---

Ryuuji listened to Kazuma, or at least the part about where they would meet. While Ryuuji appreciates Kazuma's presence and his ability to teleport them anywhere, he had no control over the actions of his teammates. Piss them off enough, and even he can't assure one's survival. Anyhow, about the meeting place. Same place again huh? It should be easy enough. No one has managed to find where Kazuma was waiting in before, and no one was followed Ryuuji so it should be fine. "Alright got it." He said with a nod before leaning back onto the chair again. Unless someone had a quirk that could track down a teleporting guy, then he guessed that he shouldn't have a problem again. Unless they posted guards all over the place which would considerably be harder to shake off. Well, he could just count on their front liners to take care of them. He reached inside his jacket to make sure that his sash of knives were still there - and they were. They were also sharpened recently for optimal slicing and stabbing. He actually had to clean it up too, since the last mission he went to turned out to be rather bloody.

His eyes were drawn to one of the televisions that was showing Panopticon's figure. Ryuuji wasn't as bothered by him as the others. There was just something about that guy that set other people off - but it didn't seem to be working for the bespectacled male. Kane hated Panopticon with a passion, but the guy hated anyone who doesn't do physical work. Panopticon was useful when it came to spying on others, or manipulating others into doing what he wants them to do. Thankfully, the guy hasn't tried it on Ryuuji yet. He hated being manipulated. Give him orders, and it would be fine. But subtly changing what he thinks he wants? That's a big no-no. And Panopticon constantly appears in only one location, and with the visuals, Ryuuji felt confident that he could teleport there and stab a knife into that TV face of his. But... that wasn't exactly something he wanted to do. Yet.

Ryuuji was pleasantly shocked to see another redhead enter. Her disheveled figure and haphazard way of clothing gave off who she was. Their resident mad scientist, Kashikoi. "Well, look who's out of her cave. Welcome back to the surface, Kashikoi." He said with a light chuckle. He was never above teasing or joking around - though it was mostly done out of a need to understand emotions. In the time that he spent with these people, he's come to realize that joking is something done between peers, but teasing is also a form of this that may be directed to any person. Though, his teases are harmless as to not anger anyone. It was not a good idea to anger a villain. Then she gave the proposition of teaching the newcomer. "Oh, right. Kashikoi's a better candidate, that's for sure. She knows like... fifteen languages or something." Besides, it's been confirmed that they speak Russian, and he didn't know Russian. Therefore, the scientist might be their best bet. Whitesnake commented as to why a group of villains like them could be so helpful. Honestly though, only two of them were willing to help this much. Kashikoi because of her nature and him because he at least wanted to work well with his teammates to avoid failure. "You'd need to abandon your days hiding out in your room though, Kashikoi."

He heard the door to the bathroom open and saw the newcomer exit in her tactical suit. Ryuuji wondered what her quirk is since her outfit didn't give it away. Then again, only Kane gave away what her quirk is since he's a big hulking mass of flesh. She was also wearing a mask, though he guessed that it might be just to hide the identity - he used a mask as well after all. He shrugged to himself silently and then went back to listening to the others.

Then he heard a small thunk on the table and then he turned his head to Kishimoto who had finished the rubix cube - or at least, did something else to finish it. The satisfied look on her face made Ryuuji's mouth twitch into a smile as he grabbed the cube to examine it. Tiny colored flowers had bloomed on it - every face a different, united color. It was childish, but it was one way to complete it. "Thinking out of the box. Now that's a trait people would kill to have." He then placed the cube on the table and gave her a nod. "Good job." With nothing else to say, he stayed silent as he looked towards the group once more. They were all here now, he assumed. When was that call going to come through?

As a ring tone sounded in the room Shade Walker picked up his phone, and looked at it. He sighed, and grumbled. "Word from the distraction Team. They got the bank secured. Three heroes, and a few cops. Hostages as well. Everything went mostly according to plan. But there was some issues. You're in East." commented Shade Walker as he put his phone back down, and then looked over to Kazuma who pulled out a small picture from his pocket. "Alright time to earn my pay." grumbled Kazuma ignoring everyone else as he waltzed over to the more spacious part of the room. He pocketed the picture and breathed out calmly, and slowly. He then shoved his hands forward as if to grab onto something. He then grunted and ripped open a glowing luminescent portal. A gust of wind came through, and through and through the shimmering portal was a back alley. "Go to the right." called Kazuma as East stood up and straightened out his uniform before walking through the portal. Kazuma shut the thing just as he got through with a wave of his hand. "Alright that's one down..." grumbled Kazuma. "Is everyone ready? If not get ready there's equipment downstairs if you need it in the armory." Shade Walker said aloud as he looked at his phone once again. He also grabbed the table preemptively as not too long later a large shake was felt through the building. It shook the glass, and the whole building. "I told him not to break the entire police force...I hope there was a reason for that show of force..." growled Shade Walker more than likely referring to East who was a likely cause of the earthquake like shake.

Kane couldn't help but let out a laugh at Kazuma's confidence, the boy knew the dangerous game he was playing but also knew that when the cards were down they all needed him whether they liked it or not. "Just don't say I didn't warn you kid." Kane said with another chuckle before he looked over to Mana who still seemed to be engrossed with the little toy that Kishimoto gave her. He grew a wicked smile as he recalled a few of the instances that he got to witness Mana's outbursts, the girl had talent in his books when it came to destruction. Kane knew that that girl was going to snap Kazuma like a twig one day, Kane just wanted to make sure that he would be there to see it.

"Fuck..." Kane groaned inwardly once he heard Shade Walker's grand plan of putting him of babysitting duty for the new girl. He wasn't new to working the protection angle when it came to his role in the organization, as so many liked to put it he was a walking mound of muscle that made a great bullet shield, but that didn't mean that he was thrilled with the job. Whenever he got settled with protecting someone it always meant that he couldn't just dive headfirst into the thick of things, when he did it usually ended with whoever he was suppose to be guarding turning into colorful smears on the street. "Whatever you say boss, but I'm not looking for a replacement if she gets turned to mush out there." Kane said before letting out a disgruntled snort. It wasn't long after that the girl in question reemerged in full battle gear, which did lift Kane's spirits slightly as it looked like she was ready for some action at least. He took a few lumbering steps towards both her and the grizzled looking senior Whitesnake. "You." Kane said bluntly and slowly, potting one of his clawed fingers at Ludmilla. "Me." He continued in the same tone as before, though this time jabbing his thumb towards his own chest. He then formed a fist and quickly brought it down into his awaiting palm, resulting in a teeth rattling slam that spread through out the bar. "Break shit." He finished as a sinister grin grew across his scaly lips. "Got it?"

As he waited for a response from his new partner in mayhem Kane noticed the rummaging coming from behind the bar, he recognized the frail and disheveled woman instantly. Chika was almost on the exact opposite end of the spectrum than Kane when it came to their roles in Dark Tree; he was the brawns and she was the brains, he was always in the field and she was lucky to see the sun light once a week, he was a destroyer and she was a creator. Part of him always wrote her off as just a pencil pusher, part of him still did, but he had seen some of the stuff that this girl was able to make. He had faced off against a few of the giant robots that apparently were designed by Chika herself, anyone that could create something with that much destructive power was worth at least some respect from Kane. It looked like the team's mad scientist had finally crawled herself up to the surface in the pursuit of food, nothing new as far as Kane was concerned about. Kane was thrown off though to see her volunteer to teach Ludmilla, Kane never thought he would see the day that Chika would willing be around anyone with a pulse.

The ring caught Kane's attention and excitement filled his body, Kane knew that it was almost time to get the party started. Unfortunately for him it seemed that Captain East was going to be the first one up to bat today. He watched as the drunkard make his way through the portal that Kazuma created for him, giving the former hero a competitive nod. When the building shook Kane knew immediately that it was East causing the disturbance. He couldn't let out a laugh. "CAP YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE THIS A FUN ONE AREN'T YOU?!" He said as he greedily clasped his hands together. "Oooo I can't wait to get out there to top that..."

Chika chose not to speak in response to Arukomiya's greeting, giving a tired nod in response instead. The booth she sat at was nowhere near as comfortable as the chairs in her room, but leaving now that she offered aid would be problematic - Kazuma had told her several times that doing things like that was rude. Still, Chika had no problem eating - she peeled the lid off of her ramen, and gently moved the noodles to her mouth with her chopsticks, savoring the taste. Whitesnake's comment on the friendliness of the team was quickly processed by Chika's brain, before a reasonable explanation was constructed - Chika only cared about making this new girl respect her and listen to orders, nothing more. Arukomiya, on the other hand... Well, Chika wasn't really good at judging why other people would do things, unless their reasons are logical. Perhaps he was doing it for the same reason?

"You'd need to abandon your days hiding out in your room though, Kashikoi."

"...That would be problematic."

Whitesnake spoke again, relaying the information that Chika had asked for - the new girl spoke Russian. Chika only learned English, Japanese, German and French from actual tutors - she had learned the rest on her own at various ages. She learned Russian at 8, during her short period of being inspired by folk tales and legends.

It was at this moment in time that the girl in question, Ludmilla, emerged from the bathroom, having donned a full tactical suit and a face mask. It was now that Chika got a good look at the woman - she was redheaded, significantly taller than Chika, and had an eye patch over her left eye - this indicated that she was most likely injured somehow. She also carried a briefcase, the contents of which Chika could not see.

”If this tiny NEET girl is half as smart as she looks, she should know that red hair only looks good natural.”

Chika could care less if others insulted her - to be honest, she had never been bullied, but she doubted she would ever care if she was. Someone could call her any name in the book and Chika could care less. This was not any different. Chika simply laid down in the booth responding in her Russian.

"I am natural - ...mutation quirk."

Chika frowned slightly - her voice was heavily accented, and she had slight trouble finding the right word for 'mutation.' Other than the words being a bit hard to understand and Chika's lack of use with the language, however, she still spoke clear Russian.

It was Shade Walker who had just alerted them to get ready - Chika immediately jumped to her feet, before racing down the stairs quickly. Now was the time! Dr. Minaccia and her villainous inventions were going to crush the heroes! Upon making it to the basement, Chika grabbed the small control pad from the desktop. The device was very simple, and in all honesty, Chika had only invented it for portability - she normally controlled her robots from her desktop computer. She was only using it now because she wanted to see her creations off. The One-Pointers quickly came to life, all four of them filing out to meet with the fifth and the other Dark Tree Members. While they were weak, and weren't as strong individually, they were very good distractions and were excellent at swarming/ hit-and-run tactics. Chika briefly checked each of their cameras, the screen of the control pad switching between each of the robot's viewpoints after slight static.

Only one viewer was in Chika's room - the other two were located in the gym, near the kettle bells. After reminding herself to not let them wander, she ordered all of them to meet with the One-pointers, before she made her way up as well. Upon reemerging, Chika sat back in the booth, the fifth One-Pointer and one of the viewers being right next to her.

Kane Ryder. As Panopticon unserstood it, Shade Walker considered him to be a valuable asset, though he couldn't for the life of him understand why. Surely, there were enough bruiser-type villains in Mutufasu that the Dark Tree shouldn't have to outsource, right? Shade Walker hadn't given him an answer that he considered satisfactory, but, at the end of the day, Panopticon wasn't inclined to go against the word of his superiors. Besides, Kane had proven himself to be easily controlled. No subliminals necessary, just old fashioned doubletalk and persuasion.

His comments were similarly boilerplate. Panopticon was no stranger to the nicknames. Rerun, Boob Tube, Idiot Box... it was low hanging fruit.

Panopticon did nothing to ackgnowledge the conversation that did not pertain to him. The new recruit was an unknown variable, to be certain, but not particularly relevant to his current assignment. The language barrier would prove somewhat of a challenge, but Panopticon could always just resort to visual communication. It was crude and unreliable, but preferable to nothing.

As if no conversation had been held at all, the TV droned monotonously Panopticon's status report.

"All police radio chatter is currently being selectively emphasised and censored, directing law enforcement toward the decoy team. Subliminals have been added to the broadcast to increase feelings of anxiety, though it unlikely to meaninfully impact the current situation. No interference or countermeasures have been encountered at present. Standing by for further instructions, if any."

Refreshingly to-the-point, if nothing else.

Just when Ludmilla felt settled, ready to tackle whatever came her way in the course of the next few minutes, she heard -to her great surprise- her motherland's tongue. Accented or not, it came from the girl she'd just casually badmouthed to her supervisor, which meant that she understood every word. ”Дерьмо!” she ejected beneath her breath, before she could stop herself. The meaning of Chika's words came across loud and clear, indicating in a matter-of-fact manner how presumptuous Ludmilla had been. Oddly, the smaller woman didn't seem to be mad, which rendered any defensiveness on Ludmilla's part unnecessary. She hadn't intended to be confrontational, after all—just a little mean-spirited, in a private fashion. ”Uh...my mistake. I did not know you could speak Russian. It's...uh, good to meet someone I can...talk to?” Inside, Ludmilla broiled with anger that she'd thrust herself into such an awkward, embarrassing situation. Thank God nobody else other than Whitesnake could tell, so an impassive expression could save some face. Speaking of the man, she cast her mentor a glance and found him rolling his eyes in suppressed amusement, which put Ludmilla dangerously close to turning red. She reached down and replaced her facemask to hide her embarrassment, looking up at the ceiling.

A moment later, she was grateful for the distraction of Kane, who approached her at a rapid pace. Doing her best to not flinch at the huge mutant stomping so close, she watched with narrow eyes as he snarled words in Japanese and gesticulated to the two of them. For a few seconds she felt both confused and perturbed by the bond between Kane and herself implied by his pointing, but the action of slamming a fist into a palm held universal significance. Either he wanted to fight her, or he wanted her to fight with him, and one of those options did not bear consideration. Regardless, the last few sounds he uttered after shaking the whole bar with his palm-pound seemed to be questioning, and considering the ramifications of aggravating a giant brute such as he, Ludmilla felt it best to agree. ”Yeah, sure,” she guessed, punctuating what to him would be meaningless with a nod of affirmation.

He turned his attention to Chika, so Ludmilla turned hers elsewhere. A couple moments passed before a ringing sound filled the bar. Shade Walker's sudden reach for his phone and its subsequent examination made her think it was already go-time. A peek at Whitesnake for confirmation resulted in a stiff nod. ”Looks like it's time for you to begin. Stay sharp, stay mobile, and support your teammates. Keep surprise attacks off their backs, and incapacitate any especially dangerous enemy. Lastly, don't underestimate the opposite. Ready, Akane?”

Though nobody could see it beneath her mask, Ludmilla smiled. ”Hai, sensei.”

Chika rushed off, probably to make preparations, but Ludmilla and several others were already good to go. She jogged a little closer to where the others gathered around Shade Walker, and awaited orders with arms crossed. Away from the group, the man with the television head produced a steady stream of speech without any emotional inflection whatsoever, bidding Ludmilla look his way for a few seconds. What a cool, creepy guy. He'd be perfect as the mysterious, dangerous number two for some action flick's big, bad villain. Or number three, maybe? Like that one Transformer, Soundwave. Weird, but badass in his own way. Well, either that or some boring communications lackey. Time would tell. For now, she needed to concentrate on the mission. Sticking with Kane would be best given his signaling earlier, and even though she couldn't understand his speech, it was enthusiastic enough to tell her he was raring to get some action.

The phone rung again this time breaking Shade Walker's line of thought as he looked at his phone he ran his hands over the pictures. He grumbled when he noticed that the police had the place surrounded. He considered what to do next before going over to Kazuma, and showing him a picture. Kazuma nodded and whistled sharply to make sure everyone's attention was on Shade Walker. "Clean up Crew. Help out the robbers if you can avoid the fighting. Ryuuji knows his job already. Once he teleports the cash secure the building. There's a few SWAT Teams running around the upper floors. They locked the doors leading up there but that won't keep them there long. If you need help use your pagers to notify someone. If it gets too difficult for everyone I will step in personally. However my appearance will further destabilize the situation. East's appearance means they think our main goal is the other bank but we know that bank deals with other villains, and drug dealers. Also they mark their bills." Shade Walker called out to everyone as he ripped open a portal. On the other side was two men in paramilitary uniforms with a ballistics mask on it. They held no discernible marks and wielded black market automatic rifles. "Sorry for the wait sir. The hostages tried something stupid." commented one of them as he made way for the group to come through. Shade Walker acknowledged them with a calm comment. Then Kazuma ripped open a portal that led to a large parlor. Hostages were face down, and more goons were looking everywhere. "Combat team go through that one. Exit through the main door, or whatever and go clear out the police. According to what I got there's four heroes out there. Two of which are sidekicks. I have no doubts you'll take'em out but there will be more. Likely a bulk went to confront East." Shade Walker stated further then he turned to the TV. "Send static through the general police communications when they get out. Try to distract a couple but don't cause too much issues. Wait until they call for reinforcements then fry their coms. Do it too soon, or not late enough and it may be an issue." Shade Walker stated bluntly as he went to go sit back down this time at the bar.

Shade Walker had already earlier told them that the building was a six story building with large floors, and an underground vault. The first team would be on the third floor, and the ground team would be on the first when they transported giving each ample time to move to their needs.

---

Ryuuji couldn't help but chuckle before he kicked his body away from the table, making the chair fall with a loud thud as he disappeared and then appeared beside Chika. He then ruffled her hair. If her One Pointer decided to attack to protect Kashikoi, Ryuuji would disappear from his position and then beside the fallen chair. If not, he would stay there as he began to speak. "Don't worry kiddo, some socialization won't kill you yeah?" He reasoned. "And I think it won't be that detrimental to your research, experimentation and creation." He continued. Honestly, he's more comfortable around the intelligent kid - as odd as that was. Perhaps it was because she regarded him as a 'senpai'. He wasn't sure. Oh well. In the end, they were just teammates with different goals in mind. There wasn't any real need for being completely comfortable with them.

Unlike what they thought in UA.

Ryuuji then turned towards Shade Walker when he had answered the phone before relaying that everything was ready. Captain East was the first to be dispatched at the decoy bank. Shortly after, they felt a tremor which riled Kane up - announcing his one-way rivalry with the former hero. Well, anything that riled up Kane before a mission was good. The big lug of muscle was a great distraction and an even greater opponent for any hero. He could count on the guy to cover for him, at the very least, especially on missions such as this.

The black haired male looked at the new girl who made her way close to Kane. "Kid. Impress him, you impress most of us." He said slowly and clearly in English while gesturing at Kane, hoping she at least knew those words. He cracked his knuckles as he placed the mask on his face. It wasn't as 'cool' or as 'threatening' as other villains' who liked showing off, but it was enough for him. He began to hum as he walked forward when the portal was ripped open. He studied the layout of the bank that was given to him in advance and he had a clear image of where he needed to be, at the very least. "I'll inform you guys once I've teleported the money out." He took out a photo of where the rendezvous point was for when he teleports the money and then nodded to himself, pocketing it just in case he forgets. "And just alert me when you need to get the hell out of dodge out there."

"Well then, if there's no further things to talk about, it's time for me to travel." Ryuuji exited through the portal and then nodded to the team.

He needn't worry about the police. The attackers could handle them well. Though, the problematic one was the SWAT team being present and how they may reach them before he could teleport all of the money, or if Kane goes wild and accidentally send a hero his way. Ryuuji groaned at that thought as he teleported towards the underground vault. Spotting one of the underlings, he called them over. "So, how much?" He needed to know how many trips he would make, so he had to know exactly how much in total he'd have to be transporting.

"There's about three squads. Made up of four people each if coms are right. Our Captain is currently on his way to deal with them. He's no quirk guy like you all but he knows how to kill a man really well." the soldier said as he pointed his gun towards the ceiling. "You don't got a mask buddy? We killed the Cameras but there's always something that could go wrong. I mean I ain't no professional super villain sir but most people wear something." stated the soldier as his buddy smacked him with the butt of his gun. "Don't talk shit about these guys you wanna die? It sucks that one of those fucks shot #4's leg. Fucking bank guards got lucky. Sorry sir we don't mean that way about you. Is there anything we can help with? We got the money bags stashed in an office on the hall. We figured since we're teleporting them out that means we didn't need the cops to get near it."

Kane's eyes lit up with a fiery excitement as he watched the next portal get ripped open, he knew it was his time to get into the action. The only thing that was holding him back was his waiting for the word from Shade Walker, the last thing he needed was yet another speech from the masked villain about going overboard in the field, but luckily for the behemoth he didn't have to wait long. Kane barely waited for the man to finish before charging into the portal, though he looked over his shoulder to the eyepatch wearing young lady that he was charged with guarding. "LETS MOVE KID!!" He voiced boomed, almost shaking the ground of the bar, only for it to be silenced as he plunged through the portal.

The giant scanned over the room he had just found himself in, he could practically feel the fear in the air. The soft whimpers of many of the hostages were only barely covered by the sirens that rang from the police vehicles outside. The nervousness of the goons that dotted the room was almost visible. All of this was just the calm before the storm, the silence before the explosion, the last remaining peace before the rampage began. Kane let out a monstrous laugh, he was ready to be the spark that set off the bomb that got all the chaos started.

He looked over to a group of the hired guards and gave them a wicked grin. "Get ready boys, the fun is about to start!!" Kane's voice almost a growl as he said this. He then moved to the front entrance, wasting no time to burst out onto the street. He was met by a roar of sirens and surprised yells as he came face to face to the force that was opposing him. Kane looked with bloodlust filled eyes, a malicious grin on his face, and let out another roar of laughter. Before anyone of them had time to react Kane took a deep breath and launched a massive explosive blast of fire towards the dead center of the crowd, this was going to be fun.

"Hold on a sec boss we-" was all one of the soldiers could muster before Kane broke through the portal and ran out towards the awaiting cops. Before they could react to much of anything Kane had already sent a massive fire ball out towards them. The cops nearest to the cars were almost killed instantly as the fire ignited the gas inside of the cars in the way, and blew them up causing a chain reaction in three other cars killing at least six different cops before the remaining ones opened fire with semi-automatic rifles at the monster in front of them. However that was not the only danger in front of Kane as one of the heroes fluttered in the air as if wings were holding him up though he had none. He wore black clothes but was covered by a long white cloak, and turban. "Monsters like you should be thrown away permanently. Fly Sakura Storm." the hero said in a monotone, and dull voice as the wind picked up and a hailstorm of what appeared to be sakura tree flower pedals were directed all at Kane. More than likely there was more to them that met the eyes. The other heroes kept out of the way due to the on coming gun fire from the police who were more concerned with not getting murdered by whatever that was in front of them than stopping the robbers at this point.

Go time—at last. Ludmilla's heart was pumping the moment Kazuma opened the combat team's portal, and since her teammate wasted no time charging headfirst into the portal -save a split second to look back and make sure she was following- she followed suit. Like a track runner she kicked off into a full-on sprint, barreled through the gate just after the draconian brute thundered in. A split second later, they stood inside a bank, complete with hostages on the ground. Having never gone through a portal like this before, Ludmilla thought she might have some sort of reaction, but stepping through it felt every bit as natural as stepping through her apartment's front door. ”Остается в нижнем положении, никто не должен болеть сегодня.” she told them, her words not half as ferocious as her language made her sound. They stared at her, afraid and uncomprehending, and Ludmilla found that their looks made her uncomfortable. Here, first day on the job so to speak, she realized that even though she was in control, she felt terribly vulnerable. Before she could say anything else, Kane was gone. He shouldered through the front door with a speed that somehow took the whole police force by surprise -and man were there even more than Ludmilla expected- and then launched his attack, leaving Ludmilla to run after him.

She exited the door just as the explosive fireball erupted from Kane's mouth. There existed less than a second for her to think, Wait, isn't that a bit overboard? before it detonated, wiping out several squad cars and several lives in the blink of an eye. Still halfway hidden behind Kane, Ludmilla froze, wide-eyed. “Óчень хорошо́...” she murmured, shellshocked by the sudden and unadulterated carnage. These people are killers. That means the heroes won't hesitate to do everything they can to take us down. This was by far the most dangerous moment of her entire life. Part of her wanted to run away, but her heart was still pumping. Shivers of excitement coursed through her whole body. As the cops opened fire, she slid behind Kane to allow him to absorb the bullets. Not that she knew that he could; rather, she expected that he should given his bold action.

Ludmilla could see from her hiding spot that one hero was taking action. An elegant-looking fellow, he rose above the chaos and, in a tone devoid of any inflection, condemned Kane before unleashing his retort. A surge of wind bombarded the villains, carrying with it a great number of flower petals, but from the moment the hero named his attack Ludmilla was in action. Her body moved with such speed it didn't seem to her like she controlled it. Fueled by hype, she sprung into the air behind Kane, executing a front flip as she landed on his broad shoulders. In a split second the officers' fire would turn her way, toward the more vulnerable target, but that split second was all she needed. Grinning beneath her mask, Ludmilla twisted into a viper-like pose as she yanked off her eyepatch, revealing a brilliant white light in her left eye. Не двигаются." Then came the flash, bright and surprising as the snap of a candid camera, and in a wide area in front of the villains a big pocket of hyper-viscous air came to be. It presented a barely-visible wall for the bullets and petals to lodge themselves in, squandering their momentum. Her ability should guarantee that neither the potentially bothersome petals nor bullets would pose any threat, but part of the excitement was not knowing for sure. Brighteye would also give Kane free rein to reposition himself, grab an impromptu weapon to hurl at the hero, or whatever he wanted. Her card cast, Ludmilla twisted off Kane's back to the left and landed right beside him in a crouched, hunched-over position. The ethical ramifications of her ally's actions could be examined later. Right now, she needed to survive, and to prove that she could be a good bad guy.

---

Three squads with four people each huh? Shouldn't be too bad. He's pretty sure that others had dealt with worse. If push comes to shove, well, it shouldn't be too hard to beat them. If these guys were worth their pay, then they should be able to breeze through it. Their Captain seemed like a capable man. "I have no doubt that he will. Quirk or no quirk, you won't be in the Dark Tree if you're useless." He said. When the comment about not having his mask was thrown out, he reached up for his face. But... he was wearing his mask. He blinked, surprised. Did this guy think that this was his natural look? Before he could correct the guy, another came and then hit the guy and proceeded to reprimand him.

"If it were any of the others, I'm sure they won't let you off easy." He then let out a small yawn and stretched his arms. "I'm too lazy for that though." He then quirked his eyebrow, not that they could see, as the second guy mentioned that one of them got shot. How unfortunate. Oh well, they've probably evacuated the guy by now. Oh no, UA lessons were making themselves known again. Shaking that out of his mind, he then refocused back to the two. "Just needed to know where it was. Secure the place, I'll start teleporting them out. Make sure no one else gets in." He told the two before making his way to the office.

Inside were, indeed, the money bags. There was quite a lot. He then moved over and attempted to carry one. It was heavy, but he could travel with at least four bags at each time. Provided no one would be trying to attack him once he gets to the rendezvous point since he wouldn't be carrying the money bags. He then rubbed his chin. Alright, he was pretty much prepared. He was now just waiting for the the others to start fighting. He'd have to make two teleports just to get there. Then again, he wouldn't really now unless he began. He waited for a moment until the telltale signs that the fight began appeared. And they did quickly - explosions could he heard from outside. Typical Kane. Wonder how the new girl was putting up with her 'mentor'.

Taking hold of four bags, he took a deep breath and then disappeared - leaving a black mist from where he was. Appearing at a rooftop where he could see the battle from a rather safe distance. The heroes were preoccupied with Kane and the others. Excellent. He then teleported away once more and arrived at the rendezvous point. He looked at the guy handling where the money would go after this. "Well, good luck." He then gave him a mock two-fingered salute and then disappearing again - to the roof and back to the office. Alright, he hasn't felt strain yet. As long as no one noticed, he should be completely fine. He took a look at the pager to see if anyone needed help. Seeing no message, he began the trip once again.

"Gotcha sir relocating to better position." the soldier replied putting a hand to his ear he informed the captain the villains were sending them to assist him. Grumbled chatter came from across the inside of the man's helmet but he, and his fellow quickly moved up towards the staircase. They didn't wait much longer for anything to go wrong. They appeared to be capable enough henchmen though to what extent 'capable' was to the villains was up their own interpretation. They had apparently gotten in, sabotaged the cameras, and managed to stop the alarms long enough to rob the bank of most, if not all of its money. The point man was in a black getaway van marked as 'Sakurai's Electronics Services' in reference to some random small store somewhere in Tokyo. The man was wearing nondescript clothes and nodded at the hero as he, and a friend of his started to load the money into the van. "We appreciate the assist. We'll move it to Dmitri's Safe house." the guy said as he gave him a nod in return to the salute he was apparently unsurprised about the teleporting ability.

"This is #7 we're facing shit down here your fucking buddy just pissed off the cops. Shit's fucking hot down here now man! What if the heroes break through with force? We ain't prepared to handle fucking Sutōkingusakura!" growled the grunt as he mentioned the hero who Kane was engaging. Sutōkingusakura, or rather Storming Sakura, was known as the Number 9 hero in Japan. He was ranked so low in the top ten but that still spoke volumes about his ability. His quirk was known as Sorrowful Cherry Storm, allowed him a mixture of wind, and plant powers allowing him to send steely sharp sakura pedals through the air that he controlled, and produced from his body. It basically allowed him to maul opponents with a hail of small pieces of metal like flowers. "If you guys got the money secured already then we need to fucking evac! Now!" shouted the soldier over the loud noise going on around him.

One would think that Mana would be annoying with Ryuuji's praises of her completion of the cube. But actually a small smile of her own curled into her lips. It wasn't often that someone praised her for something that wasn't murder. Unfortunately that satisfaction would only cure her boredom for so long. But thankfully, that's when the call came in. Mana's already perfect posture seemed to straighten even further as chocolate colored eyes swept over to look at Shade Walker, waiting for his word.

Finally, it was time to move. They had been waiting for so long, hopefully the fun would be worth it. Mana picked up the mask that had been sitting next to her and placed it on her face. She felt the material bind to her flesh, now it could only be removed by someone who knew how to properly remove it. Mana wasn't the only one who was excited by the fact that it was time to move, her precious meatshield was excited to. Only his excitement was much louder than hers.

Captain East was the first to leave, in order to create a distraction and draw most of the forces to his decoy location. It would be up to the rest of them to hit their real target. Judging from the tremors that hit shortly after his leave, he was doing his job well. Mana rose to her feet as Kazuma opened the portals for the rest of them. As usual, Kane rushed through immediately. Mana was far more calm than he was. She casually walked over to the portal, gave Kazuma a nod of thanks, and then stepped through.

Kane was already on the move as well as that new girl. Mana was shortly behind them. She too moved behind Kane as the police open fired, taking full advantage of the meatshield. The arrival of the hero made Mana grin. Storming Sakura was it? Her speciality was taking down fliers. That and plant based Quirk vs plant based Quirk would be quite the interesting battle. It looked like the new girl had some sort of shield based Quirk. Two shields? This was Mana's lucky day. Mana peeked out from behind her meatshield and extended a hand towards the flying hero. Vines emerged from the ground at a rapid pace underneath him, four of them wrapped around each leg and attempted to yank the flying hero to the ground. "Let's see you try and control these plants." Mana muttered to herself.

With the One Pointers in position, it only took the opening of the portal from Kazuma for Kane to catapult himself into the portal at top speeds. Immediately upon throwing himself through the portal, Chika maneuvered her bots through, one by one - while she was normally amazing at multitasking, the controller was simply not efficient in the slightest. Finally, after everyone had made it through the portal, it shut, and Chika quickly made her way to her room. Landing on the already active PC, the several monitors that littered the desktop and wall in front of her quickly lit up - each displaying the individual cameras of the robots.

Ryuuji had followed his objective and was already asking the nearby hired hands for the whereabouts of the loot, while Kane couldn't seem to contain himself and was already launching himself through the large double set of doors in the front of the bank. Immediately upon doing so, Viewer two could see through the open door the general outline of a man clearly floating above the ground - Other than that, however, Chika's robots were not in position to see much. Quickly, a viewer skittered outside of the open doors, utilizing the massive monstrosity of a teammate as a distraction to prevent anyone noticing. Once the viewer made it to a small bush, the small machine quickly began to rise into the air, and upon reaching a height of a hundred feet, turned down to look at the battle. Chika did not plan on helping out Kane much - after all, he could probably solve this conflict pretty easily on his own. Still, she would easily be able to alert the others if he did require aid, or another hero showed up.

A bright flash, and the new girl appeared along with Kane. Shortly after, sets of vines ruptured the concrete ground and attempted to latch on to the hero on the scene - from the looks of things, the villains were making short work of them. Maneuvering One Pointer #1, the robot quickly placed the end of it's arm onto the woman's back - even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to get up. She let out a small yelp, and Chika simply activated the speakers of One pointer #2

"You all are doing great - simply keep lying down on the ground, and no one will be harmed. However, should you stand up, or should the heroes attempt to come into the building, I will slaughter as many of you as possible. Please keep that in mind, especially if the heroes try to enter."

Chika knew that the heroes and police wouldn't enter - there was no way for them to enter without risking the hostages. This was simply security - should any problems arise, the woman's spine would break like a twig. Even if she didn't die, the heroes would be careful not to make an innocent woman wheelchair bound for the rest of her life.

Having One Pointer #2 and #3 do the same thing as #1 with other hostages in opposite sides of the room, Chika could relax far easier. She had eliminated the need for so many henchman guarding the hostages, and had also secured the safety of her bots. The second a hero tried to destroy one, even with how delicate they were, Chika had no doubt she could kill 6 people - no, probably 8 - before her precious creations were destroyed

@Lugubrious

The bullets, and the pedals were slowed down by the quirk of the new agent but that proved to be more of annoyance to the hero as he raised his hand in the air and used a more forceful wind to send his pedal blossoms at the enemies but in doing so disrupted the bullets. The pedals impacted the ground cutting the concrete, and nearby scenery. The smoke from the cars was thrown all around as a few of the cops called to hold fire for the moment. A few of them rushed to pull the bodies of the cops away from the cars. A larger hero rushed out towards Kane he had a steel jaw, and was wearing some sort of hero suit that marked him as a pro-hero. He rushed up to Kane with a raised fist, and attempted to bring his fist right into his jawline. He seemed to power through Ludmilla's perk with pure raw power. He was slowed down but that didn't seem to matter much against the heavily muscular hero who was running full force.

@NobodiesHero

At the moment the pro hero in the sky was focused on Kane, and the pedals in an attempt to shower him with the razor sharp objects. As the vines got closer he became more aware but didn't move to fly away as a young girl dressed up as a samurai rushed in, and slashed the vines with one clean stroke of one of her twin swords. "Well done it would see you have taken my lessons to heart. Now find the one who did that...but don't get to close to the building." grumbled the hero as kept his eye sharp now less focused on Kane, and Ludmilla and more worried about the possibility of a plant attack. "I gotcha boss! Don't worry one plant villain goin' down! WOO!" The young samurai shouted with a smile and pointed her blades at Ludmilla, and Mana. "Hey JERK FACES! I'm the hero Swift Blade! Whoever is using those plants come, and face a true samurai!" shouted the girl with vigor.

@Duoya

The soldiers that were relieved of their immediate duty went over to the doors, and started to barricade a few with some experimental equipment. Deployable steel walls that were meant to cover breaches but in this case were put over a few of the bank doors allowing the soldiers to deploy themselves for covering fire at he doors. The others who were relieved moved upstairs to assist their captain, or to find better vantage points. There were still a handful of them left and they made sure to tell the prisoners that they should think of their loved ones, their families, and the other people they cherished. Heroes only ended up dead in this situation. And they proved that if any of their dumb idols tried to get inside the building, or if they tried to get outside.

From her slightly-contorted, crouched position beside Kane, Ludmilla grinned. Though her mask disguised her devilish smile, the narrowing of her eyes in glee, and the flickering of her abnormal left, gave it away. After all, her field of hyper-viscous air seemed to stop the bullets and petals in their tracks. Some got around the edges or over the top, of course, but none hit her or her allies, which constituted a success in her book. Another cause for celebration was the arrival of another ally in the form of Mana, who demonstrated a new angle of attack that could circumvent Ludmilla's barrier to get at the pro hero. To be facing off against a big name so soon send shivers of anticipation down the Russian's back, though she knew better than to try something foolhardy for the sake of a little satisfaction.

She refocused her attention on another figure, commanding and burly with a jawline that belonged on a bulldozer, now approaching her flash zone at ramming speed. Ludmilla smirked. He looks like a tough customer, but he ain't getting through the front door. Bigger you are, the more surface area for the air to push against. It'd be like trying to waltz through a four-foot tank of peanut butter...no, molasses!

Then the pro pushed right through it, making Ludmilla's jaw drop. ”What the hell!?” After a brief moment of stunned silence she stumbled backward, falling onto her side as she turned to dodge. As much as she fancied her combat ability, it did not strike her as worthwhile to see if she could avoid taking a hit from this meathead. Panicked, she scrambled to get up, but as luck would have it the brute went for Kane itself. Probably doesn't even see me as a threat, she realized as she regained her feet in one fluid motion, managing to make her pratfall look sort of like an evasive roll. Which is great since if he can nullify my quirk, I'm really not. 'Course, the field had to be thin to be wide enough to block all the projectiles... Even if a thicker field just for him might work, it wasn't worth the risk when a much stockier ally was rearing for a slobberknocker. Her attention would be better served elsewhere.

Such an opportunity presented itself when, after turning to see if Mana's vine attack succeeded, Ludmilla instead saw a little girl in archaic armor cut the plants up with a couple of katanas. Huh. I'm more surprised she has the upper body strength for that. Or is it that plant bitch's vines are weak?Wha's the obsession with those objectively crappy swords, anyway? One taunt and one introduction later -she presumed-, it looked like the sidekick was spoiling for a fight. Ludmilla's eyes slid-half shut in nonchalance as she skirted around Kane's punchout to stand on the same side as Mana. She couldn't understand what Swift Blade said, of course, but judging by her tone the kid was talking pretty big for someone standing on the other side of a stasis field. Leaning forward, Ludmilla beckoned with both hands as she called, ”Вы хотите, да? Приезжают сюда и получить нас тогда, маленькая сука!”

"Um sorry miss bad villain person but I don't speak...taco? If you wanna actually be a menacing villain, and all that you gotta speak in proper Japanese." the other girl said as she stopped her hyped jumping from one spot to another. "She's not speaking spanish you dolt. Try to focus." grumbled the hero with a embarrassed grumble as he tried to focus. "Also don't get too close one of them is capable of slowing objects somehow. I was only able to push through thanks to the strength of my gust. And Lockjaw only managed due to his sheer muscle power. Play distractor, or spoiler." the hero stated coolly as the young sidekick pouted, and put her hands on her hips. "HEY SENSEI! I AM NOT JUST SOME PUSH OVER! I GRADUATED JUST AS QUICK AS ANYONE ELSE!"

Panopticon sat quietly, feet exactly one foot apart, staring at a blank wall in an empty room. He knew he could not have any distractions as he focused on the mission at hand. He looked coldly through the bank security footage and heard the commotion through the police radios. The situation had not yet escalated past manageable proportions, yet he felt there was more to be gained from this.

Panopticon reached out through the crowd of huddled hostages to a man with a bluetooth. Perfectly ordinary. No particularly powerful quirk.

His bluetooth crackled and shrieked with disorienting noise and feedback, knocking him off balance.

A short, brusque message played through the headsets of the Dark Tree officers. "When this one gets up, don't shoot. He's mine."

A voice came through, low and droning. "It is your obligation to fight the heroes. If you do, you will be a legend. Don't you want to be famous? Don't you want to be remembered when you die?" Compelling and consuming. So right.

So right.