Mark let out a gasp as he was freed, staggering back as he let his arms relax. This was a great benefit, as he managed to get the barrel in his right arm finally retract, letting his arm go back to normal. Mostly; there was still a casing ready to be fired, but he'd deal with that later.

The chaos that Iphi and Kei/Yaoyao were enacting he began to find himself more and more surrounded, which made his life that much harder. This shouldn't be a surprise to him, as he was not combat oriented. That was why he carried a gun, as it was the great equalizer. He drew the Carry and reloaded with stun rounds, switching it to his left hand as he began to give ground in order to start blasting. That wouldn't help in the long run as he needed to circle back to his compatriots. Flaring his nostrils, he reached into his jacket and drew the Wayward Son, cocking back the hammer and taking aim at the head that fell not far from him. "Yeah, no problem." And with a blast he'd remove it from this plane of existence.

That didn't necessarily help with the arm problem, but it did make him feel a little better. He'd move around the field, making his way towards Iphi and Kei and catching that last sound byte. "Yer up then, Daughter of Darkness! Two of ya git, we'll be right behind ya!"

Kei Hada,Fanthes,lonewolf,Iphigenia Pavlina,

tl;dr:
-Mark finally figures out how to go back to arm form
-Starts blasting with one gun
-Introduces the Queen to God's caliber
-Circles around and makes it back to the pair

This conversation was certainly strange, but at least he wasn't debating the merits of chipmunk insurance with some girl...boy...what was that catbug...? Either way, as suspicious as Kokoro was, this was a better use of his time. "<You would think,>" he says, finishing his plate and setting it aside.

A hivemind quirk, huh? He began to think on that...and then his brain went to place it shouldn't have. "<That would be a bit dangerous,>" he says, thinking of all the ways he could utilize something like that. "<It would definitely make it hard to pin a crime to someone with it. They could easily formulate an alibi, and multiple forms of backup plans while also maintaining their crime spree. That'd also cause all kinds of problems nailing a crime to the original...assuming it's the original that's in safety.>" He leans back, thinking. "<Man, that'd be a headache.>"

The waitress comes back around, and he offers payment for the two of them. "<I take it you've encountered something like that before?>"

Kokoro,

Even with Sean's parting words Mark put on a strong face. Now was not the time to wallow in doubt; there was a job to do. And with a nod he was glad to see Iphi manage to recover. "Good to hear. He took off in that direction, and- WHOA!" If he had a nickel for the number of times he had been borne on someone's tendrils in his lifetime, he would have two nickels. Which wasn't a lot, but it was weird that it happened twice. Either way, he adapted, and taking the last casing he had on his person slotted it in to the rifle in his arm. "There's a joke to be made here, but I'll tell it once everything is all said and done."

Once they make it to the staging area and he brings the muzzle to bear, he couldn't help but be disturbed by the taunting. "So, taking bets. We beat this thing, and we can get out of here. Right?" He glanced back at the figure in the birdcage, seeing as they were the one Sean dragged through the earth. Or maybe they're the ticket out? I don't think they have a lot of power here, though. If we defeat this scarecrow and get them out then maybe-

The scarecrow's tendrils were a little too quick for him to react. Upon seeing movement he fired, but the unfortunate truth was he was just some guy with a gun that can look into a window into the past; heavy lifting like this was not his primary strength. The round grazed the appendage, but it wasn't enough to go for the throat. He managed to get his other hand up to prevent it from putting the squeeze on him right away, but it wasn't enough. He'd take a knee, gritting his teeth in order to plan out what the best course of action was, while he was still capable of being conscious.

Kei Hada,Fanthes,lonewolf,Iphigenia Pavlina,

tl;dr:
-Gets whisked away (insert joke about being picked up here)
-Assesses the situation once they arrive
-Immediately gets partially strangulated

Mark slipped another casing into his arm, aiming up and waiting for Sean to make a move. Once he did, though, the world began to slow down; Kei smashing Kyota and running off, Sadako getting obliterated under Iphi, the strange person with the key. This was coming down to a decision, and it was one based in a question he had been asking himself the night his father died:

Can I kill my own brother?

The shot was lined up, and so many possibilities were open. He could take him in, extradite him to the State, have him tried. Three heroes, nine police, and two civilians needed justice. Mark might have killed people, but it was always a last resort. It was always to save a life...except whenever Sean was concerned, apparently.

The hands took the stranger and dragged them into the earth, and that was it. He flexed those new muscles, and in an instant the body hit the ground.

There was work to be done. There would be no time to dwell on what just happened. For now, he had to get the only other hero nearby back on track, which was easier said than done. He approached Iphi, but remained several arms' length away. Those tendrils would ruin him, but it was the thought that counted. "Iphi! I need your help!" He turned to keep the body of Sean out of his peripheral; even if it was some dream projection, it was still unsettling. "Think! Our quirks are gone, but we're still us! And these...these things, they aren't the people we know and love! We have a responsibility to fulfill, and I can't do it without you! We gotta put one foot in front of the other, and make it through this." He couldn't tell if he was doing a good enough job or not. With Kei (and Yaoyao) bolting off into the distance again, and apparently a MacGuffin dropping into their laps, they had to regroup and keep going forward. Somehow.

Fanthes,Iphigenia Pavlina,lonewolf,Kei Hada,

tl;dr:
-A retrospective before action
-A reassessment
-And a reach to another hero before a new plan can be made

There was nothing Mark hated more than bureaucracy and coursework. He was a bit surprised that he managed to get away with so much for so long, but with the new support head he wasn't worried about it negatively impacting his classes. In adversity lies opportunity, and already plans were being formed in his head.

But that wasn't why he was in this classroom today. The school councilor had reached out to him regarding one of his test dummies, and while he didn't want to attend the meeting he agreed in the end. Mostly because he had noticed a trend with Kanjo, and while he claimed he didn't care he didn't want to learn of any nasty surprises within her dorm room in the future.

He had brought a golf club with him, practicing his swing when Sadako entered the room. "You were late?" There was a duality to Mark that reverberated throughout the school. On one hand he was lazy and avoided doing any serious academic work. On the other, he created insane and terrifying gauntlets that would challenge anyone and everyone within the school.

He lined up another swing, pretending to look down the fairway as Sadako made her opening comments. "To sum her up, she takes herself too seriously." He looked over as the call came in, raising an eyebrow and, hearing some of the panic on the other end, tosses the club aside and starts towards the door. "Transit is always slow. C'mon, I have an idea what we might be in for."

Through the building, out to Parking, and pulling out his keys Mark would make sure the Caddy was unlocked before hopping in the driver's seat. "If it's at the bay then it might be those weird sea monsters making their way to shore again. Took out a group of fishmen with another hero not long ago." That was still a strange experience, thinking about it. "Even won a bet, believe it or not. Then again, my partner that day wasn't exactly the best combatant." He pulled out of the place once Sadako was in, jerking the car around and putting the pedal to the metal. He flicked something on his dashboard, some weird radio device as he began to make his way to the street and then towards the bay.

Sadako Gotoh,

The desire to shoot Sean was high. It'd be quick, it'd be easy, and accomplish his goal. But something about this interaction didn't sit right...none of it did. They were being urged on and something was clearly hunting them. This was something to slow them down, and unfortunately Mark couldn't just treat it like a speed bump. "And if you were really Sean, then you'd know the last thing I said to you, before you fucking shot me," he says, remembering the promise he made to see him behind bars.

The mass of tendrils from Iphi forced Mark to duck, glancing over at the Hadas as he grit his teeth. "Yeah, big fan of your work, Vox. Kei, if your brother ever talks to you about work, then you should know we've never worked together." And, catching that little sound byte about who might be in Kei's head, began to formulate a strategy. Especially when things started to go sideways.

"Yeah, Kei, let's not trust the only person here who's so skeptical he's given three separate work orders to the support department! One which I gave you, and with specific directions to keep that twink-looking sonuvabitch from finding out about it! Yaoyao, if you're in there, keep Mr. Twenty Leagues from dragging your boyfriend into that water! It looks like a trip and a half, and I have no intention of ruining my jacket any more than I already have!" He knew just enough about Yaoyao to get under her skin, and the mere threat of absolving himself from any responsibility of Kei served a two-fold purpose. The first was placing Kei's safety squarely within the hands of Yaoyao, wherever she was in there. Not that he doubted her zealous nature, but sometimes you had remind people to do a particular thing. The second was something that he no-doubt knew was going to bite him in the ass later, but Mark was also aware that Yaoyao was not exactly the friendliest when it came to people. If this dream world was raising red flags for her, then any person that wasn't her or Kei should trigger that hyper-aggression he knew she had.

Which lead to the new problem of Sadako and Sean. The former there wasn't much he could do; Iphi was on top of her and apparently being strangled. He figured this was all a trap, but Iphi was acting strange...must be the tendrils. Speaking of, he wouldn't be able to get close enough to help even if he wanted to. He was not the best fighter, and he didn't have a clear shot. Sean, on the other hand, was now summoning hand-spiders. Haders? Spidands? Whatever, point was that was a threat. He aimed and fired the chambers shot at Sean before shifting to the side, intending to avoid the mass coming straight at him as he reloaded. "Hey Recall, hate to be critical here, but where's that badass can-do attitude that I fell in love with?" This was going to earn him a kick in the dick later, but they were all bogged down. He had to poke the bear just a little bit so they could all get going again.

Fanthes,Iphigenia Pavlina,lonewolf,Kei Hada, Meika Hijiri

tl;dr:
-Exchanging barbs with the 'brother'
-Throws massive shade at Kei before telling Yaoyao to do her job
-Shoots at totally-not-Sean
-Signs his own death warrant (by flirting with Iphi so she uses it as fuel to kick everyone's ass)