Ishtar's Most Wanted [Online]

WHEN A CERTAIN BREDDIT POST WENT VIRAL, the crimson gentleman was reclined on his couch, a soft, woven blanket draped over his legs as he poured over a thick hardback novel. One hand pinched the book by its spine, while the other hand meandered idly over the back of a white, long-haired cat, apparently asleep but resonating with a deep purr. Another cat, a short-haired tabby, was curled-up on his feet.

His glasses had been removed and folded neatly, placed lenses-up upon a nearby coffee table. Next to it, his cell phone, face-down.

It was a rare, quiet moment that one scarcely experienced when it came to working two, more-than-full-time jobs. And Tobias would relish every moment of it.

The cell-phone buzzed once, signifying an email. The alert earned a disinterested side-eye from the redhead, and little more—he was in the middle of a chapter, damn it. The white cat lifted its head, ever vigilant—but when her owner didn’t budge, she laid her head back down.

Time stretched on. A clock ticked over the mantle of the fireplace. The air-conditioner kicked-on. If one listened closely enough, they could even hear the appliances whirring softly in the kitchen.

Tobias had finished one chapter and begun the next when the phone began to buzz again—this time a call—and it danced incessantly over the top of the coffee-table.

“Urgh, what now?” Tobias grunted, sitting up to place a bookmark between his two current pages.

The white cat upon his chest let-out a discontent, “Meeewww,” of protest.

“Yes, apologies, Alice,” the redhead said in resignation, “But it might be important.”

Alice gave a withering glance, and jumped to the floor as Tobias strained to reach the cell phone.

“Not Nezumi,” Tobias groaned, upon sighting the screen. If he ignored it, his companion would simply call back, continuously, until he picked-up. He swiped his thumb across the screen and raised the device to his ear, clearing his throat, “Talk to me.”

“Heeeyyy, Toby-chan~” a lilting, masculine voice came through the receiver, “Didja get my email~?”

“Hadn’t had a chance to look at it,” Tobias replied, “Was enjoying some down-time.”

“What? The Informant, relaxing?!”

“Get to the point, please, Kyou.”

“Ow, I’m hurt. I saw a Breddit post that might interest you… it’s about that Ishtar chick you’re so fascinated in.”

Tobias propped the phone up between his shoulder and his ear, leaning over to pet the tabby cat still curled-up on the far cushion.

“Kyou… you emailed me… about a Breddit post?” Tobias sighed, “There are plenty of fanatics on the internet, Kyou. Most of them are harmless, perhaps a touch mentally-ill.”

“Okay okay, but this one might actually be her.”

Tobias’s hand paused, his head lifting marginally. He gripped the phone in his hand again, rotating his body towards the coffee table, where a sleeping laptop also resided.

“Yeah?”

“It’s a list. Of, uh, people she wants to talk to? Lots of U.A. kids on it.”

Tobias hit the power button on his laptop, clearing his throat.

“You emailed it to me?”

“Yep.”

“Thank you, Kyou. I’ll call you back.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Tobias hung-up the phone, his fingers flitting over the keyboard. Minutes later, he was opening the link in his professional email’s inbox, titled, “You Owe Me a Coffee~”. With a huff, and a click, Tobias was pushed to the Breddit post in-question. His left hand toggled the wheel of his mouse slowly, scrolling past a collection of photos from various sources and short descriptions.

A student… Red Horn… another student… another student… and another… It was certainly a post worthy of instilling fear in any—after all, they were targeting teenagers, the youth of their society, even if they were super-powered youths. A lot of the pictures were public-access, however—and a lot of the descriptions were either directly observable in the media, or difficult to refute. The list could easily be some internet troll with a sick sense of humor and far too much time on their hands. They could analyze the linguistic patterns to see if it matched Ishtar, sure—perhaps get Breddit to release the IP associated with the account and trace it—but on its own, the post wasn’t noteworthy enough to lose one’s mind over.

Tobias pushed the mouse upwards, sliding the cursor to the little red “x” at the top-right of his screen. He could print a copy later. He wanted to get back to his book.

Something drew his eye—a gap in the sea of photos—and one name that had become a particular interest for Toby in the past few months. A name written in a bold type-face.

Fix.

Oh.

While all other names present on the list had withstood very public encounters with the villainess (or those affiliated with her, at the very least), “Fix” was an enigma. Cell-phone videos and news-bytes alike recording interactions between everyone on the list except Fix. Fix and Ishtar were, to the best of Tobias’s knowledge, only involved with one another through the Tokyo Underground.

If this was not Ishtar herself, it was a very thorough, very dangerous, copy-cat. At the very least, it was someone who was paying as much attention to the Tokyo Underground as Tobias was. And that, on its own, was worthy of suspicion.

Tobias scrolled to the list just below the “Exit” Button, dropped the menu down, and clicked “Print”. Just his luck, the posting would get taken down. While the printer in his study whirred to life upstairs, Tobias reached for his cell-phone again, pecking at it with an urgent index finger. The screen went dark, the letters “PSC” illuminating the screen. Tobias brought the receiver to his ear.

“Hello, Public Safety Commission. How may I help you?”

“This is the Informant—get me Teshigawara, please—I’ve got a possible lead on Ishtar that requires looking-in to.”

Sonya Chernova

quirk: c-rank burn, durability, heat resistance; combat abilities: jujitsu (e), magma sleeves (e), regeneration (d), cinder sprites (f)(summon); etc.: info. sifting (f), problem solving (f), interrogation (f), first aid (e)

ooc notes: