or thus his bigger form slow him down too much?
The problem with big forms is that they are more frail. Square cube law a.k.a. stretching himself too thin was the limiter on his size during power testing. The fog and Handyman's high espionage score might actually make this the ideal time to take a stealthy form and go for a sneak attack given his limited mass right now.
hate, greed, and wrath in his heart
Scarlet Maturity strikes me as someone who has more boredom in his heart than anything else, like an even less heroic version of Saitama. Calling him out as a standard villain anyway might still work if he feels compelled to correct it or gets bemused by it, but I'm not as confident about it.
[X] Plan: Homing Instinct
-[X] Menagerie Witch and Hiver: Menagerie Witch instructs some Nevermores to spread out and link up with the Nevermore carrying Lady Leizi and Handyman using bird calls. Apep splits off to flank the enemies, preferably the married couple at an opportune time. Hiver feels free to air out all of the family's dirty laundry to royally piss them off and stop them from coordinating, using barriers to harass and split up opponents. He should work closely with Menagerie Witch and Echidna to first isolate Blue Skies, take him out, and get the fog to clear. If fog fails to clear, focus on taking out Printemps then Ete in that order. Once there is an opportunity to escape with everyone, do so.
-[X] Lady Leizi and Handyman: Their Nevermore should follow the other Nevermores back to the others after linking up. They should take separate birds back. Handyman returns in a small and stealthy form, so that his bird appears to be returning alone. Depending on situation he can dismount discreetly for a sneak attack or go in with a dynamic entry to tip the scales. Other Nevermores along with Lady Leizi comes diving in with Handyman.
-[X] Black Swan: Play the part of the cocky and naïve dogooder that Scarlet Maturity should enjoy smashing in. Take full advantage of air mobility to try to avoid taking anything more than glancing blows, play dirty by using blinding lights and blasts to the eyes to blind him even if it's only for a short time. If he shows signs of leaving, draw him back in with a taunt about how it's much more fun to fight with someone on his level rather than punch in some bowling pins for a stodgy old dude. If Scarlet Maturity requires jump off points for air control, try to limit aerial debris and instead juggle him with blasts. Do not underestimate his speed in the air. Be willing to use a few powerful blasts to appear committed to the fight. Disengage once it's confirmed the others have escaped or if Black Swan is in danger of being incapacitated. Retreat in a direction away from home base at first to lose visual contact before rocketing back home.
These are the assumptions for my plan:
- Shadow animals retain the sensory abilities of the animal they're cloned from. If so, ravens and snakes should have better tracking abilities than humans in fog (noise and scent). I believe certain birds/ravens also have a pretty good homing instinct for finding their way back to a landmark that isn't purely based on sight.
- By sending out multiple crows in a search pattern for bird calls, the enemies shouldn't be able to really pinpoint a definitive direction for them to come from, especially with the fog blocking visual sight.
In exchange, we aim to keep our injured heroes in the air until it's time for them to fight. I don't see much point keeping the heroes separated when the success of the entire operation hinges on taking out Blue Skies and having some spare Nevermores to escape with. Unless of course we could just fly straight up higher and higher out of the fog, but that'd be boring and Menagerie Witch and Hiver probably can't remount in time until the 3 enemies are tied up somehow.
