[August 7th, year 2063, 12:13 PM]

After the fight with Pyro, Shindo couldn't remember how he got to his apartment in Sector 7. He couldn't even recall getting into bed and closing his eyes. All he knew was that the sun woke him up on one of those typical hot August mornings.

Groaning, Shindo noticed that it was already mid-day, but his tiredness didn't let him think straight. So, he decided to take a bath. He went straight to the bath, removing yesterday's clothes, and placing his visor on a drawer near his bed. His hazelnut hair was a mess, but a good wash would help him comb it.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait much to fill the tub with water. Once it was full, he slowly lowered himself into the bathtub, where he reclined back and stared deadpanned at the ceiling.

Shindo didn't even know how to begin to process what happened yesterday night. Emotions. Yes, emotions. It was better to start with his feelings on the matter.

He felt complicated: in a way, Shindo was happy. His co-workers, his friends, were alive and fine. Pyro hadn’t done anything bad to them, at least from the glances he gave to them. On the other hand though, Shindo felt hurt. The way Ben and Angela’s faces twisted in disbelief, as their widened eyes showed their fear of Shindo truly broke something in him. And their silence after the fight made it all the worse.

Still, it was reasonable that they would react like that. After all, Shindo had hidden this part of himself, so of course they would be scared of someone beating a villain in that manner.

At that thought, another sigh escaped Shindo’s mouth.

Next was him fighting again. He had broken his oath. After the Night of Fear, He had sworn to himself that he would never fight again, that he would never use his controllers again. Then again, if he hadn’t used the Static controller, Shindo would have never survived the fight with Pyro. He was both underequipped and crippled.

Still, that wasn’t the worst of it. Deep inside he knew that breaking this oath meant that his time as a civilian was coming to an end. That was not a thought Shindo wanted in his head.

Speaking of things he didn't want to think about, it was time he addressed Diva. There’s no pretty way of putting it: Diva had seen the entire fight. They both knew it. However, thanks to Pyro aggravating those old memories, Diva also had gained the worst type of information someone could give an informant. It was the type of information that every important person in the city wanted: a lead on the whereabouts of “The Undaunting Villain” Herttz.

The worst of this all was that Shindo knew that Diva was a sharp and persistent woman. She was smart enough to know exactly what to do with that information. And that sharpness was the exact thing that made her more dangerous than other informants he has met in the past. With that information in her hands and that mind of hers, she had enough power over many factions in the city, and especially, she had a certain degree of control over Shindo.

The memory of the smiling man came back to him. However, Shindo shook his head and stood from the bathtub. Staying a bit more would do no good for him. At that thought, he heard his stomach grumble. Seeing as he needed to think things over, he decided on going to his favorite bagel place in the city.

Having decided on his destination, he exited the bathroom and went to choose his clothes. For today, Shindo decided that a comfy simple forest green shirt with his favorite black jeans and sneakers would do the job. He needed this comfy wear because he suspected that today was going to be another long day.

With that in mind, Shindo put on his green string visor and opened the drawer underneath, revealing a neatly organized stack of controller gadgets. He took one of them, this time one with blue electronic outlines and the letters "RTC" on one of its sides. He may end up needing it today.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Shindo always liked comparing the sectors of Vermillion Blue City. As he walked through streets, he would have to say that there was a fundamental difference between Sector 7 and Sector 9. Sector 9 was known as the Crime Joint, but unlike it’s name, it was a late-night sector focused on bars and entertainment. The heroes that patrolled there were simplistic, and only worked there to defend the main DSG building. It was too dull and too simplistic for Shindo’s taste.

On the other hand, he preferred Sector 7 or better known to the public as the Silent District. Even if Shindo found most things around him annoying, this sector had a soothing feeling to it. The bit of bad reputation it had was thanks to all of the Herttz's fanatics that gathered here, all because this was once the preferred battleground between the Undaunting Villain and his old archnemesis.

However, the place was simpler to navigate than Crime Joint. It also had the best bagels in the whole city, right in front of the abandoned gas station in Runner's Avenue, which was Shindo's destination.

He calmly walked the loud streets of the Silent District, thinking on what bagel he would order, but soon he felt eyes on him. He sighed as he noticed that someone was following him, but he didn't care. Shindo knew this would happen after yesterday's stunt, so he let the stalker party follow him for now.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He decided to stop near a public clock to see that it was one in the afternoon. After confirming the time, he continued heading towards Ruby's bagel shop, finally deciding on buying their famous everything bagels.

Thankfully the line wasn't too long. As he queued up, anticipating his lunch, he noticed that his stalker was right behind him. Seeing as he could no longer evade her, he gave her his full attention.

"Didn't I say I pledged the fifth?" Shindo addressed Diva.

"And good afternoon to you, East." The petite girl replied calmly. "I thought you would need to talk to me after what you did yesterday."

Shindo smiled wryly at the informant. Did she really have to phrase it like that?

"What are you doing here?" Shindo sighed, conceding to the smiling woman. They were slowly approaching the counter.

"Well, I think you and I have a conversation pending, so I thought I might talk it over with you over some bagels."

Whoever saw this girl would say that Shindo had lucked out, but he knew better. She was a goddamn demon and a good one at manipulation.

"Fine. I hope this place has private tables." Shindo said, irritated at the looks of the audience. Even the clerk was having fun with this.

"Oh, they do! I've held some meetings here. They are pretty welcoming here!" Diva said innocently. Of course, she knew about this place!

For the nth time this week, Shindo sighed in disdain.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The two of them ate in silence at one of the private tables in Ruby's Bagel shop, which had a window where they could clearly see the old gas station.

Once they finished eating their bagels, Diva took out a laptop from the bag she was carrying and then proceeded to fiddle a bit with her phone. A second later and the CCTV in the room turned off. Of course she wanted this conversation to be private.

"Let’s get straight to the point then,” Shindo said as crumbled up a napkin, “What do you want to say to me?"

"Look at this." She said, spinning her computer around. The screen displayed a video. She hit play, and the next thing he saw was a hooded man in green armor, fighting two heroes simultaneously. Shindo's back started aching more and more as the video continued. This was undoubtedly footage regarding Herttz.

"This is a video I got as a payment from one of my most recent clients. This is one of the only recordings left of the undaunting villain Herttz." She stated while looking straight at Shindo.

"And, why are you showing me this exactly?" He asked.

"Well, Shindo, yesterday's fight showed me a new side of you. You have an extreme hatred towards anything Herttz related." Diva made a few clicks and managed to display both the footage of Herttz, and the footage of yesterday night’s fight. She then let the latter play for a bit.

"At first, I thought you were at least an associate of Herttz." The video continued playing, showcasing Shindo bantering with Pyro. "However, this part here shows me you are more than that."

She stopped the video when Shindo was in a kicking form. She then put the Herttz video beside the other one. Both he and Herttz had similar stances, but Shindo looked more aggressive while Herttz was more focused.

"I believe that's a typical kicking form of Tae Kwon Do. Both of you use it, however..." She played the part where Shindo kicked Pyro twice in the face. "Your kicks here are more attuned to Muay Thai, making me think you have learned something different from Herttz."

Shindo sweatdropped at her statement, but he knew that there was more to come. Diva then brought out a few papers, and Shindo's eyes bulged at the sight of them. Those were a government copy of the ownership papers of the abandoned gas station! This was not good.

"Then, I came across this. Why would a struggling gadgetsmith buy this old-dusty station? I thought that maybe you would do your own business there, but you maintained the old look. Do you know this gas station is a mystery in the informant community? But I think I solved it. You are its owner, and you are safeguarding something for Herttz there."

Shindo was flabbergasted. This woman was exactly as he expected. A straightforward slip-up and she already had him in her fingers. Shindo's fingers started vibrating at that.

"Fine," Shindo admitted with a click of his tongue. "You are right. I am safeguarding something for that bastard and not one person has come close to reaching it. Until today."

"I told you before, Shindo, you are an interesting target.” Diva stretched as she gave him a triumphant smile. “Mind walking me there? I want to see with my own eyes what that feared man left behind."

Shindo had no option but to comply with the informant's demands. He guided her out of Ruby’s and to the back of the abandoned station. What greeted them was a grey brick wall with two off-put dark grey bricks. Without so much of athought, Shindo pressed those two bricks in a binary pattern, causing the wall in front of them to open up and reveal a set of stairs going down.

Diva went in first, and Shindo followed behind. When Shindo entered the stairway, the wall closed behind him. The two went down for a bit, but Shindo slowly took out his controller, gripping it a bit too strongly. Once she saw what was down there, she would learn one last secret.

The two of them arrived at the bottom to encounter a rectangular room. It had a few smelters and forgery equipment. On the opposite side, there was a table with enough test tubes to use for chemistry experiments. In the middle of the room, a green hooded armor with an H made of lightning stood on the display.

"Herttz' base!" Diva exclaimed, “I don’t believe it!”

This is the exact moment Shindo locked the only door leading to the outside, and started to approach Diva from behind.

It was silent for a bit, but slowly she stopped celebrating. She was starting to understand what was going on. Shindo had baited her.

"Shindo, you aren't just safeguarding Herttz’s base, right?"

Shindo didn't respond as his killing intent rose. In a hysterical move Diva stepped away from Shindo, taking her phone out.

"You aren’t a confidant!”

Her eyes darted back and forth between the armor and Shindo, realization finally settling in.

“You are Herttz himself!"

Shindo growled when she called him that disdainfull name.

"I will never be Herttz again."