Having been to most of the world's various city settlements, Jon has seen his fair share of strange city landscapes, from the tree-filled forest city F to the sea-faring floating atop the world's calmest ocean waters C city. The ranges of city outlines go from concrete jungles to filled with networks of interconnecting low risers and floating cabins. If there is anything common across all of those destinations, that is that it is almost always populated somehow, be it, normal humans or superhumans.
Since the dawn of the superhuman age, the boom in numbers of superhuman meant co-existence with others as people know it is no more. Periods of xenophobia and radical reforms later, the superhuman formed S city is created, and the Superhuman Association began to slowly spread its influence and create more and more satellite cities for other superhumans to inhabit.
Strangely so, the search for the latest underworld rumors regarding the RED BLOB took them to this unregistered, uninhabited ghost city. It was as if they have traveled to a place that exists in space and time with eerie silence filling the entire area, a place frozen in time and void of life.
According to what Ally was able to make out, there is a sort of 'business' related to the RED BLOB that's going to be happening at this specific point in time in a coded location in this city.
The code was easily broken by Ally, and a string of numbers representing the coordinates are revealed.
They found themselves at an underground plaza-like location overlooking an opening at the bottom floor with a grand piano positioned at the center, and Ally quickly senses the presence of others nearby. As it turns out, Ally's has the most sensitive camera across all of the spectrums of electromagnetic waves out of the three.
'Our timing is just about right, it seems.' Jon said, thinking back to Pethants frantic driving over the past few days through the wilderness in between settled cities.
'Never doubt my driving, Master.'
'Yes-yes-yes...' Ally said, bobbing her head with each yes and rolling her eyes at Pethant's remarks. It appeared that she has picked up a few more human expressions and phrases, though Jon wasn't sure where she picked it from.
'Someone is coming.' Jon said suddenly, as senses of danger is tripped for him. He scanned all around before pointing towards three abandoned shops and a few more hiding places around in the plaza, 'no...more than one. Scatter just like we planned.'
'Yes, master.'
'No-worries-MY-LOVE!'
In a split second, the trio vanished from the plaza, and the entire area returned to the eerie silence.
With the first group of people gathering around the grand piano at the bottom floor spotted by Ally and the two other groups spotted by Jon immediately after, there appeared to have been three parties involved in this 'business'. Adding on the three cameramen, things might get real dicey real fast.
However, Jon had prepared the other two even further over the last few days with more of his ideas on shot composition, and even some general editing techniques and strategies, despite how much both him and Pethant hated it. Thankfully, Ally learns it off the internet in seconds and are willing to edit for Jon (only) provides that he will wash her body in exchange. That promise was not fulfilled so far, but Jon feared that he might eventually have to do the deed after all of this is over.
Jon is hiding in between pots of fake plants and an ice cream stand with the tiniest openings through the windows of the broken refrigerator. There is a distinct stink of rotten vanilla ice cream that smelled strongly alcoholic, but Jon bared it all as a professional cameraman.
Pethant found himself hiding in a sports outfit shop, and he pretended to be one of the mannequins while maintaining a constantly flexed front double bicep, a mere continuation of his everyday posture.
Ally did something similar and made herself a mannequin of a lingerie shop while she continuously teased Pethant who is just across from her with various provocative poses and angles. She seemed to derive some sort of joy in making Pethant ever so awkward to the point that Jon wondered if there is some sort of romantic chemistry between the two.
"here comes the first group"
Through their silent means of conversation, a group chats between the two, Jon typed the latest updates before sending it off to the others.
"I see them!" Being always connected to technology in her every being, Ally created the response instantaneously, while Pethant struggled to fit his massive fingers in between the lines and find the right response. Just as he is ready to type the response to Jon's first message, another one came through and choked him right on the spot.
"no sign of the second group ally keep an eye on them plz"
"You got it, MY LOVE!"
"nvm, the second group is also here, but they are much much further"
Seeing the text bubbles appearing quickly one after another, Pethant has finally given up on trying to physically follow the conversation and simply resorted to looking out for the approaching forces with his own eyes.
"pethent, you ok"
"?"
"I am fairly certain it's Pethant, MY LOVE. He doesn't seem to be checking the messages."
"ah."
Paying more attention to the scenarios right in front of him, Jon put away the phone and began to focus on taking down the right footage with a few long establishing shots over the grand piano and a steady long take that follows the first group of potential buyers all the way from near the entrance towards the dealing place.
The first group contained only a handful of people dressed in heavily militarized uniforms marching in quiet synchrony lead by a long-haired male dressed in a grey uniform. He appeared exceedingly skinny with his protruded cheekbones casting a shadow over the rest of his lower face. Most soldiers behind him wore darker colored uniforms with a symbol on their left while he had the symbol over his right chest instead. Over the left is a sort of implant of the sort as it glows and dims with seemingly every breath taken.
The symbol is a red dot surrounded by a vortex. Jon quickly took a photo of it before sending it in the group chat for Ally to give a quick search on.
"This is the symbol of Necrovia.' Ally texted in reply, and Jon nodded silently in place before giving her text a thumbs up reaction.
Necrovia, one of the more isolated, distant countries in the world made up of clusters of smaller-sized cities with the hand of superhuman populations. It is a small country that exists outside the current political system of conglomerates of megacities and resorted to the more old fashion methods. Most things about the country are rather secretive thanks to its dictatorial governmental system, though Jon would be an idiot to believe that they are merely here for window shopping.
If anybody from the other side shows up.....then it might get really bad really quickly.
Another picture taken this time by Pethant showed up in the group chat, and it actually framed and angled perfectly showing the second group of enemies approaching. The one leading the squad through the intermittent darkness is a tall girl with dark blue hair tied into a twin tail. She's wearing a white dress with golden linings of materials surrounding her, looking as if it came straight out of the wardrobe of a fashion model. Overall, the second group looked like a celebrity surrounded by her trusty bodyguards when she goes shopping, though no celebrity would come to the underground plaza in this completely off the grid abandoned city for no apparent reason.
The symbols that are worn by the soldiers behind her are in the shape of a clenched fist.
"That's the Kingdom of Basha." Ally said, and the spiciest of scenarios has presented itself at last.
As the first group has arrived, the middle man doing the business brought out a tiny generic superweapon containing a suitcase and placed it brutely atop the grand piano and waited. Then, as the silhouettes of the second group emerged from the shadows, the middle man finally spoke up through the voice modulator with a toneless male voice.
'Now that both parties are here, let the business begin.' The middleman begins, 'of course, please refrain from...'
Before he can finish, two outbursts of aura coming out from the two leaders of the squad exploded from their individual positions on the opposite sides of the grand piano.
The aura coming out from the white-haired boy was met by that of the blue-haired girl, as both of their long hairs are blown and flickering in wind rapidly as both squads of soldiers behind them are blown back unwillingly, with a few of them even falling over. The middleman is only a single being in a heavy battle suit, and he simply reached out with his hand and grabbed onto the suitcase.
From the moment the suitcase is lifted off the grand piano, the clash of aura between the two of them ripped the grand piano completely apart fiber by fiber and then molecule by molecule as it dissipated into clouds of dust before being blown completely away.
Then, the ground cracked with the middleman as the epicenter, but he instead stepped his foot forward and plunged himself into the center of the conflict before tapping it gently. The two ignored him and continued the staring contest as the ground continued to quake underneath them.
"What is going on???" Ally asked in the group chat before Pethant replied finally now that Jon is too busy to capture every moment of this confrontation.
"Partial ESCALATION transformation, easy judge of strength. They are equals.'
The middleman waited for a moment and tapped his feet again, this time unleashing his very own aura and finally making the initial clash stop.
'I am glad to see your enthusiasm over Satan's Blood.' the middleman said, 'competition breeds business opportunities, as I am sure you understand.'
'What is the meaning of this.' The boy with long white hair turned towards the middleman and glared towards the one dressed in heavy total armor covering every aspect of his body fully, 'you said the Red Blob is to be given to me.'
'Like I said, new business developments.' The middleman replied with a harmless shrug, 'unless Necrovia doesn't do business like this, Jupiter?'
'WE don't do business like this.' Jupiter replied with a cold tone. Jon was expecting a sort of outburst, but instead, he appeared rather...calm?
'Bugger off if you don't like it.' The girl with dark blue twin tails pointed towards Jupiter, 'or I can whop you again.'
'How about we talk some business, Mu?' The middleman turned his head to look towards the group from the Kingdom of Basha, 'if you really prefer to use your fists than your voice box, you may do it after.'
'As I am sure both of you know, but just to get our readers up to speed....' The middleman said as he slid open the suitcase to reveal one massive vial filled with an extremely viscous red liquid in the shape of a sagged sphere, 'The Red Blob, the material that allows any superhuman to become...heightened. Though the process is highly delicate, I do believe one of us had more of an...intimate experience with this procedure, am I right, Jupiter?'
'Tsk, so that's what you did.' The little girl clicked her tongue and lets out a cold chuckle.
All Jupiter did was glancing over at the two individuals in front of him, his cheekbones scanning left then right.
He didn't say a word, and the entire area fell into a dead silence until he puts a hand up and gestured for the middleman to continue, or rather to finally get to the meat of the deal.
'One billion standard units, please.' Without further ado, the price is out, 'it is said that the Red Blob is Satan's Blood because it spawns devils....now, let me see your fangs.'