Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia
Chapter 164:
In an abandoned building in the industrial district of Yutapu, not far from his apartment, Zach Sazaki sat on a counter sticking out the wall that was sturdy despite the whole building being so run-down. He was chilling in a building that had bad air quality and was full of dust, because there were a group of squatters who he knew used the building for shelter occasionally. The homeless guys around him all had burgers from a fast food place down a few blocks in their hands just as the boy who had gotten them all lunch that Saturday was eating.
There were eight men in the building plus another man wearing a dress with his hairy arms and legs sticking out and covered in brightly-colored sleeves to keep warm in the cold room. Zach just talked to Rebecca and gave him/her a burger too, and he figured he'd ask her what his story was later on when he had a minute. Most of the guys in the building were ones Zach had already met before, and the others had heard about his deeds from their fellow homeless people.
"No, you'd really think it would be a utopia as the biggest city in all of Arcasia, all of Terra really," Zach continued, and he took another bite of his burger while telling his story to the hobos surrounding him. "But instead of a super metropolis like Tokyo, it was more a spread-out slum that had the occasional good area, and a nice main street cutting straight to the Queen's palace from the main gates. There was a wall surrounding the whole city, but even that wall was in disrepair and run-down in certain areas. It had to be expanded often, and the expansions weren't made very well when they suspected they would need to knock them down sooner or later anyway."
"They didn't have good walls, while they were at war?" Tedo wondered from the seat two guys down on Zach's right. He was plopped down on the floor with his back against the corner of the wall the counter stuck out of, so the overweight bald man was looking up at Zach when he asked it too. "Sounds unlikely."
"The Queen didn't care much about her people," Zach said and held up a palm. "City planning wasn't really something she focused on. They dealt with building, repairing, and expanding the walls themselves. And considering how much they hated the Queen, by the time we rushed the capital, we had enough supporters inside the city to let us know what were the weakest points of the walls. We breezed straight through the outer defenses. I had never been there before the final invasion myself, but I had gotten a lot of intel before it. From that sole raid alone though, I saw more of a dystopia in that city than anywhere else in that world."
"If things were that bad, why didn't the people rise up against the Queen sooner?" Rebecca wondered in a falsetto.
Zach looked to the cross dresser and shook his head. "You say that like it's easy. Her armies were huge, and dissenters in that world weren't given platforms to speak their grievances with the government like in our world. They don't have the chance to grow support and gather followers to rise up, because at the first signs of that happening the Queen would just massacre everyone she thought was involved."
Most of the homeless people around Zach stared at him with their eyes wide at that simple yet horrifying explanation. "Living in a state like that, constant fear of their government so they can't complain about the conditions, and yet the inability to leave since the outskirts of the Queen's Capital was one of the most dangerous areas in the world. Mobility was impossible, except with the most unique and rare of Quirks… Most people turned to drugs. A city where the majority of people we came to save were doped up and totally out of it, just to deal with the shit show that was their lives."
Zach put the rest of his burger in his mouth and chewed it, making a hum of how delicious it was. "People really young were doing those drugs," Zach added after he swallowed. "Kids, using drugs that I know are going to keep them fucked up for a long time even with the Queen out of power."
"What kind of drugs?" Scye asked. He grinned while asking and smirked over towards Zach from across the room where he was leaning on the opposite wall as Zach's counter. "Were they good? You try any?"
"No," Zach replied. He did not get upset at the tone or Scye's intentionally aggressive and combative tone. He did look a little sad though as he stared towards Scye wondering why he would ask something like that. Scye tried to keep his same uncaring arrogant expression, even though he did suddenly feel guilty at the look Lifebringer just gave him. "There were lots of types. I know some numbed them to the pain, but it kept them from doing anything to better their positions. Others, used some more uplifting ones to party and forget about their troubles, if just for a little while. Or just for one moment of fun in their hard lives. But those people, they didn't know the side effects of Enjoyful until it was too late. The drug was killing them but it was fun, and so they took the risk anyway and it just killed more kids."
"Sounds like that drug, uh, what's it called?" Rebecca leaned into the older man next to her who had an exhausted look but nodded his head at the question.
"I have heard of many that match the description," he replied, sounding experienced and wise, while he reached into his hiking backpack to grab a reusable cloth he used for a napkin.
"No no no," Rebecca shook her head and wagged a finger at that answer. "I mean the recent one. The one everyone's been talking about!"
A couple of the guys in the room just shrugged, the old man seemed unknowledgeable, and Rebecca hummed and started trying out names she said were on the tip of her tongue. Two guys Zach noticed were acting like they didn't know what was being talked about, while they clearly did. "I swear I heard of something new too," Zach muttered. His voice was still loud enough for all the others to hear, including Scye and Tedo who looked back his way in surprise as it seemed Lifebringer might not actually know this. "The stuff is supposedly the best- umm, huh? I can't remember-"
"You talking Flyer?" Scye wondered at Zach, scoffing at Lifebringer's inability to name the drug.
Zach spotted Tedo seeming to agree so this was the drug both of them were thinking about. So I don't get two. The hook caught though. And if both heard about the same thing then it's bigger. "Yeah, that's it. Flyer. Real bad stuff," Zach said it knowingly and with a dark shake of his head that surprised Scye who had heard the opposite. He had heard that it was the "best," but the way Lifebringer just spoke made him question if this was one of those drugs with horrible side effects.
"I knew it," one of the guys who Zach didn't notice knew earlier said. Paiku shook his head and looked back to Zach with his solid glowing green eyes. "Some guys tried getting me to try and sell it around here," Paiku admitted, surprising a couple of people around him though Zach just nodded in a more serious way at the homeless man who hesitated for a moment. He continued though as he saw Lifebringer waiting for more information, "I told the guy my kind of clients couldn't afford it, but the guy pushed saying it was cheap stuff."
"Stay away from it," Zach warned, looking around at the others who might have been tempted by Paiku's "guy"'s pitch. Anyone remotely considering it decided never to touch the stuff at Lifebringer's sudden warning.
"You don't need to worry about that," Tedo spoke up. The bald man in his early sixties shook his head and grunted, then said in a low voice, "I've heard rumors about some bad overdoses with the drug. Doesn't kill them-"
"But there are some infinite trips happening," Zach finished for him. It was not how Tedo was going to finish, but he nodded as Zach's description worked fine. Bad overdoses from some unrecognized drug are getting more common in multiple cities now. Autopsy reports had an unknown substance in their systems. Preceding the first deaths were always increases in bad trips lasting too long. If those rumors are already spreading this far, it won't be long before Yutapu has its first deaths to "Flyer." Must be a street name. Might just be Yutapu's version, and it might be a whole different strain or something from the other drugs, but whatever it is I'm not going to find it just by finding Paiku's guy. I can't ruin what I've got with the homeless of the city by forcing it either. "Imagine losing your mind and being stuck like that," Zach said in a low voice, and he whispered after, "Remembering what it was like to think normally, and knowing that it was your own shitty decision that put you in that state."
"We won't do drugs, Mr. Hero," Scye sneered over. His attitude was not great, but Zach smiled over at him glad to hear that kind of response.
"Model citizens us squatters!" Rebecca called out in agreement. She got a lot of dark and annoyed looks from the others who did not want that shouted for people who might be nearby to catch them. "Which doesn't technically count as a crime if Lifebringer is fine with it," she reminded the others, though she was whispering this time.
"Yeah yeah, don't tell anyone I saw you," Zach said with a roll of his eyes at Rebecca's last statement. He said it in a more carefree way, calming down some of the homeless guys who got darker looks on their faces now and were ready to teach Rebecca a lesson if she was considering using that as an excuse to other heroes or police if she was ever caught. "I don't want to get in trouble for that. And you guys should probably clear out of here quickly if you want to keep using it. Once someone notices a single time-"
"Oh, we know," the old man with almost closed eyes said with a low, experienced chuckle.
"Good," Zach said. "Well then, I've got to head out," Zach dropped down off the counter. He leaned back on it and put his hands down on either side of him as he did. "One last thing though. This drug, you know the kind of drug it's being passed off as? I heard a party drug, but so little's known about it still…"
Paiku hesitated, but then he smiled towards the young hero and nodded his head. "My guy told me they'd be great for parties. Clubbing and such," he specified. "Hope that helps."
"Oh definitely," Zach assured, surprising the man who felt like Lifebringer sounded genuine about that. "Should help me out a lot. Thanks guys, always fun talking to you."
"Come by anytime," Tedo replied with a nod after Lifebringer's back, the fat man getting to his feet as the kid walked away. All the homeless behind him stood up, and Tedo called after him, "Or to the alley we first met, or the one on 15th and West- you know the place!"
"And if you've got food again- hey! Just saying…"
"Thanks for today."
"Thank you!" A chorus of voices echoed after the oldest man's first one like the rest were all reminded they had forgotten to thank him properly yet.
22:06 Saturday
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On a brightly lit sidewalk in Roppongi, a district of Tokyo know for its night life, a line stretched out the door around ten o'clock and down along the sides of the closed buildings around the entrance to B-Low. The club's entrance was in between two buildings and had a staircase just behind it that descended into immediate darkness compared to the street above. The floor close to the entrance was vibrating, and out from the open doors and down the stairs, the music came out with mainly only the deep base being heard from this distance and through the floors.
The night club's name was above the open doors and lit up unlike during the day when the sign turned off and made this part of the street look totally inconspicuous. On either side of B-Low's entrance too, there were normal stores in a popular shopping area of the district of Roppongi. Not far down the road at either of the corners of the block were convenience stores still open as they were 24/7, but they got pretty crowded around this time as people heading to the clubs went to those stores first to buy cheaper drinks to pregame with. Two people who each just grabbed a 16 oz bubbly Heavy Zero, a popular beer in Japan with high alcohol content and good taste despite having zero calories, stood on the line into B-Low and were trying to drink fast as they were not allowed to bring the drinks into the club itself.
Behind the man and woman drinking their beers, was a slightly older woman than those two along with a younger-looking girl in a bandanna that wrapped around the top of her head. The older woman looked at the girl next to her while the two in front were drinking heavily on their way inside, since everyone knew B-Low's drinks were overpriced. She opened up her purse hanging off her right arm and pulled out a small flask, and she said to the girl next to her who was shorter by a couple inches, "You're driving tonight."
"Hahh, yeah alright," the girl conceded, losing her super disappointed look after a second and just agreeing with that statement. Would I have already known that? Maybe I should have said "yeah yeah" like it's been a few times she told me? The girl standing next to the older woman did not see a look of disapproval back at her though, instead just a smirk and then the woman taking a quick sip out of her flask. The shorter and younger girl glanced behind her and rose her eyes up at two men standing behind her who she just noticed were checking her out only once she turned. She spun back forward quickly after making eye contact, though luckily the college-aged men behind her did not catch that they had locked eyes for a second.
The girl in front of them had light beige-colored skin, though around her eye sockets she had no skin, or eyes, and all they saw looking into them was red actually from the bandanna wrapped around the back of her head. The girl wore a blue dress with straps up over her shoulders that also went down the tops of her arms too, and her dress went lower than her friend's that was higher to midway up her thighs. The older woman had short black hair she let fall naturally straight around her head, she had a more carefree look on her face and appeared older than the girl at her side who had gotten real nervous when she looked back.
"Hey," the man right behind the girl started, leaning his head forward on her left side and surprising her that he would do so. "No need to be so shy. If it's about your eyes, I think it's interesting you can't see them actually."
"O-Oh, really?" She turned to the man and asked with her smile rising. That was, very nice.
"Ohh, do you guys go to Hommino?" The older woman who turned after her eye-less friend asked. The second of the guys behind them who was blond unlike his brown-haired buddy, was wearing a college sweatshirt unzipped halfway as it was already hot just out on the sidewalk outside the night club. The walls going down the line had heaters on them, getting everyone ready to go inside where they would be prepared to take off their coats immediately and leave them at the coat rack that would be difficult to get back to if they went all the way down first just to realize they wanted to leave their coats back upstairs. Both of the girls already had their light jackets tucked into their left elbows, having shown off their dresses as soon as they felt warm enough on the line.
The college guys started talking to the older woman more specifically as she seemed interested in their college and knew about their rivalry with her own college she was graduating from that year. The shorter girl next to her older friend shifted her invisible eyes over at her mentor, Am I doing something wrong? I should take part more! Incognito's not cutting me off, I'm just not being assertive enough! Or… was he only nice to me to get her to talk to them? I don't look good at all with all this makeup on. It's just clumped on there so thick.
Toru Hagakure could feel the thick makeup on her arms, her legs, and all over her face and neck. She wore a more modest dress so she did not have to cover her chest at all in it like she would if she was wearing Incognito's dress that revealed more cleavage. The makeup was uncomfortable though, and worse was the knowledge that it was waterproof in case she started sweating down in the nightclub that was sure to be hot. There were two basements down below them, and each basement stretched much wider than the buildings above as the club had the deeds to underground several stores and offices on the block. The reason they could feel the ground shaking below them already was because the club extended directly below their feet, and Hagakure glanced down as her next step was to a spot that vibrated even more. Am I right over the DJ? I'm so excited. I've never been to a club before!
Hagakure's excitement saved her, as she only got nervous again right as she was about to hit the door. She handed off her fake I.D. just as Incognito did the same right before her. The pro hero was going by the name Kimiko Amia, and Hagakure was Yukino Nodo. The picture taken not very long ago that very night made the photo all the more convincing since it said she was twenty years old and her birthday was only last week. The eighteen year old girl trying to pass for the drinking age got asked her birthday, and she replied confidently what it was while still looking nervous. The bouncer checked the photo again, then he rose his head and smiled at the small girl in front of him, "Happy birthday then," he said. "And enjoy," he added while handing it back to her, a knowing look on his face like he could see this was her first time heading to a club since she now could.
Hagakure took it back and smiled brightly at the man in front of her. "Thank you!"
She turned and headed inside, and the boys behind her called out after Yukino and Kimiko, "We'll see you girls inside!"
"Yeah," Hagakure called back with a wave. Then she rushed up to Incognito who frowned at her as soon as they turned to go down the stairs. Yukino's invisible eyes opened wide at her pro's look like she had done something wrong.
"Couple things," Incognito said. She handed Hagakure an earpiece that Hagakure put in quickly while they continued down the stairs into a much louder room, which was still far from any of the four DJs in the club. Even as it got louder around them, and darker so Hagakure would not have been able to read Incognito's lips well either in the dim red light that filled the rooms normally when there was no strobe (which flashed often but at the beat of the songs). "Remember not to make such emphatic facial expressions. Your makeup will mess up if you smile that much like you just did, a couple of times." Hagakure lowered her smile down and reminded herself of that which she already heard from Incognito's support team who equipped her for the mission. "It was good work making them seem genuine, but if the makeup cracks it's not such a simple fix. At first it might be hard for some people to put together, but as soon as chunks of your face become invisible people are going to realize who you are, Invisible Girl."
"Yeah, made it seem genuine," Hagakure agreed half-heartedly, chuckling in a nervous way to herself afterwards.
"Also, you shouldn't have given those guys the idea that we'll meet up with them in here. We can't have them compromise our work," Incognito added. "So follow me. We'll disappear in here before they get inside…"
The two undercover heroes slipped into the night club and moved through the middle of the first room between two bars on the sides where most people were crowded around. There was a huge room to their right around the bar closer to them, with some fog coming out of there and great music playing as the only DJ on the floor was on that side. The other side of the floor was a more open room, some poles in it on top of long tables not high above the ground, some booths, and groups of people up and drinking and talking. It would be harder to be seen inside the foggy room that was so crowded it was difficult to even move once they entered. So they went into that room, and immediately the two heroes made a bee-line for the opposite side and doors over there that connected to more of the huge club, as well as to a staircase going down in a cut-off to the left.
Yukino and Kimiko smiled and moved like any other club-goers ready to enjoy a night of partying. As they finally squeezed through and reached the stairs to farther down in the club, Incognito leaned in towards her younger associate's right ear, "Let's get drinks in our hands. Guys will approach us more often if we have no drinks."
"You think they'll offer to buy us-" Hagakure stopped asking as Incognito gave her a look. "Y-Yeah, let's go buy our own," Hagakure agreed with the pro who turned away before rolling her eyes at her young sidekick's excitement.
Hagakure felt weird buying alcohol for the first time, even if Incognito was the one ordering for her. She watched the pro hero who was well into the act and drew lots of eyes from the guys around her, only for those guys to mainly lose interest after a second or two. Hagakure watched this and got a relieved look on her face at how nonchalant they were about looking away. Villains only notice during fights when they need to be paying attention to her. She can be as invisible as me in here though- more actually! Hagakure reminded herself after thinking it that Incognito really was going to stick out less in there thanks to her Quirk than Hagakure would.
Incognito's Quirk, Pay-No-Mind, worked well for operations like these. It was a Quirk that could be used without anyone noticing, a passive ability that kept people from looking at her for very long. Her real appearance was attractive for when she needed it to be, but at the same time for all the guys who had looked towards her at the bar, she wasn't attractive enough to go after. Or she was too attractive to even waste time thinking about going and asking to buy her a drink, because it wouldn't lead anywhere. Or she just seemed like a boring person. All Incognito had to do was stand there, and everyone else would lose interest after barely a moment. And should there be villains on the lookout for heroes, one look at her and they'd be convinced by how bland and un-heroic she looked that she was just another random clubbing twenty-something.
Hagakure got her drink, and she and Incognito walked away from the bar with the cups given out by the bar that would not draw attention. The two of them headed straight to the bathroom where they dumped the drinks, poured mostly water back in, then spiked the water with the liquor-smelling drink inside of Incognito's flask that gave a little color to the insides of their plastic cups too. "It'll be bitter," Incognito told her intern who took a sniff of the drink and pulled back with her nose scrunched up.
Hagakure looked up into the mirror and stopped scrunching like that, Deep breaths. No faces! Having to be careful about what kind of facial expression she made was a totally new concept for Hagakure, and she gulped at the thought of that inexperience. Incognito told her over the loud thumps of the bass shaking the bathroom that they were heading back out though, and the invisible girl not living up to that hero name nodded in agreement and made for the exit.
The heroes stayed undercover in the club for over forty minutes before getting any hint of what they were looking for. Hagakure mainly just listened when Incognito tried throwing out hooks, but no one they spoke to so far after some long-initiated conversations had any inclination towards hard drugs. A couple guys mentioned having marijuana, but although Hagakure was surprised and looked to her pro hero to see what they should do, Incognito just laughed and declined doing it with them. We're after bigger fish tonight! Hagakure reminded herself, then she reminded herself of something else and stopped looking so serious to return to a more ditzy appearance.
Around eleven at night, Incognito and her intern spotted a deal. They had failed to get in with anyone, but they spotted a transfer of money and started tracking the two who headed a different direction. The club was packed, and there were more rooms than Toru could count. When they lost track of the two guys for a moment, they wound up seeing them again and witnessing the guy who handed off the money pocketing something and walking away from the guy who had led him through the club first. Why here? Hagakure wondered, and she looked around for someone else who must have handed off the drug at some point for that deal to happen.
"Hey! Amia-san! Nodo-san!"
"Play along," Incognito reminded her sidekick. She was about to mention something too to Hagakure about blending in immediately as she was worried their mark knew they were tracking him. There was no need to make themselves blend in though, as the two guys from Hommino who met them at the door happened to be in the room they just entered. The two seemed to have drank a lot more in the past hour than the two female heroes who noticed their polite demeanors and friendly expressions at the door had gotten cockier as they played it like they were close friends already.
After spending a good ten minutes talking to the guys, Incognito mentioned how they had to use the bathroom. The two of them left the area hoping not to see those guys again inside the large club, and they tracked their dealer who they had a good look at once which was all they needed. As many people as there were in the club, losing sight of the man was not their biggest worry right now. "It's still early," Incognito said, her voice coming into Hagakure's head over the music thanks to the earpiece. "We'll stay on him. Make sure it's Drug X that he's pushing."
"Even if it's not…"
"We'll stop it anyway," Incognito assured the hesitant girl at her side. "But we have a goal tonight. Don't lose track of it. The police deal with matters lower than what we're chasing." And even this would normally be a mainly police issue. But with a killer drug like this there's a good chance of the dealers being hardcore villains. If we can track the dealers to a base tonight though, we've got the others in the team and the police on standby. The raid is all set up. But if we fail, the raid's a no-go. Incognito's eyes shifted to the side at the young girl who was smiling and shaking her hips as they continued their way through the club. Despite Hagakure's misgivings a minute ago, she was playing her part well, and Incognito's smile shifted a bit more genuine in a soft grin at her future sidekick who she'd already offered a real job for once she graduated.
Incognito's smile would not last long. Although she was great at disguises and going undercover, she was not prepared for what she saw as they watched their mark far back from one of the stages but staying in a crowded area. "Yukino, look at our dealer," Incognito said while turning away, dancing while facing the other direction but fully losing her smile now with a much more serious look on her face.
Hagakure danced around so she was facing Incognito but off to the side so she could see far through the club. She was short, but she maneuver-danced in a way to get a view over towards the dealer. There's him. And that guy, totally seems like a drug dealer. Hagakure saw the one they were following get approached by another dealer who she figured out was probably a smaller time one. The guy had a tattoo on his right arm that stuck out of his shirt sleeve, and his bottom lip was pierced twice just like his tongue that had two rings in it. He brought a guy with him with slicked-back black hair who their mark stared at closely just as Hagakure was. She focused more on that guy who the second dealer brought over and started talking about to the dealer they knew was one, which was another reason she could tell he was a dealer too.
Who's that? Hagakure thought. She wondered it while staring at the man who was broad at the shoulders but also lean and relaxed so he did not look all that big. His dark hair was slicked-back and appeared gelled, he had a smirk on his face, and his black t-shirt had a low v-neck that showed off the top of his chest and his gold chain necklace. He wore a pair of jeans with the knees torn so the material was thin and white, and holding up the jeans was a belt with a chain loop hanging off the right side of it. The guy looked good, handsome, but he didn't have an intimidating presence nor did he give off a vibe of a dealer… He was facing sideways from Hagakure's perspective, but her eyes shifted up to the right side of his face closer to her and then shifted back down. Why did I look there? It's not like…
The smaller-time drug dealer started saying something excitedly to the one Incognito and Hagakure were following. Then, the third guy leaned in and said some stuff and smirked, and he laughed along with the dark-red haired dealer who had been suspicious and cautious at first. The younger-looking guy with slicked hair added something else that got the three of them laughing again, and the redhead dealer leaned in and added something himself with a big smirk that appeared so villainous to Hagakure.
"You're staring too much, Yukino," Incognito warned.
Hagakure turned back to Incognito who looked at the girl next to her with a serious look all of a sudden. "Hold it back," she added in her warning. Hagakure's breath was already picking up there when Incognito warned her, and the look on Incogito's face confirmed the feelings Hagakure already had welling up inside her. She turned her head to the side again, desperately trying to hide her shocked expression which was not something she could easily manage after years of having no reason to. She stared back towards those villains and the good-looking guy with them, and her invisible eyes were massive as she thought, ZACH?!
21:52 Saturday
Fourteen minutes before Hagakure and Incognito would be at the same spot on line for B-Low, Zach Sazaki approached the entrance himself. He was alone on line, but he knew the names of the people both in front and behind him. He had talked to both groups and both really liked the guy who had said relatable things that came out as jokes about the long-ass line and the freezing cold despite those heaters, and about how he had heard the DJs tonight were going to be great which interested the people who did not look it up beforehand.
It hadn't taken him very long, and he had a good grasp on the eight people closest to him. The ones farther than that in front and behind him were all detailed characters in his head by now too. Many of the people who had already headed into the club were the ones he focused on the most at first, since he knew he had the least amount of time in line watching them. His usually hazel eyes had red irises instead tonight, though it was a light red that kept his vision not-so distorted. He had to forcefully move his eyes slower than he could though so as not to draw unwanted attention. Zach watched the bouncer up ahead of him and relaxed some as he caught a transfer of some yen folded underneath an I.D. just handed over. The bouncer took the I.D., pretended to look at it while taking the money instead, then he just handed it back and allowed the underage minor into the club.
She didn't look too young. Not great, but it's great for me. Zach stayed close to the edge of the sidewalk. He already had his jacket off and held in one arm, which showed off his style more and drew attention from more than a few of the girls on the line. After what he mentioned about the heaters he knew it was strange for him to be far from them now, but if any of the guys he talked to about that were to turn and ask, he'd tug at his collar and mention how they must have heard him and turned them up which was why he had to take off the jacket. Don't want to sweat too much. I put it on carefully, but this stuff's not waterproof. I wish Mina had taken into account what I'm using it for instead of just getting what she preferred. I won't sweat very much though in this kind of environment. As long as I'm careful.
Biggest thing I'll have to be careful are handsy women. Brushing up against people won't be a problem as long as I'm paying attention, but I can't "casually" pull away from girls trying to touch me while going along with my Dimmin persona. Wouldn't make sense, and would draw unwanted attention to the areas I don't want people touching. Zach checked out one of the girls ahead of him only one spot behind the group talking to the bouncer currently, as she was checking him out too and he wanted her to see him doing so back. Her friend said something to her with an exasperated look and made her friend look back forward to step up as the bouncer was ready for them. Then that girl looked back to see the guy her friend was making eyes at, and Zach looked at her with a look that said she was the one of her and her friend that he was more into in the first place.
Such a weird thing, Zach thought as the second girl had to spin and fumble with her I.D. after getting completely distracted there for a second. He turned his head and looked across the street aimlessly as he waited, It's a long line for not even ten o'clock yet. I showed up early since guys don't get into clubs when they're too packed, especially guys doing what I'm about to do. It's early though, and it'll probably work based on past experiences. That was a girl right there, but I'm a good-looking guy in my makeup and with my hair slicked back. That'll be a second incentive for the bouncer as he's not going to get in trouble from his boss for accepting a bribe when the person he let in is good looking. The ratio or something. It should be fine, probably, though I don't really know how I can judge my own looks.
Zach went back to examining all the people on line far behind him as he was almost at the front now. His eyes shifted back while still facing the side, and he wondered, I never got why the guys in my army treated me as the cool/hot one, acting jealous of my appearance that all the girls "fell for." Zach looked back forward and reached down into his pocket to get ready with some money. He had to admit it to himself though with a small shrug, I did notice many of the girls in my forces were attracted to me, at times. Other than Darling they all stayed very professional though… well, maybe because of Darling, Zach admitted again, and he lowered his smile down but then tried to return it strong as it was just about his turn.
B-Low was a popular night club in Tokyo. The bouncer was paid decently, but an extra 10,000 yen bill was something he was not going to decline. Even though the guy did not do it as discreetly as most people, talking to him with a friendly look and going for a low-five that he handed off the cash with, the bouncer did not even make that much for the whole night so he just motioned past him which the club-goer gave him a look of gratitude for.
Zach left his jacket in the coat room and headed downstairs into the huge underground nightclub. His head nodded with the beats and his lips curled up at the right corner. He got a kick in his step on the last few stairs, and he cracked his neck to either side while shrugging his shoulders to loosen up. Who's playing? Solid set, got a mix of some EDM and Rap, don't recognize the songs in the mix- oh shit is that Summer's Gone? Nice, he walked up to the entryway into a huge foggy room and moved around with a confident look over his face that never faltered.
A lot of the guys in the club stayed close to their friends. They were in tight groups and the idea of walking up to girls and talking to them was even more nerve-racking when they had their best friends to make fun of them when they failed. Many of the groups hanging around the dance floor were both guys and girls who arrived together, but people on their own was a very rare occurrence. It was a party atmosphere and not the best place to pick up dates either, much too fast paced especially out on the dance floor for anything other than an eye-lock hook-up. Zach was not looking for a girl to take home though, nor was he there to just dance and let loose from a tough day at work, nor did he come to get plastered with friends. And someone whose intentions were unlike everyone else at the club's, was someone who could relate to everyone else at the club whose true intentions he could see from a single glance at them and their friends.
They're not looking for guys who are going to hit on them, Zach was near a few girls as the area around him just got a lot more crowded. When he had to step closer to them to let people go through the crowd, he made eye contact with one of the girls. In two seconds he watched as her expression went from curious, to annoyed, to surprised. Her curiosity that maybe she knew him was replaced by the annoyance that this random guy was just going to walk up and awkwardly dance next to her, but that turned into surprise as the guy in front of her (who at second glance was actually really good looking), did not give her a flirtatious look back but more of just a friendly one that made her feel like he actually did not intend to "bump" into her like other guys would attempt to get away with.
The club was still really crowded around him, and Zach's head turned left and right for a second before he shrugged and just stayed where he was. He looked back at the girl he saw looking at him again, and this time his eyes did raise up and then down as he checked her out. Her friend turned too in surprise as her friend was dancing with someone based on the way she was facing someone facing back to her. Zach turned to the friend too and pushed his hands out to the side and down at a drop in the song that made the girl raise her eyebrows in surprise and then laugh as the guy in front of her did not seem awkward or embarrassed at all about his lame dance move. His confidence did not seem cocky either as he laughed too when she did, and the other girl he had faced first giggled at his surprisingly silly demeanor she was not expecting at first look at him.
The handsome guy who could have played it slick and tried pick-up lines on them finally started talking to the girls. The one he had made eye contact with first had pointy ears sticking out of her orange hair, and her ears were triangle-shaped and covered in slightly darker orange fur than her hair was. She had a tail of that same dark orange color that waved back and forth behind her with the music, as much a part of her dancing as moving her hips or feet was. The other girl wore less skimpy of an outfit as her cat-like friend, and her whole head was made of braids of blonde hair that all pulled up and then fell back in one long braid falling behind her back down to below her waist.
Zach didn't point out their Quirks. He didn't mention how he liked their mutations or found them more attractive or something, which he figured any/most guys would try when picking up those girls. Instead he just talked to them about how he hadn't been to B-Low before, which was true. And he asked which special drinks there were the best, which the girls knew and were excited to tell him about considering they had been there several times before. They made a joke to him about pregaming beforehand, but Zach told them he hadn't which surprised the girls who felt the person in front of them was even cooler that he was acting this confident with girls he just met… without being drunk even a little bit.
After a couple minutes Zach headed off. The last song had ended and the DJ was shouting something, and Zach slipped off saying he was going to try one of those drinks that he thanked the girls for telling him about. He didn't ask for their numbers, and he made no promise of seeing them again in the club, and the two girls watched the guy head off. And once he was gone, for some reason neither of them understood, they felt like they recognized him.
Zach went to a bar between a couple of the big dance rooms. A recognizable song was blasting through the place after the pause from the DJ, and Zach could hear people singing along from both sides of him. A group of guys near the bar were laughing and talking, and Zach could see a couple of them recognized the song but one of their friends was talking about something in a rushed voice making it seem like an awesome story. Zach stepped right up between them and yelled out some of the lyrics, interrupting the guy who laughed at Zach's stumble right after calling it out. Two of the others Zach just stepped between threw their arms out around Zach's back as he did the same over their shoulders and leaned forward, and the next line was the most recognizable of the song that had the title in the verse, so the whole group belted it out with their new drunk friend who laughed his ass off when everyone sang along the chorus with him.
The whole group laughed too with their buddy who one of them asked how old he really was, as he seemed like a high schooler the way he was acting and handling his booze. Zach just laughed at the question though and pointed a finger back asking how old he was! Zach said proudly which college he went to school, surprising the guys who all went to the same one and laughed that they did not know this guy who they wish they had met sooner.
"You guys are a-urp- awesome! Let's do shots!"
Zach's newfound friends were even more inclined to keep hanging with him now as he offered them free booze, and he got them a round of shots at the bar while trying to act a bit more sober for the bartender's sake. The other college guys behind him held back laughter at Zach's straight-up posture and how he attempted to pull his money out of his wallet very professionally only to bobble it for a moment and smirk back in a proud way that he didn't drop any.
"Yo! On three!" Zach handed out the shots to the guys who came to the counter with him.
"To Dimmin!" The guy on Zach's left called out with a look down the line at his other friends.
"THREE!"
Zach slammed back down his shot glass that had none of the liquor left in it like the others next to him who were none the wiser as to where his drink actually went as they had all tilted their heads back at the same time. He shook his head around and scrunched his face for a second, but he laughed with the others at the guy who reached for another drink quickly to chase down that bad shot of straight tequila. "Yo you guys rock," Zach said with some laughs as he backed off from the counter.
"Ey! Where you going?"
"I'll- I'mma go dance," Zach pointed a finger over his shoulder and laughed. "Maybe pick me up a dime. Wish me luck," he spun looking confident and fresh, and he pulled at the front of his shirt a couple times before leaning back and walking in a slightly funny way away from the guys. He knew two of them were wondering if they were going to have to spend the whole night with him, but as he was the one to start backing off he saw those two apprehensive looks fade the rest of the way as they were more disappointed they didn't know more about this Dimmin guy. Others laughed at his confidence that they wondered if they could even manage, though they told themselves they would be able to if they were as drunk as Dimmin was.
Alright, good warm-ups. Zach clapped his hands together while heading down a flight for the lower basement. Was that really Hagakure I saw up there? If so then the one next to her was Incognito. Wonder if they're after the same thing? Maybe I should've stayed in my own backyard. It's not that popular in Yutapu yet though, whereas this is a hotspot for it. One of the places where two of those who have died frequented. But since they weren't here the nights they O.D.-ed, the clubs never got associated with the drug and so the dealers wouldn't start avoiding it yet. Nobody ever will die from that drug after going to this club. Not anymore.
Zach descended into a darker floor of the club where the music changed up. He was moving through soundproofed floor so that the DJs would not interrupt each other, and the narrow stairway was not enough for the sound to seep through even with as many speakers as there were all over the place. Zach moved to the side of the stairs as a couple had stopped on it right in front of him and were making out with the three foot tall guy pressed up against the wall to make out with his bigger and taller girlfriend. They saw him and then giggled and continued up the stairs, looking to be on their way out of the club.
Zach turned his head and watched them continue up behind him, then he laughed while heading down the rest of the stairs. He flashed a laughing smile at the guy on his side who had been at the bottom of the stairs, and the guy laughed back while rolling his eyes at the two who headed up before him. He dropped down onto the lower floor and smirked in a more cocky way than he had been earlier. His body language changed in an instant, his hands sliding down into his jeans' pockets and his eyes getting narrower for just walking around normally.
Time to go buy drugs.
Incognito and Hagakure spotted Zach on the lowest floor of the club. They saw him over with the dealer they had been tracking along with another who brought this guy over not just for drugs apparently, but to talk instead as the guy with the v-neck black tee was laughing with the two dealers. He motioned with his arms in front of him and made a sound effect with his mouth that had the redhead dealer staring at him with wider eyes for a second, then Dimmin leaned in and added something that made the guy shake his head and turn to the club-goer in skeptical disbelief, only to see a serious look on the guy's face that surprised his new drug dealer buddy.
The dealer with the pierced bottom lip and tongue cut back in to mention something to his own comrade who looked to him in a slightly annoyed way as he wanted to continue his conversation with this guy. The redhead turned back and got a slightly more suspicious feel to him again, but the guy before him said something that put him ease or so Incognito thought as she turned to the side and watched them again. Incognito and Invisible Girl watched without watching as the guys talked about something for a little longer, then they moved farther back in the room but stayed in the same room anyway as they moved more for the shadows.
Hagakure's chest pounded harder, her heart rate speeding up so much as the drug dealer they had been following took something else and traded the guy in the black shirt for some cash. Zach, don't- Hagakure's head turned the other way and she clenched her eyes shut. She just watched as Zach bought that small pink square of the drug, then popped it into his mouth without hesitation. Hagakure's hands clenched as fists, but Incognito grabbed her by the sleeve. Hagakure turned, and Incognito gave her a serious look in the moment that made Hagakure try to force a smile.
For a second there, she was so hurt that all she wanted to do was break cover to go and stop Zach. She told herself it did not matter if she stared over in shock, but then she reminded herself that due to the makeup it did matter what her expression appeared like. She tried to keep a happy-go-lucky expression while dancing again, but she kept Zach in her peripherals while moving around in the crowd to be able to keep a bobbling view of him. She saw him start laughing with the dealers after taking the drug, and he shook his head around making a "brr" sound with his lips.
"That was what we're looking for," Incognito told her sidekick. "And you know who that is, don't you?" Incognito was a master of disguise and still only recognized him after staring closely at the areas where she knew there had to be makeup based on her hypothesis. Her sidekick knew Sazaki much better though, and the look on her face showed she clearly recognized him. "That doesn't matter right now though," Incognito added, and Hagakure darted her eyes to her and then back towards the men who were talking about something else now that had the two dealers looking a bit more serious.
Zach kept talking to the dealers for a few seconds, then he flashed a lot of money that the women watching from afar barely caught a glimpse of and quickly had to turn away afterwards and blend in with the crowd as the dealers looked to get more intense. Zach spoke just like them though, and he laughed while looking around at all the people around him before turning back to the redhead who he saw peel that pink square off a bigger sheet of the drug.
The guy Zach was talking to originally looked more hesitant like he did not know this was how this was going to go, and he eased back a little as he was no longer really needed in the conversation. The one Zach was talking to considered it for a second, then he smirked and nodded at the guy he liked. He turned his body and pulled back out the full sheet, and he peeled off a full line of them and turned to tell Dimmin the amount he had to pay. Zach grinned more as he heard it, getting a discount for buying in bulk like this. I can flip this shit for double, Zach thought, and he made his expression reflect what he knew he could do with this.
"I'll get the upstairs," Zach offered. "Come back to you when I'm out."
"You think you can push all that-" the guy who brought Zach over began, surprised as he did not even have that much on him whenever his buddy he was working with (for) let him sell any himself. Zach was not currently working for him, but the redhead started to wonder if maybe he should get him to considering how confident the dark-haired guy seemed to be about selling it all quick. He dealt drugs himself and yet wasn't there to be competition since he did not have a supplier for the same shit, which meant he was going to have to go through the redhead and pay him for anything he wanted to do in the club. The way Zach worded what he wanted to do made there seem to be no down-sides for the dealer who could not imagine him as a cop or hero based on that violent and illegal story the guy told them when he came over.
Zach headed off after paying a hefty sum for the amount of drug he now needed to go push. Spending a whole lot tonight. Took out my whole savings for this. I'll have to pull out some investments if the night doesn't go as planned.
"Stay with Sazaki," Incognito said. She said it in a whisper and felt bad but kept her voice steady and serious. Hagakure felt her heart ache again but she nodded her head, as that was what she wanted to do anyway. "Keep track of what he's doing. And, don't let him see you," Incognito added. Then she spun to fully face her friend she was dancing with and called out about getting them new drinks so she could be heard over the loud music.
"Okay! I'm going to the bathroom," Hagakure called back, less enthusiastically though she felt she made it as believable as possible.
Hagakure tracked Zach through the lower floor of the club and then waited a little before going up the stairs after him. She searched around for him and spotted him not too far from the stairwell, making her turn away and pretend to just be looking for a bathroom. Who's he talking to? Hagakure wondered while trying to keep him in her peripheral vision though it was difficult with taller people walking between them at the distance she was keeping.
Zach moved from the group he first started talking to, over to a couple guys he saw near the closest bar who he had met and talked to back outside of the club. They had met up with some friends inside the club and had talked to some other people too, all of whom Zach was now acquainted with too after a few seconds of his old acquaintances mentioning who this was to the others. He acted drunker than he had been out in front of the club, and he joked about how hot it was down there as it was something he had been talking about with the guys back out front of the club. It was also something one of the girls just mentioned which made her face light up as she exclaimed, "RIGHT?!"
He had seen her tugging at the front of her shirt before seeing her mouth those words when he was talking to the other group he just met, but he still laughed along in surprise that she had thought the very same thing. She got closer to him as this hot guy laughed at what she was saying, and Zach acted the same drunk level she was at for a moment before noticing one of the guys seeming to get jealous watching him. He made eye contact with the guy, and he made a small motion of his eyes down before looking back up with the best wingman look he could have for this man who was almost a complete stranger to him. The green-skinned man with spiky horns on his scalp instead of hair lost all jealousy immediately and instead felt the guy he was looking at was even cooler for not just coming and stealing his girl but actually going to help him out with flirting with her.
When Zach headed away from the group, he lowered his left hand and low-fived the guy in a subtle way that only he and one of Zach's acquaintances from back front of the bar saw. The guy who knew Zach from back outside shook his head and had a shocked look on his face for a second though also a huge smile that someone like this was real. Always better having a lot of friends in here. People to blend in with. People to help me out. No one will get your back quicker than drunks you've just met who think you're great. And I can't show any badassness at all, even without using my Quirk, as long as I'm in here. As soon as I do, that's when people start to notice the gloves.
Zach had on a pair of black gloves that were thin and looked to match his clothes somehow, just as his watch on his right hand and bracelet on his left looked cool with the way he was wearing them. The scars on his skin sleeve of his left arm were covered up with makeup just as much as the ones on his neck and upper chest and right arm were. Feeling a bit sweaty. Better reapply in a stall. Zach dipped out and headed for a bathroom, though he made careful to slip between groups and move quickly across the club like he really had to go all of a sudden. Then, as he neared the bathroom he was heading for and looked like he needed to go to, he continued past and rounded a corner to continue on just as someone else was opening the door to go inside.
Hagakure found herself standing a short distance away from a bathroom for close to ten minutes before feeling like she had been given the slip. Did he know I was following him? Is he still in there? Did the drug give him a bad trip- is he dying in there?! No, no no Zach's- he's better than that! He's not just in a toilet throwing up or, or losing his mind! Something else is happening here. I need to… go tell Incognito that I lost him. I never really saw him go in here in the first place, did I? He looked like he needed to go though?
Hagakure scratched the back of her head over her bandanna as she went back through the club and headed downstairs again. What was he doing though? Why was he talking to those people like that? The things he was doing didn't make any sense. His demeanor completely changed a couple times too! He's so good at this, but why did he… Hagakure's invisible eyes lowered down and her chest tightened up as she thought about the sight that made her so quickly turn away. The pink square going into Zach's mouth and the look on his face after he swallowed it and laughed with the dealers. It flashed through her head again and she felt sick at the thought.
"Incognito," Hagakure started. "I'm walking towards where we were before-" Hagakure saw her mentor looking her way and waving her over with a call for 'Yukino.' Hagakure tried to make herself look more Yukino-ish as she headed over, but her expression was darker than it was before. "I'm sorry," Hagakure began as she neared her pro hero. In a disappointed voice, Hagakure said, "We lost him-" Hagakure's eyes widened as Incognito darted her eyes to the far side for Hagakure to look behind her. "Wha-"
Zach was back with the redheaded dealer again who was not far from Incognito's back but still close to a wall and talking discreetly with the other teenage hero in disguise at B-Low. Incognito told Hagakure to come with her to the bar, and she had Hagakure order drinks for them this time while her young intern was still trying to figure out just how Zach got out of that bathroom and here before her. Incognito turned around at the bar and was finishing off her last drink as the new ones got ordered behind her. Incognito was not looking straight at them, but she still examined them closely. Zach's back was turned to her, but the dealer was more focused on him than on anything behind him including the heroines in disguise.
So that's what he's doing, Incognito realized, watching Sazaki talking and trying to buy more with more money he had on him that he did not seem to have before. "Your friend must have just 'sold' all his product that he bought."
Hagakure got a confused look but tried to keep facing over the bar where the bartender was making her drinks. "But, he wasn't selling to anyone. He just went off and danced for a bit with people until I lost him."
Incognito hummed at that response and turned her head away for safe keeping. Her head turned back the other way as Yukino was being handed her drinks, and Incognito and Hagakure each watched while trading cups the new deal that was going on over at Zach and the dealer Incognito had been tracking for around an hour now. The redhead dealer gave Zach some more stuff, but not as much as he did earlier. Zach gave him a look and glanced down while mentioning something about being able to buy more than that. The dealer was already darting their eyes around though, getting a bit more serious despite the good luck he was feeling at how well the night was for business already.
"…yeah yeah. I feel you. Come back to this spot in 6 minutes." The guy lifted up a hand with 7 fingers on it, with only six of those fingers up.
"Haha, alright," Zach agreed. He laughed and added, "I'll probably sell the rest before you come back." That extra sentence made the dealer feel more confident this was the right decision, as it would be unnecessary in the long run if they failed to sell what they already had anyway. But if he waited until there was none left before getting more, he could be losing out on profits. Zach did not explain any of that to him, but the fourteen-fingered dealer with dark red hair understood it well enough on his own, and Zach suspected he would.
Zach continued to grin and looked to be about to just move off as the dealer headed away. He was supposed to "come back" in six minutes, which meant he was expected to not just stand there and to move around a bit. He watched the dealer leaving though, and as the man was leaving his sight, Zach's eyes narrowed and his feet and hips stopped moving as much with the music. His expression darkened and his smile faded quickly. Then he turned the opposite direction as where the dealer just went and he headed away with purpose in his stare.
"Um, what are we-"
"Follow Sazaki," Incognito said. She did not hesitate for a moment on it, What is he doing?! The panic she had over Sazaki's plans was much more intense than what she could easily predict was coming from the dealer.
"Not our- okay," Hagakure quickly followed after Incognito who left her drink where it was and started away quickly after their new mark. "He's going faster," Hagakure realized as the two of them had sped up but were only losing Zach more. They were drawing attention to themselves too now, and Hagakure got even more nervous darting her eyes to either side seeing so many people looking towards her. "They're going to- where did he-"
Incognito lost him too. She had locked her eyes more on him than her sidekick did, but with every guy around her being taller, in a club that had gotten more packed over the past hour to the point she could not see ten meters in front of her, it was impossible to keep him in her view at all times. And in the brief moment she thought he was going to slip out of sight for a second or two, he had completely vanished from sight. She moved quicker into almost a run as she made for the area around a staircase. There were paths cutting each way near the bottom of the steps, along with the steps themselves, and a locker room to one side and bathrooms on the other.
"What do we do?" Hagakure asked, her voice serious but also confused and panicked as they had lost everyone now.
How did I lose him?! "Follow me," Incognito said. She rushed up the stairs and Hagakure kept close behind her. They ignored people around them asking what was going on, or why they were so serious or rushing, and the female heroes just pushed their way quickly through the first floor. Hagakure wanted to ask why they were heading farther back into the club instead of to the front doors where she thought Zach was going, but she decided not to doubt Incognito's intuition and just kept close to her as they moved farther in.
Incognito looked around as they crossed the first basement, but she did not slow down at all in her speed-walk across the floor. Her expression was serious and her eyes focused even while darting around for a sign of her targets. "Zach wouldn't…" Hagakure began behind her pro hero, but Incognito turned her head to the side and looked back at her as if asking if Hagakure knew what she was about to say for sure. Hagakure just got such a hurt look on her face instead though at the look Incognito gave back to her.
The girls reached the back of the club and went into a doorway with a bigger bouncer than was at the front door. "You can't-" Incognito flashed out her hero license and barely slowed down as she gave the bouncer a serious look.
"Hero business, do not interfere," Incognito said loudly while rushing into a large private room behind the main club area. A few groups of people in the area less crowded got up and looked towards the heroes in surprise as they rushed through, speeding up and running towards a back area where there were only some staff and a small kitchen off to one side. "This way," Incognito ran into the kitchen, and she spun her head every way and looked around at the paths around her trying to judge which way she needed to go.
"Excuse me! You cannot be-"
"Come on," Incognito said, and she rushed forward with the sides of her dress at her thighs pulling apart easily to allow her to run quicker. Her heels slid up into her shoes at the quicker pace she was running so they were more flat on bottom and kept her from tripping just as they did for Hagakure. The two of them got even shorter, but it did not matter anymore without the huge crowd they had to look through and over. "Out here," Incognito said, her voice getting quieter as she motioned for set of double doors down a dim hallway.
They rushed forward and threw open the back doors into a dark back area behind the club. They were at a loading dock with steps leading up on the opposite side as the main entrance. The area was mostly dark with only some light coming down from the top of the steps and the city outside, and the thudding of the bass in the background behind them got quieter as the double doors closed behind the heroines frozen where they stood.
They ran outside, and Zach spun to them. He still had on all his makeup and his disguise, including the black glove over his left hand that he had lifted up to a wall that he was pressing a guy up against. Zach's fingers lost their grip on the man's shirt and dropped him. The man fell down and landed on his butt still pressed with his back up against the wall, though he winced again and then snapped his head up with wide eyes a the figure standing right in front of him. There were three others out in that loading dock, with the redhead dealer Zach met inside unconscious on the floor along with two other guys slumped over and unmoving.
Zach grimaced as he turned to the two women staring at him as he dropped the drug dealer. "This one was the leader," Zach mentioned. Incognito looked down for a moment at the guy who spun to the two women wondering who they were as he did not recognize either of them. Zach's voice was low as he spoke, and guilty, and he hesitated for a moment as the two looked back at him. His eyes lingered on the eye-less girl with heavy makeup on all over before he shifted his attention back to the older woman. He continued to grimace but mentioned, "I knew I couldn't just leave after already being spotted."
Incognito frowned deeper. Is he serious? It seems we caught him in the act, but could he have just gotten away quicker? Probably. He decided to stay because he knew I was following him. "I'm glad you didn't," Incognito replied back, making Hagakure spin to her as they were finally talking and this confrontation was actually going on. Hagakure spun back to Zach with a nervous look over her face, panic spreading through her at what the implications of this were or the consequences for the boy in front of her would be. Incognito continued, "Since I would have to report about this anyway."
"I know," Zach said, admitting it in a low voice. He reached down, and he pulled out a pink sheet from his pocket when Incognito gave him a dark look at what he was doing. Hagakure never suspected a thing though and her completely unsuspicious attitude had Incognito staying calmer when Zach reached for something. He stepped forward and held the sheet out, and he handed it off to Incognito who stepped forward and took it from him. Then, Zach pulled out one individual tab that he handed off while looking back towards Hagakure who stared at him with her invisible eyes huge.
"You, really didn't take it yourself?" Hagakure asked.
Incognito was surprised too, but more-so she was surprised by how Sazaki immediately looked at her sidekick in an apologetic way for what he had pretended to do. "It was just sleight of hand," Zach assured his old classmate who felt so much weight lifting off of her shoulders. It was not all the weight, and she told herself not to feel that much relief, but she couldn't help it after how depressed she had been inside when she thought she saw Zach take it. And the fact that he was saying it straight to her meant he knew that she must have felt that way and had wanted to tell her it was not real since back then too, since he was in so much trouble right now but took the time out to assure her of it.
"I wouldn't do this drug knowing how dangerous Flyer is," Zach added while taking a step back from the hero he had stepped towards.
"'Flyer?'" Hagakure asked before Incognito could respond to Sazaki.
"It's a street name for the drug," Zach replied. "I'm just looking for the supplier."
Incognito's annoyed expression got stronger and she said in a frustrated voice, "I was looking to find the supplier myself, Lifebringer." Zach looked back at the woman who used his hero name but seemed to struggle to get it out. He could see on her face that she felt he had good intentions when he was doing this, which she accepted, but she was on the verge of snapping and just holding back. She glared down to the man still down on his butt who eased back at her look, though he appeared furious and turned back in that angry way towards Sazaki again. Incognito said while glaring down at the man still, "I could have followed this one back to wherever it's coming from if you hadn't-"
"1438 16th Street," Zach said.
He spoke the address, and Incognito rose her eyes up with them opened wide just like Hagakure's. The guy at Zach's feet leaning on the wall ground his teeth even angrier while shaking his head. Then he snapped up to one foot and reached a growing claw for Zach's side. Hagakure and Incognito both got ready to fight as they saw him moving like that when they thought he had been defeated or something already, but Zach did not move a muscle. He stood still while a black line whipped out of his left leg through his jeans and smacked the villain across his face, knocking him out and dropping him onto his side with what looked like the most minimal effort Zach could have put in.
Hagakure stared down in shock at the dealer who was out cold instantly from that attack she thought had caught Zach off guard. He never even looked back down at the man he knocked out. He just stood there in between four unconscious villains, none of which looked to have a scratch on them. And Zach just gave them an address which they assumed was the supplier's location based off the biggest dealer's reaction right there.
He did it faster than I could. If we wait any longer too, the suppliers will notice when these guys don't check in or come back. We have to make our move, Incognito thought it, and she could see Lifebringer watching her put that together in that moment. Her lips curled down farther at the corners as her eyes shifted over the dealers again, specifically the one who had apparently given Sazaki that important information. Her eyes locked on Sazaki's hazel ones, "I'm going to have to report you doing this without a hero license."
She warned him in a serious tone that sounded like she disapproved of what he did. Yet the fact that she was giving him the warning, and the fact that she did not say that she was going to arrest him herself, seemed more generous to Zach than disapproving. It also seemed to him like Incognito was mad at him more for putting her in this position where she needed to report him rather than let him go, like she was one of those who appreciates all he does. Zach shook his head though with a small smile at the warning she gave him. "I didn't use my Quirk without one," Zach told the woman, who gave him an odd look that he would even try that after she and Hagakure clearly just saw him use it.
"I only used it for self-defense after confronting some drug dealers," Zach said. He shrugged his shoulders while still smiling in that carefree way, and he motioned down at the only guy who had still been conscious out there when they arrived. He was their only example to back up what he said, and the two realized that Sazaki had waited until the guy tried attacking him to defend himself in front of them. The amount of thought that went into his actions was almost unnerving, if not for the more relieving aspect to it that Incognito noticed she was feeling. "This was all I was planning on anyway," Zach added as he put his hands down into his pockets, his tone more casual and relaxed now that made it sound like he was finished.
Hagakure gave Zach a confused look that he smiled a little more at seeing on her face, which Hagakure saw him staring at and made her shy away for some reason. With his hands still down in his pockets, he told the girl his own age, "I was just going to send in a tip about the location and head home." He turned back to Incognito and added, "I didn't expect heroes were already on the case, and I knew this nightclub was a hot spot for the drug. But, I should have just left it up to you," he admitted in agreement with the kind of look Incognito had given him. In that same more apologetic manner, Zach said in a lower voice, "I'm sorry. Just, could you make sure you get the suppliers?" He questioned.
Zach frowned more after he asked, and he gazed back at the club behind the girls where there had been a lot of cool people he met that night already. "This drug really bugs me," he muttered in a dark voice.
Incognito looked around at the four men who she could see some slight movement coming from each. None of them looked injured, including the one who had apparently given up the information. There weren't any bruises or marks on him, and she frowned a little more as her eyes shifted back to the teenage boy in front of her. "You can go," Incognito said. Hagakure turned to her pro hero in surprise, while Zach just nodded at the woman who had already made it out like she was going to release him here. But then, Incognito added after a moment, "I'll agree, not to say anything about your involvement, as you didn't really do any harm here."
Zach's eyes were wide just like Hagakure's this time as they looked at Incognito. The pro who just told Zach that got a more stern look on her face, "I will warn you not to overstep the bounds of your provisional license again though." Her stern look eased up and she gave him more of an expectant and semi-disappointed one, "You only have to last a couple months before you can get a full one."
Zach could see on her face that the disappointment she showed was because she believed he was going to screw up this chance he had. He nodded in agreement, and he just spoke softly in response, "I know." He paused for a second, then he said it aloud, "I just didn't want more people getting hurt from this drug during these months where I can't do anything. I don't like feeling like I can't do a thing…" Zach let out a low sigh and then lifted his head with a smile and a more grateful look at the older woman right in front of him. "Thank you, Incognito."
The boy looked back and forth at the two heroes in front of him, gave Incognito a small bow of his head, then he started towards and between them to the back doors. "H-Hey," Hagakure started while spinning fully to face her friend. Incognito glanced back too, but she turned away and pulled out her phone as she had more to deal with now as they were on a tight schedule. "Where are you going, Zach?" Hagakure questioned. "What are you doing now?"
"Going back into the club," Zach replied like it was obvious. Incognito frowned but continued her phone call despite what she just heard in the background. Zach continued to Hagakure who stared at him in total confusion, "I spent a lot of money already-" Zach paused suddenly. He turned and he walked back over to one of the unconscious men in the loading area, and he reached down to the redhead whose pockets he patted down. Zach pulled out a rolled-up stack of bills, and he counted off a specific amount of them before reaching back down and putting the rest back in the guy's pocket for evidence. He slid his own cash into his pocket with a grin back at Hagakure who gawked at him for doing that so casually while Incognito was on the phone and could not scold him.
"I can't believe you," Hagakure whispered as Zach walked back in front of her. She started smiling though and laughed at the look he gave her back like saying 'hey, it was my money in the first place.'
"I just want to say goodbye to a couple of people I met inside," Zach told his friend who he was glad to see that smile from right there. "Then I'll grab my jacket and head home." He turned and looked at Incognito as she lowered her phone and got ready to tell Hagakure something. "Good luck on the raid," Zach told the two girls. Then he reached back behind him and opened the loading dock door, and he disappeared back into the nightclub.
A/N Thanks for reading! Had the idea for this chapter back like a year ago or something after going to a nightclub in Roppongi... took a while to finally get it out but I hope you enjoyed it! Getting in these quick updates again, and I plan to keep doing so... though for the next week or so I might be a bit busy. My mom's getting married, all my family is coming over, but I'm working on the next chapter at a Starbucks right now so let's hope for another one out by tomorrow! Anyway, Zach uses his network of homeless friends, his bribing skills, and his acting, to work his way into finding the suppliers of a dangerous drug he wants off the streets. He even manages to keep from getting revealed for acting (again) outside his normal means of his provisional license, but Incognito's worried he won't be able to keep that up for much longer- So leave a review below telling me what you think of the chapter! Questions, comments, predictions, or anything else you've got!
Logargon chapter 163 . 8h ago
Oh a bear seems leg ... (double takes) ... WHAT THE HELL MAN WHY ARE WE ONLY LEARNING ABOUT THIS BOSS BEAR NOW!
XD lol I had the idea way back but when I decided not to write the full chapter for him during Death times I knew I was going to do it in a flashback after Zach returned instead due to Dover showing up unexpectedly. Once I thought that, I decided I wanted to keep Dover more of a secret to be suddenly revealed as a reminder that there was so much during Zach's year+ gone that even we don't know about, for us to have had no mention of him at all from the scene where he first appeared for a second. Plus since he wasn't a full member of the AoD, and we didn't see the King compound raid or Wampajawa which were alluded to a couple times (including last chapter where we heard that Dover had been involved with those two), there was little reason for him to be mentioned. Thanks for the review! Only one in the short time between these two chapters!