Chapter 28
[43]
“Talk? You’re a criminal, you can talk to the police.” Ren was surprised at how calm this man was, it was like he’d been expecting him.
“There’s no time for that. We’ve got less than 5 minutes before Kinpin’s men get here.”
“What!?”
“They saw you on the camera and are on their way. I cut the camera feed in here so they can’t see or hear us right now. I don’t have long so I’ll keep it short. My name is Munehisa Iwai, in the underground I’m known as the Tinkerer. I build weapons for thugs that the Kingpin wants armed.”
Ren was shocked at the amount of information that he was getting, from one of the bad guys no less! What the hell was going on?
Iwai continued on, “Kamoshida, Madarame, and any other criminals carrying high tech gadgets, they got them from me.”
“Why tell me all this?”
“Because I want to put a stop to it as much as you do.” Iwai stared Ren dead in the eyes.
“Then why help them at all!?” Ren questioned angrily, it was thanks to his weapons that so many people were dead or injured.
The Tinkerer looked down sadly. “They have my son.”
“Your son?”
“Kaoru. I don’t know where they’re keeping him, but Kingpin has been holding him hostage somewhere for the past 3 years. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to save him. But I can’t let this senseless violence go on any longer.”
“Then please help me. Help me save your son and put a stop to this.”
“I am! I have been from the beginning. I’ve been sabotaging my own equipment to make sure it fails. You saw how Kamoshida’s gear fried him. You think that was an accident? I’ve been doing everything I can to slow these criminals down without exposing myself.”
Once again, Ren couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There’d been someone on the other side looking out for him this whole time.
Iwai checked his watch. “Shit! We don’t have much time.” He stood up from his desk and placed his hands on a large device sitting in front of him. “You need to find Kaoru! Save him and the police will have my complete cooperation.” He turned on various switches and buttons on the device before picking it up.
“What is that!?” Ren asked, his voice worried.
“Sorry, I need to make it look like I fought you.” He aimed the cannon-like device at Ren as it charged up. “Please. Find my son.” Iwai’s voice was sad before he pulled the trigger.
Ren’s spider sense went crazy as a sonic wave shot out of the device and blew Ren out the door. The blast threw him through the shop window and the glass shattered around him as he landed on the street.
As he picked himself up, his body feeling the aftershock and his ears ringing, he saw 3 black vans pull to a stop around him. When they pulled to a stop, a dozen armed men stepped out of the cars.
“Ugh. I don’t suppose any of you are my uber driver?” Ren stood up shakily and braced for a fight.
They aimed their assault rifles at him and opened fire. Ren swung onto a light post to reach a higher vantage point. Before they could readjust, he leapt over them and shot weblines to each gun and pulled them from their hands. Webbing them together to a wall, Ren landed between a pair of thugs.
“Alright boys, I want a good clean fight! No guns, no knives, and no name calling!”
He grabbed both of the thugs’ heads and slammed them into one another, knocking both of them out. He webbed the foot of another thug and pulled him to the ground. One thug decided to run at him clutching a pair of brass knuckles. Ren flipped over his shoulder, grabbed his torso and tossed the thug at two more.
“C’mon guys! I don’t wanna hurt you any more than I need to. Why not just surrender and tell me what you’re planning?”
As soon as Ren said that, 6 more cars came barrelling past the corner, undoubtedly carrying more thugs.
“Whoa would you look at the time! I gotta go!” He turned to the nearest building and ran up the side. He must be getting pretty good at wallcrawling, now he didn’t even need to think about it as he sprinted across the glass.
His thoughts were interrupted by a hail of gunfire shattering the glass around him. He jumped from the side of the building, backflipping through the air before sending out a webline to swing. As he quickly swung away from the scene, the gunfire stopped and he was able to rest.
Ren sat atop the remains of an electronic billboard on the side of a skyscraper and gathered his thoughts on the information he’d just received. He had so many questions. It seemed as if Iwai had expected Ren to already have knowledge regarding the Tokyo underground.
Who the hell was Kingpin? What did they need all this tech for? There had to be some further purpose beyond creating chaos across Tokyo.
‘I’m gonna need to have a chat with Naoto.’ He thought to himself before his phone went off. Checking it showed it to be a text from Ryuji.
‘Hey man, wanna come get some beef bowl? Lemme know.’
Ren’s stomach growled at the thought. ‘I could eat.’
He arrived at the restaurant in his civilian clothes. Ryuji was already waiting inside at a table. When he waved him over, Ren noticed that he wasn’t alone. An unfamiliar boy with blue hair sat next to him.
“What’s up man?” Ren greeted his friend at the table.
“Oh hey!” Ryuji stood to greet him. “Come meet this guy!” He gestured to the blue haired boy.
“Ren, meet Yusuke. Yusuke, this is Ren.”
“Hello.” Yusuke greeted and Ren nodded to him. Everyone took their seats as introductions concluded.
“I met Yusuke here in the park earlier, dude picked up a mushroom off the ground and ate it!” Ryuji laughed, remembering their encounter. “At first, I thought he was on drugs. Then I spoke to him and learned the dude’s just plain crazy.”
Yusuke didn’t seem to take any offense to this. In fact he wasn’t even paying attention, he was too busy staring at the menu.
“Turns out, dude’s been homeless for like a week now. He was an art student who lost all his money, so I guess he’s just been living in the park? I dunno man, but he seemed hungry so I thought I’d treat him.”
Ren looked at his friend, surprised at this. “Wow, that’s surprisingly generous of you Ryuji. Were you trying to impress a girl?”
“Dude! I can be nice sometimes! My mom raised me right.” (There had in fact been a girl watching who Ryuji was trying to impress. But somehow, offering Yusuke some spare change had turned into a dinner invitation.)
“Alright. Alright. Any particular reason you invited me?”
Ryuji shrugged, “Eh, just thought I’d invite some friends.”
Yusuke took this time to chime in, “Is this the friend who I’ll be staying with tonight?”
Ren turned to Yusuke, then to Ryuji who was attempting to shush him. Ryuji looked at Ren sheepishly.
“I kinda offered him a meal and a place to crash for the night, but my place is too small.”
“Ryuji.”
“Dude! It’d just be one night! Pleeeease?”
‘I wouldn’t be much of a hero if I forced this guy to sleep outside.’ Ren thought to himself. ‘But, it’s not really up to me now is it? I gotta ask Boss.’
“Fine.” Ren finally answered, “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Awesome! Dinner’s on me so order whatever you want!”
Between the starving artist and the broke superhero with an enhanced metabolism at the table, Ryuji would come to regret his decision that night.