Driving into Brookside was never a decision founded in peace of mind. Indeed, Azhar was more concerned about the wellbeing of his car than his own safety. It was quite a decent vehicle, he would admit, one given to him by the company he so tirelessly worked for. Slowly bobbing his head in tune to the music trickling into his pointed ears, Azhar, or Zee, or perhaps even Requiem considering the circumstances, enjoyed the tune from a pair of headphones mimicking the voice of Nina Simone. ’It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me.., Azhar parked his car, large black eyes landing on the police station. Police officers continued undisturbed on their routines, uniformed crime fighters moving in a path towards a constant war against chaos. Azhar often mulled over the thought, what police truly thought of his kind. Not mutants, no, but Heroes. Those who stood up against darkness with powers otherwise unfathomable. Were they an addition, or merely an obnoxious inconvenience.
’And I’m feeling good.., the song continued, Azhar’s hand falling to the door before allowing a path into the evening air. With a deep breath, Zee locked his car and started towards the entrance of this building dedicated to law and order. Occasionally raising a clawed hand as he waved towards a select few officers warranted a small, growing smile that bridged its way across the mutant’s lips. He had come across Brookside’s Finest in the past, and their efforts had not gone unnoticed. Where Heroes found themselves raised to impossible heights, officers were often forgotten. Azhar still recalled his deal with Monster Energy, where he was used in an advertisement. An endearing proposition and the thought called forth a string of laughter from the boy.
Following the directions dictated by officers along the way, the mutant finally found his Heroic friends where they were waiting for his arrival. However, subsequent to the mutant boy’s entrance, Zee felt his phone giving off a sound. Kim Possible, if anyone was able to deduce the strings of beeps. He had been sent a message.
“Hmm, maybe I was just imagining it.” Joseph said, slipping the rune back into his pocket. He’d been sure he’d felt the rune activate, although he was fairly drunk… Well, whatever the case, at least this meant that he wouldn’t have to worry about the cashier, and could focus on tagging along with Sam. Normally, he would be the last person to go out of his way to look for extra work, but it just so happened that he may or may not have accidentally broken a few of the eggs in the shopping bag when he’d dropped the gun in with them. He was lazy, but he wasn’t stupid. There was no way he’d be going back to the Hag with broken eggs. Therefore, he needed to find a good excuse for why he never made it back, and what better reason to give to the old ex hero than hero work?
Before he could speak to Sam and express his eagerness to get cracking (heh) however, he heard an unnervingly familiar ringtone, and turned to see a certain demonic child walk in to join them.
“Oh, hey Az.” He said, sending the kid a lazy wave. “Question, how do you know that ringtone? You darn young folk usually don’t have that kind of respect for anything before your time.”
Samson was patient while Joseph figured out whether his rune had activated or not. It was strange to him, these runes, as it was one of the only things that he encountered that he couldn’t sense. It only displayed that there were powers beyond perception out there, and not all of them were as harmless, or lazy, as Joseph was. All the more reason to get back to the mission. His purpose for being here was done, he had alerted the authorities. Now the hunt began.
As it appeared, Joseph wasn’t in need of his services so he was soon to start back out. When he turned his head though, Azhar was walking in. He had gotten here much quicker than he anticipated. A corner of his lip upturned, but not much more. Hearing the beeping that emanated from his phantasmic friend, his eyes narrowed some.
”You may want to address that or turn it off. We’re taking a more quiet approach this time around.” The hunter suggested, pulling his hood back over his head.
Reaching a clawed hand into his pocket, Azhar managed a sharp-toothed grin as he looked towards the older gentleman. "Yusuf..," the boy began, still clearly unable to pronounce his ally’s name. However, at this point, it was difficult to deduce if Zee was deliberate in his tone, or if he truly could not comprehend the difference between English and Arabic in this instance. "I am three years younger than you," he stated, holding up three claws. "Three," he repeated.
Despite possessing merely twenty-two years of life, Joseph seemed entirely too eager to adopt a disheveled persona. Alcohol, misery, and constant regret. It was an aspect Joseph embodied, for reasons Azhar had been presented, in the past.
There was a slight tilt of the boy’s head, as his eyes fell to the screen of his Hello Kitty draped phone. A message from Thomas. They did not usually communicate, and while Zee had added his co-workers to his device, messages were generally only sent between them in times of peril. He tapped a stylus onto a chat bubble that revealed itself across the screen, the boy’s gaze widening once light was shed on such distressing content. "They’re in big trouble," the mutant commented. "Like, they might die, kinda’ trouble," he continued, a clawed hand gently scratching the back of his head. "Captured by the Mob, huh..?" The boy shifted his attention towards Samson and Joseph, "Sammy," Azhar began, "you take point on this. I’ll back you up." It was a common maneuver between the two. Samson was a hunter and a frontline combatant in a single package. He made the perfect leader, and the giant was certainly someone Azhar could put his faith in. "Yusuf, are you sober enough?" The mutant raised a brow, those black orbs lingering on the alcoholic. Samson and Azhar weren’t the impulsive Heroes their co-workers represented. They were less than eager to work outside of a professional approach.
“Three years is a long time.” Joseph said. “You can miss plenty of stuff in that time. Shows, birthdays, the realisation that your life is going nowhere...”
He paused, his eyes glazing over for a moment before he returned back to the moment.
“I was going somewhere with this, but I forgot where.”
Despite his current attitude, his eyes widened as well when Az informed them that the others were in danger. However, it was only a small change, and brief enough that it was probably unnoticeable.
“Huh. Well, sounds like a good enough excuse to me.” He said. He managed to work up enough false confidence to smirk when Azhar asked if he was sober enough to help. “Nope. But something tells me you’re gonna let me come along anyway...”
A decision had to be made. It was rather concerning that fellow team members were in danger. Considering the scope of the danger was life and death, for heroes of their power level, it was clear what route to take. The police were going to get people out of the area anyway, hopefully. Further, if the threat that has their companions continues on, how many more people will they hurt worse?
With his mind made up, he started walking. With Zee’s suggestion of taking point, Kanati was already trying to map out some kind of strategy in his mind. The mob was no ordinary gang. In fact, from what he had heard, their boss was reputable for killing heroes. Hopefully they wouldn’t be getting there too late. The fact that they didn’t take their cell phones yet was an indicator that they didn’t have them pinned just yet.
Half a mind made him want to call Christina, as she was standing in the director’s place in his absence. Instinct told Kanati that he didn’t need to worry about that. As they talked about Joseph’s eligibility to come along, due to his involvement with alcohol, Sam spoke up.
”Despite his impairments, we may still have use for his versatility. He managed to bring in one criminal today at least. I imagine, from the recency, he was drunk then too. So long as he performs his craft from a distance until fully prepared, he should be fine.” Kanati spoke quickly, simply to end that part of the conversation.
Once outside, he debated for a moment.
”I’m going to opt out of the car ride. I may be able to get to the mansion quicker by my own means. In which case, getting a view of the situation. I’ll meet you there.”
Rubbing his forehead, Azhar managed a sigh. "I’d prefer my teammates to be sober," the mutant stated. "If our leaders followed procedure, Yusuf would likely be on leave." Though the obvious flaws of HERO and its employees had brought several layers of frustration to the surface, Zee’s attention was quickly stolen by a new notification on his phone. This message was not sent by another Hero, but rather, it was an alert.
They had a location, now. A section that appeared to mark itself a notable distance from the Mafioso mansion, their actual target. "Christina notified me. We have an entrance, I think," Azhar informed, his black-eyed gaze turning towards Samson and Joseph before handing the giant their coordinates.
A short pause lingered while those demonic orbs found themselves fixed on the less sober. "I don’t decide what you do." Zee slipped that phone into the confines of his pocket. "Three years is a long time, right? Far be it for me to question my elders."
Azhar didn’t mind Joseph as an individual, but back home he would never have made it into MEDIC. He was in a state of intoxication more often than not. The man was unstable, and as such, incredibly unreliable.
If asked, the dark mutant couldn’t imagine jeopardizing his mission because bottles appeared tempting. Part of him wanted to leave HERO, if honesty found its way to his lips. It was an unorganized, unprofessional, and incredibly destructive attempt at a gathering of crime fighters, but that was irrelevant at this moment. Azhar, or Requiem, had a duty to uphold. His personal reservations would need to wait. Additionally, Samson was correct. Despite current circumstances, Joseph did have his uses, impaired as he may have been. "We’ll see you there, Sam. Let’s go, Yusuf." Azhar finished, before starting towards his car.
