A/N: I updated the previous chapter instead of posting a new chap so if you are coming from notifications you might have missed that one btw.
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December 4th, 10:00
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Only a day after capturing Paper and Director Piggot has them moving after the final member of the trio, Rock, bright and early in the morning.
Luckily, unlike most people her age, Mary is a morning person, usually getting up at around six to do some light exercise for an hour. So she wasn't really bothered about Hannah hauling her to the PHQ at about half six.
And Hannah doesn't even sleep, so it's even less of an issue for her.
If anything, Mary is ecstatic about Piggot's decision. See, she's realised something. She's already eighteen, and her probation ends in ten days. Which means she'll be a proper member of the Protectorate in ten days.
If she can have something on her record such as dealing with this whole TGT thing with Love Triangle getting resolved before she promotes, then it would be great for her future. It would prove that she has been an effective Hero since her Ward days. After that, it's just a matter of keeping her record as good as can be.
The only mildly annoying thing of late is the Dallons.
Amy Dallon triggered yesterday, and she triggered with the ever rare and venerated healing power. Seriously, there are like, six healers in the country. Not counting the ones with excessive side effects at least.
Even then, most of those healing powers are side-benefits of some greater power and more often than not useless.
Now, that all sounds like a great thing, and it is- but it's still annoying as all hell to Mary.
She literally just got done orchestrating a way to keep her civilian and Heroic identities separate after the loss of her arm, and now someone shows up who can probably grow her a new one.
It's irritating.
At least it's only a minor annoyance. It shouldn't be too hard to set something similar up in reverse. She just has to space out her appearances enough for it to be believable that Amy healed both of her identities separately.
Not that Amy is going to be doing any healing for a while anyway. The PRT has so much red tape to cut through and paranoid power testing to do that it probably won't be 'till sometime next year that the girl starts actually healing as a Hero.
Of course, that power testing will likely involve finally waking Dean up. She doesn't much care about him, but it's no shocker that the PRT would want to bring Gallant back to the field at the first opportunity.
The Heroes are rather outnumbered after all. Especially in Brockton Bay, the city with the second worst crime statistics in the country all while receiving the least amount of assistance from the wider PRT.
The city with the worse crime statistics is the Quarantine Site of Gary, in Indiana. So not much of an achievement beating them.
Really, Brockton Bay is one bad day away from getting abandoned.
A perfect stage for a rising Hero to come to the fore, no?
It's pretty lucky too, because there's no way Piggot would have allowed her to participate if not for the fact that she's already an adult and thus legally allowed to tell the Youth Guard to go fuck themselves.
Seriously, those guys suck the life out of everything they touch. She wouldn't be surprised if the Youth Guard is responsible for half the underage Villains turning to villainy.
But she doesn't really care about that anymore, since it's no longer her problem.
Right now, Mary, Hannah, Dauntless, Assault and Battery are en route to the old factory that Rock is supposedly hiding out in, alongside a couple dozen troopers. The only member of the Protectorate not coming is Mimic, because his power is pretty well suited for holding down the fort in their absence.
She feels a slight pang at the loss of Challenger but pushes the feeling aside.
Is it overkill for someone as minor as Rock? Definitely. Do they fully expect him to dope up on TGT? Fuckin' obviously.
So with that in mind, there is no kill like overkill here.
Realistically, Assault and Dauntless should both be able to handle him all by themselves, as well as Mary of course. No way she'd lose out to some small-timer.
Even if he buffs up like a second phase video game boss there's no way he can handle the amount of firepower coming his way.
A notable cape is one who can consistently win one on one fights against other capes. A particularly strong cape can win against three capes. If a cape can solo more than five capes by themselves, then they are generally one scary motherfucker.
Of course, above them you have the bullshit capes like Eidolon who could probably fight a small country's worth of capes by himself and win, but he has all the powers so fuck him, he doesn't count.
Point is, Rock doesn't have a particularly strong power... Probably. Admittedly, they aren't certain what his power is, but all he's been seen doing is throwing big rocks at people, so probably nothing special.
What is a rock going to do against Assault, who's power is kinetic manipulation? Not much.
As for how they even know where to go to find Rock. Well, apparently the rumours of the group splitting up were somewhat understated. They already knew from Scissors that the group was only such in name by now, but the sheer glee that Paper seemed to find in ratting out his former teammate gives the impression that it was not a very pleasant break up.
He didn't elaborate on why, but there's definitely some bad blood there.
Personally, Mary likes to think that they were both shagging Scissors without knowing the other was doing so and this whole split up is just because they both found out she's two timing them.
It's honestly not a very likely turn of events, but it is funny. And they're all teenagers, who are notoriously horny and prone to poor decision making.
Ah well, that's not important right now. They're almost there, if she's not mistaken.
She's in a transport with Hannah and some troopers and has been resting her head on a tinted window, watching the world pass them by through her one way blindfold.
She can't help but note how much of a shithole Brockton is. She doesn't know if it'll ever stop being a novel experience, seeing so many out of order signs, boarded up and trashed storefronts and houses.
Every third building has peeling paint and shattered windows. Defunct storefronts are covered with posters saying stuff like 'We've moved! Find us in Philadelphia!'. They're not all going to Philly, some to New York, or further afield to Boston, or just Trenton.
Point is, it's kind of depressing to see so many family run businesses being forced out of the city just to survive.
The further they get form the Boardwalk, the more dilapidated the streets become, covered in cracks and holes in both the street and the buildings. Either from cape fights that never got repaired, gangsters and protesters throwing pipe bombs or just general decay. Every other street light has been torn to shreds and stripped for the copper wire and other parts.
It really is perfect.
If she can have a shitty city like this getting fixed up on her record then the fame she'd get would be immense. The Brocktonites would probably give her her crown before she can even demand it.
And the first step for her lofty goal is to get TGT out of her city by beating the shit out of a teenager alongside her fellow trained, government funded and superpowered adults. Because that is what you call justice.
Refraining from snickering to herself, Mary is jolted from her daydreaming as the black armoured SWAT-adjacent van of theirs finally comes to a stop.
Seeing as she was sitting closest to the back doors, Mary opens them up without a word and hops out, seeing the other van emptying itself further down the street.
Walking a few steps away, Mary stretches her back out like a cat, arm raised high, before looking around.
The building of interest is an old steel factory that has been out of commission probably since the Dockworkers' strikes fucked the entire city's industry over.
A city whose income is based on the sea can't really do much with a giant fucking supertanker blocking any ships bigger than a fishing boat from entering or exiting the bay.
As she's watching everyone else file out of the transports and quickly check over their equipment, her nose twitches. Her power has given her a rather enhanced set of senses, when she's not cutting them away at least. Which is why she is the only one to hear the light movement coming from the office buildings opposite the factory.
Even then, she only has the time to turn around and widen her eyes in surprise as a dozen men suddenly pop up in various windows pointing assault rifles down at them all.
Well fuck.
Mary tackles the nearest trooper behind the truck just as the hail of gunfire starts raining down on them all, deafening bangs and cracks filling the air, a noise so loud and constant that she can hardly hear her own thoughts.
With shouts of ambush and pain, everyone else leaps for cover.
Luckily, the troopers dress like they're the minions of some evil si-fi empire, so none of them die even when they get shot. They'll have some bruises and maybe some broken bones and possibly some internal bleeding, but nothing fatal.
There is a reason people wear body armour.
The only ones who didn't dive for cover were Dauntless and Assault, the former of who simply brought forth his shield from his spot in the sky, a faint electric-white barrier extending the size of the shield to fully cover him.
Assault meanwhile, just casually stands in the middle of the street, glancing around and picking an ear with his pinkie as numerous bullets hit his body and simply fall to the ground without any kind of impact. The bullets don't even get dented.
After a few seconds, the sound of gunfire doesn't cease, but it does slow down as the first few gunmen empty their magazines. Assault seems to take that as an invitation, as with a smile on his face, he leaps a dozen feet in the air, making it through one of the windows in a single bound.
Mary can't help but shake her head, confused about their plan. Clearly Rock saw them coming, and he figured a dozen or so gunmen would be enough to stop them? That just doesn't really make any sense, not unless he's stupid of course.
...Or if it's a distraction?
Aw shit, he's probably running away, isn't he? That's what makes the most sense here.
Send the mercs to distract the Heroes and leave before anyone can try to stop him. Unfortunately for him, Assault can handle those losers by himself and Dauntless can fly, so he ain't getting aw-
Her thoughts are ground to a halt by a sound not unlike that of a bomb going off mixed with tearing metal and a sickening series of crunches, drowning out all other sound and making everyone flinch to the side.
But Mary can hardly focus on the noise still ringing in her ears as she turns to the source of the sound.
The second van, the one that was only a short distance ahead of their own, has been tore near in half. A gigantic, bone-white boulder with pulsing red veins running around it lies embedded into the middle of the van, bending the vehicle as if it's not a heavily armoured hunk of steel but merely wet cardboard.
But the car getting wrecked by itself is hardly much of a concern. What is much more damning is the splatter of red painting the van and boulder around their point of impact.
There were at least four troopers using that van as cover.
Heh, now the van is using them as cover.
Ignoring the ridiculous thought, Mary puts on a severe face and turns back to the factory where the boulder came from.
It's clear exactly where it came from, as there is a man-sized hole in the brickwork of the building, a cloud of dust surrounding it and outlining a figure's silhouette.
The street goes silent as they observe the obscured figure as it steps through the hole. The click clack of their boots the only sound echoing.
A pair of large wings flickering like flames spread out of the broad shouldered man's outline. Below them, four limbs like spider legs jut out from behind his mid-section to hover loosely around his torso, and a long, thick tail slowly whips side to side behind him, dragging along the floor.
A soft breeze blows down the street and the cloud of dust swirls, parting just enough at eye level to allow a pair of blazing red eyes to glare through.
Straight to the second phase, huh? Well, Mary doesn't mind. Though, she can't help but hesitate slightly. She's not at her best right now after all, and it would be endlessly embarrassing if she gets taken down in this fight.
But with him displaying not just one, but three aspects of the Fake Endbringer, she finds herself feeling unsure if she is currently even his match.
If she could rely on her fire it wouldn't be a question, but that's out of the question right now, and she is honestly not sure how powerful Rock is right now.
Worst comes to worse, she's confident that she has enough skill to match any level of power he has. Besides, she always has her trump cards if needs be.
As the cloud of dust starts to fade away, Rock reaches a hand up to his neck and with a sharp jerk sends a crack sounding down the street. Then, as he finally comes into full view, looking very much like a devil, they watch as he reaches a hand into his mouth and with a grunt of effort and pain, he pulls out on of his molars.
Tilting her head in confusion, Mary has no time to question it as he abruptly turns to her and hurls the molar at them, whereupon it swells to the size of a boulder without losing any momentum.
Ah, so that's what that was, Mary thinks to herself as she grabs the nearest trooper's uniforms and tenses to leap out of the way, only for it to be for naught as a blurring streak of electricity zips in front of them and bats the boulder to the side.
In place of impending doom, stands Battery, glaring back at the seemingly indifferent Rock.
"You know," Rock's voice conversationally drawls out, "I'm kinda glad you guys got those deadweights I used to call teammates. Without them here to throw a hissy fit, I don't have to hold back anymore."
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When the sound of gunshots sounded out outside his hideout, Cody could only accept the inevitable.
The moment Kyle got nabbed he started organising 'his' men to start moving all their stuff to another empty warehouse, something Brockton has in large supply. He knew his old friend would rat him out at the first opportunity available to him.
That was the plan, after all.
Both of his friends are idiots, so it falls down to him to look out for them when they can't look out for themselves.
It all started with that psycho-bitch Clown worshipping nutjob showing up.
Circus came to them offering a job, just a simple protection job. He, or she or whatever the fuck Circus is. She just wanted them to protect her drugs for her. Simple, easy, nothing complicated all combined with good money.
At the face of it, it's a good deal. Granted, they were more suited to breaking into places and stealing things than they were playing bodyguard, but hey, she was offering good money. Enough that Sydney wouldn't have had to go into debt to go to get her degree in music, enough that Kyle could have bought a house so his mom didn't have to work double shifts just to keep them stable.
Cody didn't really need the money for anything, he probably just would have spent it on video games or something. But, as the eldest of the group, the others were his responsibility, so he'd do what he had to for their sake.
It's a shame they're both such idiots though, because it certainly doesn't make his job easy.
First was Sydney, being so against Circus' offer from the start.
By the time the offer was laid out, Kyle was already accepting, because he's an idiot. But Sydney was slightly smarter, enough to understand that getting involved with this drug trade shit was a bad idea no matter which way you spin it.
Unfortunately, she wasn't smart enough to keep her fucking mouth shut about her opinions while they were still right in front of Circus, loudly declining the offer.
Not showing a unified front already lowered their position at the negotiation table, and the way she spoke was far from polite, further putting them in a worse position to negotiate. Fucking idiots.
The only way he could save that shitshow was by quickly agreeing with Kyle and accepting the deal, mentioning how it's a two on one vote before Sydney could kick up more of a fuss. Then when Circus left after hashing out some details, Sydney lays into them both about how mingling with this shit was a bad idea, as if he didn't fucking already know that!
But you know what's a worse idea than getting involved with drug cartels that are dealing with fucking Tinker-made drugs? Fucking telling them to fuck off! That's what!
Fucking idiots, the pair of them. They're so deep in the delusion of the game of Heroes vs Villains that they can't seem to understand that that fairy-tale doesn't hold true for basically every big time Villain organisation.
And even if he doesn't know where the fuck TGT came from, anyone selling Tinker-made drugs is a big enough player that they aren't likely to play by the rules. Meaning saying no would likely either result in a more forceful recruitment or just straight up slavery or death.
That's without even thinking about the fucking half clown face printed on the vials.
As far as he is concerned, when dealing with anything involving Clowns, the best bet is to just ride the current and wait for things to blow you by without getting any attention.
Obviously, that plan is also out of the water.
So he had to come up with something else, some other way that Sydney and Kyle can get out from between this rock and hard place without losing too much.
The answer was pretty simple in Cody's eyes. They just needed to lose, that was they only way they could win.
So he started poking at his friends. He started betraying their trust, using things they are sensitive about, shit they told him in confidence, against them. Driving a wedge between the group.
That plan went of easily enough. He just had to side with Kyle against Sydney, make her think that they both thought she was a fool, a deadweight. Eventually she had enough, started seeing them as selfish assholes that don't care about her one bit, only the money she can help bring them.
Kyle was even easier. He just had to use the little crush he has on Sydney in conjuration with his desire to help him mom. He can't help his mom without money, and he can't get money without drifting apart from Sydney. All Cody had to do was poke those wounds until he snapped.
Was it a scummy thing to do? Of course it was. But that doesn't matter. As long as those two idiot brats can make a life for themselves in the end, that's all that matters. And they can't do that if they're dead.
He's willing to bear their hatred if it means they can live and move on. He only hopes that he can live long enough to see them succeed. He'd love to hear what kind of songs Sydney will sing when she graduates. He'd love to see Kyle relax and enjoy himself, not having the constant weight of his mom's health bearing down on him.
Even if only from a distance. He just wants to see them happy.
Unfortunately, that means he has to piss them off first.
Still, the plan worked. They split up, each getting loaned a squad of mercenaries each by Circus, though he has no idea where she found them. Circus doesn't seem old enough to have military connections.
They got Sydney first, and he would be surprised if she even put up much of a fight.
As far as he's aware, she got flipped and has been shifted to some other city. Hell, she might have already debuted as a Ward by now. Hopefully the Heroes will get her a scholarship or something for good behaviour.
Then, just the other day they got Kyle. Apparently he put up more of a fight, but even if he used TGT, Kyle isn't much of a fighter.
And now, he was just inside with Circus, discussing Kyle's loss and how they're going to reorganise. Circus was also here to personally receive a certain package, one that she seemed pretty excited to show off, as she was doing before the gunfire started.
It came in a small cooler, like the one's organs are transported in, the reason for which became clear once she opened it.
The box held what looked vaguely like a heart. It was certainly beating like one, despite not being connected to anything. Frankly, it was gross and made him uncomfortable, but Circus held the thing with the kind of reverence reserved for the clinically insane, like the weird organ was the solution to all her worries.
It doesn't take a genius to come to the conclusion that it's probably some Tinker shit and that she's probably planning to transplant it into herself, probably replacing her heart.
If his assumptions are correct, then he certainly doesn't want to be around her when she accomplishes her goal.
Thankfully, the Heroes arrived just in time.
Now he just has to play his part, that of the Villain.
The words he spoke were designed to hammer home the point that Kyle and Sydney weren't bad people, that he was the one dragging them down, that he was the reason they were Villains too.
The worse he makes himself seem, the better they will be viewed. It's simple maths. If the level of ethics the group has displayed on average vastly overwhelms the level of ethics he himself possesses, then the other two must be ethical enough to balance the average out. Two two and eight average out to four, basically.
With that in mind, he took three different TGT types at the same time. He knows that with what limited information people have about the drug, they assume it causes irrational aggression, but that's simply wrong.
He can see where the misunderstanding came from, because so far, everyone who has used that drug has already been either in the middle of a fight, or planning on fighting anyway. So the aggression has nothing to do with the drug.
That said, the deep, primal hunger he feels is certainly tempting him towards a certain kind of savagery, and it makes him sick to even think about what exactly he is hungering for.
But whatever, it's pointless to have any regrets now. All he has left to do is embrace the role he's given himself, and leave no room for doubt that the punishment for his group's crimes should fall solely on his shoulders alone.
With that in mind, he flexes his new limbs, and prepares himself to make full use of his power that he hates, enhanced further by TGT as it is.
If nothing else, he'd like it if he could at least give the Heroes a run for their money before he gets taken down.
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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Took me like a month to write this chap lmao (Kill me)
Also, I'm not going to keep dragging out this TGT arc lmao, I don't even like it, it was just supposed to be a short stopgap, but just like the S9 thing in Columbus way back when, I kinda got overzealous in making sure not to skip anything and kinda overdid it xP.
Alas, thank you for your patience, I will be getting to canon time soon-ish, and then subsequently be kicking canon so far off it's rails it'll learn how to fly :)
P.S. Huge shout out to my favourite Jar once again, I've been thinking about that video of the girl making a mafumafu song literally since you sent it to the discord, and it's been mad helpful in getting my thoughts sorted! Luv ya <3 (I wrote this like 3 months ago but it still holds true, that vid was great for my motivation.)