Chapter 10

-Red Lotus's gate-

-01:30-

In front of a golden fence gate stood two guards. Both were dressed in black suits, adorned with a red lotus flower on their breast pocket, and wearing dark sunglasses and a white earpiece. They stood on each side of the gate, eyes focused on the road.

"Black and green Audi," said the man on the left, making his colleague only shrugged.

"Red Ferrari," the man on the right replied, getting a snort from the other.

"What's wrong with my choice?" he retorted.

"Have you ever seen a red car, let alone a Ferrari enter this place?"

"Satoshi told me that someone came in with a red Ferrari during his shift."

"Well then, let's see who's the lucky one today," The man on the left said as he returned his gaze to the road.

Right as he said that, a black and green Audi made its way towards the gate, stopping in front of the two guards.

Both of the men walked to each side of the car as the window rolled down, revealing a man with combed back snow-white hair, dark purple eyes and peachy white skin.

"Good evening, mind letting me in?".

"ID please," the guard requested, and the snow-haired man gave it to him.

"Here you go," he said as the card was taken from.

The man took out a flashlight aiming at the card, scanning both sides.

"Sir mind if you lower the windows of your car?" the other guard requested. The snow haired man did so, lowering the windows to show that he was alone in the car.

"Something wrong?" he asked, as the guard aimed his flashlight around at the inside of the car for a few seconds, scanning the car before backing away.

"No, not at all."

The other man gave the card back to the snow-haired man, "Enjoy your night, Mister Kusutā."

"The same to you, gentlemen," Kusutā said as the windows rolled up as the gates opened.

The car drove off, and when it passed the gates, they started to close. "You owe…" the man on the left started but his colleague stopped him.

"Shut up," he said with a growl, as a small chuckle escaped the other's lips.

In the car, Kusutā pocketed his id and snorted. "Security is pretty lax on the gate."

{What did you expect? People dressed in SWAT armor with rifles?} Yusei's voice came out of the stereo.

"I was expecting more than just... two guards and a large gate," he looked down at his watch, fingers touching the faceplate, and began to scroll.

"Ben, that would look suspicious as hell." Lilith's voice came from the backseat.

"For what's happening tonight, it's pretty lax in my opinion," Ben pressed his watch again as metallic flakes form on his hand and formed into a pair of square glasses and a silver earbud.

"They probably have more guards inside," She said once again.

"Probably, but I doubt that they are going to bust out their best just yet," He replied casually, putting on the glasses. {Anyways, how far is our new friend?}

{20 minutes from you right now.} Yusei said as Ben grabbed the wheel and took a turn to a parking lot.

Ben parked the car and turned off the engine. "Well good luck on your behalf ladies," he said getting out of the car tapping on the side of his glasses making the inside of the lens to dim while on the other side it looked normal and put the earbud on his left ear.

"The same to you boss," came the voice of Amber, receiving a nod from Ben as he closed the door and started walking. "How much of a show, do you think he'll put on?" she asked.

"Well considering the mission, he might go out with a bang," Lilith answered with a sigh.

Humming to himself, as the earbud was playing one of his favorite songs, Ben walked towards the exit.

"Hmm, this new earbud works quite well. It'll be useful."

{That's why we made it.} Yusei said as Ben left the parking lot and saw a bright light-up sign nearby pointing at the road ahead.

'Welcome to the Red Lotus,' was written in large red letters.

"Then, let's use this to the best of it's ability," Ben smirked as he followed the sign.

-Meanwhile-

-Musutafu Police Station-

-Briefing room-

-01:30

The room was quiet as the heroes and Daishin quietly listened to the recording.

{Now it's up to you}, they heard, as the recording stopped and the room now became completely silent.

Clearing his throat, Daishin stood up and was the first to break the silence.

"As, we heard Omuni is on the move again, but at least this time we have a lead on his actions."

"And how do we know this isn't a trap?" Asked a man with green hair with a few yellow streaks, dressed in a plain white suit and glasses. "If Omuni did this there has to be a reason."

"That's true Nighteye, but sadly we don't have any idea of his current reasoning," Daishin explained.

"Perhaps he's after a crowd?" Nezu proposed thoughtfully.

"A crowd?" Naomasa questioned, "That would be out of his usual pattern."

"Indeed, it would. But with what Omuni has done recently, we can't ignore that possibility," Daishin looked at Nezu, "What could he possibly want a crowd for?"

Nezu looked at the papers once again. "Possibly he wants a crowd for his official debut," he paused for a bit, "...Or it can be for something else entirely."

"Maybe he's planning on sending a message," a voice suggested, "And with the crowded casino, it certainly gives him the perfect setting to send his usual bloody message."

The speaker was an extremely short, elderly man with heavy wrinkles and a scrawny build. His hair was grey and spikey, styled short with some bangs hanging forward and a trimmed beard. His costume was of a full-body monochrome suit along with a yellow cape, a belt with the letter "G" on it, very thick yellow gloves and boots, and a dark domino mask which resembles two diamonds. He was known as Gran Torino.

"That could be the most probable case, in case we don't stop him." Nezu commented, looking at Daishin.

"Besides the recording, what other evidence or information do we have?" Nighteye queried.

To this, Naomasa began typing on a computer, and pictures of certain women showed up on the large screen that sat in the front of the room.

"The women who were in the truck, were the victims of kidnapping, and like in the recording said, they were planning to be sold." he explained, and started typing once again, filling the screen with the picture of Yìshí.

"And this is the man, who Omuni's after."

"Yìshí Kòngzhì, I presume?" Nighteye asked, getting a nod from Naomasa, "What information do we have on him?"

"We don't have that much information on him, besides a few court cases of some minor crime," Naomasa said as the screen changed once again, displaying images showing the full scale of the Red Lotus. It was large enough to be considered a small town.

"We are going to divide in five teams," Daishin said, and as he spoke, the outer area that led to the Red Lotus was marked with red lines.

"Firstly, the Police will block all the entrances and exits of the Red Lotus when we have eyes on our targets. Nezu and Gran Torino will be in charge of strategy," and the lines changed once again to surround the entire place.

"Best Jeanist, Edgeshot and the Police will be in charge in rescuing those who were kidnapped and arrest the smugglers," Daishin continued as the line changed to the center of the Red Lotus, being the largest building in the lot.

"Inside of the casino, Naomasa and Nighteye will enter the casino to find Kòngzhì, and use him as bait to attract Omuni. With that, All Might and Endeavor will be in charge of attacking and capturing Omuni. Any objections?" he finished, looking at the heroes, and nodding when he was only met with silence.

"Good, we have no time to spare and we need to get prepared." As the heroes got up and exited the room a police officer walked in with a laptop in hand heading towards Daishin and Naomasa.

Naomasa walked up to the officer, immediately concerned by the troubled look on the officer's face.

"How did it go?" he asked, as the officer opened the computer and turned to face him.

"We tried everything we could, but this happened," he said, showing that the screen was dark with a chibi form of Omuni holding a sign written. "Wait for further instructions."

"The screen has been like this ever since we connected the flash drive, and we can't do anything about it." the officer explained as he pressed the power button and nothing happened.

"Not even the power button is working."

Naomasa groaned slightly as Daishin came to stand beside the two.

"And where is the flash drive?" Daishin asked as the officer pointed at one of the usb ports. "Continue the digging until something is found," he ordered, receiving a nod from the man.

"Naomasa, let's head out."

-Red Lotus Parking lot-

-01:10-

A man was in the parking lot limping on his right leg towards a wall, holding his left shoulder. He had short red hair, and one eye was closed shut while the other was open to show it was a light shade of gray. He had tan skin and was dressed in a complete black attire. Limping towards the wall, the man pressed his hand to it, giving way to an elevator. getting in he pushed one of the buttons making the door close shut and the elevator to move.

He sighed as he rested against the elevator wall and looked down at his broken leg, he closed his eyes trying to calm his breathing. "I should've bailed, while I had a chance," he told himself as the elevator took a few minutes before it dinged and the doors opened.

He sighed once again as he started to limp out of the elevator into a room that was filled with rows of servers, lit up by many green monitors. "You look like crap, Kizaru," said a man that was sitting in front of the many monitors.

Kizaru grunted leaning on a server for support. "Don't even fucking start, fly eyes," he growled as he limped closer making the man turn on his chair to face him.

The man had a rather slim build with short wavy black hair, his eyes covered by round sunglasses. He had a pale skin tone and was dressed in a black jacket with a golden security badge on his left shoulder, a yellow shirt with white stripes and black pants, and on his left air was an earpiece.

"You look even worse up close. What happened to you?" the man asked, casually leaning back on his chair, "Let me guess, you lost your goons or something?"

"Don't antagonise me, Bijan. Call the boss the mission was a bust," Kizaru snapped, as Bijan only sighed and tapped his earpiece.

"Boss, Kizaru's back. Mission was a bust," he said in a somewhat bored tone as he looked at the red head.

"Alright, I'll tell him," Bijan drawled, tapping his ear piece again and turning to face the monitors, "Boss said to wait here. Maybe he'll take pity on you and just fire you,"

Kizaru gritted his teeth, now furiously trying to glare a hole through the other man's head. "Screw off, I'm more useful than you!"

"Of course, you are," he mused, yawning a bit as Kizaru opened his mouth. But before he could say anything, the left wall slid open as two men walked out of the elevator.

One of them was Yìshí, dressed in a white suit with a red tie and a red lotus flower on his chest pocket.

While the other man was taller than Yìshí, he had a more muscular build and light tan skin, slicked back white hair and matching eyes, dressed in a red vest with a tie of the same color, with a white long sleeve shirt under it, red slacks and black shoes.

Yìshí walked in with the white-haired man followed behind him, before stopping in front of Kizaru staring down at him with a blank and calm expression.

"Please, explain what happened."

Kizaru stood up straight to face the man.

"Boss, before the transport of the merchandise, we were ambushed by some guy wearing a black cloak," Kizaru started, "He showed up out of nowhere and killed everyone. I barely managed to survive him."

"Was everyone in your group and also the merchandise killed?" Yìshí asked, getting a nod from the red hair, "And how did you survive?"

"He threw me out of the building and I landed on some trash. But it wasn't enough for me to come out unscathed."

"I see, and what did the person who attacked you look like?"

"I couldn't get a good look at him, he was wearing a cloak with a hood," "And why didn't you contact me or Bijan?"

Kizaru shifted a bit on his feet, "I couldn't call anyone; my phone was blocked."

"Really? That's odd," Yìshí stated, "And where's your phone?"

Kizaru pulled out his phone that was a bit cracked.

"Does It still work?" Yìshí asked, getting a nod from the red head. "Give it here," stretching out his hand,

Yìshí unblocked the phone, "Seems to be working well," he said as he glanced back at the man behind him. "Seigyo, call Kizaru's phone." The white hair man quickly took out his phone and dialed the number, putting it on speaker.

The room was filled with rings for a while. "The number you're calling is either…" Seigyo ended the call before the dial could continue.

"Kizaru," Yìshí called, focusing again on the red head, "So, someone attacked you and your group. He killed everyone and you only survived because you were thrown out of the building?" he asked with a slight raised eyebrow.

Kizaru nodded, "Yes, that's what happened," as Yìshí took a step closer to face him. "Nothing else happened?"

Kizaru stared back at Yìshí and nodded his head, "Yes, nothing else happened."

Yìshí stayed quiet for a few seconds. "Alright," he broke into a small smile, gently patting Kizaru on the shoulder, making the man flinch.

"Oh sorry," he pulled his hand away, "You should head to the infirmary and get patched up, Alright?"

"Thank you, Sir," Kizaru nodded as he stood straight up, "May I leave?" Yìshí's nod, the injured man began to limp away back to the elevator, falling when he was close to it.

"Need some help?" The man asked as Kizaru helped himself up, using the row as a support.

"I'm good," he said as he limped into the elevator, pressing the button. Soon the door closed and he was out of sight.

Yìshí's smile vanished as he turned around to face Bijan, "Send someone to take care of Kizaru. He's hiding something." Yìshí sighed, shaking his head, "I lost a good stock, especially with their quirks."

Bijan nodded as he turned back to face the monitors, "And what will happen to the auction?"

"It will still happen, we just have to increase our security and make sure to find the attacker," Yìshí explained calmly as he walked to the elevator, followed by Seigyo, "I leave the rest with you."

"Will do, Boss," Bijan nodded, as one of the monitors focused on Kizaru still in the elevator.

-With Kizaru-

Kizaru sighed as he leaned against the elevator wall. "This is practically, suicide," he thought looking at the scar on his forearm and felt phantom pain creep around it, making the man shiver a bit.

A loud 'Ding!' caught his attention, as he looked up to see white walls, with no one in sight. "Good, no one is here yet," Kizaru thought as he started to limp out of the elevator. "I need to…" his train of thought was cut when out of the corner of his eye he noticed two men in black walking towards him. "Shit."

"Follow us," one of them said, making Kizaru sigh as he stood up straight.

"Can you guys help me?" he asked as the two men walked to each side cuffing Kizaru's wrists together and dragging him away. "Geez, thanks.," he rolled his eyes.

As the men started walking, Kizaru sighed once again, "I guess, I'm fired?"

One of the men pressed the ear piece, {Boss, we have him in the room.}

-Meanwhile with Ben-

-Red Lotus Entrance-

-01:00-

In the entrance of the Red Lotus, there was another gate but this time there was a man dressed in a similar attire to Seigyo behind a wooden podium stand. "And what currency are you going to use, Mister Kusutā?" he asked looking up at Ben.

"Dollars," he answered, getting a nod from the man.

"You want 200.000 dollars in your account?" he asked, getting a nod from Ben. "Alright," he said as after a few minutes, he took out a golden card with a flower on the background. "Here you go."

Ben took the card and smiled. "Well thank you," he said as he started to walk to the gates as they opened.

"Wow, this place is pretty much a tiny Vegas," he thought as he walked through the gates to see a sea of bright neon colors coming from the various establishments spread around the Red Lotus, from stores that were practically mini malls, to large restaurants, cinemas and hotels all encircling the largest building. The casino looked to be about 10 stories high from the streets.

"Wow, and I thought I was overkill," he mumbled to himself as he started walking towards the casino. As he walked, he noticed the large number of security guards standing in front or near each store, each dressed in heavy armor. "Now this is more, what I was expecting," he thought as he approached the large building.

Ben noticed the guards were with batons and a bulky gun in the holsters. "Enjoy your night sir, and avoid causing problems," one of them said getting a nod from Ben.

Ben walked in the casino, the entire place was decorated with red and white décor and furniture. As he walked, he noticed that the walls had gold circles written within it the kanji for gamble. "Really subtle."

Ben stopped taking a look at the many gambling tables. "Which of them should I play," Ben tapped his chin, as he stopped in front of a blackjack table. "Well, this'll be a good start," he thought, lowering himself on the chair. "Evening," he greeted the dealer with a smile.

"Good Evening Sir, I believe you already know the rules?" the dealer asked.

"I know the rules, but I don't know how the betting system works here," Ben answered, getting a nod from the dealer.

"There are those small card readers," he started, pointing at the small silver card reader with a digital screen, "Where you swipe and you could adjust the amount you wish to bet."

Ben nodded. "Alright," he swiped his card on the reader and placed his bet.

"200.000 right at the start?" The dealer asked getting a nod from Ben.

"Yup, I'm feeling pretty lucky today," he smirked at the dealer who nodded as he began shuffling the cards.

The dealer placed two cards on Ben's side, two king of hearts and for the dealer a 10 of hearts and one that was faced down.

"I'll stay," Ben said as the dealer turned his other card to show it was a 7 of spades, increasing the number on his screen to a total of 400.00, "Not bad"

"That's pretty good Sir," the dealer said, unmoved as he took the cards, "Another round?" he asked, getting a nod from Ben.

"Yup, I'm planning on walking out rich tonight," Ben grinned as he swiped his card again on the reader.

-Red Lotus Gate-

00:50

The two guards were standing at their post, that was until a police car approached the gates. They walked to both sides of the car.

Both windows on the front lowered to show Naomasa and Nighteye. "Good evening, gentlemen. We are here to have a talk with Mister Kòngzhì," Naomasa said, as the guards raised their eyebrows to this.

"IDs?" he asked as the other man on the right extended his hand.

Taking the IDs, the two analyzed them briefly and gave the cards back. "Please wait a minute." The man on the left pressed on his earpiece. {Chief there's an officer and a hero here. They want to talk to the boss.}

Looking at the clock, Naomasa slowly tapped his finger on the wheel. "48 minutes left," he thought as the guard walked back to the car.

"Sir, my superior asked, the reason why you want to talk with Mister Kòngzhì?"

"There was an accident with a truck that held illegal material earlier tonight. According to the records, the truck belonged to Mister Kòngzhì."

The guard was silent for a bit, his hand held to the ear piece, before nodding as the gates opened. "Please drive directly to the second gate, since it's an important matter," he said, getting a nod from Naomasa who rolled up the window and drove off.

As the gate closed the two guards went back to their spot. "Another one?" asked the man on the right.

"Probably," the other responded with a shrug.

Leaning backward on his chair, Yìshí closed his eyes. "I see, maybe I'll get some information from them," he drawled.

{I honestly doubt that they'll have any information about who did it,} Bijan's voice came out the earpiece. {But better avoid suspicions.}

"Indeed. While I'm dealing with our dear guest, you take care of security."

{Already on it, sensors and everything else are being set up as we speak.}

Opening his eyes Yìshí stared at the grey ceiling, sighing, "And also make sure, Kizaru has some company for the night. I don't want him to spend it alone."

Slight laughter could be heard on the other end. {Leave it to me, I'll send him some special company.} his laughter was audible until Yìshí pressed his ear piece and stood up.

His office was rather large, able to fit 10 or more people, it was decorated like any usual office, with a desk, computer, couches and other furniture around the room, with a few paintings of himself on the wall and a large window behind him giving a great view of the lighten up city.

Yìshí looked at the couch where Seigyo was sitting and signaled him. "We have to meet someone," he said, walking past the white hair man, who stood up and followed him out of the room without noticing that the chair, Yìshí was sitting near seconds ago had moved slightly.

-X-

Author's note: So… Yeah, I'm not dead yet but sure have been having a lot of issues recently. At least now I know, what's like being the writer and reader, I'm gonna try get back to schedule but can't promise anything at the moment.

Major thanks for my editor/Beta-reader Ig I guess for fixing the many, and many grammatical errors.

Anyways, like always comment or review to know if I'm heading the right path or I should change some things.