Chapter Text
White glowing eyes never ever seemed to move. Shadows flickered where he sat on the living room's couch, covering his sides like a shield. He seemed tense, brows furrowed as he dragged the pen over the paper half-heartedly.
"You okay, Minute?" The feared assassin, Redd asked, his gaze hidden behind the sunglasses flickering over to the ruler of shadows.
"Yeah... It's just..." He looked up at the TV that was displaying the news, then away. "Zam.”
It was no surprise the news spread fast. Within the first week most citizens had already heard of the missing case for PrinceZam. The questionable disappearance of one of their most beloved heroes shook everyone to their core. Various TV stations made udpate reports on it (with little success), as well as written articles about it popping up everywhere even to those not originally interested in the situation.
He was an inspiration to many, youth and elderly, and people had already gotten used to his warm presence over the city these past few years. Now that sense of safety, of sunlight, was gone along with the hero.
There were plenty others to replace him, but it never quite fixed that anxious feeling in people's hearts. Paparazzi, in search of some kind of answers, often turned to other heroes for more information - however most of the time getting brushed off to the side instead. The Hero Society Association didn't like answer questions, never did.
One hero in particular, Pangi, had done an interview with a TV station’s host as Zam's closest friend to assure everyone that everything would be alright, and that the sunshine hero would surely be found safe and sound soon enough.
A lot of people found it to be nonsense, picking up on the pangolin hybrid’s own worried expressions and the stuttering as he spoke of his vague knowledge on the situation that revealed more fear than he'd like. Anybody who wasn't stupid would have noticed it immediately, at least in Minute's opinion. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. None of them knew what truly happened, not the way Minute did.
“What about Zam? People talk about him a lot recently, y'know.” Despite willingly asking for an elaboration himself, Redd's tone remained uninterested, not seeming particularly troubled with the situation at hand at all, a little annoyed perhaps. Minute brushed it off as the other not getting much sleep again, as per usual - not often did he see the assassin in a mood better than just alright. “He left us, there’s no point thinking more about it.”
“I know that, obviously. It’s just…” Minute’s sentence paused, thoughts going blank on any potential way to continue. He was uncertain just how to explain what he was feeling currently, finding it to be complicated even in his very own mind.
Redd seemed to notice that, speaking up before Minute managed to put his feelings into words accurately.
“She’s made her choice, no use dwelling on it now.” He sounded sour in a way, somewhat distasteful of the topic as a whole, and so shutting it down entirely. It wasn’t that he was wrong, what happened had already happened and there was no going back, but the other hero still couldn’t help thinking back on everything, wondering just what really went wrong.
Sure, even Minute didn't consider the organization they work for purely a lawfully good one, as hard as they tried to seem to the public. Behind the scenes it was much different. Anything they seemed a threat to their golden image was swiftly swept under the rug, never seeing the light of day again. Many heroes deemed not suited for it were never told the actual truth.
The shadow hero didn't exactly mind this, the less bad people out there the better, but still found the hypocrisy somewhat annoying in a sense.
He sighed to himself, taking a brief pause to look over the words on his paperwork, once more reading it through (even if by this point he'd done it twice already). “I know.”
There were a few minutes of silence that befall the room, neither of the two knowing how to continue on the topic at hand, before thankfully that, quite frankly awkward, moment is soon dissipated once Minute saw the locked screen of his phone, which laid on the table he was sat in front of, light up with an ever so familiar caller ID.
Reddoons himself wouldn't have noticed if the other man didn't pick it up to answer the call - his phone has always been on silent mode for the sake of preference.
It looked like he now had a proper reason to get away from the paperwork he was meant to do, and thank God for that. It was starting to tire him out of his mind.
･:*:･
The place itself had no real significance to it, Minute thought of it as one of the spots in town he didn't often visit. Apparently a robbery had taken place there yesterday, some popular convenience store reporting an assortment of items disappearing mysteriously before they had even opened their doors.
Looking around, nothing unusual was happening at the empty streets of the area, the few people outside around at this time being just teenagers laughing to each other about something on their phones and a couple walking hand in hand underneath the street lamps that illuminated the sidewalks.
Most people were likely still a little wary of that particular street because of the recent thievery there, the one Minute was sent in to investigate and catch the perpetrator. If him of all heroes was sent to investigate, then surely there were bigger powers at play.
He was given very little information by the HSA about the robbery. No windows were broken, no doors being forced open and the security cameras conveniently happened to be out that day. Minute was honestly kind of stumped. Could it be fraud? Embezzlement, just a means to make some extra money from insurance? But the items were trivial. The most expensive one didn’t exceed fifteen dollars and the owner had stated the total seemed to be around fifty dollars.
Fifty dollars wasn't much at all, but noticeable enough when missing. By that point the culprit may as well just have stolen something expensive. To say that the motive behind this crime was confusing would be a huge understatement, it was downright baffling.
There was no evidence to go off of, and Minute knew he'd need to admit defeat if he didn't find anything new out soon. That is, if his stubbornness allowed it. He never gave up that easily.
He held the keys to the building tightly when he unlocked the door, and walked in. The real investigation started now and the hero made a promise to himself that he would be returning back to the Hero Association with a proper, reasonable explanation for it all. The expectations put on him were high after all.
He didn't bother turning the lights on, he saw perfectly fine without them. Glancing around, the man came to notice the report really was accurate. The place looked damn near spotless clean, like nothing was even touched at all. Or perhaps the workers cleaned up that morning before the theft was noticed, unintentionally getting rid of any evidence. It was a troubling situation either way.
The cash register looked unharmed, even the counter it sat on top of had every displayed snack item neatly in its rightful spot. A small pink sticky note was pressed to the edge of the counter. “Keep your head up,” it wrote, with a smiley face at the end. Narrowing his eyes, Minute looks upwards only for his gaze to meet the ceiling.
Only a few seconds later did he realize it probably wasn't meant literally, more likely supposed to cheer up the cashier during a rough day. He pinched the bridge of his nose in disappointment at his own action. Sometimes he forgot expressions like that existed. Thank the Lord he was here alone, otherwise his reputation of cool stoicism would have been ruined in an instant.
At least, that’s what he thought, until a noise of something falling from a shelf somewhere deeper inside the store made his guard snap back on, sharply pointed ears perking up upwards on pure instinct. His expression hardened while stepping out from behind the counter. Using the lack of light in the room to his advantage, a sword manifested in his hand, gripping tightly onto the handle of the weapon he'd created with the shadows around him.
“It would be in your best interest to come out with your hands up. Don't try running,” the hero warns sternly, stepping towards the area where he had heard the sound of commotion come from.
Whoever was there refused to answer.
The blade dragged across the floor, making an awful noise to Minute’s ears. He pretended not to see a figure dressed in dark clothing duck into a different aisle from the corner of his eye. He pretended to walk by for a step or two before stopping dead in his tracks, swinging his weapon back to aim for his target that stood there.
The blade never felt to connect to its target however, for a brief moment a flash of blinding light covering the hero's vision and causing the materialized shadow in his grasp to dissipate.
MinuteTech assumed the criminal would make a run for it while he reached to rub at his eyes, but he didn't hear anything besides only a couple of gentle footsteps backwards. Once his vision came back into focus, Minute found that his night vision was replaced by its normal variant, all due to the new light source in front of him. Or rather, the glow coming from a person’s palm.
Minute recognized that face in an instant, stood perfectly right there in one place, not even a full two feet away. How could he not immediately identify the person he had looked up to for their entire hero careers, the one whose place he had been made to take? That, once long (now seemingly having been cut), golden hair was practically a trade mark for the sunlight hero.
“Zam,” he would speak in utter shock - it was undoubtedly the same ex-hero of their city, the same one who had betrayed not only the Hero Association's trust, but her very own friends. Including Minute himself. “Why—” How was he meant to phrase a logical question with the knowledge that Zam was right there?
“Why not?” the blonde questioned in return, a wicked grin crawling onto his lips. A smile that the hero of shadows could only view as eerie. That usual warm smile was likely long gone from the possible expressions the other could even make now, replaced by a feeling of utter unease.
There was something odd about meeting someone you've seen in person not even a month ago and seeing them change this much. This wasn't the Zam the people knew, this was something else entirely. Her hair was cut and her eyes lacked the light it usually did. On the left side of her face rested a rather nasty bloodied wound that appeared to be from a slice of a blade of some kind (at least from what Minute could assume). Even the clothes the former hero wore were darker in shade, as if signifying that change in sides.
The noiret's hands clench into fists at his sides. He couldn't exactly tell from what, but before he even realized it, he was already reeling his arm back to swing at Zam's face, who stumbled backwards from the force of it while the light emitting from his palm flickered. Minute didn't even know when he'd moved close enough to be able to hit her properly.
It hurt like a motherfucker.
Zam assumed from the pain and the blood spilling onto the store floors that his nose was likely broken. There wasn't too much time to think on it before she caught a glimpse of Minute already making another attempt to strike at her. She made sure to quickly duck underneath it and step off a bit further away to assure some distance between them.
“I forgot how dirty heroes play, damn.” The blonde chuckled to herself at her very own joke, despite not really finding it all that funny. Minute definitely didn't either, considering the glare he gave her.
“It's not playing dirty. I'm just using my training to my advantage.” The only reason the hero wasn't using his ability was because the two’s powers completely cancelled each other out, so there would be no point trying to fight using them. If one used the superpower gifted to them at birth, the other could just simply use their own to counter and so on. Going in circles right now wasn't an option and MinuteTech knew this. Thankfully there was one thing he was much better at than Zam.
He sets his feet firmly to the ground, sliding one of them backwards while turning to stand slightly sideways with his knees kind of bent. He lifts his hands up to face-level and tightens his fists.
Perhaps Minute analyzed his enemies and colleagues far too much, but he knew for certain that Zam was one of those people that relied on their power too much. In shorter terms, he couldn't possibly win a real fist fight.
The vigilante seemed to understand that to be the case as well. Judging by her opponent's stance down to the way his chin was angled downwards - Zam knew she was just basically fucked.
Unlike Minute, who made sure to be proficient in every category of combat, Zam himself never did much physical training like that. The HSA never required it of their heroes as long as their ability was strong or otherwise useful to have on the organization's side. She was one of the people the Association picked purely based on superpower versatility and potential.
Neither of them spoke, Minute instead using the moment to build up anticipation and suddenly swing at the blonde again, that time Zam managing to divert his fist away to the side from her face by reaching for the wrist. He used her busy hands to his advantage with his own free one landing a second punch to the blonde's cheek. Before Zam could instinctively stammer backwards from the punch Minute reaches to grasp at the collar of the dress shirt poking out from underneath her dark purple coat. He swiftly pushes the other up against one of the store aisles’ display shelves. The way the soles on the bottom of her boots were slightly lifted off the ground by the shadow manipulator did admittedly scare her slightly. There was no time to show fear though.
Minute was about to attack the other again, he truly thought about it, but Zam's laughter made him pause. Laughter he didn't recognize, despite knowing he's heard Zam laugh plenty of times in the past.
“You heroes.. Always so damn eager to fight, huh. Once they allow you to hurt people, to kill them, you take it without hesitation. Just like the rest of them. Flame, Mane, Wemmbu— They always jump at the possibility of hunting down someone the Hero Association wants dead, don't they?” Zam scoffs, a smile ever present on her expression.
It wasn't much of a surprise Zam knew of that, of things the Association tries their hardest to keep underneath the rug - he was rather high on their list of heroes after all. He was one of the select people that was allowed to harm people as he pleased, a spot that Minute himself replaced with the other's sudden absence.
Minute ignores every word his former idol spouts at him, now considering it just nonsense blabbering at this point. “Why become a vigilante, then? I can't imagine it's any less shady than what we do. At least we have the legal permission to neutralize targets. What you do is purely criminal.”
“The only similarity between us is that you still can't see that the Hero Association’s whole shtick of.. protecting the innocent is just a total ruse. They couldn't give a damn if civilians were in danger, it's all pretend. I couldn't just quit, obviously. They'd have me dead for even trying, because I know too much.” Zam's tone is bitter, sounding genuinely irritated by the topic. The Hero Association higher ups were all each too paranoid to allow a hero that knows of their morbidly dark ways to just simply leave with their life perfectly in one piece.
However, there is a grin that creeps back onto her lips when she speaks up next, sounding smug. “Most importantly, none of you ever know how to work as a team. You're always alone.”
Before Minute could get a word of defense out, he could feel a hand at his neck from behind him, firmly planted against the side of it. Something sharp pokes into his skin - deep enough to make him feel blood drip down to his collarbone and yet not nearly deep enough for Minute to be suddenly gushing blood once the hand pulls away.
It does get the hero to practically jump away from Zam however, the new person now reaching for the vigilante to keep him upright. Even odder enough it was someone Minute recognized as a woman that he had worked with in the past.
“Hannah?” Minute can't believe he actually says that name out loud - he hadn't seen the brunette in what felt like months. Not to mention, looking down at the same hand she held at his neck, he could see thorns disappear back into the skin of her palm, only leaving faint small holes in it and a trail of blood down her fingers.
What the hell was going on here?
“I would get that treated ASAP if I was you. It'll kill you if you don't.” She spoke in a rather cold way whilst keeping Zam upright properly as the blonde covered his bleeding nose with his sleeve, the other hand still emitting enough light for Hannah to be able to see. It was like Hannah was pretending the two weren't friends once. Zam himself muttered something about her being late under his breath, but Minute couldn't catch the full thing with the distance now between them.
Worst of all, Hannah was right. The thorns she made contained toxins in them. Poison. One that could work within seconds, one that has killed people in the past and very well could right now. Minute didn't know the full extent of the potential usage of her ability - didn't know how much of the toxin would work at what time frame, didn't know how much was enough to actually kill. But there was no time to think about that, not when the noiret watched a whirlpool-like dark void adorned by a rainbow pattern on the outer layer open up behind the two criminals. Hannah looked towards it in some kind of relief before glancing back at Minute, the look in her eyes somehow appearing pleading before she started walking backwards, leading Zam with her into the dark void.
Minute, of course, being Minute, quickly tries to walk forward to stop them, but the whirlpool closes instantly once they were out of sight.
“Shit.”
One of his hands finds itself pressing at the puncture wound in his skin. With fuzzy thoughts, leaning against the retail display shelving in the aisle, he pulls his phone out to dial a number a little too familiar, and calls it.
“Redd. There's a problem.”
･:*:･
“Well, well, well. Needed my help again, huh,” a cheery voice begins before being instantly cut off by one of the two other people near them.
“Holy shit, what happened to Zam? He looks like he just lost a drunk fist fight at a bar.” There was a joking laughter the dark-brunet held in his voice as he said that, Zam glaring at him and flipping him off in return for it.
Meanwhile, the person with long silver hair’s expression turned a little concerned as they went over to check up on Zam and Hannah up close. The short noiret speaking previously let out a little offended “hey!” from the way they've been blatantly ignored by everyone, getting elbowed by the brunet at their side.
“The guy that got the case was Minute.”
Hannah's words threw everyone in the room off their guards, everything suddenly growing eerily quiet. Mostly everyone anyway. His name had grown to be known among citizens, but especially among vigilantes like them.
“..Ro, call 4C over, I'll clean it up as best I can in the meantime. I don't want to make it worse.” She tells the one standing in front of her, and when Ro nods and swiftly leaves the room to make a phone call she turns to their dynamic duo in the room. “Lay low for now. I'm serious.”
"Come on, how were we supposed to know they'd notice that??" the short noiret quetsions, without getting an answer besides an annoyed look from the brunette. She and Zam leave to hopefully assess the situation of the blonde's definitely broken nose, and the two left alone in the room look at each other with offended looks.
There was only a moment of silence before the shorter one grins mischievously. “You're totally thinking what I'm thinking.”
The red bandana wearing one scoffs with a smile, “No clue in the slightest, but I'm down for whatever your dumbass is thinking. What's the plan?”
“Mapicc, I think it's time to get a little.. devious.”