**A.N.: This chapter underwent a few more significant changes, thank you to my beta, Telemain's Daughter for explaining the need for the extra clarification. I also added a bit more description for a certain character. Thanks for the reviews!**

As necessary as it was, picking new marks made Kyouji jittery with nerves, causing his hands to shake minutely. He shoved them into his pockets to conceal them as he continued to roam the aisles of the electronics store, as good a place as any to pick out the well-to-do. It didn't matter who he took from now that he was basically back to square one. No fence meant targeting items would be a waste of time, unless it was something he could use himself. Money, preferably cash, was the important thing at the moment.

However, it wouldn't do to look suspicious right off the bat. During the act itself, his head would clear, and he'd be fine, but in the anticipation beforehand there was nowhere for the nervous energy to go. His own reaction annoyed him, since there was no real reason to be nervous until he actually attempted a theft. In the time before, he was safe.

Well, as safe as you could be when you hadn't brought in any decent goods in a while to cover the 'fees' Yama insisted on from those who didn't have any footing of their own. And now on top of that, Kyouji was limited to things that were immediately valuable. He'd just have to work harder, he reasoned. Though it was a pain to deal with Yama, he was better off now than a couple years ago.

The downside was that once you started, it was nearly impossible to back out safely. Yama didn't need to be smart about keeping them in line when he had brute force on his side, which Kyouji was minorly grateful for. It could be far worse. The only thing Yama made it his business to know was what each person under his thumb was capable of bringing in. Mistakes were met with little mercy, and to deliberately cheat him out of 'his share' was something few could get away with.

Kyouji's last choice had been a total bust, but at least he hadn't been caught by the law, and he'd even been paid, though it wasn't much. He still wasn't completely certain what had caused Yama's change of heart, but whatever kept him employed and out of deep water was fine by him.

He scoffed quietly to himself. If you could call it employment.

Stepping out of an aisle, Kyouji felt something run into his leg. Okay, what was it with things—people, whatever, running into him lately? Glancing down, he saw a small child wearing a shirt that likely wouldn't fit him for years. At least the kid had the decency to look up at him through dark hair and mutter an apology rather than run off.

"Just watch where you're going next time, kid." He didn't have time to deal with this, and if the brat had been trying to pickpocket him, he was out of luck. He didn't have anything on him at the moment worth the effort.

He was about to walk away when a very familiar blond approached the two of them, apologizing for the younger one's behavior. Kyouji didn't hear a word of it, however, as he started mentally panicking.

This. This is why you don't steal from locals.

Kyouji didn't even have any of the 'serum' on him at the moment, not that he could have silenced both her and the kid before an alarm was raised. He could try to run for it, he was probably fast enough—

But. She was smiling, even laughing. She didn't seem angry, but you never knew…

"—ran into you at the airport, how've you been?"

Oh. She didn't know. Kyouji relaxed, laughing a bit in relief, though he supposed it could pass as that of recognition. Taking one of his hands out of his pockets, he pushed his bangs back off his forehead out of habit as he considered how to respond. Hopefully they wouldn't notice or comment on the tremor.

"Oh, yeah. You're that British girl"—not really, unfortunately—" who nearly knocked me over from behind. How anyone has that much energy after getting off a flight is beyond me."

Really, what was she, the energizer bunny? The thought brought a grin to his face, but keeping it there took work. His neutral face wasn't exactly friendly, and he needed to keep her from getting suspicious until he got away. Kyouji didn't like the way the kid was looking at him.

"Sorry about that. Again. I'm Honey Lemon, and this little guy is Tadashi." Her smile was a bit disarming, which only made him more uncertain. "And I'm not actually British, I've just been away for a while."

Gee, that would have been nice to know at the time.

"Hm, could have had me fooled. I'm Kyouji, uh— Kyouji Shakuzai."

Perhaps he should turn off autopilot and actually pay attention to what he was saying, though it was too late for faking an introduction. Thankfully, giving them his 'official' name wouldn't hurt anything. The only places he used it anymore were those that required the fake driver's license in his pocket, and it was doubtful he'd see her there. She didn't seem the type.

"That's an unfortunate name." Kyouji didn't appreciate the teasing tone her voice took.

And great, she actually knew Japanese. Fantastic. No one had actually commented on his name in years, once those who found it funny grew up and moved on to more entertaining targets. Realizing he had let his smile slip, he forced another grin.

"This is coming from someone named 'Honey Lemon'?" Two could play at that game.

Honestly, who names their kid that? At least his dad had had a compelling reason. Once he thought about it for a second, in all likelihood, hers was either a nickname, or her parents were hippies of some kind.

Kyouji noticed the kid -Tadashi, wasn't it?- as he started to pull on Honey Lemon's sleeve, asking to leave. Thank goodness. He realized he was being addressed again.

"It was nice seeing you again." –Not really– "Maybe we'll run into you again sometime." At this statement, Kyouji outright laughed.

"Please don't. I dunno how much more of that I can take from the two of you."

What were they going to do next, hit him with their car?

They walked off to the front of the store, and though they probably weren't coming back, Kyouji quickly decided it would be best to make himself scarce. He would find somewhere else to scope out, no skin off his back. He waited just until they were gone before leaving as well. No reason to risk them following him.

Having exited the mall unfollowed, Kyouji felt his cheap-worthless-good-for-nothing cellphone buzz to alert him of a new message. Only two or three people had his number, and only one person ever texted him for anything.

Opening up the messages, Kyouji saw that, sure enough, there was a location from a blocked number. It was for one of the run-down buildings just off the port that he frequented often, and was maybe a ten-minute walk from where he was. Apparently, today hadn't been stressful enough. Thanks, universe.

Shoving his phone back in his pocket, he allowed his mind to wander as he traveled the familiar streets and alleyways. No one would give him any trouble he couldn't end quite quickly (and unpleasantly), even without the serum itself. But that didn't mean he didn't need to watch his back, a thought which cycled his train of thought back to the more present threat.

He really didn't want to know why Yama was asking for him so soon.

Many newbies would look at Yama and scoff, underestimating him, but his size wasn't as much a weapon as his ability to make people disappear. Yama on his own would probably amount to nothing more than an oversized playground bully, but his older brother was much higher up in the chain of command. This afforded Yama a lot more power than he could ever have attained on his own.

It didn't, however, make him invincible. A few years back, Yama had been picked up by the police, along with almost everyone else at the bot fight, after he had had his bot obliterated by some kid. Honestly, the kid would have ended up on respirators if he hadn't been conveniently rescued by some guy on a bike. Kyouji had been small enough and smart enough to not try to run from the police and instead hid until they left, avoiding capture.

It would have taken little effort to bail out Yama, even with the other charges against him, but his brother had decided to let Yama remain in jail for two years, forbidding anyone to help him out in order to punish him for his stupidity and bot-fighting habit. (As if they would. No one was disappointed to have him off the streets.)

Nearly everyone who had the money bet on the fights, but it was ridiculously expensive and risky to participate. Thousands of dollars could go into the perfect bot, only for it to be destroyed in seconds. This was the main reason its popularity had gone down in the past years; no one was willing to invest anymore.

Kyouji reached for the door handle to the dilapidated house, wondering if they should hang a sign that read, 'Nothing suspicious going on here. Move along.'

Stepping over the threshold, he was greeted by one of the more agreeable people of the bunch, the only other person he'd given his number. (Though even if Kyouji hadn't, he had a feeling that the darker skinned man would have found a way to get it. That was what he was known for, after all.)

"Hey, Jadoku, I got ya some of those syringes you were asking for." A wide grin settled on the brunette's face as he reached down into his bag and passed Kyouji a bag with an assortment of small, empty syringes. A maze of black circuits started at his knuckles and disappeared up his extended arm into his sleeve.

"They're sterile, right?" Kyouji accepted the bag, having paid in advance for them to be sought out. The other man just laughed.

"'Course they're sterile, made sure myself. Wouldn't want you getting sick."

Kyouji wouldn't, though. As far as he was aware, it was likely his blood that destroyed any virus or contaminant that entered his body, considering… but it was the thought that counted, he supposed. He just didn't want to accidentally give one of his targets something that would ruin their life. That was not the business he was in.

Giving a brief thanks, he made his way to the back of the building to wait for whatever Yama had to tell him. Grabbing a water bottle, he settled down into one of the worn down chairs and pulled one of the syringes out of the bag. He really didn't feel like not having a safety net at this point, and outright killing Yama, while possible, was suicidal at best.

Unscrewing the cap of the bottle, he dipped the needle into the water and pulled until the syringe was almost full. He then set the bottle besides the chair and rolled up his sleeve, trying to ignore the minorly terrifying prospect of the needle getting stuck in him. It hadn't happened yet, but Kyouji still didn't like the idea of a needle under his skin, so he quickly poked the skin of his forearm with the needle, drawing it away from his arm as a bubble of blood welled up. He didn't need much, but he had to make this fast.

Lining up the needle, he carefully pulled until he saw red in the main of the syringe. He hastily got another syringe to gather the excess blood before the tiny puncture closed up, (the fewer times he had to do this, the better). The only indication it had happened was a singular, tiny green scale, which wouldn't be too difficult to hide. Taking the blood-only syringe, he dipped it into the water bottle to fill the rest of the way.

Kyouji didn't care about cross-contamination. His blood was venomous, not poisonous, and you could drink it by the mouthful if you were so inclined. …unless you had chapped lips or a stomach ulcer or an open gum or a scratched throat—

Mildly disgusted by that train of thought, Kyouji capped the first syringe and slipped it into his pocket, keeping the other to fiddle with until Yama, who apparently didn't care about keeping people waiting, decided to show.

Finally hearing the heavy footsteps that couldn't belong to anyone else, Kyouji capped and placed the other syringe in his pocket. As nice as it was to have, the serum would be best left unused in this situation, and he couldn't trust himself when he was a jumpy as he was currently.

Yama rounded the corner and plopped himself unceremoniously into an adjacent armchair. He had a couple of what looked to be photos in his meaty hands and looked quite pleased with himself.

"I've decided that I'm going to graciously allow you to make up for your mistake, Jadoku."

It really wasn't that big of a mix-up, it was more that next to nothing had come of the risk, and Yama just loved to throw his weight around when he could.

Yama continued, "You may not be aware of it, but a few years ago, I was cheated out of quite a bit of money, along with my prized fighter bot, and was stuck in jail for the entirety of two years. Two years in prison, and I had practically wasted away."

Kyouji had to bite his lip to keep from smirking at that. If this was wasted away, how much had he underestimated his size before? Thankfully, Yama didn't notice, too busy lamenting lost time, or he'd be in for some serious pain.

"—and who do I see everywhere in the papers upon my release? The little brat that had stolen what was rightfully mine. Hiro Hamada."

Kyouji didn't know where this was going, and was uncertain if he actually wanted to. Nothing good came of a slighted Yama.

"Of course, there was nothing I could do at the time, having to recover from my time in jail and many of my most trusted followers having vanished into thin air—" Lucky them "-but fate has given me another chance."

At this, he handed the photos to Kyouji, who accepted them warily. He stilled when he saw the subject of the top one. It was a photo of the kid who had run into him at the store, looking up at someone Kyouji thought he vaguely recognized. There was a glare on the photo, as if it had been taken through a screen, and Kyouji mentally questioned how these had been obtained.

The second photo looked as if it had been cropped, since it was focused on an advertisement on the counter that announced the business hours of somewhere called the Lucky Cat Café. He thought he might have remembered passing by it at some point, but café's weren't exactly his number one hangout location. Yama was looking at him expectantly.

"So, what's the job, exactly?" Kyouji didn't see anything that he would specialize in, since it was unlikely that a café had anything more than the contents of a cash register.

Yama rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Must I explain everything?"

No, the bare minimum would suffice, thanks.

Yama jabbed a finger at the first picture, pointing at the older guy. "This is Hiro." He spoke as one would to a kindergartner. He then moved his finger to the kid, Tadashi, Kyouji remembered. "And this is your target."

Reaching out and taking the second picture, he pointed to the café's name, "And this is where you will find them."

Kyouji had never wanted to strike someone as badly as he did at the moment, but he had other priorities. Like continued breathing.

"I don't steal people. Why would you want the kid, anyway?" That was pushing it a little, but he'd never been asked to do something like this before, and he didn't like the idea of dragging a kid into this. "For all you know, he barely knows him."

"Just leave the details to your superiors." Yama looked convinced that things were going to go his way.

An acrid taste built in the back of his throat, and Kyouji grit his teeth. He was getting sick of this. This arrogant, unskilled brute of what he hesitated to call a man who thought he could just point and snap his fingers and have whatever he wanted handed to him on a silver platter without doing jack because he somehow felt it was owed to him—

"And what makes you think I'll do it?" Jadoku seethed.

Yama's change in expression had gut-dropping fear quickly overriding Kyouji's flash of anger. Nope, nope, he should not have said anything. Before Kyouji could even think to apologize, Yama had his arm in a bone-crushing grip, causing green scales to appear in an attempt to protect the area, hidden beneath his sleeve. The sensation of ants crawling to the surface of his skin was a reminder of exactly how stupid that had been.

"And what else are you going to do," Yama mocked, grip tightening impossibly further, "Bleed on me?"

Kyouji was could feel the dredges of fury rearing up again, but his self-preservation kept him quiet. He could do so much worse. Yama released his arm, believing he'd made his point.

"We aren't going to hurt him, just remind 'Zero' that he owes me some money. With interest."

Kyouji lingered around the street intersection, feigning interest in the various posted ads until he finally noticed a couple enter the café. It was only then that he felt it safe to follow close behind. He hadn't wanted to be the only one in the shop, which could possibly encourage small talk. Besides the current need to not socialize too much with potential targets, it was something Kyouji avoided on a regular basis if he could.

Upon entering, he noticed Honey Lemon at the counter speaking animatedly with someone who could only be Hiro, the one from the picture. In person, he could see how he could have been the small kid from the bot fight, just grown up. If possible, Kyouji would rather not interact with Honey again that day. How did the phrase go? Once is coincidence, twice is creepy... something like that.

Thankfully, she checked her phone and was out the door with a whirlwind of promises to call Hiro, mentioning something about supplies, and didn't take any notice of her surroundings. That solved one possible problem.

Kyouji wasn't stupid or arrogant enough to think he could get hold of the kid on the first visit, so this was simply to get the layout of the place. He didn't want to raise suspicions right away, but he needed to know the location and the possible individuals that would be involved in what he was going to attempt.

He remembered the twenty he still had from being paid that he had later put in his shirt's breast pocket. It was one of the safer, yet still easily accessible locations to store money that prevented him from looking paranoid by using his shoe.

Approaching the counter, Kyouji took a quick look over the menu. Remembering that he hadn't had lunch yet, he ordered a relatively cheap sandwich and water. No sense in wasting money on some fruity drink he didn't need, and non-bottled water was free most places.

After accepting his order's number, Kyouji picked a table near the exit, right next to a window. Might as well have some options should anything 'highly unlikely' happen. From where he was, he had a full view of the street, right down to the end where the incline tapered off before it reached the intersection he had been at. He had to remember that, since anyone sitting here could have seen him earlier.

His attention was drawn back to the counter as the kid, Tadashi, made an appearance, accompanied by a short woman with short black (and was that purple?) hair and a tall, built guy with well cared for dreads. This guy had the potential to be terrifying, if it weren't for the sweater he was wearing, the way he carried himself, and sheer panic that exuded from every pore of his being as he bolted out the door, shouting about being late. Kyouji was more wary of the woman holding some skates that were clearly too small for her.

The woman passed the skates to Tadashi and started to talk to Hiro, while Tadashi stood there looking like he was about to be sentenced to some form of punishment. Thankful he was close enough to overhear the conversation, Kyouji feigned interest in one of the posters advertising some sort of poetry night held in the café.

"Hey, I'm gonna take Tadashi to go roller skating." The woman certainly left no room for argument, which Hiro seemed to recognize, even if his face indicated that he had some concerns.

"Take Baymax with you."

The heck's a baymax? From the fact that the two were already almost out the door, Kyouji guessed it was the large carrying crate that the woman had tucked under her arm. What was it, some giant first-aid kit?

"And for goodness sakes, take a helmet!" The last minute request earned nothing more than a salute from the woman before she was out the door.

Kyouji realized with a jolt that his order was ready and went to collect it just in time to hear Hiro mutter, "This couldn't end badly at all." He could only hope so, as the kid wouldn't be much use dead.

Returning to his seat, Kyouji covertly watched out of the corner of his eye as the kid put on his skates and helmet just outside the door while receiving what he guessed were instructions. The woman went down to the end of the street just in time for one of the most obnoxious grinding noises Kyouji had ever heard to start up, coming from a coffee machine behind the counter.

Well, there went Kyouji's slim chance of hearing anything useful for a while, though visual clues were just as useful. The poor kid looked terrified, holding on to the light post as if it were a lifeline, glancing frequently at the box (the baymax?).

Kyouji stifled a laugh with a small cough, as it looked like Tadashi wasn't going to willingly let go anytime soon. He couldn't blame him, that hill was steep. Finally letting go, Tadashi started to travel down the hill, faster and faster. Kyouji began to truly wish the kid didn't get himself killed. That would cause some definite issues.

The kid's actually doing pretty decently, he might just- Kyouji winced. Nope, spoke too soon. That had to hurt.

Kyouji'd had his share of falls in the past, though their severity was greatly lessened when dark green scales had started to automatically appear to protect him. He subconsciously reached to pull on the sleeve that was covering their latest appearance. It was useful, he supposed, but they certainly took their time detaching to leave normal skin behind. He felt, even if he knew they weren't currently visible, like they were some giant sign advertising, "Hey, this guy isn't normal! Beware!"

In the past, when the twitchy feeling of 'wrongness' had become too much, Kyouji had tried removing them himself before they were ready, but it had only made a bloody mess that resulted in newer, deeper scales appearing to cover the new injury. That had not been a good day.

Kyouji started when the box by the door opened abruptly and something white started to inflate from inside. After a few seconds, the full form made its way down to the pair.

What the—Was that some sort of robot? Okay, that was a stupid question, but Kyouji could say without a doubt that he had never seen anything like it before. He had to wonder what other surprises this assignment would have in store for him. Things were getting steadily more complicated.

The white robot blocked his view, so he turned back to his meal. The infernal coffee machine finally quieted down, and Kyouji was nearly finished when the woman and the kid came through the door. The robot was apparently slower than the two, even with one of them injured, though it didn't look like the kid was limping.

"You guys were gone for like, five minutes." Hiro definitely sounded nervous.

"Yeah, um, Hiro? I think you might want to see this." So you failed at keeping a kid from injuring himself, big deal. He seemed fine now. The color red on her hand caught his eye; had she been injured too?

"I-is that blood?" Hiro seemed to notice as well and looked like he was on the verge of freaking out. The woman pulled her hand back before taking a hold of Hiro's arm with the other hand and leading him towards what Kyouji assumed was a storage room, Tadashi trailing behind them and the robot (baymax?) coming through the door to join.

"We're both fine, Hiro." She certainly seemed sure of that, and Kyouji vaguely wanted to see the fallout when Hiro discovered the injury, but they were out of hearing range.

Or maybe they've all stopped talking for no apparent reason. That works too.

There was no way he could follow after them, and with the other couple in the café, eavesdropping was out of the question. What would he even say to that?

'Oh, yeah. I was really worried about this kid that I don't know, but who ran into me at a store. I also think he doesn't trust me, but don't listen to anything he says, he's just a kid.'

That would go over really well.

After finishing his food, Kyouji sat there waiting for the check. This was the stupidest system he had ever heard of. What was to prevent him from simply walking out the door without paying? Well, other than the fact that he would probably need to return in the future if he wanted to have any hope of completing his assignment. His hair was fairly recognizable.

What are they doing back there, open heart surgery? This is taking forever.

The woman made a sudden reappearance before dashing out the door and disappearing into the distance on her bike. What was it with these people running out the door?

Hiro reentered the room as well, though there was no sign of Tadashi or the robot. There had to be something else beyond that door; it wasn't normal to tell a kid to wait in a supply closet.

Kyouji finally received his bill, paid, and realized that Hiro was planning on closing the shop for the day. He left at the same time as the couple, resolving to return another day and wondering just what had caused such a strange reaction from the group.

**A.N.: Thanks for reading! And for those of you who haven't already looked it up, Jadoku quite literally means snake venom in Japanese.**