[Haruto POV]

  Haruto wished the city of Brockton Bay wasn't as fucked up as it was.

  Sure, the parahuman capital of the world was one of the only pces you could reasonably watch capes interact with people on a semi-regur basis. Safely, even.

  That didn't mean he liked ducking under a barrage of bullets on a regur basis .

  He used to be ABB, not that he'd had much choice, with an ex-yakuza dad and Lung entering the Bay like a natural disaster with a grudge... Well, Lung got what he wanted regardless of what anyone thought.

  The dragon never gave a shit about anything but his business, and Dad just had to bend the knee, forcibly recruited into an organization that was "as dishonorable as the stolen name of the noble dragons" in his father's words.

  So why did they have to bow to the ridiculous clones?

  CRACK

  Haruto flinched as another bullet impacted the wall he was hiding behind. He tried to look for an escape. Fucking Merchants messing with their turf and just spraying lead everywhere, didn't they know what they were starting?

  CRACK

  Oh, he was sweating now. His cover was starting to give way, chipped apart bullet by bullet. He cursed his fate, and his stupid ass hadn't even gotten his promotion bonus yet.

  BANG

  The sound of a bullet tearing through a Merchant's chest mid-reload brought him slight relief. At least he wasn't alone in this random shootout, even if his allies were just old men. Their gruff faces concentrated as they returned fire with precision and timing he knew he could never replicate.

  Unnaturally sharp shooting. A slightly more common occurrence as of te.

  Well, he probably didn't have to wait long for reinforcements. It had been a good minute or two, so by now, hi—

  "Who the fuck is th- AGH!"

  Oh, man, WHY is he here.

  "MOTHERFU-!""L-LOOK BEHIND!""SHOOT HIM, ASSHOLES!"

  He didn't even need to see it, he could imagine the katana sshing necks and spilling copious amounts of blood onto the ground while the man ughed. But he still needed to look back and return fire at the assholes, he had a job and all that.

  "HA! IS THIS ALL YOU HAVE, YOU YOUNG UPSTARTS?!" His dad shouted, covered in blood as he weaved around a barrage of bullets and cut down another druggie. His sword smeared itself in gore as he smiled widely, cackling at their sputtering.

  Even the merchants seemed to pause for a moment, not that we were going to let up.

  "Who the hell are you?!" A Merchant pointed a gun at him, visibly shivering... whether from fear or drugs was unclear.

  "Hmph!" He scoffed, leaning back just as a bullet meant for his head whizzed past. "YOU ARE NOT EVEN SKILLFUL ENOUGH TO KNOW THIS ONE'S NAME!" He ughed as the Merchants backed away, making him grin even wider.

  What are you doing dad?!

  He gritted his teeth, even as his own allies cheered his dad on. Not that the strategy wasn't working. Making himself a living target had drawn enemy fire, giving their shooters openings to pick the Merchants apart.

  But goddammit, he just wished he knew what the hell was going on.

  "But I am merciful! Engrave this in your empty skulls, you hooligans! I am Kyoshiro, the Napping Bde-!"

  Dad leapt at them with the fury of a tiger, a move so deranged it sent some of them scrambling back with screams of fear. His katana severed a man's arm as he nded, before the body even hit the ground, Dad kicked the writhing figure into the crowd knocking down people like bowling pins.

  "-AND I'M YOUR JOURNEY'S END, YOU FOOLS!" he roared, teeth bared in a grin.

  The fight immediately turned in our favor. With such a clear distraction coupled with the older men's uncanny coordination and their confidence in avoiding friendly fire…the Merchants didn't stand a chance.

  It didn't take long for them to hole up on the other side of the street. Some even surrendered as we scrambled to stop the wounded from bleeding out.

  Guess we've still got some honor left after all.

  Of course, he had to go drag his dad away by his blood-soaked clothes. He ignoring the man's protests, he was in his te 50s. No way in hell was he letting the old man exhaust himself and die.

  "Dad, you okay?" he asked once they were clear. His dad scoffed, as if the idea of admitting pain was beneath him.

  "Never better," the man decred. Haruto poked his shoulder and smirked at his poorly hidden flinch.

  "You got shot in the shoulder."

  "A mere flesh wound."

  "Please wait for Duchess to fix you… please?" He yered on his patented teary-eyed technique, voice firm but cracking just enough. The old man's posturing defted and finally nodded.

  "...Fine. I'll defer to your wisdom… Chief," he conceded with a smirk.

  "Ugh!" I clutched my chest in mock hurt.

  Damn old man, always knows how to twist the knife.

  Truthfully, Dad was happier about my promotion than I'd ever be. I hated the idea of climbing ranks, but refusing wasn't exactly an option… right?

  Yet watching him smile as he wiped gore from his katana, humming like this was some scene from Mom's old stories... It made me wonder.

  What the hell did the Doppel's even do to him?

  Dental sure as shit never made me that cheerful.

  Then again… Miss Hibari, ice princess herself, had proven paid maternity leave wasn't a myth in the gang. Maybe I was giving the Doppel's too little credit.

  I leaned back, savoring the lull, until his Dad frowned. He stared down the road, perplexed, then jerked upright. Around us, soldiers scrambled for cover in unison as my old man pced his hand on the pommel.

  "INCOMING!"

  He didn't doubt his dad's warning for a second. The moment he dove behind cover, a bring cxon split the air. Then he saw it, a goddamn invisible school bus materialized out of thin air and plowed into a wall at full speed.

  Who gave the drug addicts access to invisible vehicles?

  "Wake the fuck up, samurais! Mama's here to put you squint-eyed fucks in your pce!" Squealer's voice screeched through the loudspeaker as Merchants flooded the street, dragging their wounded toward the bus.

  "WE'LL NEVER SURRENDER, YOU THIRD-RATE WENCH!" His dad bellowed, ducking a high-caliber round before flipping off the shooter with a bloodied middle finger.

  "THIRD-RATE?!"

  That's what offended her?

  He was so done with being shot at. Every instinct screamed to charge… Until Squealer's monstrosity of a bus unfolded what looked like an automated turret cobbled together from microwaves and toasters from it's roof.

  He suddenly considered hiding an awesome idea. Good job him.

  The turret whirred to life, its blender-like bdes spinning and spewing out steam before unleashing a hailstorm of bullets... and piping-hot coffee, and tea? Haruto threw up an arm to shield his face from the scalding spray.

  Sip

  "The tea's not that good."

  "DAD! This is not the time for that!"

  God, he really hated the old man sometimes.

  Still, the old man seemed calm. That meant backup was coming... probably. He just hoped it'd be Duchess, or Plug and Py. Hell, at this point, he'd even take Overlo-

  "STOP! You vioted the w, criminal scum!"

  ...God-fucking-dammit.

  The battlefield fell silent as every head swiveled toward the figure perched on the rooftop, including the turret. She struck a dramatic pose, grinning like she'd already won.

  "I am the Superfly! Retreat now... if you wish to see if the sun sets tomorrow!"

  There she stood, resplendent in all her glory under the crescent moon, our democratically elected leader (allegedly). The one. The only.

  The Superfly.

  The cape... The Superfly looked... ridiculous.

  Her dark gray silk bodysuit clung like cheap spandex, accented by pstic-looking armor ptes in white and royal blue that gleamed like a discount store action figure. The utility belt overflowing with questionably useful pouches and her white armored boots completed the ensemble… if armored meant barely thicker than cardboard.

  It still could tank bullets though…

  At least the mask was an upgrade from her original counterpart. The same white-and-blue colors with tiny ant-like mandibles framed her mouth. Oversized blue lenses made of pstic dominated the upper half, the uncanny, compound-eye spheres with pinprick pupils that somehow tracked you no matter where you stood.

  Then there were the antennae.

  A headband sprouted wobbling pompom-tipped feelers that bounced with every dramatic pose, they were crocked. A design choice, certainly. One that even made the newbies on our side pause mid-firefight to whisper "What the fuck?"

  Only the mechanical arms saved the look. Twin segmented limbs unfolded from a beetle-shaped backpack, their iridescent wing-capes fluttering with practiced drama.

  The entire… thing, existed in quantum superposition: simultaneously too cheap and too expensive. Utterly absurd. Unforgettably extra.

  Like someone had yanked a tokusatsu vilin straight off the screen and dumped her into Brockton Bay. If that guy existed he would hate him.

  The Merchants, decidedly unimpressed, immediately opened fire on her. Superfly responded by dodging bullets through a series of increasingly ridiculous poses.

  "HA! Is that all you've got? You might as well forfeit now!" she taunted, moonwalking backward as bullets showered the wall she just left behind.

  What. The. Actual. Fuck.

  The blender-turret swiveled toward her, giving us just enough time to reposition an fire back at them. A strand of white silk whipped around its barrel, and with a theatrical leap, Superfly jumped to the floor, yanking the whole thing downward as it was forced to point directly downwards.

  The gun fired point-bnk.

  "AH FUCK! HOT! HOT! HOT!" screamed a Merchant as boiling coffee erupted downward into the bus.

  "Better get some milk for that espresso!" Superfly chirped, dusting off her gloves.

  "SHUT THE FUCK UP BUG BITCH!" The loudspeakers rang with Squealers voice.

  "NEVER!" she sang, already cartwheeling toward fresh chaos.

  A Kaleidoscope of butterflies erupted from Superfly's backpack, joined by a creeping tide of insects swarming up from the street. The bugs clustered thick enough to choke the Merchants' sightlines, yet somehow, our guys' shots still found their marks through the shimmering haze.

  In one fluid motion, she swept a Merchant's legs out, caught him by the ankles, and used him as a living projectile to bowl over three others. The thud-crash of bodies was punctuated by her gleeful giggle as she struck another pose mid-crouch.

  "Ha! Guess I'll have to start taking this seriously~" She said as she started sprinting towards the bus. She disappeared from my sight line.

  "Don't say I didn't warn you your time was due!" Her voice echoed unnaturally through the gunfire, probably using her bugs to project her voice like Skitter.

  "HA! As if you could do anything to my-"

  CRASHHHH!

  "MY BABY!!" Squealer's shriek cut through the chaos as safety gss rained onto the pavement.

  Before I could react, I see a merchant being punted into a wall, seeing a rope of silk with a square weight at the tip.

  A fil.

  Superfly danced through the battlefield, the segmented weapon whirling in deadly arcs. With a final spin, she jumped and brought the fil down hard enough to leave a sizable dent the bus's steel frame.

  "What is that?!" a Merchant screamed, scrambling backward only to eat a fil to the spine mid-retreat.

  Superfly twirled her weapon with a grin as she seemed to feel the silk rope on her hands.

  "Good ol' trick of putting a brick of lead into the tip of a fil. Never gets old." She sprinted again toward the bus, bullets whizzing past as her fil kept thwacking Merchants from impossible angles.

  "You're insane!" Squealer's voice cracked over the engine roar as the bus lurched free from the wall. Raising up a dust cloud.

  Superfly paused. Rubbed her neck. And blushed.

  "Aw, shucks... Thanks!" She ducked a headshot, beaming.

  """NOT A COMPLIMENT!""" the Merchants chorused.

  Superfly csped her hands to her chest, delighted. She still dodged another bullet and smashed her fil on the offender.

  On his side of the street, Haruto kept firing, picking off Merchants as they filed against the insect swarm. It was almost too easy once they started getting blinded, bitten, and accidentally inhaling flies.

  Then again, he thought as he watched another druggie trip over his own feet, the Merchants were always useless against competent capes. Superfly might have been ridiculous, but she was effective.

  Even if her swarm couldn't match Skitter's infamous millions in numbers.

  Click.

  "Out!" Haruto called, moving to retreat, only for his father's hand to stop him. The old man raised his other arm and called out.

  "Fly-sama!"

  In one fluid motion, Superfly:

  Punched a Merchant square in the nose

  Kicked his rifle into the air

  And Had her mechanical arms deflect incoming fire aimed at her.

  All while the gun arced perfectly into Dad's waiting grasp.

  "Old Man Kyo." She nodded as another bullet ricocheted off her armored forearm, She eagerly jumped into the fight.

  Dad simply turned and offered the weapon.

  "Here."

  "...Thanks."

  As Haruto took the rifle, he finally understood why people revered parahumans as much as they did.

  Then he remembered Superfly crashing face first into a stop sign during a casual stroll st Tuesday, and the moment of awe passed.

  Squealer wasn't done yet. Even as Superfly's blows dented the bus's hull, and as she punctured its wheels, the massive vehicle still roared with a screech of metal. Then accelerated straight toward her in a full-speed death charge.

  The street erupted into chaos as everyone scrambled for cover. Merchants, allies, even Dad dove aside to avoid becoming roadkill beneath the roaring metal beast.

  Superfly ughed.

  "HA! You dare challenge me head-on?" She actually bowed to the incoming bus, arms wide. "Come then! Show me what you got!"

  The vehicle surged past us, close enough that the sparks of the wheelless vehicle spshed on us. Only for Superfly to start backflipping away, somehow outpacing it. Her movements were so absurdly precise they looked impossible.

  [...]

  He was actually speechless. He just couldn't move his eyes away from the sheer clusterfuck that he was seeing.

  WHAT. THE. FUCK.

  With one final flip, she arced high enough to nd in a three-point superhero stance on the bus's roof. The metal groaned under her as she rose slowly, arms spreading in triumph.

  "Faster than a turtle! Stronger than a mouse! Braver than lettuce!" Her voice carried over the sputtering engine, butterflies swirling around her like a living spotlight, with the metal grinding against the pavement making sparks fly out like fireworks.

  "Tremble before my name… For I am The Superfly!"

  The Merchants' guns hit the pavement in unison. Some wept, and some ughed. They had surrenders as Squealer's bus vanished around a distant corner, only Superfly's victorious cackling remained, echoing through the streets and from her bugs like the world's most unhinged victory fanfare.

  Haruto just stood there, even as his dad doubled over and was crying while ughing the hardest he had in years. He wondered for a moment.

  Where the fuck is she going?

  He sighed, it wasn't his problem anymore, as the highest authority in the dder here, it was his job to do some clean up before the cops came here.

  They're going to Mason's part of town… I'm sure he will sort it out somehow…