Beneficent Ball

So, after the excitement of the last chapter, let's go back a little bit, in the first days of the partnership of our dynamic duo ...

Children's Hospital Ball was one of the biggest fundraising events on the Tokyo charity circuit. It gave a chance to the upper crust in Japan, old money and some of the greatest professional heroes, rubbing elbows, dressing extravagantly and often discussing the latest gossip. Kakinomoto Yoshio hated to go.

Unfortunately, Alicia Blake, her business manager, was never the type to take a straightforward "no" for an answer. At least not when it comes to business.

"No."

Blake sighed, rubbing his forehead in annoyance. "Kakinomoto-san, you are an adult man. Stop acting like a petulant child and do marketing." Alicia Blake has tried to be nice and reassuring for the past two days. When that didn't work, she just came to his office with a suit tailored for him and told him what was going to happen.

Normally, he was adult enough to just smile and hang on, but you have to understand: he really didn't want to go to that place. "Am I not technically your superior?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, my big, annoying boss." Alicia spoke slowly, her voice full of sarcasm. "I suppose I forgot about that between handling all the merchandising agreements, reviewing contracts, reviewing expense reports, paying our taxes and making sure everyone in the office gets paid."

Kakinomoto Yoshio sighed, they both knew he didn't have a head for business, but there was no need to be so rude about it. "You know that I hate rubbing elbows with these people." Not that he was an idiot anyway, as there was a very private and very snobbish group of people who came to these things, and he didn't like dealing with socialites more than absolutely necessary.

"Well, unfortunately, the upper class in Tokyo loves to rub elbows with you. And it gives me a chance to network and listen to interesting little details to determine business proposals. You dodged it last year, but with the lack of one." big emergency that only you can solve on the other side of the world ", you will have to attend this one. Just smile, look good, nod your head and maybe tell some of your funny jokes."

Well, it looks like he lost this particular battle. However, he might as well try to negotiate a surrender from which he can get something. "Ugh, two hours at most."

"Hm, a little bit short but I've worked with less before."

"I don't have to go to the next one."

"Reasonable."

"And I'm not wearing a silly costume." He had seen the invitation, the theme for this year was a masquerade totally inspired by France.

"Unlike your daily job, in which you dress in a not-so-silly and flashy costume." Alicia joked, teasing him slightly. "But there is no need to worry about that particular front." She gestured to the black bag. "Three-piece suit, a particular shade of blue to match your aesthetic and beautiful black shoes."

Kakinomoto Yoshio nodded in agreement. With any luck, this would be a completely boring and monotonous night, and he could leave as soon as possible.

~ XxX ~

"The Children's Hospital's Charity Ball is going to be stolen." Vetochkina said as a greeting. Momoko was in the warehouse, trying to put Frankenstein 0.1 together with some pieces she had found in the junkyard.

The watchman blinked, dropping the screwdriver. "Uh ... ok?" Instead of continuing with the story of the theft, the Russian approached, examining the pieces scattered on Momoko's workbench.

"Pliers, cable ties, motherboard ... I had no idea that building computers was her hobby." The older woman watched curiosity vibrating with her accent.

Momoko grabbed her water bottle and gestured to the open book lying next to it. "The library was throwing away a set of electrical engineering books to make room for a more recent re-edition of the history books. I think they want to change some things to influence the future generation even more. The information is still accurate and I got it find good material at the local junkyard. " Momoko took a long drink of water before returning to the matter at hand. "But were you saying something about theft?"

"Yes. You will prevent that from happening. Or at the leaching itself catch the guy in the act."

"Uh ... yes, this isn't really my job." She dropped the water bottle and took the screwdriver.

Vetochkina looked at her. "You are a self-appointed watchman. Strictly speaking, none of this is your job."

"You know what I mean." Muttered Momoko, inspecting the metal case of the laptop. "I defend people who escape through the cracks, preventing them from getting hurt. I really don't care if the third set of diamond earrings of some millionaire with a high nose is stolen."

"Technically they are rubies, but that is not the point. The point is to get your hands on the thief who is planning to steal them. He goes by the name of Ghost-"

Momoko snorted and laughed. "That's a bit of a stupid name."

"-I didn't choose it. He's the latest in a family business. Although I generally agree with you on how to limit your scope, it's not about the thief himself, but about what you can get from him. He's new enough to the game that, if you shake it, the information will drop immediately, and with his family history, what you hear will be worth the effort. The big fences in Tokyo, which Yakuza lords have a weakness for parts of the Ming dynasty, things so." Yuliya explained, as if it were as simple as talking to a stranger in a laundry room. Momoko started to feel convinced, and she didn't like it at all.

"So, you can sit here and read your set of homemade bomb making books for the third time, or you can disguise yourself and start feeling the underworld you're going to deal with on a regular basis."

Momoko dropped the screwdriver and remade the hair bun. "So, I catch him pocketing the jewels and then ... what? Drag him to the locked closet and start breaking his fingers?"

It was probably noteworthy that the Russian did not correct this idea. "Explore the area, find a good spot with little pedestrian traffic and preferably with soundproof walls. I will not be there to help you in the field. You are learning to adapt, improvise and think for yourself."

Momoko grimaced, not really liking the idea. "My feet are not going to like jumping."

Vetochkina gave another malicious smile. "Yes, about that. I made some arrangements, and you are not going to disguise yourself as one of the guests."

~ XxX ~

Next night ...

Kakinomoto Yoshio looked around the ballroom and tried to identify the people he recognized. The couple dressed as a knight and a European princess were the Hopkins, who would probably say what he wanted about the stock exchange and overseas properties, so they were immediately eliminated. The group of white-haired snow fairies were the Morimotos, the parents of the brilliant rookie who is rapidly climbing the ranks like a rocket, Coldness. Nice enough people to start a friendly conversation anywhere, unlike your son who seemed to have a superiority complex along with an inferiority complex. But-

"Luphinus!" A man in a dragon costume waved at him. He blinked and realized it was Hirako Skoda, the current Black Lightning. They attended the same class at Gran Rey and kept up to date over the next few years. Or at least, as well as they could with the lives of professional heroes being what they were.

"Ah! Skoda-san, how nice to see you again." Yoshio immediately went straight to the other professional hero. The dark-haired man smiled and waved to one of the black-masked waiters to bring him some champagne.

As he took two glasses of alcohol from the server's tray, Yoshio noticed that the other hero was visibly without company. "So, are you here alone or ...?" He asked when the man handed him one of the glasses.

"Unfortunately, I managed to be alone this time. Kikuro caught a cold last night, so my wife is at home taking care of her." Skoda smiled. Her eldest daughter was around school age, if Yoshio remembered correctly. "I was kind of inclined to stay there with them, but Dad scolded me for not being there to 'represent the family' the same nonsense as ever." He laughed to himself before taking a sip.

They chatted for a while, discussing some of the latest technological developments or anecdotes from incidents with villains.

"You know, my wife and I were arguing about you the other day." Skoda commented lazily. "'Why did Luphinus never accept to have a helper?', My wife asked me. 'If the greatest hero and never take on any teammate shouldn't give him time for a personal life." Yoshio then gave a mental sigh. He could tell where this was going and he didn't like it.

Luphinus shrugged, his eyes indifferent. "I prefer to do things myself."

Skoda nodded his head. "Well, if that's how you want to work, that's how you want to work. Forgive me for being a snooper here, but it looks like your social life consists of nothing but hero work today."

"Well, it's an important job. And if you're about to pester me about dating, I'm not avoiding digging up our high school yearbook."

"You would not do that." Skoda started to laugh.

"Oh, I would." He made a false threat. "I wonder how much your companions would like to see you with pimples and dental braces. And who could forget the second-year Sports Festival?" His pants got caught in something at the beginning of the obstacle course, and he didn't notice when he started running. The man had participated in the entire first part of the sports festival wearing only his underwear.

Skoda held up his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, hey, let's not go crazy now." He chuckled. "Also, don't act like I don't have that much dirt on you. For example, I know I have at least one picture of you trying to get into a fight with a swan and losing-"

"He stole my sandwich-"

"And more than some of you puking after training with Makron-sensei."

Yoshio could have sworn he felt his stomach tighten with that particular memory. "Oh great sir, don't remind me of that." His former colleague gave a friendly laugh, completely devoid of malice.

Skoda became serious after a few seconds. "Seriously. Having someone in your life, someone to talk to about everything and nothing, who makes things better just by being in the same room, and can make you smile, no matter what kind of bad day it was ... I I hate to think that you are depriving yourself of this out of some sense of obligation, Yoshio. As heroes, we are sworn to protect society. But that does not mean that we let it consume every waking moment. "

Yoshio didn't know how to answer that, so instead he took another sip of champagne and let his eyes roam the room. He saw a flash of dark hair in a familiar bun, and an image of Naomi immediately came to mind. The hero immediately pushed his memory aside, but he could not shake off that strange feeling of familiarity with the unknown. As the crowd moved away a little, he saw that the woman was dressed in a white uniform shirt and dark trousers like those of the waiters. Despite telling himself it was nothing, from time to time Yoshio would sneak a glance at the person while continuing his conversation with Skoda. Yoshio had been a hero for a long time to ignore his instincts, even when they didn't make much or little sense most of the time. Eventually, the other hero noticed his distraction and allowed him to 'go out and socialize'.

So, there was Yoshio, looking sideways at a waitress who looked extremely similar to his dead mentor at a party he didn't even want to be at. He almost expected it to be some kind of villainous plot, and the person he was seeing was psychically disguised as Naomi or something. Hey, in this superhuman society, he saw and struggled with some much stranger things. The answer actually presents itself in the most curious way: it is called old socialite complaining about the food.

"What ?! Why is this so tasteless ?!" The woman demanded, practically furious.

"To mess with people, to mess with you specifically. They are completely different to other people. This one specifically has a little laxative." The waitress commented absently with a mocking laugh.

Yoshio had to fake a cough to hide his laugh. He would recognize Valkyrie's delicious neutral expression anywhere. After the woman left in a rage, he politely tapped the server on the shoulder.

She made the most adorable 'hm?' Sound, and did a great job of disguising the fact that she knew him. However, she corrected too much and did not react to his presence, while most of the other servers, at least, hesitated to see Luphinus himself.

"Hors d'oeuvres, sir?" She offered as if the last guest's tantrum had never happened in the first place.

Luphinus then suddenly remembered that it probably would not be the best idea to speak to Valkyrie in the middle of a ballroom crowded with socialites, other professional heroes and some high-ranking police officers. In his peripheral vision, he noticed the police commissioner dressed in horns and a cape socializing with a woman dressed in what appeared to be a curtain and wearing ram horns.

'Okay, time to be sneaky.' He thought the man almost two meters tall built to look like a brick house.

Luphinus gave a perfect smile and took one of the snacks offered. "You know, it's a long way from Hamura, isn't it?" He asked in a low tone, before taking a bite.

The disguised vigilante gave him a sideways glance before the poker face reappeared. "You are too smart for your own good, sometimes dark."

She handed him another hors d'oeuvres and started to walk away. Yoshio then only felt the slight scratch of paper on her sleeve a few seconds later. Shaking it off, he found a small note written in red ink.

Meet me in the unisex bathroom across the room.

He looked up, Valkyrie had placed the plate on the refreshment table when no one was looking, and was heading towards the other side of the great hall without drawing any attention.

When he tried to follow her at a leisurely pace, he was interrupted at least three times by colleagues or fans. He looked at her sliding through the door with something like envy and concern. What the hell was she doing here? As he ran through the possible scenarios in his head, from theories ranging from catering to her daily work to tracking down a serial killer, Luphinus did not realize how his polite and fake smile had turned into a genuine smile.

~ XxX ~

About seven minutes later, Luphinus found her in the bathroom off duty. She had purposely blocked the drains with toilet paper earlier in the day to have a private place to drag the Phantom. "What are you doing here?" He asked the moment he opened the door and saw her.

"Hello for you too." Momoko was bold, looking to see if he had been followed or noticed before locking the door behind her. "You certainly took time."

"The Security Committee wanted to know if I could test the new maximum security prison before doing an" inauguration "so to speak, I must say that I am a little excited, I always wanted to escape from a maximum security prison when I was a child and - "Yoshio paused. "That is not important now. The important thing is that you tell me what the hell you are doing here. You can get caught."

She frowned a little at that. Luphinus had already worked with her several times, he should have known better than to think of her as a newbie. She crossed her arms and gave him his best 'seriously?' face. "No, I won't. That is literally the goal of disguising yourself."

"You literally gave yourself a hair dye job and a different colored mask." He gestured towards her, as if that would convince her of anything.

Momoko rolled her eyes. As much as she respected Luphinus, this really wasn't her area of ​​expertise. She would take the word of a dangerous Russian instead of a famous hero in stealth matters on any day of her life. "Be reasonable. There are very few sharp pictures of my face; and who really looks twice at the waitress, anyway?" Momoko knew that she was not very present and, as such, was used to people just looking at her in everyday life. She might as well use that to her advantage.

The professional hero crossed his arms and studied her for a moment before changing the subject wisely. "You know, you still haven't answered my question about what you're doing here."

"Jewel thief."

"Forgiveness?" Oh, Valkyrie loved to know things he didn't know.

Valkyrie had to hold back a satisfied smile as she continued to speak. "A guy who calls himself a 'Ghost' -"

"This is a very ridiculous name." Luphinus, without knowing it, echoed his earlier thought.

The watchman left his wry smile. "I know, right? Like a Saturday morning cartoon." Where's the Ghost attack going to be next, find that out in the next episode. "Anyway, apparently he has a thing for rubies, so he's planning to pocket his earrings. up for auction tonight. "

Luphinus raised an eyebrow. "You really don't seem like the type to go after thieves. Especially so far from Hamura."

She didn't bother to deny it. "He has information and connections that I would find useful. It's in the family's blood or something. Knowing your opponent is half the game for me to keep doing what I'm doing."

Luphinus's eyes hardened. "This is not a game, Valkyrie."

"It's called a metaphor, Luphinus. Metaphor." She scoffed back.

The watchman noticed a slight tug at the corners of her mouth. He was fighting his own smile. "You know, you are very talkative to someone who just wants to help you."

She shrugged. "Eh, it's part of my charm." It is a defense mechanism for when I am nervous. Luphinus chuckled, looking quite genuine.

"I suppose so, but somewhat daring for this guy 'Phantom' attacks in the middle of this Charity Ball. There are several here in law enforcement, both as policemen and as professional heroes."

"A fair point. But, in general, the purpose of these things is to socialize, with the auction more for fundraising than the items themselves. Even with a possible security guarding the auction items, a self-respecting thief will be able to enter and get out of there unseen. And with the Ghost's youth and ego, he'll probably do it right in the middle of the room. "

Luphinus nodded, and Valkyrie gave a small shout of victory in his head. Taking another minute or two to strategize together, and by strategy she meant that she basically would continue to do what she intended to do while Luphinus acted as a second pair of eyes, the hero and the watchman came out of the bathroom.

~ XxX ~

A red-haired woman with cat ears was waiting for them outside, her eyes half full of mischief just as the glass was half full of champagne.

"A-Alicia." Yoshio spoke, obviously surprised.

"It's nice to see you socializing." She commented, looking Luphinus in the eye, Yoshio blushed, looking at her shoes. Momoko liked this woman right away. The woman continued to look at them for a moment, before taking a delicate sip from her champagne glass. "So, work or play?"

"What?"

"You snuck into a broken bathroom with one of the servers, wait-" Alicia gave her a long, hard look. "Let's see, your mask is different from the others, of better quality. And the way you messed up socialite Kiriya tells me that this is a temporary job or that you really don't care about all that shit. The caterer would have it. dismissed in a short time. If you are not a professional ... "Alicia then laughed to herself. "Ooooh my word, a vigilante in disguise. How scandalous!"

"Oh, fuck you are good." Valkyrie with the palm of the hand. Seriously? FOR REAL? Was she really that easy to see?

"Tongue." Yoshio corrected.

"Eat a stick." Momoko snarled.

"No thank you."

Alicia Blake liked this girl right away. She had never thought much about the Luphinus type before, for a long time, she just thought he didn't have one, but dark hair ... or of course in that case, sassy and able to kick some serious ass was probably that.

~ XxX ~

After a brief introduction, the watchman explained the situation to the jewel thief and promised to break only a few fingers. All three, hero, watchman and manager, were keeping an eye on Ghost. Valkyrie was on the floor, ready to intercept the moment when things started to happen, while Blake and Luphinus were out of the way at one of the side tables, while still being able to maintain clear sight lines for the windows. Alicia couldn't help but notice how Yoshio was using these lines of sight to track Valkyrie, instead of the jewels.

"So, this is your mysterious 'chocolate friend'." Luphinus gave a whisper of recognition, his focus obviously elsewhere. Alicia would be insulted if she weren't so adorable.

"You know, when you were asking for advice on a White Day gift, I thought it was for a neighbor or something that was not ... a Nordic warrior." It changed quickly, remembering that they could easily be heard in this type of place.

Kakinomoto's eyes turned to her. "We don't hide it, but we don't really ... announce our partnership."

"A partner, is that what she is for you?" She asked, countering her interest with the gentleness of her tone.

Her eyes strayed before he answered. "Something similar."

Blake knew how close her boss was throwing things in the chest, even to himself. Getting him to open up emotionally was like pulling out stone milk, and she wasn't in the mood to play farm now. "Hm, good. If you ever referred to her as a helper, I'm pretty sure she would kick her ass."

It made her laugh softly. "Good She is, but she really couldn't kick me."

The business manager smiled before taking a sip of champagne. "I don't know, she is uncomfortable. I think she could take you."

Blake liked to make life difficult for Luphinus, but she genuinely cared for the guy. As the number one hero, the guy was bombarded with endless praise and pressure. He needed someone to treat him like a real person and not an all-powerful figure who couldn't do anything wrong. Furthermore, the teenage rebellion in her, one that was against the system to the bone and spit in the face of the world for daring to equate its uselessness with its uselessness, had a certain kick when it saw the hero Number One being bold by a vigilante who came your elbow.

Before they could discuss things further, there was a sudden movement on the edge of Valkyrie. The watchman was ... talking to someone. He had his back to them, so Blake couldn't really say what was going on. But in a flash, the man in the blue suit was leaving, and Valkyrie suddenly had something shiny and metallic hanging around his neck. Before the manager had a chance to think more about it, the watchman was moving fast, in the other direction.

Oh, that was probably not a good thing.

~ XxX ~

If there was one thing Momoko would learn from that experience, it was never to underestimate her opponent again, even if she was just a novice jewel thief. She would reexamine exactly how badly she was going to kick his ass after she took that stupid bomb out of her neck.

"You know, it's generally considered rude to take things that don't belong to you."

A probably charming smile and an appraising look. He pulled a stone pulled from her pocket and suddenly the Valkyrie felt a weight around her neck. "Do not panic." He whispered in her ear. "Stay calm and don't call the police and it will be over in an hour."

Valkyrie was faced with two options: let him go or go on. As pressing had a more than likely result of him pushing a button and popping her head, the watchman decided to let him go. For now. She went back to the bathroom and was looking at the bomb in the mirror. It looked like a particularly thick necklace, and there was no way Momoko would have guessed it was a bomb. That meant there was no one else in the ballroom to notice, either.

God, I hope Luphinus doesn't think I was scared or anything, before that thought could progress further, Luphinus shot through the door so hard and so fast that Momoko would have been surprised that the door wouldn't have fallen if she wasn't focused on not dying. . "What happened?" He demanded.

Valkyrie sighed. "Ugh, I was stupid and underestimated him, so he put a bomb on my neck."

"Wait, bomb-"

Momoko didn't know why she kept talking, but she did. "Seriously, rookie move. I knew he could shrink things, but it didn't occur to me that he would risk bringing explosives with him. Maybe the spaces are narrowed between the atoms, making it a non-explosive state? Damn, I probably should have having studied physics in high school instead of gardening ... "While the vigilante rambled, she took a pin and a Swiss army knife from her pocket and began to undo a panel of the necklace of doom.

"Stay calm." He tried to reassure her. Valkyrie appreciated the intention.

"I'm calm, you're calm. Really? Better idea." She reached into her pocket again. "On here." She handed him a small device with a small signal moving across the screen. "I put a tracker on Ghost. At the speed he's going, he's probably in a vehicle, given the fact that he already has a compression ability, and it's extremely unlikely that he also has, like, super speed on top That would be very unfair. I know a guy who can open portals anywhere he's been before and now an idiot who can shrink things, now all that's left is for someone to be able to create things out of nothing. " Luphinus took a moment to study the device and then looked at it with concern. Concern about her or where she got the tracking device, Valkyrie didn't know and frankly didn't care. "Follow him, get him and make sure he didn't blow my head. I'll try to disarm him around here."

"Do you even know how-"

"If you are so insecure, stop talking and start running." Valkyrie turned. Luphinus was looking at her. The kind of sticky puppy face that made her very uncomfortable, because she was usually associated with the feather, and the last thing Momoko wanted was to feel sorry. But faster than a speeding bullet probably, Luphinus went out to save her neck.

~ XxX ~

Luphinus ran as if the hellhounds were on her heels. He covered about two kilometers in less than ten seconds, all of his improvement running through his veins. He easily found the car where the tracker was located and forced himself to slow down a bit. If he scared the thief, he may panic. Panic would not guarantee the safety of Valkyrie.

'I could never live with myself if something were to happen to her under my supervision.'

Watching the escape vehicle turn into an empty side street, Luphinus knew that he had his best chance at that moment. He landed in front of the car, grabbing the hood with his arms. A quick glance through the windshield confirmed that there was a very surprised Ghost, still an idiotic name, behind the driver's steering wheel.

"Hello." Luphinus greeted, feeling his smile start to grow into a snarl. "I would advise you to surrender now and make things easier for you."

~ XxX ~

Less than a minute after Luphinus ran after Ghost, Momoko was still looking at the reflection in the bathroom mirror when the necklace finally stopped flashing. Fuck, she thought for a moment, until the clutch came free from her neck.

Without taking any chances, she quickly ended the disarmament, cutting off the trigger mechanism of the incendiary elements. Needing some air after that.

~ XxX ~

The Bloody Valkyrie rubbed her neck, looking at the man huddled in Luphinus's hands. If he had the ability to compress living beings, now would probably be the best time to use it. So that meant that he could only compress non-living matter. She bared her teeth in a wolf's smile.

"You are going to tell me every fence and connection you have in this city, and / or I am going to break every one of your fingers. So I am going to get a hot chocolate and a bottle of the most expensive drink from the party because I had a very stressful night. "

"Oo, can I get in there?" Luphinus asked. Valkyrie blinked, realizing that the man had gone from being a tough guy to a lovely idiot pretty quickly.

She ... actually liked the latter a lot more.

~ XxX ~

Two hours later…

"Sorry to send you to eat a stick."

Luphinus looked up from his drink bottle. After Valkyrie extracted all the information he could from the thief, Luphinus took advantage and heard everything too, he had some places to visit and criminals to punch in the coming weeks, he handed the criminal over to the competent authorities and the two really went out to eat something and drink. Alicia handed him the company's credit card and told him to 'go and have fun'. He didn't know if the pastries were always so delicious, or if his stomach was happy to be eating something other than those extravagant, small and expensive snacks.

"Oh, uh ... well, I think it was a little rude. However, I have to be honest, I probably just say 'language' out of habit. The heroes have to be relatively family friendly to the kids."

"Ah, so that's why." Valkyrie agreed.

"To be honest, I probably swear as much as you do, in my head at least. But hey, you went back to talking to an authority figure. And you were right, it's ... charming, in your way." He admitted, trying to be polite.

Valkyrie still looked a little mortified. "Yes, but I still shouldn't have said that." She paused and took a deep breath. "Look, Moreno, if we are going to end up working more together, and something tells me that we are going, you should probably know that I have ... problems. Like, I work on my emotional problems with name calling and vigilantism, problems like that."

-I'm sorry, I let the criminal put an explosive choker around his neck.-

-I'm sorry if I seem aggressive or authoritarian, but I've never had a partner before.-

-I'm sorry that someone hurt you so much that you think that being a vigilante is the only way to help someone.-

-I'm sorry, for almost letting you die.-

But he didn't say anything like that. Instead, he simply said, "You were really brave back there."

Valkyrie shrugged. "Well, I thought it would either be right, or it wouldn't be my problem anymore."

Luphinus gave another laugh. "But seriously, I didn't know that you knew so much about bomb making. Or is it electrical engineering?"

The watchman's mouth curved in a cheeky smile. "You know, it's actually a very funny story. It started when I started high school, especially when I joined the Garden Club ..."

-XxX-