But I just...I just don't want to be around any of that...” Sticking close to her upperclassman, she looked towards the alleys, and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that may be our best bet.” Starting down the alley, the girl kept her footsteps light, not wanting to attract any more unwanted attention.
“And um…This…Doesn’t change anything with us, right?” Zaya toyed with her hair nervously, too anxious to look Jun in the face. This was the first time she’d made a real friend; The last thing she needed was for her Thunderbolt affiliation to drive yet another person away.

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun would take point as they started through the alleyway, peaking around each corner with a practiced method before rounding it, moving on towards the next one. The man was annoyed, but there had to be something a little more. She wasn't a social genius, but she felt like Polymorph might say more than just 'hi'. "It doesn't," she says, pausing right before the alley opened up to the street. There would be a few people from where they were, but they were average citizens minding their own business; they could more than likely pass off long enough before making it down another alley. "But I am disappointed." She glanced back, a small frown on her face. "You shot lightning at someone without any hesitation. Zaya, we live in a world where quirks can do anything and everything. What if that was just a standard camera guy and you blasted him like that? Can you imagine what the headlines would be tomorrow? I can't," she says, shaking her head. "We have to be mindful of our actions all the time, but the media won't hesitate to take something inconsequential and blow it out of the water." She stopped at another alley, turning down it and mentally checking off where they were. "I'm also sorry you have a dad like that..." zaya

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[zaya]

Jun’s harsh words stung Zaya a bit, but she knew she deserved them. “I mean, I didn’t put too much force behind the blast, it wouldn’t have killed anyone…” She replied weakly, trying to justify her actions to save face.
“I’ll be more careful.”

More than anything, Zaya was feeling anxious around Jun now, especially after the comment about her father. She didn’t want to lose this friendship, she wanted to speak up more, but couldn’t muster too many words.
“I know the stuff they say about my dad…Trust me, I know…”
She hadn’t thought about the topic in a while; Mostly, she tried to block the thoughts out and not contemplate her father’s morality. He’d been nothing but a loving father, the kind that just about drowns their child with love; To Zaya it was just smothering, but she couldn’t deny that he cared about her.
The thought of her ever-happy father mercilessly beating villains was a hard image to conjure; The lack of most video or photographic evidence made it even more difficult.
“Well…” The girl finally spoke up after what seemed like an eternity of alley creeping silence. “Whats your dad like?”





“H-Hey! You can’t do this! I’m a member of the press! Think of what the papers will say!”
Far away from the pair of girls, a man was plastered to a wall with an elongated mud arm. “Polymorph beat me up! Story on page 12.” The pro hero pressed the man into the wall harder, a vicious look in his eyes.
“They’ll say you’re just some glory seeking camera hog who made shit up. You wouldn’t be the first or the last.” Polymorph moved some mud around the man’s neck and tightened it.

“You think I’m not used to this? I weighed my options, and even if everyone believed you and they made some slam story about me, I still wouldn’t go over my bad publicity quota.”
Grabbing at his neck, the cameraman started flinging the mud away, only for it to be instantly replaced. “Q-quota? What?”
“You’re just a roach.” The mudman released his victim, who started gasping for air. “Now be a good little roach, and crawl away without bothering those nice girls any more.”
Picking himself off the ground, still taking deep breaths, the paparazzi started to back away. “Why? Are the rumors true? Is that ShocK-King’s daughter?”

In response, Polymorph shifted his right arm into a mace. “You wanna press your luck?”
Shaking his head no, the man picked his now smashed camera up and ran off.
“There…” Taking out his cell phone from a makeshift pocket in his chest, Polymorph started to dial a number. “Better let him know what happened…”

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... "It's-" she'd start, then stop again, letting out a sigh as they made their way down a fresh alley. "I'm sorry, just...I knew you were hiding something, and I knew your dad was a big name. I've just been handed a lot of information to process all at once, and if I come across as...well, cross, then I'm sorry." She reached up to brush some of her hair away, trying to mend the gap. "It doesn't change things. My dad, I can't imagine life without him. He's a cop, and probably the most emotional guy I know. You'd expect the mom in a family to be the doting one, but that's not the case in my family." She smiled, a flood of memories coming to the surface. "I love both my parents, but I definitely enjoy spending more time with Dad than Mom. She's real cold and doesn't like to share her feelings, but that's okay. It's what Dad is there for. He taught me how to fish, and paint models, and play 80k. Heck, we talk like every other day if we can!" She softened a bit, slowing down and putting her hands in her pockets. "I don't...expect you to open up about what you went through and all that. Something I've learned the hard way is people don't like being forthcoming with their problems and expect random people to solve them. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm more than open to listen. But in the meantime," a smile broke across her face, letting herself rise to her full height, "I'm gonna help you become better than your old man. That's what you're here for, right?" While Jun didn't really understand why Zaya was at the school, she didn't seem ready to drop her just because her dad sucked. zaya

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[zaya]

Jun didn’t hate or resent her; That was good. “It’s fine; You’re taking it better than most do.” While her reaction was in fact better than most people that found out her connections, she still would rather have the secret had not come out at all.
Listening to Jun talk about her parents, Zaya tried to remember her own mother. She’d walked out on her and her father when she was still young, maybe five or six. It was hard to even remember her face without looking at a picture of it. While her father never gave many details on why they separated, from what she could infer, her mom had left due to Raiou’s view on heroism.
Thankfully Jun didn’t pry too much more into the details of her family life, only asking for an affirmation of why Zaya was attending UA.

To be better than her dad? The teen had never seen her father’s full might, but from her own digging and word of mouth, he was an unstoppable force, so becoming stronger than him was a pipe dream. The real reason she was attending hero school was out of a lack of options…But Jun didn’t need that dropped on her.
“Yeah…To be better than my old man. Become a symbol of justice and that crap, right?” Zaya gave a weak smile and a barely enthusiastic thumbs up just as the campus began to come into view.




“You realize how much you’re asking of me, right?” Basilo Haga, also known as Polymorph, had his phone glued onto his ear via his quirk, listening intently to the voice on the other line. “Well you’re the boss…But you’re compensating the hell out of me for this, Raiou…” Ending the call, Polymorph sunk the phone into his body.

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... That comment got the gears in her head spinning. If she hardly had friends, was that the reason why? Wait, this guy wasn't some helicopter parent, was he? ...Nah. Granted, her parents were pretty involved in her life, but her mom refused to put up with all the social stuff that would entail if Jun participated in something, and her dad always encouraged her to make friends. She just...sucked at it. Maybe that was part of the case with Zaya? And it was hard because her dad was a well known name, and maybe people were just intimidated...or something. Spitballing was hard sometimes when you had little information to go off of. So instead Jun focused on the other one. "Well, you're in luck, because I can definitely help you out in that area! I'm like, an expert and all that!" Expert was stretching the term. Jun was nothing more than a nerd with a powerful quirk and a drive to do good in the world, and all her preconceptions of how that would play out was in the comics and other media she consumed. Well, mostly, that view had been challenged on several occasions, but that was besides the point. zaya

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