Mark actually seemed a bit stunned at Jack’s line of questions; He didn’t have any answered prepared. “You know, I’ve never really thought far ahead.” He admitted. “More of an 'in the now' kind of guy.” It was a boring yet honest answer.

“Why do I fight?” It sounded like Mark was just mindlessly repeating back what he’d heard at first, like a giant mud parrot; He was hardly even thinking about it until Jack lunged at him, and started slashing. The initial torso strike left a huge gash across his body; Thankfully it was easily regenerated.
As claw after claw went through mark, mud went flying everywhere; Mark’s first instinct was to harden himself when the claws were inside of him, trap Jack; But he was far too slow to make it happen. So, time for a general defense; Putting his arms in front of himself, he created a large shield, and solidified it, using it as cover from the blows.
“Why do I fight, huh?” He yelled over the barrage.
“Because someone told me to; That’s how everything is in my life; ‘Do this, Mark, do that, Mark;”
Spikes popped out of the shield, and Mark held his ground while shoving it forward, trying to impale Jack. Regardless of whether he succeeded he’d continue talking.
“I never really cared. Never bothered thinking for myself.”
If Jack was still in front of him, he’d then prepare to go on the offensive, turning his two arms into four, and creating a weapon in each.
A mace, a cutlass, a flail, and a prehistoric club; Whether Jack was in front of him or not, Mark would go at him and start swinging all his weapons, one after another.
“And then you came along! Suddenly I started thinking irrationally; about wanting to fight you; What a thrill! And now that I’m here, doing it…” An smirk shot across his face. “I don’t want this feeling to end!”



If she wasn’t sure before, this was outright confirmation that Mark was set up to be her ‘friend’ by his father. Honestly, it stung a bit. After what happened at the mall with the Kollector, she actually felt like she’d bonded with him a bit; Like she might’ve actually made another friend. Hearing that all she was to him was another order by someone else hurt; Zaya had to bite her lip to prevent any tears from falling.

Mark’s eyebrows furrowed in anger as Jack seemed to stall out the match.
“Fine, if that’s the only way to get a real fight out of you, I’ll enlighten you.” The shapeshifter morphed back down to his normal size, likely to conserve his energy.
“But its something I doubt you’d understand for…” Mark looked down at his hand, fingers dripping with mud. “Multiple reasons. Hell, I don’t fully understand it myself. But a few nights after we met…I dreamed. For the first time, I actually dreamed.”



He sure was using odd rhetoric, Zaya thought, now more confused than concern.


Mark let out a sigh, and stared up into the sky above. “Honestly, I didn’t even know I could until then. But that night, I dreamt that we fought, and I won. Even dead asleep it was more fulfilling than anything.” Steeling himself and gazing right at Jack, Mark formed his fist into a knobbed mace. “Beating you is the only thing I’ve thought about for a while now; Making that dream into a reality. I don’t know what your quirk is, your weaknesses, your strengths, but I’m excited to see…”
Pushing forward with his back foot, Mark charged right at his opponent, intent on slamming his mace hand onto Mark. “So show me!”


This just kept getting weirder. So it wasn’t about her, like Zaya thought initially; She seemed to be the only reason he was even sent to UAU, but now he seemed solely intent on pursuing this rivalry with Jack. Considering how pressing he’d been on her with the whole team business, maybe this was a good change, lesser of two evils…

Zaya saw Jack’s message, but before she could finish typing out a response, she spotted the man himself.
“I’m fine, he didn’t do anything. Jack, listen, Mark isn’t acting like himself…”
Well, it seemed like Jack was more than willing to give Mark the fight he wanted. Zaya wanted to stop it, try to talk one of them out of it, but it wasn’t like either of them were doing anything wrong; Not yet at least. The fights were sanctioned by the school, but still, she felt like Mark was trying to pick this fight for the wrong reasons.
“Just ring him out quickly; Don’t make this worse than it needs to me.” Sighing, Zaya watched Jack step into the ring, and hoped this wouldn’t end badly.

Mark spotted Jack right away, and the biggest grin of his life crept onto his face as he did.
“Jack! I’ve been waiting for this all day.”
The mudman saw the intent in Jack’s eyes, but he didn’t care; To him, that was just a sign that he was going to get the fight he desired. “Believe me, I want this fight. I want it more than I’ve wanted anything in my entire life.”
Using his shapeshifting abilities, Mark stretched himself out, growing at least a few feet taller in the process, while making his body look bulkier. “Nothing you can say, nothing you can do can get you out of this. Even if you try to run from this battle, I won’t let you.” Mark’s voice had grown considerably deeper due to the way he was expanding his body. The UAU sports uniform he was wearing had had its top part ripped off by now, and Mark’s body was starting to lose its humanoid appearance a bit as clumps of mud started to show as folds in his body.
“Get in this arena; You’re not leaving until I’m satisfied!”
Mark’s dramatic transformation seemed to have drawn the attention of a good portion of the crowd, now cheering at the battle that was soon to unfold.
The mudman was more than prepared, of course; The second Jack stepped into the arena, Mark would turn his arms into hammers, and slam them down on his rival.

Zaya let out a sigh of relief, noticing that the crowd was, in fact, minding their own business. While it was true that most heroes children didn’t get mobbed by cameramen and questionnaires, most heroes weren’t as controversial as the Thunderbolts.
She’d hardly seen him in action, but she’d heard the rumors. The Thunderbolts brutally beating villains, sometimes killing them, and claiming self defense; According to the internet rumors she’d researched, the team was constantly drenched in lawsuits and internal investigations.

The rumors claimed some pretty outrageous things, too; Polyphemus accidentally stepping on civilians, Blademaster killing a villain that hardly posed a threat, even one that claimed the Thunderbolts were responsible for eliminating a cult of fire based quirk users; As in killing them.
Still, maybe it was just due to her father always being a doting dolt when he was around her, but she just couldn’t picture them doing such things. There wasn’t much evidence to back up a lot of the claims anyway. That didn’t stop the paparazzi from coming after her though…

“Foxtrot and Polaris…I think I’ve heard of them.” It was a half-lie; She had heard their names, but didn’t know much about them beyond that.
Profitability; An interesting question. “I mean, its kind of a high priority for me. My dad is a hero but that doesn’t exactly mean we’re living in a high rise; I want to make enough to live comfortably, afford some luxuries when I can.”
Thinking about herself as an action figure or in a cartoon was odd; It made her shiver a bit.
“Yeah, I kinda cringe a bit when I picture my face on a trading card or something….I guess I’ll have to sign a few deals to make the cash though…”
Gazing over to him, she mimicked his question. “What about you? You in it for profit? Looking for a team?”

“Better than letting him clobber us!” Mark shot back, a bit of frustration in his own voice. As the mud based hero prepared to intercept his projectile, he watched as Jun caught it instead, and flung it back at a surprised Kollector, who had to slow down to catch it with his telekinesis.
Seeing another hammer come at him, he threw the pot at it, which slowed the constructs velocity, but not enough to avoid taking a hit straight to the oversized face.
“How dare you, you nobody! I’ll be damned if I get taken out by a no count like-“
His monologue stopped as the crook swallowed his gut seeing the guns. “Wait, hold on, hold on…” The grandiose flair in his voice was now gone, but his nasally accent remained.


Wait…He was pausing now? Looking over at the guns Jun was flaunting at the villain, Zaya wondered if she would actually unload on him…She wondered if she should just let her, have this nightmare end, or if she should possibly step in with something non lethal.

“Lets slow down a minute, nobody said anything-“
The Kollector didn’t get a chance to finish the statement. A giant brown hammer, as big as the criminal’s face, slammed down right on top of his head, squishing his head downward as his eyes bulged out in surprise. His hovering chair, no longer being held up by his telekinetic powers, sputtered to the ground and lazily crashed.

“Good job distracting him.” Reforming his weapon back into his arms, Mark looked down at the Kollector. The villain was nearly unconscious, groaning in pain.
“Told ya clobbering him would work.”

Zaya let out the biggest sigh of relief in her life, sitting down and finally relaxing. “Oh thank god…” Was all she let out, glad to have the ordeal behind her.

And, as if on cue, a hero finally arrived, leaping down the stairs to apprehend the villain. The guy was dressed in flashy red and black clothing, complete with a cape and studded mask.
“You kids take this guy down?” He asked, examining the defeated villain.
Before Zaya got a chance to say anything, Mark spoke up. “Yep. We saw a villain rampaging, we took action. I’m Mark Haga, this is Zaya Inazuma. Not sure what her name is.”
Zaya buried her face in her hands; This was attention she didn’t need. Still, at least everything was over.

“Thanks for your assistance; Seeing as it was self defense, I don’t see any need to bring charges against any of you.” Holding out his hand, the hero formed a large red bubble, which encased the Kollector.
“Though you may be asked in the future for police statements.” Grabbing the ball, the hero started to roll it in the same manner as a dung beetle, though the Kollector’s body remained static inside the bubble, not rolling around.

Watching the hero start to depart, Mark turned to Zaya, and sighed. “Sorry about that whole thing. I know we aren’t exactly friends, so I’m going to head out.” Waving, he got ready to leave, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
“Mark, wait…Look, thanks. I apprentice it.”

Hiding a smile was fairly easy for a shapeshifter; But Mark choose not to as he gave a thumbs up, and started to walk away.

Watching him leave, Zaya rushed to Jun, wrapping her in a hug. “Jun…I’m sorry…I got scared…” Finally letting her emotions out, tears started to stream down her face. “I panicked…I’m sorry…” Her voice was weak, completely drained from the ordeal.

Trying to calm down a bit, Zaya nodded in agreement with Jun’s plan.
“Yeah, probably best to just get civilians out of the way…” Looking at the menacing villain hovering menacingly overhead, she prayed Jun could keep him occupied.

Looking at the sea of panicked people, Zaya knew exactly what she had to do; Get their attention, lead them to safety. She paused for a minute, collecting her thoughts and trying to think of the best way to do that. Probably just yelling, right?
The girl took a deep breath in…But no words came out. The mob of people was huge, all of them in a frenzy trying to get away from the scene unfolding; Yelling, screaming, shoving each other…
What was one girl supposed to do? As Zaya looked around, a realization hit her; She was just one of them. Another civilian being caught in the crossfire, being targeted by a rampaging villain.
And she panicked.
The initial adrenaline from the surprise attack had worn off, and ‘fight’ was quickly being replaced with ‘flight’. Breathing heavily, the only thought on Zaya’s mind was if she was going to get crushed by flying debris launched by the Kollector.
As she tried to move, her knees started to feel weak; Too weak to run, so she did the next best thing; She hid. Unfortunately for her, the only hiding place she could crawl to in time was a wooden bench, where she was still visible through the benches slits. There, she lied down and prayed Jun could take care of things…



“You IMBECILE! I care not for the shopping of untrained eyes! What collectibles can be found in a common mall?!” The Kollector asked, fed up with Jun’s defiance.
Seeing the hammer flying at him, the villain activated his telekinetic powers, stopping the construct mid flight.
“And I haven’t any interest in YOU!” With that, he attempted to fling the Mjolnir back at his foe; Whether or not Jun was hit by it, he’d fly past her and down to the lower levels of the mall.
Scanning the area, The Kollector looked over dozens of panicking, fleeing targets, not seeming to have any interest in them; Not until he spotted Zaya, cowering under a bench. Lifting up the bench with his powers, he pointed a finger dramatically at his victim.
“YOU! Quit hiding! Come out and face your doom!”
Zaya started scrambling to her feet, tripping over herself; She waited for the impact of wood on her body…An impact that didn’t come.
Opening her eyes and peering through her fingers, Zaya noticed that the Kollector hadn’t smacked her with the bench; Which would’ve been the obvious play. Rather, he had chosen to run his mouth.
“I KNOW you’re the child of one of the Thunderbolts, and I WILL take my vengeance out for-“

His monologue was cut off as Zaya fired off a panicked shock blast at him; It was more of an impulsive attack rather than a concentrated strike, and with a lot of her power already drained, she didn’t expect it to do much.
But it did; The Kollector took the blast straight to his stomach, hovering backwards and dropping the bench, which shattered on the ground. Stabilizing himself he moved forward once more.
“A powerful blow, but you’ll need to do more than that to-HEY!”
He stopped his monologue once more as he noticed Zaya starting to run in the opposite direction.
“Quit your running! Come back and fight!” The fiend called out. He was completely ignoring everyone else, Jun included, as he began to hover towards Zaya.

“Gotta get out of here…Just gotta get out of here…”

Zaya just shrugged off Jun’s comment. “Nah, its fine; I’m used to being cozy, so I always wear a lot of clothes. I know it isn’t very attractive, but it’s comfortable to me. Rather be too hot than too cold.”
Looking at her friend’s outfit, she couldn’t help but think it was cute, despite the corny shirt; Jun was clearly her most fashionable friend.

Which, considering how few friends she had, was admittedly not saying a lot.
“Anyway…That’s actually what I was hoping we could work on, to be honest. I never really focused too much on my outfits before due to…Ya know, not getting out at all…But…I wanna look cute, get some cute clothes, ya know?”
Zaya couldn’t help but feel the desire to get a bit more fashion in her life; Maybe it came about from being at a school surrounded by people her own age? Despite being a loner, she’d always wanted friends to do this sort of thing with, if for nothing else than to see what it was like.

“You wouldn’t mind going to Goth Topic, would you? That’s where I was looking at before to do some clothes shopping, they seem to have my aesthetic there.” She asked, already peering over at a glowing electronic directory to see where the store was. The brand was everywhere these days, and this mall was no exception, housing a rather large store on the bottom floor.
Hopefully Jun’s fashion advice would be better than her wacky, unreasonable dating advice.