Chapter 25 - What are you doing here?

POV: Leo

I was currently seated in front of Mr. Chad Murphy. A very enraged, disgruntled and anxious Mr. Chad Murphy. To bring everyone up to speed, this interaction was set the day after our meeting. It was 9pm and no one was in The Hane Group's building, except us two. Not even the CEO, which was shocking considering what had occurred throughout the day. Basically at 8am, where there had been an anonymous leak of Mr. Murphy's... endeavours and misdeeds. Kind of like what happened to Borris 7 months ago. I wonder if it's the doing of the same person...

Anyway, the information that was released out to the public was hard and factual evidence to back up the rumours Nero had mentioned yesterday as well as victim and witness testimonies against him. So you could say that the company had quite the eventful day. Reporters and paparazzi trying to get an exclusive interview with the man or any sort of statement. Staff members trying to kick them out and get back to their usual jobs. The internet was blowing up with the information for the entire day. Almost 95% of web users were against him with Twitter absolutely destroying him. The other 5% were defending him, saying that all the leaked information was fabricated and misinformation. Those 5% were most likely important business partners or employees who were undercover and trying to save face.

When the news had come out, I was in a state of shock but not because of Chad's past but rather due to the interesting coincidence of Nero putting the notion into my head the day before the shit went down. I had done some research about Chad after the meeting, for precaution's sake, however, there was nothing found so I assumed it to be baseless speculation. The timing of everything put a lot of suspicion on Nero and I was seriously considering him to be indeed dodgy. I would not be gobsmacked if he was some sort of underground information dealer. But that was an issue for another day. I had a certain vice-president to interrogate. Well... continue to interrogate. I'd already sat there and asked him to tell me everything from his point of view.

All I got back was a denial of every allegation. By the time he finished, I had knitted eyebrows and a sour look on my face. Neither of us said anything for a while and finally, I broke the silent tension. "I do hope you don't mind but I'm going to be talking quite informal from this point on."

Chad nodded to confirm it's fine. I added on,

"Chad... I really don't appreciate being lied to. There is hard evidence against you all over the internet. Your bloody face and features can clearly be seen in the security footages."

"I told you already! It's all fabricated! Someone dressed up like me and framed me!"

"Ok... why?"

The question dumbfounded him and he was lost for words for a second before stuttering out from the other side of the desk, "W-What?"

"You're saying that someone is going around dressing up as you and defaming your name. My question is why are they doing that? You're not even a social influencer. Just a simple businessman, no?"

The question seemed to unhinge him further and you could see him sweat a lot more on his face. He stammered out, "I-I-I don't know?! It is just some internet troll going after me. It's probably that cancel culture bullshit that this generation keeps going on about. Dragging every famous people through the mud!"

I contemplate on his reasoning. "Hmm... while I don't necessarily agree with cancel culture and don't follow its methodology, I know for a fact that that's not exactly how it works. Cancel culture target is digging up dirt on someone first and then blowing it out of proportion. My point is though, they first find the dirt. Now you're saying that it's some troll or the cancel culture kids who are orchestrating all this. That would mean there is dirt behind your name that they've found and now are blowing it out of proportion... right?"

"YES!"

"But you just told me you're innocent and don't actually have any scandals for the trolls to work off. You just contradicted yourself."

The prat being caught out, began sweating even more and there was fear behind his dilated eyes. Time to intimidate him some more. I leant in so my left elbow was on the desk in front of me. I put up my index finger and all of Chad's attention was on the finger. I mutter a quick "Flamme" so there was a small flame dancing on the tips of my finger. Chad's eyes widened further and holding onto his chair's arms with a vice grip, to stop any upcoming tremors from within his body.

I gave him a very dark look of vexation. "And it's not like the accusations against you is anything minor. It's for sexual harassment against women. It's already against my own policy to work with someone who has a bad background and you apparently have one of the worst. I just want to let you know that lies lower your words' credibility quite drastically. And I did just say... I cannot tolerate people who lie to me. So I'll ask you once more in a peaceful manner, whether or not any of these claims released this morning is true. If I am to find out that you're still fibbing to me, the peace treaty is gone and I will painfully extract the truth from you. I'm not tolerant of this shit."

Chad looked gobsmacked, scared, angry and ready to fight, all at the same time. His words, on the other hand, didn't show much confidence when he floundered out his response. "I- well- I- you can't- it's just that- maybe-"

"Actually before you answer that, has a random bloke come to meet you last night and try to expose your deeds or something along the lines of that?"

"Huh? What? No? Wait do you know who it is?"

"Oh. Well never mind then." Is it not him then? "Carry on then. Give me an explanation of some sort."

"But wait! You didn't answer-"

Before Murphy could get out the statement, the windows to the left of us shattered inwards and a black figure flew in, landing gracefully onto the carpet. I burnt off any flying glass shards that came my way or Murphy's way (who was shielding himself with his chair. How he did that so fast, I had no idea).

"Oh my. I didn't expect an audience tonight." said the newly introduced, autotuned voice. The man was clearly wearing some sort of voice changer.

The man standing in front of the waxing gibbous moonlight had some familiar set of wings, made up of evil magic. It was emitting a consistent amount of evil energy and it felt intimidating. My vision moved to the man's right side of his neck as an intricate tattoo-like seal caught my attention. It dissolved down the boy's arm, covering it with his magic. The magic also went to his face and covered the left side of his face. The magic created patterns like in swirls and waves which reached up to his nose (A/N: Asta from Black Clover is the reference in his anti mode). They look liked face tattoos more than anything and it was surprisingly bewitching. Except I couldn't see the bottom half of the tattoo because he was wearing a normal black, medical face mask. No fake face this time? Wonder why... How intriguing indeed. When my eyes made contact with the oddly paired red and black eyes, they dilated in recognition and an involuntary smile crept up on my face.

It's Mr. Mystery man from 7 months ago and what do you know? He's wearing the same One Piece trousers but this time, it's matched with a plain, white tank top. My hypothesis of him rolling out bed and coming here might actually be true.

♤♧♡♢

POV: Nerovsky

"Aiden for the last time. I'm not going to back out. Hell, it's too late to back out." Flying was one of my favourite hobbies. The wind rushing past you, pushing you upwards, pushing you downwards, moving with you, moving against you. It made you feel weightless and free. The air was so much fresher above the tall buildings and the view was always breathtaking. I'd probably be always flying if the Oddity cops weren't such a bitch. However, there were times when flying could be a pain. Like when you were under time pressure or when you have your best friend screaming at you through the phone. He had good intentions but man, you had no idea how much I wanted to stuff a sock in his mouth.

"Nero, din jävla idiot."

"Stop busting out the Swedish. I can't understand it but I know you're swearing at me. Just do it in English with some Irish accent. You're half Irish as well."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"BITCH, YOU'RE DOING THE SAME THING!"

"HÅLL KÄFTEN! YOU'RE FLYING TO THE MAN WHO MADE YOU RELIVE YOUR TRAUMA AND CAUSE YOU A PANIC ATTACK! GET YOUR ASS BACK HOME RIGHT NOW. YOU PROMISED THAT YOU WOULDN'T GO AFTER HIM IF I RELEASED THE DIRT! THAT'S WHY I DIDN'T EVEN PREPARE A STUPID MASK FOR YOU. IT SHOULD'VE HINDERED YOUR PLANS!"

"I made no promises. I said I wouldn't do it very convincingly and then I lied and went out anyway. Also, I don't need a mask anyway. It's riskier yes but I lowkey don't care at this point."

"I hate you and I'm going to stop talking to you for a week. I'm going to look for a new best friend who actually appreciates my concern"

"That's a lie and you know it. You're going to call me back the next morning. You love me too much."

"... yeah you right but that doesn't change the fact that I'm pissed at you."

"Yes, I know. And for your information, I do appreciate your concern. I really do. But I can't really be a secret justice vigilante if I have my personal issues holding me back. I gotta man up you know. Also, I'm on meds so might as well get this shit done before the timer runs out."

"Yes but..."

"Oh look I see the destination. Time for me to crash through the window. Talk soon."

"...*sigh* fine whatever. Stay save Nero. If anything happens like another panic attack, remember to use the emergency button. Or call Leo. That seemed to work very effectively last time." The smugness was seeping out of the earpiece.

"Shut the fuck up, Assden. Bye."

"Remember. Don't kill him. No matter what. I mean it." The call ended after that statement.

I put the phone away in my pockets (which had zippers. Main reason why I wore them everywhere) and flew to the floor where the target resided. Without stopping, I crashed through the windows and as I was about to land, I saw orange light flash a couple of times. Once I landed, it registered that there wasn't one occupant in the room, but rather two. I didn't actually figure out who it was at first but none the less, I have fun with the idea of another participant.

"Oh my. I didn't expect an audience tonight."

Finally, after studying the man, my immediate thought was Oh shit. It's followed by wow he looks good. Wait not the point. What the fuck is he doing here? Do you know how embarrassing this is? I even told him I won't ever see him again. Well, not in this form at least... great now he's observing me and I'm doing nothing. Nero stop enjoying this attention. It's creepy... oh my god we made eye contact and he's SMILING AT ME?! WHY IS HE SMILING AT ME? Ok never mind. It's because he recognises me. Smug bastard. Well, might as well acknowledge his existence first.

"Oh, it's you, Leooooooonardo Covell. (Fuck I nearly called him Leo. That was too much of a close call.). What are you doing here?"

Leo gave me that classic peculiar look, eyebrows up and smug smirk switch turned on. "And it's you, Mr. Mysteeeerrryyyy man. I could be asking you the same question. In fact, I'm pretty sure you're the unexpected, uninvited guest."

That garnered a laugh out of me. Why does he have to have a sense of humour? I was fine just thinking he was HOT. Not thinking that he was a great guy and falling for him. I swear to god if I end up in love with him, I'm committing. "Touché. But in my eyes, you're the unexpected one. I just wanted some 1 on 1 time with Mr. Chad Murphy over there. It'll be quick."

Said man finally got away from behind the chair and was attempting to give me a mean look but failing tremendously, no thanks to his shaky demeanour and blatant fear in his eyes. Leo didn't seem to care and went on.

"Actually, before you try to do anything. I have an important question that needs answering."

"Considering how you didn't answer my own question, I don't really want to answer myself... but what?" This time, it was my turn to give him a strange look. I haven't talked to you like this in like 7 months...

"You said something about never seeing each other again. Yet here we are. Isn't that a tad bit embarrassing?" The motherfucker snickered. Oh yeah. I initially found this fucker annoying, didn't I? God, you really get to see different sides of people when you play dress up.

I rolled my eyes and then defensively replied, "Shut up. I said I hope we don't see each other again. Clearly, God hates me. He's been against me lately. Probably got to do with who's residing within me but I'm gonna instead believe it's because past-life me did something to piss off the guy."

"Oh? What resides within you? Does it have to do with your power?"

I gave him a dull look and evade the question, "That's not important nor is it any of your business." I go back to an informative tone. "I'm currently here on a mission and if you don't mind, I would like to get back to it?"

"Oh right. Yeah sure, do whatever."

"Great. The following events that are going to occur might be uncomfortable for certain individuals or might anger others. You know, the ones who have good morals or something. If you're one of them, please feel free to leave the room." Please leave the room.

Leo looked at me thoughtfully before he shrugged and leaned back in the leather chair. "Nah. I think I'll stay. I'm interested in what's going to happen."

I gave another eye roll, exhaled loudly and then stated monotonously, "Well don't say I didn't warn ya. If you're staying, you're not allowed to interfere under any circumstances. Any attempts to do so will result in me personally restraining you and then throwing you out of the room, through the broken window, Capiche?"

Leo half-hearted raised his arms in defeat. "You got it, boss."

"Mr. Covell!" And he speaks! I ignored Murphy's outburst to banter a bit more with my boss.

"Funny coming from you."

"I know. I'm hilarious."

If eyes could roll back any further, I would be looking at the back of my head. At last, I was able to focus my attention on the other man in the room. With a sinister smile, I simply declared,

"Well then. Shall we get started? Well, it's more shall we finish this."