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“Alert! Alert! Gentle Criminal and Co. are robbing Scipio bank! All available heroes, please respond! This is a level one alert and takes priority over all other activities! Alert!-“
“Level one alert?!” Ochako switches channels on her earpiece to voice her concern. “I thought level one alerts were for disasters that leveled entire cities! Not bank robberies!”
Her boot crunches below her as Ochako runs through snow that’s about seven to eight centimeters deep. Not exactly how she imagined she’d be spending the day after Christmas but Ochako isn’t complaining. The surroundings are white and gray as clouds cover the sky, letting snow fall lightly on the city below.
The almost sixteen-year-old jumps off the roof of the building and with practiced ease, removes her own gravity before firing off the cables located inside her wrist gauntlets. The wires attach far ahead and Ochako reels herself in, letting the momentum slingshot her forward.
The cold and snow whip past her face, but she’s dealt with worse. There’s a moment where she regrets listening to him during one of their chases about getting rid of her visor, but quickly dismisses the thought. The bleak weather would make seeing through it very difficult so in the end, she is glad to be rid of it.
“You’re right, it usually is.” Ryukyu’s voice is a bit staticky due to the weather, but Ochako can still make out what she says. “From what I know, Scipio has it in with the right people so the government makes their needs… more of a priority.”
Ochako grimaces, flinging herself through the air a few more times at great speeds. Her stomach only lurches a little at the constant use of her quirk, a fact she’s quite proud of. “That doesn’t seem right…”
“It’s not,” Ryukyu firmly replies, the beat from her wings taking over the comms for a moment. “But we can discuss this later. For now, focus on the current task at hand.”
The gravity user nods, despite her mentor not being able to see it. “Yes, Ma’am!” Ochako angles her body and lands on the roof of a building near the bank, sliding on the snow for a few seconds before coming to a stop at the edge.
To say the bank is over the top would be an understatement. The building is unusually tall for its area, with lavish decorations on the sides and gaudy architecture spaced throughout. It is clear that more money than necessary was used in the construction. In short, Ochako loathes everything the place represents.
“What do you see, Uravity?”
Ochako hums, kneeling on the edge of her building. Just as she does, the windows in front of the bank are destroyed as a hero is sent flying out of the bank. Dozens of civilians run screaming out of the lobby as Gentle Criminal appears mid-fight with another hero, who was posted to protect the bank.
Extending her arm and steadying it with the other, Ochako waits for the patrons to clear the area before aiming. While she could never condone what Gentle Criminal and his partners did, she could at least be grateful they never took hostages during their heists.
It’s apparent to the gravity user that Gentle is going to win his fight and the moment the other hero is clear, Ochako plans to launch her cables at the criminal and catch him by surprise. A move that could never work if he knew she was there due to his quirk, but she had an opportunity to capture him and she wasn’t going to waste it.
Just as she predicted, Gentle sends the second hero flying, and no sooner does he than Ochako is launching her wires at him. For a moment, it looks like her plan will succeed, but just before her attack can get to him, Gentle touches his ear, clearly listening to someone, and quickly creates an air shield, protecting himself from Ochako.
The brunette growls in frustration, reeling her cables back in while Gentle salutes her with a smile. How did he-
“I shouldn’t be able to have the high ground against someone who can remove her gravity.”
It is that voice. One Ochako knows all too well. One that has played games with her as many times as it has made sure she was okay. The gravity user looks up and there he is.
Standing in mid-air as if he’s on solid ground, the third member of Gentle’s group looks down at her, smirking because he knows it bothers her. He wears a black flight suit with numerous pockets and sleeves that go up his arms. Thick, red gloves are on his hands as the suit covers him from his black hair with green curls, down to his red boots.
Over the flight suit was a dark green poncho with spots of black throughout. A hood that blows in the wind covers most of his hair and finally, red-tinted goggles hide his eyes and most of his freckles. He gives her a happy wave. “Hello there!”
“Uravity, I’m almost on location. Any updates?”
Ochako reaches for her ear, not taking her eyes off the boy who looks very happy to let her do so. “Gentle Criminal has taken the lobby of the bank. I can’t be certain but I think most civilians have evacuated. No sign of La Brava. And-“ she swallows. “I’ve made contact with Skywalker in the air above.”
“Confirmed. I’ll take Gentle and where he is, La Brava should be nearby with her camera. Uravity, take down Skywalker. Don’t lose focus.”
“Take me down?” Ochako’s head jerks up to where the criminal has his own hand to his ear. “Seems a bit harsh, don’t you think? We see through the lies of these theiving aristocrats.”
Ochako presses her earpiece once again. “Careful what you say on comms. It seems La Brava has hacked them…again,” she finishes with a sigh, which causes Skywalker to giggle, much to her continued annoyance.
“Why don’t you come down here and tell me more about how these bankers steal people’s money?” Ochako calls out, tense. She’s faster than him but he always seems to know what she’ll do next.
“No can do, babe.” Ochako puffs her cheeks at the pet name, ignoring how warm they’re getting. “Why don’t you come up here and then I’ll tell you?”
Not wanting to miss her opportunity, Ochako shoots two cables at him without another word or warning. Unfortunately, it seems like he was expecting that. In a flash of blue, Ochako’s cables are cut and she glares as Skywalker twirls what basically amounts to a blue laser sword in his hands.
“You can let Melissa know that her toy has exceeded all expectations,” Skywalker remarks, deactivating the sword and placing it back on his belt.
“She’ll be happy to know the thief who has her property is satisfied with it,” Ochako replies sardonically, reeling her damaged wires in.
“We had to get something before we left,” Skywalker’s tone becomes just the tiniest bit of a whine. “Those idiots ruined what would’ve been our greatest heist! Although…” Ochako does not like the note of teasing returning to his voice. “I would’ve been happy either way after that dance we shared at the party.”
“I was trying to figure out what you were up to!” Ochako immediately denies it to him, and possibly herself. Tapping herself and using her grappling hooks on the many surrounding buildings, she launches at the criminal, who is able to dodge her outstretched hands just in time.
Using small bursts of pressurized air to orient herself, Ochako turns around, now floating mid-air and just a couple of meters from Skywalker. “Impressive. Most impressive,” he compliments while clapping. “You’ve gotten so good with your cables already!
“And was that pressurized air?!” Skywalker takes out a small notebook from his belt and begins to write things down as if they weren’t in the middle of a fight. “That’s new! You got the idea from astronauts right? With how they keep themselves upright in space?”
Trying to use his distraction to her advantage, Ochako lunges again but Skywalker is ready, deactivating his quirk, the boy falls and subsequently, lets Ochako soar above him before re-activating his quirk and landing on ‘solid ground’ mid-air again, head still in his tiny notebook.
“Have you thought about upgrading it?” He asks, looking up. “Get something like a jet pack that lets you control the output and with your quirk, you can pretty much fly! Think of all the people you could catch!”
“Yeah? Like you?!” Ochako uses the grappling hooks from a single wrist to charge him again and when Skywalker jumped out of the way again, she was ready.
This time, Ochako is right next to him. As if it’s in slow motion, the hero student aims her free wrist at Skywalker, who’s still mid-jump. She’s too close and they both know it, he can’t dodge and he’ll never get his sword out in time.
But just as she launches her set of cables at him, the air behind Skywalker stretches as an invisible membrane catches the boy and sends him flying out of the way of her attack.
Ochako groans, retracting the wires and finding Skywalker standing with his infuriating smirk once again. “Knowing I was gonna be up here keeping a lookout, Gentle left me a few presents of elastic air to make sure I could get around easier.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Ochako looks around to see if she can guess where Gentle used his quirk before looking at her opponent’s goggles. “You’re not getting away this time, I’m bringing you in.”
Skywalker only seems to get more enthusiastic. “You will try.”
In a blur of pink, Ochako moves, trying to grab him, but Skywalker is already using another air membrane to blast himself higher into the air. “Gentle wasn’t kidding! Now that we’re infamous, I really do have to fight the girls off!” Skywalker snickers, knowing exactly what he’s doing.
It had always been like that. Him throwing her off with his stupid compliments, something he admitted to her on I-Island was taught to him by Gentle. Ochako’s momentum takes her to the side of a building and she kicks off hard, back at Skywalker.
Miss.
“I’m engaged with Gentle Criminal and La Brava. The villains are staying inside the bank to stop me from using my dragon form. Status update?”
“The criminal is keeping me busy but I should hopefully have him soon!” Ochako spins around, ready to sling herself through the cold air once again but she pauses.
Skywalker is looking at her, head tilted and face contorted in confusion. “You called me a criminal, not a villain?”
“I save that word for people who I think are genuinely bad.” Ochako lowers her arm, subtly aiming her next cable. “I’ve never thought that way about you, Gentle, or Brava. Not since you helped us at the USJ.”
She can only see the lower half of his face, but Ochako had spent most of her life studying people’s faces. Ever since she saw how happy her parents and the entire crowd were when that hero saved them, she’s made sure to pay attention. And if she’s reading this right, Skywalker looks genuinely touched she doesn’t see him that way.
It only lasts briefly before the taunting smile is plastered back on Skywalker’s face. “So if I’m not a bad person, then why do you wanna bring me in so badly, Uravity? Always want to know where to find me?”
“You’ve got to flirt back at him, girl!”
“What?!” Ochako cries from her spot on the floor of Mina’s room with the rest of the girls of 1-A. “Nooooo no no! Ochako waves her arms frantically at the pink-haired girl. “I need advice on how to tune it out, not play along!”
“The way to win isn’t by ignoring it, but by being better at it!” Mina tries. “Believe me, he likes you!”
“He doesn’t have to have a crush on her, flirting has been a known tactic by criminals to throw heroes off their game. Ribbit.” As always, Ochako is thankful for Tsu’s common sense. “Even so, he’s clearly doing it to get a rise out of you.”
“And it’s working!” Toru’s input is less appreciated. “Could our dear Ochako have a thing for a boy on the other side of the law?! Oooooh, forbidden love, just like Romeo and Juliet!” Toru falls back, leaning on the bed thinking about the possibilities.
“I would hope,” Momo coughs awkwardly into her hand, “that if that were the case, the ending would be different.”
“Oh my god! ‘Chako I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it!-“
“No no, it’s okay! I know you didn’t mean it that way!”
Momo continues once the two had calmed down. “Whether or not either of them has feelings for the other,” Ochako groans, “you returning his flirtatious remarks could, in turn, make him uncomfortable. Or at the very least, help you not feel so caught off-guard when it happens.”
“That’s a good point,” Ochako concedes. “But there’s no way he means anything by them. I’m sure he flirts with the rest of you too, right?” When she receives only blank stares in return, Ochako begins to panic a little. “Right?!”
“Believe me, if he had anything to say like that to me, I would’ve heard it,” Jiro shrugs. “I think it’s just you.”
“Sorry, girl!” Mina throws her arm around her shoulders. “He reserves that talk just for you! I even tried to get him to flirt with me, telling him how cute his freckles are-“
“What?!” Ochako whips her head to face the acid user, not sure why that bothered her so much. At Mina’s grin, she realizes that might have been a mistake.
“But no luck, I couldn’t get him to bite,” Mina sighs dramatically. “But here, next time you see him, try this one.” Mina whispers it into her ear, causing Ochako’s face to immediately explode in a blush.
She buries her face in her hands, accidentally activating her quirk on herself and floating but Mina catches her before she can make it far. “Use it!”
“You can’t expect me to say something like that!”
“It’ll work! Trust me!”
“That’s not the point!”
“Use it!!”
Skywalker stands across from her, looking quite proud of his statement while Ochako’s cheeks steadily grow warmer. ‘If this doesn’t work, I’m floating Mina into the sun, and then myself.’
“I-it’s not that I want to know where you are…” Ochako starts, her heart beating way too fast for this. Skywalker tilts his head cutely in curiosity. Wait! No! Not cutely! “M-maybe…” Ochako takes a deep breath.
“Maybe it’s because I want you in handcuffs.”
If she was standing, Ochako might’ve fallen with how wobbly her legs feel. But she had done it! She had flirted back! Question is, did it work?
The green-haired boy doesn’t react at first, merely staring at her blankly. After a few seconds, his mouth drops, and watching with a satisfaction Ochako will never admit to feeling, Skywalker’s face goes as red as his goggles.
“W-w-wai- no. How- you- no- huh?!!”
Allowing only a moment to enjoy herself, Ochako fires her already aimed grappling hook and to her glee, it actually wraps around his chest! Skywalker can barely look down before he’s reeled in.
Ochako wastes no time. She shoots a cable at the building behind her and as soon as he’s close enough, Ochako grabs Skywalker’s arm, removing his gravity. With a hard tug, the second cable pulls the pair towards the side of the building where Ochako promptly slams the criminal against the wall, front-first.
With the wind knocked out of him, it doesn’t take long until Skywalker’s arms are pinned behind his back, finally trapping him. The boy’s senses come back to him and he predictably struggles, causing Ochako to tighten her grip on his wrists.
She dutifully ignores the twinge of guilt when he gasps in pain.
“Stop.” Ochako doesn’t want it to sound like a plea, but she can’t help it. Thankfully, Skywalker stills. She wasn’t lying when she said she wanted to bring him in, but it’s not to see him sit in a jail cell. The USJ, Hosu, I-Island, Kamino, the Yakuza…the number of times they’ve helped them, Gentle and his partners don’t deserve to just get thrown into a cell.
“A-any chance this is you living out your dream of getting your hands on me and, you know, not arresting me?” Skywalker asks innocently, a small tint of red on his cheeks as he turns his head.
“Sorry, no…” Ochako apologizes, slowly reaching for a pair of quirk-canceling cuffs.
“I’m sorry too then.” He leaves her no time to wonder what he means. “La Brava! Initiate Blue Harvest!” There’s a series of clicks from Skywalker’s belt and Ochako only catches a glimpse of something small falling out before her vision goes white, a loud ringing in her ears.
‘Flashbang!’
Instinctively, she lets go, grabbing her head. Ochako’s senses go into overdrive, trying to figure out what’s going on around her. Still blinded and disoriented, she can do nothing as Skywalker grabs her hands and puts her fingertips together, restoring gravity to both of them. How was he not affected too?
Ochako braces herself to fall and gets ready to tap herself again but instead, she’s surprised when Skywalker keeps a hold of her and stops her descent before it can begin.
The effects slowly begin to fade and his voice starts to break through. “-not gonna let you fall.” He brings her hand over and uses it to remove her gravity once again. By the time she can see and hear almost clearly again, Skywalker is standing across from her in the air, hand on his ear.
“No, yeah, it worked perfectly. I told you not to worry! Okay, I gotta- huh? They do? Okay, I’ll start right now!” Reaching into his pocket, Skywalker pulls out his phone and shrugs sheepishly. “Tinted goggles for the flashbang, if you’re wondering.”
He presses a few buttons and Ochako prepares for whatever gadget he has next, but her stomach drops when he holds the phone up to his face and she realizes exactly what’s happening.
“What’s uuuuuuuuup IzuCrew!” Ochako grumbles while he points to the camera. She hates how over the top he gets. “It’s your favorite Skywalker streaming live from Gentle’s latest heist! Oh, hey! New chat mod is on! Welcome aboard SobaRules65!”
Wait, she recognizes that name from the class chat. “Todoroki!” She exclaims, getting Skywalker’s attention. “Why are you helping him?!”
He glances at the phone. “He says you guys did encourage him to socialize more.” Not exactly what they meant! Besides, Ochako is pretty sure it has more to do with the son of Endeavor refusing to use his fire until working with Skywalker at Hosu.
“Yes, you all heard correctly!” He points the phone to her, barely containing his laughter. He knows she hates this. “Your favorite hero Uravity is here to try and stop your favorite dastardly rogue!” He checks the comments again. “I did pick that up from Gentle, liked it too much to not use it.”
He leans closer to the phone. “That’s a good point. Hey Uravity! The viewers want to know if you’ve asked me out yet. Who knows what I might say?” He smirks at her and she wants to do nothing more than wipe it off his face.
“You’ve got to flirt back at him, girl!”
She can think of one way.
“Actually, I’m just waiting for you to ask me out.” Ochako adopts his smirk as his slides off his face. “What’s wrong? Scared of what I might say?” Mina may have had a point with this whole, flirting back thing.
Just like before, red rushes his face. “T-that’s- no! You can’t just!- i-it’s-“ his phone catches his attention. “Hey! You guys are supposed to be cheering me on, not her!” He sighs. “Please stop spamming hearts in the chat AlienQueen79.”
Alright, show’s over. And Ochako has a plan. The hero student fires his cables and flies at Skywalker again, keeping careful track of the debris her hooks create when they hit the buildings. “This is where the fun begins!” Predictably, another air membrane sends Skywalker flying again.
“Uravity! We’re at code 1138, status of your engagement?” Ever since La Brava had hacked their comms the first time, they’ve learned it’s impossible to tell how many channels they have access to, so the heroes developed codes to speak in when she’s listening. Skywalker might have become a little too comfortable with her when he let that slip.
Because code 1138 meant that backup was almost there, and Ochako knows exactly who they were sending. “We’ll be done here soon,” Ochako replies, assured in her words.
“Thanks for the dono MonsiuerCannotStopTwinkling.” Skywalker looks up from his phone. Ochako can tell he already has a tease ready. “I gotta say, I love flustering you, but confidence makes you real pretty.”
“If you think I’m pretty now, babe…” The annoyed look on his face for throwing his word back at him makes it completely worth it. “Then I’m about to look beautiful!”
The red on his face did nothing to dampen that blinding smile he gave her. And they were off again. Ochako whipping around the buildings while Skywalker uses seemingly random air membranes to bounce around her, using the air to run between them if he needed. Ochako could swear he has a prediction quirk with how he always knew when to duck or jump around her.
“Thanks for the question Denkichu55,” Skywalker says to his chat. “My actual first thought for a name was Starkiller. But I thought it sounded too mean so I changed it to Skywalker-AH!” The green-haired boy barely ducks under her grab, flying away.
“You’re getting better,” he compliments her. “I was actually worried there for a second.”
“That makes one of us.” Another look of irritation flicks across his face at her jab and he leaps away again, with Ochako giving chase once again. “You guys couldn’t have waited until it was warmer to do this? Maybe rob a bank by a beach?”
“No way!” Skywalker ducks her attack, jumping away. “I don’t like sand. It’s rough, course, and it gets-“ he grunts, feeling a grappling hook wrap around his leg, having to resort to slicing it with his sword.
He lands on the roof of a building but Ochako is quick to cut him off, grappling in front of him. She just has to get in close. The martial artist knows from past experience she beats him easily in hand to hand.
But before she can try, Skywalker shrugs. “If you’ll excuse me…” is all Ochako gets before he jumps off the roof of the building. Darn it!
The two end up above a narrow alley, jumping wall to wall. “I almost forgot!” Skywalker’s words to his phone are breathy. Someone’s running out of stamina. “Today’s bank heist is brought to you by Raid: Shadow Legends!-“ he squeaks as a grappling hook misses him by only centimeters. “You can’t interrupt the sponsorship!”
Jumping out of the alley, Ochako fires two cables but Skywalker twirls, avoiding them. “Spinning’s a good trick, huh?”
They end up in the open in front of the bank. “Uravity! Peacock and the Pillow!” They were there! Time to make her move.
Ochako blasts as many grappling hooks as she has around her. Skywalker readies to dodge but looks confused when instead of going after him, they attach themselves to many different pieces of debris around them, debris that Ochako had created with her hooks and had floated during their chase.
“Not bad.” Skywalker notes the pieces of building around him. “But I don’t think this’ll be enough Uravity. Gentle’s air membranes make these pretty easy to dodge.”
“I know.” He sucks in a breath. Was Ochako enjoying this a little too much? Possibly. “Try using them now! Zero Satellites!”
Skywalker’s predictions of hero moves may seem like a second quirk, but Ochako knows better. Or rather, she knows about his affinity for analysis. It’s something Ochako herself has been trying to emulate to make herself a better hero. Today’s lesson? Memorizing where all the air membranes were in their area.
Using her grappling hooks, the debris is sent flying before Ochako herself follows suit. Skywalker tries to run but with all his membranes taken, he is far too slow to dodge her kick to his chest.
The force sends the young criminal crashing back first through a window into an empty office, taking the desk and computer down with him as he tumbles and rolls to the ground.
The boy groans while getting to his hands and knees. His hood and goggles had come off and his face has a few small cuts across it, as well as a bruise forming. His phone was nowhere to be seen. Ochako flies in after him, immediately using a wire to take his laser sword off his person.
He looks up and for the first time in a long time, Ochako sees green eyes filled with fear stare up at her. “L-La Brava, code 66!” He croaks out. The greenette shakes, putting his hand to his ear. “La Brava! I need help! Code 66! Come in!”
“They’re not coming,” Ochako says softly. Seeing the question on his face, she answers. “Peacock and the Pillow. Present Mic and Eraserhead.” Realization dawns on his face. “By now, Gentle and La Brava are probably both temporarily deaf and tied up in Eraserhead’s cloth.”
The green-haired boy tries to get up and run but all too quickly, Ochako’s grappling hook has wrapped itself around his stomach and arms and he’s falling back down, his back against the wall. Ochako sighs, kneeling down in front of him and taking her headpiece off.
“It’s over, Midoriya.”
He flinches a little at the use of his name, not looking at her and still wiggling a little in her cable. Shaking her head, Ochako puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Stop moving around or you’ll hurt yourself more, handsome.”
Midoriya stutters, his face going crimson as he struggles to both get words out and not look at her. “What?” Ochako teases more. “Not gonna return it?”
“I-it’s um,” Midoriya swallows, “it’s a lot easier with my hood and goggles covering most of my face…”
“Uravity, we have Gentle Criminal and La Brava in custody. Gentle is claiming both of his partners are brainwashed. Were you able to secure Skywalker? We need you to bring him in.”
“I did,” Ochako answers her comm, “bringing him in now.”
Midoriya leans back, letting his head hit the wall. His ragged breathing fills the silence of the room as Ochako lets him recover.
“So, this is it then.” His eyes flash to her before quickly darting away. He takes a few calming breaths before letting his head fall, his hair covering his eyes. “I guess this is the last time we’re gonna see each other, Uraraka?”
Naomasa Tsukauchi looks up from his stack of papers at a worried Ochako. “So, if you don’t want Midoriya and the others to go to jail when we catch him, what do you suggest we do?” The man inquires, leaning back on his desk chair.
“I-“ Ochako can’t find any words, constantly clenching and unclenching her fists. “I don’t know! But there has to be something!” Aizawa raises an eyebrow from his spot in the corner of the room.
Tsukauchi studies her for a while before exhaling. “It is a bit unprecedented…” Ochako’s eyes widen. “But given the nature of their crimes, the assistance they’ve granted the heroes, and having on record that both Gentle and Midoriya had desires to become heroes…” The detective mulls it over a little. “A do-over isn’t entirely out of the question.”
Ochako smiles, squeezing Midoriya’s shoulder lightly and getting him to look at her. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”