12 12 Meeting Heroes 2 Electric Boogaloo

After my rather poor showing against Clay, I decided to take a break for a while so that I can get some exercise in.

To that end, I considered going to a gym, but I know that I don't look like I should be able to lift what I can.

Not that it's an incredible amount, in fact a properly trained man could probably lift more than me, but I've found that speed is more my strong suit than pure strength anyway.

But since I don't want to be outed, I found an out of the way empty building and brought in some weights that I've used every day since, as well as going for really long runs.

With my regeneration, my progress has probably been far faster than it has any right to be, the only downside being that I've had to eat every three or so days.

Not that that has been much of a problem, there are plenty of gangsters out there.

The news has gotten hold of my cape name too, so now just about everyone in the city has heard about the new serial killer/vigilante, depending on who you ask, 'Tear'.

James has been in a pretty good mood recently too, and he always seems to perk up when he hears about another gangster 'disappearing'.

Weird guy, but it's nice to know I'm kinda supported, makes me feel all warm and tingly in my tummy.

Anyway, I also got a job.

Mostly because after the first week I felt kinda bad leeching off of the boys' kindness.

It was a bit of a pain to find someone willing to pay under the table since I've kind of abandoned my old identity and don't have any papers, but I ended up finding a nice, Asian run coffee shop called 'Anteiku'.

I was mainly looking for coffee shops and cafe's to work in since at the very least the smell of coffee can outweigh the smell of everything else.

Honestly, human food smells disgusting.

The worst part is probably that the manager, Yoshimura, is super nice and all but forces me to eat sometimes, but for that exact reason I have learnt to take small bites and swallow them whole without having to taste it.

I got some weird looks the first time before I realised that I should pretend to chew as well.

All in all, I am doing a pretty good job playing the part of 'Alice Cain', and now, a whole month after my fight with Clay, I am finally moving into my own place.

This is good news for a few reasons, one of which is obviously just the privacy, but the more important reason is that I promised myself I wouldn't go out again until I had a place for my own so that the boys don't notice anything.

In other words, I will finally be going out to do some proper vigilantism, rather than just hunting for food.

But that's for later, right now I've got to entertain the boys because since it is a Sunday and they both have the day off and decided that since I don't have a whole lot of stuff to move in, we are just going to hang out in the new pad for the day.

I do need to get new furniture though. The flat came with a sofa and a bed, but they both suck.

I'll do it later, for now we are playing poker on the floor, since I don't have a TV yet.

"Aaand that's a three of a kind, get fucked losers." I celebrate with as obnoxious a voice as I can as I look down on Theo and James, sweeping up the prizes between us, making them both groan.

Only about half of the pot is money, the rest are things from candy to pens to whatever we had on hand.

Obviously, I don't want any of the candy, but it's the principle of the matter, so I'm not going to give them back.

"This is bullshit, you're cheating." James accuses, looking for all he's worth like a pouting child.

"Don't be such a sore loser, I'm not cheating," I am, "I'm just lucky, must be the new flat giving me it's blessings."

I think my excuse is pretty good until I hear Theo's accusation.

"I swear I saw two ace's of hearts."

A bead of sweat rolls down my forehead as I keep my facial expression placid.

"You must be seeing things," I lie, "anyway, that's enough poker, you guys don't even have anything to lose anymore and it's getting late, you should probably head home before it gets too dark out."

Jumping to my feet after I finish speaking, I move to the door and swing it open with a smile.

"'Kay byeee!" I exclaim as I usher them out.

I'm pretty sure they both knew I was cheating but just let it be since we were hear to celebrate me getting my flat in the first place.

They really are annoyingly kind.

Whatever, it's late afternoon now and I've been getting antsy.

I've also decided that I'm not going to go after Red Branch again anytime soon.

In fact, I figure I'll just rotate between the three main gangs, take a bite, both metaphorically and physically, out of one gang and then move onto the next.

As for the smaller gangs, well, I'll just deal with them as they come I guess.

They aren't really that important in the grand scheme of things after all.

Red Branch territory is the outer east side of the city, the Street Saints' is the north-western side and Famine is south-west while the centre of the city is obviously the PRT's and subsequently the Protectorates territory.

The smaller gangs just make up what is basically border territories, living in the fringes with a few pockets of land being claimed by smaller groups.

With all of that in mind, I have decided to go after the second biggest villain gang tonight.

I have thought these past few days that maybe I shouldn't have gone after the biggest gang in the city on my first night out, and while I do now recognise the stupidity of doing that, I am still not going to learn my lesson.

I mean, the way I see it, if I keep whittling down the gangs while keeping them somewhat even, then they will keep busy dealing with each other to focus fully on me.

Well, that's the hope anyway, for now I should focus on actually finding some criminals to rob- I mean, some justice to serve.

Which leaves me here, hopping around roof to roof, looking out for anyone wearing the blue colours that are generally associated with the Street Saints.

I find it kind of dumb that gangs can just 'claim' colours like that. It really limits the available fashion in a given area.

I roused from my thoughts by a weird feeling that has me feeling oddly tingly, making me stop in my roof hopping to look around for what might have set me off.

It doesn't take me long to spot the pair of capes standing a few buildings away, also roof hooping, as is the cape way.

It's just so much more convenient.

It's also obvious that they are capes by the outfits they're wearing, but that's not the only fun part.

I actually recognise one of them.

It's Pop Step.

She hasn't called me even though it's been a whole month!

So rude.

The person next to her provides quite a contrast too, she is wearing mostly reds but with a golden scale in the middle of her chest.

It's kind of distasteful the way it sort of looks like the scales are weighing her budding breasts, especially since I'm pretty sure that's Redemption, who is one of the wards.

Yay to child celebrities I guess.

At least both of their masks are only domino masks, so I can still read their expressions somewhat. Probably a PR thing.

Still, even if this isn't what I had planned for the night, I'm not desperately hungry and this seems like a fun thing to do anyway.

With that in mind, I raise my arm and give a full body wave, becoming them over.

After a few awkward moments, they do actually start making their way over to me.

The way that they are jumping between the buildings tells me that they don't have a brute rating like I do, so I move to meet them in the middle.

A few more moments later and we are all standing together on the same rooftop, silently staring at each other.

I feel a lot more relaxed than they both look, so I decide to start us off.

"Yo,~ you're Pop Step and Redemption right? It's nice ta meet'cha!" I greet with a smile even though they can't see it, and a two fingered wave.

A brief moment passes, too long for a proper conversation, before I get a reply that unexpectedly comes from the ward.

"Hey, like you said, I'm Redemption and this is Pop Step. Would I be right in assuming you to be Tear?" Her voice sounds awfully casual compared to the faint nervousness I can smell from the both of them.

"Woahhh~ a hero knows who I am!? D'aww, how flattering.~" I squeal, covering the cheeks of my mask with my hands and squirming at the same time.

Heh.

My response leaves them both stunned for a moment as it's clearly not what they were expecting so naturally I decide to just ramp things up a little bit.

"I would love to give an autograph but I'm afraid I don't have a pen on hand." I say disappointedly, kicking the roofs gravel beneath my feet.

The conversation dies out there rather awkwardly as none of us really know what to say.

That is, until Redemption gives Pop a nudge with her elbow that makes her jump slightly.

"Ah! Right, uhm, are you working alone? The uhm, the statistics for solo capes are pretty bad, uhm, have you thought about joining a group? Like um, the Protectorate? Or the, uhm, the Wards, depending on your age?"

I almost laugh at what must have been the single worst recruitment offer I have ever heard, but that would be mean so I just pretend to think it over instead, humming to myself.

"Hum hum," I say, "I'm pretty happy by myself if I'm being honest, plus there's the fact that I'm pretty sure that I won't be allowed to keep doing what I'm doing if I joined you guys."

Obviously I'm not going to bring up the cannibalism, but pretty much everyone who's aware of me is aware that I'm a murderer.

Now that I think about it I'm basically just saying that I won't join because I want to keep killing people.

That's probably not a good thing to say to heroes is it?

My fears are confirmed when Redemption gets a sharp look in her eyes, though Pop still just seems to be struggling with talking in the first place.

Agoraphobia maybe?

"By 'doing what you're doing', you mean killing people don't you?" Comes Redemption's accusatory voice.

I think Pop Stop just realised the situation as she is now actually focusing on the real world rather than whatever was going on in her head.

"Yup! That is exactly what I mean!" I say with audible cheer, "it's nice to be able to do a little something to help the people every now and then, don'tcha think?"

From the way they both frown, I feel like I'm about to have a fun conversation.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I am gonna be spending a week in spain in a couple of months :)

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