The bubble had surprised her. From the villain’s name, the Hero had expected cables, chains, ropes, any kind of restraint - but it was her first time seeing something like this. Her first concern had been air, but it seemed she could breathe just fine. The bubble was black and see-through like colored glass, but the material wasn’t anything the Hero had encountered before. It was slippery and quite soft when she simply touched, but when she tried to hit it it took the consistency of steel. The Hero tried to push into it at first, like she had done with the dome, but realized very quickly that it wouldn’t work. So she did the thing she knew best, and punched it. Then punched it again. And again. And again. And the bubble burst out.

The Hero didn’t let the Restrainer run away this time - she charged at her, hard, and hit her shoulder-first. Whatever material her jacket was made out of, the Hero didn’t know, but it felt sturdier than she’d expected. The Restrainer was still knocked down, though, and disoriented enough that she didn’t immediately try to get up.

The Hero hit her mask once, twice, three times, before finally it broke apart, and the Restrainer cried out.

“Surrender,” the Hero said for the third and last time. The Restrainer spat blood, then glared at her. In the palm of her glove the Hero glimpsed at something shining, and caught her wrist just in time.

“A knife?” the Hero said, picking up the blade. She was almost disappointed.

Before the Hero could react, however, the Restrainer was plunging her other hand towards her - the blade sunk deep into her flank, cold and burning. The Hero faltered. The Restrainer pushed her off of her with a quick, powerful strike against the hilt of the knife, but the Hero caught her hand as she fell and sent the Restrainer tumbling forward with her - just close enough that the Hero could reach her with her fist. The Hero punched her face, then grabbed the Restrainer before she could fall, and punched her in the stomach. The Restrainer reeled, gasped, and fell down to her knees. The Hero kicked the side of her face, hard. The Restrainer toppled to the ground.

A scream broke out.

The Hero startled, and looked for the source of the sound. Five people whom she was sure hadn’t been there two seconds ago were standing just a few feet away from her; among them, a teenager with blue hair was crying. Apart from the teenager, there was the girl with prosthetic legs and the android from before, and two men. The shorter one had bronze skin and some sort of rifle in his hands. The other had knuckles. The teenager had a bat.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” the Hero asked, grabbing the Restrainer’s body. “I don’t need any help.”

“I’d rather die than help you!” the teenager shouted. “Who do you think you are!”

The Hero frowned. “I’m the Hero. This woman is a villain. I don’t have anything to do with you, I’m just here to kill her.”

“Like hell you will!” the teenager said, and then was gone.

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The Hero looked around, surprised - and her face was met with a swinging bat that sent her tumbling to the side. She swirled around, ready to block another swing, but the teenager had disappeared. The Hero turned back - they were back with the group, and with the Restrainer’s body too. She swore. What a stupid mistake, letting herself being taken by surprise. She looked at the group, and met only anger. The villain was the Restrainer, but if she had to take down her minions to get her, she would. It would take little more time.

She bolted, and struck the teenager hard enough to send them flying. They did, but the android caught them before they could hit the ground. The Hero caught a movement behind her, and flew off. Something grazed her calf.

She turned back toward the taller man, the one with the knuckles, and looked at him. He didn’t have a gun. But then what… The Hero got her answer when a laser shot out of the man’s left eye and hit her shoulder, then started to melt the skin there. She swore again, wincing, and swerved out of the laser’s aim fast enough to get behind the man before he could turn around. She kicked the side of his head hard enough to knock him down.

Someone cried out, again.

The Hero turned towards the source of the noise, and was hit by a blast of energy that sent her to the ground. She got up quickly but her head was spinning, and the shorter man fired another blast. She tried to dodge it, but her body was too slow and the Hero fell once more to the ground. She heaved herself up, determined to neutralize that damn rifle, winced when her body complained, pushed through the pain anyway. She was the Hero; no matter how many times she fell she would always get back up. She was the Hero and they were the villain’s minions, and if she had to kill them all herself to get to their leader, she would. Whatever it would take, she would always do it.

She was the Hero, and she had never lost - she wouldn’t lose this fight.

She stood up. The man with the rifle was pulling the taller man away from her, too occupied with each other to bother her again. The Hero looked around, searching for the other ones, and saw that the girl with the prosthetic legs was charging towards her. An act of desperation. She scoffed, waiting to intercept the girl with her fist… But the interception never came. The girl had jumped in the air, and swung her metallic leg right to her head.

The Hero staggered to the ground, vision swaying.

*

The girl with the prosthetic legs raised her foot for another kick, and swung. The Hero caught the foot before it could reach her. She grabbed hold of the leg and the girl, and threw them against the man with the rifle who had been preparing to shoot. The both of them toppled to the ground with a thud, and stopped moving.

Next, the Hero looked for the android. She was standing not too far away, blocking her view of the teenager, who was still kneeling over the Restrainer, crying. The Hero stared at her, and the android didn’t waver. She took a step forward. The android bolted. The Hero waited, waited until the android was close enough… and jumped over her. The android didn’t turn fast enough to dodge the side-kick that sent her flying close to where the others were. She, too, did not try to stand back up.

A movement caught the corner of her eye again, and this time the Hero knew to react fast. She ducked, the bat grazing the top of her head, and straightened back up immediately, hook already swinging towards the teenager’s flank. Their scream was the most piercing of them all.

When she was sure she teenager wasn’t going to get up, the Hero walked up to the motionless body of the Restrainer.

“I don’t understand,” the Hero said. “Why would your minions be willing to go through so much pain just so they could buy you a few more minutes?”

The Restrainer opened her eyes, and looked at Misha with eyes as wide as they were pained.

The Restrainer opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. A blast of energy knocked the air out of the Hero’s lungs. She swayed.