The Change of the Road [Saga | Niso & Cody]

Niso was grinning wildly as he lingered in the shadows of the dingy little alleyway he and his companion for the day were calling their home as they waited for their target to arrive. Niso wasn’t usually one for plans but the results of this one were too delicious to really ignore, and he definitely owed the queen of whispers one for her help in tracking down the girl he’d now learned was his one and only Luzia. Not that he wouldn’t have absolutely done this for free. Heck, this was something he’d wanted to do himself months ago but his plan had fell through a little in the process of it all coming together… eh. Sometimes his brain worked in his favour, sometimes it didn’t, and back when the quirk tax was fresh the security around such individuals was definitely at it’s peak. Now though? Now things were juuuuust lax enough for them to get away with this…~

His eyes shifted to Cody as the burning ash producer spoke, his wild expression calming for a flash of a moment before widening back into a manic grin as his eyes narrowed and looked out to their target. “Oh I believe in fate. I just prefer it be shattered into a thousand pieces wherever possible… though lately I suppose it’s been working in my favour, I have to admit.~” Despite his rough upbringing Niso’s tone always came out a little more eloquent than one might expect, still a manic hint behind it, but still far better spoken than any orphan from St Martas had any right to be without a few years of correction. “Good to see you though~ Let’s see what you’re made of hm?~”

With Cody acting as lookout Niso limbered himself up. He wasn’t strong but he just needed to be quick. Blindside the old guy and drag him into the alley where the two of them could do some damage, stretching an arm across his torso when Cody confirmed they were coming up. To try and make things a bit more interesting, Niso shifted his face, taking on the appearance of some other political figure the man would recognize so no one immediately saw anything wrong, and strolled out.

“Oh minister! I was hoping I’d run into you today! Why don’t you step on over here with me there’s something i-“ And he cut himself off, hooking an arm around the man’s neck in a ‘shoulder hug’ motion so no civilians got too suspicious, dragging the old man back into the alley, likely with some of Cody’s help, gunking up his mouth with some excess skin cells latching into his face like a muffle so he didn’t make too much noise, Niso’s face turning back to normal with a wilder expression than even before.

With a sack over his head and some temporarily claimed transport courtesy of their employer for the job, Niso arrived at the drop off point, dragging the man behind him by one of his legs as his companion Cody likely had the other. “HOLA boss lady!~” he’d chime out with eager excitement. “So we got the big bad evil law maker defence minister whatever! What’s next?~”

With his message getting across, he nodded as the voice came in from the other side. He closed his device and pocketed it away, returning to Niso to help get the minister prepped for transfer to Daffodil. Cody took note of what exactly Niso had done before, seeing the minister's mouth taken care of finding it to be a sufficient solution to quiet him down. There wasn't too much to do beyond this for Cody's sake, so he would just grab the minister and drag him alongside Niso until they got to their destination.

As they arrived, Cody would offer a simple chuckle as Niso got so excited, looking towards Daffodil with a smirk on his face as she started to explain what was going to happen. The prospect of where they were going to torture the minister was... unfortunate for Cody. But as long as they didn't turn it down too low he could make do, but the dangers were still there. "I actually do pretty poorly in the cold. Try to keep it low so I don't shut down. And if I do, please promise to pull me out if I freeze up in there." he'd remark with just a bit of concern to his own well being. It wasn't like he was about to trap himself in his weakness while surrounded by heroes or anything. These were... allies for the lack of a better word, they'd keep him alive.

Cody would kneel himself down next to the minister, pulling out a small piece of glass that he kept on his person, pointing it at the ministers chest. "I don't think I have any questions personally, feel free to start the commands and I'll be ready to make him bark." Cody offered his own preparation to actually start torturing, waiting for a second to give Niso time to speak as well.

When they were both ready, he'd help to drag the minister into the freezer, a smirk on his face as he'd sit him down and yank the sack off of his head with one firm motion. There was still a matter of the gunk that was blocking up the minister's mouth, but that was Niso's property, he could get rid of it.

"Rise and shine, sir. You can't be out of it during the interview of a lifetime." Cody would speak in a condescending, blatantly teasing tone as he dragged the flat side of the piece of glass across the minister's cheek. He didn't want to cut or dent the guy too quickly. Cody just wanted to see how firm his convictions were and how easily he would speak without being urged just yet. If Daffodil's questions weren't being answered he would start busting out whatever he could to get the point across. Of course, he wouldn't stop Niso if his companion wanted a souvenir already, but Cody wasn't going to dig into this meal just yet.

With everything set up for this scene in his mind, he just nodded towards the door of the freezer, ready to see what exactly Daffodil wanted to ask this poor bastard before his life was cut short.

Narcissa was actually quite well with the prospect of this plan and she smiled because of that as well and she looked at both boys, explaining the rest of the plan. She acted a little shocked that Cody even thought she would leave him in the freezer. "I didn't turn it on completely yet, I can even turn it a little lower, let me do that. I will not get you hurt, especially not after you did me a favour." That would be a bad partnership, after all, bad teamwork so she walked to that thing and looked at the meter and turned it back a little more. There was nothing in there at all yet, but one of the chairs from the table, so it wasn't all bad. She had taken Niso's word in account as well, it even made it more perfect but she wasn't very aware of this information as her life time before had never taught her, "I hope this is fine." She added when she walked back to look at Niso with a smile again, he was like a little kid that got a bunch of candy, she adored it.

She remained behind them as they hunched down it was a funny sight in the freezer. Her flowery white mask now covering her face, except her mouth. She actually did not mind if she was spotted, she might at one point take her mask off to show him but for now, the funny sight was the much taller guys hunch down to look at her target and this... this felt good. It felt like she was in charge of her life, that she could do whatever she wanted and wouldn't allow anyone to point at her and hurt her. She had changed, yes. She watched the two of them as well, their way of sing-a-long like to wake up the man. Poor Chinen, it must be a nightmare to wake up like this. She watched Niso take the lead and she did not mind, he had after all, just showed that he had the most experience with this. She took a step forward to stand next to the boys and cocked her head to the side and her brown eyes looking up at the man. A shiver went down her spine and it wasn't because of the freezer, duly noted that she should never make Niso her enemy.

She heaved her head to take another step forward, "Hello Chinen." She said with a smile, on purpose she used his first name. Those pesky Japanese that were focused on their respect and honour and all that. Well, he was going to die, so why not also torture him with words. The man tried to scream and she shook her head, "don't even bother, no one will hear you. You are only here to answer a few questions." She would come to the personal information a lot easier, she did not need the government's money but she needed to know more details. "Tell me Chinen, how is your wife? Are the plans for the Philipines going well?" She would first intimidate, changing the movement of her head, leaning to the left or to the right as she looked intensely at him through the eye holes of the mask. "Now now, not so shy, we know most of that already. But inform me, what is the code of your locker at work." It was nitpicking, but she was a very secure informant, information like this shouldn't be missed. She had him shadowed outside at work, but of course she had worked very closely with him in the name of protecting Barbados. "Someone has to take over, it be a shame if we don't have that information and can't protect Japan." He stared at her, quite pale, probably very scared, "Well? Just four simple numbers?" Seriously, skipping question one, "Why do you need to know?" she held up her hand and shook her head, "No no, Chinen, I will ask the questions else my boys will inflict you pain so you will have to answer, so an answer means no pain, got it? Or shall we demonstrate? Who wants to go first?" She looked at Niso and Cody shortly to make her point.

Even as Daffodil played the game and kept a calm face as she delivered her questions to their victim, Niso just leaned back against a nearby wall, the black face mask of flesh he wore holding a constantly bland expression, mimicking something cheerful but with the naturally unmoving features of a mask it was difficult to tell what type of response it was every trying to elicit, or what the boy under the mask was thinking, or even where he was looking as he peered through the thin layer of flesh between his eyes and the rest of the world. Daffodil seemed to be starting with the simpler questions first, the small things that could catch someone out as a fraud, or help them blend in all the more if they knew the answers. Something simple. Something harmless to start… but it seemed their victim wasn’t too eager to comply. Niso chuckling a little from the sidelines as he realized where this was going to go.

“Aw this is really cute…”

He just let out a wheezing little chuckle as the cold tried to slow his heartbeat, forcing it consciously to beat faster and warm him up from the inside, a foggy breath seeping through the thin layer of skin cells that was his mask, taking Cody’s offer to go first as he clapped his hands together and started to warm up, looking around the room, shifting his whole head so even the fake eyes of his mask where clearly looking around for something. If anyone tried to speak, offer him ‘tools’, or ask what he was up to, he’d simply raise a finger and silence them with a shush.

“Need to start small…”

Niso looked up to the ceiling as an idea formed, gesturing for Cody to come closer. “Give me a boost.” Once his companion in torture offered his hands out, Niso would step into his palms and jump up off his shoulder to reach the ceiling fixtures the meat hooks hunk from, crawling across the ceiling like a 4-limbed spider, his arms and legs holding a sense of flexibility and grip they really didn’t have any right to have without a more obvious quirk. Their hostage treated to the upside down view of Niso eerily crawling towards them. His feet hooked into some metal linings of the ceiling, his spine twisting 180 degrees so he could lay his hands flat on the man’s shoulders, his masked grin seeming to somehow grow even bigger.

“Hold on now!~”

With little more than that as warning Niso’s spine uncoiled and he dropped from the ceiling. With the older man still hooked from the ceiling Niso clung to him, hands on his shoulders, legs wrapping swiftly around his waist, and slammed down all his force into the man’s body, dislocating both his arms as he hung from them, putting him in a perpetual state of agony. Dropping to the floor Niso wasn’t quite done either, takking one of his legs and starting to rock him back and forth like a swing off his disjointed limbs, lookin up to him with that same chesire like smile on his mask. “Go on. Answer the nice lady. I may stop swinging you. Don’t worry about the pain ending by the way… I know from experience that dislocation is a biiiiiiitch…~”

Cody sat by patiently as Niso seemed to be looking for something to do, cocking his head to the side when Niso asked to give him a boost. A boost to where? He wouldn't openly question it though, so he just walked over and made a platform for Niso to stand on with his hands. He couldn't help himself but wince as Niso jumped off of his shoulders, before returning to his position to watch Niso at work.

It would be an understatement to claim that Niso was creepy as all hell, the way his body moved and looked was just wrong. It was like watching a thriller or horror film that made use of body horror but in person. Then came the real act of violence, as Niso latched onto the minister and dislocated his arms. Hanging up on hooks like that must have been incredibly painful, causing Cody to chuckle a bit. As long as he wasn't the one that had to happen to, he was happy.

The minister was then sent rocking to just make the weight of his dislocated arms more prevalent. It was quite the horrible form of torture, and would probably be something the minister had to think about for the rest of the interrogation. If anything he'd probably beg to be put down at some point due to this accrued pain.

The next short bit would be filled with Daffodil asking questions that were met with open answers. This caused Cody to lean up against a wall and mess with the bandages on his hand a bit, waiting for the next time that this man would act up and refuse to answer. He didn't have to wait all too long, though, as he immediately refused to answer something that was more focused on the ministry of defense. He should have known that something else would happen, but it was hard to outclass hanging from dislocated arms. Still, adding more pain to the pile wasn't going to be tricky either.

Cody smirked and nodded to Daffodil. "Just a moment." he would respond and then head outside of the freezer room. He couldn't really work his magic in there to start with, as it was far too cold. He'd toss the bit of glass he was holding before, before tearing the buckle of his belt off. This would work nicely, it was just sturdy enough to not get destroyed by his breath.

With a building heat in his chest, he would breathe his smoke over the belt buckle and combust it, creating a small chain reaction that would burn at the buckle. His breath didn't create a normal fire of course, but it burned all the same. And that was what mattered. Of course, the burning heat wouldn't last incredibly long in the freezer, but it probably wouldn't need to.

He entered the freezer again, buckle in hand as a smirk crossed his face, walking up to the minister. He didn't really have anything he wanted to say to the man, though, this would be a simple procedure. Branding.

Cody went around behind the minister, and after lifting up the back of his shirt simply pushed the burning buckle onto the minister's back. The cold of the freezer immediately being met with the heat of the metal would probably feel nice for a split second, but after that, he was simply being branded by burning metal as it was pushed harder and harder against him. It certainly wasn't having your arms dislocated, but Cody was all too happy to burn a mark into the minister and force him to feel the radioactive burn until he would speak up.

Narcissa stood up again and looked over her shoulder as Meltdown left and she just waited, she was sure it had to do with the cold of the freezer as he explained. She crossed her arms again in front of her chest and looked at Chinen. He seemed to already be tired but looking at her, made her blood boil, so he did not plan on giving up. God, he was really stupid, wasn't he? She turned her attention shortly to Niso but the door of the freezer opened soon enough and she quickly took a step aside as she noticed Cody's body language and the belt in his hands, okay... That was going to be interesting, it did not seem that their victim understood what was going to happen, he did not see it, he did not get why his shirt was lifted up and shortly after a strange scream was hurt. It shortly gave her goosebumps but she went to sit down again and wait for Cody to tell her it was done, that it was enough and she looked shortly at his arms and at Niso, how could people hold on to something so long, it wasn't even important. "Let me tell you a secret." She said as if she was talking to Niso instead of to Chinen, "If my family's life was at risk, I would tell everything about my job. I always thought that family meant everything to people." Obviously it was a lie, her family did not care about her and she will no longer care about them anymore either. She could not help it but brush her bangs away, touching her scar underneath her right eye for a second. A present from her mother.

He kept crying and crying and he swore he would say it and she looked to both boys and shrugged, well he would. That's when Chinen told her the story about the defence being made better, updating potentially in the hero program but he couldn't give many details as he wasn't about that, he only had made issues about the budget and that they should focus on remaking the military system and the police system and so on and that the outsiders must still consider Japan not a threat no matter the big bad villains inside. She simply raised an eyebrow, wondering if he knew how the big bad played and he looked at the three of them with fear, "hi, we are big bad." She mumbled most likely inaudible for Chinen and she continued her questions, she had to make sure she got everything she needed, in the smallest details, she even managed to record a piece of him on his own phone, so she would show John how he talked and how the speech and voicemail would work. Funny thing, with all his codes, passwords and so on ready, she stood up. "You know boys, I am done. I am waiting outside, and you know what result I want." She still needed pieces of his body, so completely burning him wouldn't work but they could do as much as they wanted and she looked at Niso and Cody, "After that, we chitchat and I give the rewards, yes?" If they had any more questions or something, she would have to see, in this case, the only ones that could betray her where the members of her garden so she needed to keep them happy.

She stood up and turned her back to the three of them, giving a short wave as she took her notes and left the freezer. She needed to make a short call for the cleanup crew. But for now, Niso and Cody had free game on how to kill the shivering and crying useless piece of human being.