Chapter 9 - 7- What Do I Need Next?

"So how did training with Rachel go today, Venn?"

"Pretty good. She decided to let me spar with her and said that I'm making progress. But it's going to take forever for her to acknowledge my skill."

"Just as long as you two are taking care of yourselves."

My parents had been a little surprised at me learning kung fu from Rachel, but they had quickly approved. They thought it would make me a little more well-rounded. Well, I guess that they were a little worried that I would spend too much of my time on video games and books otherwise.

Once I finished eating dinner, I went into my room to "study." In fact, I was doing more Resonance drills. I started with Genji and Hanzo, trying to use their extensive martial arts experience to analyze the Song family kung fu to accelerate my comprehension. If I was going to make the most of training with her, I had to get to equal footing with her.

As I finished my routine with my other "mains," I worked on my next steps. There were still things I needed. For one thing, I needed opponents that would give me some more practical experience. I could also use some extra equipment; computers, components, and the like. Another thing I needed was a better place to work. A place where I could freely Resonate for practice and start gathering information that my memories of the movies couldn't tell me.

In short, I needed a secret lair. Probably one in a bad part of town.

After a while running Resonance drills with the lights off, I heard my parents going to their room to sleep. It was time. I quietly opened my window and Resonated with Genji. Carefully, I slid through the window and parkoured my way down the side of the building to the ground. I ran as fast as my cyborg ninja body could carry me to a place that I figured would be a great place to start.

Hell's Kitchen.

Not quite sure how it was on my earth, but in the Marvel multiverse, it's always been a rough neighborhood. Kingpin, Hand ninjas, other gangs, you know, the works. I wonder if it would have gotten the same deal if they'd just named it "Sunshine and Daisies" instead. Could've attracted a host of grandmas and cookies instead of criminals and drugs.

But then again, if it hadn't been this way in this world, I wouldn't be sure of where to go.

Eventually, I came to my destination. It was relatively quiet. Most people had already found their bars or whatever. I started looking for places that would do. Something abandoned, but possible to set up, and secure enough that nobody would just happen by it. There was only one thing that came to mind: a speakeasy. Only a speakeasy built underground could possibly have been left untouched by everyone else.

I sighed. Of course, finding a speakeasy presented its own problems. Nobody in the Overwatch roster had particular skills suitable for finding underground space. All I could hope was that Genji or Hanzo's ninja senses and qi might be able to do that when I got close enough. If not, I was going to have to do a lot of research or wandering tunnels.

Ugh. Work.

I wandered the streets, looking for buildings that were on the older side. I reasoned that the older they were, the less likely it was that anything in the basement had been disturbed by construction. I could do a deeper investigation of these spots later. For tonight, I just planned on getting more familiar with the neighborhood. Maybe meet some of my neighbors. Bonus if I could find some of the local ninjas.

As if on cue, I saw a couple of guys ahead on the opposite side of the road. Though they were quite a distance away in the shadows, I saw a packet and money exchange between two of them. Drugs. I smiled, thinking about what I knew about the Hand. Madame Gao was the one that controlled a lot of New York's drug trade. Even though unrelated people and the Russians distributed, she was the one in control. I wondered what would happen if I gave a bunch of the dealers a scare and… inquired about their sources.

I quickly ducked into the shadows of an alley. It didn't take long to decide which "face" to show these guys.

"Genji, Resonance!"

Time to change that.

I leaped across the street and onto the buildings above the dealers. As I took position and prepared to drop down on them, I debated on the correct course of action. Follow, or strike now? Follow, or strike now? It really was difficult to tell what was for the best in the long run.

Ah, what the heck, let's just strike now.

By the time I had decided, the dealers and their customers had parted ways. Immediately the dealers had gotten off the streets and into the shadows of the alley that had been behind them. Perfect. I jumped off the building and landed lightly right behind them.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," I said. It came out sounding very unlike me for two reasons. One was that Genji's voice comes through a little robotic. The other reason was that while I was Genji, I also had his accent, so as far as these drug dealers knew, they were dealing with a Japanese robot ninja. Which, they were definitely not expecting to come up behind them. Before I said anything else, two of the three were reaching for guns.

"Let's not be too hasty," I said, reaching one hand behind my back for my wakizashi. As predicted, the dealers with guns immediately shot at me. Pretty good aim, too, as their bullets flew towards my ċhėst. But, just like playing the game in my last life, I deflected the bullets back to them, hitting their shoulders. The pain released their grips on their guns which clattered to the pavement below. As the sound finished echoing off the buildings around us, I dashed to the third drug dealer, who looked the most scared of the bunch. Putting the wakizashi to his throat and gripping him by the front of his shirt, I spoke again.

"Now, tell me, where do your drugs come from?"