Red Suit meet Red Horn (Kenshin)

Mia certainly wasn’t too fast on her feet. As much muscle as she had in her legs it tended to weigh her down more than enhance her. It was part of why she was watching those old super hero movies to try and get ideas on how to put her strength to use and translate it into speed, but for now she didn’t know how to make that line of thought bare any successful fruit. Instead she was left digging up the grass with every heavy step she took and practically roaring after the two thugs who continued to flee with their satchels full of stolen cash and goods. Mia did briefly duck low, sweeping her hand along the earth and yanking a rock out of the dirt, the kind that was hard, heavy, and many kids probably spent days trying to dig out of the mud with sticks, hopping onto her front leg and tossing a chunky rock forward, flinging it towards the thugs only for the 6 armed battle toad to rear back an elbow and knocking it away. The throw had only slowed her down further and her muscles were tensing further, her tusks extending to the point they were poking out over her top lip just a little. If she couldn’t catch up now she’d sure as hell be on the lookout for some 6 armed fucker and a googly eyed prick in her territory in the future.

Luckily for her, it seemed they wouldn’t be getting away so soon. A flash of red shot between them and their escape route and suddenly she had a chance to catch up. Leaping over a small set of flowers so as not to trample through them, her horn growing almost like a rhinos as she started to charge forward and roaring at the top of her lungs. Her charge may have ran her right into the back of the battle toad if her roaring hadn’t attracted the attention of googly eyes, who with a sharp turn lifted his goggles and started to fire off a green beam of energy towards the Oni. The initial force of the stream knocked her out of her stride, lifting her head and throwing her arms up to prevent the blast from hitting her in the face again, her combined arms enough to stop the beam from getting any further, and in truth it wasn’t all that painful against her tough skin. Like a rain of sharp pebbles against her skin, at least if her skin was normal. The guys eye beams could probably burn anyone else’s skin but she could only grin as she started to push through it, hearing the whimpering mubles of the poor boy as he practically washed her force his way through his energy stream. Progress was still slow though, and her eyes scanned for something else she could throw. She kept one arm raised in defense as she ducked low again, the beam skimming off her arm at an angle up towards the sky for a moment as she grasped the frisbee. It was weak, and plastic, but chucking it with everything she had it managed to ricochet off the punk’s head and force his eye beams to trail off, giving Mia a chance to storm in, wrapping an arm around his torso and slamming her hand down over his eyes, hissing harshly as she tried to focus her attention on the fellow in red who’d stopped to help her.

“Hey kid! Dunno who you are but you mind taking ol’ froakie there!?”

WC 600

Growling loud as her tusks grew more and more prominent, though the poor boy under her couldn’t see it and take the hint, she kept a hand firmly pinned over his eyes, suffering the rain of sharp sensations into her open palm and letting out a hot breathed sigh at the fact he wasn’t accepting his loss, kicking and squirming even under this near 7 foot of muscle pinning him down. She reached into the back of her pants, a set of cuffs dangling from her fingers, nothing special, standard police issue and definitely something a hero could make use of for non-violent take downs if they weren’t naturally equipped to perform such feats. She harshly turned the body of the person beneath her around and shoved the back of his head down so his eye beams were now only good for spraying mud into his own face as she tugged his limbs around like he was a ragdoll, pinning his wrists in place behind his waist before finally locking them in place with the cuffs, her sharp eyes focusing entirely on him till she was sure he was stuck in the cuffs, finally looking towards the red ranger who was fighting the battle toad, smirking a little as he seemed to be having a bit of fun handling the other thug. She briefly wondered if she recognized him…it was hard to tell under the armor but he definitely seemed a bit young to be a hero, and even if he was, Mia was trying to make a mental note of everyone she might have to work alongside in the future. He did seem familiar…just not as a hero.

She watched the fight with interest, while she was power and offense he seemed to be speed and precision, which wasn’t bad. She did like going up against those types because they could be frustrating little shits who jumped around her every move, and yeah, frustration should be bad, but they tended to last longer than anyone who tried to match her blow for blow, so she watched him with genuine eagerness to see what he could pull off, and actually laughed out loud with an impressed sound as the sword beam cut out from his attack, recalling some similarly armored character in old games who could pull off similar tricks, only as far as she remembered it, his blade was green.

Eventually of course he took down his opponent, and Mia was reaching back to get another set of cuffs…then she eyed the battle toad again and rolled her eyes at herself, hooking her fingers into 3 sets before offering them out, one hand constantly forcing the eye beam thug to eat dirt till the red ranger took the cuffs. “They’re heavy duty, gotta be for quirk users these days. Lock his wrists criss cross too, it’ll be harder for him to move if you do that.” She spoke somewhat from experience, having battled a similarly multi-limbed quirk user not all that long ago. Once he took the cuffs Mia was lifting up eye beams, grasping the back of his head and rapidly aiming him skyward till she forced his goggles back over his eyes, and without his hands to remove them that was pretty much him done.

Glancing about there were some odd looks from the people around them, one or two on their phone, maybe one who genuinely recognized Mia outside of her normal hero costume, but it was clear the police had been called and were probably gonna be here soon. Her eyes in turn drifted back to the red ranger, smirking as she felt she knew why she recognized him. A lot of vigilantes could get youtube attention, even if they didn’t want it.

“Hey I’m gonna bet from the fact I don’t know your hero name you ain’t one.” Still holding the back of beamies neck, she moved over and took the back of the battle toad. “As much as I love a good ego stroke, I ain’t one to steal credit, but I’mma bet you wanna get your mighty morphin’ ass out of here before the boys in blue show up right?” She offered a wide smirk and shook her head at herself, mainly amused by how vigilantes were seen despite their good work. “I won’t tell anyone, but tell me where you’re goin’ before you dart off. I’ll wanna catch ya later and thank ya properly for the hand here. Especially since these two might have gotten away if it weren’t for your quick thinkin’ cutting them off.” Her pointed ears twitched a little as she heard the sirens in the distance, glancing towards the nearest entrance to the park and sighing before glancing back to the kid in red. “Go on get. I’ll catch ya later.”


WC 804

Taking the location he’d said to meet him and committing it to memory, Mia gave a firm nod and turned her head briefly with the sound of sirens, turning back just in time to hear his hero name, snickering loudly and shaking her head, not even thinking about the fact it could be a copycat name and sighing cheekily as he said that. “Kid I made that name on a whim when I couldn’t speak much Japanese. If anything, take pride in the fact that you probably came first, so if anything I’m the one copying you ya know?”

Still she couldn’t keep him here talking and with a light wave she let him get on his way. He was just late enough getting a move on that the police officers who’d ditched their cars to run into the park had managed to catch him running away, but Mia knew how to play this aspect of the game pretty well by now, and turned to the group of officers with a bright smile, opening her arms to them and walking over with a bit of ego in her stride as she both opened her arms to welcome them, and also gesture to the two criminals on the floor, one of which was squirming to try and push his goggles off with the ground in a last ditch effort to escape.

“Sup officers. Sugumi! Hows the wife?” She gestured to a tough looking female officer she recognized from a few other cases and one of the few that she genuinely got along with. The woman in question even opened her mouth to offer a response, but was interrupted by another officer, one Mia still recognized but certainly didn’t get along with, a hand on his taser gun as his other rather forwardly gestured at the blonde as he tried to take a tone that’d put her in her place, but to Mia just made him seem even smaller.

“Cut the crap, who was that one in red you let get away!?” Mia shot him a glare and her arms lowered, but her smirk didn’t entirely fade. Nudging the battle toad with her foot to draw attention to the two apprehended criminals, she wasn’t about to put red edge in the shit. “Dunno what you’re talking about. Caught these two all by myself.” In the face of that accusation Mia wasn’t stealing any credit, just like she promised. She was solely aiming to defer attention from Red edge himself. The officer growled but looked back to his fellow officers, the one Mia got along with shaking her head and shrugging rather casually.

“Don’t look at me boss, I dunno what you saw.”

The officer growled lowly under his breath, gesturing for the other members of the troop to come with him as he grabbed the criminals and started taking them back to the cars, mumbling as he passed Mia that he’d get the paperwork she needed for this in the mail. Mia herself was more focused on her pseudo friend, waiting till the others were out of earshot before winking and whispering. “Thanks Sugumi.” The woman shrugged and waved it off. “Don’t mention it, same promise as ever right?”

Mia sighed and nodded, but with a smile, giving the officer a fistbump. “I only protect ‘em till they misbehave.”

“Atta girl.”

With that the two parted ways and Mia leaned against a tree, watching the officers till they departed just incase anything happened before heading off to that café. She had a fast natural walking pace but she may have kept Kenshin waiting just a little, ducking under the doorframe of the café and spotting the young kid, a little surprised he was actually so young looking without the armor…assuming she had the right person. Walking over, she lightning knocked her knuckles against the table he was using, trying to catch his attention.

“Er…recognize me kid?” She asked, picking her words carefully. Should she be wrong she didn’t wanna give the vigilante’s name out.


WC 672

Mia snickered, not sure if Red edge was joking with his first response, since her choice of words had really just been a subtle way to say if the kid knew who they were from earlier, but hey, fucking fantastic to hear the kid sounding like a fan whatever the case. She pulled out the chair on the opposite side of the table and sat into it with an audible thud, the chair creaking a little as it strained for a moment in holding her weight, but seeming to settle pretty soon after. “Ah is okay, I mean I love an audience but ya did me a solid back there kid, and as my fights go it weren’t too impressive. Just ended up lobbin’ something at the punk’s head to get his eyes pointin’ in another direction.” She smiled a little, that little moment of ingenuity being a great moment for someone who usually just took the brawlers approach. She leaned over the table and gave his white hair top a ruffle as she offered a bright grin. “Seriously though kid, you were great back-up, specially for yer age. No offense, o’course. Praise if anything.”

She rested back in her chair and folded her arms, shaking her head with a smirk. “Dude I used to be a vigilante myself. If heroes had been a thing back then and I wasn’t one of them, I’d have expected them to do the same for me if I helped them out on a job. Heck I’d do the same for you if I just came across you doing your own job? Like if I saw you kicking some butt in some alleyway, so long as I was sure you had a good reason, I’d just walk on by like I ain’t seen nuttin’.~” She smirked and rested back a bit more comfortably, offering her hand across the table when he offered his, shaking firmly in a way that may have incited a bit of pressure, but no pain on his own hand. “Mia Kearney to friends, but ya can keep callin’ me Red horn if ya like. Is really up to you.” She pulled her arm back into the crossed set with a smile and dipped her head up. “So, how’d someone as young as you get into the Vigilante game? UA too slow a path for ya?”

WC 400

Mia glanced about for a moment just before she gave Kenshin her full attention, casually checking if this was a café with waiters or if you had to go up to the front. Seemed to be waiters, so she’d try and order something when she got the chance, but for now she gave Kenshin her full attention, seeming a little big for the quaint café table but not about to make a fuss since that was just something she was used to being so big. She listened to how his mother was a vigilante and had a bit of a smirk on her, listening to him talk about his mother and the clear inspiration she was to him, only adding- “I wasn’t much of a shadows person myself. Even got caught by the police a few times, but my record o’ that’s been scrubbed since I became a pro. I mean not hard to find American news articles about it but I wasn’t exactly shy to an audience to say the least. Good to hear your mom was so inspirational though.”

She continued to listen, sighing a little at the fact she gave up the hero biz. For a good reason maybe but Mia’s identity was so tied to her hero work it still sounded like a shame to hear someone retired so early from that line of work. Still. “Ah well, good for her I suppose. So long as she’s happy with her decision there’s not much I can say’s wrong with that. Heck if anything I guess I feel better that she had the will to make that decision. I know some heroes who’d rather risk the hero biz because they value the lives of strangers as much as their family…which…yeah that’s a good thing when you get down to it, but I get not everyone can see it like that. I bet it was a tough decision for your ma’ to make with how good she sounds.”

She smiled a little wider at him wanting to be a hero people could rely on, but was sad to hear he failed the course…it did make her a little curious though. Who failed the UA course? It was a niche course and with quirker hate still rampant in some places, quirker self-shame was high too, so a lot of potential heroes never even applied. Where she not a half glass full type of girl she may have locked onto the fact he may have failed for a very bad reason, and instead came out with. “Eeeh fuck ‘em. You’re clearly doin’ well on your own.~” She offered a sly wink before resting back and getting comfortable as he finished talking, lifting a hand up and ordering a big pitcher of juice ‘for the table’ as a waitress walked by before giving him her attention again.

“Well kid I can certainly admire what you’re doin. Maybe a bit worried for ya, I mean, you’re young afterall, but I ain’t about to berate ya about it.~ Yer a good kid and your heart’s in the right place. So, no worries about the ramble, it was good to hear about ya. As far as I go…’fraid my origins ain’t so wholesome.” She let out a sigh but with the kid sharing his backstory, she shared hers. “Heroes weren’t a thing when I first became a vigilante, and if I’m honest, while it was a part of it, I never got into the game to help people. I love doing it, I love seeing their smiles and gratitude and just…knowing I made a difference no normal human could, but its not why I got into the game. I was a rage filled machine and I loved the adrenaline rush from a good fight…one of my first this guy with hard skin like a rhino. I purposely let him get just far away enough from the crime scene so I could fight him and test myself without the cops interrupting. Nowadays…I am a hero though. Sure I can still enjoy the thrill of a fight, but I recognized over time I was being reckless. I’ll still bend the rules here or there, but never like I used to…heh.”

She lifted her head back up and rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry, probably ruined your image of a pro hero there…but I like to be honest. I’m no media whore, but I do got an ego on me. I ain’t perfect, but who is huh?” She looked to the waitress who arrived with the pitcher and two glasses. Mia waited for her to walk away before picking the pitcher up and drinking from it like a glass. “Aaaah…much better.”


WC 785

When Kenshin was telling him it was okay that she loved a good fight, she waved her hands a little to make sure he wasn’t getting the wrong idea, maybe interrupting him just a little but not wanting to be read wrong. “Don’t get me wrong kid, its why I got into it, and its still a big part of why I do it now, but its like…er…” She tried to think of a good analogy, tipping her head back and trying to think about it. “Okay like imagine getting a new games console. You might get it for that one exclusive game you always wanted to play, but when you get to playing it, you realize how good the controller feels in your hand, how fast the console feels when you play your game, you notice there’s a few other exclusives you like. That’s hero work for me. I mean I could easily quit and join some underground quirk fighting ring and just fight for money, heck I might be a little better off financially because of it, but that ain’t what I’d do, cause now that I’ve done it, I do genuinely love helpin’ people. I ain’t quite your mom but-“

She was interrupted by the moment the waitress brought her pitcher. It seemed the place was joint service, just a waitress checking for refills or small orders while you could totally go up to the front if you wanted anything. She thanked the waitress and even met Kenshin in his little cheers with their respective drink containers, sipping away before she continued.

“Buuut as I was saying, I do love the job. Like…if your mom was the kind to just help people out of the goodness of her heart, I wasn’t that way initially, but I am now, and as a hero I got a second goal…” She took another sip of her Pitcher and lowered it onto the table, chuckling a little at herself before she continued. “Not to get all tragic backstory on you, but I grew up in a very Christian state. My dad was a hairy sasquatch, my little brother was dragon like so he could breathe fire, and my big sis well…you get the theme, she was some mythical creature physiology too. For me though I was the demon child. I had a big ass red horn, I was a head above even the boys in my classes, but there was always a class above me so I got picked on a lot. It taught me to fight, it taught me rage, it made me the monster I am today, and ya know if I’m completely honest I’d go through it all again if the person I am now is the end result…but my goal as a hero stems from it too.”

She crossed her arms and held a soft but proud smile as she recited her intensions as a hero to the boy before her. “I wanna help, above all else, quirkers to feel good about themselves. I don’t care how shitty they think their quirk is, how many quirkest assholes think they’re useless and worthless, I want everyone out there with a quirk to realize how amazing and unique they are. I had the strength and rage to push through my trouble years and own the monster I am, but not everyone can do that, and I wanna make sure I can. If people can look on TV and see what is, lets be honest-“ She gestured over herself, purposely letting her muscles bulk up to the point they strained her top a little bit. “A monster, standing atop a tower of criminals, pounding her chest and roaring with pride…I’d like to hope it changes how at least a few of them think about themselves in this fucked up world…that’s my goal as a hero. Helping people, I love it, but truly, at the core of it, I’m here to give every quirker who’s been told they’re a monster a hero. A hero who says yeah, you’re a monster, and it is freakin’ amazing.”

She chuckled at herself and lifted her pitcher again, shaking her head. “Sorry…sorta rambled there…” She took about two glasses worth of the juice into herself with several heavy gulps before taking a deep breath. “Ya know kid, when they let you, I’d re-apply to UA. Sure, maybe you won’t be able to work as a vigilante for 3 years, but you’ll come out knowing a lot more than I did. I had to take first aid courses and I still get told off for being too reckless from the higher ups now and then…” She chuckled again and looked Kenshin in the eye. “I got an ego to protect, but if there’s one thing I can admit, its that I want the next generation of heroes to be better than me, cause when I’m outta the game, the kids out there need a new set of heroes to show them what they can do.” She smirked a little brighter and added with a wide grin. “Heck, you re-apply next year? Gimme a call, stop by my office or something. I’d be more than happy to give a kid like you a recommendation, might help you get past whatever you failed on last time yeah?”

WC 889