"Let's continue with this little waltz, shall we?"
A cold shiver traced its way up Lena's spine, reaching her neck. Ignoring the frantic alarms blaring in her mind, she swiftly activated the night vision on her visor, piercing through the sudden darkness of the hallway.
'Tracer to Command! We have an emergency!' Lena mentally urged, her gaze locked on any potential movement from Reaper. 'Command?!'
After a few tense seconds of silence, a part of her mind seemed to awaken, and a female voice, almost a whisper, resonated directly into Lena's ear.
'Report the situation quickly, Tracer,' the woman responded with an authoritative tone, cutting straight to the chase. 'I'm a little busy here.'
This woman was Kojo, whose Quirk, Passenger, allowed her to create a 'Mental Passage' between multiple individuals, enabling communication with several people simultaneously. The drawback was that Kojo would become utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally, and had to remain fully immersed in her mind throughout the process.
'We've found Reaper, but I don't think Lemillion and I can take him alone! We're on the second floor, the lights are out, but we have night vision scopes to compensate,' Lena reported, a slight frown creasing her brow. 'We are requesting reinforcements to handle Reaper!'
The Mental Passage fell silent for a moment before Kojo spoke again.
'Understood, Tracer. Your message has been sent to the Alpha Team members. We are mobilizing the Beta Team as backup for the Raid in case Yunma appears. They should arrive in a few minutes.'
'Understood!' Lena mentally affirmed, feeling a part of her consciousness subtly recede, though a faint connection remained.
Lena was not foolish. She knew perfectly well that she couldn't defeat Reaper alone in a one-on-one fight. Perhaps with Mirio by her side, the odds might even out, but Lena had a strong premonition that Reaper hadn't revealed his full capabilities. Furthermore, her previous encounters had left her with limited energy, requiring her to manage it with utmost care.
"...or a time traveler."
Reaper's mocking voice echoed in her mind like a broken record.
Lena felt the familiar sensation in her chest intensify, sending powerful waves throughout her body, destabilizing her energy. She took a deep breath, attempting to calm her pounding heart, pushing the rising panic to the back of her mind. This was no time for an episode, no matter how much the chaotic feelings within her sought to torment her.
Lena felt as if a very familiar voice was speaking in her ear, trying to advise her, but it was distant, almost as if an invisible barrier separated them.
Suddenly, Reaper moved with even greater speed than before, lunging headlong towards both Lena and Mirio simultaneously.
He raised his sword for a sweeping horizontal strike, which Lena barely managed to evade by a hair's breadth before retaliating with a high kick to his jaw. As expected, Reaper's head dissolved into mist. With his other arm, he swung his shotgun and fired at Mirio's advancing fist.
The shot forced Mirio to become intangible, nullifying the blow to avoid shrapnel tearing into his bones. Reaper capitalized on this, gaining some distance while keeping his focus on Mirio.
Taking advantage of Reaper's distraction, Lena swiftly breached his guard, surprising him and landing a solid hit to his abdomen. Leveraging the thrusters in her boots, Lena connected a quick and powerful blow to Reaper's forearm, causing him to drop the sword. Lena then kicked it away, putting it out of Reaper's reach.
"No swords, honey!"
Reaper merely let out a pained snort before unleashing a powerful hook that sent Lena crashing against the wall, knocking all the air from her lungs.
"Stupid kids..." Reaper growled, looking down at his aching forearm before his gaze hardened, fixing on Lena with annoyance.
He was about to lunge at the girl, but Mirio's fist forced him back just in time.
"...This is why I hate children," Reaper muttered, easily dodging a series of Mirio's punches.
"Tch." Mirio clicked his tongue, looking at Reaper with irritation.
Mirio momentarily activated his Quirk, making his legs intangible and partially sinking into the ground before throwing a powerful punch towards Reaper's waist.
Reaper simply ascended into the air, transforming almost his entire body into a thick jet of mist before materializing on the ceiling. He quickly propelled himself downwards, launching a swift punch towards Mirio's half-submerged body. Mirio simply sank completely into the ground, avoiding Reaper's attack, and reappeared behind him with a wide smile.
Lena watched the fight, taking deep, ragged breaths, one hand pressed against her chest as if to confirm she was still breathing correctly. Taking advantage of the brief respite, she took a closer look at the grim situation.
Oddly enough, it wasn't too bad.
'Their Quirks are too similar... however, Reaper has more combat experience than the two of us combined. It's only a matter of time until Mirio or I make a fatal mistake or exhaust ourselves,' Lena thought, drawing several breaths. 'A matter of time.'
An idea suddenly sparked in Lena's mind, causing her eyes to snap open.
"Reaper is strong, but still human..." Lena murmured to herself as she slowly rose. Light blue lightning bolts began to arc around her body; her hair bristled, and her eyes turned a vivid light blue. "You can't react at a speed that catches up with time itself..."
The air in the room immediately grew heavy.
Reaper quickly turned his head to see Lena staring expressionlessly at him, light blue rays shimmering around her like an aura. The air around her swirled as if she were the eye of a whirlwind, and it seemed as though the world around her was slowly beginning to lose its colors.
'What the hell—'
And before he could even process what was happening...
A devastating series of blows slammed into him like a speeding truck, sending him flying towards the end of the hallway, into the middle of a T-intersection. His body screamed in pain as he felt his mask crumble and break in two.
Lena slowly turned, meeting Reaper's gaze.
In the middle of the dark hallway, only her silhouette, surrounded by crackling lightning, and her completely white eyes, emitting small light blue flashes, were visible.
Reaper slowly got to his feet, watching Lena cautiously. 'Those blows were no joke... if my body wasn't genetically enhanced, I could have broken most of my bones and died from internal bleeding... damn fool.'
Reaper gritted his teeth. "...Why do I always get the most complicated confrontations?"
Mirio looked at Lena with wide eyes. From his perspective, Lena had simply appeared in front of Reaper and unleashed a storm of blows at incredible speeds with thunderous force.
'What the hell?!' Mirio thought, a growing smile spreading across his face. 'So she had an ace up her sleeve!'
Meanwhile, Lena...
'I forgot to conserve energy so quickly... I have to finish this fast...' Lena thought, focusing on keeping her energy stable. 'At this rate... only 10 seconds left...'
The heroes and the mercenary stared at each other in total silence.
And unbeknownst to anyone else, another person had made an appearance in the room....