Because it's you (Rei x Arlo)

13

"Another one bites the dust."

"Dreemer, Another well known superhero was found dead Thursday. Authorities are keeping details private from the public, but witnesses who saw his final moments reported unusual behavior. All points lead to substance abuse. Our condolences to the family of Dreemer."

Rei frowned, 'another one bits the dust? Seriously?' He tossed his phone into the other seat before resting his head on the steering wheel. He really should've gotten more sleep. "So that's another superhero dead, and not too long after the first one too..." Rei bit his lip gently as he looked to the back seat. "How long until they come after me..."

Rei wasn't stupid, he could tell something was going on. Two superheroes dead within days of each other, that wasn't a coincidence. The authorities could blame use of illegal substances all they wanted, but to some it was very clear what was going on. Rei sighed running a hand through his messy hair before he climbed out of the car. It was still early in the morning, the sun hadn't fully risen giving Rei a nice shady, and actually kind of shady, area to park his car. "Now that I think about it, probably a bad idea to bring my car here."

The town of Lovun had a lot of crime running around. While the district was mostly comprised of low and mid tiers, there were a couple of elites running around that had a habit of causing chaos. There was a coffee shop Rei liked to visit here, it's really the only reason he ever came to Lovun, and a few weeks ago he'd heard the owner and a few staff members talking about going out of business. The owner had said a couple of elite tiers had threatened him and forced him to give them half of the businesses profits, and if this act kept up, they would surely go out of business. 

One of the staff members themselves had been an elite tier and had the guts to ask why the owner even listened to "those fools". Rei couldn't ignore the guilt he felt when the owner said he'd listen to anyone that strong, in fear they'd hurt him or his family. This isn't why Rei decided to chose this career path, no he'd started doing this about a year ago when he'd gotten his hands on a certain book. 

He had noticed the elite tiers were mostly trying to take money from people, which wasn't the worst things could be, but Rei still took into mind that families could lose everything if enough money was taken, so he decided he'd put an end to this, or at least try too. 

Rei couldn't lie, every time he "suited up" felt like the first time all over again. The nerves about doing something that was clearly illegal, and then ultimately the total badass feeling that came with it. Rei chuckled at his own thoughts before looking down at his phone once more. 'A male with dark purple hair and several facial piercings shouldn't be too hard to find. He's only a 3.7 which isn't that big of a deal, but still big enough to traumatize some of the people he's targetting.' 

Pocketing his phone he quietly slipped through an alleyway avoiding any objects that might make a sudden noise. He frowned shielding his eyes from the rising sun as he stuck to the shadows. He didn't usually do this stuff in the morning, too risky, but this had come up so suddenly that he felt like he just had to go. Also he didn't have anything else to do and didn't wanna bother Arlo more than he probably already was so...

The greenette shook his head. He was in his own head too much, and that could be very dangerous. 

"HEY!"

His ears perked up when he heard shouting coming from a few blocks ahead of him. Quietly, but quickly running over to the area he stayed behind a wall and peered out from behind into the surprisingly dark alley. 

"I told you last week that if you didn't have the money by today you'd have to bring double, and here you are WITH NO MONEY!" Whoever this male was screaming at was cowering against the wall. Rei frowned leaning out a bit more to look at the victim. The kid had to be no older than fifteen or sixteen. A small glare formed on Rei's face as he slowly moved closer to the scene. "I-I'm sorry! I don't have a job and I only get an allowance once a month a-and-"

"You think I give a f*ck!"

The kid covered his face as the male swung an obviously broken beer bottle down at his head. Rei's clenched his jaw and using his ability to move faster, he grabbed the mans arm. This man, clearly bewildered, whipped his head around to look at Rei. "And who the hell do you think you are!" The man, who was obviously drunk, let's call him drunko, swung his fist toward Rei. But due to his intoxicated state, Rei barely had to move an inch to avoid the punch. Still holding the mans other fist he tightened his hold slighty. "Someone who doesn't appreciate you picking on this kid." 

Drunko, looked back and forth between the kid and Rei with a sneer. "Ohhhh, you're one of those vigilantes aren'tcha?" Drunko chuckled bouncing up and down before he looked at Rei. "What are ya gonna do to me, me vigilante?" Rei huffed forcing the mans arm around his back and grabbing the other fist from where it hovered in the air. "Get you away from this kid." Drunko glared puffing his bottom lip out. "You're no fun are ya?"

"Oh I'm plenty of fun, just didn't get much sleep last night, otherwise you'd probably hate me with how much I'd talk your ear off." Rei chuckled. This Drunko clearly had enough of Rei's talking and his eyes began to glow. "Nice try but I won't go down that easily." Rei knew expected the incoming attack and let go of one of the mans arms to block to beam of wood that suddenly shot out of the ground. "What the how did you-" 

Rei stopped listening when he saw something glint in the mans pocket. Drunko, noticing this, smirk drawing it out in his free hand. "Oh are you interested? I could show you where to find i-" The man was cut off as Rei delivered a blow to his neck that would render him unconscious for a bit. "I'm usually a lot nicer about things, but it's too early." He said to the kid who for some reason hadn't left yet. Kneeling down next to the unconscious Drunko he pulled out a syringe from his pocket. Rei hummed examining it before a logo on the base of it caught his attention.

"What is it?" The kid asked. Rei turned to him before looking back at the syringe. "Probably some drug, that's probably why he was acting so weird." Rei narrowed his eyes at the liquid in the syringe, he'd have to take this to someone he trusted to have it looked at. Pocketing it for now, he crouched down near the shaking kid and held out a hand.

"Word of advice, when a creepy man comes up to you scream and run to the nearest populated place." Rei accompanied his words with a smile, despite the fact the kid couldn't exactly see it, well he could see it in his eyes at least. "Make sure you go report this drunkard, okay?" The kid stiffly chuckled before taking Rei's hand and standing up. "Thank you, mister. Hey! You're X-Static right? The superhero?!" The kid said excitedly a bright smile lighting up his face

Rei smirked giving the kid a two fingered, a spark of lightning showing on his fingers, before he disappeared as quickly as a flash of lightning.