Since I need to get this out, and I love the concept so much, here it is. The next chapter to Coming Around Again. I hope you enjoy!
Somehow, Jin Bubaigawara had managed to sneak his way across town without being detected by the heroes and cops making their daily rounds.
Feh. "Heroes." Thought Jin bitterly. They're obviously not doing their job right (doing it very well) when people like me dot the streets of the poor sectors.
He slunk back to his ratty apartment and started to contemplate his life. It may sound very deep, but he just plopped on his couch, turned up a heavy rap mixtape, lit a cigarette, and just thought. He thought about the meaning in Mirio's words. He thought about the choices he had made to get to this point in his life. He had hurt others, he had killed others, he had stolen, sabotaged, and pretty much broken more laws then there are fat people in North Korea. In his time on this mortal coil, he had done nothing good in his life. Wallowing in his own self-pity and guilt with another cigarette, he turned on the TV. Five more deaths on the news, stories of "Overhaul Defeated!" and "Yakuza Lord Dethroned!", and another cheesy story of how a couple of heroes found love and married. How happy (how utterly depressing).
"How am I gonna do this?" He asked himself. "I can't do anything right (I'm the greatest at everything), and I'm pretty sure my own Mother would shove me away right now (She'd hug me so much). I'm just another brick in the wall. And as a villain, I'm just gonna end up arrested or lying in a pool of my own blood someday." He continued despondently, then looked down at the pack of cigarettes in his hands.
"Or I'm gonna die of lung cancer before all of that. Might as well start somewhere." He said with distain and chucked the cigarettes out the window before walking outside for his late-afternoon stroll.
While walking around, he took in the sights of the city at rush hour. Everyone was starting to get off work, and the streets were bustling with activity. Jin was just another one of these faces, blending in perfectly, even with his scar across his forehead. All things considered, a scar across one's face was pretty normal with people with snake tails and horns walking by and whatnot. Tucked in his pocket was his mask and concealed beneath his sleeves were his tape measurers. He always felt a little more at ease with his gadgets at his side. The ratty part of downtown where he lived was always a little crazy, no matter where you went. Jamming his hands in his pockets and fidgeting a little bit, he walked over to the convenience store. Even badass criminals need to eat. However, on the way over he heard a sound. Was it… shrieking? It was coming from a cliché back alleyway.
Oh, crap. He thought. What's happening now.
He snuck down the alley, turned a few corners, and found the source of the sound. There was a woman, who had absolutely no business being here, and a group of thugs who probably lived here considering the tents strung up around the area. The woman was on the ground, her belongings strewn around her, and there was some blood on her. She was obviously very distraught. Tugging the mask over his face, Jin was about to leap into action, but then caught himself. If he was caught with the mask on, he'd probably get the cops called on him by everybody, plus he'd break about 15 laws just by activating his quirk. He could do this quirkless but fighting them all while mentally unstable and under the constraints of the law would be a challenge (Eh, not that hard.) He could just call the cops, but they wouldn't get here in time and when they did, he would be arrested. Same thing for the heroes as well, who also don't patrol this area of town that often anyways. After weighing the ups and downs of the situation, and watching the thugs stand menacingly over the poor woman, he decided to just wing it (I HAVE A PLAN!) He disabled the safety lock on his tape measurers and used them to swing around the corner and plant his feet into one of the offender's face.
"I'M NOT COPYING SPIDER-MAN! (BUT I TOOK INSPIRATION FROM HIM!)"
The other gangsters looked at him shock before one of them rushed Jin with a Tire Iron. Quickly batting away the heavy-handed blow, Twice swept up from underneath the man and threw a hard uppercut into his chin, knocking him out cold. The other thugs snapped out of their trances and rushed forwards, weapons raised.
Wham, Bam, Shangalang. (And a shalalalalala yeah)
Three down. There were now only 4 thugs left in the alleyway. Out of desperation, one of them activated his quirk, which was some form of conjuration or telekinesis, as a brick of stone flew out of his hands and straight towards Jin, who promptly sliced the brick in half with one of his tape measurers. He then used his weapon to slice the closest thug multiple times, creating light lacerations and cuts across his body. He then knocked the poor fellow out with a roundhouse kick to the temple. Three left. Lunging towards the next one, he redirected his trajectory and used inertia to slam into him. A flurry of blows knocked the man to the ground. Two more. The first was dispatched with a fast jab to the face followed by a cheap shot to the gut and final attack of having his head slammed into a brick wall. The second was more problematic. He was constantly throwing ranged attacks at Twice, who was forced to bob and weave between all of the incoming projectiles. The rocks and bricks flew at a pace comparable to that of a pistol and it wasn't giving Jin any room to breathe. Taking one of his tape measurers, he used it to wrap it around one of the thrown projectiles and he spun it around and around, eventually releasing it on a trajectory for the gangster's face.
Smack.
"Nailed it."
He went down hard. All in all, the whole encounter lasted about 3 minutes. Not too shabby, but a bit slow for Jin. He then turned his attention to the woman, who had huddled in the corner. Walking over to her, she looked at him cautiously, and widened her eyes when she realized who he was. Seeing the evident fear in her eyes, Twice just sighed and began to walk off in the opposite direction, before he was stopped by the woman. She simply put a hand on his shoulder and said in a soft voice: "Thank you. Thank you so much."
Crap! How do I respond to this? I usually just walk off! He thought, before thinking that playing it cool would be fine. Burying the raising quaver in his voice, he turned to face the woman.
"No problem at all ma'am. Are you alright?" He responded.
"I am now, thanks to you. You should get going before the cops show up. I'll call them. And don't worry, I won't say anything about you being here." She said, and for the first time in a while, Jin saw a genuine smile on someone's face. Not an insane grin on villainy, or a forced one, but a genuine smile of happiness. This was enough to put a small grin on his face.
"I'd appreciate that. Stay safe, alright?"
"I will. Thank you once again."
"You're very welcome."
Throwing his tape measurer end into the air and onto the roof, he swung up onto the rooftops and away from the scene of the crime with a deep feeling of real satisfaction. Free-running across the roofs of the various buildings around him, he could see everything as the sun began to dip beneath the horizon. The police cars making their way to where he once was, most likely responding to the call of the woman he had just saved. The hustle and bustle of the city's night owls walking up and down the streets.
I did it! He thought triumphantly. I proved today that I could do something good. (I'm a bad boy.)
So, for the first time in ages, Jin "Twice" Bubaigawara got a good night's worth of sound sleep. Things were finally looking up.
You guys/girls/non-binary gender folks really enjoyed the last chapter, so I hope you enjoyed this one. I got some really nice response from one of you, so thank you! I'll take your advice to heart, and I already have a plan for some of it. Other than that, I don't have anything else to say. Thanks for reading!