The Amazing Hawlucha Man

by Cole Culain

By day, Alex Alvarez is just another beleaguered grad student. But by night, he and his trusty partner take to the skies to defend Clarus City as the amazing Hawlucha Man!

32. Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

"This is the place," Alex said, looking up at the illuminated clock face across the plaza. "And now he's late." Hierro huffed out a breath and puffed out his feathers. "Yeah, totally a dick move," Alex replied. "If I were a cynical man, I'd say he's just keeping us here so that his goons can go stir up trouble on the other side of town. Now, I'm not that cynical," he continued, "but lucky for me, the Ronin is."

Hierro tittered in what passed for laughter for the Hawlucha. "So can anyone blame me if I fired off a quick text to our local mass murderer and told him to be on his toes for any of the Baron's tricks tonight? I certainly don't think so."

"A monologue, Hawlucha Man?" the Baron called from the plaza below as he and a trio of guards climbed out of a sleek black town car. "By Arceus, you heroes really are going in for the clichés now."

Alex and Hierro kicked off the roof of their building and glided down to the street level. The Baron's guards reached for their weapons as soon as Alex's feet touched the ground, but their boss waved them down. "You're late," Alex said.

"Yes, I rather caught that part."

When Alex had gone to check one of Lust's dead drops, he hadn't expected to see a message from the Baron inviting him to a parley. The uncontested crime lord of Avenbrooke had been playing cautiously ever since the Hammer's funeral, and after some deliberation Alex and Hierro had decided to meet Pirozzi under the flag of truce to see what the little prick had to say for himself. Alex told the Baron this in only slightly more delicate terms.

"It's been a while since our last little chat, and I found myself wanting some of your refreshing company," the Baron said. "Ever since you and your friends rushed into Dominion's stronghold half-cocked and guns blazing, the underworld has been in a rather tumultuous state of unrest. So I'd like to hear, from the Mudsdale's mouth, as it were, just what the motherfucking hell you heroes were thinking?"

At the vehemence in Pirozzi's tone, Hierro stepped forward to interpose himself between his partner and the Baron. The fighting type flexed his claws, and the Baron's grunts went for their guns again. "Oh, enough," the Baron snapped, just as Alex said "Hey, easy."

The young hero glared at the Baron. "Dominion had become too large a threat to ignore, and after she set the city on edge on Purge Night and took over the Kuromori, we needed to strike a decisive blow and take her down. It didn't work out like that, but we managed to significantly cripple her organization, and we've had her on her back foot ever since."

"Oh sure," the Baron snarled. "She's been making all kinds of mistakes lately, like breaking out every operative she's got from Redstone prison and systematically hunting down all of my capos!" He took a deep breath and gathered his composure. "Regardless, none of this is news to me. What I am asking is why didn't you come to me?"

"Uh… what?" Hierro glanced over his shoulder and gave Alex a blank look. Alex shrugged and turned back to the Baron.

The Baron sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You… have you never heard 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? I want Dominion gone more than anyone else in the city. That damned psychic bitch is bad for business."

Alex smirked. "Legitimate business or…?"

"Immaterial. If you had only come to me, I could have sent my men in along with you, and maybe we could have salvaged something from that massive clusterfuck you heroes caused. Maybe then everyone could have gone home safe."

Hierro hissed out a breath, and it took every ounce of self-control Alex had not to knock the Baron flat for that jibe. Instead, he dug his fingernails into the meat of his palm hard enough to nearly break the skin, and when he had managed to compose himself, he shook his head. "The intel on the raid was need to know, and you sure as hell didn't." He clicked his tongue at Hierro and turned away. "Now, if we're done here…"

"Not quite," the Baron interjected. "There is… another matter I want to discuss, but not here." He opened the back door of the town car and gestured inside.

"You want me to go with you, my arch nemesis—"

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Go with you, to a second location. Do you think I'm a total idiot?" The Baron opened his mouth, and Alex held up a finger. "Actually, don't answer that."

The Baron sighed and rolled his eyes, clearly growing impatient. "All right, fine. If my word that you will not come to harm isn't good enough for you, I'll give you three reasons you'll be completely safe if you just get in the damn car. The first," he said, tapping the taillight of the car with his finger, "is that my car costs more than most people will make in a decade. I am rather fond of it, and I would hate for it to come to harm through your antics. The second reason," he continued, counting off on his fingers, "is that the upholstery in the car cost me roughly half of the car itself to get it installed, and disposing of you on the way would completely ruin it."

Hierro glanced over his shoulder at Alex, and an incredulous look passed between the two of them, but the Baron paid it no mind. "The third and perhaps most compelling reason is that the second location I will be escorting you to is my home, where I own no small number of priceless objects that I do not wish to come to any harm. Knowing you and your partner, any attempt on my part to have you disposed of there would cause no end of damage to my property before my men finally managed to take you down, and that's a cost too dear for my blood. And that's not even getting into how tiresome it would be to remove your bodies from the premises."

"So you're saying we can trust you to not do us any harm because you're a materialistic prick?"

"Well, I wouldn't say it in so many words but—"

"Okay, we'll go. But a few conditions."

"You aren't exactly in a position to negotiate, Hawlucha Man."

"I'm in a position to kick your goons' butts five ways to next week, punch your teeth in, and key your car for good measure, so I'd say I am." The Baron growled, and Alex smirked. "First, my Hawlucha stays with me at all times. Second, I keep my batons on my person, but I won't pull them out unless provoked. Third, your bodyguards stay here, and you personally drive me to your place. Both hands on the wheel at all times, where I can see them."

"I am not a chauffeur!"

"That's the deal, Carlo." Alex had to exert an effort of will to keep from cracking up at the Baron's indignant countenance that had gone a vibrant Tomato-berry red.

The Baron thought it over for a moment and inclined his head. "Fine. Get in the car, and make sure your Hawlucha doesn't scratch the leather." He stalked to the driver-side door and threw it open, settling himself on the seat. Alex and Hierro slid into the back, and Alex made sure Hierro kept his talons clear of the upholstery.

As the car slid out of the plaza and into the nighttime gloom of the Avenbrooke streets, Alex sank back into the leather seats with a soft, contented groan. The Baron was right, the upholstery was luxurious, almost enough for him to let his guard down. The Baron fumed quietly in the front seat, and Alex left him to stew in it. If he was willing to put up with this kind of treatment, then whatever he had to talk to Alex about must be serious. Or he was putting on a convincing show to get Alex killed.

Just in case, Alex popped the lock on the car door and made sure he was ready to throw it open at a moment's notice.

They passed out of the jumble of streets that made up central Avenbrooke and turned towards the district of upscale brick townhouses that had been converted into apartments. This was the chic part of Avenbrooke, but in time even it fell away as they continued further east, to the old manor houses on the Avenbrooke-Greenpoint line, remnants of a bygone age of Clarus City's mercantile past. The Baron guided the car up to a large metal gate that barred access to a wide driveway flanked by hedgerows. He silently rolled down his window and glared into the small security camera mounted by the gate, and the barrier swung open on mechanical hinges.

Carlo Pirozzi's mansion was opulent even by the standards of Clarus City's upper crust, stopping just shy of being tastelessly gaudy. Tall marble columns flanked the entrance, and a fountain burbled in the center of the looping driveway. Golden light shone out from several of the tall windows on the mansion's façade, but aside from a few shifting shadows within, it seemed empty.

But looks were deceiving, so when he and Hierro warily stepped out of the car, they were ready to duck behind it for cover if they so much as heard a firearm click.

"If I wasn't already so irate, I'd be offended you weren't taking me at my word," the Baron grumbled as he hustled up the steps to the front door. A well-dressed footman received them, taking Alex in with a look of only mild surprise. Alex had to admire the man's professionalism, at least. The Baron dismissed the man with a distracted flick of his wrist, and Alex scanned the man's profile as he quick-stepped away, making sure that there were no concealed weapons.

The crime boss of Avenbrooke pointed to a room off the foyer. "Go wait in there. Bruce will keep an eye on you."

"I thought you wanted to talk. I'm here, so talk."

"The matter we'll be discussing requires a certain… visual aid."

Alex sighed and gestured for the Baron to lead on. Hierro followed behind him, his claws clicking on the tiled floor. They emerged into a richly decorated parlor with several elegant antique chairs arranged around what Alex assumed was an expensive carpet that looked to be woven with golden thread. A flute arrangement played from a record on a turntable, accompanied by chimes and a violin. A grand piano stood off to one side, and on the other side of the room, a Blastoise crouched. The hulking water type glanced up with a low growl as Hierro crossed the threshold, but seeing the Baron, it settled back on its haunches and settled for fixing the Hawlucha with a hooded glare.

Bruce Giordano stood before an easel and a table with an artful arrangement of fruits, cutlery, and a vase of flowers, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows, and the paintbrush and palette he held looked comically small in his thick hands. The hulking man looked up from his canvas as his employer cleared his throat. "The next time we need to arrange a chat with Hawlucha Man," the Baron said, "you're coming with me. If he's this difficult again, I want you to hogtie him and bring him here in the trunk."

"I'm right here you know," Alex said.

The Baron just huffed out a breath and turned on his heel. "I'm off to fetch our other guest."

Giordano and Alex were silent until the Baron's footsteps had faded into a different part of the house. The giant turned back to his paints and smirked. "You got him real pissed."

"One of the few perks of my job," Alex replied. He edged around to get a look at Giordano's canvas, and was mildly impressed. The bodyguard had ably captured the still-life before him, but something about the way he had chosen his colors and arranged the shadows of the composition gave it a slightly surreal look. Something about it was just off, but in a clearly intentional way that Alex couldn't put his finger on. "That's… really good, actually."

Giordano dabbed at the canvas. "Well, I sure hope I didn't spend four years at the Clarus Institute of Art and Design for nothing."

"You… what? But you're… well…"

"Pirozzi's big dumb muscle?" The corner of Giordano's mouth twitched up. He continued painting for a moment before stepping back and squinting at the canvas. "Needs more… hm. More shadow here."

"So this is how you unwind after a long day of busting heads?"

"Something like that. My paintings are pretty good at laundering money for the boss, so he encourages the hobby." When Alex scowled, Giordano smirked. "If the Baron needs to collect from someone, and we want to obfuscate the paper trail a little bit, they 'buy' one of my paintings to make the exchange look above board. I do forgeries too, sometimes, but I'm not crazy about the work. Mostly it's just to mess with some big collector when they piss off the boss."

Alex's hands drifted down to his batons. "Is this one of those things were you're only telling me this because you're going to kill me?" Hierro positioned himself between his partner and Giordano's Blastoise, but the giant water type barely spared the Hawlucha a second glance.

"What? Fuck no." Giordano barked out a laugh. "Boss said you're here under truce. I'm just bragging. You know I've got four paintings in the CMAC under three different names?"

"For real?"

"Yup. I have a standing bet with some of the boss's capos that I owe them a beer if they figure any of them out." Giordano dabbed at his palette. "They never do, obviously. I doubt any of 'em have even been inside the CMAC, the uncultured savages."

Pirozzi cleared his throat behind them. "Well Bruce, if you're quite done fraternizing with the enemy…" Giordano rolled his eyes and gestured for the Baron to continue. The crime boss stepped out of the doorway and gestured someone forward. Alex and Hierro instinctively tensed, but when the person behind the Baron stepped into the light, Alex saw it was just a thin teenager, his face hidden in the depths of a black hoodie.

The young man gave his head an imperious toss and glowered down his nose at the Baron. Pirozzi's lip curled, and Giordano set his paints down as he stepped around his easel. An Ariados scuttled into the room, snapping its mandibles as it crouched at the boy's feet, hissing and spitting at the Baron. Genbu stirred in the corner again, angling one of its cannons at the crimson insect. Alex couldn't help but feel like the scene playing out before him was nothing new, and that all of the participants had gone through the motions several times before.

"Hawlucha Man," the Baron said. "Meet my ward—"

"I'm not your anything," the boy snapped.

Aside from a slight tightening of the Baron's jaw, he continued on as though the interruption had not happened. "My ward, Kaito Kuromori."

"Kuromori?!"

"Kaito is the illegitimate son that Saito Kuromori was happy to forget." Pirozzi smirked as the boy clenched his hands into fists and jammed them into the pocket of his sweatshirt. "A little accident with one of Saito's mistresses," he continued. "Saito kept his existence quiet, and I'm not entirely sure even Tsukiyama knew about him. But I heard about Saito's dirty little secret several years ago, and took pains to keep tabs on little Kaito. When the Vixen had her little coup in the Purge, I swooped in and took him under my protection."

"Did I ask for your help?" Kaito growled.

The Baron continued ignoring him. "I thought it would be prudent to keep the secret heir to the Kuromori clan on the board and out of my enemies' hands, but Kaito has proven… difficult. It seems that he has no wish to pursue his destiny as scion of the ninja clan, nor does he seem interested in helping me in my own endeavors, despite my generosity. No, instead, he wants to be hero,of all things."

Kaito stepped forward, locking eyes with Alex. "I'm a Kuromori, and my father made sure I received the same training anyone else in the clan gets. But I don't want his legacy! I want to use my training for good. I want to make sure bastards like my father can't hurt and exploit the people of this city anymore. I want to stop people like the Baron." His shadowed eyes grew suddenly intent, and his voice took on a pleading note. "I want to be just like you."

"You see what I mean?" Pirozzi said. "I can't get him to see reason, and I'm tired of him sulking around my house. I figured if he wants to be a hero so badly, I might as well just turn him over to you."

Alex scowled. "A hero with Kuromori training could spell trouble for you down the line. You're not the kind of person to let a risk to your business walk free. Why tell me all of this? Why go through all the trouble?"

"Because for all that Kaito wishes to deny his heritage, he is still Saito Kuromori's heir. It's possible that he has a more valid claim to leadership than Yuuko Kuromori. He's a symbol, and I think he might have more value to me in the long term if I keep him on the board, rather than taking him off it now."

"You're a coldhearted bastard."

"I'm a businessman."

Alex stepped forward and put his hand on Kaito's shoulder. "I'm done listening to this guy. If you want to be a hero, follow me." He glared at the Baron. "Are we done? Because I'm done."

"If you say so, Hawlucha Man."

Alex and Hierro swept out of the mansion, and he heard Kaito and his Ariados scrambling after them. Alex didn't stop to look back until they had crossed the Baron's lawn and reached the large front gates, which swung open on soundless hinges. It wasn't until he and Kaito had crossed the threshold and the gates had closed behind them that he finally stopped.

"Oh crap. Did you have stuff in there?"

Kaito shrugged. "A toothbrush and a change of pants. It's whatever."

"Okay good. That totally would have ruined a perfectly good exit." He flashed the teenager a grin, and got a tentative half smile back.

Though Alex managed to keep a reasonably calm face, inside he was panicking. He could barely afford to take care of himself, let alone a teenager. Under different circumstances, he would have taken the kid straight to Jiro and let him sort things out, but Jiro was still in his self-imposed exile, and hadn't been seen in weeks. If he was honest, his first choice would have been to go to Johannes, but…

With those options off the table, he was a little more limited. He couldn't exactly show up at Forbes manor with the heir to one of the city's most notorious crime families in tow and expect Isabelle to look after him, and he certainly wasn't about to dump Kaito on Edgar. Captain Unova had a couple kids, but Alex couldn't ask him to take on the responsibility of a teenager on top of all that, and no one else in his network seemed responsible enough to look after him, or had the means to do so. He racked his brain for a solution that wouldn't put him on half rations, and then an idea struck.

"Being a hero isn't easy," he said. "I'm risking my life every night, and I've been in more close shaves than I care to admit. I'm not even sure I'm qualified to be taking you on as… an apprentice, I guess?"

"I can fight," Kaito said. "I told you, I have Kuromori training and—"

"I'm not doubting you," Alex replied. "But I couldn't live with myself if I took that on faith and got you into a situation where you got hurt. Especially since you're still a kid, and I guess I'm kind of responsible for you now and…"

"I can look after myself!"

"Yeah, like I said, I believe you! But I kind of want to see what you can do for myself. I know the Kuromori are experts at hand to hand combat, and they're all natural acrobats. But if you have to go up against the Kuromori, or the Baron's thugs, or the Sins, what can you do that's going to get out on top?"

Kaito snapped his fingers, and his Ariados leapt into the air and onto his back, latching around his midsection with its legs and becoming something like a chittering, insectoid backpack. "When it comes to moving around the city, Hanzo and I are second to none. He can use his silk to swing the two of us around, like a grappling hook, you know? And then we drop down on our foes from above, just like you."

"G-Grappling hook?"

"Watch this." Hanzo's mandibles clicked and a thick length of spider silk shot from its jaws to the top of a nearby lamppost. Once the thread connected, Kaito and his pokemon partner jerked into the air on the elastic silk and shot upwards, and before Alex knew it, the young ninja was perched atop the pole.

"Dude," Alex gasped.

"I can swing from building to building like this too, but," Kaito gestured around, "the houses here are too far apart, and set too far from the street."

"Okay, color me impressed. What do you say we head back to the tenements a few blocks that way, and I'll take you for a test run?"

Kaito bounced off the lamp, and Hanzo created another length of silk that the young man slid down on. "Sure, let's go. The further we get from here, the better."

A short time later, when Alex had managed to find a fire escape to clamber up, he and Kaito stood poised at the edge of a rooftop. "We're headed to Greenpoint," Alex said, gesturing with his chin. "All you've got to do is keep up with me; I'll call out the directions as we go along. Think you can handle keep up?"

"I don't know, Hawlucha Man. Do you think you can keep up with me?"

"Watch it, kid." Alex took a few steps back and bounced on his heels. "Ready? Go!" He and Hierro shot out over the edge of the building and spread their wings, gliding over the gap to the next rooftop and breaking into a run. The faint thwip behind him told Alex that Kaito was in hot pursuit. With a quick step and a leap, Alex surmounted a raised HVAC unit and threw himself off it, catching an updraft and spiraling up into the air before stooping into a dive.

Hanzo shot two lengths of silk, one on each side of an alley, and used the flimsy cradle to catch himself and Kaito as they fell. The elastic silk stretched out before snapping back, catapulting Kaito high into the air, well past Alex, where the young ninja turned in a somersault before his Ariados grappled onto the next building.

Hierro cruised up to his trainer and cast Alex a significant glance. "Yeah, he's pretty good," Alex admitted. "But we're just getting warmed up, right?" They glided down to a ledge of a taller building and raced up the fire escape to the roof, the highest point for several blocks. As Alex judged his jump, Kaito shot up past him, landing lightly on the balls of his feet.

"Winded yet, old man?"

"I'm not even ten years older than you! And no!" He pointed northeast, towards a shadowy patch of Greenpoint, north of the Warren. "That's where we're headed. You up for that?"

"Easy."

"Then let's get moving!" Alex launched himself off the ledge, cutting through the air like an arrow before spreading his wings wide to generate lift. Hierro clawed his way up to a higher vantage point before back flipping off the radio transmitter affixed to the top of the tower, soaring over Alex's head on soundless wings, his razor-sharp eyes scanning the rooftops below for their next jump point. Kaito whispered a command to Hanzo, and the Ariados affixed a length of silk to the building they stood on before Kaito jumped, using the thread as a bungee cord to arrest their fall. When the cable snapped taunt, Hanzo detached the silk and swung them over to the next building, using the two-strand technique to launch Kaito skyward again.

In no time at all, they had cleared the Avenbrooke line, and began to soar over the twisting, narrow streets of Greenpoint. When Alex and Kaito landed atop a long warehouse, both young men were panting slightly and trying hard not to show it. "So," Alex said as he tried to discreetly catch his breath and roll a cramp out of his shoulder, "you want to be a hero. Have you given any thought to your hero name?"

"Only like every day for a year," Kaito replied. "I'm going to be Spinarak Man!"

Alex glanced down at Hierro, and the Hawlucha cringed. "Uh… are you sure?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"I don't know, I just don't see a Spinarak themed hero catching on." Alex patted Kaito on the shoulder. "It's okay, we'll workshop it."

Kaito rolled his eyes, but Alex was already moving on. He was loathe to admit it, but the young Kuromori was keeping him on his toes. The kid was more than capable of keeping up with him, and his instincts and agility seemed to live up to his boasting.

When they reached the Warren, Kaito was even more in his element. The narrow byways and chaotic jumble of roofs proved ideal for him to swing his way through, even as Alex struggled to find buildings high enough to jump from and maintain a steady glide. Kaito's footing was steady and sure on even the most lopsided and slippery of shingles and roof tiles. The wary denizens of the Warren ducked into the shadows as they watched the hero and the ninja pass overhead, undoubtedly thinking that Kaito was a full-fledged Kuromori being pursued by one of the city's heroes and not wanting to get caught in the middle of their fight.

As they neared the edge of the Warren, a scream echoed from below. Alex and Hierro immediately angled their flight path to investigate, and saw an older woman shielding two young children behind her as a pair of pale, sunken-eyed men advanced, each one holding a knife. A Growlithe crouched at the woman's heels, snarling at the attackers. When the fire type lunged forward, a Drowzee emerged from the shadows behind the men and hurled it backwards with a psychic pulse. A Murkrow jumped from the second man's shoulder to attack it again, but before it crossed even half of the distance, Hierro screamed down from the sky and slammed the bird into the pavement. Alex was only a heartbeat behind, dropping into a roll and coming up with his stun batons in hand. Before the Drowzee managed to launch an attack, Alex had brought his baton down on its proboscis and overloaded the psychic organ with as much voltage as his baton could muster.

The men snarled and hurled out two more pokeballs, summoning a Raticate and Ninjask. Alex and Hierro dropped back to stand in front of the woman and the two children. "Don't worry," Alex said. "My buddy and I will keep you safe." One of the kids whimpered, but the woman, probably their grandmother given her apparent age, nodded to Alex and pressed the children further back.

Alex noted that the two men had severely sunken cheeks, and the veins on their arms had darkened to nearly black and strained against their skin. That meant they were somnambulists, so desperate for their next hit of dream dust that they had taken to skulking the back alleys of the Warren to mug the already-destitute of what little they had left. Addicts like this were becoming more and more common lately as the Sins' drug pushers stepped up their campaign to spread dream dust even further.

Narcotics wards and shelters were overflowing, but plenty of addicts were slipping through the cracks. The psychic effects of the drug were proving highly potent, and from what Alex heard, Noboru Takeda was no closer to a curative drug. Taking down somnambulists always made Alex feel a little guilty, but when they started attacking innocent people, he felt that his duty was clear. He had to protect those immediately in danger before he started trying to solve all of society's ills.

When the Raticate pounced, Hierro darted forward, slamming his fist into the normal type's snout. In the Warren, Hierro knew better than to ignite his claws; too many of the old tenement buildings were made of wood, and all it would take was an errant spark and the whole district would go up like a powder keg. The two men with knives circled, but Alex focused instead on the Ninjask. The bug type surged forward, its wings humming as it closed in.

Alex jumped to put himself in the insect's path, but the Ninjask swerved away, circling around the hero before Alex could react and making a beeline for the older woman. "Too slow!" Kaito shouted from over Alex's head, and a length of silver-white silk shot past Alex's field of vision, hitting the Ninjask's thorax and sticking fast.

Kaito landed in a crouch, one hand tracking up to the silk thread extending from Hanzo's mandibles. As soon as he touched the ground, the young ninja yanked the thread and spun on the balls of his feet, jerking the Ninjask back and hurling it into the chest of its trainer. The second somnambulist rushed at Kaito, but the Kuromori heir danced back, out of range of the clumsy knife strike. As soon as his weight settled on his back foot, he pushed off it and jabbed his fingers into a series of pressure points, making the man's arm go numb. Kaito seized the knife as it fell, even as the somnambulist pulled his left hand back for a punch. Hanzo sprang off his partner's back, falling on the man with a shriek and a flurry of limbs.

Kaito flicked his fingers, and the stolen knife tumbled end-over-end through the air, sinking up to its handle into the second somnambulist's right shoulder just as he managed to struggle free of his Ninjask. Kaito sprinted towards him, laying the man flat with a right hook to the side of his face.

Just as Kaito turned to grin at Alex, an invisible force lifted him off his feet and hurled him against the wall of the alley. Alex whirled and threw one of his batons to Hierro. The Hawlucha snatched it out of the air, and hero and pokemon each delivered a blow to the Drowzee, knocking it out for a second time.

After making sure the two somnambulists were out of the fight, Alex took their pokeballs and returned all four of their pokemon as Hanzo spun the two men into a cocoon. Once that was taken care of, Alex crouched in front of Kaito and helped him to his feet. "Sorry, that one's on me. I thought I took care of the Drowzee."

"Nah," Kaito groaned as he massaged his back. "I should have seen it coming. I got overconfident." He quirked up an eyebrow. "But I doing was pretty awesome up until then, right?"

"It was… competent."

"Oh, come on! I basically took those guys all on my own." He grinned at Alex. "Sure, maybe I need a bit more practice, but am I hero material or what?"

"You know, the other Kuromori I've met aren't nearly as talkative as you." Alex softened the words with a smile. "Still, you've got potential." He turned to the woman. "Are you going to be able to get home from here? My sidekick and I can—"

"I'm not a sidekick!"

"We can escort you, if you need it."

The woman shook her head. "We'll manage, I think. It's just another block." She smoothed her Growlithe's fur. "Thank you for your help. If you hadn't come by…"

"All part of the job, ma'am." Alex snapped off a jaunty salute, and Hierro copied him. "When things go bump in the night, the heroes of Clarus City are there to keep you safe." Hierro jumped into the air, and Hanzo latched onto Kaito's back. The three of them ascended to the rooftops, and the Ariados sent down a length of silk for Alex to grab onto. The bug type hauled him up, and Alex watched as the woman herded the two children around the corner and into the safety of their tenement building before taking off at a run over the rooftops of the Warren again.

"You know, I could get used to that," he remarked to Kaito as they ran.

"What, the me saving your ass part, or the free lift up a building part?"

"Both, if I'm honest."

Once they were clear of the Warren, it only took them a short while to reach their destination. As they got closer, Alex had them drop down to the ground level so that he could read the street signs. When they finally arrived at the address the Shadow had told him about, an old gray house on loan from the Clarus Archdiocese, Kaito paused at the base of the stoop.

"What is this? I thought I was coming with you?"

"Kaito, I live in a studio apartment that's not really big enough for me, Hierro and my Skitty. I can barely afford to feed the three of us most of the time. I can't take care of you, but this place can." At Kaito's stricken look, Alex put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm just a phone call away. If you need anything, I'll be there to help, I promise. You want to be a hero, and I support that. But you're also what, fifteen, sixteen? You deserve to be a normal kid for at least a little while."

"During the day. Just during the day." Kaito folded his arms. "At night, I'm going to be a hero. Like you."

"Sure. I don't know if Shepherd Matt is going to agree, but I'm sure as hell not going to stop you. Come on." He led Kaito up the steps to the doors of St. Ulfi's House and pressed the buzzer. After a few minutes, a bedraggled man appeared at the door in his pajamas, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"What? Can I… oh. Hello, Hawlucha Man."

"Shepherd Matthew, I need to call in a favor."

The Arcean Shepherd blinked sleepily. "I'm not sure what I can do for you but the Lord does say—"

Alex motioned Kaito forward. "He needs a place to stay. His father died recently, and his mother... uh…"

"She's gone too," Kaito said.

Alex glanced at the Shepherd. "He needs somewhere to go, and I remembered that the Shadow, that is, Bridget, she said…"

Matthew seemed to shake himself awake. "Right. Of course. St. Ulfi's House will take in any youth who has nowhere to go. Please, come with me, ah… I didn't catch your name."

"Kaito," the young man said. "Kaito Kur… Kurama."

"Yes, well, right this way…"

The Shepherd walked into the house, and Kaito moved to follow him. He paused on the threshold, and Alex gave him an encouraging smile. "It's going to be okay. I'll be here whenever you need me. I promise." He told the young ninja his phone number, and made sure Kaito committed it to memory. "Any time you need me, just call."

"And you'll help me be a hero, like you?"

Alex put his hand over his heart. "I promise." When Kaito stepped inside, Hanzo skittering at his heels, Alex walked down the stairs to the street, where Hierro waited. The two of them walked down the street, scanning the alleys for a suitable fire escape to climb back up to the rooftops. As they walked, Alex wondered if this would have been what Johannes wanted. Certainly, the Hammer had often talked about passing the torch of heroism down to the rising generation, but Alex knew that being a hero was a heavy burden to bear. He wasn't sure if he should have tried to dissuade Kaito from such a course, especially at such a young age. But the young Kuromori was certainly skilled, and his prowess would undoubtedly be an asset in the fighting to come. Alex kicked a pebble down the sidewalk and sighed. He could only hope to be half the mentor to Kaito that Johannes had been to him, and to do everything he could to keep the young ninja safe.

And if he was honest, he was eager to Hanzo in action again. The Ariados's use of silk for maneuverability and combat had piqued Alex's interest, and he could get used to an easy way to scale the face of buildings. Maybe having a young sidekick wasn't such a bad idea after all…