Scapegoat: Part 2

Diego woke up to the sounds of laughter. Still pretending to be asleep, he opened his eyes just a smidge. But it was already too late.

"No point in pretending to be asleep." The green-haired menace was with him. "You're god damn awful at acting. But I suppose we'll fix that."

Diego slowly sat up. They were on a rooftop of what seemed to be a warehouse complex. Nice and isolated. His heart began to beat rapidly. Was he going to die?

"Woah woah. No need to panic." Izuku held up his hand placatingly. He had swapped out his blindfold for a pair of pitch-black sunglasses. "I'm not gonna kill you just yet."

The sarcastic reply came out before Diego could even register it. "Well, thank fuck for that, huh!" Great, he thought. Now he's going to kill me.

But instead, Izuku reared back his head and laughed. "I knew it. Even in the face of death, you got sharp instincts." He peered curiously at him. "How did you know to dodge the door?"

"Huh?"

"Back at the police station. In the interrogation room. I kicked down the door, but you were nowhere near it. Why and how?"

Diego's eyes widened in shock. Of all the bloody things to ask me, this guy asks me that. "I don't know?"

"Is that a question or answer?" Izuku, without waiting for a proper response, began to pace around his captive. "Go on then. Ask away."

"Wait, what?"

"Come on, keep up. You must have a million questions. Actually, that's too many. I'll only answer three."

Diego's eye twitched. This may be the day he died, but with every passing moment, that looked like the preferable option. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but Izuku had already started to interrupt him.

"Actually, I got a few questions of my own." Izuku squatted down so that they were eye to eye. Diego could see the blue of his eyes just over the top of his sunglasses. "What do you know about the 8 Precepts of Death?"

Diego choked on his spit. It seemed that even if this green-haired monster didn't kill him physically, he was gonna try and kill him by making him snitch. "I don't know anyth..."

"You fear the wrong person, you know." Izuku once again interrupted. He placed one of his hands on Diego's head. With the other, he took off his sunglasses. "You already know what I did to the others."

An eternity seemed to pass between the 2 of them. Eventually, Diego stuttered out, "They just supply the drugs we move. That's all I know, I swear."

"I believe you. That's what the other guy said anyway. Let me guess - you guys could never actually contact the 8 Precepts. They came into contact with you."

Diego nodded. Flinching as Izuku stood up suddenly, he asked, "What's gonna happen to me?"

"Well, that's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" Izuku smiled an awful smile. It was sadistic and playful all at once. "The way I see it, you have 2 options. The first option is to go back to the police and be thrown in jail for the rest of your life. Don't worry; your little prison break didn't add any more murder charges to your record."

Diego erupted in frustration. "That wasn't my prison break. That was yours! And I didn't kill those..."

"Oh please, I did you a favour." Izuku waved his hand dismissively at the outburst. "You really think the 8 Precepts of Death would have believed you didn't talk to the police? They would've used you as a scapegoat and left you to rot in prison. And that's the best-case scenario there."

Izuku steepled his fingers. "And that brings us to the second option. You work for me."

A long silence greeted those words.

"What the fuck?" Shock graced Diego's face.

"Well, it's better than the first option for sure."

Diego scrunched his eyes in contemplation. "What sort of work would I be doing?"

"Well, that's easy to answer. You'll be infiltrating the 8 Precepts of Death."

Now Diego was genuinely speechless. "But won't they'll kill me?"

"Certainly. Maybe. Probably. I don't know. But I have to warn you. If you do this, you will witness some gruesome things. Things that will keep you up at night. I can't even guarantee you won't be a victim one day. But at least you'll be doing some good. Plus, I'll help you with what you really want."

"Wait. You know?"

"I do know. It's not that difficult looking at you."

"You can help me? You swear?" There was a desperate undertone to the question.

"Come on now. You don't believe a man of my talents can't offer what you want?"

Diego slumped down even further. To trust or not to trust? That was the question. Diego didn't know what to do. But if he can help me find him, Diego thought, then do I really have a choice?

"You're gonna have to pick soon. Either living in prison for the rest of your days or a tortured life, not knowing whether you'll be killed before you achieve your goal. Pick your hell Diego Shinso."