Muted Lights Past Midnight || Goro

The only thing that could’ve made this meeting worse was if it were daytime, Goro decided. First of all, the man he’d been sent to meet was quirkless, of all things. The Underground doesn’t need the dirty money of their oppressors, and Goro knew Mother knew that as well as he did. She’d told this man as much, but he wasn’t the kind to take no for an answer. Which brought him to the second reason why this meeting was the absolute worst. If there’s one thing Goro can’t stand, it’s people who refuse to face the facts when they’re presented to them. People who simply refuse to listen to listen to him, or, worse, listen but refuse to understand him. And, considering he refused to listen to Mother, he obviously won’t listen to Goro.

The whole way to where Goro would be meeting him, he’d already been cursing him in his mind. Who does he think he is, thinking the Gifted Underground would bow to him? That he’d demand someone come to negotiate face-to-face? That he thought that threatening

Once Goro actually met the “investor”, he found it almost impossible to disguise his disgust. The man stank of alcohol, a smell Goro was none-too-happy with to begin with, but in this situation, it was about as disrespectful as the man pissing directly into his face would’ve been.

Typical.

The man drunkenly slurred insults at Goro as the bat simply stood there and angrily tapped a gloved finger on his tablet, impatiently waiting for him to finish. Was he really expecting Goro to follow him into the alley? It seemed very unlikely that he was trying to get fresh air to sober up, especially since fresh is the last thing Goro would use to describe the air around there.

He pushed the curtains apart with his wings, partially to keep eye contact with the man and partially to subtly intimidate him.

“Believe me, we have no interest in your money. The Underground is fine without your funding. If you expect Mo-ahem, Fader to actually dignify you with a meeting face-to-face, you should lower your expectations. Your pitiful threats and attempts at blackmail aren’t going to make us change our minds, either. Surely, you aren’t under the impression we’ve never been threatened like that before, right?” He spoke calmly and quietly, loud enough to be clear to the man he was addressing but quietly enough that it wouldn’t carry out onto the street.

He took a deep breath, and slid one of his hands into his pocket, stroking the handle of the knife hidden within a few times. Should it become necessary, it surely wouldn’t be hard to dispose of him. His loss wouldn’t impact many negatively, and it would be an easy kill considering his inebriated state. That thought was the only thing keeping him from snapping at the drunkard right then and there.

Goro breathed through gritted teeth as he stepped outside fully, his hand still rested on the knife in his pocket. Every second he spent interacting with this disgusting garbage pile of a man made it harder and harder to keep his cool. How someone like this could look at himself in a mirror, Goro didn’t know. As far as Goro saw it, some people simply didn’t have any kind of capacity of rational thought, and that problem more often than not afflicts those without Quirks. If he were to take care of this bastard, he’d just be doing society a favour. Ridding it of someone incapable of keeping up.

The fat prick opened his mouth again, and it took more effort than Goro was willing to admit to not roll his eyes before he even heard a single word from him. Nothing worthwhile was about to come from him.

He wasn’t surprised by how bigoted the drunkard was, he’d more than come to expect that from any quirkless. Even so, he was still incensed by it. Who does he think he’s talking to? ‘Someone of my status’? As if Goro was somehow beneath him… No, as if the Gifted Underground as a whole was beneath him. How delusional.

The alcohol still in the man’s throat stank, and Goro’s instincts were all suggesting to rid himself of the smell. Still, he managed to hold himself back until the bastard insulted Mother again. Within a few seconds, he’d surged forward, pushing himself with his wings and drawing the knife from his pocket to pin the man against the wall, knife to his throat. His wings quickly folded around the both of them, both obscuring them from any street cameras that might be present and attempting to pin the man’s arms.

“What gives you the impression your status is the one that matters here? You’re powerless here, sir.” He kept his voice as low as possible, the last word dripping with venom. “You can’t bribe your way out of this, you can’t throw your ‘status’ around, and I’m sure talking it out is beneath you.” Push the knife closer to his throat, just enough that he can feel it but not enough that it hurts yet. Just enough that he knows it’s there. “I’m not sure what you thought you were going to do, coming into a meeting with the Underground inebriated, but I’m almost glad you did. It’ll make this a whole lot easier for me.”

Covering himself this way did make Goro’s echolocation slightly less reliable, but as far as he could tell the streets close by were clear. Good. No witnesses. For the first time the whole night, Goro’s face changed. His eyes almost seemed to glimmer in what little moonlight reached them as a wide, twisted grin spread across his face. The prejudiced drunkard may believe he glimpsed some kind of vampiric fangs, if just for a moment.


But no, Goro is merely a bat. Vampiric bloodlust is not something his Quirk bestowed on him.


The bloodlust he was feeling at that moment was wholly unrelated.


He had every intention of slitting the bastard’s throat, but that would come a little later. He wanted to see the fear set into his eyes. He wanted to see the man choked by the cold grip of terror. And he wanted to hear what kind of ridiculous drivel he’d come up with to try and plead for his life. Or, perhaps he’d try and go out fighting, maybe he’d dredge up some kind of dated old slurs to yell until he can yell no more, that could be entertaining too.

“Is there any air left in your lungs, or has the beer already flooded them?” His voice was nothing more than a whisper at this point, his face uncomfortably close to the other man’s. The stench of alcohol was still an irritant, but that barely mattered anymore. It was nothing compared to the scent that would fill the alleyway in a moment.

He’d already said bribing him wouldn’t work, but Goro hadn’t expected anything smart from the now clearly-sobered man. Even so, the mere idea of this man’s dirty money being enough to turn the bat away from killing him brought out a mirthless chuckle. There was no way this bastard would actually follow up on what he was promising in this moment; someone like him would probably try and call the cops the moment the blade was lifted from his throat.

The expression painted on the face of Goro’s victim was a sight to behold; no matter what his desperate babbling was trying to suggest, some part of him had already realised there wasn’t any escape. Goro could barely hear the individual words he was saying, anyway, all that rang in his ears was the absolute terror carried in the bastard’s voice. His grin barely split as what could only be described as a cackle rose from deep in his throat. Perhaps it was the thrill of holding someone he despised so thoroughly in this position, or perhaps it was the adrenaline filling his veins to bursting in that moment, but it was almost impossible to stop himself once he started. Not that he really wanted to, anyway.

The knife was so, so close now. Any movement of Goro’s hand at all, and it would be over. The silk between his hand and the man’s neck was so thin he could almost feel his carotid arteries bulging under his skin.

If he found some one-liner or retort to finish the ‘conversation’, it would leave this quirkless waste of space with some kind of actual conclusion to his life. An ending, satisfying or not. That was far, far more than he deserved. This wasn’t some kind of poetic death that, should an afterlife exist, he would be able to look back on in Hell and ponder. The only one getting anything out of this should be Goro.

For a moment longer, he stared the bastard in the face, taking in every inch of fear etched onto his face. A single moment, but it felt like a beautiful eternity, the slow burn of pain pushing its way from his neck to his brain. Then, in one swift stroke, Goro pushed forward and away, slashing both carotid arteries at once. In the same motion, he stepped back, putting his right wing between the man’s throat and his suit to catch any of the blood spurting from the cut. The leathery surface of his wings would be a lot easier to clean than such an expensive suit.

Unfortunately, Goro’s blissful adrenaline rush was cut short by a shrill scream across the street. In his murderous haze, he’d managed to overlook a trio of teenagers coming around the corner. “Oh, SHIT.” He muttered. Thank God it was night time, and his wings were still positioned just right to obscure any other identifying features, but huge bat wings were very distinct either way.

One of the teens had their phone out, obviously calling the cops. Before they had a chance to take any photos of him for evidence, Goro was already out, zooming into the sky above the alleyway harder than he’d ever taken off before. The sudden rush of air on his face was unpleasant, to say the least, but he didn’t need to stay in the air for long. He rolled onto the rooftop of the bar, and ducked down low enough to, hopefully, be unnoticeable from the street.

Out of the trio that had spotted him, one of the boys was still on the phone, while the girl had now run over to check on Goro’s victim. That wasn’t of much concern to him, he knew the man had died almost instantaneously so there wasn’t anything she could do to save him.

Goro was certainly getting a visit from the cops in the morning, he could imagine they’d be on the look-out for any winged Quirkers at all. As far as he could tell in the dim light, none of the blood had reached anything besides his wings, so he wouldn’t need to ditch his suit or gloves. This knife was his favourite, it had previously carried him to victory against his disgrace of a brother when they’d reunited, so he had no interest in parting ways with it either. Hopefully, the morning search of his hotel room won’t be particularly thorough.

He shook his head. At the moment, he shouldn’t be worrying about the morning. His primary concern is evading the cops, and potentially Pro Heroes should the situation apparently warrant them. He had a slight head start, but no doubt they’d be sending out helicopters considering his Quirk.

Yet again, Goro had failed to pay attention to his surroundings. For someone with echolocation, he sure was missing a lot of oncoming shit tonight. For example, he’d only just noticed the other person leaping right on top of his hiding spot only a split second before their foot met with his back. He caught his scream of pain in his throat, and instead only hissed in pain, a sound much more suited to his current position.

The newcomer didn’t follow up on what Goro had assumed at first to be a sneak attack, and he lifted his head to see them fallen on their arms. Were they not after him, then? They just happened to climb up onto the same roof as a now-wanted murderer? It just didn’t add up.

What they did next was even more baffling. Asking him if he’s okay? Apologizing? Did they really not know who he was or what he’d done? Were they just trying to lull him into a false sense of security, perhaps? But what purpose would that serve? He wasn’t in the best position to fight back to begin with, why even bother pretending?

“I’m fine.” He didn’t have the energy to keep the irritation and, more importantly, pain from creeping into his voice, but he did his best to pretend otherwise. “I suppose I was hard to see, but I didn’t expect someone to be coming up here in a hurry. What do you think you’re doing?”

Try and divert attention from why he’s up there, so the other won’t think about it. If Goro puts them on the defensive, they won’t have the chance to repeat their questioning. They seemed flustered anyway, so hopefully it’d be easy.

“Hell of a time to practice your parkour.”

The sirens in the distance meant they didn’t really have time to sit and chat anyway. They were far enough that Goro didn’t need to run off right away, but he needed to get his shit together soon. He sat up, his back still groaning from before, and managed to stand. Hopefully, it wouldn’t hurt for too long.

Well, at least they weren’t being unnaturally polite anymore. Hostile sarcasm was much more Goro’s speed; why would a stranger ever be nice to anyone? It only ever feels like someone wants something from him, or that they’re trying to fuck with him. Those are the only things that’d make sense, the world is too awful for anyone to be sincerely nice. Attitudes like that are beaten out of people when they’re young.

“I’m sure.” He adjusted his glasses again, “What I’m doing up here is of no concern to you, and I’m sure what you’re doing doesn’t concern me either. As long as we’re in agreement there, I don’t see the problem.” Unless they were a Pro Hero that happened to be in the area for whatever reason, Goro had less than no interest in whatever business this person had on the rooftops.

Even from up on the roof, Goro could just barely feel the presence of one of the teens still down on the street. The other two had either moved out of range, or they’d already run home scared. Someone, it felt like the girl but he wasn’t certain, was probably waiting for the cops to show up before leaving; maybe they were so scared they needed the cops to escort them home.

The other’s face was obscured by the dark of night, but Goro could feel the look on their face with his Quirk. They were… scared? What reason did they have to be afraid of the cops? Perhaps it had something to do with the bow on their back that had been knocked out of place by their poor landing. Had they also killed someone tonight? It sure would be useful if they had; would make it all the easier for Goro to pin his kill on someone else and get off scot free.

They didn’t seem like the type that had the balls to actually take someone’s life though. Their response to Goro’s presence, and how nervous they’ve been this whole time suggested someone who’s definitely experienced terrible things, but not enough to scrub away their fear of inflicting pain on others. Still, maybe they’d tried to. Maybe they’d hurt someone by accident. No matter what it was, they’d clearly done something that they believe warrants the cops being called on them.

What they said implied a quick getaway, but they weren’t going anywhere. Goro looked over, and saw them turning in place, looking up at the nearby rooftops as if looking for an escape route. The distance between the rooftops certainly wasn’t a jump a normal person, or even a Quirker without some kind of jump enhancing ability could make, so there wasn’t really any way out for the archer besides jumping back down to the street and praying.

Usually, given the luxury of time and lack of pressure, Goro would simply abandon the other to the cops and make his escape unimpeded, but leaving them behind right now would probably lead to them telling the cops about him. Any impact bringing them with him would have on the speed of Goro’s getaway was minimal in comparison to the risks of leaving them behind.

Then, they asked Goro something he’d never expected to hear. Did he look like a hero? Was he in a heroic position at the moment, hiding on a rooftop in the middle of the night? Plus, they sounded as if they’d prefer he not be. What was going on with this kid? They looked too frail to be a vigilante, there was no way…

“What do you think?” He finally answered, before looping an arm around the other’s waist and taking off again, towards the fire escape on one side. Another person was far too heavy for Goro to carry for long, so hopefully there wouldn’t be any more obstacles like this between here and their escapes from here on out.

Goro touched down on the fire escape balcony next to Yuki, and immediately regretted helping them. God, what was he doing? He didn’t even know this person, even if they don’t get caught by the cops tonight they could easily choose to give the cops information later on. Perhaps they’d feel compelled to when they see the news next morning, about an unknown bat-winged murderer who’d escaped without a trace.

He turned away from Yuki and stealthily wiped the blood from his knife with a cloth he’d brought with him for that purpose. His wings should hopefully block Yuki’s view of whatever he was doing. He quickly stuffed the cloth and knife back into his pockets, hoping he hadn’t left any blood on either. Dry-cleaning would be a nightmare if any of it bled onto the actual suit.

He looked back at Yuki just in time to catch their almost-smile, and he did his best to smile back despite the gnawing suspicion in his gut. “That’s one advantage of having wings, I suppose.” No matter how little he trusted them at the moment, their compliment didn’t seem insincere.

Ah, this fire escape doesn’t quite reach the rooftop either. Goro crossed his arms and stared up at the top of the balconies, trying to judge the actual distance between the two. God, there was no way he was going to keep carrying Yuki up these buildings. If the next jump was too long or too high up, he’d just leave Yuki to find their own way out of this mess. No use in straining his arms for someone he doesn’t even know the name of.

Yuki was definitely nervous, but why? Still he had no idea why they were so afraid of being caught by the cops. What had they done? No purpose in asking them because there was no way they’d tell him, and they’d probably ask him the same question.

“You sound like you have your route already figured out.” He muttered sarcastically. Seriously, what kind of person makes their anxiety so clear on the outside? Exposing their own weakness to the world like that just made them seem hard to trust. He couldn’t really leave them at the moment though, flying out onto the street was just asking for trouble.

“I don’t think flying off from the fire escape here would be enough. The cops are going to be here any minute now, I think they’d notice someone fl-someone using their quirk in public without proper certification pretty clearly even at night.” He stumbled over his own words for a moment, trying to avoid bringing up thoughts of why avoiding the cops would be so important to him. Hopefully his excuse would work.

He climbed the stairs as silently as possible. At the very least, people would hear Yuki’s footsteps first. From the top of the fire escape, it wasn’t that hard for Goro to hop up to the rooftop, only taking a couple flaps of his wings, but he wasn’t completely sure that Yuki could make it. They were much shorter than he was, and they looked pretty skinny. Plain and simple, Goro didn’t think they had the upper body strength to pull themselves up.

“Are you going to need help to get up here?”
He leaned over the edge of the rooftop, looking back down at Yuki.

Goro's accidental partner in escaping the cops seemed to be getting tired already. Honestly, Goro wasn't holding up much better, but there was no way he was going to show it. The sirens behind them were still fast approaching, and until they were clear of the cops slowing down to catch their breath felt like suicide.

They still weren't far enough to jump out over the street. Goro wasn't exactly certain there was enough space for him to glide down enough to avoid breaking most of his bones landing, not to mention the distinct possibility his arms would give out over the long distance and he'd just end up dropping the other person.

Speaking of them, they still didn't seem at all confidant in their own movements across the gap. Their climb up to the balcony was agonizingly shaky to Goro, and he found his own nails digging into the palms of his now-clenched fists subconsciously.

He'd noticed the window on the way up, it would've been hard for him to not feel it considering his Quirk, but he hadn't payed all that much attention to it. Now, he was contemplating how it would open. If it opened outward, and whoever was inside decided they wanted some fresh air, Yuki would be screwed. The thought didn't help his fists loosen any.

He hadn't expected them to even share this much about themselves, and he was taken a little off-guard. Who would trust someone they just met, in such suspicious circumstances, enough to admit to something illegal like that? At the same time, Goro supposed that someone who was running from the cops already would seem the type to not turn around and judge a criminal. He flexed his wings slightly, looking for a response to Yuki's small talk.

"Trust me, I don't make it a habit visiting such disgusting parts of the city. Unfortunately, my job didn't really give me a choice tonight." He sighed, "Vigilantism isn't my kind of thing. Not that I would hold anything against you for it, but sticking my neck out for people who might not appreciate it and risking being arrested for it just doesn't seem fulfilling." Plus, maybe if those ungrateful bastards went unrescued, they'd learn a lesson or at least leave the rest of the world better by their absence. That part of his sentence went wisely unspoken.

Yuki seemed to, for a brief second, slip from the wall, and Goro exhaled sharply. He had no idea why he was getting so worked up about their climb; obviously, if they fell they could give away Goro's position, but it felt like more than that. Perhaps the adrenaline still fresh from his kill was playing with his mind.

Either way, he wasn't going to just leave them down there. He leaned as far as he could over the edge of the roof and reached down with both arms. He wasn't certain he could lift them with just one.
"Here. But hurry it up, the cops will be here soon."