Chapter 13: Punk Tactics (Liam)

As I looked over the horizon I could see the many buildings in the city slowly come to life. The cold air stung my face but it kept me awake. The rooftop of one of our factories, The Kara-no-goki chasy factory, is the best place to enjoy the city skyline, maybe it's the smell of gasoline that I love or maybe it's the low hum of automated machines slaving away building car bodies for almost 24 hours a day, maybe it's the fact that nobody has worked here for years with only our families maintenance guy visiting monthly....the ability to rewind time for an object can come in real handy. The mechanical orchestra was interrupted by footsteps on the metal grates. I turned around to see him, my flame haired companion emerging from the iron depths. 

  "Sup dude. You called for me?"

  "Ya, I...I need your help with something."

He walked towards me and sat next to me by the edge of the building. 

  "Ask and you shall receive brother."

  "I'm changing my surname."

  "What?"

  "Look I've thought about this a lot and I don't want anything to do with that name."

  "Liam..."

  "All it's gotten me is-"

  "LIAM!"

  "What?"

  "Are you doing this coz you're mad at some or are you doing this because you feel it is right?"

  "Well...I...so what?"

  "Liam, you're family has directly caused so much harm here. I know that everyone in the main city is basically in paradise but the people in the slums live in hell. For years they have profited off of the suffering of their people, I know that I'm one to talk but at least I have a good reason for it. Trust me I personally have many reasons to hate your family name and support you but I won't do it if you aren't doing it for the right reasons. Remember our first encounter here."

  "Ya, I challenged you to a fight, right her on this very building."

It was about three months after I had met Hisashi and Hida, it was about dawn when it happened. 

  "Sup dude." Yelled Hisashi.

  "Hey man, we need to talk" 

  "Sure what is it?"

  "I won't follow you into battle if I can't put my trust in your skills. I have to believe that you are better than me if I am to work under you and right now I have no reason to believe that. So...fight me."

  "What?"

  "Fight me, it's the only way for me to be sure."

  "Hahaha, Liam...I'm a non-combatant. I don't fight, that's why I have you guys."

  "DON'T LIE TO ME, I'm no fool...I know power when I see it. The air you gave off when you threatened me, there was real malice in that, you wanted me to die horribly, I could feel it. In order for me to understand it I need to fight you, that's another reason for this I guess."

  "I never said that I couldn't fight, I just said that I don't...not anymore. Look if you feel that I'm lacking in skill, you lead, still works to my favour anyway."

  "BASTAAARD, that's not something you simply give away!" that line pissed me off, I lunged at him with my fist ready to punch his jaw off but he dodged like it was nothing. Leaning backwards like he was playing limbo. I twisted and came in with a waist high sweep kick but he ducked even lower. As I landed getting ready to give him a downward axe kick but he twisted and uppercutted me in the stomach. I fell to the ground as my vision went dark, a searing pane shot through my intestines like electricity. I tried to get up but my body went limp and I fell unconscious. A few minutes later I woke up with my head resting on Hisashi's jacket. He was sitting on the buildings edge looking at the distant ships coming into shore to pick up goods to deliver all over the world. 

  "Ooooouch, how the hell did u do that?"

  "My brother taught me, he did a lot of dirty work for the Peacekeepers. He knew that one day I'd get involved so he trained me....I....when I killed someone for the first time, I vowed not to fight again."

  "My first kill was rough too."

  "Who'd you kill."

  "A man murdered my girlfriends...well ex girlfriends father. I killed him as vengeance, simple as that. You?"

  "My brother's partner,  he's the reason I'm in debt right now. Anyway look I was serious about letting you lead. Truth is I won't let anything bad happen to you guys so if any of us are dieing first it will be me but beyond that im only here to clear my debt. I have no intention of staying after that so the team will need someone looking after them when I'm gone."

  "Them?"

  "You'll find out soon enough. I just don't need them yet."

  "That day Liam, you said that you challenged me because you need to know if I was worthy of following but I think that my bloodlust terrified you...you couldn't stand the idea of it could you? You never back down from a challenge, that flaw of yours will get you killed or worse...get someone else killed. You can't rise to every challenge Liam, learn to pick your battles."

  "You're right...I'm sorry."

  "Look dude there are plenty of ways to blow off steam. How about this, the team needs some custom jumpsuits for the job but the only place to get it is a Kara-no-goki utility-gear factory.

  "So we need to steal it."

  "Precisely. Here." He gave me a card with an address on it. "Also we can't let them know what we took so burn the place down once you're done. I know a really good arsonist, he'll meet you tomorrow right here at 11am."

  "Got it." He began to walk away, (That fight...I couldn't land a hit on him... maybe I should....no, I can't rise to every challenge....right, Hisashi) As he reached the stairs he turn around and smiled.

  "You're learning." He said gleefully.

The next morning was a hot one, it was the weekend, best time to game after a hard day's worth of studying. Mother and dad were out working so I was completely alone....sort of.

  "Liam. Breakfast is ready!" Yelled Aiko, her mom was working at home and needed the house to be empty so I let her and Julianna crash at our house for the weekend.

  "I'm coming down." I paused the game and walked downstairs to them. 

  "Prepared some oats porridge for us." said Julie. 

  "And I got us some old movies from the rental store. Anyone wanna watch some good old fashioned Romero zombies. Or we-" some thing crashed in my room. 

  "Hold on, I'll be back."

I ran up expecting to see that my TV had fallen or something but there stood a short Indian looking boy with short black-gray hair and a large duffel bag.

  "Yato, the hell are you doing here? And how did you find out were I live?"

  "Didn't Hisashi tell you, I'm the arsonist, as for your house ya he told me about that too." 

  "You're an arsonist, well I guess that works well with your miso. Anyway your timing is off, we were supposed to meet somewhere else and on top of that you are three hours early...what's with the bag?" 

  "Well when I heard that you're rich I just had to see for myself....damn bro you Kara-no-gokis don't disappoint. And well the duffel bag, that's for the job."

  "Ooookay, anyway look I've got guests right now, do you mind waiting up here. It would be difficult to explain your-"

  "Liam, what's taking you so...long?" Aiko was standing in the doorway, looking at us with a confused expression. "Who's he?"

  "A friend, Rakesh meet Aiko Aiko this is (Indian name)." 

  "Why does a native American have an Indian name?"

  "I don't know, I'm not his dad dude."

  "Liam, you'd have to be a real idiot to fall for something this stupid. I mean really."

  "Hey Liam, foods getting cold. Who's this?" Asked Julie.

  "(Indian name)."

  "That's nice, hey you wanna get some food. We have extra."

  "Sure." Yato jumped up and walked down with Julie. Aiko shot an annoyed look as he walked past her. 

  "I swear, she's as sharp as a marble. How the hell is she my twin sister?"

  "Look, he's friendly and I trust him. That's all you need to know."

  "Oh please Liam, I can smell the poverty off of him. He tries anything and-"

  "My house, my guest."

She sighed "fair enough."

  "Trust me he's harmless."

  "I'd agree with you but then we'd both be wrong."

  "Aiko...food."

  "Fine fine."

We watched movies and ate breakfast. Yato and Julie got along really well. With his joking nature and her sweet demeanor they became fast friends. After a few hours it was time to go. 

  "Liam, it's time."

  "Alright ladies, I've gotta go. I'll see you in a few hours."

  "Babye." Said Juliana while waving enthusiastically.

  "We'll clean up while you guys are gone." Responded Aiko.

We began walking to the bus station together, the walk was a little far but what's seven kilometres when you are with a friend. 

  "(Indian name), really dude?"

  "Hey you don't quite fit the bill of a native American dude."

  "What do you mean."

  "Your skin colour for example, it's darker than mine and I'm a quarter African."

  "Thought your dad was German."

  "Ya but my grandpa is African. Media doesn't cover that part of my family as thourghly as they used to since the Argent's disbanded their hero agency. It's much more fun to talk about a demon than a group of retirees."

We reached the bus and got on, after two hours of commuting we finally reached the new construction district. The family was planning on expanding the city and had hired thousands of workers to build a mini Los **Vegus** .

This would be dedicated to all forms of night life, an invite to the world to visit our island. The factory we were looking for was just on the outskirts of the skeletal city, providing steel and concrete to the workers at an insane speed. Hundreds of trucks carried away tones of steel pipes and fittings. It had a large metal gate that looked like it could take a tank shot no problem. The walls were high enough to hide most of the factory, only leaving a few smoking chimneys as proof of its existence. Yato and I walked up a hill to get a better view of the factory, the courtyard was full of trucks but there weren't many guards. I could hear the bangs of mechines building steel work for the buildings.

  "Nice, this place is mostly automated so we won't find many civilians in there." I said as I put on my mask and gave him his.

  "And a little chaos will get the stragglers running."

  "You just read my mind. I'll nab the suits while you prep the ~~incindearys~~."

  "It'll take me about 20 minutes, a minute per bottle. I think a simple alcohol mix will do so I'll make Molotovs."

  "Since the fire needs to spread I can set up discs all around the facility so that I can hit all sides."

  "Alright partner, sounds like a plan."

  "Bro?"

  "Bro."

  "Bro!"

  "Bro!"

  "...broooooo." we said in unison.

  "Wanna game at my place after this?" I asked 

  "Hell yeah!" We bumped fists and split.

Yato took out some old glass bottles from his bag and began dropping out a viscous fluid from his hands into the bottle. Has it slid to the bottle it evaporated and became a clear liquid. I dropped a disc near Yato then walked around the perimeter of the factory while tossing discs over the wall to the others side. The factory was  about the size of a small mall so teleporting around it wouldn't be a problem. Once finished I then teleport back to Yato and told him to give me the bag. 

  "It's a simple "O H" bond mixed with "H2O" so it shouldn't be a problem to reform. I'll prep some smaller incendiaries and herd the stragglers away."

  "Good. Meet you back here in ten."

  "Cool."

I snuck into the building as a few workers were walking around. The railing on the ceiling made for easy transport. An old man in the jumps suit we were looking for was walking towards the northern half of the building. (Maybe I should follow him, he might lead me to the supply room. As I followed from above he walked into a room that said ~~Chefs~~ office. (Interesting.) I jumped down crouch-landing in order to avoid making too much noise. I snuck by a window and looked in. 

  "Sir, the workers need a raise." Said the jumpsuit man

  "What are you talking about, you get paid plenty." Said a man in a yellow suit sitting on an office chair, he had sleek black hair and brown eyes, his voice was joyful and calm but had a poisonous sting to them. As if there was a disconnect between what he said and the way it sounded.

  "Sir we work nine hours a day and get barely anything. Half our pay goes to transport from the Playground alone. Which you own sir. Please sir, our families are starving."

  "Hey...." He snaps his fingers thinking of a name.

  "Arnold sir."

  "Right Arnold, you see how many of you guys are left right."

  "Yes there aren't that many."

  "Exactly, not that many. Do you know why Armin."

  "Y-yes sir, we needed more efficient methods of production so machines became the norm. The only ones that stayed are those who can run, maintain and repair the machines."

  "Precisely, tell me Amy did know that the Kara-no-gokis have a man that can do it far better than you guys?"

  "No sir."

  "Well, we do. The only reason I haven't hired him is because he's so damn expensive but..." He got up and his smiling deminure vanished and was replaced with a cold stare. "Unruly workers can be far more expensive. I only kept you because I have something to prove to lord Aamon. That my methods are cost efficient, if you jeopardize this for me..." He sat back down and smiled again "I'll replace you. Now Zack, do be a dear and kindly fuck of." 

Armin slumped his head as he walked away,  I hid behind a corner to avoid being seen. (Jez, that's rough. Nothing we can do about it though. I best move on.) As I was looking for a way back to the roofing I heard the suit man speak on his phone. 

  "How much are we making?.....only seventy hundred percent, not good enough, I'll cut back the workers pay from three to one point five percent. We can use that added money to hire him to work on the machines. I'll put in some money too I've a five million in cash here, from all the skimming we did. I had to liquidate it fast to avoid suspensions from the other companies. It's unfortunate that the works have to suffer but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, it's what leaders do, make sacrifices. That should give us a good five years without workers and the machines won't be out of commission for months." 

(Man, not cool, if only...wait...opportunity? Don't mind if I do.)

I claimed back up to the ceiling and kept looking for the supply room. The business suit guy began walking outside. Eventually I found it. I dropped down and walked in grabbing what I could then made me way back out. (Okay, let's make this one count) I knelt and focused my self. Charging electric energy down my spine, making sure that it doesn't leak into the rest of my body. I zipped to one disc and hurdle a bottle into a factory window, then zipped to another and did the same. In a matter of seconds I was all but done, zipping and throwing, zipping and throwing. A small group of ten people ran out of the factory. Six mechanics and three armed soldiers and business suit guy, he tried convincing one of the soldiers to run back into the factory, probably for the money but small volly of tennis balls were tossed behind them. A loud BOOM went off and a flash of fire. The mechanics panicked and broke formation to make a run for it. The soldiers were forced to follow suit. (Atta boy Yato, now for vengeance) I jumped into the burning factory and rushed around the machinery looking for the office room. Fire was catching everywhere. The heat and smoke was almost too much. (Maybe I should have stolen the money first and THEN burn it down. Ah well *Cough!!!) My lungs felt like ash, hot and dusty. My legs became numb and I lost balance as my conciseness faded. ("Is that really all you've got child, GET UP!") It was a woman's voice, it was feminine but strong. Sturn and proud. Burning with passion but as cold as ice. ("If you can't breathe, slow down your heart rate. Focuse your mind on your vains. How they can expand and contract much like muscles. Calm yourself and you'll get through this son.") I followed the advice and focused on my heart. My mind and body will be slower but it'll give me more time. The office came into view. I burst through the door and grabbed a duffel bag from under the desk. I immediately teleported out and landed on the hill where Yato was. I saw him run up the hill with few tennis balls in hand. 

  "You get the suits?"

  "Ya, *cough cough. Damn near died too. Also got this." I showed him the money bag.

  "Daaaaaaaamn Kara-no-goki, you don't play around do you. Honest day's work, am I right." He reached out his hand and pulled me up. 

  "I wouldn't call it honest but... there's something I gotta do." I snapped my fingers and disintegrated my discs and began walking in the direction of the workers. They were gathered with a few of the construction guys near a large shipping container made into a makeshift office. The business suit guy was busy explain that he had lost all of their money so they'd have to worked for even less now. (Bastered taking this as a chance to cheat them even more). I jumped on top of the container and announced myself.

  "You see what they do to us. This man makes millions a week from these construction gigs but you only get small change. This set back won't affect him at all because he plans on taking YOUR hard earned money as compensation. I say NO MORE! I grabbed the duffel bags and hurled the money through the air making it rain hundreds of thousands of yen. I pointed at him, "these men better have work when I next return and if I ever hear that you cheated them out again... I'll skin you alive. This is all courtesy of the Phantom Dragons, remember our name for we stand with the people!" They shouted our name as I bowed gracefully and blew out a cloud of smoke from my masked as I disappeared.

Yato was busy packing up as I walked up the hill, "You bring back anything for us?" 

  "Of course, one million yen. Not a lot but it may come in handy with preps for the art museum job. Now then, let's go home ey."

  "Yes let's."