Heroes in the dark chapter 25
It didn't seem right to leave his room so soon. He had to wonder if he might run into Chronostasis in the halls with so little time having passed since he took his leave. Someone like him might be annoyed that he was already trying to get himself lost in such a place. At the moment, it seemed reasonable that he might familiarize himself with this room, especially if he was to be staying here. Tokoyami rifled through the drawers to see if there was anything worth seeing, but it was disappointingly expectable. Besides the basket of food sitting untouched on his bedside, there wasn't anything of particular interest. Granted, he hadn't anticipated finding anything that important, but it gave him a small bit of comfort. At the very least, I don't think this room is being monitored. Chrono said that we'd be on their radar once we exited our rooms, but didn't say anything about our rooms being wired or anything. I don't think they care enough to waste resources on something like that.
Why would he have any obligation to tell you that, though?
Tokoyami hummed to himself in contemplation, but snapped himself out of his thoughts when he opened a drawer filled with clean clothes. Are these for us?! Dark Shadow squawked excitedly.
"I…no, I don't want them."
He went to close the drawer, but Dark Shadow stopped him. At least see what's in there! Maybe it can be of use to us?
I don't think it will be… Tokoyami thought, eyeballing the articles warily. He picked up one of them, a black and red striped dress shirt that was certain to be too big on him. It was also in much better condition than anything else he had on him. Even though the clothes he got from Toga were only a few weeks old, they were already becoming tattered from training his quirk with Dabi. There wasn't exactly a good way to keep them in good condition.
Twice was right when he said that you have the most potential of fitting in down here. You should take him up on that!
"While that's true, I don't see how – hm? What's this?" Tokoyami reached for a black garment in the drawer. When he picked it up, it unfurled like a blanket held together by a dark shining clasp.
It's a cloak! Dark Shadow cawed excitedly. You have to wear this!
Tokoyami let out a bitter laugh. "Of course. What else could it have possibly been?" Sure enough, it was a cloak much like the one that had been his old hero costume. Only this one had a hood lined with black feathers eerily similar to Overhaul's own coat. Maybe it was just a coincidence that they had something like this waiting for him. This certainly seemed like the type of wardrobe that might be some sort of standard in this part of the underworld. And yet it unnerved him to find such a thing. He didn't want to grow used to accepting such things from villains. But it couldn't be helped.
Tokoyami donned the cloak with a swift, familiar action. It gave him peace of mind to be wrapped up in the dark fabric like he used to be for U.A. exercises. He could tell that Dark Shadow was internally comforted by the way it shadowed his body from the fluorescent overhead lights. The cloak didn't quite reach the floor, but it covered him for the most part. He adjusted the clasp so that it sat comfortably, but made it a point not to mess with the hood. He scanned the room almost guiltily, as though anticipating that someone would taunt him for reveling in his time spent as a hero while wearing the garb of a villain. But everything was just as silent as it had been before. Tokoyami let out an unsteady breath.
"Do you think we're ready to blend in with a bunch of yakuza?"
Of course not! But at least you're making an attempt. It's gonna take time, and we don't know how much of that we have so let's make the most of it.
Tokoyami agreed silently and glided to the door. He listened for anything that might be on the outside and proceeded to open it a crack, just wide enough to peer through. Right now, the last thing he wanted was to alert Toga or Twice of what he was up to. His intentions were entirely his own and didn't involve them. If his role here in the grand scheme of things was to play trophy to a gangster boss, then so be it. But he wasn't about to make that easy for either villain affiliation.
Seeing that he was in the clear, Tokoyami slipped into the empty hallway, keeping close to the wall. I few sensors and cameras were set up on the ceiling, but he ignored them. He wasn't doing anything wrong, even if it was suspicious. For now he could probably get away with ignoring any people he passed in the halls, though he didn't know if they would recognize him or if his presence was something only known by the higher ups, the "Eight Precepts of Death." If people continued to mistake his bird head for a mask, then he could probably fit in quite easily. But at the same time, he felt small compared to anyone else here. Of course he did. He doubted there would be anyone like him in such a cold, dangerous place.
He retraced the steps he'd taken to get here until he reached a cross-section. Trying to remember the directions they'd been given, he went left and continued along it until it opened up to a much larger central hallway. A few masked gangsters were lingering around, but he didn't recognize any of them from the meeting and casually paid them no mind. They didn't bother him as he progressed through the corridor, but he could feel their stares burning into his back. Unflinching, he kept his own gaze forward and his pace the same. It was certainly a different sensation than being with the League of Villains. There, he was always being escorted by someone, almost always Dabi, through the halls and were very purposeful in their direction. He was never concerned about reaching their destination because he was being led there, and there was never any reason to stop or waste even a second being uncertain. Walking now through the well-lit halls, every step felt like it was shrouded in shadows, his destination just as uncertain as what he was meant to accomplish here.
He didn't have to question where he was going for too long, though, because just as promised he came to a set of double doors that entered into a large dining area. He stopped before it, quickly taking note of how many people were in the room. He received some cursory glares but tried his best not to look them in the eyes. There were maybe a dozen people, all wearing some form of mask concealing part or all of their faces. He didn't want to look suspicious lurking in the doorway, so he made his way along the back wall to where some tables were laden with food. A clock hanging on the wall signified that it was almost noon, and he had yet to eat today. But under the scrutinizing looks, he decided he didn't want to spend too much time here. With a quick movement, Tokoyami grabbed an apple from one of the plates and slipped it into his coat pocket under the veil of his new cloak. Not wanting to hang around, he turned swiftly on his heel and made his way out of the room without confrontation.
He didn't slow down until he had gone into the side-path he'd come from, which much to his relief remained void of people passing through. With so many passages, he could probably get away with not encountering anyone if he stuck to the ones that looked less popular. But that also meant he might not come across anything important to their operations. Regardless, he took the time now to steel himself. Being surrounded by unfamiliar villains like that was something he wasn't used to. Being around the small group that made up the League of Villains, he was able to accept over time. But being thrown into this new group of strange, intimidating faces was a new challenge he didn't appreciate.
At least now I know the location of one of the places down here. It's a start, in any case. I'd have better luck figuring this place out if I followed the people here, but it doesn't hurt to see where I can get on my own.
Tokoyami progressed down the hall he'd come from, passing the one that led to his room and continuing forth on his own accord. He pulled the apple from his pocket and began to eat it as he traversed the passages. He kept his wits about him, but nothing jumped out at him. He didn't expect them to conveniently label what was important, anyway. Everything looked the same, save for perhaps the width of the halls and the spacing of the doors in some places. Only some of the doors had numbers or ways of making them distinguishable, and none of the halls were marked in any way. It gave the impression that the only people allowed to roam these halls were the ones who actually knew what they were doing in this place.
The hallways were starting to become disorienting. It was all the same, gray walls lined with steel doors greeting him at every turn. Chronostasis had warned them about the likelihood of getting lost in this place and to ask for directions when necessary. Certainly, this was a place that required a lot of adjusting, and he was a prime example that it would not be so easily done. Tokoyami had long since finished his apple, and all sense of purpose and direction had been steadily transformed into pointless meandering. Panic was beginning to rise in his chest, even if he'd long considered this an inevitability. But he chose not to slow or give any indication that that was the case, and none of the yakuza he'd come across had given him any trouble, let alone spoken a single word. They seemed to do a good job of keeping to themselves.
Tokoyami was about to round yet another corner when he heard a string of curses from an unfamiliar voice. He stopped dead, flattening himself to the wall before whoever was speaking could spot him. When he peered around the corner, he saw that it was just one person standing in front of a nondescript door with a pink box under one arm. He wore white formal attire and had black and white hair that covered half his face. He was patting his pockets looking for something.
Tokoyami peered further, intrigued by what was happening. This was the first occurrence in these halls to stand out to him. But in his interest, the man finally did take note of him.
"Hey, you!" he called, looking up without warning. Tokoyami froze, his breath catching in his throat as he wondered what this person might want from him. "Come hold this stupid box, I'm getting' real sick of dealin' with this bullshit."
Tokoyami hesitated for a confused moment, but didn't waste any more time before swiftly coming to the man's side to take the box from him. He was confused to find that it was a toy that a little girl might enjoy. The label on the box read "Raving Rabid: Pretty Pure 10!" and seemed horribly out of place in this underground yakuza facility. But whatever the reasoning for it was, he was interested to see where it would be taken.
With a sigh of relief, the man finally produced a white key card from his pocket. "Thought I lost it for a second. Can't let that happen or Boss would kill me in a heartbeat, ya know?" He laughed bitterly, flipping the card between his fingers. "Don't know why they chose me for this. I didn't join this gang to be a freakin' babysitter!"
Tokoyami looked between the frilly box and the sketchy gentleman, holding onto his suspicion. This was…not the sort of thing he expected to find in this place. "You're a…babysitter?"
He groaned loudly, as though the whole thing was some big inconvenience. "Technically I'm the newly appointed "mediator" to look after the Boss's kid. I'm supposed to be at her beck and call, making her happy and shit, but the brat doesn't make that very easy. The last one messed his job up real bad and ended up as a puddle on the floor! Ya know how that goes, it happens to the worst of us."
Tokoyami recalled the blood splattering that had rudely greeted them upon first entering the underground area. It was starting to sound like a common occurrence. Or maybe it was the same person this mediator was talking about that they'd found in pieces. Either way, it was a grim reminder that Overhaul was very free with his quirk. But more importantly… "Overhaul has a child?"
"Eh? Sure, let's go with that," he sneered. "You're new here, huh. Didn't realize it was bring your kid to work day. Seriously, Short-stack, what are you doing here? Did you come to make my job easier? I'd give anything to get a free pass from this while also keeping my miserable life."
Tokoyami held the box to his chest. "Overhaul…took me in to serve at his side. I'm here to do what he asks and work under him, but I haven't been given anything to do yet." Technically he wasn't expected to do anything as far as he knew, but it sounded good enough that this person might let him in on what this situation was.
Sure enough, the yakuza regarded him differently. "Heh! That's just like Overhaul to get more kiddos involved in his sick little projects. You'll fit in just fine down here." He held the key card up to the lock panel and grabbed the door handle. "Say, kid, you seem reasonable enough. I don't suppose you know how to play nice with others? I sure as hell can't be bothered to do so but I also don't wanna get in trouble if Overhaul thinks for a moment that I'm slacking off. Any chance you can play with Eri while I take a quick smoke?"
This caught Tokoyami off guard. For a caretaker, this man was quick to trust someone like him. Perhaps just being associated with Overhaul was enough to instill that idea. "Wh-why yes, I have no problem doing such a thing. I've looked after children before."
"Good enough for me," he said, throwing open the door without another thought to reveal just one of the dangerous secrets that lurked in the darkness of the underground yakuza headquarters.