a couple weeks after working with kate you finally seem to be making some progress. your fighting style has increased in quality greatly, and so has your quick thinking and strategy. "alright you three, suit up and we are going on patrol!" anti-matter orders, "where?" kate asks curiously, "right around phoenix again. maybe partially into mesa." anti-matter says. everyone then runs off to put on their hero gear.
when you are all done, you ride with tim to the city. "dang, it got so much cooler!" mark says when you arrive, "yes. throughout the year this area can be between one hundred and twenty degrees, or forty." anti-matter explains, "thats crazy." kate says as everyone begins walking. "are there any serious cases around here currently?" you ask, "nothing. in japan you guys have the remaining pestilence, however we have had nothing of note here." anti-matter answers, "so just some thugs to find!" mark says excitedly, "calm down mark. there isnt any real reason to get all hyped up yet, we might not find anything." you reason.
after a few hours of walking your group finds themselves in downtown mesa. "whoa! there is so much art!" kate says, "yep. there is some on pretty much every corner, quite a bit in random places too." anti-matter says with a smile. "people here are just how i remember. although i prefer japan." you say with a grin, "are you from here?" kate asks, "i lived here for a while. my parents had to move very often, i cant remember everywhere, but this was the last place i lived." you explain, "so winter in japan must have been a shock, eh?" anti-matter asks with a smirk, "yeah. i died." you respond.
"help! someone is hurt!" you hear someone yell. you run over to where the commotion is to see an oddly positioned building. it is a two story art museum that has concrete stairs by the sidewalk that go down about fifteen feet. around the rest of the lowered area is a fence to prevent things like this happening. you look down to see a person laying in a pool of their own blood. you jump down and assess the situation. "anti-matter! severely broken leg! there is a hospital eight miles west!" you shout, "on it!" anti-matter says before carefully picking up the person and running them there. you use an overblast to boost yourself out of the lower area, however people immediately start asking questions. "are they gonna be okay?!" someone asks frantically, "yes. they are going to a nearby hospital. did anyone call the police?" you ask calmly, "yeah, they should be here any minute." mark informs you, "great! we need to continue our patrol, good evening!" you say before walking away.
a little while later anti-matter finally finds you again. "the victim is currently in the hospital, the police are taking everything from there. good job." he says, "no problem! its what im here for." you say, "its getting pretty late, lets start walking back to the airport." anti-matter says, "got it!" kate says as she immediately changes direction. however before you can get far, someone jumps out from behind a fence. "die hero scum!" the woman shouts. she immediately rushes at kate since she is in front. "heat wave and tender, retreat and call the police! you dont have licenses!" you immediately order, "just some stupid kids, eh?!" the woman asks as she pulls out a knife. she throws it with deadly accuracy and you are barely able to move kate out of the way. "get back with mark." you order as you get between her and the villain, you overclock x25 and get ready to defend them. "dodge this!" she screams before pulling out even more knives, she hurls three of them at you, which you easily dodge again. "shit!" you hear behind you, you turn to see that because of you dodging them, the knives buried themselves into anti-matters shoulders and gut. "dammit." you mutter before turning back to the insane woman. before you can even react she pulls out ten more fucking knives and throws them. 'if i dodge they could hit mark and kate, gotta take them!' you think before putting your arm out. you are able to block all the knives with your body, however you quickly feel yourself losing consciousness. 'dammit! poison or tranquilizers.' you think before ripping one of the knives out and throwing right back at the woman. it gets a direct hit in her calf, and she falls to the floor. "(y/n)! anti-matter! help us!" you hear someone scream, you turn around to see kate on the floor screaming, with tattered clothing. mark is fighting a different villain, however he seems to be overheating. "anti-matter, i need you to take that villain out, im down for good." you say weakly before passing out.
when you wake up you are surprisingly enough, not in the infirmary! you are still laying on the sidewalk. you sit up and look around, you see anti-matter laying on the ground unconscious while mark and kate are nowhere to be seen. luckily, both villains are still on the ground as well. "mark!? kate?!" you shout worriedly, "over here..." you hear kate whisper, you look over at them and see they are in between the two houses you were fighting in front of. "what are you guys doing over there?" you ask, "help (y/n)! mark, he isnt..." kate whispers, you are able to stand up and walk to them. mark is leaning up against the wall, while kate is sitting next to him. "mark?" you ask, "he is burning up!" kate says worriedly, you then put your hand on his shoulder and have to pull back because of the heat. "he should be immune to his own heat, what happened?" you ask, "while you were fighting that woman, a man jumped me and mark. i used my quirk on him, but then he ripped my shirt. mark was furious. he started glowing and thats when i called out to you guys, after that anti-matter knocked the villain out before passing out himself. then mark fell over too." kate explains with tears in her eyes. "okay, first things fist, take my vest." you say before taking it off and handing it to her. "now, we need to call the police." you say before pulling out your phone. when your done with them you look down at yourself. "damn, that bitch really stabbed me ten fucking times." you joke, "is now really the time (y/n)? you and anti-matter lost a lot of blood and mark isnt waking up!" kate says, "everything will be fine kate. the police will be here within minutes." you say reassuringly, "okay, thank you." she says before leaning against mark, "isnt that gonna hurt?" you ask, "no, over the years i built up a strong tolerance to burns." kate explains with a smile. "now, as long as this doesnt get on the new, who do you not tell?" you ask, "kyoka." kate answers with a giggle.
AN: yes, the stupid building i described actually exists. its an art museum right next to the mesa arts center, if you wanna look it up on google earth or something.