Do I need to break the 4th wall too?... Wait a min-

New power gained, both accomplices (?) unconscious, and even within Dispatch, it's time came to think about how to get out of this situation.

I don't know Bullseye, other than he's probably some sort of super marksman, I have no idea what his powers are or if he has powers in the first place. At best, he's a really good aiming guy, at worst? He has a mutant power that allows him to reverse causality (holy shit), so his projectiles always hit their target.

I'm going to go with the middle of both scenarios and say that he has a power that allows him to always hit his target, but that doesn't make his shots undodgeable or unblockable.

I'm also going to assume that he has me in his sights right now, or more likely the Dispatch bubble now that it's been over 36 seconds since I created it. If my theory about Chameleon selling information to La Maggia is true, then they almost certainly know how Dispatch works as well, which isn't a huge problem, to be honest.

I'm also going to assume that he's a mile away from this place or some ridiculous distance like that from which he's watching me or, more likely, has been watching me this whole time, although the thug whose mind I read with Scanner thinks he's arrogant, I doubt he's stupid.

In fact, in retrospect, he probably used these "heists" as a way to gain information. Be it my detection range or my powers.

Sigh.

The worst thing is that he probably now knows my detection range for sure, considering how he was slowly increasing the range from where the robberies occurred. It's almost certainly farther than Effervescent's 500 meters.

And of course, once I catch him, everyone and their mother will know about my range too!

I don't even know what he looks like. He's probably wearing a ridiculous costume or something, but if I'm unlucky, he'll use the Chameleon strategy of just hiding in the crowd.

Any solutions I might create will be based on a lot of "what ifs" and "maybes," but that's all I have, or well, maybe not.

All of these problems would be solved with Roulette, but if I'm unlucky, I'd pass out for hours. What could be a death sentence inside a bubble with limited air, so the option is out for now.

I guess full stealth is my best option, as usual, for tough situations.

With a sigh, I turned my gaze towards the exit of the alley.

"Holy shit!"

A bullet moving at almost normal speed was heading right to where I was a few seconds ago.

… Well, that rules out drone fire or reality manipulation.

However, seeing a bullet that was about to make a hole in my skull moving in slow motion can be quite macabre. It makes me feel aware of the situation in a way that no assumptions could have made me before.

I sighed again. I think I've been doing this too much lately.

I could do the math to figure out how fast a bullet has to move to look even close to normal inside Dispatch, but I'd honestly rather not focus on that right now.

I need my action plan, now.

To start, I used Golem to create a dome of concrete hands. It couldn't be very big due to Dispatch's limited space, but it was big enough that I could hide inside. Of course, I won't be hiding in there, but if it can make Bullseye waste a couple of shots, it'll have served its purpose.

It will also help hide the actors, which I covered with a smaller dome that should be invisible from Bullseye's point of view.

With that ready, I used Seir to create a clone that will be a crucial part of my plan.

With that, I crouched behind the dome as I flooded the entire bubble with Grue's darkness and covered myself with Miasma's invisibility.

Three, two, one.

I made the bubble disappear.

Instantly, the sound of the bullet hitting Golem's concrete dome echoed through the alley.

I was curious how many shots the structure could take or how many Bullseye shots I would be able to take with this, but I didn't want to stay in the shooting area any longer than necessary.

When I removed the bubble, the Grue darkness that was contained within was also released everywhere, immediately darkening an entire block of space. I know there's no one outside right now, so I wasn't as worried about the damage as an area of pure darkness, but I'm sure those looking out their window would be shocked by the sight.

In the end, though, that was all just to throw Bullseye off the scent. I used my new teleportation power, Malin, to escape through the area where Bullseye would assume I never would… The area filled with wires and clothing. One jump and I was above the wired area. Two more shots rang out in the area, but I was already out of what Bullseye probably thinks is the firing zone.

Now comes the most interesting part. Using Topsy I changed the direction of my clone's gravity to make him fall towards the clotheslines. I had the idea of having him get caught in the clothes to make a sort of fake mannequin. Hopefully, I could follow his shoots until Bullseye location.

However, what happened was…

Boom!

A loud explosion shook the entire place. It wasn't a small one, either. The smell of smoke and the sight of flames filled the entire place. That included the two and three residential buildings that surrounded the alleys.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

I can't panic right now!

Dispatch!

You fucking crazy son of a bitch! Who the fuck thinks of filling a public area with explosives!

No, no, no! I can rant later! Actions! Now!

This time I didn't want him to see the bubble at all, so I only had 36 seconds of extra thinking.

Too little!

Right now, I couldn't sense anyone while I was inside Dispatch's bubble, but I could still prepare myself.

What do I have to stop the fire? Moonsong? No. Shatterbird? No.

Come on, I literally have more powers than practically everyone!

Fire, fire, fire, fire… Fire. I didn't feel the heat of the explosion at all. Why was that?

I know, I know why. I haven't used it until now because it's one of those powers that's too dangerous to use, but now it could be my solution to this problem.

I turn off Dispatch.

I flew to a nearby point between the three explosion points and activated a switch that I didn't think to activate so soon.

Sundancer.

With that, a miniature sun grew out of my hands. The sun was slowly getting bigger, and I knew that if I had been in the alley at this point the ground would have started to melt.

It may seem stupid to use a sun to put out a fire, but not if you consider how fire works in the first place.

Fire needs heat, fuel and… Oxygen.

You take any of those things away and the fire just dies out, and a fireball at the temperature of the sun's surface like Sundancer? It consumes a lot of oxygen.

I began to move while telekinetically bringing the fireball closer to the buildings somehow, controlling the temperature of the small sun to a minimum as best I could, while also keeping the oxygen absorption at a maximum.

It doesn't make much sense, but those are powers for you.

And a moment later the fire in the entire place went out, leaving only smoke around it and… People.

I turned off Sundancer for a moment, and the sound of a bullet crashing into the building behind me startled me for a moment.

That son of a bitch is still trying to kill me!

My invisibility and movement after moving the Sundancer miniature sun was what saved me from being shot here.

Still… Too close for comfort.

Using Jed Taylor, I sensed all the people in the buildings. Whether it was a stroke of luck or something deliberate, the explosion did not bring down the entire structure, and in fact those living in the part furthest from the explosion managed to get out safely. However, those living in a closer apartment were not so lucky.

There were still three people who were near the blast area, no children as far as I could sense, and from their figures all men. One seemed to be lying in a corner, thrashing around a bit; perhaps trapped? Another seemed to be moving slowly towards the exit; but his pace felt irregular, the last one, was also lying down, but in his case he was not moving at all.

Another shot goes by me.

I used Malin to teleport inside one of the holes, I heard another shot, but at this point I'm already covered by the walls of the buildings.

In the building to my left, it was my first priority, the one that wasn't moving. Clearly, it was alive because I could sense it with Jed Taylor, but that might not be the case any time soon.

I flew to the room. He was in, and I found him lying near the shower, with what appeared to be a blow to the head, with some blood forming a small puddle.

That looks pretty bad.

Luckily for him, I got the perfect power for this.

A quick teleportation and I was right next to him.

Dispatch.

I locked us both in a time bubble and after placing him in a suitable position to avoid further injuries, I used my healing or rather regenerative power.

Trophy Wife.

I may think it's gross, but I have a few animal parts with me, including a lizard's tail and the carcass of an axolotl. Maddy and I discovered that while identical body parts don't accumulate more powers, different animal parts with the same power do.

With that, the man began to heal. It wasn't visible because of the blood, but I'd bet that if I stayed here for an hour or two, he'd be as good as new. Unfortunately, even with Dispatch there wasn't time for that and after ten minutes I decided he was stable enough.

I was about to pick it up, and I saw my hands covered in blood.

Don't think about it, don't think about it. Not now.

I finally left Dispatch carrying the man like a princess and being as careful as possible.

I was thinking of taking him outside, but that motherfucker Bullseye must be waiting. If I go out carrying the man, even invisible, it'll be Rogue season for a guy like him.

In the end, I decided to leave the man in what looked like a guest room that was far enough away from the incident that he would not be affected by the smoke.

I checked the situation again with my senses.

It seems like most of the neighbors are outside and holding something to their ears, probably calling the police. Thanks, God the exit from the building is across the street, I don't want to even think about what I would have to do with Bullseye holding these people as hostages.

It is also noted that the other two trapped men are still stable, doing well.

It's time to get back to work.

The man lying in the corner looked like he was about to be crushed by the rubble, but he was lucky that a makeshift triangular shelter had formed. That saved his life and probably his limbs.

When I approached, unlike the first one, this one was awake, and in no small amount of panic.

"H-help!"

I smiled a little, trying to keep him calm. Looking calm in front of panicked people works, doesn't it?

"Relax, help is here."

"Please help me! I don't want to die!"

"Don't worry, you're not going to die, I'm a heroine, like Iron Man. You're going to be okay."

I hate comparing myself to him, but I hope it helps.

"I don't want to die! Please get me out of here!"

Aaaand, he's breathing hard, at this rate he'll have a panic attack. It looks that staying calm didn't work, plan B.

"You're not going to die! Okay?!"

I'm not so sure how effective yelling at someone in a panic is, but that seemed to work. Well, now that the man wasn't having a panic attack, it was easy for me to change the direction of gravity of his makeshift shelter, and they quickly began to fall towards the ceiling.

The man seemed shocked by what had just happened, and I finally saw a glimmer of hope in his sea of emotions.

I like it that way.

"See? You're going to be okay."

The man nodded shakily and, as if the adrenaline that kept him standing had worn off, he fainted.

I quickly went over to check if he was okay and from what I could tell, he was. Still, I gave him 10 minutes of healing with Dispatch and Trophy Wife to be sure and get him to his bed.

The man in the last apartment was not so lucky.

He had cuts and bruises all over his body, and he was bleeding everywhere. I don't think his hand could be facing that direction, either. He honestly looked like he was about to fall over at any moment and was only moving thanks to adrenaline, that or crazy discipline.

He looked like someone from the military or something, and his undestroyed hand was holding a gun.

So this one didn't last much longer, but I didn't want him to shoot me, so I tried something milder with this one.

"Excuse me, sir?"

He turned around quickly while pointing the gun at me. I could sense that he was very tense, but there was no panic or fear, just a silent determination, so I guess he won't be shooting me anytime soon.

Still, I had Kaiser ready to lock his weapon in case that changed.

"Sir, please put down your gun. I'm here to help you. I'm a hero."

The man watched me for a while with a hawk-like gaze before asking me a question I hadn't expected.

"Do you know…who did this?"

The question surprised me. I hadn't expected this to be the first thing out of his mouth. His voice was hoarse from the smoke and the wounds, but it still sounded powerful.

Something in my face must have given him the answer because he spoke again a moment later.

"You know, right!? Who was the motherfucker!?"

"Sir, this is not the time for this, please, your injuries could get worse at any moment -"

"Fuck my wounds! Tell me who did this!"

You know what? Fuck it, I don't have time to deal with this, not with Bullseye still out there.

"Fuck!"

I used Kaiser to neutralize his weapon, but he somehow noticed. He threw his weapon at me, but with how weak he was, it wasn't too hard to dodge. I didn't want to use Effervescent on someone who's clearly not well, so I just teleported behind him before knocking him out with Snubnose.

Surprisingly, he remained conscious for an incredible amount of seconds, giving me a resentful look before finally falling.

Okay… That was a really strange man. I started to take him to his room after applying the ten minutes of healing, when I saw it. A small white beagle with brown and black spots that looked like it had been hit by one of the rubbles. It wasn't breathing.

I felt like shit and even more angry at Bullseye for this, but then a resolution struck me like a bolt of lightning and I turned my gaze to the man.

Handsome, surprisingly fit, long black hair, scruffy beard, and clearly trained to fight; and not in a pretty way.

Yeah, I don't want to mess with this shit.

I took a piece of paper and left a small note where I left the name of La Maggia and Bullseye, before I left.

I definitely don't want to deal with this shit, I've got my hands full enough today with Bullseye as it is, speaking of the guy… I still have to find a way to deal with him.

Yes, he is still around. Something tells me that he is, even after all this time without me coming out to play, but I don't think he has gone passive. My biggest problem is finding him, although that is the case for him as well. Unlike me, he can freely attack me if he does. I need something else.

A new star joins my galaxy.

Alright! This is my chance to have my plot armor save me!

Power… Surprise me!

Alabaster. Bronze.

Holy shit.

Did I just… suddenly become immortal?

I need to try this, now.

I activate Dispatch.

Basically, every 4.3 seconds, my body regenerates back to its pristine state. This includes reversing any mental or foreign effects affecting me at the time.

Its only weakness is destroying the little organ in the brains of parahumans that allows them to use their powers. Maddy and I found out a long time ago that I don't actually have one of those. What would my weakness be then? Total disintegration of all my cells?

Holy shit.

Unfortunately…

I placed Alabaster in the always on section, hoping I was wrong. I took off one of my gloves to look at my hand. Instead of the light but slightly tanned skin, all I could see this time was a rather disturbing chalky colored skin.

Sigh, indeed, I was right.

Alabaster is one of the few powers that, even without coming from a bottle, physically affects its user. In the case of Alabaster? My entire body turns white. Less skin white and more paper white. White skin, white nails, white hair, even my eyes are completely white and without pupils.

I can't wear this all the time.

I've said it before, but aesthetics are very important for superhero work. Even though only my mouth is visible in my hero costume, I can't let the thing that makes me look more human lose that quality.

Too bad, it would take a lot of worry out of me to know that surprise attacks are basically useless now.

I checked my powers with my instincts in case I missed anything else… Not feeling pain, and a thinker power to fix stuff? Nice. I can't even complain much about this power; it was the Brute power I was asking for so much.

Actually… I may not have a brain, but I have an idea. It may be a stupid idea considering I just got this power, but it's probably the best way to catch that slippery bastard.

I turned off Dispatch and kept Alabaster on. After all, at night, it's unlikely anyone would see my surprisingly pale mouth.

I flew out of the buildings. I think I could hear the police, fire and ambulances approaching the scene.

I pulled out my superhero phone to call Sakura, and send a quick text to Maddy explaining that the night had gotten a little complicated.

"Hey, Rogue! Busy night tonight, I see."

"Sakura, I'd love to talk now, but I still have a murderous bastard to catch. Tell emergency services that I left three people at their houses near ground zero of the explosion. I healed them a bit, but it would still be good to check them out."

"Wait, Rog - "

"Sorry, I'm in a hurry! I'll give you a more detailed report later!"

"Rogue I swear to God that if you hu - "

I hung up the call. Sakura can get a little intense if she gets angry, but this is more important now, I'll apologize later.

I sighed deeply, preparing myself for the foolishness I was about to do. Honestly, I've been playing it a bit safe with my superhero career so far, in fact, that Chameleon attack has been my only injury.

Looks like that's going to change tonight.

I flew over the buildings and then slowly turned off my invisibility as I moved away from the blast zone, sending out clouds of Grue to "cover my tracks" while acting like I was tired from all the effort. One thing that is common sense among those who knows in this world is that many mutants' powers are like muscles, they get stronger with use, and they can also get tired with use. And while I am not a mutant and that rule does not apply to me, that is not something that is known.

So the moment I show weakness, sharks will smell blood, from a prey seemingly ready to be devoured.

I pretended to look around cautiously before sighing in relief, when suddenly. A bullet hole pierced my head from the side.

And it was immediately healed after 4.3 seconds had passed.

I was a little surprised, at how little he hesitated to blow my head off at the first opportunity. I didn't let it show and immediately turned off Teem to stop flying and made Grue stop throwing clouds of darkness.

Shit, a five-story fall… Good thing I can't feel pain. I wanted my body to fall as naturally as possible, so I avoided all movement as my body fell. The result? Concussion, broken neck, and most likely a few less ribs.

Two seconds later, I was as good as new, but I didn't let that show as I lay on the ground. I wasn't even breathing, I just let Alabaster fill my lungs for me.

Yeah, this is my plan. Play possum. This was kind of my original plan when I first used the clone to dash towards the clothes. My original idea was to use a clone to watch the direction of his shots and fly invisibly in his direction until I found him.

It wasn't a bad plan, but my control over the clones is limited, and I doubt he would have fooled him for long, which would make him escape.

I could have also escaped the place myself. I can switch places with my clones and I have one in my dorm room at college that I can go to at any time, but it's going to be a cold day in hell when someone like Bullseye makes me run with my tail between my legs.

This is my second plan. And I'll be the bait.

I stood there waiting for a long time, and suddenly two more shots pierced my fallen body. Another in the head and another in the heart. I remained motionless, and a second later...

Like new.

You'd think being shot in the heart, and head (twice!) would get someone's heart racing (ha), but when you can't even feel pain, and you know you're not going to die, it's even kind of boring and all.

I'm not surprised he wants to make sure that I was dead, either. It's dark, I'm at least a mile away, and my clothes help to hide any injuries (or lack thereof, really). And since Chameleon probably told them how I survived losing half my neck, making sure I'm dead is the correct thing to do.

I waited a while longer when…I finally sense him.

A self-satisfied presence moved quickly towards the building where my body was.

Arrogant, proud, excited, self-satisfied, greedy, a little cautious and… is that lust? Weird guy.

He didn't actually approach me directly. He went to a building three blocks away to get a better look at me, perhaps to shoot me again. However, now that he was in my Effervescent range, he wouldn't escape anymore.

I got you, motherfucker.

Just as he climbed onto the roof, and before he could prepare his next shot, I delivered the most powerful emotional shock I could muster with Effervescent. As expected, I didn't manage to knock him out like the rest, but I stunned him and that was enough for me.

I moved towards him at full speed using a combination of Dispatch, Malin to teleport, and Teem to fly. Hell, I even changed the direction of my gravity forward, to gain more speed as I "fell" in his direction. A few seconds of this and I started "falling" faster than I could remove and put bubbles in with Dispatch, which is when Bullseye seemed to recover from the shock and saw me going in his direction at full speed.

He tries to point his gun at me again, but…

Not this time.

Already within range of Jed Taylor, his telekinetic ghost moved to hug Bullseye making him miss his shot.

I smiled with all my teeth in a way that definitely did not belong to a hero.

Noticing his plight, Bullseye turned his gun around and aimed it at the seeming nothingness beside him, but actually ended up hitting his ghost, causing it to disappear.

Clever, but too late.

Being close enough to catch a glimpse of the bastard who's been causing me so much trouble, I changed the direction of my gravity to lose speed, and although the sudden change in gravity at high speed ended up causing me harm, a second later.

Like new.

I looked at the now cautious Bullseye. Full body black tights, white lines, and a shooting target on his forehead. He couldn't be more obvious. From his stance I knew he had a good knowledge of martial arts as well, unlike Shocker, but I knew that wouldn't make much of a difference.

He pointed his gun at me, but as soon as he had it in his hands he realized It's already been screwed up with Kaiser so he threw it away along with his spare weapons. I raised an eyebrow.

"Clever. It looks that you guys already know about my metal control." I said loudly so my opponent could hear me.

"How could we not know, Miss Rogue, you have made many enemies in your short time in the business, enemies who pay a lot of money for any information about your powers," he replied.

He sounded as confident as ever, but I knew he was panicking.

"How the fuck is she alive! I know I pierced her head! Can she even regenerate from that?! Damn you Chameleon! " I nearly killed her", my balls!"

After all, I can read his mind with Scanner.

"I'll have to escape. Miss Goody Two Shoes has been a nice lady so far, but if she involves Watanabe La Maggia won't be able to bribe the police to let me go."

Huh, that's new. I was lucky that Yuri helped me out on my biggest hits, but since she didn't help out with the whole bank thing, it makes sense that I saw Shocker and Vulture out on the news. Do they work for La Maggia now too?

"I see… Too bad, you won't be able to give up information on me when I catch you this time, Bullseye."

I replied.

"Catch me? Maybe someday, but today? Today will be a see you soon, Lady.

Pressing a button, a bunch of condensed pieces of phosphorus he was carrying exploded in a moment. It was like a Flashbang, blinding me, and giving to Bullseye the opportunity to jump from the roof to his vehicle using a hook.

Or so he thought would happen.

"Gugh!"

An old punch to the solar plexus stopped all his actions. It had been a while since I used one of those to stop a crime. Even if I didn't want to, I had to hold back a lot, since I was relatively stronger than that time.

Even so, Bullseye recovered faster than I thought and threw what looked like perfectly carved wooden knives at me. They were all at a precise angle, ready to strike me in vital areas. It seems he came more prepared to fight me than I thought, however…

"It's useless."

With a bending of my will using Moonsong, all the projectiles suddenly fell to the ground from the strong gravity pulling them down. I can't do this with bullets, but some cheap Batarangs? No problem.

I teleported behind the mercenary who, credit where credit is due, wasted no time in turning around to attack me with a very sharp stake, but it was too late.

"Argh!" A quick use of Snubnose and Bullseye fell to the ground, unable to move.

I hit him with another bolt of lightning.

"Argh!"

He was pretending.

With that, my Scanner senses let me know that this time he was one hundred percent knocked out.

I sighed. That was both more intense and more disappointing than I expected, but finally, it was all over for today.

I saw the building destroyed by the explosion from outside. Police, emergency services and firefighters were working in tandem to calm down all the people who ended up trapped in this mess.

I felt my fists clench tighter than they should as I took in the whole scene.

This is definitely not going to stay this way.

A new star joined my galaxy. And I stared at it for a while…

before slapping my hands against my cheeks.

Huh? This time it didn't hurt at all?

Oh right, Alabaster.

BAM!

I hit myself again.

Well done, Rogue! You caught the bad guy! You saved people from the burning building! You stopped robberies! And you helped out at charity! Today was a good day, and it's going to be celebrated with a new power! Yes, sir!

"New poooower! Now!"

…I hope no one heard me say that.

Khun Sa. Bronze.

Huh, I've been getting a lot of bronzes lately. Maybe I can do some Sacrifice or two? I always like those.

I checked the new power with my instincts.

Basically in an area of about 100 meters, in exchange for losing all mobility, I can take control of the nervous system of any person or animal. Limiting the amount by my multitasking (basically one). Aside from not being able to move, literally no one can move me. I am an immovable and indestructible object while using the power.

So… Basically, it turns me into a statue that controls people.

I don't like it at all, but I promised myself I wouldn't get mad about new powers anymore.

Just like that, I started flying towards the police, holding a fallen Bullseye like a sack of potatoes.