It's Good to Have Friends in High Places || Goro

For once, Goro was in Kabukicho for a reason. It hadn’t been anything big, but having a reason to travel there certainly made the whole place a lot more bearable. One of the Gifted Underground’s contacts in Japan had been looking to get more money out of them, and Mother had told Goro to take care of it. And, thankfully, he’d managed to intimidate them out of it without getting violent. In fact, the contact had been pretty reasonable, in comparison to most of their other ‘associates’ that started getting greedy.

With how well the meeting had gone, unfortunately Goro had no excuse to take to the rooftops that evening, and he actually had to walk on the ground, like a “good citizen.” In Kabukicho, mutants still got as many stares as they did in more respectable parts of the city, but they were different types. Fear, mostly, or open hostility, rather than the condescending wonder or passive aggression outside. Plus, it was still loud. And bright.

So, he’d slipped into the alleyways a while back, desperate to clear his head and to stop needing to cover his ears. There was still noise, and one or two neon signs hung in-between streets for much shadier establishments, but he could at least hear himself think here.

Goro could also hear other things here, as it turned out. Like the shape of a knife being thrust in between a man’s ribs. Logic told him it was none of his business, that getting involved would only ruin his relatively peaceful night, but the bloodthirst he hadn’t been able to vent was strong enough to make him reconsider. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he leaped skyward, landing quietly on a fire escape nearby.

Seemed like a drug deal gone wrong, he gathered from first glance. Or, maybe, someone had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was certainly something odd about the way the victim was acting, as if he wasn’t quite feeling the knife inside him, but that was the last thing on Goro’s mind at that moment. He was just watching this unfold, ready to hop in if this turned out to be Quirk-based bigotry.

And, then, a girl burst out of the man’s back. Goro’s eyes widened, and he ducked down, afraid that the two drug dealers would accidentally look in his direction. The girl-shaped blob immediately set off running from the scene, and Goro followed, flying up to the roof and following her. There was something about her that seemed familiar, but he was certain he’d never seen her before in his life.

It didn’t take too long for her to seemingly tire out, and duck between the wall and a bit of wood. The thugs that were chasing her were out of sight and sound, seemingly having given up on their pursuit. Maybe they were satisfied with their first kill, maybe they’d genuinely lost her in the chaos. Either way, they didn’t seem to be around anytime soon.

Goro stepped from the rooftop, using his wings to glide to the ground safely in front of her hiding spot. It was only as he reached the ground that his brain put together who this was. ParaSyte. From the villain chatroom. She was in the correct age range, appeared to have the same Quirk, and would have reason to be moving around in Kabukicho so late at night. With that realization came a strange pang of sadness in his heart.

“Excuse me, Parasyte?” He called out, quietly. “What happened back there? Do you know those people?”

This was the first time in Goro’s life that someone had been happy to see him. He was glad Parasyte recognized him, it made things a whole lot easier. Sure, she was shortening his villain title considerably, but when she did it, he didn’t mind all too much. It just wasn’t logical expecting someone with such a poor grasp on Japanese to get the whole thing right.

“Yes, it’s me.” He kept his voice low, in case the thugs were still prowling nearby. “Did they injure you, or just your host?”

At this moment, he didn’t quite remember how her Quirk worked. Obviously, it was a symbiotic type, she could enter other people’s bodies and aid them in some form, but he couldn’t recall if she’d ever given certain details. The most pressing one being whether or not damage to the host would transfer to her. It didn’t seem like she was bleeding, but with how melty she was there was no guarantee she had blood at all. He had no way of knowing.

“Is your friend nearby?” Ideally, he’d be able to bring her over to her ‘friend’, whoever he is, as soon as possible. Putting her in the hands of someone who could actually tell if she was hurt, and knew how to treat her if that were the case, was the top priority. But, there was the possibility he wasn’t…

Goro offered his hand to Parasyte. “If he isn’t, I… I believe I could serve as your host, just to take you back to him.”

Goro nodded as she explained she wasn't hurt. Phantom pain was still a problem, to be sure, but it certainly made things easier than if she was in danger of bleeding out. “It’s possible they assumed you were injured, and gave up the hunt because they thought you’d just bleed out.”

Despite knowing she wasn’t in any real pain, seeing her in this kind of state hurt. He didn’t know why. They were both villains, even someone like Parasyte should know how dangerous their way of life is, but he still felt some kind of illogical drive to protect her all the same. Some part of him almost related to her.

Goro wasn’t too surprised by her explanation, he’d watched or heard most of it play out. It did sound like her being here was her own fault, but he couldn’t really blame her for wanting to divert from her short walk. God knows, there’s been times Goro has needed more fresh air like that.

He’d simply been offering to help her stand on her own, and he flinched as one of her fingers pierced his palm. For a brief moment, he’d felt betrayed. Fooled. He’d almost expected her to start pumping some kind of deadly poison into his body, and then laugh in his face about how gullible he was.

But the moment passed, and the tension in his body released again, as Parasyte started to melt ‘toward’ the break in his skin. Her name had made the nature of her Quirk pretty obvious, and she hadn’t been shy about explaining it further in the chatroom, but it was still a little bizarre to watch. It was even more bizarre to experience, as if a mountain of clay were forcing itself through a pinprick-sized hole into his body.

That feeling passed as well, and all that remained of Parasyte within was a strange feeling that definitely wasn’t his own. Gratitude, he supposed. It unnerved him a bit, to feel thoughts that weren’t his own. Had Parasyte had any kind of malicious intent, or were she able to control Goro’s body for herself, he’d probably be having a full-on breakdown. Thankfully, that wasn’t a concern.

“So, are you capable of speaking when I’m… hosting you, I suppose?” He spoke out loud, but quietly enough that it wouldn’t echo through the alleyways. “I assume you must, or you would’ve given me your friend’s address before doing that.”

“Hang on, this might feel a little strange for you.” Goro warned, flapping his wings twice before taking off toward the nearest rooftop. The alleyways were almost silent, still, but he couldn’t discount the possibility that the thugs were still looking for her. The moment he landed again, he ducked behind the side of the roof. Better safe than sorry.

Hearing the world the way he did was the norm for Goro. He did feel a slight sense of superiority to those unfortunate enough to lack that ability, but the novelty of a sense that quirkless humans lacked had worn away a long time ago.

Flight, too, was something Goro took for granted. The sky was all but a second home to him ever since he was a child, the air as reliable to him as the ground would be to anyone else. The only time it’d felt significant to him in recent memory was Nightmare’s maiden flight.

All this meant that when the gratitude in his head was replaced with a surge of adrenaline and excitement, it left him more than a little confused. He’d forgotten that most people, even with Quirks, didn’t experience the world this way, that they had no idea what just being him felt like. His excursions with Izumi should’ve left this fresh in his mind, but alas.

This was the second time this year he’d shown someone the wonders of flight, and as much as he was wanting to avoid thinking about him any longer, it brought something else about Izumi back into his thoughts. Goro didn’t know if Parasyte could tell what he was thinking, if all she got from him were brief flashes of emotion like he did her, but if she could, all he could do was hope she’d keep quiet about this particular thing.

If… If they used the DNI, would Izumi hear things the way Goro did? Would he find it as exhilarating as Parasyte seems to? Another thing that makes him unique, that could be copied, assimilated by the robot when he was piloting him.

The horrid wet feeling on his jaw snapped him out of it, and his eyes darted this way and that, convinced something had just hit him. Then, her voice spilled from the spot, a barrage of laughter that left his sensitive ears ringing. His hand shot to cover his ear, only for him to pull it away instantly when it touched the mouth. Her mouth, he supposed.

“It’s the way my body works.” He shrugged, his voice just barely above a whisper. “Even if you were to reshape your body to have wings identical to these, I’m not certain they’d work the same way. As far as the laws of aerodynamics are concerned, an animal of my size and stature should require a greater wingspan to even get off the ground, and hollow bones to lessen the strain on them. I’m sure you don’t need a lecture about Quirks and the laws of physics, but there’s something that makes them work for me where others would fall.”

That being said, it was hard for him to not launch into a lecture anyway. When Quirk science was the topic at hand, Goro could honestly go for hours. He’d even forgotten Parasyte’s poor grasp of Japanese. “As for echolocation, it’s a similar story. However, there are records of blind humans capable of a minor form of it from far before Quirks emerged. In the end, it’s simply the ability to interpret echoes from the surroundings into distance and direction. When your brain can’t process visual information, it would make it easier to interpret other senses in a manner that replaces the need. At least, that’s the theory. Of course, what you’re hearing right now is certainly far superior to what a quirkless human could ever be capable of.”

For a moment, he allowed Parasyte to enjoy the sensation of their conversation reflecting from the floor; the walls of the alleyways; and the street nearby; and forming back into a view that really was like no other. Then, it was time for business again.

“So, now that we’re in the clear, I assume you’ll want to be heading back to your friend, correct?” He adjusted his glasses, which had slipped just a bit in the flight. “Which way would that be?”

If Parasyte could hear his thoughts, she gave no indication of it. That certainly didn’t disprove that possibility, but logic suggested if she did hear what he’d thought about Izumi, there would’ve been some kind of indication from her feelings. Maybe she could suppress them, but why would she allow anything to slip if she could?

Her first response to his explanation was just to giggle, which confused him. What was funny about a perfect scientific explanation? It was only when she explained herself afterwards that he got it.

“Do I, now?” he replied. “Is that a bad thing?” Her pause in what she said, and a faint pulse of concern he felt from her, was enough to suggest to him what she was thinking about. The censorship extended to speech, and Goro had said to her before that it’d probably hurt his ears. She must’ve been trying to pick her words carefully, to make sure nothing got censored. It was nice that she was being so considerate. If only he could extend that same courtesy to working around their language barrier.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know any Korean. I wish I did, if it made things easier for you to understand.” He bowed his head a little, as if to apologize.

Returning to the most important matter at hand, where they were to go from here. He did wince slightly at the noise she made with… were those teeth? They didn’t seem like it. A name and description weren’t as immediately helpful as an address, but they were useful all the same.

He whipped out his tablet and plugged in the name. It wasn’t so far that they couldn’t walk there, but it’d take a while. Not that he minded, it meant more time with her.

“Oh, don’t worry, my face isn’t exactly known to the public,” he replied. “I appreciate your concern, but there’s really nothing to worry about. At worst, there might be a cop or two who stops me simply because I have the same wings as a known villain, but they can’t do anything without any other proof. We probably should walk from here, though. Flight would draw more attention.”

With that, he strode across the roof, then leaped down onto the alleyway below. Goro checked the route on his tablet one last time, then slipped it back into his suit jacket and set off at a brisk pace.

“I see.” Goro had almost forgotten Parasyte was as young as she was, that there’d be more than a language barrier keeping her from understanding these things. “It may be interesting to discuss something like this with him, I suppose.” As long as he didn’t take the chance to censor Goro at all, he would be more than fine with that. Even if it was purely a casual chat without any business behind it, Goro saw it as more of an opportunity to get information from someone, rather than a chance to make a friend. When she confirmed he had the right building, he gave her a nod.

Parasyte was disappointed they wouldn’t be flying for the rest of the trip, Goro could feel it. “I know, I wish we could fly all the way there, but as I said, it would draw unneeded attention. If only the quirkless weren’t so afraid of giving us an inch, but alas.” He sighed, as they dropped to the pavement. She seemed to enjoy that brief taste of flight, in spite of how quickly it was over.

The neon surrounding them irritated Goro’s eyes to no end. Honestly, how did people stand these things? They must be far too bright even for a regular human. Were he on his own, he’d simply narrow his eyes and bear with it, but his companion probably wouldn’t appreciate it tonight.

Her humming didn’t bother him much. It was actually rather pleasant, and helped break up the almost dead silence on the street. Then, she asked him a question. Of what the people in this part of town were like. “I cannot imagine they’re all like us.” He whispered back, just loud enough that their hearing would pick it up. “In what they’re fighting for, I mean. In a place like this, they’re probably some form of criminal, but it’s most likely to be the petty kind. Someone like the people who hurt your host, or pickpockets. Unlikely for them to even have a Quirk.”


"It's a shame," Goro had paused in thought for a moment, but now continued, "If everyone here had the drive and wisdom to join our causes, everything would be so much easier. But, just like some of the rabble in the villain chatroom, they just don't have th-" Goro cut himself off and darted down an alley. It was convenient Parasyte could feel everything he did, for she would surely also hear the man headed down the other side of the street. She would also, presumably, hear the gun holsters at the man's waist. 
From this distance, it was impossible to tell if he was one of the thugs from earlier, but Goro didn't want to take the chance. Despite his expression not changing at all, Parasyte would have her hearing be overpowered by the hammering of Goro's heart in their ears.

Goro just sighed at the mention of his brother. “We don’t live in the same place, or anything. I haven’t heard from him in a while, but just knowing he’s out there makes me want a break.” He ran his hand down his face, irritation flaring up. It wasn’t Parasyte’s fault, she obviously felt much the same way about Nick that he did. He could feel the slight pulse of feelings behind her words, after all, and he could tell they weren’t turned toward him.

And, with those pulses of foreign feelings, Goro could tell she was not enjoying how the light made them feel. Part of him was almost tempted to close his eyes, to simply walk the rest of the way entirely relying on his hearing, but that had been the moment he heard the shape of the gun.

He could feel how terrified Parasyte was, and for all the effort Goro put into keeping his cool on the outside, there was no way she couldn’t tell he felt the same way. He closed his eyes then, not for the reason he’d considered before, but just in an effort to focus on something beyond the two-toned terror rushing through him.

The man on the other side of the street didn’t seem to have even noticed anything was amiss, and continued on his way. As he drew closer, and closer, Goro’s heartbeat only quickened its pace, to the point that he barely heard Parasyte’s whimper over it. The shape of the man was the same as earlier. It’d been hard to tell before, but every step he took made it clearer. This was one of the two men who’d killed Parasyte’s last host, and while he hadn’t noticed them yet, he was on the lookout.

He could feel the basic emotions of his body’s passenger, but her thoughts were another matter. Revenge may not be something she truly wanted, but Goro wanted it for her, and had no idea there was a disagreement between them.

“In a way, they are. We’re all villains as far as society is concerned, after all. Criminals.” He whispered, wincing every time a syllable echoed off their pursuer even though he knew it was inaudible to him.

“But, not in any other sense. We have a cause, something greater than petty greed and wrath to work for. Even if the titles we are called by are the same, we are not the same as them.” Goro’s hand moved down to the knife in his pocket, and he gritted his teeth.

The man took another step. Goro flexed his wings.

Another step. Goro braced his legs, ready to leap.

One more step. Goro turned to face him.

One ste-

In an instant, Goro sailed across the empty road, wings covering with their telescopic armour before he even touched onto the ground. His right foot found its footing on the man’s torso, and faster than the thug could even blink, Goro’s knife had left a trail of deep red from shoulder to shoulder.

He’d been aiming for the goon’s neck, but speed meant sacrificing accuracy. Unfortunately, this one mistake meant that his opponent had time to retaliate.