About a week had passed since Katorasu assaulted the main warehouse of the Giustizia Family and Althaea’s warning to him; ever since then, the nephalem did his best to flush out the remnants of the criminal organization, clearing out abandoned buildings and warehouses alike when he could. Despite his efforts though, gang activity in broad daylight seemed to increase. Maybe it was because the weapons were already out there, in the hands of the youthful gangs of Station Square. In his head, Kato knew that there was nothing he could do besides watch, as he would just easily expose himself if he were to go out and be a vigilante during the day.
All he needed was just to have one big, massive break. Something that would show his heroics, his will to fight for the people, and the great lengths he’ll go to to do good. Until then, all he could do was skulk around at night, looking for suspicious people in empty areas of the city.
As much as he enjoyed the brief shots of excitement that were put into his life, the ebony rogue thought about how he might have been biting off more than he could chew with this whole vigilante business. He was a very capable fighter, but his desire— to be the hero he could be— was suppressed by all these laws about public display of powers and superhero antics.
For a moment, up on this rooftop he sat on the edge of, he had a flicker of doubt in his mind. He only started this in the first place as a way to try and make up for past sins, could a selfish reason be the sole motivation behind a hero? He didn’t know the answer to that, all he knew was that his heart meant well when it came to defending the weak.
His thoughts were cut short, as Katorasu briefly heard some loud chatter from the streets below; from above, he took cover behind the small barrier of the roof’s edge, watching as a group of well-dressed men walked along the sidewalk talking.
“Look, we’ve taken a couple of hits from that annoying hedgehog, but we’re quickly rebuilding up in another warehouse just down the street; the boss’ll even be here to personally deliver some of the goods, maybe hand out a beating or two to guys that didn’t go down fighting.” One of the men spoke, rather loudly as they continued traveling.
Glossing over the fact of how strange it was for them to be kind of blurting this stuff out in the open, the nephalem nevertheless had his interest peaked as he decided to follow them via the rooftops; keeping an eye on them, the group of mobsters slowly moved down the sidewalk as if there was no rush in the world for them. In his head, Katorasu mused about how easy tonight’s bust would be with these schmucks leading him straight to the warehouse.
After a fair couple of minutes, the black hedgehog dallied a bit, as he watched the men enter the building that one of them had previously mentioned. Strangely though, they all went inside without looking around them first— even leaving the door open slightly— Katorasu simply just chalked this up to them possibly being careless.
Though his curiosity did turn into slight suspicion by this point; silently dropping down to the streets instead of heading onto the warehouse’s roof, Katorasu carefully examined his surroundings as he approached the door that was illuminated by an overhead light. He tried to peer into the building through the crack of the opened door, yet it was incredibly dark inside— even for the vigilante’s eyes.
Quietly pushing the door open— just enough to let himself in— Katorasu squinted as he tried to see if he could make out anything in this darkness. Before his golden orbs could figure out any coherent shapes in the room, the lights were suddenly brought to life, briefly disorienting the black hedgehog for a moment; he quickly brought up a hand to try and block the light in front of him, while trying to see what was ahead of him now.
When his vision cleared, his eyes landed in what was the center of this small room and at a rather large rhino Möbian that sat at a metal table, who dressed rather snazzily like the mobsters from before. Speaking of which, the group were just a little bit past the large man, clutching onto rifles that were lowered slightly but their eyes locked onto the nephalem, watching him for any sort of undesirable movement.
“Welcome, why don’t you take a seat and we’ll get started?” The rhinoceros spoke, his gruff voice almost delivered a commanding tone to the black hedgehog, as he motioned over to a chair on the opposite end of the table.
His golden eyes first traveled across the far back of the room, all members of the group that led him here were present. While he was outnumbered, again, he didn’t care for the various firearms that threatened his life.
“I don’t see why not. You guys were nice enough to not try and blast me, though it’s not like I wouldn’t avoid it either way, but I appreciate the thought.” Katorasu cockily responded, approaching the table in a very casual manner, pulling back the chair to sit in it, and then quickly propping his feet onto the surface of the table.
Raising an eyebrow at the hedgehog’s actions, the rhino shook his head and continued, “My name is Giudice, yours?”
Before he answered, Katorasu recalled that he had heard that name from when he attacked the mobsters’ main warehouse a week ago, “Katorasu, Katorasu Naitosutoka; don’t try finding out anything about me, you won’t find much, or at all.” The nephalem leaned back in his chair a bit, having a very relaxed mood about him.
“A few of our family’s men suggested that, but I figure a man like you— who fights like this was only a game to him— had nothing to lose in the first place, no other stakes to gamble than his own life.” Giudice, the large male, had pointed out, which was a correct assumption on his part.
“It kind of is when all your goons go down with just a couple of hits; I mean, can’t you guys just put up more of a decent fight?” He chuckled, tightening his gloves a bit as he responded.
“This city is just a supplement to our business, the boss don’t really care enough to send even just one of his top men here, aside from me of course.” His rhino fingers tapped against the surface of the table.
A sense of unease fell over the men in the back, they wondered how hard it would be to shoot over or around their lieutenant and wipe that hedgehog’s life away. All of their problems here, gone in just a few spent shell casings. That wasn’t why they were here though, they only served as bodyguards for a more diplomatic solution.
“Speaking of your boss,” the nephalem looked around the room, even looking behind him upside-down and at the door, “Where are they? I thought I’d get to take down a whole mob family tonight.” Katorasu sounded disappointed, looking straight ahead at Giudice now.
A small, low chuckle escaped from the throat of the rhinoceros, “Hope you don’t mind, but that was just a lie to sweeten the deal on you comin’ here; the boss said themselves that they won’t be setting foot in this city, they’re too busy cleaning up Emerald City to even bother with this place, not even to see your mug. As a consolation, you have me… and this.”
With a snap of his fingers, one of the men immediately made their way outside through the back door of the warehouse; after a moment of waiting, the well-dressed male had returned with a briefcase in one hand and his rifle held in the other.
Placing the case flat on one side in front of Giudice, the triggerman resumed his position alongside the others in the back of the room.
Unlocking the briefcase, the large Möbian spoke as he opened the container fully, “100k, all in this bad boy,” Giudice had reversed the way that the briefcase was facing, showing to Katorasu the number of dollar bills within it, the color of them just a fair bit duller than the nephalem’s emerald streaks, “All of this— and another ten grand per monthly— if you accept the offer that I’m about to give ya.”
Katorasu’s smirk had left his face, as he thoroughly examined the money in the briefcase with his eyes. There was indeed a lot of cash on the surface with more underneath it, but why though?
Leaning his chair back even further, the nephalem shook his head, “Sorry, I don’t see myself running with a crew, I work better alone; that and you guys are a bunch of scumbag thugs, though I gotta say the outfits look great, who’s your tailor?” He asked, the bastard smile on his face returned.
A gruff chuckle left Giudice, as he shook his head slowly at that response, “We don’t work with you Metas either, most are too scared for this lifestyle or too full of themselves to cooperate, case-in-point: You,” Leaning forward, with the rhino’s back impeccably straight, he continued, “Our offer is this: we’ll pay you to look the other way, at times; meaning if we tell you to back off, you do it without question,” Feeling content at first, Giudice properly sat back in his chair as he added more to the deal, “You can still run around at night, in your little getup, beating my men up and calling yourself the hero when the police show up to arrest them. Hell, we’ll even set up a few things for you to bust so you can feel like a hero, maybe even have a witness or two to spread your ‘good deeds.’” The rhinoceros had finished, crossing his arms afterward.
A silence fell between the two males, as the hedgehog removed his feet from the table, leaning forward as his bangs hung over his eyes a bit. He seemed to be thinking about the offer considerably, in reality, he wasn’t.
“No amount of money, or any kind of deal, will ever get me to look the other way; I’m doing this so I can see assholes like you behind bars,” He finally responded, shutting the briefcase suddenly as Katorasu lifted his chin, “Popularity would be nice, sure, might even get GUN to not come after me and the police to let me help, hopefully; I don’t need any of that crap though, as long as I know that I’m doing the right thing, I don’t care if people love me or hate me— this whole hero gig isn’t about me, it’s about the people too scared to even lift a finger to protect themselves, they need a new hero and I’m here to fulfill that.” His voice, while still casual-sounding, carried a tone of seriousness to it as he looked Giudice dead in the eye.
Another bout of silence occurred, the rhino’s expression had changed to a face that looked as if the nephalem had just spat on him. “… all this talk, about protecting those who can’t protect themselves, where were people like you when Emerald City went to shit?”
Caught off guard by Giudice’s question, Katorasu turned his head momentarily, biting his lip for a second before he responded, “I wasn’t a hero by then, I don’t really know what’s going on in—“
With a slam of the larger male’s fist, the table shook violently, “Do you know why our family was made in the first place? It’s because we didn’t have heroes anymore, people who could do something to help us out; help us fight the cops who keep killin’ us if we even give them a dirty look; help us fight the years’ worth of corruption in our city. If you knew *anything* about us, you’d know that we’re doing this because we have no other choice,” His raised voice was close to being a shout at this point, “We’re the people— who can’t protect themselves— deciding we had enough, if we have to step over some people to save our city, then that’s what we’re gonna do. You come in here… calling yourself a hero… you’re pissing on the real heroes that came before you, getting us arrested when we’re trying to be our own heroes. No one needs you, no one wants you.”
Being hit with all of that at once caused the nephalem to just stop and process all of it, he was unsure of what to think, feel, or even say at this point. His head was just flooded with so many thoughts and so many doubts now.
“Face it, you know I’m right about you, about every hero that crops up nowadays; you new heroes don’t care about us, you only care about feeling good about yourselves, feeling strong, feeling like you’re better than us,” Giudice continued, the rhino palmed a fist in his hand as he squeezed it tightly, “We already have one ‘hero’ in Emerald City, shattering our bones so we can’t walk or hug the family we have left anymore,” In silent anger, his nostrils flared as he breathed out, “If there’s one thing that’s good about you: is that you at least let your victims walk the next day.”
Katorasu’s chest felt like it was about to burst with how loud his heartbeat within him, he just needed a second to relax and pull himself together again.
Leaning over the table, the rhino dared to look the black hedgehog in the eyes, “You won’t accept our offer? Fine then, here’s another one: You give up this whole hero thing, we’ll forget everything you did to mess with us— and if you don’t?” His face inched closer to Katorasu, “We’ll find whatever little piece of a life you have, destroy whatever is part of it, and when you’re all that’s left? That’s when I’ll put a bullet in your head.” As he pulled himself back from the nephalem, Giudice began to stand up from his seat as he coldly asked, “What’s it gonna be, ‘hero’?”
A shimmer was in the golden eyes of the vigilante, as he felt a fire begin to burn inside of him, the thought of these men finding out where he lived and that Jamie was connected to him was the last straw of the night, “I’m sorry you guys didn’t get the hero you needed in time, but that doesn’t excuse you from ruining the lives of others just so you could fix yours. In all honesty though? You’re right about me; I do this so I could feel better about myself, so I could forget everything I’ve done in the past, but I know that’s just not going to work out for me.”
In the blink of an eye, the nephalem grabbed a hold of the table and flipped it, kicking it towards Giudice afterward with surprising force. Despite catching him a little off guard, the rhino was still able to catch the piece of metal furniture against his chest.
As rifles were readied and primed to fire, Katorasu Naitosutoka slowly reached over his left shoulder and unsheathed Ekibyō, “I’m not letting you threaten me, my city, or anyone else. I’m going to give you one chance,” In a fluid motion, he flourished his matching sword, “Either you take your men and get out of Station Square, or I’ll just go ahead and kick your asses right out of the city and back to where you came from; deal with your problems yourselves, jackasses.” His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed, “Go ahead, try to kill me if you’re feelin’ lucky.”
Out of a scene that was straight from a western flick, Giudice and his men all stared down the nephalem; the rhinoceros himself didn’t expect the hedgehog to become so serious, as he thought that Katorasu would fold his cards in response to such a serious threat.
With ease, the well-dressed rhino had ripped off an entire leg from the metal table, before tossing the body to the side as he wielded the makeshift weapon. For a moment, it was as if the silence spoke for the both of them, with one daring the other to make their move.
“Boys…” Giudice broadened himself, lightly tapping the tip of his new club in his palm, “… if you see him out of my reach, shoot him.”
Like the cocky bastard he always has been, Katorasu couldn’t help himself as let out a chuckle. Even as Giudice’s arm— much less his entire body it seemed— quickly brought down the table leg, the nephalem could only smirk, as he simply moved to the side with a bit of ease. As if to lock eyes with the smaller male, the rhino looked to his side but was only met by the oncoming approach of Kato’s elbow. To his surprise, Giudice felt the limb strike hard against his lower jaw, sending spit flying out of his mouth momentarily and causing the rhino to stagger to his left.
Out of retaliation, the mobster lieutenant swung his fist into the hedgehog— though he narrowly missed him— as Katorasu hopped over the limb and onto Giudice’s back. Wrapping his legs around the rhino’s neck— the rhinoceros’ thick hide prevented the nephalem from choking him unconscious— the swordsman began pummeling his fist onto Giudice’s face.
“Ride ‘em, cowboy! Torro, Torro!” He laughed, waving his sword in the air, riding the large Möbian as he mocked him ever so casually.
Riling up the mobster, as his men stood back and watched, Giudice grabbed a hold of the nephalem’s sword-wielding arm; with a yelp and a small curse from Kato, the hedgehog felt his entire weight shift suddenly and almost felt light as a feather for a second. It ended rather abruptly though, as Giudice slammed Katorasu into the concrete floor of the warehouse, resulting in Ekibyō jumping out of Katorasu’s grasp— just from the sheer force of the impact. Aside from his arm getting dislocated in one move, the ebony rogue felt his body jolt with pain, he was fairly certain he heard something crack too— whether it was the floor under him or a handful of bones, he wasn’t sure on which one was the cause.
Not getting a chance to lie there on the floor, the rhino lifted his boot and held it over the head of the hedgehog. Just before he could crush Katorasu’s skull like a watermelon, the nephalem quickly rolled on his side and out of the way, he watched horizontally as Giudice’s foot caused a small shatter in the concrete. As he popped his arm back into place, the vigilante spotted the four triggermen aiming and ready to fire upon him, keeping their orders in mind as the black hedgehog was openly exposed.
He was happy with being slow on his reaction to Giudice’s grab, as he was able to change into mist and completely negate the effect that the firearms would’ve had on his body. Katorasu’s vision then landed on Ekibyō, though before he could make a quick flight over to it, he needed to make sure that he wouldn’t be immediately blasted by the rifles. Using the trail that the mist left behind to his advantage, the vigilante quickly swirled around the four individuals to briefly obscure their sight. As if they could touch him in this state, one or two of them still tried to swing their rifles at the shifter, to no avail.
Using the brief window of opportunity, Katorasu rolled out of his form and back into his normal body, without hesitation, he grabbed hold of Ekibyō once again. From behind him, he heard Giudice prepare another swing, prompting the hedgehog to turn around at the right moment; in one fluid motion, the emerald-streaked hero sliced the makeshift weapon in two, causing the rhino to completely miss his target again.
“Well, that’s awkward!” Katorasu snickered, as the visible rage on the rhino’s face fueled his cockiness even further, “Hate it when that happens, but what can ya do?”
Another swing erupted from the fist of Giudice, though it missed by mere inches as the nephalem had performed a flip over it. Serving some quick punishment for that whiffed hit, Katorasu delivered two kicks across the left cheek of the rhino, staggering the large brawler once more as the nephalem landed on his feet nonchalantly.
Flourishing Ekibyō in front of Giudice, the ebony rogue was more than happy to take a few whacks at the rhino’s body, striking at his sides and joints to get him to his knees.
Huffing out of anger, frustration, and sheer desire to kill this annoying prick in front of him, Giudice gritted his teeth and spoke, “Screw it… light him up! I can take it! He can’t!” His voice roared as he was still lowered onto his knees, as his men glanced at each other, unsure if they should follow that command or not.
“Oh no—“ A torrent of lead was sent in the direction of the black hedgehog, his mist ability hadn’t returned to him just yet.
However, with some quick reaction timing, Katorasu was able to keep out of reach of the concentrated barrage coming from the mobsters; as he bounced around, the vigilante conjured up an orb of energy in the palm of his hand and crushed it, the eyes of the triggermen watched Kato become seemingly faster as he moved, he was almost impossible to hit now. With this briefly enhanced speed and strength, the nephalem was able to casually bounce off of the chest of a charging Giudice, kicking the enraged rhino backward as the hedgehog performed an acrobatic flip before landing.
His ears were pleased to hear the sound of clicking fill the room, Katorasu could tell by the looks on their faces that they no longer had any sort of suppression against the vigilante.
Having landed on his ass, against a wall of the warehouse, Giudice belittled his men, briefly ignoring the approaching nephalem, “You idiots couldn’ta hit him at least once?! He’s still standing fine!”
Catching the lieutenant completely off guard, Katorasu nearly poked at the throat of the large male with the very tip of his sword, “Even if you guys managed to hit me with a clip, it wouldn’t even matter; I’ve been hit with a lot worse, I just die hard.” He mused, as Giudice’s eyes traveled up the blade of Ekibyō and ended at Katorasu’s golden eyes, which appeared to glow a bit like the symbols on the sword.
To the hedgehog’s surprise, the rhino began to let out a low laugh, did Giudice find Katorasu’s attempt at intimidation funny? “You’re just like every other ‘hero’, you think you’re invincible against us… but how’s that saying go? ‘If it bleeds…” A whole weight of a force slammed itself into the chest of the nephalem, his body had been sent flying to the other side of the warehouse, “… you can kill it!’”
His back was the first part of him to hit against the wall, reigniting the pain from being slammed into the floor earlier. Falling forward afterward, onto his chest that was just struck hard, the nephalem could only lie down and watch, as the lieutenant and his mobsters fled out the back door of the warehouse without looking back at the hedgehog.
“H-hey!” He huffed a little in pain, forcing himself to get back up and give chase, “Where do you think you’re going?” Katorasu shouted, struggling just a bit to place one foot after the other, he watched as Giudice was the last one to leave.
Just before the door closed shut, the vigilante wrapped his fingers around the handle and pulled it towards him. In his mind, he figured that the mobsters would be trying to get into their vehicle as fast as they could, it would be a cinch to take them all down in a more open space; in reality though, rather than being met with the sight of a fleeing opposing force, he was met with a large thick-skinned fist.
The rhino’s entire knuckles slammed against the front of Katorasu’s face, imprinting marks across his roguishly handsome face for the night. In the aftermath of the punch, his world began to shift, spiral, and become unfamiliar to him.
As he fell backward, the voice of Giudice echoed in his ears as the lieutenant ran, “Heh, sucker.”
His ears flickered wildly, they rang with such loudness as the light above the nephalem began to shine bright like it was a second sun to his eyes. His vision became blurred, images swirling in front of his golden orbs; soon after, Katorasu found it harder and harder to stay awake, desperately trying to create an orb of energy to heal all the bruises and wash away the pain so he could get back up. Despite his best attempts though, it was that very pain that ruined his concentration and only ended up tiring him out further.
Kato’s focus had dwindled completely, there was nothing else he could do except let things play out from here. As his eyes involuntarily shut, he could hear the sound of police sirens fading in as he faded out.
