Requiem of the Broken

Chapter 7: The Card

Ochako yawned as she stood atop an apartment complex as she looked over the streets below her. She, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu had been doing a sweeping patrol of the city areas that bordered the ruined sectors. It had been five hours since then and they were near the end of their sweep.

In those five hours, they had surprisingly, not found any sort of commotion happening. It really did look like tonight was going to be trouble-free. This wasn't unheard of course, there were nights where nothing happened, and the heroes out on patrol just ended up missing sleep as a result. This time though, it felt different. Ochako couldn't say how, but the night just felt tense, like the calm before a storm. The only question was, when would the storm hit?

Ochako alighted silently onto a roof and crouched down on the edge of the building. She looked about the area and saw nothing but empty streets and the odd flickering street light. Being on the edge of the ruined sectors, this part of town didn't have a lot of permanent residents, unless you counted the rats and the homeless. For the most part, these areas were just riddled with bolt holes for criminal elements. Rooting them all out was infeasible, so the city had settled for slowly pushing them out as they cleared rubble and rebuilt portions. It would take years, but it would work.

She sighed, stretched, and yawned again. She hadn't been out this long in awhile and her body just wasn't as used to it as it once had been.

She did a few more inspections in the general area before heading to the next spot on her route. She could see the other two from time to time as they went about doing the same. They made sure to stay close enough that any one of them would know roughly where another person was at all times in the event of an ambush or larger commotion. They also all carried flare guns on them to help ensure they could summon aid from another should they be unable to escape from a situation they may have found themselves in.

After another careful survey, Ochako was about to head off to another area to scout out when she heard the sound of something very loud being knocked over nearby. Likely some animal knocking over recycling or garbage in an attempt to get food, but she had to check it out regardless. She flew over the rooftops until she came to the roof of the building that overlooked the alley she guessed the sound had come from. She looked over the edge and saw trash and other debris scattered all throughout the alleyway. The mess painted a trail leading out the alleyway to her left. She felt, more than knew, that something was wrong, and dashed along the roof following the trail from the rooftops. Eventually, she could hear cries and coming from nearby and eventually came across an end to the trail leading into an alleyway that had a dead-end at the end of it.

She jumped across the alleyway onto the next roof over and glided along with it until she came to the roof edge that overlooked the alleyway the noise was coming from. She slowed down right before the edge and looked over the edge into the alleyway.

Ryū Sasakura liked to think of himself as being in good shape for his age. Unfortunately, tonight showed him just how much age had dulled his once finely honed body. He had been running for the past several minutes and could feel the onset of fatigue. He'd been causing as much noise as possible along the way in hopes someone like a passing hero or police car would hear it and investigate the noise. Unfortunately, he seemed to have just missed them all. He cursed age and his aging body as he wheezed.

He turned a corner in the alleyway and stopped as he ran straight into a dead-end, with only the wall of another apartment complex to greet him. Stopping though, proved too much for him and he stumbled forward until he braced himself on the wall and turned around. his legs didn't want to run anymore and he couldn't run any further. He'd have to stand his ground and try to fight.

"Well, well, well, finally caught between a rock and a hard place, eh gramps?" Said a voice from the corner.

A figure in ratty jeans, worn t-shirt covered by an equally worn leather jacket, and greasy and matted hair that hung down to his shoulders, flanked by two other disheveled and equally rough-looking thugs walked slowly down the alleyway panting slightly.