Dion scoffed at Eiji’s rebuttal, but he was satisfied the kid at least had a backbone. If he’d gotten spooked off or submissive, he wouldn’t have been worth working with.

”You’ve done right by me once, Ghouligan. Seems the lot you’ve gathered are competent…more or less. Fine, I’m in.”

He’d push off from the wall he was leaning on and approach the smaller lady, Jaida.

”I’ll lend you a hand. Know the city well, know how to move around unnoticed. Shouldn’t be too difficult to get that set up.”

The tiger vigilante’s eyes scanned everyone present. Ronin and Ghouligan stood out the most by far- they seemed competent and knew their roles, but none of them were lacking in terms of value. Warper seemed to have a hold on the technology side of things alongside Gadget, and G was somewhat familiar with the Enki system. Hell, even the noisy kid had the guts to backup his vigilante namesake. Dion would never admit it out loud, but he did feel a little more at ease knowing they had such a strong lineup of candidates.

”One more rule I want to propose. This is a network, not a team, but any given link could be compromised. The less we know about each other the better, and the tighter our circle moreso. Let’s make an agreement now- nobody gets added without being vetted by at least three people. Sound good?”

Dion limped down from the deceased monster’s skull, dragging himself towards the young woman who’d taken that blast.

”You surprised the hell out of me back there.” he nodded towards Jaida— the closest thing to praise that Dion could manage. ”Both of you can follow me. There’s a club nearby— should be empty right now. We can rest there for a second and figure out a plan.”

With his piece said, he’d offer a shoulder to Ghouligan and Jaida if either needed assistance. His movements were much slower than they had been during the fight as he led them both into a series of back alleys, sirens blaring in the background.

It was only fifteen minutes or so of stealthy and belabored walking before they’d arrived at a rusty backdoor with a keypad. Dion tapped in a few numbers and scoffed when the keypad gave an affirmative buzz, the door unlocking. ”Can’t believe those dumb motherfuckers still haven’t changed it.”

---

Dion had managed to find a first aid kit and the three were able to tend to their wounds, cleaning themselves up. Thankfully it seemed like they’d been light on physical injuries, though mentally…

It wasn’t difficult for the tiger vigilante to see how they were struggling. Hell, even he was feeling a little sentimental about it all, given their history together.

”His name was Ryuu.” Dion spoke, eyes cast to the ground. ”We grew up together in the same orphanage. He was a few years younger than me. Wasn’t always so dangerous, when he was younger, y’know. Good kid, just got caught up with a bad crowd. One day he walked out and no one ever thought to look for him. One less mouth to feed.”


Dion gripped his cloak. ”Never found him, but I heard what happened. Got caught up with a gang, got addicted to opioids, never really came back. I was hoping he’d make a change after the heroes caught him a couple weeks back. I kept watch over him…wanted to stop him before he slipped up again. I was hoping he’d turn things around.” he shrugged.

”Don’t feel bad. Only other bastards like me will even notice he’s gone. We did what was necessary to keep people safe.”

It was about as soft of a speech as anyone could expect from a cold-hearted, calculating vigilante, but there were flashes of it in his expression. Flashes of pain and sorrow.

The silhouetted man was right. There wasn't time to be upset when there were still lives in danger.

There was the matter of how long he could hold up, too. Dion possessed immense speed and power, but his stamina was limited. This is why he usually tracked down and stalked his prey until the perfect opportunity arose. In a battle of attrition, he couldn't hold out very long.

Panting for breath, he started bounding towards the head. As the smoke began to clear, he saw her there. Injured but still alive.

A sharp-toothed grin spread across his face. "Glad to see you can take a hit, Tiny!"

With the other fellow having locked the beast in place with a pool-ball collar, it was up to Dion to finish the job.

He leapt into the air right as he reached the creature's head, and came down hard. Claws sliced deep into the creature's skull, cutting its brain to ribbons.

The dragon sputtered and groaned, but it only took a few seconds for the life to fully leave its eyes. It fell to the ground below, destroying the stretch of road where it landed.

Dion obeyed his strange new comrades, retracting his claws and allowing himself to land in a three-point stance on top of the platform.

“Oh that’s fucking tasty. I like your style, pool boy.”

He readied himself in the air for that next big jump, trying to land a killing blow on Ryuu’s head- but the dragon was too large and moving too quickly. Clicking his tongue, he instead opted to leap onto its back once more, making his way towards the head as fast as he could, traveling on all fours.

Something crazy? “What are you-”

Before the tiger vigilante had a chance to question the little twink’s actions, she’d already jumped into the thick of it. Another childish insult that didn’t seem to do more than agitate the beast with her screaming- but what really got its attention was the twenty-one gigawatt jawbreaker she slammed down its throat.

Smoke poured out from its nostrils, but whatever she’d done had riled him up more than ever. The creature’s body vibrated with fury, letting out a piercing cry accompanied by the sound of death and lightning.

A blue column of electricity erupted from its throat directly at Jaida, blasting through her and several blocks further past. Parked cars buckled, their windows shattering, tires popping, alarms going haywire. Street lamps cracked and flickered. The sheer force even started to rip up pieces of the street along with it.

”Tiny!” Dion shouted, but his voice could barely be heard over the thunderous force. The blast only lasted a few seconds, but the devastation was so great that large clouds of smoke still clung over where it had been moments before. There was no doubt a gruesome sight awaiting him once it all cleared away.

”If only I’d been fucking faster…”

The rock didn’t even dent the beast’s scales, but it did provide the most minor bit of stimuli.

A direction for it to focus on.

The creature’s long form slithered through the air, its back half arched up while its front half came dangerously close to where Jaida was located. Smoke came pouring forth from its nostrils, a hot haze that felt and sounded almost like steam as it escaped his body. It tried to lock eyes with the disturbance, but already the vigilante was on the move, bobbing and weaving as she tried to pull its focus further away.

The thing once known as Ryuu howled with bestial fury as it rapidly moved its body in a serpentine form, just barely levitating along the ground as it raced towards her.

---

It was a shame it had come to this.

Dion had known Ryuu- they’d gone to the same orphanage, after all. The kid was scrawny growing up, and didn’t really have any friends- the submissive sort that was easily pressured by others. His power had come out a few times when they still lived together, but Ryuu had only been a child then- and his quirk had still been weak enough that Dion could keep him in check before he caused any real damage.

Ryuu had probably been twelve or so when Dion last saw him. Apparently he’d gotten caught up with some shady people. One day, he simply left and never came back.

Nobody had cared enough to look for him.

Ever since he’d gone ballistic over two weeks ago, Dion had been keeping an eye on the rehab center. He wanted Ryuu’s second chance to workout- to see the man overcome his addiction and grow as a person.

Unfortunately, he’d lost control once more. Already he’d killed and injured dozens, and would probably continue to cause chaos until he was put down for good.

”I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.” He muttered quietly under his breath.

He’d been watching over the place from the rooftop of one of the nearby buildings, keeping his eyes open for an opportunity to strike.

Ryuu was massive now that he was older and further gone mentally, but Dion possessed amazing speed and strength. All he needed was the right opportunity to make the perfect strike- a clean stab through the head- and Ryuu would be done for.

His claws popped out from between his knuckles, like blades being unsheathed. Before he could get an opportunity to make his killshot, however, it seemed someone else had gotten involved.

The woman was wearing some kind of high-tech armor. Dion was intimately familiar with the heroes in Tokyo, and knew for a fact she wasn’t one of them. Not unless she was brand new, anyways- but then she wouldn’t be out here all alone.

The scrawny woman had struck at Ryuu despite the difference in size. It hadn’t done any damage really, but it was clear what she was trying to do: drag him away from people. Making sure nobody else got hurt. Knowing this, the tiger vigilante had no choice but to act.

Damn it…!

—--

With a great leap, Dion pounced from the rooftop, silhouetted by moonlight as he came plummeting down with his claws. With great violence, they tore some of the beast’s scales clean off, rending flesh. Blood leaked from the open wounds, trickling down its side.

The creature screamed in pain, its body writhing at high speed as Dion clung to its back for his life. He’d definitely succeeded in hurting it, but a creature of this size wouldn’t die from blood loss with a small wound like this. Still, he couldn’t let the damn woman die. He was on a timer- he could only fight for so long, and the dragon was aware of his presence now. Everything would be decided in a matter of minutes.

He cast his gaze downwards- yellow, cat-like eyes locking with her visor. ”Run or fight! There’s no time for half-assed measures!” He shouted down at her, struggling to raise his voice above the beast’s screams.