All at once, Knight suddenly felt Kaze’s attack on her armor. Countless slices that all appeared at the exact same time, and Knight got a terrible premunition that if there was ever a time when her walls would fall from too much firepower, she now had an opponent with an infinite amount of slices to do it with… but she held. And, in turn, she carried on and slammed into the cage. There, that should do it. Then, Knight simply had to grab and restrain-

Kaze fell, Knight missed her desperate grab. Damn. Lifting herself like this without most of her senses, Knight wasn’t even sure which direction was down. With hopes that Zabaniya was not attacking right now, Knight spun about in air and opened tiny holes around her eyes in the armor. They provided extremely limited vision, like looking through a clenched fist opened so just the slightest hole is visible, but quite a few of those provided at least acceptable vision. Still greatly limited vision, but certainly better than none and hopefully Black Kaze couldn’t strike through. Knight knew Zabaniya could, and then her eyes would be in danger. A quick glance confirmed that Zabaniya was focusing on the smoke and Kaze was glaring straight back at her, and Knight heard her words.

… Good! Focus on me! I’m the one you can never beat, Black Kaze!

… Which wasn’t entirely true, but it helped to think like that. Now, there was the fact that Knight could probably never catch Black Kaze due to teleportation, but she could hold her attention.

Knight nodded to Black Kaze, before sending herself thundering down at her opponent, sword raised and swinging down to strike. In case of teleportation Knight intended on simply spinning to see where she had gone through the tiny holes, and hopefully Black Kaze would be unable to harm her through the armor, before taking off to pursue Kaze again. Keep her occupied. Not let her rest. Not allow her to target the others. And, if she ever managed to get another hit in, it was time to make an attempt to restrain her with Knight’s power, probably at the expense of her armor, but losing her armor to eliminate one of the most wanted criminals in the world? Worth it. So worth it. She could only hope Ifrit and Gamble were doing fine, too…

“We… shouldn’t,” Marwa said with a lack of conviction. If they went to help, would they make things better or worse? How much trouble would Praetor get them in, especially if they got in the way? “Some of the more powerful heroes in the city are there. If anything were to happen, Praetor should be able to handle it. Doubly so, alongside Vector.”

Kairi furrowed her brow again. “But some of the most powerful villains in the city are there, too. Vulcan, Caustic, Pipeline, Sickle-Cell,” she said, counting on her fingers. “Basically everyone that people here tell stories about and treat like boogeymen.” With a pause, she corrected herself.

“Well, except The Sisters.”

@Gardevoiran

---

Talion fiddled with the watch on his wrist while keeping an eye on his opponent. Now that his power was taking effect, he’d estimate around 40 seconds before this ‘Gamble’ was out of the fight. All he had to do was stall for time.

Basically, what he’d been doing all his life.

---

There was a dark flash of emotion in Kaze’s eyes as she watched the armour-clad hero. It was rare for someone to still be standing, even after one attack. She wasn’t a Brute, was she? The attack connected, but did no damage whatsoever. That armour - whatever it was - appeared a damn sight thicker than most materials she’d ever come across. Even tinker tech.

She should focus on a weaker target. That Gamble looked promising. She doubted his ability to dodge an almost infinite number of strikes in all directions. Bringing her knife to the side, she focused on the space just past him and prepared to teleport.

But didn’t.

Who does this bitch think she is?, she thought as her glare fell back upon Knight. It’s bound to break eventually, and when it does…

Her mind raced with possibilities. While she couldn't be sure how much the crowd has seen, if even one person had view of this damn hero making a fool of her, it was one too many. She’d happily restore their fear in her - by opening up her opponent, and gutting her like a fish.

Maybe she’d mount her outside the PRT base.

Catching her knife in a backwards grip, the teleported again. Not away from Knight, but directly past her, unleashing hell as she did so.

@Migyudon@Lasrever@Old Amsterdam@SkinnyTy@PlatinumSkink@Duoya

Anomaly

---

"... The Sisters...?" Xoxi asked with a tone of ignorance. "Who are the Sisters? My knowledge is a bit off," the amputee asked, unsure of where this conversation was going. Great, she just went down a path of predetermined outcomes. Hey, Foxi... Shoxi... Roxi... bah whatever your name is, try forging your own path for once. God it feels like you're following a predetermined narrative sometimes.

---

Gamble winced at the pain shooting through his knee. He tapped his comm as she kept his eyes on his opponent.

"Talion displays the ability to share injuries with a chosen target or something," he muttered quietly. "Possibly touch based, he did make a point of touching me with his palm."

He sized up the man again, pulling out a small Tinker-tech taser. "See, what you might not have thought about... I'm willing to put myself out of the fight to take you down," Gamble said with conviction. "Either your ability will take us both out, or it won't be enough to save you. Worst case scenario? It's fast enough to transfer entirely onto me. Then my teammates know more about it and can deal with you. Win-win for me. I'll give you a final chance to back out now."

Knight flinched as suddenly a burst of Black Kaze’s slices raked over every inch of her armor. Because of the amount of force to her front from an unlimited amount of slices opposing the force making her fly at Kaze, Knight came to a dead stop, her body jerking from the G-forces of a sudden complete stop. It hurt, like flying straight into a wall. Luckily, she was defended by her actual armor within the time armor. She felt the traces of Kaze’s blade all over her, all over at once. It was more than she had ever felt at once. If there was ever a time her armor would break, it was now. As an unlimited amount of blades sliced across it.

But it didn’t.

One can’t break paused time. But Knight hadn’t told them it was paused time. They hopefully just thought it was something she manifested.

As soon as possible and with the assumption that Kaze was behind her now, Knight reversed without turning around and sent herself flying backwards, hoping to catch Black Kaze by surprise. If she did impact, she’d try bending the armor off her to attempt binding the criminal, letting herself fall out the armor after. If she did not, she’d let herself impact the bars with her back, coming to a stop again (unless she broke the bars, but Knight wouldn’t think she had the force necessary for that), then looking for Black Kaze again.

Sure, Kaze might not be able to break the armor, but Knight was hard-pressed to try to catch the villainess, too. Without the ability to teleport herself, this was extremely limiting her options. Also, Knight really couldn’t do this for an extended period of time, her head was starting to hurt. If she didn’t hit now, she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

Regardless, surviving the worst Black Kaze could do to her was a dose of confidence. Regardless of if she hit or not, Knight would state loudly.

‘Is that all you got, Black Kaze!?’ … Hopefully some irking would encourage Black Kaze to keep going after her.

She got Gamble’s message, thanks to the tiny holes she had created that were too small for Kaze to strike through with her blade. So, did that mean that if she attacked Talion now, she’d strike Gamble as well? Or perhaps if she swooped in to strike him, would she KO herself? Knight would take that hurdle when she got there. For now, Black Kaze was her focus. Every second Black Kaze wasn’t focused on Knight was a second in which she could take out any of her companions, after all.

Kairi looked aghast, before a hint of recognition dawned. “Oh yes, you’re new here. They’re-”

“-an urban legend,” Marwa interrupted. “Nothing more.”

Aedan chuckled. “That’s bull, Mar, and you know it. The Sisters are a pair of powerful aero-kinetics that supposedly work as hitmen and bodyguards for the highest bidder, right here in Boston. Of course, there are no eyewitnesses willing to back up the story, but there have been a number of otherwise inexplicable reports.”

“No idea how strong they really are, but estimates usually put them on Endbringer-tier levels of destruction.” Kairi nodded with a sagely look. “Which is why people here often use them in place of the regular Endbriger-y doom and gloom curses.”

“Despite, as I say, them being nothing more than a myth,” said Marwa with a sweet smile.

@Gardevoiran

---

Muffled laughter wisped out from underneath the mask. “Come on, now. You don’t truly believe that, do you? I was giving you a little more credit than that.”

30 seconds. His grin grew wider.

“Do me a favour - well, if you both survive. Compliment your friend on his sleep dart. It’s surprisingly powerful. My own preference is for chloroform, but don’t you just find it so hard to get the right dose?” he asked, producing a glass bottle. “Too much and oops. People end up dead.”

---

Her opponent moved with a sudden and jarring turn, something that with her size and durability should not have been possible. Lost in her black rage, Kaze collided hard against the frozen block of time, and sparks flew across her vision.

Teleporting into a wall fucking hurts.

The disorientation couldn’t have come at a worse time, because before her senses began to return, the armour moved and wrapped around her. Suddenly finding herself restricted and unable to move, she howled in a wordless furor.

@Migyudon@Lasrever@Old Amsterdam@SkinnyTy@PlatinumSkink@Duoya

Anomaly

---

"... now I kinda want to fight them, as crazy as that sounds," Xoxi said with a shrug. She knew that she'd never stand a chance against them considering who they were rumored to be. She could probably stand a chance, too, if only she could redirect what emotions were aimed at. She's useless as she is right now. Same with the rest of the Wards.

"... also... How are they a myth if we're talking about what they are and what they've done right here?"

Upon contact with Black Kaze, Knight was quick to pull her arms around the villainess. Using her power to shape her armor to make it slide from her own arms around Kaze’s arms, from her own legs around Kaze’s legs. Her gauntlet of frozen time intentionally bound Kaze’s sword to not let it leave. She intentionally brought them both down to the ground as she jumped out the armor, which was now shaping to lock Black Kaze in place a bit over ground. With a breath of disbelief, she shouted. Intentionally shouted, she wanted everyone to know, inside and outside the cage.

‘I caught Black Kaze!’ … Is that a more in-line with what you expected from the daughter of Retribution, Praetor?

Now just in her regular armor, because her block of paused time was holding Black Kaze, Knight spun to survey the scene, sword in hand. She was creating smaller restraints on Black Kaze’s limbs so that she could use the volume of the armor for more fighting, but their manifestation was taking a bit of time due to needing to shape them around her limbs. For these seconds before she got her armor back, Knight was essentially powerless. Being taken out now would be terrible, as that would release Black Kaze.

Depending on the amount of smoke, what she could see would naturally vary. She’d make an estimate of where she was needed depending on what she saw, hopefully she didn’t have to dodge. She DID have Kaze in her armor that she could still swing about, and if needed she could totally use her as a shield. For now, she focused on getting those smaller restraints on her and overlooking the situation, if at all possible.

Currently just surveying the scene and estimating where she’s needed the most, watching out for attacks, holding Black Kaze locked above her.

“Because they’re used as a horror story to keep people in line,” Marwa declared.

The only male in the room snorted. “They aren’t bloody Slenderman.”

Kairi nodded. “Exactly. I’ve seen some of the damage they’ve caused first-hand.” A wicked grin appeared. “Think of how much recognition we’d get if we found and took them down. Probably a pipe dream, though.”

@Gardevoiran

---

As the solid shadows lanced for Ifrit, he suddenly flipped off his perch and landed in a skid down towards the attacker. Leaping into the air, the power armour moved to kick Zabaniya. Shadows welled around the woman readying themselves to skewer him.

Over the comms, he yelled. “Knight! I’ve got her attention. Take her!”

The shadows unleashed.

@Migyudon@Lasrever@Old Amsterdam@SkinnyTy@PlatinumSkink@Duoya

Knight got a distressed expression under her helmet as she received Ifrit’s message. The restraints weren’t done, she had no ammo.

The heck, Ifrit!? Didn’t I tell you that after I captured someone in my cage I’ll have limited-

-actually, did she tell him? Didn’t she make a point to never mention her weaknesses inside this building? Oh, oh well. Guess he was in a pretty desperate spot, too. Okay, so guess that in the end, she wasn’t COMPLETELY out of projectiles…

Cue Black Kaze, encased in Knight’s armor, was sent flying like a missile feet-first at Zabaniya from the angle closest to behind that Knight could get to, Knight adding a spin to the flight to make it a spinning kick if successfully impacted. Feet-first because that would hopefully hurt the woman inside less in the end.

As she sent that, Knight dashed after, intent to be in a position to assist potentially physically with armor and sword in case of an impact but Zabaniya wasn’t out yet. Her actions then would depend on the result of her projectile, which certainly would arrive before she did.

Anomaly

---

"We should totally go and take them on!" Wait what? That's not what she said! Well look at that. Now you're in a pickle. It'd be really weird for Xoxi to just interrupt her sentence out of the blue, eh? Damn you, voice of chaotic thoughts.

"... s-sorry! Got a little excited there..." Xoxi's face burrowed into her chest and knees as she continued watching the projection, trying to figure out where she had left off in the fight. It seemed like Knight was getting in a bit of a bad spot of trouble. Was the PRT gonna... no they wouldn't let her die there... would they?

Xoxi shook a slight bit, worried for the well being of her colleague and friend.