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If there was one thing Kaveh prided himself on, it was that he was never one to leave a job unfinished. However, as gunshots rang out and narrowly missed the car he was hiding behind, he began to realize that maybe, just maybe, he was gonna have to ask for an extension on his homework assignment.
However, he also had a worse and much more serious problem to worry about. Beside him, Cyno is breathing heavily, a bullet wound going through his lower abdomen. If he wanted to hurry and get Cyno to a hospital, he needed to subdue those robbers.
Tighnari's gonna kill me, Kaveh thought.
Cyno and Tighnari had known each other since they had joined the Akademiya when they were younger. Tighnari and Cyno had been two rare instances of being accepted into the Akademiya early and both were on track to graduate early as well. They both got in on recommendation from two alumni who had graduated a long time ago and who had seen their potential and enrolled them early. It would be impossible to hide Cyno's condition from him because Tighnari was his emergency contact and they were dorm mates.
They both were utterly screwed.
Kaveh more than Cyno.
Maybe he could plead his case with Collei first. She was a sweet girl he had rescued from a lab during one of his vigilante escapades. After he had left her in the park, he had quickly put away his suit before returning and pretending to find her. He had later introduced her to Tighnari and Cyno and they had instantly become attached to her. She had been a piece of work at first but had eventually warmed up the more time she had spent with Cyno and Tighnari. People assumed that Cyno was the scariest among his pseudo-siblings but they had never dealt with an overprotective Valuka Shuna with an attitude problem and an unbelievable amount of sass when he was irritated.
Cyno could tear you apart with a weapon, but Tighnari? He could disembowel you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually with his words before giving you mercy with an arrow right between your eyes as you begged for death. He was utterly diabolical.
Kaveh had made a dumb promise to keep Cyno out of trouble and what did he do? Somehow walked them right into a gunfight between the police and armed robbers. He couldn't use his suit in front of the police, they considered his actions vigilantism and would arrest him on the spot. If it had just been Cyno who had seen, he would have only briefly hesitated but to have an entire street as well as the police see? That was something he wanted to avoid at all costs. But Cyno was bleeding out next to him. Could he really risk Cyno dying just to hide his other identity? Would he be able to live with himself if that happened?
Kaveh could feel himself begin to hyperventilate as he clutched Cyno closer. He couldn't risk Cyno's life and should definitely jump in to stop the shooters, but what if Cyno bled out anyway while he was away? He was losing blood so fast. Kaveh couldn't breathe. His vision was becoming blurred and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears.
What should I do?
What should I do?
The deafening sound of a crash had Kaveh flinching as he moved his body instinctively to shield Cyno from any more harm. What was that? Had the robbers blown themselves or the police up? Had the police gotten tired of waiting for the shootout to end and had bombed them themselves? This situation had just gone from horrible to absolutely f*****. Tighnari was gonna do worse than kill him, he was gonna eviscerate him, cut him up, and make sure nobody found all the pieces of his body. He couldn't even imagine the tongue-lashing he would get before that. And Cyno needed a medic now.
Suddenly, the car he had been ducking behind was lifted. Kaveh felt his heart sink before he turned to look at who had the power to lift a car like that. He found himself freezing at the sight he was met with. There was a mechanically suited person lifting the car single-handedly before the car was flung towards the direction of the bank, crashing into the shooters. The suit's build hinted the person was quite well-built but a suit with abs could just as easily be some nerd living their fantasy through their suit. The suit was mostly black with some green accents along the arms, legs, and a symbol that he couldn't make out on the back of his hands. On his back were two large black mechanical wings with green "under-feathers" that flexed almost freakishly close to real wings. They had to at least be six to seven meters at least from what he could tell. Was the crashing sound this hulk of a man landing after literally flying onto the scene?
Was he from the police force? A countermeasure to larger crime attacks? But there were only three shooters and the cops greatly outnumbered them? Did they send this guy in because the shootout was taking too long? His question was quickly answered when the policeman next to them shouted at the armored figure.
"Who the h*** are you?!"
The newcomer didn't even spare the officer a glance. Instead, when he turned around, his eyes locked onto Kaveh. The blond man felt a shiver go down his spine. The unknown man had a helmet that covered his entire head with not even a hair peeking out. On the front of his mask were large, piercing eyes that seemed to drill right into Kaveh's soul. The eyes were mostly red with red eyes with a thin green ring around the simulated diamond-shaped pupil. It was worse than being stared down by an actual bird of prey. When the man turned away silently, Kaveh felt like he could finally breathe. That had been the most nervous he had ever been in his life. Even his worst adversaries had made him feel that way. And why had his eyes been so eerily familiar?
Just who was this guy?
Without warning, the man jumped into the air, releasing his wings that propelled him upward into the sky. However, just as Kaveh thought he was gonna fly off, the man did an arch that brought him right back down until he was paralleled with the ground. Kaveh and the police officer barely ducked in time to avoid their heads getting taken off by the wings. Another crashing sound had Kaveh jolting back up to see the remains of the doorway leading into the bank, as well as some of the concrete being torn off of the frame.
Had he. . .crashed into the doors?
Why would he do that?
Just as he thought that, the loud sound of crunching metal resounded from inside the bank. Kaveh felt a sense of dread overtake him at the sound. He thinks he finally realized what was going on here. That man had certainly not been here to save them.
As if a bomb had gone off, the front of the bank exploded. Kaveh once again tried his best to shield Cyno with his body. He felt some debris hit his back, but nothing that would cause any lasting damage. When he looked back up, the dust was still settling from the explosion. When it settled just enough to let him see, he almost felt his heart stop. The mystery man was standing at the top of the stairs with a large safety vault, practically five times his size over his head. What made it even more intimidating was that he was only holding it with one hand.
Calmly, as if he had not just robbed a bank that was already being robbed, he walked down the stairs until he reached the prone bodies of the would-be robbers. Without any hesitation, he ripped the bags of money they had stolen from their bodies, holding the straps in his free hand. When he had retrieved all the bags (four in total), the wings on his back flexed as if to prepare to take off. The cocking of a gun next to him made Kaveh tense before he turned to look at the officer. He was pointing his gun at the man like he hadn't flown into a building and broken it without any damage to the suit.
What in the world did he think bullets were gonna do?
"I'm gonna give you to the count of three to put the vault and the bags down before we load you full of bullets."
Okay, this cop is an idiot, Kaveh thought. He hated when cops acted like morons and not the trained officers they should be. He was gonna get himself and surrounding people killed. Incompetent fools like him were why he had eventually turned to vigilantism. When idiots like him were in charge, innocent people suffered. It made him grit his teeth in anger that he couldn't use his suit without exposing himself. He would love to show this stupid officer how to get things done.
But he also knew that his identity and his friend's life were on the line. Now was not the time to be making hasty decisions.
The man watched them in what Kaveh could only guess was boredom. He didn't seem to be taking this situation very seriously at all. He would even go so far as to say that the man seemed bored. Like this had all been too easy and he was seriously judging the officers in front of him. While Kaveh agreed with him, it wasn't like they could do anything against this walking vibe check. He has clearly shown them that they can't do anything against him. Those bullets were more likely to ricochet off of his armor and hit a civilian or another officer. It was more like the police were puffing their chest like a bunch of dumb apes and not calculating the situation like the intelligent humans they were supposed to be.
Preparing for them to start shooting like the bunch of imbeciles they were, Kaveh moved his body so that the police and the criminal were to his back as he tried to keep his eyes on them. The second those guns popped off meant that Cyno could potentially get even more hurt than he already was. He would rather have himself get hit than his friend, even if it meant he would have to take a break from his vigilante activities until his wounds healed.
Tighnari is really gonna kill me, he thought again.
His movement seemed to alert the criminal as his head snapped in their direction. He eyes him for a moment before his gaze lowers to the wounded man he is clutching. For a second, he only stared, like he was assessing them before a voice broke the moment.
"3!"
Kaveh shot the officer an incredulous look. Was he actually gonna do it? Just as he opened his mouth to say something that would almost certainly get him arrested (this cop seemed the type to arrest someone for insulting him), the whirring sound of the mechanical wings brought his attention right back to the criminal. His wings were expanded and, in the blink of an eye, he crouched down before launching himself into the sky again. It happened so quickly that the officers didn't even get a chance to shoot.
Kaveh watched as the criminal flew away, that nagging feeling at the back of his mind. Why had that villain seemed so familiar? He was dragged out of his encroaching shock when a paramedic grabbed his attention by shining a light in his eyes. He wanted to open his mouth to tell her to check on Cyno but realized he didn't feel his weight against his body anymore. When he tried to look around to find him, he finally caught sight of him on a stretcher and being wheeled toward an ambulance. He almost went lightheaded with relief.
Help was here.
Cyno would be okay.
Then he blacked out.
Alhaitham sighed as he let the suit retract until it was compacted into the form of a backpack on his back. It had a decent weight to it but it was nothing his body couldn't handle after all the training he was forced to undertake after his oh-so-generous benefactor had saved him after his house had burned down a few years ago.
Alhaitham would be a fool to accept that it was simply a case of arson by some dumb two-bit criminal. He knew who had set his house on fire and he was certainly going to do something about it. But he had to be smart about if he wanted her to get out of this alive. The best case scenario is that they both got out of this alive but she was his main priority. First and foremost, her safety came first. He just needed to find a way to safely get her out of his hands and to safety before he confronted him.
But there was also a certain variable he hadn't expected to become a thing.
His ex-best friend Kaveh had been at his debut.
Alhaitham had honestly not expected to see him there. At least, not in his civilian persona. The first time he had ever seen the new vigilante that had been running all over the streets of Sumeru, he had immediately known it was Kaveh. That stupid name had been enough to know who the vigilante really was. He almost couldn't believe that he had actually gone with that stupid hero name.
But when he had seen him there, that look of absolute defeat on his face as he clutched the unconscious body of a civilian Alhaitham didn't recognize, he had hesitated. He knew when he first showed up, Kaveh must have thought he was reinforcements. Possibly even another vigilante. It had made his heart sting when he had come out of the bank with that vault held over his head and saw how his old friend's face had dropped. He was just lucky that she had made the suit for him so that he could carry the darn thing. But it did nothing to comfort him from the fact that he had put that look on Kaveh's face. All that talk about helping people and making Sumeru safer and Alhaitham had gone and become a villain. He was just lucky he took off before those idiotic officers had done something that could have gotten Kaveh hurt. But still. . .
. . .The first time he had seen Kaveh in years and this is how they reunite?
On opposite sides of this cursed battlefield?
It was laughable.
"I see you have the time to sit there chuckling to yourself. How about, instead of being lost in dreamland over there all by your lonesome, you finish the job and deliver the money to me?"
Alhaitham knew better than to look for where the voice was coming from. It echoed throughout the large, empty room that was meant to be the entrance to the hideout. His benefactor had been more than cautious about showing him his true appearance or being in the same room as him without him being sedated. But it still made his hair stand on end either way. He always had his eyes on Alhaitham but Alhaitham had no idea what the man looked like, so it wasn't like he could rat him out to the authorities. This man was fickle and seemed to have everything planned out to a T when it came to keeping his identity hidden.
It was beyond infuriating.
"How about you send those clones you're so proud of to come get them," he snipped back. He wasn't gonna pretend to be nice to this guy. He wasn't one for pretending before and he wasn't about to start now unless he absolutely had to. "I have an appointment to keep."
"Now, now, my friend," the voice said over the intercom. Alhaitham felt a small bit of justice at the irritation he could detect through his tone. While the man liked to act all high and mighty, he was still just a prideful human man at the end of the day. But that small victory was quickly taken away.
"We could always cancel that little appointment, now, could we?"
Alhaitham scowled blindly at the ceiling. He had never seen where the hidden cameras were in all the time he was held captive here. He knew it would be a lost cause to try and look for them now. If his captor didn't want him to find them, he wouldn't see them. It was unfortunate that he had never been able to meet him face to face so that Alhaitham could give him a swift punch to his likely irritating mug.
"Don't give me a reason to lock you down hard, Alhaitham," the man, sneered. When he spoke again, venom dripped from his every word. "Or to punish her."
The gray-haired man felt himself bristle. If only he had powers like the other heroes and villains, he would tear this entire facility apart until he found this man and destroyed him. But at the moment, he couldn't risk her life. He had to make sure she got out of this in once piece and safely. He couldn't make that man turn his attention to her. He was silently grateful that he hadn't said anything about Kaveh either. Without another word, Alhaitham reactivated the suit and went to grab the vault and bags again. When he began to drag them towards where he was supposed to deposit them, he heard that conniving voice over the speaker one last time.
"I almost forgot to tell you that I have another assignment for you."
Alhaitham flipped him off.
Maniacal cackling filled the room.
To Be Continued. . .