She wasn’t familiar with every single hero, but the two that came after her she had heard a little about. Apparel was someone that could to the best knowledge that she had turn into pieces of apparel. That was the extent of her knowledge regarding her and pretender she had a vague understanding of their quirk as well. Her information regarding the other heroes was not… the best in terms of in-depth break downs.

”Good to meet you, yeah I’m Maelstrom.”

She’d give the clothing hero a small smile and return that little wave. Not bothered at all about the fact they were taking a cookie; it was after all the reason she brought them! With mochi coming over and making the gestures skald chuckled and slid one of the platters her way…

”I’ll admit I’m not the most familiar with many heroes, freelance work and having to manage everything limits it when even that is left wanting.”

Her lack of collaborations or team ups made it really difficult for her to establish more than simple responses on her patrol routes. But knowing that she could call Dauntless Kano would make things very easy.

”I’ll keep that in mind. Ya’ll can just call me Skald then. Less of a mouthful. As for the clothes uh… well. I wasn’t sure if I should come dressed to impress or just chill.”

The question regarding her own career was met with a moment that left skald unfortunately sighing and sagging her shoulders a little bit. Bright and optimistic but she was also realistic to a degree.

”I’m left to responding rather than preventive measures. My patrols are often limiting and damage control; I can only run so fast to the point of where things are happening and while the media coverage has been positive… Some people have been questioning why I’m not on scene immediately. Otherwise? Crime in my strip has been somewhat lower than usual especially after some assistance from some old blood.”

”Not all. Though some admittedly do have their heads very far up their rears.”

Skald snorted a little bit as they trotted along; she was more inviting the idea to stretch his theoretical limbs. Knowing that having your quirk suppressed was so ungodly uncomfortable. Flicking her ears she’d turn to stare at Leo; her smile that followed had lost none of the warmth that she held earlier.

”It’s neither, if you really want to ruin your chances at a life where people don’t think you’re a villain or call you ‘little devil’ you could do that for sure. I wouldn’t hold it against you. As for the fight… ”

She’d continue along stretching a little bit; she felt a crack and she’d let out a soft sigh. She had grown a bit since their fight sure, but she also knew that the two of them had different outlooks on life. So they’d grow differently. She wasn’t wanting to fight him anyways. Feeling her hand grasped by the other she’d blink and would go along with Leo into the back alleys.

”Not feelin it?”

There was genuine concern in her voice and she’d pad along with him; she’d let him steer where they went. His comfort was paramount after all!

Skald could feel the tingling of her electricity across her body, slowly coming into focus on her arms. She could build up a lot of lightning in one place, her lightning did nothing but tickle from time to time based on how much she built. She wasn’t affected by it. Though it’d eventually make her body parts heavy and she’d feel like crap if she expended too much.

”Still couldn’t hurt Sir.”

She’d chuckle; yeah that about fit for what she had heard of the older generation of heroes. Though she did imagine that he was made of tougher and sterner stuff than most. An ear flicked at hearing him suggest that they wrap things up; she’d bob her head in agreement.

”That I am sir. I was hoping to talk him down but…”

The expression she made was that of frustration; she didn’t like having to resort to violence for every instance; she had a kind and gentle heart. Hearing the villain throw out that threat only earned a sigh from her.

”Really digging the hole deeper are we?”

Her weaving motions continued, she could feel the pulsing of her lightning more acutely, the build up was far from subtle. Crackling lightning along her hero outfit, it wasn’t built for it and some parts were actually crumbling off of her arms. Showing the fur underneath. Her expression was that of content and concentration; a surprising mix like she wasn’t really feeling threatened. She practically radiated confidence.

Her icy blue eyes locked onto the full sized excavator that came into view. She noted the older hero wasn’t expecting it and she really was in the same boat. But her motions didn’t cease; if anything they started to increase in tempo ever so slightly.

”Mm… Such wasted talent.”

She sighed again and seeing the heavy piece of equipment start to launch their way. If leonid was going to take care of that well… She’d take care of him. The lightning was more than enough to if she hit with it it’d knock him flat and out cold she figured.

”I’ll do my best sir; glad that you’re here. Can’t think of what I’d do other than dive for cover if he launched that at me solo.”

A chuckle and She felt the lightning build up reach its peak; she could feel every fiber of her body screaming for release. She could feel the drag on her arms and her motions stuttered as she could feel the lightning want out. It wanted out. Let it out. Let. It. Out.

The air around her started to grow, filled with energy and warping slightly before she would raise one hand. It seemed like the air stilled and with a single long motion of where she brought her primary hand forward, pointing directly at the villain. Her other hand had arced naturally over her head and her stance was wide, almost looking as though she had performed a dance move.

The silence, before the loud crack of lightning blasted from her fingertips. She had to be careful to regulate it at such a close distance so it wouldn’t be lethal but with how fast the bolt traveled it was no wonder why she was careful with her quirk. Unregulated use would be deadly. After shooting it off she felt her arms immediately grow sore and the smoking from her arms was apperant as she had practically singed her hero costume. Some portions of it burned a little bit.

Other portions simply ceased to be.

Shifting slightly from where she had been standing before, there was even a bit of the ground that had been scorched. She had funneled extra charge into the ground to make doubly sure that the bolt she had thrown wasn’t lethal. Acting as the generator, grounding and discharge conductor skald was a strange mix of a fox that was for sure!

One of the few things that skald had learned over her time as a hero and on the beat is that you never turned down help; especially when it came from another professional retired or not. But in the hero business many people were unused to working with others and always wanted the spotlight or had hyper-fixations on certain individuals. So it was not a surprise that not only did the shovel villain practically brush off her presence and focused on Leonid; he pulled another trick out of his sleeve.

Fragments of the shovels? The various tools that she had blasted apart earlier were no where to be seen but the more recent pieces had the villains power still affecting them? Was it a requirement for him to be aware of the tools? Or still in line of sight? How did that work even? Skald’s brow grew quizzical and then concerned.

She’d have to recommend Leonid to see a doctor after this was done, splinters in the face were not something you wanted at all! Her over the top performance to shoot various bolts of lightning at the villain at least yielded some results and Leonid himself was nothing to laugh at. Some older heroes couldn’t hold up anymore and he was just slightly shaking off the rust. She really wished she could have seen him in his prime.

Excavator however wasn’t taken in by the same respect; in fact he was changing jobs from prospecting to undertaking. Or at least attempting to undertake the two heroes. Skald’s lightning danced along her arms as she prepared to blast away the tools coming her way. That large snow shovel was likely going to be a problem with how big it was or that there was a lot of plastic. She didn’t want to think about melting it-

Leonid however had other plans, crashing down in front of her and snapping that snow shovel in two. With the focus of her defense gone, the lightning had no where else to go and skald’s arms pointed to either direction around the other hero.

Yeah that’s right, she was curving the bolts around the other hero to strike at the villain from behind Leonid. She didn’t expect to hit him directly and the bolts weren’t super charged because she frankly wasn’t looking to seriously hurt the villain. Just stun them long enough to cuff them. Though once she discharged her lightning she’d rub at one of her ears, it was ringing just a little bit; more so from the close proximity to the roaring. Sensitive hearing and all that.

”That looks a bit nasty, I’ve got a first aid kit nearby so we can take care of that after this.”

Skald adjusted her stance a little bit, and was able to peer around the other hero. The shovel based villain had already recovered and had already yanked some of his shovels back into the area around him. She’d frown for a moment and then start to gather lightning along her forearms, slowly dragging it and weaving it around in a powerful arc around her. It almost looked like a slow weaving dance with deadly intent.

”This should do the trick…”

Lying was never her strong suit and hiding her emotions was also another thing that was rather difficult. Flicking her ears this way and that she felt her face grow a little red as she heard the sound that Leonid made. Yeah she was going to geek out over someone that was the friggen fore-front of heroing for literal… what? Decades? He practically shaped heroeing as it was! How could she not?

”He’s down at least a dozen shovels now though…”

Experience however would also be partly to blame she felt here. She wasn’t going to sit there and make excuses. She needed to figure out how best to end this situation and also make sure that the villain here wasn’t seriously injured. But with the focus of the Shovel villain now firmly on Leonid… Well.

That left her a little open in terms of what she could do; She was impressed thoroughly by the dexterity of the retired hero and his quick thinking. Double so of the force that he used to practically crack the pavement. She had to imagine what sort of force he had in his prime if he was like this in his sixties.

With lightning charging on her arms the kitsune dashed forward, not wanting to give the villain any time to recover. One hand forward and the other back, she’d bring them together in an over the top motion that had the lightning of each meet at her hands before launching a powerful bolt of lightning at the villain.

Dodge or block, the opening she’d have made was immediately followed through by several weaker blasts of lightning from her tails. Severely weaker than her standard bolts, it would if anything be very distracting. The name of the game was to make the older villain exert themselves too much and be unable to flee properly so she could make an appropriate arrest.

She didn’t have anywhere to be mind you; but she didn’t want the retired hero to pull more weight than he needed to. He was retired for a reason right? Should he even be doing that? Hell should she ask if he had his license? It hardly seemed relevant.

”Well sir I do know several gyms that are actively seeking members that aren’t half bad…”

Teasing? No. Seriously? Very. Did she attend most of them? Absolutely.

Skald wasn’t a part of any agency, she had no real connections to the hero world save for a sparse few heroes that she met through various traffics. She knew some faculty to UA for sure but it wasn’t anything that gave her an edge on her competitors. Well. She didn’t consider them that; she more considered them coworkers. She had her own patrols that often overlapped with other heroes. But they didn’t fight over what happened; if anything it pushed them to protect those under their watchful gaze.

Being in the ‘field’ for as long as she had she knew that she needed that to change. So when it came across her small information window that there was a meeting going on… She wanted to attend. So she got herself a bunch of cookies, several gallons of milk and a few plates. Figuring whatever group would probably be hungry.

Walking down the street the very first thing she realized that she was horribly dressed down, not being in her hero uniform… Ontop of also noting that it was a fairly well known agency. That of monarch. Her ears flicked and she’d stare up at the building.

Oh. Of all days to wear my civvies…

She’d push the door open with one of her tails, looking around and probably gaining a few stares while she was at it. Humming to herself she recalled where her information said the meeting was and headed up there! Pushing the door open to the conference room with a cheerful greeting-

”Helllo~”

Only to realize she was the first here, holding several platters of cookies and so much milk a cow would wonder what the hell she was doing with it. The face she was greeted with was no other than Dauntless and for her to be Maelstrom; another name that wasn’t exactly as high up on the list but…

First impressions were rather important and she’d blink, her free tail coming up to push her red tinted glasses up. Taking in the fact yes indeed she was first! Her orange vest scrunched a little bit and she’d adjust, placing the cookies on the meeting table. She felt silly bringing cookies if there were sandwiches, donuts and coffee!

”If I had know there was food prepped I’d of brought something else! Dauntless I presume?”