Chapter Text
Ryuu tried not to groan as he sprinted after the thief. Just his luck that he had to stumble onto a thief as he was heading home from the gym. He was tired and sweaty enough as is; he didn't want to deal with this. But no one else had been around when the guy in the black mask had crawled out the window, briefcase in hand, which made it Ryuu's problem. Ryuu was just lucky that his costume still consisted of his workout clothes, his phone, a bluetooth speaker, and a plain black mask of his own. Made it easier to get after bad guys quicker. He shot a quick text to Suga, then ran at the thief. The guy had seen him coming and taken off, but Ryuu was hot on his tail. Whatever this guy had stolen, he'd get it back.
As he ran, the Bluetooth chimed with an incoming call. It was Daichi.
"Changeling, do you still have eyes on the guy?"
"Yup, he's right in front of me, Captain."
"Keep on him. We're almost to your location."
"Roger, over and out."
Daichi disconnected and Ryuu pushed himself to run faster. He was almost on top of the guy. Just a few more seconds and he'd have him.
The thief, however, had other ideas. He chucked something over his shoulder at Ryuu. Ryuu dodged out of the way, the small electric disk whizzing by his head by the smallest of margins.
"Are you kidding me?" he shouted at the thief. "You're gonna have to do better than that!"
Ryuu regretted issuing that challenge immediately. The thief whipped a handful of the disks at Ryuu. He dodged all but a few, which zapped against his arms and legs. Ryuu staggered, but stayed upright, his powers absorbing most of the shocks. His favorite hoodie, however, now had several burn holes in it.
"You asshole, I like this hoodie!"
"Don't you have something better to do than chase me?" the thief called. "I'm trying to make a living here!"
"You're the one who stole something in front of me!"
"That doesn't mean you have to chase me down!"
"Yes it does!" Ryuu snapped. "I'm a hero!"
Ryuu didn't have to see the thief's face to know he was rolling his eyes. Ryuu scowled; it was time to end this. Ryuu surged forward, grabbing the guy's arm. He shot the small amount of electricity he'd stored up back into the thief. The man yelped, then dropped, dragging Ryuu down with him. As they landed in a heap, Ryuu took the opportunity to punch the guy in the face. The thief's head snapped to the side, dazed. Triumphant, Ryuu got to his feet and dragged the thief into a nearby alley to wait for Daichi and Suga. He tore off the thief's mask, and was surprised to find a rather attractive, if somewhat plain looking guy underneath it. He had dark, neatly parted black hair and soft features that were tinged red from exertion. Ryuu caught himself staring and shook his head; he had a job to do.
"Alrighty, let's see if you've got anything for me," Ryuu muttered.
He held his hand over the thief's face, sensing for some hint of power. Sure enough, the man had some sort of ability. Ryuu placed his hand on the thief and absorbed the man's power. His vision changed, startling Ryuu. It was as if he were staring through an infrared camera. He blinked, then winced as his vision changed to night vision. He blinked a few more times, cycling through various forms of vision before the power faded. On below him, the thief began to stir. Ryuu got to his feet and pressed one foot to the thief's chest. The man gasped, but made no attempt to push Ryuu off.
"I gotta admit, this is a pretty useful ability," Ryuu said. "The ability to cycle through different types of vision must come in handy when you're a thief."
When the thief didn't respond, Ryuu continued.
"But for the life of me, I can't figure out why someone with this kind of a power would go into burglary. Like, come on. There are people out here with super strength and power absorption and you think you can get away with crime just because you have fancy eyes? Get real."
"To be fair," the thief began, "I am paid a lot for what I can do."
"I'll bet you are," Ryuu said. "But what happens when you go toe to toe with someone like me? You fling your little gadgets at me?"
"If I had known you were a power absorber, I would have gone for something else," the thief admitted.
Ryuu scoffed, "Yeah? Like what?"
Before Ryuu had time to react, the thief latched onto his leg and shot an excruciating amount of electricity into his body. Ryuu lurched, and the thief took the opportunity to whip Ryuu to the ground. He got to his feet and scrambled away from Ryuu.
"Well, if I had something else, I would have used it, but this is all they gave me," the thief explained. "Also, did you really think one of the bigger crime syndicates in the city would have sent me on an assignment without other ways of defending myself?"
Ryuu struggled to his knees, only for the thief to kick him back down to the ground.
"Stay down there for now," the thief said. "You're a pretty picture, and I like the view."
"Who in the hell are you?" Ryuu asked, his voice weak as his body wrestled to absorb the electricity.
"Ennoshita Chikara, no fancy hero name required," the thief said. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon."
Before Ryuu could do anything, Ennoshita took off, briefcase in hand. A few minutes later, Daichi and Suga arrived, finding Ryuu alone on his back.
"Changeling! What the hell happened to you?" Suga asked, pulling Ryuu to his feet.
"The bastard zapped me with more electricity than my body could account for," Ryuu growled. "He slipped away before I could fully absorb it."
"Who was that guy?" Daichi asked.
"A thief for one of the crime syndicates," Ryuu said. "Does the name 'Ennoshita Chikara' mean anything to you?"
Daichi and Suga shook their heads. Ryuu scowled. He may have been bested that time, but the next time he saw Ennoshita Chikara, the Ryuu was going to make him pay. Pretty faces be damned.
***
On an adjacent rooftop, Chikara watched as the superhero's friends helped him out of the alleyway and down the street. He'd seen them before, they'd all been on the news a few months ago when a massive fight had destroyed multiple city blocks. As they vanished from sight, Chikara drummed his fingers against the briefcase.
"Changeling, huh?" he mused.
Sighing, Chikara got to his feet; he had to complete his assignment. He'd be reprimanded for almost getting caught, the body cam in his clothing would make sure of that. But one good thing came out of today, at least. He'd made an interesting and attractive enemy.