Writing on the Wall

Isamu had, perhaps predictably, gotten an offer to intern at his parents’ agency following the sports festival. But he had also gotten several; other offers and, truth be told, wanted to broaden his horizons more. He was already familiar with how his parents worked, and how their agency worked, so had sent a letter—an actual, handwritten letter—thanking them for the offer but explaining that he was taking another offer. He hoped they wouldn’t be too upset, though he expected some razzing from his older brother at some point.

Instead, he had found himself here, at the Bloodhound agency, looking forward to learning about some different kinds of hero work. He was also mildly surprised to find a fellow classmate there, as well, though he couldn’t be sure the other student wasn’t equally if not more surprised to see Isamu there as well.

He had committed to the in-base training without comment or complaint, complimenting it with his own training regime in his downtime to compliment his other skills, and was actually mildly looking forward to their assignment. Mostly because it seemed like the investigation work might play to his strengths, although he couldn’t help but overhear Hyousuke’s complaining. He held his tongue, however—his estimation was that Yuuto would chastise him, and he was right.

His hero costume wasn’t overly gaudy or flashy, but it didn’t need to be. A simple black, streamlined suit, for stealth, with a black vest over it containing all of his various throwing capsules. A small concealed pouch on the back of his vest contained some miniature tools should they prove necessary. On his left wrist was a slim wrist computer, and on each hand were a pair of black, fingerless gloves with metal studs across the knuckles.

Of course, he hd checked all of his gear when they suited up back at the base, but when they had arrived on-site he had also started double-checking his gear of his own volition. Vest cinched tight. All pockets and pouches secured. All of his thrown items in their proper places. Wrist computer online and recording. Gloves pulled tight, and the safety off so they sparked when he closed his fist.

He nodded to the pro hero when he finally turned his attention to him, already tapping at his wrist computer and pulling up a holographic map of the address they had been sent to sweep to inspect the floorplan for entrances, exists, and other information of note. “Yes, sir. Everything is in place.” Isamu was usually more quiet and restrained, but always worked hard and rarely complained.

Isamu already had his nose to the ground as the small group entered the building, sniffing back and forth before the fresh air and their new scents provided too many competing scents to mentally filter out. “I’m picking up a fourth scent… somewhat recent, but I couldn’t say how long ago, or if it was heading in or out. We should be on our guard.” While his nose was to the ground both ears were up, whiskers out and tense, his whole body on alert for the slightest bit of stimulation. “But it’s human, either way.” He wantered in a few steps—taking care not to get too far ahead of Yuuto, of course, still trying to pick up more detrails. “Mmm… chemical smells? Can’t tell if that belongs to the fourth person or came from the warehouse.” Old decrepit buildings could go through a lot of changes as they were left unattended for long periods of time… to say nothing of any contents that may have been left abandoned inside, as well.

He nodded as the pro issued further orders, reversing course and scanning along the walls. He didn’t need a lot of lighting in order to be able to pick out details in the warehouse, and quickly found what he was looking for, a thick cable running along the wall. He followed it to a control box that looked like it had several switches on it. “Time to see if they left the mains on.” He hopped lightly up to a box next to the switch and reached out to the switch.

He froze in midmotion, ears perking up, followed by his head turning upwards, both ears facing forward as he held up a hand to the other two to silence them. He kept listening, focusing, making sure…. When he heard it again he nodded to himself. “We have company,” he said quietly. “Upstairs. I hear the floorboards creaking.” His ears twitched faintly as he tried to pinpoint the sound. “Do you want the lights on or do you want to keep the element of surprise?” There were arguments for and against, so he left that decision to the pro. He didn’t need lighting himself in most cases, but nott everyone had his senses.

Isamu withdrew his hand from the light switch, nodding as the pro hero gave them both orders. “Understood.” He jumped down from the create he’d been standing on to reach the lights and vanished into the depths of the warehouse, a black stream lost in the dim lighting of the abandoned warehouse.

He had several options to get to the top floor, between his jumping and climbing abilities, but simply opted for an alternate staircase in case he needed to block off an escape route. His padded feet made no sound as he crept his way up the decrepit stairs—even if the stairs creaked a little, his weight was so slight they didn’t make much sound, and any small amount of sounds could be attributed to the building creaking and settling.

He peered carefully at the second story from the stairs, not creeping up until he was satisfied the culprit wasn’t standing right beside the staircase. Ears perked up, he followed the faint creaking of the floorboards until he found the suspect. And it was indeed a vandal of some kind, someone spraypainting some kind of tag onto the wall. He carefully took a picture of both the gang member and the tag for their records later, in case they were needed, then kept crouched behind a crate, body low to the ground to minimize the chances of someone spotting him—most people looked around for things at eye level, and his black fur let him blend into the darkness.

He could hear Yuuto and Hyousuke approaching their general location easily enough in the silent and dead air, and allowed himself to relax just a smidge as the pro hero called for the vandal to stand down, though he didn’t relax too much, remaining hidden until he got the all clear.

And then the damned idiot ruined what would have been a perfectly safe, textbook arrest. He swore in his head as he emerged from his hiding place to charge towards the scene while the other student and villain both launched themselves over the railing to get to the ground floor. “Copy that!” he shouted as he followed suit, leaping cleanly over the railing but directly to the ground floor below. He grunted softly as his knees bent, muscles and tendons asorbing the impact with the ground even as he rocked his body forward, propelling himself forward into the clutter. He couldn’t precisely smaller pinpoint noises yet, but the frackas of two people barreling through the warehouse was easy enough to track.

He surged through the warehouse, weaving through crates and even leaping from box to box when he had to—at his top speed of 30 mph he could easily overtake the pair, but he was heading for the exit instead, to once again block off a possible escape path. As he ran, paws flying, heart beating in his chest, he weighed his options. Protocol dictated they identify themselves as heroes before making a capture. They had started to do that, until Hyousuke had interrupted that. That would complicate things with the law, but that was a concern for later. He also had orders to take down the suspect if things went ‘south’—which they had, by any reasonable construction of the word. Prioritize the capture. Then figure out what’s going on with Dynamo.

Flashbangs would be his preferred method of staling the villain, but with Dynamo in hot pursuit there’d be too great a risk of catching him in the blast. Oil slick had the same problem, plus the danger of Hyousuke’s electricity igniting it. Glue bombs, then.

After overtaking the pair and getting ahead, Isamu leapt up from behind a create and flung the glue bomb directly at the fleeing suspect’s face, hoping that he wouldn’t have time to notice or react. Hopefully it would over his eyes and prevent him from running—if he grabbed at his face to get it off and trapped a hand, that was just a bonus. Isamu dove behind the boxes again and hauled tail to a different vantage point to avoid any possible retaliatory attacks—they still didn’t know what the stranger’s quirk was, so best to play it safe.

After diving behind cover again, Isamu immediately peeked around a different crate—good, it had hit, and the villain wasn’t going anywhere. Unfortunately, he had left the vandal vulnerable to Hyousuke’s outrage—Maybe the flashbang next time, collateral damage be damned—and he emerged as his fellow student slammed the villain against the wall.

“That’s enough!” shouted Isamu, trying this best to project authority from his ridiculously small, cat-sized frame. Though now that he was on edge his fur was standing up a big more, at least giving him a little bit larger of an appearance.

And when he seemed more determined to inflict harm on the captive he growled faintly, hand slipping into his vest to grab that flashbang after all. “Suzuki, this is your last warning!” He had a brief thought for protocol and whether he was permitted to attack another hero, even one going as far off the rails as Hyousuke was—but if inaction meant letting a captive come to harm, he’d take his lumps later if he needed to.

His arm wound back, and he tensed to throw, when Lockon suddenly appeared, wielding his gun at both Hyousuke and the vandal. His ears snapped to focus on the pro, but he didn’t take his gaze off the pair. He’d been so focused on Dynamo he’d lost track of their mentor arriving.

He let out a sigh when Hyousuke finally relented and stepped back, and quickly moved around him to stand firmly between them, rising up to his full two and a half foot stature, arms crossed over his chest but the flashbang still palmed. “Yes, sir,” he said in response to Lockon’s order. When he had the vandal well in hand he reached into a different pocket and pulled out another capsule marked ‘Solvent.’ “Lockon!” He gently tossed it to the pro so that they could ge the glue off at the appropriate time.

Only after Lockon was safely out of the warehouse with the captive did Isamu finally put the flashbang away.

He didn’t really need to see Hyou’s face at that moment to guess there was probably a scowl or a glare there, but remained silent, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, tail lashing back and forth.

“You don’t get to make any demands right now,” he said, after a long moment of silence. Isamu kept his gaze on Dynamo the entire time—he didn’t even need to blink, so he could follow that order both metaphorically and literally. “… but I’ll let Lockon read you the riot act. You recognized that symbol, didn’t you? What does it mean to you?”

Isamu was loathe to admit to sharing any traits ascribed to cats by folklore or pop culture, preferring to focus mainly on the physical attributes of his quirk. He did, however, share one particular trait, a sort of intrusive curiosity into the world around him.

Of course, it was hard not to be curious about what prompted Hyousuke’s reaction, but it was also not hard to guess what the connection between Hyousuke and the Vipers—and there was a connection, that was clear as day—might be.

It was also plainly obvious that Hyousuke had dodged the important question, of exactly what the Vipers meant to him. Time to poke and prod, then. His tail’s lashing slowed down as he regained his calm, his voice slipping back into its usual stoic tone.

“You have a history with the Vipers,” he said, matter-of-factly. It wasn’t a question. He watched Hyousuke carefully, looking for any twitches or clenching of the fist that might betray his emotions, using his honed, predator’s sight to catch the reactions. And also in case Hyousuke started to lash out.

“For such a ‘small-time’ gang they provoked a big reaction from you. To me, that suggests one of two possibilities. First, someone close to you was harmed by the vipers.” He paused, watching carefully for any reasons. “Second, that you were associated with them in some fashion.” More careful watching.

“Regardless of what might be in your past, you need to focus on the here and now.” After another pause his voice softened for just a moment. “Don’t let what happened in the past consume you. Let what happened fuel you, or learn what you need to from it, but keep your head on straight. Otherwise you’ll just be letting the Vipers of the world continue running your life.”

Isamu, despite his smaller size and his feline instincts, wasn’t one to be easily intimidated. Especially not when he had to keep such a tight grasp on his instincts and emotions to keep them from controlling him instead. He just weathered the other student’s creed, and had to admit to himself that he was, in fact, prying a bit. But he was, in his own way, concerned for his fellow hero-in-training, even if he wasn’t yet willing to admit to his own murky history to drive his point home. Instead he stood silently, letting Hyousuke get those words off his chest before starting his next retort.

“You’re right, I don’t know—” And then Yuuto arrived again and he cut himself off, straightening his posture just a little bit.

Hyousuke’s glare he could weather with no problem, but Lockon’s, however, was one he would have withered underneath. It was uncomfortable enough just being in the room with it, despite not being directed at him. He kept silent, letting the pro hero handle the promised reading of the riot act.

He nodded to Yuuto, “Yes, sir. I’ll… go secure the perimeter.” He jumped up onto a crate, taking the direct path to the exit, but paused there, turning halfway to look at Hyousuke one last time. “For the record, it’s not your past I’m concerned about.” He glanced briefly in Lockon’s direction before facing forward again, hopping and leaping between crates as he made his way to the exit and outside.

He noted the lack of the presence of the vandal. Police must have picked him up already, he reasoned. He shut the door behind him and then, out of deference for Hyousuke’s privacy, moved away from it to avoid catching any part of Yuuto’s lecture. He made his way around the perimeter of the building, looking for anything else that might be useful—alternate means of ingress and egress, more stashed paint cans, anything of the sort. And while he did… “Nicole, tell me what you can find for ‘The Vipers’ of Tokyo…”