Vermillion leapt from one rooftop to the next. He shot into the air so high that he didn't think he was going to come down. When he did land, all he did was push off the ground he had landed on and he was once again in the dark night sky. In his early days of being a vigilante, he would do this a lot. He would pretend like he was flying, even for the single second that he was airborne. It was his favorite pastime. He adored being higher than the tallest buildings of most of the districts. He liked feeling like the entire world was far below him, and that all his problems were little more than the tiny lights that dotted the city that acted as his stepping stone towards the heavens.

That was all in the past. No matter how high he made it now, he couldn't find that glimmer of happiness that had once been his thrill seeking fix. All he wanted to do was get home to Logstedshire as soon as possible. He didn't want to be anywhere near Origins or any of the other districts. He didn't want to be anywhere near Nemesis and the Blade. He couldn't deal with the fact that Nemesis had set him up. He didn't know the reason why the Blade had shown up at all. He didn't want to remember what he had done to the people that he used to care about and that cared about him now. These thoughts paired with the fact that he was running from the Blade and Nemesis sapped all the enjoyment out of leaping through the air.

As Vermillion soars above a building along the perimeter of L'Manberg, he notices that someone is standing there. Vermillion was going to ignore them. He didn't need to deal with anything else that night. When he landed on the building, about to push off to land on the next one, he stopped in his tracks. He could see who the figure was now that he wasn't a small ant in Vermillion's line of sight. A young man wearing a black overcoat with a purple mask framing his heterochromatic eyes. Vermillion watched as the figure looked at him. Vermillion looked towards the sky with a scowl pulling at his lips. He stared at the stars that dotted the night sky, and he locked eyes with the brightest one. "Fuck you."

"Vermillion! There you are!" The figure said. Vermillion looked back down. This figure was Ender. He was a hero in the Antarctic District. Although he was technically a hybrid, the people of his district adored him because he was a powerful hero with the ability to teleport that had joined the Syndicate. The Antarctic District didn't have many heroes, but they didn't need that many when they had the Syndicate. The Blade, Nemesis, Ender, and the Crowfather had joined forces to protect the snowy and largest district in all of Essempei. It was one of the only other places where hybrids were welcomed. Because the Antarctic District was near the mountains, they had the exclusive right to mine. This allowed them to become a prosperous district. It was one of the richest for the sole reason that the district had a monopoly on a lot of metals and gemstones. With the Syndicate around, the governing bodies of the Antarctic District didn't swindle a lot of money from the people.

"What the hell do you want?" Vermillion snapped. He was not in the mood to deal with this. He didn't want to socialize with anyone, let alone a member of the Syndicate. Vermillion would be lucky if he didn't run into the Crowfather by the end of the night. Vermillion hoped he would have that luck. He knew that he would crumble if the Crowfather gave him that warm, fatherly smile that he used to show Vermillion every time their paths crossed.

"Kamikaze sent me. He had other business to attend to tonight, but he wanted to make sure that you got what you asked for," Ender explained. Ender reached into his pocket to pull out a small green marble. Ender crushed the marble in his gloved fist. A stack of papers and a syringe appeared in Ender's hands. He took a cautious step towards Vermillion. When the vigilante didn't immediately yell at him, Ender continued to walk forward until they were right in front of each other. Vermillion took the papers and the syringe. He refused to take a step back. He didn't want Ender to think that Vermillion was afraid of him.

"Kamikaze works fast," Vermillion muttered more to himself than Ender. He had given the syringe to Kamikaze a little over a week prior to that moment. Kamikaze must have done a lot of researching and experimenting in that week to be able to make a report this large. Vermillion had always been impressed with Kamikaze's work ethic, but this was a whole other level of commitment. Vermillion wondered if this was his fault. Kamikaze must have put all this effort because this was something Vermillion, the person he thought was dead, had asked of him. Even more so, Vermillion rarely asked for anything even before he faked his death. Or maybe Kamikaze saw how worried Vermillion was about what this drug would do to Logstedshire, and maybe he saw through Vermillion's lies about not caring about the district anymore.

"He does," Ender agreed with a small smile. Vermillion looks at that smile. It was the exact same as it had been two years ago. Even though a lot had changed in that time period, Vermillion was glad to see that not everything had become unrecognizable.

Vermillion lifted the syringe off the papers. He flipped open the papers. It seemed Kamikaze had done a lot of tests on the chemical to make sure that he knew what it was, where it came from, and what it could do. Vermillion was glad for Kamikaze's thoroughness. Vermillion scanned through the first few pages, retaining the information surprisingly well. It was a little difficult to read considering Kamikaze had very poor handwriting, but Vermillion knew how to read Kamikaze's handwriting from experience. He could decipher what each scrawl and scragging line meant.

If Kamikaze's report was to be believed, the chemical in the syringe was a drug that targeted certain areas of the brain. For a normal person, it would give them light nausea for 27 minutes on average. For a hybrid, however, the drug would stimulate certain parts of the brain that corresponded with a hybrid's instincts. For hostile Mob hybrids, they would grow agitated, and their powers would be temporarily enhanced. For docile Mob hybrids, they would lose their rationality and return to a primitive state without memory or reasoning skills. The drug was meant to bring out the inhuman parts of hybrids in the worst ways possible.

"I know there was fucking foul play involved," Vermillion exclaimed with disbelief and anger in his voice. Ender tilted his head to the side in confusion. Without thinking, Vermillion began to explain the situation... It felt too much like old times for Vermillion. "Someone or a whole fucking group are trying to prove that hybrids are inhuman beasts that will eventually turn to violence. Even if tests like this one can prove that the hybrids are being chemically set off, the damn fuckers of the other districts will already be fucking rioting and demanding the people of Logstedshire be put under martial law. They might even fucking say that hyrbids should be kicked beyond the walls."

Vermillion turned around, slamming his foot into the roof. The pain helped keep him anchored in the moment instead of fading into his own anger. He couldn't let his rage consume him. He needed to find out who was creating the drug and administering it. He needed to keep all news about hybrids going off the deep end from reaching the ears of the other districts. He needed to solve this problem while keeping it contained within Logstedshire's borders. He couldn't let the hybrids suffer for this. Most hybrids were just trying to make an honest living. They didn't need some group coming in and giving them all a horrible name. They didn't need some drug stealing away their free will. Vermillion kicked the roof one more time. "Why can't these shitty people leave hybrids the fuck alone? I can't keep doing this, damnit!"

"Why not?" Ender asks. Vermillion whirls around to see that the hero had never left. He remained there, staring at Vermillion like they were having a genuine conversation with one another. It had been years since they had done that. Vermillion had honestly forgotten Ender was there, so it was strange to see such an understanding look on his former friend's face.

"I'm retired, dipshit. I just want to relax on a beach somewhere. Instead, I gotta clean up Logstedshire's messes," Vermillion said. Ender didn't look that convinced, and Vermillion blamed it on the fondness in his own voice. He cared about Logstedshire too much to say that he wouldn't do anything for his home district. He wanted the best for his district. He would have done anything to give them the happiness they deserved if he was given the chance to. Vermillion may have abandoned Logstedshire, but Tommy Innit had never left even when he could have. Vermillion didn't like what that implied.

"Everyone is saying that you are lying about retiring just like how you faked your own death," Ender said without a single care in the world. His voice didn't sound all that emotional for someone who was reciting that his former friend faked his own death.

Vermillion kicked the rooftop for a third time. He didn't like the pain that was starting to throb in his foot, but it was keeping him sane when everything else was driving him to the brink. He turned to Ender with a harsh glare, grabbing onto the hero's shoulders to pull them closer together so Ender had a good view of all the anger in Vermillion's eyes. "Tell me, why the fuck no one believes me?! I can fucking retire if I fucking want to. I don't need anyone's damn permission. I don't need to tell any of you fuckers what I'm doing or what I have been doing because it's none of your damn business. It is no one's business but mine. Get it through your thick fucking skull that I abandoned the people of Logstedshire without a second thought!"

Ender blinked as he was yelled at. He didn't say a single word. He flinched when the yelling began. His hands were fidgeting together with worry and awkwardness. He didn't take a step back. He didn't interrupt. He simply waited for Vermillion to finish. He left a moment of silence hanging between them as Vermillion caught his breath. When Vermillion seemed as calm as he was going to get, Ender's facial features softened. In a quiet voice, he told Vermillion, "They don't believe you because you are lying."

Vermillion stumbles back, pushing Ender away from him. Vermillion takes a deep breath to keep himself calm. His first reaction was to scream and cry like a toddler throwing a tantrum, but he holds in that childish part of him. He doesn't want Ender to see him like that. He doesn't want anyone to see him lose control over his emotions. He had gotten angry before, but nothing could compare to the sheer helplessness of this situation. Vermillion could say a million times that he was retired. No one was going to believe him. He hated how he couldn't get them to believe him, just this once. "What makes you so fucking sure, huh?"

"I know your ticks. I know what you do when you're lying. I've known since the first time we started training together," Ender said, raising his hand to smooth out a worry line that had formed on Vermillion's face. The vigilante looked up, trying to see the mark on his face. He didn't know that happened when he was lying. He had never looked in the mirror while lying. Whenever he lied to himself, he was always trying not to look at anyone because he knew that his lies would fall apart if someone looked at him in a certain way.

"It's been two fucking years since I disappeared. I could have changed. I could have new ticks. You know what? I'm fucking right. It has been two years. Isn't that enough time for me to decide that I like my freedom? I get good sleep at night. I have a stable job that I don't want to risk losing. I am perfectly content, and no one will leave me be," Vermillion said. He wished that his voice didn't come out so tired and fractured. From his voice alone, it sounded like he was seconds away from breaking. His face remained stony, but it seemed his voice had given him away.

"I have known you for more than two years. One thing that I know about you, Vermillion, is that you never give up. Not on people, not on yourself, and definitely not on the job that you loved more than anything in the world. I saw firsthand how much you love Logstedshire. I saw how much you're willing to sacrifice for it. I saw how happy you were whenever you saved someone, and I saw how devastated you were when you couldn't save someone. All of that can't be changed in two years," Ender said, looking Vermillion in the eye. There was something in Ender's eyes that really made Vermillion want to cry. It was a look that was somehow deeper than understanding. It was knowing without judgment. It was like Ender saw Vermillion at his core, the accumulation of his very soul, and Ender was looking at it with adoration instead of hatred. It was like Ender knew why Vermillion had done everything he had ever done, said everything he had ever said, and Ender didn't see anything he didn't like. Vermillion hated how Ender used to be his best friend along with Kamikaze. He hated it so much. He hated even more when Ender said, "I think something is forcing you into this so-called retirement. If you tell me, I can help you. I will help you."

Vermillion took a step back. He wasn't afraid of Ender, but those words terrified him. A memory flashed in his head, the same memory that kept him from returning to the Pit to save everyone that he hadn't been able to save before. It held him down like an anchor chained to his neck. He could barely breathe, and he felt himself falling deeper into the abyss the longer that memory made itself comfortable in his mind. Vermillion shook his head, barely biting out, "Fuck no. I'm retired. That is fucking it."

Vermillion jumped off the building with the papers and the syringe. He landed on the building across from Ender. The hero had turned to look at Vermillion, but he had enough common sense not to go after Vermillion. The vigilante called over his shoulder before he moved on from this encounter, "Everyone should leave me the fuck alone. You tell them that."