Chapter Text
The midnight city air chilled Minegishi's face as they leaned over the fence on the roof of Claw HQ. The fluorescent lights of the apartment blocks and office buildings bounced off the low clouds, bathing Seasoning City in an artificial glow.
From their vantage point they could see the dark outline of the TV tower, the city's tallest building, standing stark against the hills beyond. By this time tomorrow that building would be under Claw’s control - Minegishi remembered - and operation world domination would be well underway.
Hatori could take down the defences of a place like that in a couple of minutes - it was a wonder why they had waited so long to make a move, along with that tacky media stunt earlier in the evening. For the sake of a show, probably. To make people panic. There was a similar atmosphere within the organisation, not among the higher-ups as much as the lackeys shuffling around in nervous excitement.
That didn’t sway Minegishi, they took nonchalance as a point of pride, but sleep wasn't coming easy to them tonight. The stark absence of any plant life in the building also did nothing for their mood. Out on the rooftop wasn't much better for that - being this far from the ground, but they could faintly feel the life force of the trees lining the streets below or the ivy clinging to tiny cracks in the walls of the building. The presence eased their senses.
They turned their book over in their hands, a field guide on carnivorous plants. It was certainly too dark to read up here, they'd brought it by force of habit more than anything, something to occupy their hands.
While leafing through the pages Minegishi heard a sharp snap of static and a fizzing noise, accompanied by an unmistakable tingling on the edge of their senses.
"Shimazaki." They looked up to see his smug grin materialise in front of them.
“Oh, didn’t expect you here. Couldn’t sleep?”
“I could say the same to you.” They ignored his question, not wanting to make conversation. “What are you doing here?” Apart from being unwanted company. “I thought you were on a mission.”
“I work fast.” He gave a self-satisfied smile. “What, am I interrupting you?”
“Not really,” they muttered. He knew they didn’t have anything better to do. Minegishi straightened up, intending to leave.
"Serizawa told me you were asking about me earlier. Did you miss me?"
Damn him. "I just wondered what mischief the Boss was letting you get up to," they said flatly
"Aw, you know I don't need his permission for that." Shimazaki said that with more pride than he should have.
"Yeah, I do. Hatori showed me the broadcast from the press conference you crashed. You made quite a scene of it."
"So I did make it on the news!" His face brightened. Minegishi almost laughed at his childlike enthusiasm.
"Barely, the cameras only caught a blur. But I'd recognise you anywhere."
“You know me so well.” Shimazaki laughed and ruffled their hair. Minegishi slapped his hand away, but without any real force.
He pouted. “I thought I deserved a little praise.”
Some part of them was glad to see him back. Apart from disturbing their peace, Shimazaki’s presence wasn’t difficult to be around. He wasn’t taken up by the mass hysteria that hung through most of the building. Shimazaki lived for the moment, the control and power that battle gave him. He was like Minegishi in that way.
His job was enviable. Minegishi had been holed up in HQ for days, taking care of things inside until Suzuki’s plans kicked off. Apart from a couple of rats in the ranks that needed clearing out, there wasn’t much to report. It felt like they’d sat through endless board meetings with Suzuki as he talked out strategy and doctrine, it made them feel like a chess piece.
Shimazaki sighed and folded his arms, joining Minegishi to lean against the rooftop fence. “So that’s what you’ve been up to.”
“Nothing as flashy as you, I know.”
“Well I’m hard to compete with.”
“Shut up.” They gave a hollow laugh, Shimazaki’s self-important attitude pissed them off as much as they were drawn to it.
“You don’t seem that excited, y’know?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Always the brick wall, aren’t you?” Shimazaki smirked again, punchably. "Come on, Minegishi, we’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, right? Conquering the world and all. Aren't you at least a little excited about what happens next?"
"We’ve been waiting for it, maybe, not looking forward to it." Minegishi shrugged. "These aren't my plans. And I think the Boss has been waiting longer than anyone, he said he's been plotting this for twenty years or so."
He laughed. "I can't imagine waiting that long."
They raised an eyebrow in mock disbelief. "Even if the world was yours?"
"Hm, that’s a tough one."
There was a pause as the weight of tomorrow hung over them both, but Minegishi didn't move to leave this time. They watched Shimazaki's face grow more serious as he turned his face towards the skyline as if he was gazing into the distance behind his closed eyelids.
"Are you serious about this?" he asked suddenly.
"What?"
"Minegishi, do you really want to take over the world?"
"No," they answered, that was an easier question to answer than the first one. "Well, not personally. But if Suzuki is, then our position is probably the safest place to be."
"Hmm, well we all knew that." Shimazaki mused with a resigned grin.
This wasn’t smart to express that kind of doubt, but Shimazaki seemed... safe enough. He was the least likely person to rat to Suzuki at least. He held a healthy level of contempt for the Boss. Minegishi was letting their guard down as it was. They could never have a conversation like this with Shibata. Hatori was difficult to read behind the inch-thick frames of his glasses, they probably wouldn’t risk it. And Serizawa was out of the question.
They grimaced. How ironic that Shimazaki was the closest thing to someone Minegishi could trust.
“If you’re asking if I’m serious,” they spoke measuredly, “I’m as serious as I need to be. I’m not about to get on the wrong side of the Boss, we all know how that ends. But he doesn’t keep people around that he doesn’t need.” Minegishi tried to keep their tone indifferent, as if it wasn’t something that had been playing on their mind. “After tomorrow I’m not sure how needed we’ll be.”
"You're probably right."
They thought Shimazaki was going to follow with something else, but then back-pedalled. Minegishi didn’t interrupt as he seemed to consider his next words carefully.
"I was guessing the same thing," he said quietly. "So? What's your plan?"
That question threw them off guard.
"My plan?"
"Yeah. What are you gonna do about it?"
Shimazaki's face was as unreadable as ever, no way to tell what his question was digging for. Honesty would be against their better judgement, maybe, this was a dangerous conversation to have.
They lowered their voice.
"We shouldn't be talking here."
"I know."
Suzuki didn’t ask for trust. Devotion wouldn’t take you far in Claw, in fact it was a hindrance. There was plenty of it at the bottom of the food chain, among the lackeys who still retained some idealism, that was how you controlled them. Minegishi’s hands tightened on the spine of their book. There was a reason those people lived and died as pawns.
What you needed to climb in Claw was power, but also compliance. Freedom of thinking would take you to the same end as the 7th Division. You had to learn to do what was expected of you, and nothing more or less. It was no wonder that the upper echelon was full of assholes who were only there to serve themselves. Likewise for Suzuki, charisma wouldn't fool anyone but the bottom-feeders in the organisation. Loyalty to the Boss didn’t stem from respect, but threat. It made him an easy man to work for if you cared about nothing but your own head.
For that reason, the Super 5 had been sitting pretty in his sphere of security for long enough, but there had been little talk of his plans for them afterwards. Shimazaki’s words were skirting that issue now, but if either of them were to risk honesty in this conversation, that would take trust, Minegishi hadn’t given that freely for a long time.
"What's the point of asking me all this?” they asked. “There’s not much we can do, not now.”
“Maybe”
"But you still haven't told me what you’re planning."
Shimazaki shrugged, and laughed again. “I think you were right, let’s take this conversation somewhere else.”
That was as good as admitting that he did have something more to tell them. He stretched out his hand for Minegishi to take. They couldn't blame him for being cryptic. Minegishi would either have to follow him, or let them both keep dancing around the point. Maybe there was no use to keep second-guessing Shimazaki’s intentions, or maybe this was the worst decision they could make.
Either way, they took his hand.