This was going to be so epic. Once word got out about what Jennica had managed to do today, there was no way Pencil and his gang wouldn't practically beg her to join them. She was going to use her own foster brother's powers to traumatize or even kill everyone in this stadium. Sure, she'd let a few escape to tell the story. It was more fun that way. But there would still be plenty of bodies to satisfy the Scion bloodlust. And the best part of it was, she'd get away with the whole thing completely. Once all was said and done, it would be Jason who took the blame for this. She was killing and traumatizing all these people, while destroying her own adopted brother's life. If that didn't get Pencil’s attention and make him want her (in every possible way), nothing would.

And best of all, thanks to a little precaution she’d taken before starting this whole thing, she also had Paintball and his little group unconscious and trapped in one of the other rooms. They’d thought they could break in here and disrupt her fun, but Jennica had been ready for them. Well, ready for anyone to interrupt, really. She’d taken the time to stick her red puppeting gems onto several other Fell-Touched. Those mercenaries, Two-Step and Lastword, Double Down from La Casa, Angel Dust and Janus from the Easy Eights, and Suckshot from the Ninety-Niners. She managed to get her controlling gems onto each of them, and now they worked for her. It wouldn’t last forever, of course. But with those guys under her power, she was actually able to ambush those so-called Avant-Guard fucks, so now they wouldn’t be a problem. So she could focus on squeezing every bit of entertainment out of this without interruption. And when it was all over, she wouldn’t just have a delightful video of all this trauma and death to show Pencil, she’d be able to hand him Paintball and all his friends as the cherry on top. It was so completely perfect.

Of course, the whole thing wouldn't be nearly as fun as it was supposed to be if she didn't have the chance to really experience just how much terror she was spreading. She needed to be right there in the thick of things, hearing the people crying and begging as they desperately tried to get out of the stadium. She needed to smell their sweat and see the delicious panic in their eyes. Being in the control room watching from that far away just wouldn't be the same. No, she was posing as just another face in the crowd, a bystander trapped just like the rest of these suckers. The gem she had left on Jason allowed her to control his every action, and through that, she controlled the zombies. All these people scattered through the stadium were screaming and running while the undead creatures chased them down. It was so fucking funny. Especially when she saw some stupid bitch standing in the middle of one of the aisles between seats, screeching what were probably her kids’ names. She just kept standing there screaming those names as though the children might pop up from behind one of the seats to wave. Goddamn hilarious shit. Hell, it was already fun enough to think of how impressed Pencil would be, but what she really couldn’t wait for was the reaction from Paintball and those other cocksuckers when they saw just how badly they had failed. Which would probably happen right before she gave them to Pencil. Mmm, now that was a delicious thought. This really couldn’t be going any better. How fucking stupid would it have been if she didn’t have puppeted Fells to back her up? She couldn’t even imagine how badly this whole thing would’ve failed if she only had Jason when Avant-Guard and their friends arrived. The situation would’ve fallen apart. But no, she was too smart for that.

Oooh oooh, Jennica had just spotted two young children, maybe a year shy of being teenagers, pushing their way through the screaming crowd while looking right at the hysterical woman. That had to be her kids. This was perfect! When Pencil saw the video of this, he wouldn't just invite her to join the Scions, he'd make her one of his top people. No one would ever dismiss or ignore her again. The whole attack would be impressive, sure, but this moment would be the capstone.

Before the children could reach their mother, just as she turned and noticed them, Jennica sent two of the zombies that way. They teleported Into view directly behind those brats at the very second that a look of relief crossed their mom’s face. Jennica couldn't have planned this better if she'd tried from the start. The video would catch that expression appear and then transform into such perfect shock and horror when her children were turned into fucking ash in front of her. The thought of just how much that shit would shatter the annoying screeching bitch was so glorious.

But Jennica's delight didn't last long. Just as the zombies grabbed the children, they immediately released them. The kids screamed in terror, then stumbled forward. They looked over their shoulders, saw the zombies, and froze. But their mother didn't. She ran right up and grabbed them both, yanking the kids backwards behind her. Mom and kids standing right there, perfect targets! Well, not as perfect as it would’ve been to force the mother to see her kids killed in front of her, but still, they were right there. And yet, through it all, the damn zombies just kept standing still. They weren't doing anything. Jennica couldn't understand it. She shoved her own power through Jason, checking her control. Yes, he was still perfectly puppeted, still exercising his will over those dead creatures. Or trying to. But something else was stopping it. And not just with these two zombies, she realized belatedly. All of the creatures had stopped short without any warning. They’d been chasing, attacking, terrorizing, and now they weren’t doing fucking anything, no matter how much effort she forced Jason to put into controlling the things. Something else was blocking his power and forcing the zombies to stay right where they were.

Something… or someone else, that was. Someone was blocking Jason’s power, stopping him from controlling those zombies. But who--how--what? What in the living hell was going on!?

“Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd! Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back!”

The song came without any warning, abruptly blaring out across the speakers and over the sound of people crying for help. It was enough to stop them, thousands of eyes snapping toward those speakers. Which also made them notice that the zombies had stopped and weren’t chasing them anymore. So much of that terror Jennica had so carefully cultivated and had been basking in was just… gone, that easily. Not all of it, but the people weren’t throwing each other to the ground and screaming in their panicked rush to escape. They just stopped, staring in confusion as the song continued. Jennica didn’t want them to be confused, she wanted them to be terrified! What the hell was going on? What was this!?

The answer--or well part of an answer-- came a second later. There were dozens of people, a mix of players, staff, and civilians who had scrambled over the fence, scattered through the baseball diamond and surrounding outfield. All of them had been surrounded by zombies who had been herding them around, toying with them until Jennica was ready to start the slaughter. Now, of course, those zombies were as frozen as the ones in the stands, while the people they had been toying with stood around, looking as confused as Jennica herself felt right then. But in the midst of that, things somehow managed to get even worse. Directly on the pitcher’s mound, a new figure abruptly appeared. Well, first it was the shaft of blindingly bright blue light extending into the sky. That shaft of light caught everyone’s attention even more than the song had, especially Jennica’s. She stood there in the stands, making sputtering noises of disbelief and confusion, as the light faded to reveal the newcomer, the intruder.

He was taller than Jennica, but still a couple inches under six feet. His black hair was cut short, and his clothes… well he almost looked like he should have been paired with Grandstand. He wore a black tailcoat and vest, both with gold trim and buttons that seemed to catch sunlight to glimmer distractingly. His boots and pants were also black, and he had a frilly white shirt under the vest and coat. A coat that was billowing despite the complete lack of any sort of breeze, while dark clouds of purple and black smoke seemed to pool around the figure for no reason. Despite the colorful outfit, he wore nothing over his face. He was almost disturbingly handsome in a somewhat androgynous, ethereally beautiful sort of way. Like a mythological elf.

“Let me root, root, root for the home team! If they don’t win it’s a shame!”

The song continued, while the strange new figure standing there on the pitcher’s mound made grand hand gestures, as though he was conducting an orchestra.

“For it’s one!”

The figure raised one finger with his left hand, while simultaneously making a sweeping motion with his right. At the same time, intangible hands reached up from the ground under each and every one of the zombies who were down there on the field. An instant later, those ghostly hands grabbed hold of those zombies and forcibly yanked them down into the dirt.

“Two!”

Now two fingers were raised on that left hand, even as the stranger made a sharp yanking motion toward the stands with his other. In response, every single one of the zombies who were still in the stands flung themselves off them and rained down onto the field.

“Three strikes--”

A third finger rose while the other hand made a yanking down gesture, while those ghost hands appeared once more, grabbing the fallen zombies and pulling them into the ground through the dirt.

“--you’re out!”

Up in the control booth, something slammed into Jason from behind. He went flying through the window, which shattered just before he hit it, and fell all the way down to the field before being caught by two nearly invisible figures at the last second.

“At the oooooold baaaaaaaaalll gaaaaaaaame!”

“Well!” For the first time, the intruder spoke, and his voice somehow managed to be projected through the loudspeakers so everyone could hear him. “I’ve gotta say, what a boring and predictable display! Here I thought I was coming to this place so I could stop a dangerous and powerful Necromancer before he managed to hurt anyone, but what do I find instead? A pathetic coward, hiding in the background while they use someone else’s power to attack helpless, innocent people! I came for a challenge, but the only thing I’ve found so far is… unimpressive.”

Even as those words echoed through the stands, Jennica felt her anger billowing upward. Coward? Boring? Predictable? Oh, that was it. She would show this stupid fuck, whoever he was, just what she could--

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“Ah, there you are.” With those words, the figure turned and looked directly at her. Their gazes locked, and he offered a faint smile that still managed to make her heart flutter despite everything. Which was probably the most annoying thing about the whole situation. He was devastatingly attractive. “You look so mad right now. Everyone else up there is confused, scared, worried, but you? You just kept looking more and more angry with every word I said. So, you want to prove me wrong? Why don’t you stop hiding and come down here to join us?” His arm rose, gesturing toward the exit in the distance, far from where Jennica was standing.

“Unless, of course, you’d rather run away.”

No. No, no, no! If she left now, it would be all anyone remembered. Pencil would never allow Jennica to join them if she ran from this piece of shit! Everything had been going so well, so perfectly, and now--now… fuck! She couldn’t run away. She had been called out, pointed to, and now all the people around her were staring. They knew her face, they knew what she looked like! Everyone would know, not just Pencil, the entire fucking city! They would all know if she ran away. No one would ever take her seriously again, she would be a joke forever, a pathetic failure.

But on the other hand, if she killed this stranger, if she showed just how dangerous she was once and for all by taking the dramatic intruder and turning him into a bloody smear across the baseball field? Then people really would remember her, for all the right reasons.

Oh yes, she could work with this. Whoever this man was, wherever he had come from, she was going to make him regret showing his face now. For about two seconds before she made sure he never felt anything ever again. Or, even better, managed to get a gem on him so he would be forced to work for her.

Fine, this wasn't how she planned to reveal herself, but so be it. Jennica snapped her hand out, throwing one of her green gems out over the field. She was wearing five rings, each with a different color stone in it. The matching green gem glowed briefly as she used that to teleport herself to the other gem as soon as it reached the area by the third baseline. There she was, dropping into the dirt in her long red raincoat. She stayed in that kneeling position with her head down briefly, using the moment to pluck her goggles with the cloth mask piece attached from her pocket. When she straightened up, the goggles and mask were over her face, leaving just her mouth and chin exposed.

“I don’t know who you are,” she called out, mentally cursing the way her voice cracked slightly, “but you chose the wrong city to make your debut in. You wanna have a one-on-one with me? Maybe, but you’ve gotta earn that first. And dude? I don’t think your parlor tricks are gonna save you from them.”

The whole time that had been going on, Jennica had used her connection to her enslaved secret advantages to call them out. And in that moment, just as she said those words, they dropped out of the sky to join her. All around the girl, facing the intruder, Two-Step, Lastword, Angel Dust, Suckshot, the two-faced Janus, and Double Down arranged themselves. Yes, yes this would work. She wasn’t going to reveal herself this soon, but beating the shit out of this arrogant fuck while showing the world that she had control over an entire gang-worth of Touched? Maybe he’d done her a favor after all.

“See,” she intoned with a smirk while the people around them threw themselves to the ground for cover, “you’re outnumbered and overpowered.”

If the intruder had any concerns about her reinforcements, he didn’t show it. He simply stood there, coat still billowing while giving each of them a long, lingering look. “Outnumbered? Overpowered?” There was amusement in his voice that made her bristle. Which only got worse as he gave a low chuckle that rumbled through the stadium. His voice was still connected to the loudspeakers. It made Jennica glower, annoyed that her own voice sounded so inconsequential by comparison.

“Oh my dear, you already made so many mistakes, but none so great as those.”

Those indistinct, intangible figures rose out of the dirt once more. There were dozens of them, not only around the man himself, but around Jennica and her troops as well. They were--they had to be some sort of power, the ability to summon semi-tangible assistants? What was--

The man was already continuing. “You see, assuming a Necromancer is ever outnumbered is… well, it’s just a bad idea, isn’t it? And as for being overpowered…” He very deliberately looked Jennica up and down, head tilting just a little before giving a soft, dismissive chuckle. That… that was perhaps the worst part. He didn’t give any argument, didn’t detail why he believed he was stronger, didn’t argue anything.

He just… chuckled.

Oh that was it. Without thinking anymore, without planning anything out, without any thought other than how fun it was going to be to make this piece of shit beg for mercy, Jennica sent her assembled troops that way. Not just the Touched slaves, but the rest of the zombies she had been holding back out of sight. Two dozen explosions of fire and ash appeared behind the man. He had all those burning zombies coming at his back. Meanwhile, Suckshot produced an assortment of heavy workout weights from his pocket dimension and sent them flying at the man. Janus’s arms grew and extended to either side to block off his potential escape. Two-Step and Double Down both launched themselves that way just behind the flying weights. Lastword used his current power to summon metal coils from the ground to grab the man’s legs. And Angel Dust swooped down from above on glowing dust-wings to cut off his escape that way. A cloud of her nauseating dust flew ahead of her, centered on the man.

This was going to be a short fight.

Then… the nauseating dust from the flying woman was intercepted by a cloud of what looked like sand that just flew up from the man. Ordinary sand just… flew up, crashed into the dust, and knocked it away. Then it hit Angel Dust herself, and she immediately recoiled with a cry of pain. She was acting like it burned her. One second she was on a collision course with the bastard, and the next she was careening off to crash into the stands.

The weights that Suckshot had sent flying that way would have reached him in that second. But without any warning, the one in front just stopped for no apparent reason. It froze in midair, just before the others slammed into it, one after another. They all collided, before dropping to the ground, followed by the one that had frozen first.

Each of those coils that Lastword was trying to wrap around the man’s legs were caught in mid-grab by other tentacles. These seemed to be made of burning ash, emerging from one of the man’s palms as he held it down that way.

Meanwhile, a long red staff with a spear point at one end and a claw at the other had appeared in the man’s other hand. It snapped up, just as Double Down reached him. A blast of concussive force erupted from the end of the staff, slamming into Double Down before sending him careening out of the way to crash into the same stands as Angel Dust.

Two-Step was just behind him and to the side, avoiding the blast of force before lashing out with a punch at the man’s head. His own physical form was mirrored by his ghost-like copy, whose own punch would finish the job the first started.

Or it should have. But when Two-Step’s fist went through the space where the man’s head should have been, it wasn’t there anymore. Somehow, despite seemingly being focused on everything else, the man snapped his head to the side to avoid the blow. Naturally, he adjusted his ghost-copy to appear behind the man, fist already flying at the back of his head.

Another ghost appeared. This one looked like a glowing blue Revolutionary War soldier, catching that incoming fist against his musket to stop it from hitting the goddamned intruder!

In the next second, the man pivoted on one foot, his other rising with near-blinding speed to slam into Two-Step’s chest with enough force to send him flying off into one of Janus’s massive extended arms.

As for Janus himself, at a thought from Jennica, he began to slam both of those arms together to catch this stupid motherfucker between them. And what did the man do? He flipped that staff of his around and held it out horizontally. Just before the enormous hands would have completely encompassed and squashed him like a fucking fly, the staff suddenly grew. It was several times its normal size. And when the hands slammed into it… they stopped.

It was impossible. Completely fucking impossible. Janus was too strong for that. And yet, it happened. The hands hit either end of the enlarged staff and stopped completely short. Worst of all? This stranger was holding the staff with one hand. The other was still pointed down with those ash-tentacles keeping the metal ones from grabbing him. He held the staff one-fucking-handed and still made Janus’s giant hands stop in mid-slam.

“Hm,” the man muttered, “that’s just about enough of that.”

He pivoted, yanking the staff out of the way while shrinking it back down. Before the giant hands could recover and smack him after all, he sent a blast of concussive force into one of them, knocking it out of the way just as he leapt far too high for a human. Landing on the back of the hand he had hit, the man launched his staff like a spear. Jennica barely had time to register that he’d thrown it, before the blade of the thing collided with--with--oh--no no no! The blade of the staff collided with the red gem on Janus’s neck, knocking it off of him. Her control was severed instantly.

But the man wasn’t done. Even as the staff was rebounding off its target, he pivoted while still standing on the giant hand. Both of his hands snapped out to either side. The first sent some sort of energy disc flying into the stands. It hit the gem on Double Down’s back as he was picking himself up, snapping it off before rebounded off a seat there, then cut through the gem on Angel Dust’s shoulder on the way back, breaking it.

Meanwhile, a small portal appeared in front of the man’s other hand. He stuck it through, even as an identical portal appeared behind Suckshot. He grabbed the gem attached to that figure’s lower back. With a single yank, he ripped it right off.

Flipping backwards off the giant hand, which was already starting to recoil as Janus came back to his senses, the intruder seemed to hover upside down for just a second. Long enough for his staff, which had magically reappeared back in his hand, to transform into some sort of bow. A bow with an energy string. And an energy arrow that appeared as he drew that string back before sending it flying.

The arrow cut straight through the gem on the back of Two-Step’s head, cutting through it without damaging the man himself. A second later, the arrow hit the wall next to the dugout and exploded in a blast of concussive force. Just as it did so, two of those small portals appeared once more. The first was directly in front of the expanding wave of force. The other was next to Lastword. Just enough of that concussive blast went through the portal to catch the edge of the gem on his arm, snapping it off.

They were free. They were all, every single one of her enslaved army, completely fucking free before Jennica had any idea what was happening. But that was okay, her zombie army was still--still--

They were down. The zombies were on the ground. They hadn’t even attacked. They just dropped to the ground and ignored all of her orders. All of her orders through Jason.

Fine, fine! She’d just have to do this the--

Without any warning, the man disappeared from where he had been standing. He was right in front of her. His hand grabbed Jennica’s arm, yanking her off the ground. Then he disappeared again and appeared next to the fallen Jason. Once more, he vanished, taking both Jennica and Jason with him.

The next thing the would-be Scion knew, she was out in the parking lot. Jason was next to her. Even as she snapped her gaze that way, the intruder was yanking the gem off her brother. And just like that, the connection to her last enslaved Touched was cut off.

No, no, no, no, no, no!!! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go! This was wrong! It was all wrong! She’d prepared for everything, everything! She was supposed to prove herself now, she was supposed to impress Pencil and make him see how much better she was than that stupid Cup! This wasn’t right! It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t--

The man’s fist collided with her face, and Jennica hit the ground, motionless. No more plotting, no more fighting, no more complaining. She went out like a light.

Jason, meanwhile, groaned as he slowly came back to himself while lying on the ground. “Ugghhn…. wha… what?” His eyes widened as the memories flooded in. “Oh god, what--Jenni, she--oh fuck, wh-what did I do?”

“Hey there.” Dropping all of his dismissive tone, the stranger’s voice turned soft, as he extended a hand to the boy, helping him up. “Sorry for the rough awakening. And… for not getting here sooner. If it helps, I think you’re just the guy I’ve been looking for.

“The name’s Jacob, and I have a school I’d like you to see.”