Chapter Twelve - Upgrade
Sitting above a building downtown that smelled of schnitzel, Daimian lurked on the prowl of the short, darkening cityscape in his Obscurity suit. Searching every corner he could from above, he saw nothing that needed attention. To his left sat a large, white bank that seemed to be closing it's doors soon. The humid air of the setting summer sun wafted around his belt as it flailed behind him like a pair of pale tails.
As he watched the streets from afar, a shadow crept up behind him. Without alerting him, the figure grew closer with silent steps, small horns flashing above their head. In less than a minute, the figure came up to Daimian, who finally felt their presence. He swiftly turned around and yelped as he saw the figure of Nino Man standing over his shoulder, nearly knocking him off of the building.
"Woah, woah, HEY," Nino Man yelled at Daimian, who was trying to catch himself.
"Oh good, it's just you." Daimian set a hand on his chest as he stabilized himself further on the warm roof. "You gotta warn me next time, man."
"I thought I loomed over you enough to notice me."
"Well, something other than looming would be nice, like a 'hey dude' or a whistle." Daimian looked down and noticed Nino Man was carrying a black briefcase before he tossed at him, fumbling to grab onto it's leather handle.
"It doesn't matter," Nino Man sighed as he stared into Daimian's cheap goggles. "Anyway, I got you a present. Made from one of the finest tailors money can buy." He coughed into his hand as me muttered, "-if you're fine with it being drab..."
"OOOOOOOOO!" Daimian pulled the briefcase open with a shock as he staggered looking at the suit. "Oh wow," he said as he looked back at Nino Man, who just stood where he was. "Thanks man! Can... can I try it on?"
"Okay."
Daimian excitedly ducked behind a wooden crate as Nino Man's eyes followed him. When he hid deeper to where he couldn't be seen at all, he traded his suit. As Daimian tried to check if the suit fit, Nino Man took out his cell phone and starts tapping on it. Not too long after, he perks his head up and looks down the side of the building over at the now closed bank.
"Well shit," Nino Man says as he looks down from the edge of the building. He looks back at Daimian before hopping over the rim of the roof, slidding down the building with a slight fury in his yellow lensed eyes.
As Nino Man jumped off the building, Daimian emerged from the shadows of the crates. "Okay, I'm re-" he paused, noticing Nino Man was nowhere on the roof. Darting his head, he looked down at the scene of the bank. "Ah dammit..."
Nino Man landed on the pavement to see the silhouette of Killy in the bank just across the road. Before completely entering the large building, Nino Man paused at the door as Killy stopped in his tracks, looking up. "And I thought I'd never see your ugly ass in a god damn bank again..."
"Oh, uh," Killy stutters a moment before turning back and shrugging at Nino Man. "Well, consider this a short-lived reunion." He stepped closer to Nino Man, who was setting himself in a stance. "'Cause you're not gonna last very long this time, Nino."
"Bring it on, you big bitch." Nino Man scowled at his larger opponent.
Killy pounded his metallic fists together, creating a scratching sound across the bank's main hall, before charging at Nino Man. Attempting to land a punch, Killy misses Nino Man as he moves his head. "Not too smart, are you big guy," Nino Man asked as he moved away from Killy's fist, now stuck in the concrete wall. As he does, a trash can flies into the bank through the already broken glass window. Nino Man looks back, shouting "DAMMIT," as it strikes Killy in the back.
"You know what, I'll say this much," Daimian started as he emerged from the shards of glass he had created, standing tall in his new suit. An official looking mask, with semi-circle eyes in a neutral scowl and an improved recreation of the design Daimian had attempted to cut with his original mask, all adorned with a black base and white features. The torso itself had a black base, with a shape similar to that of a symmetrical shark tooth coming down from the collarbones with a white belt that sported a circular device on the center with what can be described as a skirt hovering a little over his thighs, covering the tight white pants over his legs. Daimian clicked his black boots together and clapped his white gloves together as he approached the two standing across from him. "I think I'm officially ready to kick some ass in this city."
Nino Man dusted himself off while he looked Daimian in his lensed eyes. "So you're fine with," he waved his hand up and down with a hint of confusion, "this?"
"You know, it's kind of loose, but it's really nice. Breathes pretty well, too."
"Yeah, I kind of had to guess the cup size."
"What?"
"What?"
"Wait, where'd he go?" Daimian looked around the bank without a sign of Killy anywhere inside the building.
"In that truck!" Nino Man pointed behind Daimian, who turned his head back. In front of them they could see Killy crawling to a navy blue pick-up truck just across the street. After looking at each other, they raced over to it as Killy struggled to get in the driver's seat, revving it with the key a couple times.
Nino Man hopped in the bed of the truck as Daimian went to try and stop Killy more directly. Trying to get the door open, Daimian gets pushed off of it as Killy rips it off and throws it back through the bank's window. As this happens, Nino Man punches the back window, causing Killy to get cut all over his body with small shards of glass.
As Daimian got back to his feet and started heading to the driver's side, Killy kicked open the passenger door in a panic. "Obscurity, pin him down," Nino Man barked as Killy attempted an escape. Daimian charged after the large man with Nino Man close behind him. After jumping into the air and gripping around his neck, Daimian pulled Killy to the concrete sidewalk.
"Got it, Nino," Daimian exclaimed, struggling to contain Killy in his grip. As he wrestled the large criminal, Nino Man pulled a small, rectangular device from the sleeve of his suit.
"Hold him steady," Nino Man shouted as he punched Killy back. With no warning, he sends a massive shock through Killy and Daimian. Wincing in pain, Daimian looks over at the man who staged everything to do with the cafe incident, seeing him in genuine pain as he screamed for help.
Feeling fuzzy himself, he drops to the pavement with Killy, rubbing his head a bit as he looked up at Nino Man, slightly shrugging at the man who helped take down Killy.
"Oops."
Nino Man watched Daimian struggled to stand before pointing at the truck. While looking down at Killy's unconscious body, Nino Man tells Daimian, "Alright, go put him in the truck so we can take him back to my base."
Daimian started to look around in worry. "But what if-"
"It's probably his truck." Nino Man threw his hands in the air while he looked into Daimian's eyes agitated. "I don't know, just put him in there and we'll figure out the rest as we go." Daimian hesitated before Nino Man brushed his hands towards the truck. "GO!"
Daimian started to drag Killy's bulky body to the back of the truck bed as Nino Man stepped into the driver's seat, throwing the door with the man with metal gloves. Entering the car, Daimian was greeted by Nino Man holding a strip of cloth in his right hand. "Put this on."
"Why d-"
"Do you want to go to my base or not?!"
"Okay, jeez," Daimian sighed, putting on the blindfold offered to him as he hears Nino Man crank up the truck. The two sit in silence as they stare off into the crowded road, Nino Man trying to drive away from the people surrounding him, even shouting at them to get out of his way. After a few turns through downtown, Daimian pulled out a small cassette player. "Wanna listen to some music while we ride?"
"Sure," Nino Man said as he gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes. He looked down as Daimian pushed the play button and the cassette fumbled a bit before it played it's weary song.
"~just a man with a will to survive~"
Before the song could even properly begin, Nino Man turned into a vacant parking lot with a large, plain building right beside it. "Oh look, we're here." The two get out of the car after Daimian paused his cassette player, moving swiftly to the back of the truck. With the blindfold still on, he was ordered to drag Killy out of the bed of the truck as Nino Man directed him toward the door of a building.
"A little to the left," Nino Man told Daimian, who hit Killy's head against the door frame. After a few minutes, Daimian is able to bring Killy into the seemingly empty building, with only the light hum of an air conditioning unit to keep the three company. He felt a plush carpet at his feet and the scent of mint in the air that only confused him more. At the end of the hallway, Nino Man stopped him from going any further. "Okay, we should be coming up on some stairs in a bit."
"Is the blindfold really ne-"
"YES!"
Daimian shook his head as Nino Man continued to direct him through the hallway. Moving through the staircase, he could feel Killy's head being bumped by every step they took, fearing that he might wake up and choke him to death. Walking along the hallway of a higher floor, the three finally arrived at a door that Nino Man started to open. "We just need to go through this door and we'll be in my office."
As they silently entered the room, Nino Man pointed out a place for Daimian to put Killy. "There's a couch to your left. Just put him there and let me deal with him later. After that, you can take the blindfold off.
Daimian shuffled around, trying his best to put Killy on the couch. Even after feeling around, it still took him a few tries to get the big man on the plush cushions. Once he did, he grabbed the ends of the cloth and untied the thin blindfold. "Woah-" he looked in amazement at the room he found himself standing in.
The wooded walls of the supposed office looked freshly polished, several items hanging off of the walls. To his right, Daimian saw a massive flat screen television that sat above an ivory coffee table and cabinet set with touches of silver. The mostly warm tones of the carpet and cloth fixtures made a nice contrast with the dark wood used for the walls. In the back of the room lay a desk set in front of a window with golden curtains that only brightened the room.
"Nice place you got here, man." Daimian spun around in total astonishment. "So lavish, so crisp. I haven't seen a thing like this anywhere else in town."
"Yeah. I know it is, I pretty much live here," Nino Man tonelessly added, looking down at Killy as Daimian continued to walk around. Taking off Killy's gloves, Nino Man sat by the couch with a blank stare as he unclipped the massive gauntlets from Killy's rough hands.
"You gotta be really rich if this is where you're livin', huh."
Nino Man shrugged. "Eh, I've been in better places than this, believe me." After he finished, he managed to get the gloves to click open and took them off of Killy's fists. Picking them up with each hand, Nino Man looks down as Daimian came up to him.
"So what are you gonna do with these things exactly," he asked, pointing at them.
"Store them," Nino Man quickly responded. "These gloves give their users incredible strength. Enough to lift a car over their head, or at least a little European cube one." He looked down at the unconscious body on his couch. "Killy's been using these for his selfish crimes and other purposes I can't even imagine. But with these gauntlets gone, his power should be gone too. I'm sure glad you were there with me to take him down."
Nino Man walked back to the door of the office while Daimian followed behind curiously. "But just in case, I need you to stand guard in case he wakes up. I don't want him trying to get these things back and messing shit up again."
"You got it, Nino Man," Daimian said as his partner closed the door. Turning back, he looked the room over once more, focusing mostly on the desk. He noticed a gaming computer that was flashing it's rainbow lights through the crevices. "Well, I suppose when you can afford it," Daimian shrugged as he investigated the desk further. He looked down at a little gold plaque that said 'Nino Man' on it in bold letters.
"I guess I never truly asked Nino about his name, I just kind of got it off of the news." Daimian kept staring at the name. "Kind of weird since Nino in Spa-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Daimian heard a weak groan come from behind him. He started to turn around in a cold sweat, nervously peeking over his shoulder as he did, hearing rustling by the couch.
Flomp
Sitting there on the floor behind him was Killy with his goggles off. His eye was still scarred from the fight at the graduation party, though it seemed to be decently healed. The rest of his body was covered in bruises and cuts from the pieces of glass he was hit with not even half an hour earlier.
"GHAH!" Seeing him caused Daimian to jump, knocking some things off of Nino Man's desk. Before it fell to the ground, Daimian managed to catch the monitor of the computer. "Woop! Close one." After he set the monitor back on the desk, he noticed Killy struggling on the floor.
Mumbling, Killy rammed into the coffee table, making a remote fall onto the fuzzy carpet below. He aimed his head toward the remote, trying to bring attention to it. Daimian nervously chuckled as he pointed down at the remote. "What, you wanna watch some TV?"
Mumbling, Killy nodded as Daimian picked up the remote. Turning it on, he saw the television fizz into news coverage of what happened moments earlier. Daimian sits on the couch and looked up at the massive screen with Killy at his feet. The anchor on the screen seemed to have live footage of the bank, reporting the news next to it.
"Just an hour ago, the local authorities reported another sign of these 'Killy robberies' our city has been experiencing these past few months now. It's said that Nino Man and his supposed sidekick 'Obscurity' took him after beating him unconscious just across the street from the bank downtown. They also have taken the truck that belonged to the criminal. We go live to the scene where Nino Man makes a quick statement on the recent attack."
"Huh," Daimian tilted his head in confusion as the reporter goes to the scene. "But he was just here..."
"Well, the police and I are currently interrogating this guy to understand his motives. Why he's doing what he's doing, really," Nino Man said to the reporter next to him. "We haven't gotten much, but we're pushing for results within the next few days."
Daimian, still confused, looked down at Killy.
"On that note, I should be going in order to settle this soon. Nino Man signing off."
"Wai-" Daimian used the remote to turn the screen off, still looking down at Killy. "But Killy's here. How does- Wh-" He looked to his left at the sound of paper falling back at Nino Man's desk. "Stay here," Daimian said, pointing down at Killy still stuck crawling on the floor with his hands tied.
Daimian bended down to pick up and read some of the papers on the carpeted floor.
"Day One, Pawn Shop Plan, Gauntlet Designs..." Each page featured detailed blueprints of the various locations mentioned, including Dan's cafe, the Pawn Shop, the building Daimian lived in. With harsh eyes, Daimian flipped to one particular page and started reading it. "The Obscurity Suit." he skimmed through the notes, only reading a few parts out loud. "Bomb fail-safe placed in belt if need be," he quoted, looking down at the circular device on his belt.
He looked back at Killy in worry before looking back at the stack of papers. In it, he noticed one hanging out behind the rest and placed it in the front. "The July Plan." Before reading, he looked down at Killy, now trying to crawl back onto the couch. "Did- did you know about this, Killy?" The large man shook his head, trying to mumble some words that Daimian didn't seem to understand. Rubbing his eyes, he looked back at the stack at the July Plan for more details.
"Oh ho ho..."
The door of the office creaked open as Nino Man approached from the dimly lit hallway. Standing in the door frame, he looked over at Daimian, who froze in place when he heard the chilling voice.
"I would put those down if I were you, Obscurity..."