Rock's bullying this old man :(

Umph…

Man, I'm getting old.

DUCKY DUCKY DUCKY

Iori felt his bones creak as he slumped back into his office chair and watched the two vigilantes argue with each other. His fingers hurt pretty badly from the pressure Riot had put on them while slaughtering the terrorist troops. Iori would've just burned them all - but Riot really liked to get down and dirty. Riot, it hurts, you fucker.

KAKAKAKAKA!

Iori sighed, unwound his bandages and examined his (lack of) fingernails, damn that's nasty. He was tired. He'd spent all last night doing awful things to 'Big Man' and didn't catch a wink of sleep. He was regretting it now. He'd just been yanked back from the brink of death by the Fourth's timely arrival not eight hours ago - and already he was putting his body through the works. What I need is a hot shower and a long nap…

And Iori was already looking forward to it. His mission here was all but finished. Geese Howard had contracted him to get rid of the enemy vigilante threat against HCon. Normally, Iori would never do favors for Geese Howard (Iori was still mad about all the bullet holes in his apartment Shates made him patch). But now that Geese's crew had captured and tortured him for three days, that animosity only grew. Iori wanted to personally burn down Geese Tower… and now you're working for him? You're a nut, Yagami.

NUTS! CRAYYY-ZEEE~

Shut the fuck up, Riot.

Iori Yagami was here for his American. His stupid employee who couldn't do a single thing his boss told him to. Rock had gotten himself tangled in the biggest mess of a century, and if Iori didn't want to start looking for a new guitarist come Monday, he needed to get his bucket and start bailing the kid out. That was the only reason he'd consider being here, guarding Geese Howard's elevators, instead of staying home and cuddling his bedsheets. I just want to sleep on a fucking pillow…

Thankfully Rock had been easy enough to convince. They yelled at each other for a bit, Iori got headbutted in the face (Rock always seemed to default to violence when things got too stressful), and that was that. A bit more yelling and he'd successfully (verbally) beaten Rock into submission. Hopefully it'd be enough to deter him from climbing those stairs to proceed on his suicide mission. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

And the only reason they weren't out of here ten minutes ago, was because Rock wouldn't let Iori go cut Kain down. The boy had insisted he'd grown fond of his uncle, and was currently attempting to convince the man to surrender himself to the police. Iori didn't have an issue with it. Geese had asked him to 'Get Rid' of every member of the attacking force. Prison certainly counted as 'being rid of'. Kain was also a flame user, and that meant if Iori wanted to kill him, he couldn't just blow his brain out from across the room. He'd need to do it manually. Normally, that wasn't a big deal, but right now it hurt to make a fist, and Iori had never kicked anyone to death before. It was fingertips or nothing. No matter what, it'd be a painful experience for both of them. If Rock wanted to make things easier, Iori would be a fool to stop him.

Still. They were taking forever. Iori filled his lungs in an attempt to speed things up.

"Howaaard, hurry up! I wanna go home!"

Rock was enthusiastically discussing something with Kain Heinlein just out of earshot and turned back to holler at him. He sounded rather excited. Suspiciously excited. Iori wondered at that but couldn't bring himself to walk over there and pry. It was already hard enough staying awake.

"Sorry Boss, just a bit longer, okay!? (Right listen, I just need you to-...)"

Iori yawned and glanced out the eastern window. Judging from the position of the sun, it was probably... 7:00 in the morning? Police had formed a perimeter around the building, but none of them were coming in to seize the crime lord. Geese had successfully bought the state's allegiance using… me. Wow. That feels shitty.

It did feel shitty. Iori wasn't used to being a hostage. He'd been kidnapped plenty of times (especially when he was younger, and didn't have mastery of his flames) but couldn't recall anyone successfully trading him in. For a long as he could remember, he alone was the top predator in the underworld. Although he didn't care for politics, and thereby didn't make any decisions a traditionally powerful gang member might, he still held influence. Whoever he threw his weight to, always won. For years, he was the unstoppable trump card… well, until now - obviously.

Losing sure feels like shit…

And now, what was he doing? Ah, yeah. The wetwork for the man who had just nearly murdered him. It was a dumb thing to do. Iori knew it. Honestly, he'd just been so excited to go after Big Man, he would've agreed to anything in the spur of the moment. Now that he had some time to think about it, he recognized it was possibly the dumbest thing he'd ever agreed to.

Riot, you should've stopped me.

EEEEEEE

But Iori had already given his word… and he wasn't in the habit of breaking his promises. So for today, Iori Yagami was Howard Connection's henchman, and it felt shitty as hell. Yet unbeknownst to Iori, his day was about to get a hell of a lot worse.

Rock had finished discussions with Kain, and was trotting back towards him. Iori, having assumed Rock had succeeded in convincing his Uncle to spend the rest of his life in prison, stood up and stretched. He was far too eager to go home and get back to sleep, and thereby glossed over several dangerous details. Even though Riot was warning him about the entire floor, and it was actually visibly trembling, Iori really couldn't care less. He chalked it up to Geese stomping around in the penthouse, and focused on his meal ticket home.

"Can we go?"

"Kain wanted to ask if you could come with us and fight Gees-"

Iori cut him off. In his indignance, he failed to notice Rock had leaned against the elevator buttons, and had stealthily pressed 'up'. Machinery began to rumble, but Iori was too busy talking to hear it.

"No! Didn't I already tell you? I'd die, You'd die, We'd all die. Even if you had all your soldiers with you, you'd still die. I couldn't walk on my own eight hours ago, and I took out your entire force in ten minutes. Geese would've done it in five. Don't climb those stairs. The moment you reach the top - you'll lose everything. Do you understand me, Howard? This isn't a game."

Rock sighed and scratched his head. He looked back and forth between Iori in the foyer, and Kain - down the long hallway. After a moment, he responded tentatively and in a low voice, whispering through clenched teeth. He looked extremely nervous.

"Okay, yeah… Yeah, I know this is dangerous, and I really shouldn't have gotten involved… I'm sorry for dragging you in. Really, I am… but at this point, I need to go up, because I'll die either way."

Iori blinked.

"What? Why?"

"Well, uh-" Rock looked him up and down, "Well Uncle Kain, he's never been like this before. He's been really nice to me - but… but he just said I need to go up with him. Or… or he'll,"

Rock sucked a shaky breath, and made it clear he was worried. His brow was knotted, and he stared at the bandages around Iori's fingers. After a moment, he whispered fiercely.

"Or he's gonna burn me alive... He's got flames like you, boss! You can't just take him out like the other guys… and. Well, don't get mad - but you don't look too good. I don't think you can handle it… at least not right now..."

Iori raised his eyebrows. He was incredulous, but not offended. He rolled his eyes. Rock Howard had no place sticking his nose into the underworld, He really wasn't cut out for it. He was too soft, and far, far too kind. When was the last time anyone dissuaded him from fighting on their behalf? Iori couldn't remember. As far as he could recall, everyone was keen on using him to accomplish their own goals. That was the standard for this world, and Rock wasn't making the cut.

Heh… incorruptible little brat.

And thus, It was imperative that Iori cut the boy's ties to the gang as quickly and violently as possible. If Kain didn't eat him alive, then somebody else would. Iori rolled his shoulders and set his eyes on the willowy man at the end of the hall. He chuckled darkly and indicated toward his protege.

"That's... very nice of you, Howard… but don't worry about me. I'll kill that bastard for you. It's what I'm here t-"

*CRACK*

Iori was interrupted by a flare of crackling blue-white flames bursting between them. The blast missed Rock's head by six inches, but the intention was clearly to blow the kid's head off. Kain had missed; Rock cried out and shielded his face as he was thrown back against the wall. Besides for a nasty burn blistering on his forearm, he was unharmed... not that Iori noticed.

Yooou piece of shit fuuuck!

Iori was already rocketing down the narrow hallway, wreathed in purple and seeing red. Riot was salivating, and he heard his teeth chattering as he reached for Kain. Even though his instinct was firing off - pinging danger from beneath his feet- Iori threw caution to the wind, because he needed to kill this man, now. He ignored all the warning signs and plowed forward, his shoes pounding on the trembling marble floor, his arms withdrawn to tear into the terrified man fixed in his gaze.

Then, suddenly, Kain flew?

Huh? What the f-

No, Kain hadn't flown. Iori was falling. The floor had given way beneath his feet, crumbling to dust with a pulverizing power, and suddenly - he and his flames- could do nothing but flail uselessly mid-air as he plummeted into a gut-wrenching freefall. He cried out - his rage replaced with utter shock.

He wasn't particularly shocked he was falling. Neither was he shocked he'd been caught in a trap… but he was shocked that there was a trap laid - here. A two storey pitfall that capitalized on his haste, a haste that was uncharacteristic of him. Iori almost always listened to his instincts. He didn't make mistakes on the battlefield...but this time, he had made the conscious decision to ignore the danger - and he paid the price of it,

Because that blue chi flickering through the concrete foundations? That wispy energy that seemed to crumble whatever it touched. Iori had seen it before… It wasn't Kain's power…

No, no way, Howa-

It was Rock's.

That was Rock's chi, which had collapsed the floor beneath his feet. Iori had seen it before. He knew that destructive jolt which flowed with enough raw, crushing power to grind everything it touched to dust. Rock had often turned that strength against him - particularly when he went crazy, or when they were sparring - but the intention was never malice, and Iori could handle it, bu-… thud.

Kaaaughh!

lol, 'cliffhanger?'

nah u guys I'll never kill mai boi

unless