Chapter 65
[90]
“Alright. Looks like it’s showtime!” Ren said, leaping off the roof into action.
“Hey! I’ve got something!” Ms. Yamagishi said to Makoto as the drone lit up. “I’m tracing the signal now!”
“Everybody, get out of here now!” Ryuji yelled, assisting the people around him to evacuate the area.
The citizens rushed out of the area as the dragon breathed a green fog that began to fall over Shibuya. Fleeing in every direction out of fear, the crowd moved wildly, screaming and pushing past one another in an attempt to escape.
As one woman fell to the ground, she was assisted up by two boys with blue hair.
“Now, you shall all choke on your sins!” Mysterio cried as the dragon took off, spreading its miasma even further. As the people began to breathe in the smoke, they began to cough sporadically.
As Spider-Man swung in to hit Mysterio, he was once again blasted away by Mysterio’s lasers.
“Dammit!” Ren said as he picked himself up off the street. “Why do I never learn?”
“Are you alright?” A soft voice from next to him asked.
Looking up, Ren realized that he recognized the voice’s owner. It was Haru, his fellow lab assistant at Shujin.
“That looked like it really hurt.” Haru continued, concerned for him.
“I’m fine, ma’am you need to get out of here now!” Ren said.
“I was looking for the person I arrived with, but then I saw you fall and…” Haru paused for a moment. “Your voice, it sounds familiar.”
The lenses of Ren’s mask widened. “Oh *cough* sorry the uh, the fall knocked the wind out of me.” He said in a deep voice. “That’s-that’s why my voice was weird…Just now.”
Haru gave him a skeptical look. Suddenly, a roar rang out across the city streets. The two turned and saw Mysterio’s dragon flying straight for them.
“Okay time to go.” Ren said, grabbing Haru and swinging the two of them to safety. He got them a few blocks away before setting Haru down on the sidewalk. “There’s a subway station right around the corner, you should be safe there. I gotta go fight a dragon.”
“Wait!” Haru said, grabbing his wrist before he could leave. “Before he fires his lasers, there’s a startup noise about a half second long. That’s how you can tell they’re coming.”
“Wha-How do you know that?” Ren asked befuddled.
“I’m an observant girl. I saw a few videos and noticed a pattern after a while.”
“Wow, that’s amazing.” Ren had fought Mysterio two times already and hadn’t noticed the pattern until now. “I’m gonna go beat him now. Thank you Miss?”
“Haru, though I have the feeling you already knew that.” She replied with a smirk.
Fearing any further conversation would endanger his identity, he quickly took off, chasing after the beast causing havoc in the streets. He swung over the streets, unable to see through the thick green smoke.
As he searched for the masked villain, his dragon, or any civilians in danger, Ren’s phone rang. “What’s up?” He asked, not even checking who had called.
“It’s me,” Makoto’s voice said over the other end. “We traced the signal.”
“Awesome. Are we sending in the police? We need to stop him as soon as we can, it’s a mess here.”
“Well, the thing is, the signal’s not coming from where we expected.”
“What are you talking about? It’s not Okumura?”
“We don’t know that yet. The signal is coming from an apartment complex in Shinjuku. I already sent the others to check it out.”
“Which others?” Ren asked before spotting his target. “Nevermind, I gotta go.” He put his phone away, picking up speed as he chased after Mysterio and his monster.
Meanwhile, Ryuji and Ann got off of the subway in Shinjuku, running as fast as they could to the address they were given. As they got closer to their destination, they noticed that the area they were going into was more rundown and dirty than they’d pictured.
“Y’know, I thought a billionaire would have nicer digs.” Ryuji said as the two arrived at the apartment complex.
“He might be using this place as a cover. It could be dangerous Ryuji, so let’s be careful.” Ann warned him.
“You mean like booby traps? Or henchman? That’d be awesome!”
Ann slapped him in the back of the head. “Idiot. Look, let’s just get up there, smash whatever computers he has running his illusions, then Ren can take him out easily.”
The pair of them stepped into the building and took the elevator up to the fourth floor where the villain’s ‘lair’ supposedly was. They walked down the hallway before stopping at a room labelled ‘412.’ Instinctively, Ryuji held out his hand and knocked on the door.
“Did you just seriously knock on the door!?” Ann quietly scolded Ryuji..
“Well what didja want me to do? Kick the door down?”
“You idiot! There’s probably an evil henchman on the other side with a gun about to shoot us!”
As they spoke, footsteps thumped against the floor on the other side of the door. They suddenly came to a stop and a shadow could be seen beneath the door. The two teenagers silently gulped as they watched in fear, the wooden door slowly creaking open.
“Hello! What can I do for you?” A short, plump, and extremely cheery middle-aged woman with dark blue hair opened the door. Clearly she was in the middle of cooking a meal as she had a mixing bowl and wooden spoon in one of her arms.
Both of the blonds stared blankly at the woman, clearly not expecting this outcome.
“Uh, are you sure we’ve got the right apartment?” Ryuji whispered to Ann.
“Pretty sure. I mean, they could’ve been off by a room or two, right?” She whispered back.
“Oh! You must be friends of Yuuki’s! He didn’t tell me you were coming.” The woman said, ignoring their lack of response from her earlier question. “I’m so glad he’s finally making friends again! He’s always got his nose buried in books and his computer. It’s so nice of you two to visit. Please come in!” She stepped aside, welcoming them into her home.
Cautiously, (and more confused than anything) Ryuji and Ann entered the apartment. The layout was very standard, a kitchen, a living room, and a few doors that presumably led to bedrooms.
“YUUKI! Your friends are here!” The woman called out before returning to the kitchen. No response came back. “He’s probably playing those darn video games again. You two can just go on in. It’s the second door on the left. Would you kids like some oatmeal cookies?”
“No thank you ma’am.” Ann said, pulling Ryuji aside. “Did we just barge into some random sweet lady’s house?” She asked quietly.
“I don’t know! What do we do?” Ryuji whispered back.
“Maybe this ‘Yuuki’ is the guy we’re looking for.”
“Or he’ll be some random kid and we’ll have to explain to this woman what we’re doing in her home!”
“Ryuji, people’s lives are at stake. We have to check out this lead, even if it ends up getting us into trouble.” Ann said, reassured of her convictions.
Ryuji nodded and the two of them walked over to the door the woman had pointed out. Knocking yielded no response, but they could clearly hear sounds coming from the other side. Ann reached for the knob and turned it, surprised to find it had no lock.
When they entered the room, they were met with the sight of a dark, messy room filled with clothes, charts, random technology. The only light in the room emanated from several computer monitors on a desk. And sitting in front of that desk was a shadowy figure wearing headphones.
Ann flipped on the light switch and the room was filled with light, further showing the room’s disorder in greater detail. The figure in the chair spun around, revealing a familiar face to the two teens.
“MOM! I thought I told you not to come in when I’m-” The boy in the chair paused, staring at Ann and Ryuji.
“MISHIMA!?” Both of them yelled in unison, shocked to see the boy from school here.
“SAKAMATO!? TAKAMAKI!?” Mishima yelled in shock. “Wha...What are you doing here!?”
“Mishima, you...you work for Mysterio?” Ryuji questioned him, seeing the live feed from the attack on his monitor.
“Work for? Huh?” Mishima looked confused. “Nonono you guys don’t get it.” He waved his hands dismissively. “There is no Mysterio, not in a physical sense anyway. It’s all fake!”
“I don’t...I don’t get what you’re saying.” Ann responded.
“Basically, I guess you could say I am Mysterio.”