Accidental @$$-Whooping (Recoil v. Charlie)

It had been four days now since his "battle" with the Red Horn. In that time Matthew had been worked on by an organ wizard, had told off some Quirk terrorists or whatever, and nearly died of a heart attack meeting his neighbor, clearly not the best recovery period, but he was never one to sit still for long.

He had learned a few things since his the encounter however, one was that some of the people here are exceptionally powerful and going blow to blow with them may have him end up with another trip to the organ wizard and his... Apprentice wizard...

This was not acceptable, so to prevent future unneeded damage he thought of a few basic ways to use his abilities. One was to feint his blows, he had gotten this idea when a man from villain chat told him "Villains do whatever it takes to win." by feinting an attack he could devastate his opponent. He also thought of directing the energy in other ways, he had an idea of instead of using a punch to instead perhaps use a grapple occasionally. With this, he thought, he could throw off his opponent. And so with these new tactics in tow he got on his bike and began to ride around looking for heroes, his arm was still healing from the previous encounter but... That's no good excuse to be lazy with your villainy.

He entertained the thought of a few petty crimes he could do, perhaps stealing candy from a baby or jaywalking. But then he came upon an... Interesting sight... One that made both him and his heart stop in it's tracks. Was that... The vigilante Kro-kricket? No.. No way... He thought they operated in Korea not in Japan. Maybe they were on vacation? He got off his bike and began to undo his helmet strap, sprinting toward the legendary Cricket mutation vigilante. He seemed to be shopping, this was perfect it'd make him seem infinitely more mysterious.

"YOU!" He said huffing and puffing as he ran toward Kro-kricket.

"Gah...You... huff.. Yo- One moment..." He lifted up a finger and took a moment to breath bracing his legs. Eventually he'd straighten his posture and coughed to clear up his throat.

"We meet at last Kro-kricket, I have been waiting for this bout for years ever since your first fight with the Whale King Xerxes in Seoul." He pointed at himself with his thumb. "I am the legendary villain Recoil, you're hypnotic melody stands no chance against my powers of Recoil. Give up now while you still have a chance, before I, Recoil, show you what an honorable villain can do!" He got into a fighting stance while fat grin began to surface below his black mask.

As Recoil stood in his stance prepared something happened that was more dire than a punch from Red Horn or social anxiety about meeting your neighbor. Rejection. "Yo- Wait!" Kro-kricket had told him that they didn't want a fight with him and had begun to walk away.

'A-am I not good enough!?! Does Kro-kricket not think I...I... He sprinted beside her and stepped to block her path. "I'm afraid you don't understand Kro-kricket, that's not how this works you see. I'm the villain and you're the hero. Now come one Kro let's see your special hypnotic song I can't wait to test it against my IRON WILL!" Once again he took his stance, his hands... Well... Hand, turned into a fist as he began to hop back and forth ready for a tussle.

"C'mon, do it. Sing your song or I'll..." Uhhhh 'Shit what will I do.. Uh.. Uhhh....Come on Matt think, THINK DAMN IT! Okay he has a tank top. I don't think he'll care if I steal that... I don't really want to attack a civilian right now... The Bag! That must have something valuable, perhaps a clue to his true persona.'

"I'll steal that precious bag of yours! And with it I'll know exactly who you are and what you care about! I'll tear down your legacy! Now FIGHT!" He threw a punch aimed toward the cricket's face to pressure Kro into action, he wanted to see the legendary agility of the cricket and his hypnotic song that turns his enemies to mush before him. In truth he knew the hit would never land, he just wanted to see the vigilante in action.

Kro-kricket seemed off, perhaps he had to go somewhere or was in a rush, normally Kro-kricket would be ready for a throw-down with an upcoming villain. In fact right now it seemed as if they didn't want to fight...At all? Perhaps they were in a slump or were unused to the dishonorable villainy of Japan, he'd have to remedy the situation with his own honorable villai-

He could feel a shiver up his spine as the attack connected with kricket's eye, how did they not dodge it!?! Upon making contact with Kro's eye he winced 'I-I could feel that... Literally...'

What was wrong with the legendary kricket? They should have easily evaded that attack, something was wrong. He took a few steps as he saw the kricket drop a bag of oranges and steady themselves, he watched closely to see what their next movement was and it didn't disappoint.

Without wasting a second they moved with purpose stepping on his foot to hold him down whil- a punch? Really? Where was the melody? Maybe they were just warming up, the legendary Recoil would accommodate. "This isn't the legendary song I've heard of, but it seems you wish to see if I'm worthy of you. I don't plan to disappoint." He said grinning beneath his mask.

When the attack connected it might have appeared strange to the cricket, he didn't try to shift or move instead he stood still not even flinching. And when the attack did connect his arm was as if it were stone, it didn't move or budge not even a slight woosh upon impact. "I don't think you understand Cricket, I want to do this. I want to see you at your full power."

Suddenly afterward the cricket's attack would be met by Recoil's own as he threw a punch-based counterattack with his working arm aimed toward the cricket. "One... Two..." He started to strangely count as his attack came careening toward Cricket's face aimed specifically towards his ja- or well I guess mandibles in this case would be more "scientifically" accurate. "THREE!"

He was surprised to say the least that he managed to land a second blow against the famously agile hero, he was even more surprised when they tried blocking him with their fists instead of their signature leg sweep of escape, but it was when Recoil's fist made junction with Kricket's face he heard a strange crack sound that further clued in the villain that something was going ill.

In the fleeting moment between his counterattack landing and Charlie's explosive reaction he took the time to get a good look at his hand. It was bright pink with dots of purple as was normal after one of his attacks, thankfully no broken bones through there may be some internal bleeding, not it was something else that caught his eye. Droplets of a dark blue liquid colored his hand... Wait a minute...What was the word for are you okay in Japanese ag-

Kra-KOOOOOOOOM!

It felt as if the world was on the precipice of an all out explosion as the bug-creature threw their mighty punch into the air leaving a devastating shock-wave that nearly deafened him, so devastating in fact that the ground beneath Matthew tilted while he still stood on it causing him to tumble over onto his back. Where did Kro-kricket get this power?

Thanks to this he had lost track of the force and soon felt a resounding pain run up both his legs, it hadn't broken bone but now his hand wasn't the only thing bright pink to say the least. Thankfully the sight was covered up by his jeans that now, like the rest of his clothes, had formed tears from the shock wave, was still enough to conceal just how much his legs hurt in this second. To describe the pain would be to imagine all the pain of a belly flop except multiplied by five and directly focused on your legs.

As he struggled up he noticed the bug had picked up their bag and seemed to spoke to their phone asking... 9-1-1? No hero would ever involve the p-... He began to march over with his puff out as he let his arms dangle to the side since his sling had broken thanks to the impact, sweat began to fill his mask.

While the bug tore off their surgical mask they seemed oddly wobbly, it was there Matthew began to draw lines. This was not Kro-kricket, and this realization made his stomach sink to the depths as he walked toward them with a hole in the side of his mask where the explosion happened that he didn't even seem to notice.

He tried to remember the words but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't so he decided to chance it. "Are... Are you okay?" He asked in English.

He could feel the guilt gnawing at his insides, this person wasn't a hero they were just some girl with a bug mutation and... An oddly potent punch but... That was neither here nor there, all that mattered is that they were clearly not a hero and didn't deserve his unwarranted assault of fists and monologues.

This didn't sit well with the legendary honorable villain, besides the fact that it felt the exact opposite of honorable, he also couldn't help but feel shame as they snarled like a wild animal. In one of few moments of clarity Recoil saw the facade for what it was and it only deepened his sadness, he had done the same thing before in similar situations and that made it hard to watch but when he looked past he saw something that was far worse.

A crowd had begun to gather around the pair in no small part thanks to the destructiveness of Charlie's power, but this wasn't the issue. Most of the people in the crowd hadn't seen the start of the fight and weren't seeing Recoil as the villain and Charlie as the hero instead they saw it in a much different light, a masked vigilante trying to take down a crazy destructive mutant. If Matthew didn't fix this immediately he knew how this girl would end up, in prison for a crime that he should be in for.

This wouldn't do, not at all but how would he fix thi- KRA-KOOOOOOOOM!

As the punch made it mark it gave him the perfect epiphany, Matthew couldn't fix this but Recoil could and he'd do it in the only way he knew how...

Above the deafening pitch from the shock-wave and shouts of the crowd, through the smoke and debris, Recoil stood his both his arms clutched around his chest as he let out the loudest cackle he could muster, literally vibrating from how much he was putting in on selling it "HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He pretended to ignore Charlie's aggressive behavior, mostly so this didn't look worse on the crustacean.

Suddenly without warning he threw a punch that for a brief second looked like it was supposed to target Charlie but then it "somehow" completely missed Charlie instead being aimed toward the empty space on the side of her. It'd let out its own tremorous shock-wave that'd rip apart a path through the nearby side-walk and cause terrible damage to the buildings on the right of said side walk. But some how mysteriously Charlie and the crowd would only only feel the air as it rushed towards them. Almost as if someone had used their power to direct it in a way so it didn't hurt any unneeded bystanders. Weird.

The attack it self took a heavy toll on Matthew as the skin on his ring finger and pinkie nearly completely peeled off, meanwhile half his arm had become a dark purple, beginning to also ooze blood from various patches on the sides as he let it fall to his side.

"It seems the cat is out of the proverbial bag! You have figured out my quirk, Kinetic Explosion. Every attack you make at me will be met by an explosion of epic proportions, you can't even touch me! Now tell me... Are you ready for my counterattack?!~" During his monologue he spoke loudly in over-the-top Japanese but after finishing up he narrowed his eyes toward Charlie, his mask surprisingly still mostly unaffected by the shock-waves besides the broken corner.

"You better start running if you know what's good for you hero." Suddenly shifting to English as he spoke coldly, his seemingly apologetic attitude from before being gone, instead replace by what could only be described as death in his eyes.

In truth he didn't want to come off as so cold, but if he wanted to undo the damage he had done, this was the way to do it. 

It stung deep when he heard her age but Matthew still gave a sigh of relief 'She bought it, thank god...' He wasn't sure if he had enough in his tank to stop a second attack from harming anybody, but she left so he didn't have to think about it but now he had another problem... The crowd had dispersed a bit thanks to his prior attack but still, no doubt the police or some pro-hero were on their way and he just wasn't up to the task physically or emotionally to deal with them right now.

He wanted to get on his bike and bike away but... They'd recognize his bike. So with a heavy heart and no other option he ran into a conveniently located alleyway hoping to get lost within the turns. Once far enough away from the crowd he'd hide his mask in his pocket and throw away his ill-fated hoodie... Or at least what remained of it.

The more he thought about it the more he groaned at his near, he'd have to lay low for a while, find another doctor that hopefully wasn't an organ wizard to help patch up his other arm etc etc. It was not going to be a fun upcoming week, he knew that, but somehow through all this he managed to find a silver lining when he took out his phone, which now had a large crack going through it, and his fishy-wishy sent him a message.

Maybe things weren't gonna be that bad after all. He still kept a smile as he began to try ease his way back to his apartment complex, after all he was getting texted about his upcoming date and he was now a known villain! There's no way that amount of havoc would not be on the news, through it did sadden him that it wasn't for his actual power but that would be remedied in the future. For now his biggest hurdle would be the path to get home.

Why did it feel that everything that could go wrong will always go wrong? Saito felt like the universe was playing some cruel joke with him, playing probability skip rope with his expectations and kicking the football of ‘go fuck yourself’ so hard between his eyes that the lofi pumping through his earbuds was drowned in his mental soliloquy. Charlie, a friend, had texted him a short while ago that she was being stalked and then attacked by some guy on the street. Obviously, this got Saito moving. He asked where she was, but she couldn’t provide anything close to what he needed to find her in the maze-like streets. So, Saito insisted that he’d be at the gates of the school, waiting for her.

His vigil was interrupted by Hye-Rin, who wanted to see something that Kurusu had noticed by the school gates. A pair of Jorō spiders. Relena, a girl that was sitting in the courtyard, also wanted to see them. Saito tightened into a coil of irritation as many of the students in the chat suggested killing the spiders or letting them die or just leaving them. The talk was deeply frustrating for his own reasons, but Charlie’s situation did limit his patience significantly. Sick of it, he’d decided to relocate the spiders to somewhere else. He might slap someone that decided to squish them, after all.

It took 30 or so minutes, the girls trailing behind him, chattering, but Saito had brought the jarred spiders in jars to a thick bush and placed them far apart. Kurusu said that by destroying their web as he had to do to move them was a death sentence. He stopped caring.
Saito returned, silently to the gates, while the girls went off and did their own thing, realising he wasn’t looking for company.

Saito stood by the gates for about an hour and a half, looking side to side, searching for a giant blue girl to show up and tell him that it was a false alarm. Concern bubbled into a ferocious stomach pain. Saito kept typing, trying to get back into contact with Charlie but they were left unread. After a while, one of the security guards insisted that Saito go back to the dorm after he wouldn’t give a reason to his being there. Wordlessly, he did as he was asked. So Saito was left to simmer and boil in his room, rubbing his eyes and head and desperately trying to keep an eye outside the walls for signs of Charlie. He felt not only helpless to help a friend, but utterly guilty – this was, after all, his fault. He was the one that asked Charlie to leave campus and buy him some superfluous groceries he wasn’t even sure if he needed anymore.

It was another hour or so when he got a knock on the door. Another forty or so messages left unread. His heart hadn’t stopped racing since the initial text she’d sent. Now he was tired and close to praying that she was okay. Saito bounded from his bed, shooting to the door, his brain screaming in hope of who it could be. And there she was. Behind the door he’d near enough torn from it’s hinges stood the bruised shrimp he’d been worried about this whole time. “Are you al-!?” she’d interrupted him, holding out what looked like a battered bag of groceries. She… brought them? She was attacked out on the streets, probably got her life threatened, probably forced to fight back and even then she still brought those dang groceries?
“Saito…” He looked up at her. Was she crying? Her usually even, quiet voice was spattered in mottled pitches and her bright eyes glistened. She was crying. Saito felt his heart nosedive into the concrete, entire body cringing at the sight and sound. “Dude. I’m s-s-so sorry. I… the guy… your food…” She pushed the groceries against him and Saito saw the marks on the shell of her hands. Her knuckles, if you could call em that, looked fucked.

He had to make this right. Saito swiftly brought a hand up to Charlie’s head. In a motion that looked like he might slap her, he so very gently tapped her forehead with the flat of two fingers, to break her from this emotional trance. He grinned a bright grin, his other hand landing softly onto Charlie’s forearm. “What’re you cryin’ for, Shrimpy?” Of course he knew why. He peered into the bag. The lemons were bruised and half the lemongrass was missing, but the milk was intact at least. He nodded and hummed. “Looks like a mission accomplished to me!” Saito took the bag from her, placing it by the door and gently tugging her inside. “And that deserves a reward. Come on in. Take a seat anywhere. I’m gonna make you some delicious fuckin’ food and…” He looked up at her again, giving her shoulder a firm grab, wanting her to feel the security of his grip. “Then you can tell me what the fuck happened. But you gotta promise to stop crying! You didn’t do shit wrong – ya hear? Sounds to me some fuckin creep wanted trouble and – well, you’re not dead, so I guess you beat his dumb ass down.”
Whether she realised it or not, she was in the warm, clean space of Saito’s room now. It felt invariably safe. Somewhere she could shout or scream or cry or laugh and the walls would keep it all within. “Sit, sit, sit. You like cookies don’cha?” he asked, giving his friend a secure smile.

Outside, birds tweeted a song and miles away, children giggled. And as all things do, the wheels kept turning and the world kept spinning. So, Charlie, enjoy this little slice of the world. Today was shit. But that doesn’t mean it needed to keep being shit. The evening sun glared into the room. Saito laughed as he listened to Charlie’s retelling of a ridiculous story of some guy who attacked her with a stupid ass mask on, cookies baking away. Hye-Rin showed up at some point. She giggled. And ate cookies. And near-cried about Charlie while she did so. Yeah. The world isn't all bad Charlie, and nothing today was worth those tears. Let your friends teach you that.