Chapter 117
“Alright, hand it over! Everything you’ve got!” Yelled a man holding a gun toward a shaking woman, the cold December air making both of their breaths visible under the alleyways dim lights. The woman began cautiously moving her hands to her purse. “C’mon! Now!” He said impatiently, glancing over his shoulder toward the street behind him.
However, unbeknownst to him, a third party had entered the scene from above.
Turning back to face the woman, the man was shocked when she was no longer there. Looking around, he spotted no sign of her. There was no chance that she’d ran past him without him noticing, so where-
His thoughts were interrupted as his gun was quickly ripped from his hand and sent skyward. Looking up, he was caught off guard when he was suddenly smashed against a wall by an immensely strong hand.
“S-S-Spider-Man!?” He said in shock, his eyes focusing on the figure before him, even as his vision began to blur. “Y-You…”
“Robbing innocent women?” Spider-Man asked rhetorically, his voice low and threatening, nothing like the jovial, quippy voice he was supposed to have. “I ought to throw you to Shido’s goons.”
“N-No! Please! They’ll kill me!” The man begged in a terrified voice.
It was no bluff. Ever since the city declared martial law a month ago, the Silver Sentinels roamed the streets constantly, treating even minor infractions as high treason. Just being out past curfew was enough to get you a beating and an indefinite stay in one of their holding cells.
“You shouldn’t be afraid of them.” Spider-Man stated before pulling up the man’s sleeve and taking wrist in his hand. “You should be afraid of me.” Without another word, he dislocated the robber’s wrist with two fingers.
“GAH-Mmph!” The robber cried out, only to be silenced by a shot of webbing over his mouth.
Leaning in close, the masked vigilante’s eye lenses squinted.
“When you see your friends, tell them that if they try anything like you just did, I won’t be so gentle. Understand?”
The robber nodded rapidly, tears forming in his eyes.
“Good. Now wait there until the webbing dries.” Spider-Man said, turning away before moving up the wall to release the woman he’d pulled up to safety. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” He apologized as he lowered her to the ground. “I just needed to have a quick chat with our friend here.” He pointed a thumb at the terrified robber.
“I hope you aren’t expecting a thank you.” The woman replied coldly. “It’s because of you that the city’s in this mess in the first place. If you hadn’t killed the Kingpin, maybe crime would still be under control.”
Under his mask, Ren let off a disappointed sigh. It seemed that people really did believe he was responsible for Kobayakawa’s death. Not that he could blame them, Shido had created a convincing case against him, even if it was false.
Looking him up and down, the woman squinted at Ren. “You look like shit.” She stated simply.
It wasn’t too far off the mark. Ren’s costume was torn and frayed in numerous places, some areas were haphazardly repaired while others were not at all. One of his mask’s lenses was cracked around the edges. And the entire costume was more or less caked in dirt and debris.
“You should really be getting back to your home.” Ren replied, ignoring the dig at his appearance. “Another patrol will be coming by any minute.”
“Yeah.” The woman nodded as Ren walked her out of the alleyway. Looking out to the Shibuya streets around them, it was readily apparent just how much the city had changed in the past month.
In the city square where there had once been a bustling nightlife instead stood a guard tower with men dressed in dull gray armor with rifles in hand. The only civilians out this late were either being questioned, beaten, or detained by the Sentinels. Tokyo had become a police state where the people were too afraid to leave their homes let alone speak out against the government.
“Y’know,” The woman began, looking up at the glowing screens on the nearby buildings. “If you really wanted to do some good. Maybe you could catch that psychopath.” She pointed to the image on screen.
Displayed on screen was a picture of a mugshot with the word: WANTED, written boldly above it, it was an image Ren was all too familiar with It had been displayed on every television screen nearly non-stop for a month now.
After making sure the woman got home safely, Ren sat on a nearby rooftop with his mask pulled up to expose his mouth. Unwrapping an energy bar, he took a bite as he looked down at his phone.
Numerous missed calls and texts were displayed on the home screen. All of them from his friends asking him where he was and if he was okay. It had been some time since he’d last spoken to any of them in person. These days he was too busy trying to hold the city together to really sit down for a nice chat.
All because he’d failed on that day.
One month ago:
Aigis lowered her hands, her glowing eyes fading to a dull blue as the barrier that encompassed herself, Ren, Futaba, and the unconscious Sumire, fell to the ground. As she did so, she stumbled forward, catching herself before she could fall over. On either side of her head, the metal fans where her ears should be whirred at a rapid pace, desperately trying to vent out the built-up heat in her processors.
Next to her, Ren crouched next to Sumire’s unconscious form, trying desperately to wake her, meanwhile Futaba knelt nearby on the ground, observing the damage the explosion had wrought in horror.
“Oh my god. He…He did it again.” The orange-haired girl muttered. “Shido, he…he killed them.”
As the dust and smoke began to clear, the horror laid out before them became more clearly visible. Bodies lay everywhere, blown into various pieces with blood and gore splattered everywhere.
The explosion Shido had set off in his own building had wreaked complete havoc with no clear survivors outside of Ren’s group. Picking up Sumire in a bridal carry, he followed Aigis and Futaba to the outside.
First responders were already approaching the scene, by the time the group reached a safe distance from the building, an ambulance had already pulled up next to them. Ren handed off the unconscious Sumire to the paramedics before turning back to the building.
“I’ve gotta get back in there.” He stated, only for Futaba to grab his wrist.
“Ren, no. You can’t.”
“What are you-”
“Shido set off that bomb for you Ren! It’s clear now that he knows who you are!” The small girl explained, her expression full of anger. “If you go back in there…” A sad look overcame her. “W-We don’t know what more he could do. We have to go, Ren.”
“But-”
“We have to go! Let the EMT’s handle this!”
Ren looked back at the burning building they had just escaped. His thoughts turned to Naoto’s friends, Yosuke and Chie, who had entered the building alongside them. Were they even still alive?
‘Oh god…’ Ren thought to himself. ‘Kasumi…’
He and the others had spotted Sumire’s twin sister just before the explosions went off. However, once the smoke had cleared, there’d been no sign of her. Had she…? Ren winced at the thought.
Before he even realized it, he was being pulled away from the building by Futaba with Aigis in tow. A crowd was beginning to form to observe the wreckage, one that the trio quickly slipped into before disappearing from sight.
It wasn’t until nearly 10 minutes later that the trio finally stopped for a moment. Standing next to an empty bench in the subway, the three took a seat and let the events that had just transpired sink in for a moment.
“Shido…he knew we were coming.” Ren murmured, hanging his head. “He was counting on it. We played right into his hands.”
“May I ask what our next course of action is?” Aigis’s robotic voice asked.
“You don’t get to ask that!” Futaba yelled, turning toward the android. “For all we know, you were part of Shido’s plan for us!” She turned to Ren. “She could be the one who set those bombs off!”
“I can assure you, I was not.”
“And we’re just supposed to believe that!?”
“Futaba, she protected us.” Ren countered. “Besides, even if she is with Shido, we’re better off holding onto her rather than sending her back.”
“...”
“...”
“We could scrap her.” Futaba said bluntly. “Make sure she can’t report anything back to him.”
If Aigis had any thoughts on that, she didn’t share them.
“That isn’t what we do Futaba!” Ren stood up, turning to the girl.
“Maybe it should be!” Futaba stood up as well. “We’re losing this fight because we’re trying to play by the rules! It’s clear now that Shido has no rules! Even if we did put him away, who’s to say he wouldn’t just buy his way out of prison!? Who’s to say he wouldn’t be able to cause just as much damage from a cell as an office!? If we’re going to win this-”
“Futaba!” Ren grabbed the girl by the shoulders, meeting her fierce gaze with his own. “I know. I know how much you’ve been hurting since your mother…” He bit his lip, remembering the explosion at The Raft that had taken Wakaba’s life. He also recalled the horrified look in Futaba’s eyes when she’d revealed to him that Shido was, in fact, her biological father.
“What do you know!?” Futaba stepped away from Ren’s grasp, tears beginning to well in her eyes as her face turned red. “You have no idea what I’m feeling!”
“Futaba-” Ren was cut off as his phone rang in his pocket. Seeing the caller I.D., he picked it up immediately. “Not a good time, Ryuji.”
“Oh thank god!” The blond’s voice sounded from the other end of the phone as he let out a heavy breath. “Thank god you’re okay. Is Futaba-”
“She’s…” Ren looked over at the smaller girl who turned away from him before going on her own phone. “She’s okay too. The others…I-I don’t know.”
“Shit…” Ryuji let out another heavy breath.
“We’re heading back to Leblanc now.”
“No! You can’t dude! Stay away from Leblanc! Stay away from Yongen!”
“Uh, Ren?” Futaba’s voice called out.
“One sec Futaba.” He held up his index finger before going back to his call. “Why shouldn’t I come back? What’s going on?”
“You don’t know yet? Oh man…” Ryuji’s voice sounded stressed.
“Ren, I really think you should take a look at this.” Futaba held up her phone screen in front of him, giving him a clear view of the image on screen.
It was a news report, one covering the explosion that had just occurred at Shido Sciences. Specifically it was playing security footage that had been sent in by the company. One showing Ren beating up a guard before running into the front lobby, followed by a second clip of him with Aigis and Futaba running out of the building just after the explosion.
“The two others fleeing the scene have yet to be identified, however the primary suspect has been positively identified as Shujin Academy student: Ren Amamiya.” The news anchor stated as a mugshot of Ren from his prior arrest was displayed on screen.
“If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of this individual, please contact the authorities immediately. Amamiya is considered armed and dangerous-”
‘He…he framed me for the bomb?’ Ren thought to himself, shocked. It seemed that Shido was ten steps ahead of them at every turn.
“You can’t come back here dude!” Ryuji’s voice woke Ren from his thoughts. “Find somewhere the cops won’t look and lay low. We’ll try to figure out our next move in the meantime.”
With that, they ended the call, leaving Ren standing, dumbfounded.
“Ren…” Futaba looked up at Ren, the tears from earlier now flowing down her cheeks.
“What do we do?”
[Bonus]
Sumire Yoshizawa awoke with a start, sitting up from the bed she was laying on. She wasn’t sure when she’d fallen asleep or what had happened prior, only that she’d had a terrible pain in her skull that rendered her unconscious. Looking around her, she saw the pale blue walls around her, a television sitting just below the ceiling, and her father, asleep in the chair next to her.
This was a hospital room.
“What…What happened?” She asked herself before her last memories before falling unconscious hit her.
Shido Sciences. A sharp pain in her neck. Feeling sick. A headache. Senpai. Kasumi. An explosion.
“Kasumi!” Sumire’s eyes were suddenly filled with panic for her sister.
“Sumire!” Her father’s eyes shot open at the sound of his daughter’s voice. “Oh my god you’re awake! I-I was so worried!” The father embraced his daughter in his arms which normally would have crushed the girl…only now it didn’t feel so strong.
“Dad, what happened? Where’s Kasumi?”
“Honey, you’ve been out of it for days. They couldn’t find anything wrong with you but-”
“Dad…” Sumire pushed the man away, a bit harder than she’d intended. “Where’s Kasumi?” She repeated, next to her the heart monitor, began to beep rapidly.
“Honey, y-your sister…” The man lowered his head, unable to meet his daughter’s eyes.
“...W-Where’s Kasumi?”
When no response came, Sumire felt tears beginning to well in her eyes. An image on the television across from her suddenly caught her attention.
“Senpai?”
Ren Amamiya’s mugshot displayed on the screen with text scrolling beneath it that read:
“High school student believed responsible for terrorist attack on Shido Sciences, kills 28 bystanders in explosion before fleeing the scene.”
“No…NO!” She yelled, reaching out to the TV, despite her distance from it. The girl was caught off guard however when a thin white string shot from her fingertips, latching onto the screen before tearing it off of the wall as she pulled back. The television smashed loudly against the ground, leaving both Sumire and her father in shock.
“S-Sumire…” Her father began, unsure of what had just transpired.
“What happened to you?”