Having spent the day inside cooped up doing paperwork from her last patrol, Lucille couldn't wait to clock out and meet up with her prodigy student. She had been sneakily looking up good places for street food during work, even though she knew she shouldn't. She just couldn't help it, it had been a quiet week for her at Maxima. Unlike UAU. There was never a dull moment teaching hero students, especially not with the recent slew of disasters and high profile villains Japan had seen recently. How were they supposed to prepare the next generation of heroes for all that with so little time to spare? It was a constant struggle, but if she worried too much about it her hair would fall out and she couldn't have that either.

She let out a yawn as she walked out into the streets in her civilian attire, a fuzzy yellow sweater and black slacks with a matching purse on her shoulder. For a moment she just stood there and enjoyed the breezy autumn weather, waiting for her former student, now coworker to show up. She was still getting used to the coworker part, but she tried her best not to act like her teacher anymore! The last thing she wanted was to show Marie any kind of disrespect.

Speak of the Sun and it shines! When Marie arrived she greeted her with a wave and a smile. ''The lady of the hour arrives! I trust you've had a good day, Dr. Descartes?'' She indicated a sidewalk for them to cross to get downtown. ''Unless you have anything left to do let's get going?''

Marie Descartes

''Stay safe, Stellar-chan! ~'' She winked at her colleague as she took off to help elsewhere after providing some much needed support here. These 'Nomu', they really came in all shapes and sizes, huh. She was about to follow-up on the Nomu that was approaching from the side Stellar was covering, but she didn't need to as Farrin came leaping onto the scene. ''Do they now?'' She let out a carefree sigh in response to Farrin's observation that some of the monsters could heal. ''That would make the most logical sense.'' She smiled at Farrin, putting a hand on her hip. ''Assuming The Elementalist is like a King in a castle, and that he is still integral to what these villains are planning, he would surely put as many obstacles as possible between us and him. I can-'' She was about to continue when her conversation with Farrin was interrupted. Reacting swiftly, she rolled out of the way of the attack and much like Farrin, was about to prepare a counterattack until she saw what Ylva was charging up.

Yaoyao was coming into this with everything she had too, and Rahul had already started deploying bunnies. She couldn't help but smile at this sight, feeling proud of her students as she transformed her arms into wings and took to the skies, flying over Ylva's supermove attack as it engulfed the nearby Nomu.

The sound of the chime sent a chill down her spine. All at once the stone Nomu had stopped moving?

''Countermeasure?'' She repeated what she had heard the soft voice say. The eerily familiar rumble was all it took to piece together what it meant. Whoever was controlling the monsters was adapting to their growing numbers. ''Those rooks...'' A sense of dread washed over her as she remembered being part of the evacuation effort in Nerima prefecture during the Rumbling. She had already seen firsthand how destructive these constructs could be. Without hesitating, she sent a message out to her allies across Takamagahara. ''Rumbling golems have appeared in Takamagahara West! This is Phantasmagoria, requesting back up, we need people with quirks focused around strength and toughness, we're losing our momentum-'' Her voice was cut off as things turned from bad to worse. The sound of water swelling and roaring brought about a sudden high tide. She was safe from the massive wave up here, but the others weren't...

Knowing that she had to do something she acted on instinct, diving towards the nearest student. Swooping down on Yaoyao, she would pick her up with her talons and lift her up and out of the wave before it could sweep her away. ''Yāoguǐ! Are you okay?'' In all her time as Yaoyao's teacher she had never seen her quirk manifest the way it had, but it was surely still her under that shadowy visage.

Stellar, Farrin, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲, 𝕐 + 𝕐

''No waaay. ~'' She let out a little chuckle as she looked around, taking in the zen garden. ''Whoever thought villains could have such good taste in evil lairs.'' Something she would come to regret saying moments later when the creepy atmosphere really hit her. The heavy droning of the spores, the desparate, disembodied breathing. Was this garden... Alive? ''Ew.'' She sighed, putting her hands on her hips as one of the golems which had just looked like an ordinary boulder moments prior stood up to its full size. ''I take it all back, I'm gonna need a word with that Elementalist- woah!'' She leapt to the side just as a Nomu's arm slammed down where she had been moments prior. ''You're faster than you look, but you and your friends aren't that bright, are you?''

Watching the Nomu wind-up for another swing, Lucille mixed sludge with her spit and spat on the ground right under her, leaving behind a puddle of black sludge. Then, just like before, she dodged the overhead swing and watched as the bouncy properties of her sludge sent the Nomu's arm flying backwards, and in turn sent it falling onto its back. It was a nifty little trick for dealing with one of them, but there was more than she could, and who knew how big this place was. Staying near where she had come through the teleporter she tried to catch the attention of any other stragglers that hadn't tried to run ahead like Farrin. ''Okay everybody, let's stick together, conserve your powers unless you absolutely need to use them, caw caw! ~''

As much as she wanted to just run ahead herself she saw any and all students here as her own responsibility. Farrin had someone helping him already and he was probably going to be okay for now.

Farrin, Matsu

''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

All it took was the sound of bombs going off in the distance to tip her and Mar off. Shortly after, static followed by a voice came through the comms.

''THIS IS AN EMERGENCY, I REPEAT, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! ONE OR MULTIPLE VILLAINS HAVE APPEARED DOWNTOWN, WE HAVE YET TO CONFIRM THEIR NUMBERS, BUT THE PRIMARY SUSPECT IS BELIEVED TO BE BAKURETSU! REQUESTING-''

Lucille switched off her comms and looked at Mar. ''Mar Mar, we're taking a shortcut.'' She didn't need to hear anymore than that. If it really was Bakuretsu then they needed heroes on the scene immediately to minimize casualties, and they couldn't afford to gamble on it being another explosive wielding maniac. ''We're going up.'' She said to Mar, knowing that her friend and colleague knew what that meant as she transformed and wrapped her talons around Mar, before taking to the skies with a flap of her wings.

''Tiburón,'' she switched to using her hero name now that they were engaging an enemy. It was a bad habit of hers to forget to use hero names anyway. ''To what extend are you familiar with Bakuretsu?'' It was best to clear what they knew sooner rather than later. Bakuretsu was highly dangerous and while an argument could be made for whether she was the strongest villain in Tokyo, you couldn't doubt the fact that she was easily the most destructive outside of what they had witnessed the Elementalist do back in Spring.

''Once we get close I'll drop you down on the ground, but we need to fight her carefully, don't take any chances.''

Bakiri Retsu, Mar

She was scribbling away when Enma Arashi approached her. He was a second year student that showed a lot of promise, and one of the weapon wielders in the school. She was excited to see him join Farrin's class today, since hand-to-hand combat would probably be unfamiliar territory to him, but he still wasn't afraid of giving it a shot! ''Oh my, Arashi-san! ~ Trying something new?'' She looked over towards Farrin. Knowing him he probably wouldn't mind someone arriving a little late, especially not if they were talented. Leaning in a little closer to Enma, she put a hand over her mouth as she whispered. ''I'm sure O'Rourke-san has room for you, but go ask him just in case.'' She winked at Enma. ''And make sure to call him 'sensei', he'll like that.''

Normally she would just let Enma approach Farrin himself and ask, but that wasn't nearly dramatic enough for UA. Besides, she knew that Enma was looking to improve and had been talking with Lawbringer. ''Oberon-san!'' She raised her voice and waved at Farrin to get his attention. ''Arashi-san said he would love to volunteer for the next demonstration!'' She pointed at Enma, smiling brightly. This ought to be interesting.

enma, Farrin

''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