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Having their own base to withdraw to, suddenly became a godsend, as soon afterwards, the simmering issues in Brockton Bay boiled over.
ABB and Empire 88 members were seen clashing in the streets, Oni Lee managing to send Crusader to the hospital before he himself was driven off by the Protectorate due to his indiscriminate suicide runs. Cricket and Stormtiger managed to put Velocity and Battery in the hospital as well in the chaos, before they disappeared in the aftermath, leaving Crusader behind.
Well the heroes likely didn't stay hospitalized long, having Panacea on call, after all.
A force of Kaiser, Fenja, Menja, Purity, Hookwolf and Krieg managed to give as good as they got against Lung, and in the meantime completely vaporized a block of buildings, luckily around the docks - so the casualties weren't too high, but it had been quite the show as the whole city held their breath, praying for de-escalation.
Jordan had skulked around for a bit, never getting closer than a block away, hesitating on whether it was worth the risk to try and surprise one of the Empire capes.
He'd decided it was too risky in the end, and backed off, but he'd seen the conclusion from afar.
Practically the entire contingent of capes the Empire had, all used just to fight Lung to what was basically a draw. Several Empire capes were injured in the process, and without Othala - would be vulnerable for a while.
Crusader was now in PRT custody (for now), and Oni Lee and Lung walked away free of course. It definitely did not appear that much was going to calm down soon, and considering they lived in ABB territory, it was time to get out.
The Protectorate had been busy running around ensuring the civilian death toll didn't grow too high, never massing in high enough numbers in one place to be able to fight either the Empire or Lung.
Constitutionally useless as was their norm.
Jordan didn't think Piggot wanted to fight them anyway. Didn't want an escalation which was the most important thing in the world apparently. Otherwise it didn't make much sense with their actions, with how the likes of Armsmaster and Miss Militia stayed away from the heavy action.
Which was definitely on orders, because with Armsmaster's quest for glory™, he definitely wasn't avoiding Kaiser and Lung by choice.
Using them to mop up regular criminals while Lung and Kaiser were duking it out was an odd choice, but Piggot had her reasons he supposed.
Probably hoping they manage to kill each other and solve her problem for her.
One of the reasons he hadn't wanted to risk interfering in the battle had been fear of the Protectorate arriving and spotting him, figuring him out too soon, seeing him use Shadow Stalkers powers. Only after the fight did he realize they had never intended to fight unless it spread to more 'civil' areas.
Heroes, huh?
New Wave had been notable in their absence as well, fighting normie 88ers who got too bold near the boardwalk, but not going anywhere near the docks.
Half of them hadn't fought at all, just hanging around the hospital, making sure no one bothered Panacea.
Must have stuck in Glory Girls craw something fierce, a Nazi punching free for all across the city, and she was placed as a babysitter for the healer no one in Brockton was dumb enough to attack.
Maybe there was something to Piggots strategy, as most injuries or deaths seemed to consist of gang members or people affiliated with the gangs over the last few days.
Either way, it was high time to get the hell out of ABB territory. Their facility was far enough north to be well away from all this commotion, and even well out of the way of the Merchants, who seemed to have fully ignored the minor war erupting in the city.
Probably too high to notice.
Although there was always the possibility Skidmark was clever enough to wait for an opportunity.
Of course, with Mai and Sun Hee being fairly tiny and slim girls, his sister being comatose, and with Han left caring for her… It left Jordan alone to move every single thing from their apartments they wanted to keep into one of the trucks he had liberated from the motor pool at Mai's old supervillainess lair.
It's not like he could trust anyone he could hire randomly either, not unless maybe he went all the way and hired someone from the dockworkers association. Anyone from around here he hired was likely to ask a few too many questions or quietly pay attention to a little too much, like how Sun Hee and Han might look a little like people the ABB were looking for.
"I need a brute power." He muttered grouchily, wiping sweat off his forehead with his forearm, as he had just finished pushing a vanity from Mai's apartment into the back of the truck. Luckily a fairly small one, all things considered.
And at least he was a big guy, and could even see this as exercise really.
They were finally beginning to leave summer behind, although not quite yet into fall, so the weather at least wasn't too sweltering. Moving was a pain even without adding dying of heat into the equation.
Mai, who was sitting nearby, legs dangling off the edge of the back of the truck, cocked an eyebrow and replied dryly, "I made you a whole list." She patted her pockets, like she was looking for it, smirking at him, "I'm sure it was fairly exhaustive actually."
Jordan gave her an irritated look, "Most of them were not attainable." Really, killing all the wards, I can't think of any one thing that would make me get killed quicker.
Except perhaps revealing Cauldron's dirty secrets, at which point my life expectancy will be as long as it takes Contessa to ask for a portal…
Mai crossed her arms, making a tsk sound, still seemingly annoyed at his morals, however tattered they were. "We'll work on it." She promised ominously.
Jordan sighed, not bothering to argue the point, once he started gathering more powers, perhaps she'd let this whole nonsense go.
It wasn't like he was even pretending to care about killing normal gang members. So how long until his morals stretched even more.
Mai cocked her head, examining the vanity, "When you use your power… Does anything you hold become weightless?" She asked curiously.
Jordan paused, because that was a good question. And would have been great to know before he broke his back lugging all this shit down the stairs, because of course their apartment's elevator was down. "I feel like I probably can't just make a car incorporeal and pick up the car in that state and then toss it and make it corporeal." He theorized, looking at the furniture in the truck, either way, even if it worked, it wasn't like he could have moved all this in daylight using a cape power anyway.
Having a instinctive grasp of his power seemed to only extend as far as the original user had utilized it, he'd been trying different things, confirming the limitations he had, possibly picking up heavy things as nothing using Shadow Stalkers powers he had not attempted, however, another thing to add to the list…
Mai clicked her tongue, "It's going to really help in the planning part of our operations if we can nail down what you can do…"
Jordan nodded, still ruminating on the possibilities in his powers, perhaps he'd been a bit lax in power testing.
He shook his head, leaving it for later, clapping his hands together, wiping any dust off them as he turned to Mai.
"Either way that was the last of it, since we're leaving the beds and such for the things already in place at our new home." Jordan said, glad there was already some furnishings in place, without a brute power he certainly wasn't carrying beds and dressers down on his own.
Even if he could affect them into a breaker state it just wasn't viable anyway, even if they waited until the middle of the night - not right in front of the apartment building - let alone viable now, in the middle of the day.
The problem of being in ABB territory was that you never knew if the person walking down the street or peeking out their window would report it to the ABB or not.
Mai nodded, grimacing slightly, as she looked up at the building they'd called home, however crappy it was. "I suppose it's time for the clean up then." She said distastefully.
Jordan looked at her suspiciously, "You have a habit of making sweeping statements that freak me out, you know?" He said, noting that Sun Hee was coming out of the building at the same time, what meager possessions she owned, in her hands. Han was with Jana until it was time to move her to the van they were transporting her in - he wouldn't bother his sister by moving her until they were ready to go.
Mai scoffed, running a hand through her hair, hopping off the back of the truck, "Someone's got to train you to use your brain, you tell me, what are we missing, boss?" Tension was clearly visible in her face, her eyes pinched.
Jordan glanced over at the apartment building, mulling it over, knowing Mai wasn't mocking him, she was serious, there was something they needed to do, and she wanted him to think it through.
He hadn't done a good job of using his head so far since coming to Earth Bet, so he knew Mai was right, he needed to think through every step of a situation if he was going to survive as a crime lord.
It didn't take long at all once he focused on their situation, "Our landlord is scum, both of us leaving immediately… You leaving immediately, it's out of the ordinary, he will pass it on to someone."
Considering Mai's… Relationship with the landlord, he would definitely be upset she was leaving, without notice. Perhaps upset enough to let the ABB know.
Jordan sighed, shoulders slumping slightly, "That's what you mean with clean up, we can't let the landlord report us leaving, or keep records of us at all, not if people might start being interested in me soon." Mai is tightly tied to my identity here, her gaining attention means I do as well.
Because of course the landlord in ABB territory at least marginally dealt with the ABB, paid them off for sure. And there was likely a reason why an ABB cast off like Mai found a home there to begin with.
He was a suspicious character and definitely tied into criminal activity, Jordan knew this as he'd many times intimidated people on his behalf in exchange for a break on the rent.
They'd be out of the way in the trainyards, but it didn't mean they wanted people looking for them, making it harder for them to move around. And if the landlord reported Mai leaving to whoever might be concerned about that, it could lead to difficulties.
Mai nodded seriously, "That's at least one part of the equation, but not all of it." She pursed her lips thoughtfully, "One day the PRT or BBPD will look into us, I'd rather they get perfectly normal information from here, just records of our tenancy, no stories, no notes on under the table deals - nothing of our own personal deals with the landlord. Even such a small thing builds a profile, builds a record of criminal leanings."
"So you need me to kill him."
Sun Hee, having quietly been listening to the conversation since arriving in the middle of it, shook her head, mouthing 'come on', sharing a look with Mai at his statement.
"What!?" He said defensively.
Okay so he had killing as one of the first options too often, but it made sense here.
Mai gestured for Sun Hee to go ahead, her own expression filled with fond exasperation.
"Killing isn't always the solution, you know, boss?" Sun Hee said, frowning minutely, as she cocked her hip and wagged a finger at him, which didn't work out well for her as half the stuff she had seemingly forgotten she was carrying, clattered to the ground.
She'd been a lot more quiet and reserved after popping her killing cherry at the ABB safehouse, so he was glad to see her expressive again. He was surprised she was advocating for leniency though, considering what had set her off into a killing spree in the first place. She should be set to go against Jun, their landlord - because of his similar tastes.
"If you kill him, dontcha think the cops or the ABB will look into the people who just took off?" Sun Hee continued, "If the point is to make it so no one looks twice at you guys leaving, you can't raise a big stink."
Jordan rubbed the back of his head, "Fine, I still want to kill the guy though." He said darkly, "He deserves it for being a sleaze and harming what's mine…" He eyed Mai who shook her head at him, lips upturned just a smidgeon, "But fine, we'll do it your way, I'll just have to kill him in six months or something…"
Mai nodded sharply, "I'll go negotiate with him then." She said with distaste, her face growing stony as if she was preparing herself, shutting down her emotions.
"The fuck do you think you're doing?" Jordan said immediately, stepping in front of her. And she calls me one note - she does the exact same damn thing!
This time Sun Hee backed him up, seemingly ready to tear at her hair, "Oh my god, you're just as bad as him!" She cried out, looking to the sky as if praying for patience.
Okay, maybe not entirely backing me up…
Mai gave them both a steely look, "It's the only way to get him to erase records, especially his secret ones, and to keep quiet about us. It's the last time. I can stomach it." She tried to convince them.
Sun Hee dragged a hand down her face, "Okay, for the first time I definitely feel like the older person here, you both are such teenagers!"
Jordan gave her a dirty look for that comment, because really, with her usual behavior? Before he turned back towards Mai, "Look, I'm not letting you do that, it just isn't happening." He said firmly.
He'd take the small risk in killing him before that. The ABB wouldn't have an easy time finding them, surely. And the BBPD and PRT was a future concern anyway.
"I don't see you two presenting any better plans…" Mai said testily, seemingly massively offended at Sun Hee's comment, her body language confrontational as she stared down the shorter girl.
Sun Hee snorted, "Just because we don't have any doesn't make yours a good one, Mai!" She stressed intently, "We can come up with something, together."
Jordan eyed the short Korean girl, making a realization. "Hey… We do have a Master, right here…"
Before the two girls could descend into an argument, Jordan stopped them with a sharp look, his mind already following the trail of the thought he'd had thanks to Sun Hee.
A way to get rid of the man, and ensure their records were clean.
And to make it even better, this time Mai was the one who wasn't thinking clearly, and he, could show his chops off as the boss,
And save her from her short-sighted stupidity.
How the tables have turned…
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The Landlords office,
They hadn't wasted time, they'd locked up the truck, and then they'd trooped off to the office and they'd knocked on the landlord's office door, Mai being the one to do it since they knew he'd open the door for her.
Sure enough, he'd confirmed who it was through the peephole, and then undid over six locks, before opening the door to let Mai in, a lecherous look on his pale face.
As soon as he did and Sun Hee could see his shadow, she Mastered him, disappearing from their senses and memory, but luckily they had their notes taped to their forearms to remind them of her and what she was doing.
… They needed to find a better system than that.
Sun Hee kept the landlord standing in a corner, as Jordan began digging through the physical files, Mai sitting down at his desktop computer, the screen already open for her, saving them time.
Technically, Sun Hee could help as well, but she didn't like taking over the - in her written words - major sleazeball, and wanted to limit how much she had to do while being in control of his body. So she'd just be standing there in the corner. Creepily.
Jordan wasn't sure how that was better, but she was the Master, so… He'd leave her to it, he supposed.
Jordan found their files, letting out a pleased huff on noticing they held only the bare basics, payment information and names, not even ages, occupations, any personal information or mentions of their deals. "Nothing on the physical files, they're perfectly normal." He told Mai, inserting them back.
Well, normal for this kind of slum, any honest business would have much better records. But the BBPD would hardly expect better either if they investigated here.
They were all wearing gloves, even if the likelihood that anything in here would be part of a forensic investigation was low. It was his idea, because again, he wanted to improve on his thinking, not shoot off the hip so much.
A thinker power could really help him out…
Just maybe not Tattletale, he wasn't sure he wanted that much TMI on a daily basis.
"Keep looking, I'm sure he has more, he's been dirty a long time, those files are the ones he keeps out if the cops come calling, no way you'll find anything there." Mai said distractedly, hard at work at building their con.
With the abject confusion in any of Sun Hee's victims once she stopped mastering them, they were going to plant things in his computer and his files, to make Jun believe he needed to run, all without having anything to do with him and Mai.
His files would all show that they had simply moved out beforehand, they'd even backdated it, so if his disappearance was even investigated by the ABB or BBPD, they wouldn't be part of it. Hopefully.
Jun would come out of his confusion, realize their apartments were empty, check his files, see it all laid out, even with physical copies, will he believe he just was tired and confused? Drunk or high? And forgot that he'd gotten the notice already and last month's rent? Or will he assume mastering and the like?
Even in a world with capes, people rationalized things, especially with physical proof right in front of them, Jordan didn't believe it was likely he'd suspect capes. Besides he'd be too busy fearing for his life to worry about his tenants, it was a possibility he wouldn't even notice they were gone before he ran off.
He'd given Mai several stacks of computer programming, design, repair, and hacking skills from his repertoire of stolen knowledge, so she could work over his computer, she probably didn't even need most of that, but he'd made a convincing argument.
He'd snuck accounting in there too, because why not, and Mai did begrudgingly accept that skills were not the same as cape power. Both her and Sun Hee now also had a martial art each under their belt - as well as expert firearms proficiency already, from him giving skills away.
Jordan began looking around the small office, looking for a safe, or hidden space. And his eyes were immediately drawn to the portrait behind his desk, because it was a classic wasn't it?
Besides, there were no bookshelves, so it was literally the only other option for a classic secret space.
"How much you wanna bet he has a safe behind that?" He asked Mai, stepping over.
Mai snorted, "No bet, he's as cliche as can be, down to his porn folder."
"I'm sure I don't want to know." Jordan said, sending a dark look at the silent man stuck in the corner. He carefully lifted the portrait off, even if he wanted to rip it apart and trash the office, he needed to keep everything the same. And wouldn't you know, behind the portrait of some old Asian man he didn't recognize - was the safe.
He eyed his hand, he'd been working at Shadow Stalkers power, trying to succeed in not going full breaker state, he'd had limited success, as it seemed Shadow Stalker had not been able to do that, at least yet, so the knowledge was not with him, so he'd had to try and try again.
He needed to ensure he didn't get so caught up in getting new powers that he forgot that he might be able to do more with what he had.
When it came to trying to perform partial breaker states… It failed half the time, but if it failed, at least all he'd feel was pain while being pushed back out. He concentrated, seeing his arm slowly going into the shadowy breaker state, immediately sticking it through the safe door.
With how haphazard his control of this partial ability was, he didn't want to waste any time.
Now came the tricky part. He focused completely, letting the sound of Mai's typing fade away, as he let the breaker state fall from only his hand, grasping the contents of the safe, immediately going full breaker state, including the things he was holding, as he felt his control beginning to slip. He let out a relieved gasp, as he successfully pulled all the folders and the single bag he'd felt in there, out with him.
Mai turned from where she was subtly changing all the electronic files and building their con, looking pleased as she saw the Ziploc bag of USB sticks. "Give me those." She said, snatching the bag away immediately, "This should be it, everything we'll need, lazy of him to keep it in his safe though…" She peered around the office with sharp eyes, "After you check those files, keep looking, just in case these are all decoys."
Jordan severely doubted a minor crook like this had that level of paranoia. Everyone isn't you, Mai…
"He's just a minor landlord, a dirtbag, sure, but still minor - there's such a thing as too much paranoia, Mai." Jordan admonished, flipping through the files he'd pulled out.
It didn't make for nice reading, both he and Mai were amongst the paper trail of unsavory deals made with tenants going back over a decade. Mai wasn't even the youngest girl forced to make such deals to have a roof over their head…
Fucking pedophiles deserved the worst deaths possible.
"Are you sure we can't kill him? This shit is disgusting." He said, waving one of the folders, "He's been doing this for years, and because this is Brockton fucking Bay, he's gotten away with it!"
He of course removed his and Mai's details from the folders, but it still sat ill with him, he might be a criminal, but this shit was monstrous and even villains should punish it when they saw it.
Mai gave him a considering look, before returning to her work. "Not yet, but if we set this up right, he'll be fleeing for the rest of his life anyway, he'll meet a bad end somewhere."
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Jordan made a noise of disgust, "What are you framing him with anyway? We never decided?"
Mai smirked, her scars stretching, the glare of the computer screen reflecting from her eyes as he stepped around to the front of the desk.
"I hacked into his email, and I've buried some fake emails in his inbox from years ago, warning him one of the girls he was abusing was actually the runaway daughter of an Elite member." She said, tapping away at the keyboard viciously.
Jordan flipped through the folders he had, seeing if he could identify the most likely girl to be used in the con, grimacing as he found a picture of a girl that definitely looked like she could have been some rich white runaway.
And if she was a day over thirteen he'd eat his shoes. "He deserves to be Hookwolf'd." He muttered.
Not something he'd ever thought he'd think, but some people just deserved it.
Clicking away at something in a particularly violent seeming way, Mai's smirk grew wider and more vicious, "And now I just added a new email from an ABB contact of his, referencing all the previous ones, allowing him to find them when he looks, warning him the girl has shown up dead, and the Elite are blaming him, and their representative is on their way to Brockton Bay to ask him some pointed questions about his actions in regards to one of theirs."
He deserves worse… Jordan couldn't help but think.
"Is that… Is he even going to believe that? It's a little far-fetched." Jordan said skeptically, sure to make him run, there wasn't any doubt about that, but the Elite? For this weasel?
And Mai would only be using this girl's death, if she actually already knew she was dead. Dammit! What was in those electronic files that's not in these physical ones.
Mai chuckled slightly, managing to even make that sound menacing, "When you change things so that some runaway brat has family in the Elite. Family that she ran away from and that has been searching for her all this time, it suddenly becomes believable that someone might want revenge for anything untoward happening..." She nodded at the folders he'd taken out of the safe, "We'll add it onto his physical copy as well, so when he checks in a panic, he'll find that he always had proof she was related to some big shot in the east coast Elite and he'd just forgotten or skimmed over it."
Jordan walked around the office, trying to see if he could find any other hidden spaces like Mai had asked him, while pondering the situation, he'd known they were framing Jun for something, it had been his idea, just hadn't known what for sure until they were in his system. With his files as they were, it fit, but… "Won't he run to Lung for protection?"
Thinking of the Elite, his first thought was Uppercrust and his force fields, wondering if he could manage to find his way to the man in New York, something to add to long term planning.
Defensive force fields would help him make Jana a lot safer.
Mai shook her head, scoffing loudly, "He's not important enough to dare to go near Lung, let alone go beg him for protection from capes or their 'representatives'."
Jordan nodded slowly, "So he'll likely run. And we've changed all our files, for anyone that comes looking for anything. It seems we got what we wanted then."
Not a completely satisfying end, because the guy deserved a painful death, but it did sever them from ABB territory without anyone else looking too heavily into them or finding anything untoward.
"Once he's out of Brockton Bay though?" Jordan asked leadingly.
Mai shrugged, "Put a hit on him for all I care, he'll die in a ditch anyway, regardless of our help, he'll get what's coming for him."
Jordan nodded slowly, still wishing he could go Jack Slash on the creep that had turned out to be much worse than he'd already expected. "That will have to do, I suppose." He acknowledged.
Can't win them all… Jana is more important than revenge for an already dead girl, and for Mai, who seems to be happy with this resolution.
"We'll still be here awhile, make yourself comfortable, the USBs will take awhile to go through." Mai said wryly, waving him to the chair in front of the desk.
Jordan sighed, sitting down, not having had any luck anyway on finding anything in the small cramped office other than the safe, he'd have to reinsert everything after they were done too, so the guy wouldn't suspect a thing.
Killing people would be so much easier…
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Hours later,
Jordan exited the small apartment built into the large warehouse, having checked to see that Jana was settled in alright.
It really was a godsend that they had this, even if Mai's backstory was filled with horrors, her father supplying this building for her dream, only to turn around and betray her in horrific ways.
Training areas, a motor pool, apartments and barracks, a medical area - if wholly unstocked. Everything they could need for a while going forward was here, and he hadn't even explored the sublevel or the storage areas yet.
Someone out there was looking out for him, which made him wary for when the boot would come down. Running into Mai, was a godsend. This location added onto his run of luck, even Sun Hee could be labeled as good fortune, even if he'd wasted regeneration on her grandfather.
Then going through the USBs from their landlord, they'd found out why the BBPD never sniffed around, despite all the missing person cases that likely originated from his building.
He had video of a cop engaged in 'illicit activities' with someone in his apartment building, obviously a case of enticing the cop into a trap. That cop was now Deputy chief of police, John Haines - and that blackmail material was now theirs.
Something that could be incredibly useful once their gang got going properly.
All this good luck was suspicious to Jordan however. Because he knew the setting. And literally no one in Earth Bet had this kind of luck. At least not for very long.
He walked into the large communal area that was set up near the barracks, frowning as he heard Sun Hee squeal, as she danced around with some sort of black bodysuit.
"What's this?" He asked, looking around and seeing dozens of outfits laying around. His heart sank, oh, no, cape bullshit….
Mai saw his look and stabbed a finger at him, "No! I see that look, you know you can't ignore this. You're our boss and whether you like it or not, this is how capes work!"
Jordan rolled his eyes, but acknowledged the point. "Fine, yes, I dislike the whole idea of cape culture, but I agree I might need to follow some parts of it to make this work." Begrudgingly, because it will be too much of a pain in the ass to explain to literally every being on the planet why I'm not, if I don't…
"I'm guessing you had costume materials stashed away here?" He asked, letting it go, acknowledging he'd need to go for at least the minimum amount of effort.
Sun Hee cheerfully answered instead of Mai, "She has tons of stuff, I'll just need to learn to sew properly and stuff and I can make my own costume just like this!" She held up the pitch black material of a costume that was obviously intended for a more… Developed woman.
"You really got stocked up with most everything you'd need in the future, huh?" Jordan asked Mai, shaking his head at Sun Hee's choice, never having expected the mostly cheerful girl, going full black for coloring.
Although they did say, once you go black you never go back…
Mai's smile was bittersweet, her fingers stroking a spandex type of material in her lap, "I've always been the prepare first kind of girl." She admitted.
Jordan knew it would come in handy as she helped him organize his criminal enterprise. Focusing on Sun Hee as she continued to mutter about sewing and costume design. "Here, sewing." He said, waving a hand, which wasn't really necessary, and gave her the ability of master seamstress he'd stolen from a senile old woman at the long term care facility.
"Oooh, I can work with this! Thanks boss!" She chirped, hugging the material she was holding, tight to her chest.
"You're welcome." Jordan said, resigned to getting started on this whole costume thing.
Mai gave him a sweet smile, eyes intent, "So, we're hitting the ABB again soon, so what's your cape name, boss, hmm?" She gestured to their surroundings, "We have our base, so we're ready to go a bit loud, but you need some definite sprucing up first personally."
Sun Hee immediately bounced up, a hand in the air, "Oh, oh! I know! Punisher! Apocalypse! Doctor Doom!"
Jordan just sighed, knowing this entire thing was going to be one huge headache, "Stop naming comic book people." He grumbled. "I'll pick my own damn name."
Both women gave him a look of skepticism that deeply offended him.
"I'll get it done, you worry about getting a costume and name for yourself, Mai help her take it seriously." Jordan told Sun Hee, adding Mai to it to ensure it wouldn't be something silly.
"I'm the boss, I'll make my own bullshit up."
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One week later,
"Are we ready?" Mai asked him quietly, her hands loosely holding onto the steering wheel of the large van they had used to get close to their target.
It was also their escape vehicle, as they didn't intend to leave alone.
Jordan looked ahead through the binoculars he was using, seeing a lot of activity around the rundown looking building they were hitting tonight, the darkness almost total around them as the streetlights were all out, hiding their van as well. Not so around the brothel however, there it was all well lit, excessively so one might even say, and the men standing outside didn't even bother to hide that they were armed.
They all proudly wore red and green, feeling safe this deep into Lungs territory.
Lung, however, was again clashing with the Empire 88 tonight, Jordan and his group having been ready to go at any time over the last few days, just waiting for the news of Lung being elsewhere.
There were other smaller hidden brothels around Brockton Bay that were easier to hit, but that would also ensure the ABB guarded the others more religiously after, and that this location would become a fortress.
It was now or never.
With Mai's information, and contacts, it had just made sense to take on the largest one, taking advantage of the gang war. It would be madness if Lung could arrive and put a stop to them, but now that he was busy, it was a great possibility to damage the ABB, while also busting out people Mai had known before, people likely willing to get revenge, or at the very least, had nowhere to go and would work for Jordan.
In whatever capacity they wanted or felt able to do, he didn't intend to pressgang anyone. With his skill giving capabilities, their current skills wouldn't matter anyway, only their willingness and potential for loyalty.
Of course, this was stepping out, he still intended to use Grue's power and blame it on him, but in case he was discovered, he'd actually begrudgingly done minimal steps to adopt a cape uniform.
He'd gone for a sweeping cloak/cape ala Doctor Doom, in a dark green so dark it could almost be mistaken for black, attached around his neck by a medallion, blank for now, but if he ever decided on a tag for his gang, he'd likely add it to the medallion. Thanks to Sun Hee's mechanical skills, he had a rebreather covering his lower face instead of a mask, good for adhering to cape sensibilities and for preventing any poison or gas from being inhaled outside his breaker state.
Under those simple forced additions to adhere to the cape games, he simply wore dark baggy cargo pants and a simple dark sweater, with combat boots to finish it off, no complicated armor, or shiny target painted on him.
"I'm ready." He said, the voice coming out more mechanical and darker through the rebreather. He knocked on the dividing wall between the cab and the back of the van, "Ready?" He asked Sun Hee.
"....I can do this." The reply came after a moment of hesitation.
Not exactly the most inspiring agreement, but he knew she'd firm up once they were in action, with how horrible the ABB were, and her previous reaction to it, she wouldn't flake out on him.
Like him, she'd been forced to get an actual cape uniform, even if she had actually been excited about it, unlike him. If everything went alright, no one should ever even see her anyway, but she had insisted on living up to her spooky persona.
Her uniform was not too unlike Coil's, something which had discomforted Jordan. The Korean girl had a pitch black all encompassing skin tight uniform that covered her head to toes, with only a dark set of goggles for her eyes setting it apart. She insisted on being called Wraith. Despite the fact there already existed a cape by that name.
She shouldn't be in much danger, but he was still annoyed she'd refused any armor over her soft bits due to 'aesthetics', She wasn't supposed to be seen!? Why did her look matter over armor?
He was different, he was actually bulletproof at a thought. He'd had the sense at least to not mention that she didn't really have much 'aesthetic' to show off. He'd learned that much at least.
His uniform also didn't outline… Everything.
Capes were fucking weird and exhibitionistic.
Of course, he'd also had to pick a name, at Mai's and Sun Hee's insistence, because 'it's how it's done' of course. Eventually he'd acquisited, if only to avoid the PRT choosing something dumb once he was discovered.
Which if things went poorly tonight, could be tonight.
But he couldn't huddle at home and not do anything for risk of early discovery, that would be worse than overextending himself. People's first thought won't be that he gains powers by killing anyway, not immediately.
And their plan was good, they'd pull this off.
"I'll wait here, ready for our potential recruits." Mai said, patting her shotgun, there in case someone would come bother her during the insanity, "Knock 'em dead, Apex."
He nodded, stepping out of the car, the name something Mai had come up with, Apex from Apex predator, because he was the kind of cape other capes would fear. Just like the Fairy Queen taking on the mantle of royalty, Mai had given him the mantle of Apex predator. The Cape that hunted and ate other capes.
Wraith had gotten her name and costume, for playing up her stranger angle, hiding the Master aspect to those uninitiated. Because Masters were feared everywhere - and targeted quickly in any engagement, often lethally, no matter the rules.
His name… He didn't live up to it fully yet. But one day, every cape on Earth Bet would fear him. And he'd grasp their powers and use them to survive or escape this hellworld.
As soon as he got close enough that he was barely in sight from the brothel, he raised his arms, dark smoke wafting up them, before he gestured forward, and a cloud of dark smoke billowed forward like an unstoppable tidal wave, engulfing the brothel, the beginning screams of warnings by the guards cut off as they were enveloped.
Apex pulled out two guns from his shoulder holsters, and didn't waste time, running forward, having no trouble seeing in the circumference of his own power.
He came up to an ABB member screaming into a phone who's signal no longer worked, executing him with a shot to the back of his head, the guard standing just a few feet away jumped, sound muffled in his power, but not completely stopped, the loud gunshot from such a close proximity coming through.
It didn't help the man, even though he made an attempt to swing his gun around to fire at the direction he thought he'd heard a sound from, Apex simply stepped aside, leveling one of his guns, blowing the man's face away as he fired with his other gun, getting a third guard who had begun firing indiscriminately, taking care of a fourth guard in a hail of bullets, saving Apex the trouble.
The two last men were scrambling for the imagined safety of the interior, feeling their way across the wall, when Apex simply stepped up and executed them as well.
This wasn't how capes did things, not really. Not unless you called yourself Jack Slash or the Butcher.
Apex didn't care, these people were beyond scum, happily taking advantage of and using people until they're broken husks and then disposing of them without a care. They didn't get to say I was following orders, or that times were tough and they did what they had to do. They got him as their consequence. And a bullet was mercy compared to what he wanted to do to people that would see his sister as nothing but merchandise.
He double checked his forearm, the plan written down as sparsely as possible. They knew the girls were kept in the basement when not 'on duty' so he pulled back his power, allowing Wraith the opportunity to get into the basement, his power unfortunately blinding her as well as their enemies.
That was fine in this instance however, Wraith could deal with the men that were in the basement, and then get the women out, he'd take care of the rest of the building, and save the unfortunate women who were stuck working at the moment.
He reloaded his guns, eyeing the door ahead of him.
If the ABB weren't completely moronic, they would fire everything they had at anyone coming through that door. If they could notice it was opened.
Luckily, he could go bulletproof. With a simple flex of his will, he turned into shadow, flowing through the door, the men inside none the wiser, even though he doubted they would have heard the sound of the door opening anyway.
He arrived to find a dozen men arrayed in a somewhat decent attempt at a firing line, all nervously waiting, straining their senses, guns unerringly pointed forward, most of them even managing to aim at the door.
The door, he noticed, had a couple of beer cans laying in front of it, to make noise when the door opened, so someone in here was above a regular mook at least. Not that it was going to help them.
He looked around at the kitschy interior, someone must have seen a brothel in a b type movie once and gone to great lengths to be as unoriginal as possible. It was gaudy and kitschy, with red shag carpets, Arabian nights kind of cloth screens dividing areas, pillows literally everywhere for no particular reason. Even the lighting was tinted red, to give the whole room a, to Apex, disgusting and macabre feel.
Against the far wall, several clients were hiding, spread far apart, the cowards all having the same idea separately, to get away from where they remembered the entrance was.
Several girls lay where they were, appearing either drugged out, or simply… Not in a state to care anymore. He bristled at the signs of abuse, bruises that he could see on exposed skin.
I picked the right target…
Getting some of the girls out would be a problem if they were this out of it though.
He could spy one of the men in the back, continuously trying to use his phone, cursing in Cantonese as it wouldn't get a signal.
"You can't hear me, you won't ever even know why this is happening." He said slowly, walking around the men waiting nervously for his arrival, "But this was a long time coming. And you all deserve so much worse."
He stepped behind the man that was obviously in charge, calmly putting the muzzle of his gun to the back of his head.
Immediately the man froze, gulping loudly, at least to Apex, no one else heard a thing.
"Ah… M-mister Grue, I-I… I h-have m-mon-ey! W-women, any-anything you'd l-like!" He stammered out, not daring to move a finger.
Apex scowled beneath his rebreather, it wasn't surprising the man would offer everything he could for his life.
That was just human nature.
What annoyed him was that for a moment, he'd hesitated, wondering if he was going too far.
He pulled the trigger, the back of the manager's head exploding, as he aligned his other gun at the next man, and fired.
This is Earth Bet, the only way to any kind of salvation is through seas of blood.
The Slaughterhouse Nine showed that. Cauldron showed that.
Khepri showed that.
Peace is a lie.
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With Wraith,
Wraith exited the van strolling slowly down the street, knowing Apex would block sight and sound any second, so she wasn't in any danger.
She pouted slightly at the idea no one would get to see her uniform, she'd thought it was absolutely kickass, but gramps, Apex and Mai (Ugh, she needs a codename!) all hated it.
She admitted it was a bit of a pain to put on and take off, but it really fit well with the whole stranger thing, and being like a ghost. If someone saw her they'd immediately think, yeah that's definitely Wraith!
Well, they would once Apex would let them get actual rep instead of using misdirection all the time, she thought with some irritation. At this rate Grue was going to be considered the badass of all badasses and the dude wasn't even real.
The dark cloud of - shut up in your face - went up. And she strolled into it, just by the edge, enough that no one could spot her, but far enough no gangbangers were going to accidentally shoot her. She had her own gun at the small of her back, but using that was not what she was here for, It was just in case she ran into someone while outside a shadow.
After a few minutes, the cloud lessened, the front cleared no doubt, and Wraith jogged forward, approaching the basement window, knowing Apex would have just released them from his power. She couldn't wait long if she wanted to prevent anyone calling Oni Lee or even Lung, although she doubted a big 'ole raging fire dragon would pick up the phone.
Easily spotting a shadow through the glass, she moved inside the building, immediately jumping from the shadow of a large weapons cabinet, to the shadow of the lanky Asian man with a topknot of all things, that was frantically dialing his phone, the other men all grasping weapons nervously, watching the stairs to the first floor.
Taking a second to familiarize herself with her surroundings once she had him in her grasp, she identified eight targets, and several rows of cells, all filled with women, all at least allowed a cot, but nothing else, just living to sleep and waking up to serve.
She used the man she'd taken control of, tossing the cellphone he'd been about to use at the head of the nearest man.
It smacked him in the back of his head, and he turned around, cursing, "What the fuck, man?" Eyes widening as she raised the manager's gun, painting the other men in his brain matter as she pulled the trigger, already jumping to the shadow of a man at the edge of the room immediately after firing.
The manager looked very confused, staring at the gun in his hand, as he was filled with lead, several of the men having fired at the same time, enraged at his betrayal.
"Someone call Oni Lee!" A stocky man with a pointed beard called out, stomping towards the cell, "The rest of you, start taking hostages, just in case."
Oh, that's NOT going to happen, buddy, Wraith thought, with any hesitation she'd held from before the mission annihilated the second she entered the building and pulled on her Wraith persona fully.
Mister initiative suddenly lost his head, due to her meat puppet placing his gun to it and firing, Wraith not wasting the time for the inevitable conclusion, jumping into another man's shadow even as the scream of "Cape!" Echoed across the basement as several of the survivors ran for the door, giving her plenty of opportunities to gun them down as they left their back's open.
Several of the women were wide awake and screaming in fear at this point, as men were gunned down mercilessly ahead of them, others cheered, not caring if their death had arrived, as long as they got to watch as the men before them died.
Wraith exited the shadow of the last man alive, his confused eyes staring at her costumed face as she drew the gun from her back, aligning it, letting the last bastard have the personal touch. "I hope they have all the pineapples for your ass in hell, you monster." She said, pulling the trigger.
She idly looked around the room afterwards, feeling slightly sick as she noted all the… gunk, and blood. Killing was so disgusting and dirty. But it was necessary, she told herself, placing her gun back into the holster at the small of her back, turning towards the women, those conscious anyway, raising her hands to show she meant no harm, as most of them reared back in fright.
"I'm Wraith, I'm here to rescue you." She said, a tinge of excitement behind the words, because no matter what bad things she had to do, she was definitely a hero, saving these people.
"You're who?" A white and attractive teen girl asked warily, keeping several women behind her, her arms held out to keep them back.
The numerous needle marks stood out clearly against her pale skin.
Wraith cocked her head, happy to see someone willing to stand up for others, even in this horrible place. "I'm Wraith, here to save you, our gang is going to let you choose whatever you want to do, go free, join, whatever."
The girl stared her down, looking unimpressed, hiding her fear pretty well behind attitude, "Aren't you a little short to be in a gang?" She snarked.
Wraith wondered if it was strictly necessary to bring everyone back with them.
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With Apex,
Three floors. Three floors of people, almost all of them ABB.
Apex knew his threat level would rise from this, that the PRT would devote resources to finding out more about 'Grue' which had been something he wanted to avoid originally.
But, he couldn't let this shit stand. Not when Mai had been able to show him some of what had been on those USBs, the ages of girls going missing, being sold abroad or interned here, in a brothel too close to the dragon for the PRT or BBPD to even touch.
Their landlord had been part of a network of men who sourced young girls and women for kidnapping. Letting snatch teams know who and where.
He really regretted not killing him, but he was long gone now, fled in the same night they'd left.
At this rate, he might as well hurry up and grab Panacea, because he didn't know if he could wait, not while shit like this was going on, not right in front of him. Without even missing a step, he executed a client who was crawling on the floor, begging for mercy, utterly lost within the confines of his power.
They'd never get the carpet clean after this.
He wasn't a good person by any stretch, considering he was literally killing his way through a building right now. He'd hardly go on a crusade around the world to save women wherever they were abused. He wasn't a hero.
But right here, in his front yard?
This shit stopped now.
His gang would ensure it. Just like Marquis had held rules sacred to him that had allowed him to control most of Brockton Bay, he'd do the same, just with more success.
No more sex slavery. No more forced addictions, no more underage girls forced into prostitution.
It ended.
He kicked in the door to the manager's office on the third floor, allowing the darkness to fade away, as every client and ABB mook except the guy in charge, had all been killed.
"Call Lung." He ordered, growling, both guns aligned on the stick-thin and white haired old man that sat calmly at the desk.
"Anything else?" He drawled sarcastically, while dialing, not appearing bothered at all by the cape holding him at gunpoint.
The call went to voicemail, not surprisingly due to Lung already fighting, although it might even be over by this point, Apex thought.
"Tell him what's going on." Apex ordered, gesturing with one of his guns.
"My lord dragon, this is Toshiro calling from the Red Lotus, where a man I can only assume to be Grue, has rudely invaded your most auspicious holding." He gave Apex a sneering and contemptuous look, "He is currently holding me at gunpoint, so I assume he has his own worthless words to share."
Apex wondered if the man hadn't realized exactly what had happened in the rest of the building for him to be there. Did he just think he covered everything in darkness and then took all this time to find the way up to the third floor?
Either way, he was on the clock, "Lung, your men are dead, the girls are gone, the flesh trade ends now, or I'll keep coming back and taking all that's yours."
Toshiro spluttered, face growing white as he finally realized what kind of situation he was in, and that Lung wasn't here, his reputation not enough for probably the first time in years. "You can't do that, it's LUNG!"
"Sayonara." Apex said, putting a bullet through his forehead, and another through the phone seconds later.
Yeah…
That's escalation.
I guess I've adapted to the setting.
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They'd just finished loading over two dozen women into the back of the van, not a comfortable amount of space at all. However it would only be temporary at least and they did have to get them out here somehow, and the van was simply the most inconspicuous. That's when Wraith called out from atop the van, where she was keeping watch using the binoculars, "Oni Lee! Six 'o clock!"
"Go!" Apex shouted to Mai, who didn't hesitate to put the pedal to the metal, roaring out of there with screeching tires. Wraith disappearing for a moment, before reappearing inside the van passenger seat, she tossed Apex a salute, and he knew she would ensure nothing happened to Mai and the slaves they'd rescued.
Without hesitation, Apex pulled out both guns and began firing at Oni Lee's approaching figure, trying to draw attention away from the van. Warning shots really, because he didn't actually want to hit him.
Oni Lee teleported across several rooftops, seemingly ignoring his fire, poised to follow the van, no doubt correctly figuring out that if their brothel was hit, the van would hold the merchandise.
Cursing, Apex sent forward a wall of dark smoke in-between Oni Lee and the van, obstructing his sight.
Ever so slowly, the Oni turned to regard him, "Grue…" He called out, his voice slightly guttural.
At least he was leaving the van alone, focusing instead on the man both the ABB and the Empire wanted dead.
Apex knew Grues power was about as good of a counter to Oni Lee as any, but he also faced the problem that he really couldn't risk actually hitting the man, because even accidentally killing Oni Lee would be very bad for him.
So while keeping his screen between the departing van and Oni Lee, he ran off in the other direction, forcing the ABB lieutenant to choose. And as he'd thought, he chose the path of least resistance, teleporting after him, instead of going around his block.
Of course, this way, Oni Lee ended up ahead of him in no time, and he just barely covered the area around him in smoke before Oni Lee could teleport to his side and suicide bomb him. Still, inside the dark cloud, he turned into his breaker state, and good thing he did, as the entire area began to be rocketed by explosions as Oni Lee continued to make copies, all of them tossing grenades into the cloud.
He expanded the cloud, the dark smoke billowing out, engulfing Oni Lee, only for that Oni Lee to turn into a cloud of white ash, carried away by the wind.
"Fuck…" He muttered, beginning to move again, keeping in his breaker state, even as the cloud made by his power moved with him.
Periodically grenades would fly into his sphere of influence, destroying everything around him, the road and facades of buildings near him taking damage as Oni Lee pursued him doggedly, even if he couldn't use his usual suicide routine.
Knowing the van would be long gone now, he phased through the door of a building, going through it to exit onto another street, letting his power dissipate on the other side, going through another building to yet another street only keeping enough darkness to cover his form. Oni Lee would have lost him now surely, and hopefully would spend time looking around instead of doing something stupid.
Explosions rang out, and then the screaming started, Apex grinding his teeth together. You motherfucker! He thought, this is why we can't have nice things in Brockton Bay!
He blared out his power again, the dark cloud seeping down the street, drawing the suicide bombers attention - so he'd stop bombing civilian homes to draw him out.
And then the chase was on again. Oni Lee indiscriminately blowing up everything around him, despite the fact they were in ABB territory!
Apex despaired for the idiocy inherent in most capes, what was the point of a gang that destroyed their own holdings and people?
Apex took cover behind a parked car, eyes to the sky, guns ready, as he let his power continue to flow down the street as if he was still running.
He couldn't risk killing Oni Lee, but he had to do something to get the other man off his ass. And without revealing too much.
He quickly spotted Oni Lee teleporting onto a roof, fairly certain it must be the real one, and then had to hold back a curse, as he realized he wasn't good enough of a shot to wing someone on a rooftop with a handgun from street level.
The Oni Lee at the rooftop disappeared, leaving a clone behind that soon dissolved into ashes, thankfully not blowing up the roof out of spite this time.
He couldn't keep pushing his power this far away from him, and the cloud was already thinning out, he peeked around the car to see if Oni Lee was out of sight, regretfully deciding he couldn't save any more civilian casualties and needed to leave to put an end to this all.
"Plink. Plink." He heard behind him, and only his automatic reaction to go into his breaker state saved him, as Oni Lee dispersed into ash behind him, but not before blowing up the car and the entire area around Apex in a fiery blaze.
Shit, shit, shit! Apex thought as he took off again, destroying Oni Lee's line of sight by having Grues darkness power literally explode out of him, covering the entire area again.
He fucking saw, but it was a clone that then died? Does he remember?
He took off again, heading away from ABB territory. The demon didn't care about blowing it up anyway, so perhaps moving towards areas more heavily protected by Empire or Protectorate forces, Oni Lee would back off finally.
He'd just have to be careful to not run into anyone while in his breaker state.
At least the mission had been a success.
If only he'd have some minions with a sniper rifle right about now…
BOOM! A deafening explosion went off in front of him.
Which was quickly followed by parts of a building falling down in front of him, as Oni Lee blew it up, trying to find any way to harm him. His clones teleporting around, leaving more and more of him behind, all of them blowing up around Apex, even diving into his darkness bubble to blow up inside.
Completely pointlessly.
This is getting frustrating…
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Forty five minutes later,
Apex let out a breath, settling down on a rooftop overlooking an alley, still remaining in his breaker state, just beyond relieved to have gotten away from Oni Lee, and feeling a tad guilty for how many deaths the incident had likely caused, as Oni Lee chased him across town, dropping grenades pointlessly.
Finally he'd been drawn off as they'd literally ran right past Armsmaster, who prioritized Oni Lee due to the death toll, allowing Apex to slink away, hidden in the depths of his darkness.
The pointless chase had finally ended.
It's not like Oni Lee had been able to harm Apex as he was, but even discovering his breaker state was less than ideal, Lung could likely draw some parallels between him and 'Grue' as it was, and if he knew what Shadow Stalkers powers were… Someone in Brockton Bay might be on to what his real power was.
Lung was not exactly the ideal one to know, but it was still better than the PRT.
Hopefully Oni Lee was so broken down and destroyed inside that he'd only be able to report - engaged black dude with shadow powers - limiting the fallout to another sighting of 'Grue'.
With it being nighttime, no civilians should have gotten a good enough look to identify his powers, so he should be safe there.
Either way, in the future, if he was going to continue hitting ABB holdings, he needed to exercise more caution.
Might be worth it to hit a few Empire ones for a while, to let the ABB off the hook for a moment, before he accidentally revealed everything, hitting them while their guard was up.
Oni Lee might not be able to even properly pass on anything, he wasn't sure how much of a person was in there anymore, but regular ABB grunts seeing him and surviving to get away, could definitely expose him.
He was about to take off into the night again, when Miss Militia stumbled into the alleyway, her uniform cut up in places, small amounts of blood visible. Apex froze in place above her, not wanting to move an inch and draw her attention.
"Console? Do you read me, console? Intercepted Hookwolf, Cricket and Stormtiger at Johnson and Blair, can you read me?" She tapped at her ear for a few more moments, before muttering something almost inaudible in another language.
It sounded filthy. Think of the children, MM!
For running into three heavy hitting Empire capes, she looked good with just those minor injuries to her name, her power fluctuating between different handguns as she kept trying to reach someone, eventually taking a phone out of her pocket.
Apex still didn't dare to move, sinking into the building might work, or there could be something electrical in the ceiling just where he was passing through and he'd expose himself… Miss Militia would definitely recognize Shadow Stalkers power if she saw him, so it was a less than ideal situation.
Luckily most people didn't actually look up on a regular basis, even in a city where several capes could fly.
Although, considering Glory Girl had an entire forum dedicated to upskirt shots, plenty of people did look up, just at the wrong things.
It shouldn't matter here, Miss Militia had no reason to suspect someone in the sky or on the roof, as long as he kept still and quiet.
" -Drove them off, Velocity was called away right before by console due to a hostage situation with the Merchants, no, just minor injuries, they withdrew due to injuries sustained by Stormtiger, yes, I'm well aware." Miss Militia was speaking into her phone, neatly explaining to Apex as well as the PRT how she was alone, when they were supposed to patrol in pairs.
She's alone.
It hit Apex suddenly, he had Miss Militia, alone. With her having no idea he was there, in an ambush position right above her.
She'd driven off Hookwolf, Cricket and Stormtiger on her own.
It wasn't capturing them, sure. But it was her against three capes and she got them to turn tail and run. Probably by overwhelming firepower.
The things he could do with a mix of Militias power and Shadow Stalkers…
Let alone the amount of work he could do if he didn't have to sleep anymore.
Should he?
Could he?
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