"Oh, hey, look…! An arcade…!" With his usual, slow way of speaking, Shocker pointed to the neon sign flashing overhead through the rain and darkness. Press Start. "Maybe we can hide out there? If there's a lot of games and stuff… there's a lot of stuff to keep us busy while we wait!"

"You just want to goof off, don't you?" Taro narrowed his eyes at the other man, glasses flashing. That idiot wears sunglasses! Even at night!

"No, wait, actually, hang on, Taro, I think he might be onto something!" Mikoto held up a hand as he looked at Shocker, eyes admiring behind his own sunglasses. Taro's face and voice went deadpan.

"… You can't be serious." It was a statement rather than question, for he knew the answer already anyway.

"No really, think about it!" Mikoto pleaded, turning to Taro. "Like Shocker said, if there's a lot of games and stuff… there's a lot of places to hide and stuff! Now that I think about it, we should really expand our criminal enterprise!" The Head Assassin stared up at the neon sign, rubbing his hands together greedily. His hair was silver; he was going for the gold!

Taro's nostrils flared. "As if the indignation wasn't bad enough, working for… Ass R Us! The last thing we need is… is… an Ass Start!"

"Ooh, good name!" Mikoto slapped Taro's back chummily. "I was thinking Press Assassin. Like, "if you need a hit, Mikoto and friends are it. All you have to do is call; press ass, and that's all!" Mikoto hummed a jingle while Taro wrenched free from his assassin partner's grip.

"Let us put it to a vote." Buchanan, the largest, oldest, and arguably sanest of the quintet finally spoke up, voice low and rumbling. His dark blue eyes—one of them scarred—locked with Taro's, a silent promise passing between them. They would vote to move on. Mikoto and Shocker—being the idiots that they were—would vote to hide in the arcade. That left their fifth assassin, Harley, to break the tie.

Wait, what?! Why me?! They know I'm indecisive! Despite Harley's calm, cold, composed, collected exterior, on the inside, they panicked. Of course, they knew the smart decision was to get back to base ASAP, but they couldn't deny that they secretly wanted to go to the arcade. Yeah, it was dangerous, but that was all part of the fun! Assassin life had to have a little bit of spark sometimes! So, Harley had to decide, head or heart?

"Hmmm…" Their dark blue eyes drifted down as they fiddled with the brim of their cap, trying to buy themself time. Maybe it was time to test their Ability again and get their way with nothing but a little bit of charisma… Come on, Harley, you got this…!

They exhaled slowly, then looked up, expression as disinterested as they could make it. "Arcade." They shrugged and tilted their head casually.

Buchanan recoiled in silent disbelief and outrage, and out of the corner of their eyes, Harley saw Taro frowning disapprovingly. Their gut wrenched.

Once again, though, Harley's poker face concealed a storm within. "Doesn't have to be long," they shrugged again, hand slipping into their pocket as their gaze slid back to the neon sign. "We could even use this place as something of a decoy, hide out here for a while to draw the eyes of potential spies… then we sneak back to base." The blue-haired assassin grinned dangerously.

Taro and Buchanan still didn't look delighted, but they could concede that Harley had the most compelling argument for the arcade so far (not that that was saying much, given that Harley was "up" against the resident idiots, Shocker and Mikoto).

"Perfect!" Shocker beamed. "I got quarters!" Then he turned out the pockets of his black hoodie.

The others could only gawk at all the silver coins that clattered out. Where did he even GET those?! We weren't on any theft missions lately!

ooo

As the quintet dispersed throughout the arcade, Shocker clung to his assassin partner, Harley. "I was… collecting quarters in the gutters… for gumball machines… in case we ever came across any. Hmmm… I wonder if there are any gumball machines here?" He looked around expectantly, as if Harley was supposed to tell him. He still wore his sunglasses, even though the arcade was dimly lit. So did Mikoto.

Taro crossed paths with them later, and cast a side-eye at the blissful, blonde, brainless assassin.

"He's… like this…" Harley sighed out of the corner of their mouth, a wave of secondhand embarrassment washing over them.

"You don't say?" Now Taro quirked a thin, dark eyebrow in amusement, and Harley felt tension fall from their shoulders despite themself.

Whew! At least Taro ISN'T actually mad! Of course he wasn't. He may not have agreed with Harley's vote, but it wasn't worth getting upset over. And he could admit that Harley had the most coherent argument out of any of them. With one hand, Taro took more quarters from Shocker, and with his other, he took Harley, tugging the smaller assassin's sleeve subtly.

"Seeya, pardner!" Shocker saluted Harley goodbye before pulling out his iPhone, trying to shove a quarter in the charging port, and opening up the Tetris app. Taro cast the blonde another disbelieving stare.

"He comes to an arcade… and then proceeds to play on his phone…"

"He's… like this," Harley repeated with a rueful smile. They knew Taro hadn't pulled them away from Shocker because he didn't like Shocker, rather, even though Taro and Harley were part of Assassins R Us, they were actually imposters and infiltrators. Because of that, they could really only trust each other. Even though Shocker and Mikoto were equally stupid, incompetent, and overly-friendly (in that order), their true goals and desires still technically did not align with Taro and Harley's true goals and desires.

If I believed in it, I would say our meeting was… fate… Harley's dark blue eyes drifted to Taro's face. Not only were the odds insanely low that two totally different people would both decide to infiltrate the same assassin organization at the same time, but there was also the fact that they happened to meet up, identify each other (at roughly the same time, no less), and already have known one another, somewhat.

Taro and Harley were two sides of the same coin. Taro was the detective who became an "assassin". Harley was the "assassin" becoming a detective working under Taro. Their dynamic, ironically enough, helped them hide—then reveal—their and each other's secret identities. Harley's Ability essentially made them the world's best actor, able to convince even highly skilled assassins that they were also a highly seasoned assassin.

Taro, meanwhile, was a shapeshifter. He could change his outside while Harley changed their inside. Harley happened to recognize Taro as the detective they really admired, which led to Taro recognizing Harley as a huge fan of his. That was why they spontaneously infiltrated an assassin organization at all, despite not personally being a detective. It seemed like something their hero would do. Lo and behold…

Now Taro and Harley were in something of a secret alliance against the other assassins, able to tell each other secrets they could tell no one else.

ooo

"Shocker sure is… a shocker," Taro smirked, leaning against an arcade machine as Harley slid a quarter into it.

"Hey! I like him!" Harley frowned up at Taro. As much as Harley had a "celebrity crush" on Taro, they'd come to genuinely care about Shocker too. Even if it WAS initially against my will…

Despite the seriousness of the moment, Harley smirked. Their eyes drifted around the arcade until they found Shocker. He finally found his precious gumball machines, and some gacha machines too. As he would show off to Harley later, quite proudly, one of the things he won was a toy snail.

"What about you and Mikoto?" Harley's gaze drifted back to Taro, teasing. Taro made a noise of disgust.

"That man is as straight as the fourth letter of his name!" he said grimly. Mikoto's crush on Taro was more obvious than the giant, glowing "Ass R Us" sign over their "secret" base. "While Shocker doesn't even seem able to comprehend gender, let alone romance or sexuality, Mikoto has just enough in him to be into me! That's why it took me so long to get to you, I was trying to get away from him!"

"Well, that's one way to say that he's gay," Harley snickered. "You know? I'm almost jealous!" they added with a sniff a moment later. From the way Mikoto acted, he was Taro's biggest fan. But… No, he's not! I AM! He doesn't know Taro the way I do! At least not the real one…

The jealousy in Harley mixed unpleasantly with a twinge of embarrassment as Shocker flashed through their mind, unbidden. As much as they cared about their assassin partner, they could not deny that sometimes, they wished Mikoto had chosen Shocker instead. It also didn't help that Ass R Us used the word "partner". Sure, it was the simplest term, but when thinking about people they cared deeply about… Well, the parallels were obvious.

"I like you more anyway." Taro shrugged, and it took everything in Harley to not squeal. Instead, they managed to turn back to the game on their, just barely keeping their expression in check. Well, now I feel as dumb and desperate and derpy as Mikoto!

"D4DJ?" Taro read, turning his gaze to the screen as well, the light reflecting off his glasses. "Doesn't sound like assassin material…"

"Hey, we stan Aoi Miyake in this house!" Harley once again frowned up at Taro, and Taro chuckled as Harley selected a RONDO song.

Hmmm… I believe that Harley has shared some of this music with me before, making a secret "assassin playlist" for us to help us get in the mood for our work. However, I cannot say that I have listened to very much of it outside of that.

Harley, though, was committed, still half-arguing with Taro as they tried to full-combo the song. "Aoi was one of the first to help me realize that I'm agender!" they cried. In the game, Aoi was constantly mistaken for a man. It didn't help that Aoi had an amazing androgynous style too.

"Did it influence any of yours?" Taro looked the short-haired, black-and-blue clad figure up and down and smirked.

"No," Harley chuckled softly. "Or if it did, it was subconscious! I don't know, black and blue just always gave me assassin vibes, you know?" They looked Taro up and down, also clad in black and blue. Both "assassins" chuckled, expressions saying the same thing. Great minds think alike!

Taro and Harley weren't just each other's confidantes in detective and assassin matters, but gender and sexuality. Taro was the first one Harley came out to, and vice versa. Taro was not agender, but both of them were aro-ace. Harley took comfort in it, not just because it meant Taro related to them in ways others could not, but because it meant Taro would never reciprocate Mikoto's crush. Harley's spirit lifted after that reminder.

ooo

"Ah, yes! Full combo!" The blue-haired assassin clapped, blaring airhorns signaling the end of the song.

"Not bad," Taro nodded approvingly, and Harley felt butterflies in their stomach again as a surge of (gay) pride rushed through them.

"Thanks," they just barely managed to keep their cool as they leaned casually against the machine. "Did you want to try—?"

"Hey guys! They got 4D chess! Who wants to play with me?!" Mikoto shouted excitedly from across the arcade. "TARO?!"

"Oh, you can't be serious!" Taro scoffed. "Moron!" Despite his words, though, he was darkly intrigued to see how terribly Mikoto would do.

Shocker stood beside Mikoto, also shouting. "I think we can have up to four players! Wanna play with me, HARLEY, PARTNER?!"

There it was again. That word. Partner.

"ALSO! I NEED MORE QUARTERS!" Mikoto continued to shout, even though he was right beside Shocker. So much for "hiding out".

Taro and Harley sighed and rolled their eyes, catching each other's as they made their way to their loudmouthed, airheaded partners.

Buchanan stood nearby with his arms crossed, scowling. An old man like me should be retired and in bed by now!

Shocker grinned from ear to ear as he turned out his black hoodie's pockets again.

Seriously, where does he keep getting all these quarters?!

Taro and Harley knew better than to question the antics of Ass R Us anymore.

AN: Happy bday, Zero! To everyone else, this uses their Prism-verse OCs (Taro, Harley) infiltrating "Assassins R Us" (created and led by Mikoto). The other OCs (Shocker, Buchanan) belong to Zero's friend/co-creator, Lucien (of Blackwater Insurance in chap 6).

Also here's another way 4 is connected to money: The 4 key is also the $. And notice, there's 4 sections to this story, LOL!