Chapter 34
[50]
“What the fuck is that?” Ren said as he stared at the molten creature from a rooftop overlooking the street.
“Hey! Spider-Man doesn’t curse!” Kaoru, the boy Ren had just rescued said, disappointed.
“Sorry!” Ren apologized to the boy before taking a knee in front of him. “Look Kaoru, I’m gonna have to go deal with the scary lava guy...and also the gang war. Then we can get you to your dad. So I’m gonna need you to stay here where it's safe, alright?”
“That won’t be necessary.” A female voice called from behind.
Ren stood in front of Kaoru defensively, prepared for another foe. He was surprised by the sight of a very attractive redhead with a tight black suit and domino mask. Clinging to her back as she swung in on a grappling hook was a terrified man in a lab coat.
“Uhh, um hi I’m R-uh, Spider-Man.” Ren was embarrassed at how flustered he was. “Wait a minute, you’re the Black Cat!”
“Yeah, and you’re the guy dressing up as my ex. Now that pointless introductions are over let’s get to business. We need to stop the lava monster and the thugs with tech, we’re going to need to split up. I suggest we trade passengers.”
“Wait wait wait. We just met, I don’t know if I exactly trust you with-”
He was interrupted by Kaoru, “I’ll go with the sexy cat lady!”
Ren turned to the boy, eyes wide behind his mask. “Dude.”
Kaoru ran over to the woman and the man in the lab coat walked over to Ren, seemingly very nervous.
With the boy at her side, Mitsuru spoke again. “Alright, here’s the plan.”
Naoto watched as the flaming creature walked through the makeshift battlefield. A group of criminals in its way panicked, firing their weapons into the beast. Seeming more annoyed than anything, the creature swung its arm, engulfing the men and melting them instantly.
Both sides backed away in fear, avoiding the monster as best as they could. To their surprise, it ignored them, opting to continue on its path instead.
Naoto was intrigued by the creature’s lack of interest in them, taking the time to ponder where it could be going.
“Ren since you’re not here, you’d better be dealing with that.” She said to herself right before the fighting started up again. Apparently, a terrifying lava monster wasn’t enough to end the fight, with it walking off now, there was no reason for the ceasefire to continue.
Naoto stepped back out onto the battlefield prepared for combat, only to see a tall red haired woman battling the goons.
“Oh fuck, her again.” Naoto was very familiar with Mitsuru Kirijo, Yu’s on-again off-again girlfriend when he and Rise had their rough patches. Luckily it looked like she was on their side this time. As Mitsuru ducked behind a squad car, the detective rushed over to join her.
“Mind explaining what you’re doing here?” Naoto shouted over the gunshots.
“Shirogane! Good, I need the PA system now!”
Naoto gave her a questioning look, normally Mitsuru was the last one to announce her presence. However, she decided to trust the former criminal and pointed her in the right direction.
“It’s in the station! Why!?”
Mitsuru was already sprinting into the building. “I have an announcement to make!” She called back as she entered. “Take care of the kid!”
“Kid!?”
“Hello.” Came a small voice from under the car.
Naoto gasped in surprise as a small boy crawled out from under the police vehicle. “What are you doing here!? Who are you!?”
“My name’s Kaoru. I’m trying to get back to my dad.”
The detective's eyes widened. “Kaoru Iwai!?” Before she could gather her thoughts, the car they were hiding behind was sent flying.
“Hi there.” A thug wearing a pair of large glowing gauntlets stood over the two of them.
“Shit! Kaoru, behind me!” Naoto raised her gun at the assailant, only to have the barrel crushed in his hand.
Thinking quickly, she kicked the man in the gut. While he was keeled over in pain, Naoto attempted to flee with the boy, only to be grabbed by her shirt collar and dragged back.
“Nice try you little bitch!” The thug held her off the ground with one hand, the other, a clenched fist threatening her face.
“Kaoru! Run!” Naoto shouted.
Before the man could strike, a voice sounded over the PA system. “Munehisa! Kaoru is safe! KAORU IS SAFE!”
‘She made it.’ Naoto felt some sense of relief.
There was a long pause, no one on the battlefield was sure what the announcement meant. Suddenly, Naoto watched as the thug’s gauntlets lost their glow and slowly fell apart, releasing her.
All across the streets, the thugs’ weaponry became useless, falling apart into scrap. It seemed like the message got through. Munehisa had enacted his failsafe and the criminals were now defenseless.
Upon being freed, Naoto used her good hand to plant a punch directly into the thug’s face. The criminal fell to the ground unconscious. She looked around to see the officers moving in to arrest the unarmed criminals.
The battle now over, Naoto took a seat on the ground. She looked over in the direction the molten monster had gone in, now completely out of sight.
“Go get’em Ren.”