Reconstruction

By: Aviantei

Chapter Twenty

Relocation

Shinichiro did not consider himself to be a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, and he considered himself even less of a morning person after he had a couple of beers in him. Out of full consideration for what he intended to do the next morning, he had gone to bed much earlier than usual (which was, to say, at something closer to two AM as opposed to five), but that didn't mean waking up and hitting the road while the sun was still high any easier.

"Sheesh, 'Chiro," Momoko said, walking beside him, "you look awful."

"I am so very glad to hear that I look how I feel," Shinichiro said, though the effect of his sarcasm was rather dampened by the yawn in the middle of his words. Fuck, how did people stand going out in this shit? "But bitching about it and taking shots about it ain't gonna change anything, so we gotta do what we gotta do." He was one of the leaders of their little Strain organization; he had to step up when it was necessary, and at least he had Momoko to assist. He glanced at her, earning a smile. "No luck with Ayumu then?"

Momoko's smile faltered a bit, but it was back with almost ten times the force a second later. "Ayu-pon didn't want to come outside, but she did agree to provide support." Momoko tapped at her ear, where a Bluetooth earpiece was concealed by her hair. "She'll give us guidance, and then we can work from that."

All things considered, having Ayumu and her powers in person would have been the most effective choice, but long-distance support was better than none. "Well, I'll take what I can get. So, where do we need to start?"

"Hmm, Ayu-pon says it's better if we canvas the area first, and then she can give us something to pinpoint off of."

Shinichiro had been hoping for something a bit more direct, but Ayumu's powers didn't work like that whatsoever. She was good at unearthing different sensations and energies to find her targets, but that involved her canvasing places. If nothing else, she could pass on her "blessing," which Momoko was now the holder of. Wherever Momoko went, it would provide Ayumu the data she needed, but at the cost of no longer being able to be a receptor of energy herself.

Furthermore, Ayumu's ability to collect and interpret an appropriate amount of data was very limited depending on who or what she was looking for. In general, Strains were much easier to track than normal people, and Clan members were easier still. It was a rather fussy ability, with so many limitations that it was a wonder that Ayumu had ever figured out how to operate it, but it did have its uses in situations like the current conundrum.

Lucky us that we're hunting down a fellow Strain this time.

Shinichiro hadn't met the particular Strain they were on the lookout for, but both Momoko and Minenai had, so he'd heard enough to have a picture of the kid. Well, maybe calling him a "kid" was a bit much, since Shinichiro wasn't more than five years older than him, but whatever. The point was that Konde was an electric-based Strain who had a shoddy handle on his powers, and that could lead to a lot of trouble.

Of course, it wasn't fair to say that Shinichiro just wanted to bring the kid under their group's care to prevent larger-scale, but that was part of it. No, Shinichiro wanted to help Konde out so he wouldn't end up doing damage to himself in the process. Whenever you couldn't handle your powers, that wore on you in a way you couldn't just ignore, even if your ability wasn't something as dangerous as live electricity. Shinichiro knew that from plenty of experience.

Man, no wonder Minenai's wanted to help so bad. She's a softie under all that bluster. Just the thought made Shinichiro crack a smile, though he'd never be able to get away with saying it out loud. Even if Minenai wasn't there in the moment, it would still get back to her, and she'd make him pay for his transgressions.

So instead, Shinichiro shoved his hands into pockets and grimaced up at the sun overhead. "So what it boils down to is that we gotta cover as much ground as possible and see what we find?"

"Pret-ty much," Momoko said, emphasizing each syllable. "It's been a while since either of us have gotten such exercise, hasn't it? It should be fun." Shinichiro had a very, very different definition of fun. Momoko, knowing that well, beamed at him. "Come now, 'Chiro. At least stuff like this is a whole lot more enjoyable when you have company, don't you think?"

"That's just if the two of you are suffering together." The only one suffering by the end of it all was going to be him. "Aw, hell, it's not like complaining is gonna make any difference when it comes down to it. Let's put boots to the ground and get to fucking work."

The sooner they found the Konde kid, the better off they'd all be.

In a predictable turn of events, they did not hit the jackpot right out the gate, much to Shinichiro's immense disappointment. Some part of him had hoped that the early morning would work out in their favor, since not too many people were out and about yet. He'd even gone so far as to hope that Konde was a kid after his own heart, one that would sleep in 'til the afternoon, thus making him easier to find by virtue of staying in one place. But as more and more people began their day, opening shops and taking their commutes, it was becoming pretty obvious pretty fast that their day might just end with a whole lot of nothing.

"You can't give up like that, 'Chiro. It's not even ten AM yet." Momoko had her hands on her hips, the look on her face just as disapproving. Shinichiro was pretty sure it had been at least half a decade since he'd been awake at such an hour, if not more. "Wherever Konde is, he has to be in Shizume City somewhere. No matter what, he wouldn't leave Meiri-chan behind." Right, the tragic fiancée. Shinichiro could at least acknowledge that Konde wouldn't leave her behind on purpose. "Even so, all I've seen have been traces so far, but not enough to make an appropriate conclusion, even for Ayu-pon." That was plenty of cause for concern. Shinichiro wasn't a fan of running around in the dark when he didn't have to. "I don't like this, 'Chiro. I think we could be getting into something bad."

While the power that made her a Strain was her teleportation abilities, Momoko possessed one of the best intuitions that Shinichiro had ever seen. If she was going around making cryptic statements, there was every chance the lot of them were fucked five ways to Sunday. "What do you suggest we do then? Pull out?" Their group was dedicated to helping Strains, sure, but the priority was always helping out their own first, and that meant not getting involved in shit storms they couldn't survive.

You couldn't help anyone out if you were all dead.

I'll risk a lot of things, but I have no intention of risking everyone else in the process.

Shinichiro came back to the present moment thanks to the sharp sting in his palm, which came courtesy of his own nails biting through the flesh. He sure as hell needed to trim those things, but it never felt like there was the time. It was a good thing he had snapped to awareness, though, otherwise he would've missed Momoko shaking her head. "No, we can't run away," Momoko was saying, and Shinichiro was already onboard with her opinion. She kept going to justify it anyways. "This is a case where if we don't get involved now, it's going to get a whole lot worse later on, and then everyone will be in big trouble, not just us."

"It'd worth it if we could wipe those SCEPTER4 punks off the map, but not if it means our lot gets harmed in the process." All of them—especially the twins—had been through way more than enough. Shinichiro cracked his neck, feeling a newfound burst of energy that was near unheard of from him in the daylight. "Alright, if you say so, Momoko, I'm all in. Let's just trust in Ayumu's blessing and keep going."

They'd find something sooner or later. And if they didn't, Shinichiro was willing to scour the entire city over and over until they did.

Lucky for Shinichiro's already fucked up sleep schedule, it didn't seem that such a thing would be necessary. After grabbing some onigiri from a convenience store and eating as they walked, the duo of Shinichiro and Momoko came across a park that had a pretty sizable crowd in it considering the time of day. From the look on Momoko's face, it was clear whatever was going on was relevant to their own endeavors, and they melded into the crowd with ease. Once they got to the front of the crowd, it was pretty obvious what the commotion was about.

Everyone was gathered around what appeared to have once been a cluster of interconnecting trees. Shinichiro said appeared to, because he wasn't quite sure that his assessment was correct, what with all the splintered wood and downed tree trunks, looking quite sad and dejected just lying there on the ground, pretty much bisected. There were a couple of cops investigating, and a handful of people in the crowd were murmuring about the possibility of a lightning strike, despite there being no storm in recent days.

Our sparky little friend could have been here, though. If he had another meltdown, that would explain it. Except there was very little evidence in the way of burn marks to suggest that was the case. Sure, Shinichiro could see a few here and there to suggest Konde's presence, but nowhere near enough to cause that much destruction—which meant something bigger had gone down there.

He turned to Momoko to give her his deductions, but she was already staring, wide-eyed at the destruction, her hands held to her mouth. To have such an expression on their every cheery and optimistic Momoko was hard to accept, and Shinichiro was starting to get a very intimate understanding of just how deep they shit they'd waded into was.

Still, he had to ask, just to make sure. He was, after all, a leader. "What do you see?"

And Momoko's voice trembled as she whispered, "Black."

Mishakuji let out what had to have been his fifth long sigh of the hour, at which point Goro had to admit his patience was starting to run thin. It had been the same thing, non-stop since they'd been assigned to work together the night before, and it was thanks to Mishakuji's insistence on not missing any more of his beauty sleep that Goro had gotten any quiet time at all. But now the other man was awake and longing in the computer lab, stuck since he'd been told to wait on standby just in case their guest caused any trouble.

Guest being euphemism for kidnapping victim, that was.

Because that was what they'd been assigned to do last night, to at last pick up the boy that was to be the trial run for Sugawara and their King's grand experiment. Goro couldn't wait to see the results, but he was more than able to tide himself over by appreciating the photos of their hard work from last night. On the screen of his camera were the numerous images of one Newa Konde—first in his little tree hideaway, then in a struggle, then at last unconscious and tucked away in the safety of Níðhöggr headquarters. When combined with the vast amount of scouting pictures Goro had taken, he was looking forward to creating the full album of the escapade, and it would be even more delightful once he could photograph the aftermath of—

And, with nothing more than another sigh, Mishakuji once more derailed Goro's thoughts, which was infuriating, to say the least.

Giving his mental planning up for another time, Goro turned towards his temporary partner with great reluctance. "Do you just plan on being obnoxious all the day long, or are you going to grow up and occupy yourself?" It would take Sugawara at least a couple of hours to wake back up (no matter how high her level of exhaustion, the woman couldn't sleep for shit), and Goro had no intentions of babysitting for that long. "I don't care for being stuck in one place any more than you do, but that doesn't mean I'm making it anyone else's problem. Don't you have a hobby or something?"

"My hobbies don't transfer well into needing to report to combat." Well, at least he was taking the assignment seriously; that was better than what Goro had expected. "I spend most of my time on taking care of my appearance, you know. I refuse to show up in an inelegant way to the battlefield just because I picked an inopportune time to give myself a touchup."

Goro rather thought that working on limited sleep would make anyone look inelegant, Mishakuji's level of pretty boy or no, but he also supposed that saying so wasn't going to have a productive outcome to the conversation. Besides, as someone who fixated on his own art to the point of obsession, he could sympathize. Just because Mishakuji used his body as his chosen medium didn't make it any less of a valid pastime. "Alright, then. What if I gave you someone else to spend your creative energy on? Would that help?"

Mishakuji raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow in a magnificent display of skepticism. "Don't tell me you're planning on offering yourself, are you? I won't tolerate going into battle with an inelegant partner, no matter the circumstances."

Meaning that, were there more time, Mishakuji had plenty of ideas on what to do with Goro's appearance. Even worse, Goro couldn't deny that he now had a morbid curiosity on the matter—but he would save that for a more opportune time. "No, no. I have my own little side project, you know. Perhaps you wouldn't mind something of a collaboration to pass the time?"

"A side project?" Upon thinking for a moment, a look of recognition dawned on Mishakuji's face. "Oh, you mean the little test subject girl. The one that gets all sorts of special treatment." That was, in fact, a fair description of Hisa. "Alright, yes, I can see that. Plus her room is right in the same area. That wouldn't be bad at all…" Grateful that Mishakuji seemed to be taking the bait, Goro ejected the current memory card from his camera and dug through his bag for the appropriate replacement. "Okay, I accept your offer. I'll need to grab some supplies, but that shouldn't take me more than ten minutes. Think you can hold down the fort that long without me?"

"I kept things under control while you slept for a few hours, Mishakuji-kun. I believe I can handle ten minutes."

Besides, when the end result would net him some peace and creative fulfillment, Goro was pretty sure he could handle anything.

Saruhiko was a self-sufficient man. He knew it, SCEPTER4 knew it—hell, he was pretty sure the cashier at the nearby convenience store where he would go and pick up chips on occasion knew it. Point being, Saruhiko knew how to get shit done on his own, and it was even a point of pride for him. Part of why he could stand being in SCEPTER4 was because Munakata knew and respected the fact, often leaving Saruhiko to his own devices, since there was a clear understanding that whatever needed to happen would happen, so long as Saruhiko was on the case. That was why he'd risen to being the third-in-command so fast, after all.

As such, there was nothing he hated more than being micromanaged. Getting summoned to Munakata's office for no perceivable reason—while he was in the middle of making progress on the shit he'd been assigned to do—was a close second. Having Awashima order him around to do so just added to irritation. So, yeah, Saruhiko showed up, but he had no qualms about letting his agitation be fucking obvious while doing it.

Munakata didn't so much as blink at Saruhiko's piss poor attitude, which just made him feel all the more agitated. Instead, the Blue King just folded his hands before him. "I have another assignment for you to take care of."

Part of Saruhiko felt pride that he'd been chosen for an assignment, but he'd rather jump off a cliff before he ever admitted to such a thing, so he just clicked his tongue instead. "What? You're not done working me into the ground already?"

"I'm giving you the work because you can handle it," Munakata said, and Saruhiko made a show of rolling his eyes at the compliment. Damn right he could handle it, no matter what sort of nonsense he was about it get shoved down his throat. "Unless you'd rather not accept the assignment?"

Ugh, Munakata was doing that thing where he thought he was playing Saruhiko into doing what he wanted. What an asshole. "If you want me to get shit done, then you better tell me what it is already." At the very least, Awashima seemed to be out, so he didn't have to put up with her bitching at Saruhiko for his attitude or what the fuck ever. It sure was the little things.

"Very well, then. Togami-kun, if you would." Saruhiko's brow furrowed. Togami was not a name he recognized—and then the person materialized out of thin air at Munakata's side, already dressed in a SCEPTER4 uniform with a saber at their side, and damn did Saruhiko sometimes hate being smart enough to know where things were going because he was going to hate every last fucking second of what was going on, and it hadn't even happened yet. "This is our newest recruit Togami Nagisa-kun.

"Fushimi-kun, you'll be showing them the ropes."

[Author's Notes]

Hello, it's me, getting super focused on just a few of my fics (including a few new ideas) and leaving my others to mull. But since it's Reconstruction's anniversary and I've been drafting a few chapters of this, an update it is! There's lots of set-up floating around here, but I swear things are heading somewhere. I've been waiting to make Togami Saru's problem for years, so I'm looking forward to hitting this part.

I will keep drafting chapters, but my current posting schedule is focusing on my -man high school AU, Exception, and my Moriarty the Patriot fic, you could have my heart (and i would break it for you). Do go check those out if you wanna see what I'm up to while I'm piecing together my threads into upcoming chapters.

Next Time: Chapter Twenty-One - "Recruit." Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[17 March 2024]