Chapter 47 - So, what do you wanna know?

Previously:

"Dammit, I still don't know the motive though."

Erwin gave out a fake cough to get attention (which works) before stating, "uh, yeah. I might be able to answer that actually."

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POV: Nero

"*sigh* Alright, hit me. What's the motive?" I was so done.

"You want the long or short story." Erwin's tone was surprisingly... normal. He stuffed his hands in his pocket and his entire stance was completely relaxed. It's as if he didn't experience a bombing and discovered that his best friend's employee happened to be the midnight vigilante that the cops were after.

"Please, have mercy on me and give me the short one."

My plea garnered a chuckle out and he went on to explain, "well long story short, Rothwell had a huge thing for Nori, he proposed to her, she rejected him but said we can still be friends–"

"Ouch."

"–he went crazy and bit insane and began threatening her under a pseudonym. She never knew nor found out, until now. I guess his motive is along the lines of 'if I can't have her, no one can' or 'I will destroy everyone she loves'... that's at least how I see it."

"Hmm... you're probably not far off. But your explanation poses the next question, how did you know about him secretly threatening her?"

"*shrug* I accidentally found out. Don't remember how but it wasn't my problem so I didn't do anything about it. I thought it was just empty threats of a heartbroken friend. Clearly, I thought wrong."

"Yeah... you did. Don't blame you though. On to more pressing matters though. One, don't tell Leo about me or Aiden, two, don't snitch to the police and three, help me get these people out of here safely. I'd do it myself but it'd just end up with me being discovered by the police and it's much safer if you create a portal at the parking lot."

It went quiet for a moment as Erwin studied me with a blank expression, which soon turned into a mischievous smirk. "Oh yeah, sure. I can help the attendees out of here, however, I have no obligation to keep silent about you and your identity. In fact, I'm pretty sure there is a hefty reward if I hand you two in."

Although my façade was cool, I'm panicking inside and completely losing it. I had no idea how to deal with the situation so I did the first thing that comes to mind, which was beg. "You're made out of money! You don't need more! Please, don't tell anyone about this. I mean it. This entire... thing is important to us and losing it just like that... I can't. I beg of you is sheer desperation." Yep, definitely one of my lowest points in life.

He studied me further before saying something unexpected. "Hmm, fine. I'll meet your demands. I won't tell Leo or the police. Maybe"

"What, really? Wait, maybe?" Well that was easier than expec–

"There is a condition..."

"Of course there's a condition," I mumbled under my breath. "What's the condition?"

"You tell me everything."

"Everything?"

"How you guys started, why you started and your methodologies behind your... visits. And you tell tonight. After then shall I decide whether to hand you over or not. We got ourselves a deal?"

"I- is there no other conditions or another way? That will ensure your silence?"

"Nope."

Time was running out. If I stayed here any longer, law reinforcements were going to manage to clear up the debris and I'm exposed. Welp, I'd have to take what I can get. "Yeah, ok fine. Just, do it fast, please. The incompetent fools are going to show up and all this talk would be for nothing."

"Incompetent fools?"

"The cops. Now hurry!"

Erwin gave a hearty laugh. "Portail, parking indigo." It was clearly in a French accent, so portail was French for portal. Anyway, a white rectangle formed that was about two metres long and wide enough for two people. The guests around us were looking at him in awe but the stares doesn't faze him as he instructs them to go through the portal. "Go through here and you'll be brought out to the parking lot, which is hopefully safe. I'm pretty sure it's fine. And do go in quickly. Keeping this up drains a lot of energy."

People were frozen for a couple of seconds before some kids excitedly jumped up and sprinted through. The mother screamed in worry and chased after him. No one made a move, terrified that the two had actually been sent to hell but the mother popped her head back into the room again and announced, "It's safe everyone. I'm in the parking lot and there are police cars and ambulances everywhere."

This was the cue that everyone needed as people began rushing towards the exit. Relief washed over me as I watch people go through in twos, excitedly chatting away about the portal or how they got to go home. A couple of people were talking to Fonzo when they got closer to the portal but he politely shut them down, stating how he needed to concentrate to keep the portal up. Which was utter bullshit because he just created a portal without any movements of limbs. He just said it and it popped up out of thin air. He had mad control over his power. He couldn't fool me.

Once the last couple passed through, I told Erwin to immediately close the gateway to prevent any authority figures from entering, which left just us two. Awkward silence passed by, so I decided to break it by asking, "There's a diner nearby that sells mad milkshakes. Want to do the talking there?"

"Sure, what's the name of the place? I'll create a gateway nearby to help for a clean escape."

"Pfft, sure. It's Betty's shack."

"I think I've been at the bar opposite of that so I'll just take us to the alleyway there."

"Great, can we go now? I think I feel the cops near the edge of the force field."

With a nod, he created another gateway and I quickly sent a text to Aiden on where to meet us before entering the white light. Hopefully, none of the shit on top of the shield crushed the police as it falls down or that'll be a one hell of a political mess and I wanted to sleep.

♤♧♡♢

Well, this was awkward. When we arrived at the diner, Aiden was already sitting in one of the booths, angrily slurping away at his milkshake while knawing at the straw. Both of us sit silently, Erwin opposite me and Aiden. We said nothing for a full five minutes with Fonzo structinising us, Aiden looked anywhere but in front of him with a grumpy face and I looked between them, with the exhaustion finally crashing on top of me.

Due to this fact, I took the initiative to get this shit over and done with. I faced Aiden and asked, "What's got you all crabby? It's your fault." Ok so maybe I'm still salty and maybe I don't want to get it other and done with.

Aiden glared back at me. "Oh shut up. As if I knew he was going to be there."

"You would've if you just listened to me last week."

"I refuse. I had the upper hand and I was not going to let it go."

"You think not knowing my name was one-upping me?" Erwin asked in an incredulous tone.

"Yes," said Aiden seriously.

I quickly brought the conversation back on track by complaining some more to Aiden. "You also realise that we've looked him up before, right? When we were dealing with that douche from MegCorp a while back. He was part of the background check for Leo. He also opened up the gateway to Leo's place when I fainted?"

"And you think I remember everyone I research? He was completely irrelevant to the case and I just, cut him off from memory. And the time you fainted, I was kind of occupied keeping you alive to pay attention to the extras around me."

"Right, of course you cut him out." I let out a groan and thumped my head against the wood table. I thought the conversation would end there but Aiden continued adding on.

"I'm just in complete disbelief that we got caught out in the most pathetic way possible. After two years of cautiousness and perfect executions, we get caught out because we didn't know the name of an attendee."

"You didn't know the name."

"Whatever. You should've worn a mask when you entered."

"IT WASN'T A MASQUERADE BALL! That would put all the attention and suspicion on me, dipshit."

"Still should've done it. Now we're getting blackmailed because of it."

I groaned in frustration. The dumb bitch knows it's his fault. I'm not going to argue with him further.

Finally, I dealt with the crux of the problem and brought my full attention to the man in front of us, who looked very amused. My head throbbed partially due to irritation and partially due to fatigue. "Alright, I'm tired and Aiden is pissed, even though he has no right to be–"

"Hey!"

"–so ask us what you want to know and please do it quick. You have five questions."

Fonzo's left eyebrow rose in disbelief. "Are you really in any position to demand me of anything?"

"Look, I don't want us to be exposed but I'm not going to sit here and cry for my life in desperation. That's too much for my pride and I'd like to keep it intact. So either you get this over and done with or we can say bye right now and you can do whatever the fuck you want."

"Can we just, not tell him and hand ourselves in?" Aiden said this with as much irritation he could pack into his voice.

"No, because if there's a chance we cannot undo our years of hard work, we're going to take it."

"But I don't want to tell him anything."

"Stop sulking and do what I say."

Aiden grumbled some cursed under his breath, which caused an eyeroll out of me. "As I was saying, five questions or the deal is off."

The taller man sipped his coffee before saying with interest seeping out of his words, "I've never had a situation where the blackmailee sets the rules for the blackmailer."

"Cool. You in or nah? I want to go home."

"Hmm, something tells me Leo will skin me alive if he ever found out I gave you a hard time and messed with you further, so yeah, sure. Five questions."

The comment was completely out of the blue and Aiden choked on his vanilla shake, having a coughing fit mixed with laughter. My ears heated up in record breaking time and I stuttered out some gibberish before gathering myself up. More or less. "Just ask the stupid questions already." Aiden was still losing it and I had the sudden urge to punch him through the window that he happened to be leaning against.

Oddly, Erwin was looking at Aiden laughing with something along the lines of surprise and fondness but it's not clear. He's harder to read than Leo, which annoyed me because my credibility as the greatest observer was taking some serious damage. Once Aiden seemed to be composed, Erwin looked back at me and startled a bit but smoothly hid it. It seems... he didn't hear me. Interesting... I had some mercy on him and just repeated the question without any teasing. "What questions do you have for us?"

"When did you start doing what you do?" Aiden was gazing out of the window, appreciating the neon lights of the club, situated on the opposite side of the street, all while answering the question.

"I think it's been two years. Something like that."

"What do you guys do exactly? What does your... job entail?"

"Is that two questions?"

"Don't be stingy. You know that is one question."

This time I answered. "*Shrug* Long story short, we find out people who do bad things and get away with it, expose them and I give them a little visit. They usually tend to be well known because they have the funds to get away with their deeds. Anyway, Aiden is the tech guru behind everything, finding all the dirt and then releasing the dirt. He also finds out where the person is at that current point in time so I can do the visit. It can entail many things but it's usually just me either beating the shit out of them or psychologically traumatising them."

"Interesting... this five questions limit is really bothering me now. I can't even ask any follow up questions."

"Not my problem. You could've asked for more questions and we could've come to a compromisation."

"Give me ten questions."

"It's too late now."

"Damn. Onto question three I guess... why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you guys do what you do? You guys don't exactly do it out in the open, meaning you don't do it for attention and something tells me you don't get paid for your deeds so it's not for money either."

"Hmm, why indeed... That's something Aiden could probably answer better than I, since he started this entire thing to begin with. But I didn't want to do it initially. I'm only doing it for the man next to me. Also, just an FYI, we do sometimes get paid. We get the occasional anonymous clients who want us to out someone and if we find it worth handling, we'll take on the job. The compensation, in that case, is usually cash."

Erwin looked curiously at Aiden, who was still looking out into the street. He seemed completely unfazed by me dumping the question on him and sounded neutral when he answers. "We do it because who else is?"

"The police? It's literally their jobs."

Aiden scoffed. "You mean those nincompoops? 75% of the time, they're the reasons why the assholes can get away with half the shit they do. You pay 'em money, they'll immediately pretend they've been hit with Obliviate (A/N harry potter reference)."

"Still doesn't mean you have to do it. It doesn't concern you most of the time."

"You asked why and we answered why. We don't have to further justify." And with that, the line of questioning was completely shut down, all while not sparing a single glance at the questioner. Said questioner was now looking at Aiden with newfound interest and looked as if he wants to further question the man but instead, he turned back to me and asked his fourth question.

"Do you kill your targets?"

"Well ain't that just the question. Don't you agree, Aiden?" The man simply looked at me with unamusement. I smirked at it before adding on, "to answer your question, no we don't kill our targets. Well, I don't kill them. Too much of a hassle afterwards."

"... considering your reaction, something tells me there is more to it."

"Hmm, I guess you could say that. I don't murder them but... I'm not against the idea."

Aiden quickly interrupted. "BUT I am and that's why you don't and never will stoop that low." Aiden looked at me with a worried and sad expression. It would look like pity to the normal eye but Aiden knew better than to pity me.

I shrugged and said, "Well yeah, that's probably the only reason why I don't do it and you've definitely shown me that not ALL humans are shitty, so that does make me more reluctant of putting blood on my hand. However, if the deed done by the target is fucking bad, the option of murder is at the back of my head."

Aiden just sighed in surrender. "I guess that's better than what it was initially, where a murder was your option for every single thing."

To that, I took Aiden's milkshake and finished it off. Fonzo was looking at us with an emotionless expression, clearly processing the information he received. Once done, the only thing he commented was, "Fascinating..."

"Is it?" I asked while playing with the straw in my head and a small smile on my face.

"Oh, definitely."

"Glad to be a source of entertainment then."

"So you say... Anyway, I won't keep you here any longer. Final question is, why did you tell me to not tell Leo who you are?"

"I thought that's quite obvious. We do our things all anonymously, remember?"

"Well, yes but what's interesting is that you told me to not tell Leo BEFORE you even told me to not tell the police, the ones who would take you in and essentially ruin all your progress. It was even before he told me to get the victims out."

"He did?" Aiden's head whipped back and was looking at Erwin with mild interest.

"Oh, yes he did. Which begs the question of why he is so adamant about Leo not finding out."

Shit, I didn't even notice that. Why was he the first thing that came to mind? "I- well- you see- We've met before, that's why. In the form you saw today. I was obviously under disguise but yeah, that's why I don't want him to know?" Way to sound confident there, Nero.

"Hmm, that still doesn't make any sense to me."

"Yeah, me neither."

"Aiden, you're meant to be on my side here."

"Oi, I'm just as curious as fuckface is."

"Who are you calling fuckface?" Erwin glared at Aiden for the unexpected attack.

"You, obviously," retaliated Aiden.

"That's completely uncalled for."

"Oh, it's totally called for. You deserve it."

"What on earth have I done to deserve any insult from you?"

"Are you kidding me right now? You're deadass blackmailing us right now into–"

"Oh for fucks sake, stop bickering like an old married couple. It's too late for this shit."

"WE'RE NOT LIKE AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE," both of them defended, in complete synchronisation. It surprises both of them and they glared at each other.

"See, you guys are even in sync with your words." Man, I think messing with both of them was my new favourite pass time. Aiden was about to go off again but I just put a finger to his lips and turned back to Erwin who was very lowkey fuming. Funny how it's only Aiden who can get him to this state. He's usually so composed and full of himself.

"To answer your question in full honesty Mr. Fonzo, I just don't want Leo to ever see this side of me. The other me is far from perfect but this one is far worse. The Nero he knows is a decent employee who is more or less unafraid of talking back to his boss and murder is something he'd never thought. He also thinks I have rare panic attacks and nothing. In reality, killing is nothing to me and I'm much more broken than I let out. I don't want him to break the perception of me he already has nor the relationship we have. Even if it's building off partial lies. You don't have to worry though, I plan to keep the relationship as it is and nothing more, so there is no chance of me actually hurting him. He's probably satisfied with what we have anyway."

I removed the finger from a now stilled and concerned Aiden before continuing to add on, "I don't know why I told you all this but something told me you wouldn't satisfied with any other response, so I expect full confidentiality on everything you heard today. You can hand us over or whatnot if you're not satisfied but this is the one thing I ask of you, don't tell anyone what you heard at this diner. With that being said," I got out of the booth, stretched my arms over my head and dropped them back down to let them rest on my hips. "The five questions have been asked and answered so I'm going home. I'm too dead tired to stay any longer. I'm sure Aiden is awake enough to stay a couple of minutes to hear your verdict. I hope you're both old enough to not cause trouble for the staff and people around you."

Once done with my lecture, I made my way towards the exit without hearing their response. Once the cool night wind hit my face, I took a large inhale of O2 and shot up into the clouds, finally making my way home for the second time today.