Never A Smiling Hero

Villainous Behaviour

Trigger Warning for sexual assault and harassment.

There wasn't a time that I could recall in which I'd had to reign in my quirk with such severity.

From the moment I'd turned the corner and seen the gang of thugs cornering the young supermarket girl whom had been their intended victim, to this when I was taking blow after blow as I tried to down the horde of men who had turned their attention to myself when I'd intervened.

I was a Pro-Hero with a quirk called Phoenix True Flame, a quirk I couldn't utilise in my current situation without burning the thugs alive.

I had never been more glad that I'd insisted upon exhaustive hand-to-hand combat lessons despite Best Jeanist's obvious reluctance. At the time, he'd figured me too volatile to control my temper through the learning process. Of course, out of pure spite, I'd learned exemplary self-control. The whole situation had led to quite a beautiful friendship between the two of us.

It was Jeanist who had finally found a cloth-making process that could handle my fire form. He designed my hero costume, a black corset halter top with a silver o-ring zipper up the middle, and a pair of shorts that barely went past the crease of my thighs. Both made of leather, which was treated with flame resistant liquids from the beginning of the process to the end. The bastard had insisted on a pair of black heeled pumps made of the same, but I wore sneakers instead as he never joined me for my patrol. My pumps were hiding in the top drawer of my desk, though, in this situation, I could have used them.

I brought up my forearm in front of my face to block a powerful blow from one of the thugs who were still standing, jabbing back and catching his jaw, which forced him to step back. A hand wound into my long red hair, yanking me backwards and slamming me against the wall of the pub that the assholes had seemingly vacated. I let out a loud groan, wincing as the thugs free hand groped viciously over my exposed flesh. His nails dug into my breasts and thighs, tearing at my skin and leaving streaks of raw and bloodied skin.

"This one might be better," he turned to call out to his friend over his shoulder. "They're bigger." He cheered as he slapped a hand roughly on my breast and then brought it down again on my ass.

"Fuck you!" I hissed, rearing up and planting my foot in the centre of his stomach to shove him away, watching as strands of my beautiful hair went with him. I lunged off the wall, hands reaching out for his neck in hopes that I could catch him off balance.

Unfortunately, someone had moved in behind me. A hand gripped my right shoulder and yanked downwards, sending me tumbling to the earth flat on my back.

"Oh, that's a much better position." The three thugs still standing moved in on me as I heaved air, the landing having knocked the breath out of me.

"For sure," I snarked. I unfurled my wings, their flames causing the three men to jump back. I flapped them once, which sent all three to their backsides on the ground, and leapt to my feet as I tucked them away again. "That is a much better position." A feral snarl curled my lip. There wasn't any chance of me winning this fight, I just had to hold the final three off until the police arrived.

A large, fat hand wrapped around my ankle and tugged hard. I landed hard on my front, cringing into the fetal position for a second. A second long enough for the thug who had floored me to crawl on top and flip me onto my back.

Two hands held my wrists to the ground, another two held my ankles, and the man on top of me began to roam his touches.

He sat back on my thighs, digging his hands under me to grip both of my arse cheeks and dig his nails in as he copped a feel. I tried to kick my legs, but the man holding my ankles yanked on my left leg, and all of a sudden, there was a burning pain in my ankle that hadn't been there before. I clenched my fists and made a sound in the back of my throat to prevent myself from screaming out in pain. The man on top of me smirked, his hands smoothing from my backside to my breasts. His nails dug in again, tearing at my flesh.

Then his left hand moved. His palm cupped my chin, thumb digging into my left cheek and the other four fingers digging into the right, forcing my lips to pucker. He started to lean down towards my face, tongue out, and slobber across his fat lips. I could feel blood dripping along the sides of my face from where his nails were digging in further with every centimetre he moved. That was nowhere near as bad as the horror I was experiencing at the realisation that I was well and truly screwed. These thugs had free reign over me until the police arrived, and apparently, they planned to use it thoroughly.

His lips barely touched mine before he was tackled off me. My wrists and ankles also freed.

"Phoenix, are you alright?" Naomasa Tsukauchi was crouched over me, his brow creased with concern. I groaned, pushing myself to sit up. I leaned back on my hands as I turned to look at the older detective.

"What are you doing here? Didn't realise this was a case for a detective." I forced myself to smile at him, slowly getting to my feet with a lot of assistance from Naomasa when my left ankle gave out.

"Maybe not," he admitted with a soft tilt of his head. "But, when I heard it was you, I had to come."

"Well, I'm glad you got here when you did." I wrapped my arms around him and tucked my face into his coat to hide the wetness on my face and the wobble in my smile. I just wanted to go home and scrub myself until I'd lost the feeling of those men's hands on me. "Have you told him already, or are you about to?" I asked, voice still muffled in Naomasa's coat.

"I called Tsunagu as soon as you were mentioned. He has an intern with him and so was unable to attend himself, but he'd like to see you when you return to the Agency." The detective murmured as he squeezed his arms around me.

"Fucking hell! I just want to go home!" I grit my teeth, backing out of his arms on wobbly legs. I wiped a forearm across my face aggressively to rid it of tears. "Let me know if you need me, and I'll come by the station in the morning."

I unfurled my wings and activated the rest of my quirk so that I was consumed entirely by flames. Then I took to the skies.

The sooner I made it back to Genius Agency, the sooner Tsunagu would let me go home.