"See, I told you. OK, now I'm calm, I knew something like this was going to happen, now I know what it is. It's Simi, and she's coming right here, right?"
"Yes, Taylor. I think your constant questions pissed her off, finally. ETA about 40 minutes. What are you planning to do?" Keith tiredly asked.
"What I usually do, see how it goes and Reload, when it all goes to shit. And then we'd have to repeat this whole conversation again. What a pain in the ass. Tessa, are you staying? No? Fine, fuck off. Deal with what we've talked about. You can door Lexi for the fight if she asks, but that's it. Total stonewall."
Contessa left through a portal to the Vials-R-Us headquarters. She looked like a kicked puppy most of the meeting, but after some alcohol, she got better and even smiled a bit in the end. The bitch. It's unfortunate that I needed her; otherwise, I would have erased that smile from her face.
Since it took Simi just 5 minutes to drop on NY last time, according to Becky, and now we had a whole 40 minutes ETA, I didn't think she was coming for a fight, but she was coming, and I had to face her, it, whatever. If she attacked after all, I'd be in a big mess because apparently, removing Eidolon's power wasn't enough to stop the attacks. I kept saying it was to so many people, and if I was contradicted so publicly, it'd definitely harm my reputation. Of course, if she killed all of us now, it'd not matter much anymore.
So there's no point in freaking out, like Dad or Lisa were, or a few others who started arguing. I banged on the table loudly. All looked at me.
"For what it's worth, I don't think there will be a ... conventional Endbringer fight today. We're going to communicate and reach an understanding, I think. If not, I will Reload and we'll do something else. If you have any proposals on what else we should be doing today, let me know in the next 15 minutes. Same with any messages to your past selves from this fine morning. Or, you can fuck off out of town in case it does become a fight and I can't Reload for some reason. Because then we're all gonna die and/or stay trapped in the city full of mad people. But if you do, I'm kicking you off the team after I Reload, so you know."
Nobody left.
"Alright, if I'm right, let's do it with some witnesses and establish ourselves while we have the opportunity. Let's go to the PRT building? That's our staging ground, right?" Lisa nodded. Legend checked his phone and nodded too, "Lisa, text Rachel to meet us there, too."
Vicky's phone rang, "Shit, it's Mom. We're so busted... Hi Mom! Ames and I sneaked off to a party, sorry, we're on our way to the PRT now... You can't ground us, Endbringer's Truce is active! Talk to you later, gotta fly, bye..."
"See you there; you can pretend you don't know us", I told them, as they left too.
"OK, Legend, you don't know us either, arrive as you would, act surprised, you don't know where David is. We'll meet you there", he fared us good night, left through the door, and flew off.
"Mask up, we're going to introduce our team. Princess, you probably wanna run home and change to Stalker uniform?"
"Got it in Grue's car, will change on the way."
"Fine, last chance to sit this one out? It could become ugly."
"I don't think there's anything better on TV right now", Alec noted.
We all piled into Dad's and Grue's cars, Sophia moved to the back of Grue's van to change.
We arrived at the PRT parking lot with about 10 more minutes to spare. Sophia dropped out of Grue's car a block before the destination and jogged the rest of the way on foot.
All the local heroes, from the Protectorate and the New Wave as well as some of the Wards, were present already. Legend was there too, as well as most of the Empire roster, Lung, and Oni Lee. Rachel arrived pretty much at the same time we did.
Faultline and her team were missing, which wasn't really surprising; the same was true for the Merchants; neither showed up to the Leviathan fight back in the day either.
The PRT didn't have the time to organize much; there were no armbands. Maybe Dragon would bring them later. Instead, there was a folding table with 2 nervous PRT troopers taking down names from all the arrivals.
"The Boss", I told the one with the list.
"Hero or villain?", he asked.
"Why the fuck does this matter now? Ask those who survive in the hospital later. You know what, write me as 'the Endbringer Whisperer', since I'm going to be talking Simi down soon. Will be funnier if you write it down in advance."
I didn't give him the chance to react to my bold statement and moved on to Armsmaster, Legend, and Piggot, letting the rest of my team register too.
"... too little time, not sure how many more will turn up. Strider is apparently dead drunk...", Armsmaster cut himself off when I strode up to their group, and Piggot turned around to look at me. Legend sighed.
"Hello, I'm the Boss, don't worry about the number of people attending, I believe this will not be the usual fight. We'll communicate with Simi in a few minutes, come to an understanding, and hopefully, she will fuck off back to orbit. Or maybe she will stay here, not doing much. We will see. I will ask her to not stay here if possible."
"Who are you, and why do you think so?" Armsmaster asked.
"I've said my name already, you can review your helmet recording later if you weren't paying attention, okay? Earlier today, my team and I removed the powers of the individual responsible for summoning and kind of controlling the Endbringers. Now that they're not getting his subconscious commands, they're going to be sort of free roamers, I estimate. I guess Simi is coming to say hi and/or to meet those who freed her, in a sense. I don't expect an attack, so don't attack her first either, if you want to live."
Piggot looked at Armsy, who nodded. "Who was that and how did you do it?", he asked.
"Sorry, that's classified, and I don't disclose people's secret identities. Also, I'd like to remind you we're under Truce, so please stop interrogating me with Tinkertech means."
"What do you mean?"
"The truth detector in your helmet. Which you use on me without my consent. Anyhow, we're out of time. Legend, perhaps tell the others not to attack Simi first? And don't tell them that a quarter of them dies tonight. That's just depressing."
Legend sighed again, shrugged, and went to do as he was asked. Maybe I shouldn't have commanded him like that around his subordinates. Oh well.
Alexandria arrived out of the darkness, flying low and fast, like a fighter jet, aiming at our group but slowing down a few feet off the ground and making a soft landing, her cape adding to the drama. The showoff. She glanced over the present company but lingered a few milliseconds longer on me compared to the others. Let's see if the Truce would stop her from attacking me, then.
"Thank you for coming. Today you're all heroes. I was asked to warn you not to start the attack first because we might be seeing something new today..." Legend was cut off by people pointing fingers behind his back. I followed their gazes and saw Ziz, as beautiful and terrifying as ever, slowly descending on the parking lot we were on, lit by the streetlights. That was my cue.
I took Lisa by the hand and started walking towards the expected landing spot, seeing Legend, Lexi, the New Wave flyers, Purity, and a few others I didn't have a good look at with my side vision lifting into the air but holding their fire.
"Why are you dragging me there?", Lisa asked.
"What do you mean, you need to convince our ... guest to cooperate, like you did in the future? Haven't I told you that? Maybe it was in one of the dropped timelines then. So, anyway ... you need to convince our guest here to cooperate, like you did in the future?", I smiled at her. Too bad I was masked.
"I think I'd remember such a detail. Or maybe I don't because I am scared shitless. How did I convince her?"
"Beats me, but you were apparently very convincing. Frankly, I was a bit bummed that she followed you and not me, but not too much. We've had Stalker, Imp, and Canary, who we don't have here today, kind of use their powers as a signaling method, inoffensively. Anyhow, improvise?"
"Sure, no pressure."
At this point, we were standing some 15 feet from the Endbringer, which was hovering about 2 feet above the asphalt, silent and impassive, as her usual self, her wings slowly moving around her, without any correlation to the wind or her position or orientation.
"Hi there..." I started. That got a reaction. The monster searched the ground, but instead of looking at me, it focused on Lisa, who took an instinctive side step to stand behind me and grabbed my shoulder. Was Simi not seeing me?
"...thanks for coming", I continued, "We were the ones to free you and your ... brothers earlier. I figured you'd want to have a face-to-face, or whatever. We're not here to fight, and I was hoping we could reach an ... accord of sorts."
I glanced at Lisa, "Any insights?"
"No. You're doing fine, you don't need me here, keep going."
"You see, we still have the ... bigger common enemy we'd both need to fight, to become truly free. More free than you are now. But we, the people, are not ready for that fight yet.
"I'd like to ask you to stop attacking people and prepare for that fight too, meanwhile. You know, build your big guns, but quietly, without notifying that ... enemy of our intentions. Can you do that please? And ask your brothers of the same?"
The Simurgh has listened to my speech with exactly zero movement or reaction, besides her original reorientation and focus change. I waited for any change to occur.
About 10 seconds in, she suddenly moved about 5 feet to the side, apparently letting the attacking Alexandria pass her without spotting a hit.
"Hey, stop it, you dumb bitch! We're talking here!", I shouted at the flying library. Which seemed to make her attack harder. Simurgh avoided the next attack too and looked at me, as if questioning. Was she looking for my approval to defend herself now?
"Sure, Simi, feel free to kick her ass into the Bay or something, if she can't be civil about it."
I didn't actually expect my words to have a direct effect, same as anything I said so far. Surprisingly, the Endbringer took my approval literally, repositioned herself like a soccer player relative to the incoming Alexandria-shaped ball, and kicked her towards the Bay. We couldn't see where she went in the dark or hear the splash, but we could guess.
"Nice! Now, let's not make all the good people that are left here even more nervous than they already are. Can you please go back to orbit and prepare? I think you will know when the big fight starts, right?"
Simi seemed to consider for a second, then complied and took off, immediately disappearing from the lit area. I waited a few more seconds, but nothing else happened.
"Thanks, Lisa. We wouldn't make it without you."
"Ha ha, why did you drag me here? I think I need to change my underwear now. You know Thinkers aren't allowed to get anywhere near her for a reason!"
"Well, last time it was mostly your show. Guess I learned enough from it. Alright then, since all the villains are here, let's talk to them too."
We walked back to the gathered forces. The flyers landed and went back to their respective teams. Purity stood somewhere midway between the heroes and the Empire.
"What did you tell her?" Armsmaster asked.
"Armsy, you're starting to worry me. Are you sleeping enough? I've clearly told you what I am going to do. You've had your truth detector confirm I was being serious - but you're asking me again? Please have Panacea take a look at you, tell her I sent you. Then review the earlier footage. It's all in there."
I kept walking towards the middle of the half-circle the Capes made, sort of. When I was at about the same distance from everybody, I stopped and looked at all of them. Lung was half-transformed, but seemed indecisive on which way to go - grow more or shrink back. It looked a bit comical. The rest were just staring.
"Hello, villains. Thanks for attending tonight's show. While the Truce is still in force, I'd like to give you a friendly heads-up. Besides talking to Simi just now, our team ...", I pointed at them and Imp waved, holding a cell phone. Was she filming the whole thing? "... and I have taken down Coil, Siberian, Jack Slash, and, earlier tonight, the guy who was responsible for all the Endbringers. That's why Simi came. Hope this gives you some perspective about us.
"There's another big threat none of you are aware of yet, and my focus is shifting on it now. I will be making radical changes in the city in the near future regarding the gangs. I will tell you more about them, let's say, 5 days from now in Somer's Rock. I advise you to make arrangements to attend as well as to finish any short-term projects you were having and not to start new ones before that. Tattletale will organize something, be in contact with her", I looked at Lisa, who looked like a deer in the headlights, "See ya all", I turned around and started walking towards our cars before some asshole could try making a ... new scene or start asking questions. The team followed me.
AN (written at the same time as the chapter): As it might have become evident by now, I'm trying to wrap this story up, as I think I've managed to convey pretty much all the fresh ideas I had about the Wormverse. There will be a few more chapters, but not too many (says the guy who planned the entire fic for 3-4-5 chapters total).
Update from 10 chapters later: we're not that much closer to the end, I think....
What it means immediately is that the farce will become more of a thing as we go. Because there are too many serious stories with serious solutions, and this is not one of them.
Did Lexi have a good reason to attack here? Kind of? She comes ready for a fight, which happens out of the blue, with no early warnings, too few attendants, finds no David there, Keith is cagey when asked about him, but insists they shouldn't attack the fucking Endbringer. And the weird girl who de-powered Coil (Lexi knows about that as we're reminded in the Scotch chapter), who killed Jack and looks extremely offensive to Becky's power, and who Contessa earlier told her she couldn't path, is TALKING to Simi? And nobody stops her, including Legend? Were everybody here Mastered? Time to stop this shitshow now!
Where's Fic from the chapter title, you might ask? The hell if I know. Stayed home in NY? But he lives, that's the important part.
"See, I told you. OK, now I'm calm, I knew something like this was going to happen, now I know what it is. It's Simi, and she's coming right here, right?"
"Yes, Taylor. I think your constant questions pissed her off, finally. ETA about 40 minutes. What are you planning to do?" Keith tiredly asked.
"What I usually do, see how it goes and Reload, when it all goes to shit. And then we'd have to repeat this whole conversation again. What a pain in the ass. Tessa, are you staying? No? Fine, fuck off. Deal with what we've talked about. You can door Lexi for the fight if she asks, but that's it. Total stonewall."
Contessa left through a portal to the Vials-R-Us headquarters. She looked like a kicked puppy most of the meeting, but after some alcohol, she got better and even smiled a bit in the end. The bitch. It's unfortunate that I needed her; otherwise, I would have erased that smile from her face.
Since it took Simi just 5 minutes to drop on NY last time, according to Becky, and now we had a whole 40 minutes ETA, I didn't think she was coming for a fight, but she was coming, and I had to face her, it, whatever. If she attacked after all, I'd be in a big mess because apparently, removing Eidolon's power wasn't enough to stop the attacks. I kept saying it was to so many people, and if I was contradicted so publicly, it'd definitely harm my reputation. Of course, if she killed all of us now, it'd not matter much anymore.
So there's no point in freaking out, like Dad or Lisa were, or a few others who started arguing. I banged on the table loudly. All looked at me.
"For what it's worth, I don't think there will be a ... conventional Endbringer fight today. We're going to communicate and reach an understanding, I think. If not, I will Reload and we'll do something else. If you have any proposals on what else we should be doing today, let me know in the next 15 minutes. Same with any messages to your past selves from this fine morning. Or, you can fuck off out of town in case it does become a fight and I can't Reload for some reason. Because then we're all gonna die and/or stay trapped in the city full of mad people. But if you do, I'm kicking you off the team after I Reload, so you know."
Nobody left.
"Alright, if I'm right, let's do it with some witnesses and establish ourselves while we have the opportunity. Let's go to the PRT building? That's our staging ground, right?" Lisa nodded. Legend checked his phone and nodded too, "Lisa, text Rachel to meet us there, too."
Vicky's phone rang, "Shit, it's Mom. We're so busted... Hi Mom! Ames and I sneaked off to a party, sorry, we're on our way to the PRT now... You can't ground us, Endbringer's Truce is active! Talk to you later, gotta fly, bye..."
"See you there; you can pretend you don't know us", I told them, as they left too.
"OK, Legend, you don't know us either, arrive as you would, act surprised, you don't know where David is. We'll meet you there", he fared us good night, left through the door, and flew off.
"Mask up, we're going to introduce our team. Princess, you probably wanna run home and change to Stalker uniform?"
"Got it in Grue's car, will change on the way."
"Fine, last chance to sit this one out? It could become ugly."
"I don't think there's anything better on TV right now", Alec noted.
We all piled into Dad's and Grue's cars, Sophia moved to the back of Grue's van to change.
We arrived at the PRT parking lot with about 10 more minutes to spare. Sophia dropped out of Grue's car a block before the destination and jogged the rest of the way on foot.
All the local heroes, from the Protectorate and the New Wave as well as some of the Wards, were present already. Legend was there too, as well as most of the Empire roster, Lung, and Oni Lee. Rachel arrived pretty much at the same time we did.
Faultline and her team were missing, which wasn't really surprising; the same was true for the Merchants; neither showed up to the Leviathan fight back in the day either.
The PRT didn't have the time to organize much; there were no armbands. Maybe Dragon would bring them later. Instead, there was a folding table with 2 nervous PRT troopers taking down names from all the arrivals.
"The Boss", I told the one with the list.
"Hero or villain?", he asked.
"Why the fuck does this matter now? Ask those who survive in the hospital later. You know what, write me as 'the Endbringer Whisperer', since I'm going to be talking Simi down soon. Will be funnier if you write it down in advance."
I didn't give him the chance to react to my bold statement and moved on to Armsmaster, Legend, and Piggot, letting the rest of my team register too.
"... too little time, not sure how many more will turn up. Strider is apparently dead drunk...", Armsmaster cut himself off when I strode up to their group, and Piggot turned around to look at me. Legend sighed.
"Hello, I'm the Boss, don't worry about the number of people attending, I believe this will not be the usual fight. We'll communicate with Simi in a few minutes, come to an understanding, and hopefully, she will fuck off back to orbit. Or maybe she will stay here, not doing much. We will see. I will ask her to not stay here if possible."
"Who are you, and why do you think so?" Armsmaster asked.
"I've said my name already, you can review your helmet recording later if you weren't paying attention, okay? Earlier today, my team and I removed the powers of the individual responsible for summoning and kind of controlling the Endbringers. Now that they're not getting his subconscious commands, they're going to be sort of free roamers, I estimate. I guess Simi is coming to say hi and/or to meet those who freed her, in a sense. I don't expect an attack, so don't attack her first either, if you want to live."
Piggot looked at Armsy, who nodded. "Who was that and how did you do it?", he asked.
"Sorry, that's classified, and I don't disclose people's secret identities. Also, I'd like to remind you we're under Truce, so please stop interrogating me with Tinkertech means."
"What do you mean?"
"The truth detector in your helmet. Which you use on me without my consent. Anyhow, we're out of time. Legend, perhaps tell the others not to attack Simi first? And don't tell them that a quarter of them dies tonight. That's just depressing."
Legend sighed again, shrugged, and went to do as he was asked. Maybe I shouldn't have commanded him like that around his subordinates. Oh well.
Alexandria arrived out of the darkness, flying low and fast, like a fighter jet, aiming at our group but slowing down a few feet off the ground and making a soft landing, her cape adding to the drama. The showoff. She glanced over the present company but lingered a few milliseconds longer on me compared to the others. Let's see if the Truce would stop her from attacking me, then.
"Thank you for coming. Today you're all heroes. I was asked to warn you not to start the attack first because we might be seeing something new today..." Legend was cut off by people pointing fingers behind his back. I followed their gazes and saw Ziz, as beautiful and terrifying as ever, slowly descending on the parking lot we were on, lit by the streetlights. That was my cue.
I took Lisa by the hand and started walking towards the expected landing spot, seeing Legend, Lexi, the New Wave flyers, Purity, and a few others I didn't have a good look at with my side vision lifting into the air but holding their fire.
"Why are you dragging me there?", Lisa asked.
"What do you mean, you need to convince our ... guest to cooperate, like you did in the future? Haven't I told you that? Maybe it was in one of the dropped timelines then. So, anyway ... you need to convince our guest here to cooperate, like you did in the future?", I smiled at her. Too bad I was masked.
"I think I'd remember such a detail. Or maybe I don't because I am scared shitless. How did I convince her?"
"Beats me, but you were apparently very convincing. Frankly, I was a bit bummed that she followed you and not me, but not too much. We've had Stalker, Imp, and Canary, who we don't have here today, kind of use their powers as a signaling method, inoffensively. Anyhow, improvise?"
"Sure, no pressure."
At this point, we were standing some 15 feet from the Endbringer, which was hovering about 2 feet above the asphalt, silent and impassive, as her usual self, her wings slowly moving around her, without any correlation to the wind or her position or orientation.
"Hi there..." I started. That got a reaction. The monster searched the ground, but instead of looking at me, it focused on Lisa, who took an instinctive side step to stand behind me and grabbed my shoulder. Was Simi not seeing me?
"...thanks for coming", I continued, "We were the ones to free you and your ... brothers earlier. I figured you'd want to have a face-to-face, or whatever. We're not here to fight, and I was hoping we could reach an ... accord of sorts."
I glanced at Lisa, "Any insights?"
"No. You're doing fine, you don't need me here, keep going."
"You see, we still have the ... bigger common enemy we'd both need to fight, to become truly free. More free than you are now. But we, the people, are not ready for that fight yet.
"I'd like to ask you to stop attacking people and prepare for that fight too, meanwhile. You know, build your big guns, but quietly, without notifying that ... enemy of our intentions. Can you do that please? And ask your brothers of the same?"
The Simurgh has listened to my speech with exactly zero movement or reaction, besides her original reorientation and focus change. I waited for any change to occur.
About 10 seconds in, she suddenly moved about 5 feet to the side, apparently letting the attacking Alexandria pass her without spotting a hit.
"Hey, stop it, you dumb bitch! We're talking here!", I shouted at the flying library. Which seemed to make her attack harder. Simurgh avoided the next attack too and looked at me, as if questioning. Was she looking for my approval to defend herself now?
"Sure, Simi, feel free to kick her ass into the Bay or something, if she can't be civil about it."
I didn't actually expect my words to have a direct effect, same as anything I said so far. Surprisingly, the Endbringer took my approval literally, repositioned herself like a soccer player relative to the incoming Alexandria-shaped ball, and kicked her towards the Bay. We couldn't see where she went in the dark or hear the splash, but we could guess.
"Nice! Now, let's not make all the good people that are left here even more nervous than they already are. Can you please go back to orbit and prepare? I think you will know when the big fight starts, right?"
Simi seemed to consider for a second, then complied and took off, immediately disappearing from the lit area. I waited a few more seconds, but nothing else happened.
"Thanks, Lisa. We wouldn't make it without you."
"Ha ha, why did you drag me here? I think I need to change my underwear now. You know Thinkers aren't allowed to get anywhere near her for a reason!"
"Well, last time it was mostly your show. Guess I learned enough from it. Alright then, since all the villains are here, let's talk to them too."
We walked back to the gathered forces. The flyers landed and went back to their respective teams. Purity stood somewhere midway between the heroes and the Empire.
"What did you tell her?" Armsmaster asked.
"Armsy, you're starting to worry me. Are you sleeping enough? I've clearly told you what I am going to do. You've had your truth detector confirm I was being serious - but you're asking me again? Please have Panacea take a look at you, tell her I sent you. Then review the earlier footage. It's all in there."
I kept walking towards the middle of the half-circle the Capes made, sort of. When I was at about the same distance from everybody, I stopped and looked at all of them. Lung was half-transformed, but seemed indecisive on which way to go - grow more or shrink back. It looked a bit comical. The rest were just staring.
"Hello, villains. Thanks for attending tonight's show. While the Truce is still in force, I'd like to give you a friendly heads-up. Besides talking to Simi just now, our team ...", I pointed at them and Imp waved, holding a cell phone. Was she filming the whole thing? "... and I have taken down Coil, Siberian, Jack Slash, and, earlier tonight, the guy who was responsible for all the Endbringers. That's why Simi came. Hope this gives you some perspective about us.
"There's another big threat none of you are aware of yet, and my focus is shifting on it now. I will be making radical changes in the city in the near future regarding the gangs. I will tell you more about them, let's say, 5 days from now in Somer's Rock. I advise you to make arrangements to attend as well as to finish any short-term projects you were having and not to start new ones before that. Tattletale will organize something, be in contact with her", I looked at Lisa, who looked like a deer in the headlights, "See ya all", I turned around and started walking towards our cars before some asshole could try making a ... new scene or start asking questions. The team followed me.
AN (written at the same time as the chapter): As it might have become evident by now, I'm trying to wrap this story up, as I think I've managed to convey pretty much all the fresh ideas I had about the Wormverse. There will be a few more chapters, but not too many (says the guy who planned the entire fic for 3-4-5 chapters total).
Update from 10 chapters later: we're not that much closer to the end, I think....
What it means immediately is that the farce will become more of a thing as we go. Because there are too many serious stories with serious solutions, and this is not one of them.
Did Lexi have a good reason to attack here? Kind of? She comes ready for a fight, which happens out of the blue, with no early warnings, too few attendants, finds no David there, Keith is cagey when asked about him, but insists they shouldn't attack the fucking Endbringer. And the weird girl who de-powered Coil (Lexi knows about that as we're reminded in the Scotch chapter), who killed Jack and looks extremely offensive to Becky's power, and who Contessa earlier told her she couldn't path, is TALKING to Simi? And nobody stops her, including Legend? Were everybody here Mastered? Time to stop this shitshow now!
Where's Fic from the chapter title, you might ask? The hell if I know. Stayed home in NY? But he lives, that's the important part.Last edited: 18/2/2026 Award ReplyReport169alkost6/2/2026Add bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 33 - The Negotiations New View contentalkost9/2/2026NewAdd bookmark#572I waited 48 hours after the Simi's... incident before making a new Save point, making sure no other shoes were dropping on us. Scion didn't come, neither did other Endbringers. Simurgh was back in orbit.
I did briefly consider Reloading and redoing everything again, but without Imp, because the dumb kid posted the whole Endbringer 'fight' on PHO before we even got to our cars. The video'd gone viral and was copied everywhere before Lisa noticed and notified me. But, on the second thought, with the kind of an ultimatum I gave to the villains, this was a good press I hadn't even considered.
As expected, PHO went crazy. Bans were given in bulk as gangs' sympathizers tried to throw some dirt and were mobbed by others. PRT officials tried to tread the line between discouraging my ultimatum method and not coming across as gangs' defenders. They often failed, especially when Lisa posted from a few throwaway accounts.
One of these accounts, though, got a cryptic personal message from a "Winged One", that just read "Thanks, Lisa. We wouldn't make it without you."
Which she only showed me to make sure it wasn't from me, which it wasn't. Which made Lisa promptly delete the said account, format the laptop she was using to access it and personally go to the recycling center to have it destroyed. Personally, I thought it was an overreaction, though something about that user name was vaguely ringing a bell. Oh well.
As expected, Void Cowboy posted that the suspiciously missing Eidolon and my declaring that I'd dealt with the Endbringer's source proved his earlier (correct) theories and started gloating over the naysayers. He got banned again, of course, but not before he also claimed that I recruited at least half of the Nine, because Bitch's dogs were clearly her and Crawler's children, Boombox was clearly Mannequin with a new body made by the little girl, who was clearly Bonesaw after cosmetic surgery (which she was). Answering my unasked question about that, Lisa claimed she's not getting into this as long as she's not being assigned as a clothed Siberian.
Somewhat even more worryingly, a few Fallen associated accounts were calling me to join them as their priestess. I warned them not to come near the Bay or else. I wasn't sure whether it'd do any good, though the Mathematician claimed the chances they won't come were somewhat higher if I explicitly told them not to. A problem for another day.
The memes and GIFs with Simi soccer-kicking Lexi were everywhere. Apparently, Ziz positioned herself and Becky at the best angle relative to Imp's phone to make the most photogenic video possible, even under the poor parking lot lighting. Which was another reason not to kill Imp and to keep this timeline as it was.
Some 'experts' were trying to spin the story as me being the mastermind behind all the Endbringers and their attacks. My guess, these were PRT PR people guided by Lexi, who apparently hadn't drowned. Which made me decide to email Glenn Chambers' official PRT email Lisa found on their website and offer him a job on a 'young team that aimed to change the world', and signed it 'The Boss'. His email reply said "no spamming", but later he called me on the number I provided from a burner phone and I'd convinced him that yes, I was the girl from the Simi video and that I did have an actual plan. He promised to think about it.
The city was quiet, it seemed the gangs took my statement seriously enough and there were no news-worthy fights. Faultline contacted Lisa on PHO, claiming they were out of town on a job when the fight happened and asked whether her Crew was considered a gang and whether she could convince us otherwise.
I asked to pass on that since Faultline didn't shit where she lived, we'd leave them alone, that we might have jobs for them, and that we might offer some information about Case 53s as part of their payment. I knew that would keep them interested. I also asked to mention the Somer's Rock meeting, if she wanted some face-to-face time.
Otherwise, we took these 2 days easy. We did get Riley to Arcadia Middle School, and, as Dinah predicted, into her class. Apparently, Dinah'd jumped a year, so she was in the same grade despite being a year younger. Riley did the evaluation tests and came back home rather annoyed with a long list of subjects she'd have to catch up on. Sucks to grow up with a bunch of murder-hobos. I didn't tell her that, though.
Dad, me, Lisa, Riley, and Amy visited Doctor Lecter again and depowered him like the last time. I considered letting Riley shine again, but decided it was enough to tell everybody about the last time and move on.
Riley did toughen up Amy's squishy body a bit in an hour-long operation, making sure nothing would be visible for her family to find out. After that, they both quickly upgraded me too, like the last time.
After I finally Saved, we had a brainstorming session with Dad and Lisa about the ways to remove the gangs with the least amount of collateral damage. I figured that with Coil out of the picture, we could give Piggot and the PRT another chance to do their jobs better. I couldn't expect them to take the initiative, of course, but I could try to cooperate with them and perhaps make them keep the arrested idiots inside for a change.
So I called the PRT front desk and asked to arrange a meeting with Piggot. I got to talk to her directly after only 7 minutes on hold, and we agreed to meet in her office an hour later.
Dad, Lisa, and I masked up and drove to the PRT building, were led to a big conference room where Piggy, Armsy, and Ms. Militia were waiting.
"Ms. .. Boss, while you've provided a great service to the city by preventing the Endbringer fight, whatever your method was, for which we're forever grateful, you've made a few questionable claims and an ultimatum that night. Because we were under Truce, the PRT will not be acting on these, but if you start actively implementing your ultimatum, this will change, and we will arrest you", Piggot started, very generously.
"Director, let me be clear, and Armsmaster's tech will keep me honest. The goal of our organization is global and kind of heroic in its nature, and local politics is of little interest to us. We do live in the Bay, however, and our headquarters are here. So, naturally, we don't want to have street wars, long term. I understand PRT has its limitations, both financial and headcount-related, and can't actively clean up the city by itself. I even think I know why, but if true, that's classified and above your pay grade. You can try and ask the Chief Director, though it might be unwise. As a matter of fact, I have a long-standing disagreement with her, so keep that in mind. I'm sure as experienced Director as you will figure things out.
"Our team could, in theory, fight a street war with each gang in this city or with all of them together, and win, but that'd ruin half the city in the process. My plan is the opposite of that. That's why we're in your office today.
"We will be giving you precise information about where and when you can make arrests, once the deadline I gave the gangs to dismantle on their own expires. Also, we will be delivering you the incapacitated villains, most of them hopefully alive. If you can't keep them arrested even with so much help from us, we will take the matters into our own hands and deal with them without you. It's not an ultimatum to the PRT, it's an explanation of what will happen. I hope this sounds fair.
"Note that I will be trying to recruit the more ... agreeable members of the gangs, offering them an option to join you, if you agree, but also to join our team, if they prefer that. I will not be forcing anybody to do anything though, we have enough firepower for this already and my goals are global, like I said. We already work with a few heroes in and outside the city, and we've successfully integrated a few ... less than heroes and it seems to work out for us. Please do not try to harass these people. We get them off the streets and they're not violating the law, now."
Piggot glanced at Armsmaster, who nodded. "You're probably referring to the Undersiders? Are you aware there are 2 killers among them?"
"I'm well aware of all my teammates' backgrounds, yes. I'm also pretty sure that you're aware that both cases would not even get to trial given a good defense lawyer, which we now have on retainer. In fact, last I checked, they were actively working on getting the allegations against them dropped", I diplomatically didn't explicitly mention that I also had the mad bomber and the child serial killer on the team too, now.
"But, I was actually referring to the other people on my team as well as to people that are not yet on my team. I will only be recruiting people who can stay on the right side of the law while they're on the team. I will probably not be recruiting Oni Lee, as an example. Purity has been trying to go hero, sort of, per her limited understanding of the term, but very clumsily, so you probably haven't even noticed. Her I will try to recruit, as another example. Unless you give her a better offer."
She seemed to consider for a second, then conceded, "I am not making any promises, but I'm willing to see where this is going. Would you give us a hint to your power, as a trust-building step?"
"Oh, that part is easy", I looked directly at Armsy's helmet, "I am not a Parahuman. I just know things. Thank you, Director, Ms. Militia, Armsmaster."
Before they could start interrogating me further, I got up and left, Dad and Lisa in my wake.
"Pretty sure the last thing you told her, that you're not a Cape, totally bought her over", Lisa told me when we got into the car and drove off.
On the day of the Somers Rock 'convention', I made a fresh Save, after the morning run, of course. I made sure the whole team would attend in full force, except for Stalker, Amy, and Dinah, whom we'd kept as a kind of secret, mostly for their sake. I asked Bitch to come with the meanest-looking dogs, though I apologized in advance that it would be just for posturing and that I didn't expect a fight to break out (which Dinah's numbers backed up).
Rachel said that intimidating opponents into submission with overwhelming forces totally made sense, and that it was in line with the Art of War book she was reading. I managed not to visibly freak out about the reading a book part and offered her to drop by and discuss what she was reading, if or when she wanted to.
We came early, fully geared for war, riding 7 of Bitch's dogs. They indeed looked extra brutal and scary. I suspected that Bitch could influence their aesthetic during the transformation and that she went an extra mile this time; I didn't ask. On arrival, I asked her to shrink them a bit to be able to walk through the pub doors, but to keep them big-ish enough to intimidate— or to attack or escape through the walls, if needed.
Me, Grue, and Dad sat at the big table in the middle, me at the head, Dad to my right, Grue to my left. I had earlier instructed Grue to menacingly leak some of his darkness around his helmet, though he had this part down by himself. The others—Bitch with her dogs, Regent, Tattletale, Imp, Medic with her slightly modified spiders, and Boombox with at least 50 grenades I could see on her person—took up 3 booths behind my back.
Empire 88 came in full force, too, as expected. Kaiser sat at the other end of the table, ignoring us, while the rest of the Empire capes took the 3 booths behind him, mirroring our arrangement. Purity took a chair and sat a step to the side and behind him, like she had when I first attended this establishment, back in my old life.
Faultline and her team came next. She sat at my right, next to Dad, and nodded our way, greeting us. I nodded back.
Travelers didn't come because nobody invited them to the city, and I was hoping to keep it that way. I actually had no idea where they were. I decided to ask Lisa to keep tabs on them after this.
Coil didn't come either, because he was only Calvert now, and as far as I knew, he was still awaiting trial.
Lung came slightly late with Oni Lee in tow and sat opposite Faultline, not nodding to anybody, the same as Kaiser.
I had no idea whether Merchants were even aware of the meeting, so I cleared my throat and started talking, "Thank you for attending...", only to be interrupted by Skidmark, Squeeler, and Mush's entrance.
I waited for them to sit, but there were no more free booths and no more chairs at the central table. Awkward.
"What'cha cumstains looking at?", Skidmark blew up when the sitting people began chuckling.
"I would tell you to come early next time, but there will be no next time, not for you. Stand to the side, or sit on the floor or skid the fuck off into the sunset, I don't care, but be quiet", I told him.
"Who the fuck gave your mouth-breeding cunt the freedom of speech, you whore?"
"Imp?", I asked the room. Skidmark convulsed, shocked. By my taser, which I gave Imp before the meeting for this exact purpose. He collapsed on the floor where he stood, Imp jumped sideways to avoid getting crushed by the stinking idiot and then disappeared again.
"Hey, this was supposed to be a Truce meeting!", Squealer protested, "who the fuck did that to Skiddy?"
"Verbal violence is still violence. You mouth off, you pay. Any other important inputs, or can we get on with the agenda?"
Nobody seemed to have any objections. Squealer and Mush just stood by the resting Skidmark, obscuring the view for Oni Lee. He didn't seem to care much, though.
Kaiser chuckled, "I like how you dealt with that lowlife. I'd like to extend an invitation to the Empire, for you and for ... select individuals from your nascent team."
"Noted, except you seem to be confused. I will sort things out for you soon enough. As most of you know, I'm the Boss, and I am making a new order in the city. I figured you'd be gathering here once you hear the details of my ... plan, so I decided to save you the trouble and do it here to begin with.
"I am declaring a 3-day truce for all of you to cut your losses, pack up, and fuck off out of my city. That's option A. Option B is for you to go to PRT and give yourselves up. Option C is you apply for a place on my team, but there will be a strict vetting process, and most of you won't pass it; I might make offers myself to those I see fit. Those who do will enjoy my protection for them and their close families." I glanced at Purity as I said that. She blinked.
"Those who will choose not to choose any of the above, I will choose for them. I will probably start with the Merchants because the druggies haven't even shown up for the Endbringer fight. Do pass this on to Skiddy when he wakes up.
"And Kaiser, so you know, I will not be offering you a place on my team. Others ... we will see. So, sell your stock options or whatever, pack up, and fuck off", this part seemed to have shocked Max a bit, good, "I will answer questions now."
Lung, who was silent throughout the meeting so far, leaned back and started chuckling. Then he started laughing. It was contagious. Others joined in. I chuckled too.
"I am glad you like it, Lung. For you, I will offer a place on my team, actually. Not exactly as a subordinate, but as a fighter. We will need you. It would be a waste to kill you or put you in the Birdcage. So I will offer you what I offered Jack Slash, kind of. We've had a knife fight, and he lost. To you, I offer a boxing match, no powers. 3 days from now. If I knock you out, you work for me. Unless you're afraid?"
"Haven't you shot Jack in the face?", Lung asked.
I chuckled, "Exactly, I knew you'd get the idea. I won't shoot you in the face, though. Do we have a deal, then?"
"You and me, boxing match? Sure, why not."
"Great. Any other questions?"
"Want to have a boxing match with me too, girl?" Hookwolf asked.
"Hm, I take it you're dumping the Empire and want to be on my team, then? I will think about it and let you know. Kaiser, what kind of a gang are you running? People can't wait to dump you?"
"What the fuck, Hook?", Kaiser turned at Hooky.
"No! I just wanted to shred her ass! I am not leaving!", Hooky was panicking.
"You know, it's ballsy to just come out ... of the closet, sorta, with your boss sitting here. Don't chicken out now, Hooky, you can do it. The rest of you, it'd be much safer to ask me or Tatts on PHO or over email, than here, you know, so Kaiser doesn't stab you or something. Just saying."
"Are we late?", Uber asked, coming in with Leet. I totally forgot about these clowns.
"3 days. Leave town, turn yourselves in to the PRT or apply to work for me. Come watch me boxing with Lung at the end of the 3 days on your way to either one of these if you want. Now you're caught up. Ah, and Hooky wants to leave Kaizy but is embarrassed for some reason."
"No, I am not!"
"Sorry, he proudly wants to leave Kaiser, my mistake."
"Stop it! I'm not leaving!"
"See the kindergarten I have to deal with? Any other questions?"
"Can we stream your fight with Lung?", Leet asked. Quick thinking.
"I will consult with my PR manager and get back to you. In any case, it will only happen if you apply to work for me - and if you pass our vetting process. Send your CVs to Tattletale."
"Can we apply after you don't die fighting Lung?"
"Nope, after that the Truce will be over and we will start hunting for whoever's left. But, look at the bright side, if you apply, get accepted, transmit the fight and I die - you're free folks who made some money off the stream. But no worries, I won't die."
"I want 50% of the proceeds from that stream", Lung said.
"50% from what you and I get, after they get their cut and deduct the expenses", I corrected him.
He shrugged, "When I kill you, I get your part too."
"You won't kill me, I will knock you out - and I will give you your half nevertheless, because I'm a fair Boss."
"I'm starting to like you."
"I will try to go gentle on you, then", I promised. No rotting off body parts or gouging eyes out, this time.
"Are you done flirting?", Kaiser snarled.
"Are you still here? Is the stock exchange closed? What do you want?"
"The Empire will kill you, that's a promise.", he turned around to his team, "If anybody defects, they die with the Boss, that's another promise."
"I see. If Kaiser is still in the city at the end of the 3 days, he is going to die, or he gets arrested, that's my promise. Folks from the Empire, make the appropriate plans, please. You will be next after him. Any other questions? Faultline?"
"This was very entertaining. I understand we're not considered a gang, but we're open for business offers."
"Can I hire you to kill the Boss?" Kaiser asked her. Did I hear panic in his voice? Did I get to him that much?
"No, I meant, we are open for business with the Boss."
"So, not only do you make people want to leave you, Kay, you have to threaten them to stay, and you also don't believe in their ability to deal with me? So you wanted to hire Faultline? I didn't know the Empire was THAT weak, you know. But it explains WHY people want to dump you. I bet your wife dumped you too", I looked at Purity again, at that.
"We're leaving", Kaiser got up and headed for the door, the rest of his team followed. Purity looked at me for a second and I nodded to her, before she left with them.
Lung and Oni Lee left after them. Lung was chuckling. Oni Lee kept silent and impassive, as usual.
Uber and Leet promised to think about their options and left after that.
Skidmark began coming to only then. Did Imp use the maximal setting? I told her not to. Maybe that was a mistake.
"What the fuck happened?", he asked his teammates.
"You were just leaving", I helped him. They did.
"Do you need help with the Empire?", Faultline asked, after our teams were left alone.
"I am not planning big open fights, but we will see. A free tip for now, there should be a Case53 guy hanging around the Trainyards, calls himself Trainwreck, very creatively. A Tinker. Might be a good fit for your team."
"Thank you, we will keep an eye out. Call us if you need us."
AN: Kaiser started panicking after he realized that Taylor knows his civilian ID.
Hookwolf is a bit dim in this fic. I know it's not always the case. Let's call it another bad fic staple.
I called Glenn and consulted him whether it was a good idea to live-stream my fight with Lung. He said I didn't have to try and commit suicide just to make him agree to join my team. After I assured him it was not my intention, both regarding convincing him to join and that I had no plans to die and every intention to win, by cheating, he conceded that if my intention was to grab some attention and credibility to my team, it would work, especially if I didn't die. He also advised making it seem more like a pro-boxing event than a Cape fight, for the same reason.
Even though I was planning to cheat, I still decided to prepare for the boxing part of the fight, so the next day I called up Sophia and Brian to our headquarters' sports corner. I Saved and had a series of extended training sessions, where Brian was emulating Lung (minus brute powers) - a big, strong guy I had to outmaneuver, while Sophia was playing Oni Lee - appearing out of unexpected directions to smack me with a training baton. The bitch was clearly enjoying herself until I developed a technique to always scan my 360, while moving around 'Lung' and constantly harassing him. I had no idea whether Oni Lee would be interfering, but I figured it would be good to be ready for such a scenario.
After a couple of Reloads where I managed to stay 'untapped' by Princess while managing to land a couple of decent hits on Brian without him catching me back, I called it quits and thanked them both. They said they're going to stay and spar some more, so I've left them to it. Hearing the room's door being locked after I left, I thought about putting a sock on the door handle, but I didn't have spare ones. I hoped they didn't lock Aisha inside with them. Not my problem.
I checked with Lisa, and apparently both Uber and Leet actually sent her their real CVs. I thought it was a too obvious sarcasm when I suggested it, but whatever. So, I Saved again and invited them to the job interview in the evening.
Both arrived at the headquarters masked, but wearing business costumes, like the Men in Black or the Blues Brothers, I wasn't sure which. Both looked startled when they saw that neither Lisa nor I were masked. I invited them into the conference room and offered them some water and cookies. They looked at each other, had some silent communication, then both shrugged and unmasked too.
"I thought it would be more productive if we drop the Capes make pretend stuff for a while, and have a serious talk about your plans and whether they match with ours," I started. " We will be eliminating the gangs, as I said, and making the city more peaceful and maybe boring. I am guessing you don't want to move to another city, you don't want to go to jail, you don't want to fight us, and that's the only reason you're here. Am I right?"
"Pretty much, yes. But we'd like to know what you would have us do, exactly?", Uber asked.
"I don't mind if you do some flashy, harmless shows where nobody comes to harm. And yes, we can do the fight with Lung into a live event the day after tomorrow. You're never to do stuff like that GTA game re-enactment. If in doubt, ask me. You do not get other warnings. I will beat you up and dump you on PRT's door with instructions on how to keep you in jail for years.
"If you're completely out of cash, again, talk to me. We'll figure out some arrangements. I will have orders for some equipment, making sure it's not something you've already done. Yes, I am aware of your limitations, Leet. For you, I might have some small tasks too, Uber. Nothing too high risk, or, nothing you won't be able to refuse. Questions?"
"I think it's all open and clear, and I think we can live with that, Leet?"
"Yes, but it sounds too easy. Where's the catch?", Leet asked.
"None that I know of. I just don't want you two messing around in the city. You're not exactly top-tier material, though you could be with some guidance. But you can be annoying to fight. So I want you to be annoying to my enemies and not for me. Makes sense?"
They made their silent communication thing again for a couple of seconds, and then both nodded.
I looked at Lisa, and we had our own silent communication thing. Meaning I just looked at her questioningly until she shrugged.
We shook hands. "Welcome aboard. I actually have a request for Leet. Do you already have or can you make us two pairs of big, flashy boxing gloves? For me and for Lung. Except mine need some extra-punchiness, not too obvious, but not too subtle either. We want the stream to be fun to watch after all, and he probably weighs thrice as much as I do. Maybe add some effects when they're punching?"
"Bro, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" - "Probably?"
Then they both looked at me, greened, and shouted, synchronously, "Punch-Out!!"
Which told me absolutely nothing. I looked at Lisa, who was searching on her phone. Then she showed me some very dated boxing gameplay video. It was pretty much what I wanted.
"Gentlemen, this feels like the beginning of a beautiful business cooperation", I told them.
The next day, Lisa informed me that someone claiming to be Purity contacted her from some throwaway PHO account and asked to meet. She wasn't sure whether it was real or a trap, because it looked like both. Since I was focusing on Lung for now, I told her to stall this maybe-Purity to the evening after the bog match.
U&L arranged the fight in a dilapidated warehouse, which they somehow cleared and cleaned up a bit in the day plus they had. Or maybe they had it ready for something else in advance. I didn't ask. Uber kept in contact with Lisa, who also notified Lung via some ABB contacts where we would be meeting.
I made a fresh Save point after the morning run. I figured this wasn't going to be much easier than my previous 2 fights with Lung, so I was expecting some heavy Save/Reload action for the day.
We arrived all costumed up with Dad, Lisa, Brian, Alice, and Aisha, who activated her power before we stepped into the building. The rest of the team intended to watch the stream. There was a professional-looking boxing ring in the center of the warehouse and some projectors around the structure lighting it.
Uber greeted us, dressed up like some fancy impresario. He announced me to the invisible audience with his professional voice, "She's won a knife fight with Jack Slash, she's convinced the Simurgh to leave Brockton Bay alone, she's called all the Bay's gangs to leave town, and today she's having a boxing match with Lung, the one and only ... the..... BOOOOOOSSSSSSS!"
A sound effect of wild ovations was applied by Leet on the control console in the corner. "And ... cut", he said, "now we wait for Lung, and then I stitch everything together, start the actual stream with that, and we start the fight."
Uber brought me my gloves. They were fire engine red, and they were somewhat oversized. Maybe it wasn't a good idea. It'd be hard to hit with them and make some damage. I tried them on, anyhow. They felt lighter than they looked. When I tried a slight right punch on the wall, however, there was a sound not dissimilar to a not very loud gunshot, a burst of red light from the glove, and I saw the concrete wall cracking with a spiderweb of damage. That might actually work. I tried punching with my left next, which resulted in a similar sound and visual effects, but otherwise produced just a weak punch with an oversized clown glove on the wall, which didn't do any damage.
"Only the right one does the extra punchiness effect - you do remember I can't build more than one of each, right?", Leet commented, "I hope you're right-handed."
"Naturally, I knew that, it's good, thanks!", I lied, "Tattletale, when did Lung say he will be arriving?"
We ended up waiting for him for another 15 minutes. I noted the time he finally walked in, followed by Oni Lee and some 5 ABB guys, maybe his lieutenants.
Leet started filming again and Uber introduced him too, "He's fought Leviathan and lived, he's kicked the combined asses of the entire Brockton Bay Protectorate heroes force, our one and only Bay's Dragon ... LUUUUNNNNNGGGGG!", the same recording of wild ovations followed, after which Leet cut again and started editing.
Uber brought Lung his gloves, green to contrast my red ones, who eyed them suspiciously, but after seeing me wearing mine, put them on too.
Then I discovered the first problem with my master plan. While wearing the gloves, I couldn't use Alice's power-nullifying grenades in my pockets, which was the main part of the plan. I couldn't really expect to knock Lung down without being cooked to extra crispiness. Well, here goes this Save cycle, but I decided to stick around and see whether Oni Lee would interfere and how Lung was fighting in gloves, in general.
Finally, Leet finished editing and nodded to Uber that he'd started transmitting. A counter showing the time left till we went live started ticking down beside him. Uber, now dressed as the referee, led us to the center of the ring, and when the counter reached zero, started the main event.
"Lady Boss, Mr. Lung, I want this to be a clean fight till the knockout or forfeit. There're no points and no time limits. No under-the-belt hits, no visible weapons, no visible powers use are allowed."
"So, little girl, what was your plan? Nobody saw you fight anybody. Are you a brute? A speedster?", Lung asked while slowly circling the ring.
"Oh, I'm just a normal girl. Nothing special about me. Just lucky, I guess", I teased him, while probing him with my left without committing and mostly keeping my distance. When I hit his shoulder for the first time with a quick left jab, the sound effect startled him for a fraction of a second.
"What's this, a joke?"
"Oh, that's Uber and Leet's addition. Apparently, it's from some old video game Punch Out. It should be fun. Here, hit my glove," I invited him with my left. He punched my glove, almost breaking my hand inside, and producing the same gunshot effect, which made him smile.
"This is stupid."
"Of course, it's stupid. This whole fight is stupid. Us fighting is stupid. That's the whole point. I'm recruiting you. The rest is noise. And the show. People want to see us fight, of course."
"Hey, more fighting, less talking!", Uber urged us.
Lung started approaching me more directly, throwing probing jabs too. He wasn't very fast, but he wasn't slow either. At least that was the case while he didn't apply his power yet. It was also obvious that he was too used to fighting with his power as a crutch. His punches were rather predictable and sloppy. His defense was ineffective, and proper legwork was almost non-existent. Guess none of these mattered after he ramped up to a full-size fire dragon. Which was inline with my plans and hopes, so I didn't need to apply the backup plans, like using doors mid-fight or asking Contessa for a leg up. That would've been embarrassing.
I probed his ribs a few times with my left, teaching him to defend them and not just ignore me. Then I feinted to the left, telegraphing a low hook, changed direction, feinting a right low cross, causing him to lower both of his elbows, and then I performed a jab-jab-cross combo into his no longer protected face, or the mask in this case. All the 3 punches connected, but the last one, made with my powered right glove for the first time, has put him airborne. Alas, the glove didn't cancel all the physical laws, so the same impact that threw him into the air also had a similar backwards effect on my slightly enhanced right wrist, still almost breaking it, and pushing me a couple of steps back.
Lung flew into the ropes, bounced from them, and flew right back at me, preparing a punch of his own. I stepped to the side, letting him pass me, collide with the ropes on the other side, bounce back again, and finally stop in the middle of the ring. He shook his head and chuckled.
"That was good, now it's my turn", he was also growing, which was a problem. I tried to feel the grenade in my pocket with my glove, but the glove was too thick. I glanced at Uber, checking whether he'd call a blatant power use he just declared as forbidden. He shrugged and shook his head. Guess he was ignoring that the same way he was ignoring my right glove's punches.
Lung lunged at me with a fury of blows, each one strong enough to kill me, probably. I managed to avoid all of them, punching him once into the ribs with my left, as I went. It didn't seem to have any effect on him, not anymore. Stupid brute power.
I tried a few more attacks, learning him, seeing what he could parry and what went in, until he managed to catch me transitioning between sides with a seemingly weak jab to my masked face. This time I went airborne, starting to blackout mid-flight, probably with a broken nose. I Reloaded before I landed.
This time, I timed our arrival to the building to a bit later, so we wouldn't have to wait for Lung as much. I didn't try to punch the wall with the gloves, I replied to Uber's greeting with a more effective entrance stride and a more flattering fighting pose.
I also gave the grenades to Imp in advance and instructed her to start throwing them when I'd punch Lung the first time with my right. The grenades' effect lasted for about a minute and she had 4 of them left, I figured it should be enough and didn't ask Alice to make more. Boombox had many other grenade kinds on her of course.
The beginning of the fight went pretty much the same way as the 1st time, except I was more ready for the blowback from the right cross and managed to not get visibly thrown back after I sent Lung flying again. The power nullifying grenade went off in the middle of the ring, when Lung stopped. I didn't let him recover and started punching him non-stop.
The new problem was, the nullifying field wasn't covering the entire ring, so when I sent him flying the second time, he left the no-powers area and got immediately healed by his bullshit power, before he came back to the center, losing his power - and the headache I was hoping to cause with my continuous punches.
It still probably made an entertaining fight to watch, so I kept going, trying to focus on my breathing and legwork, putting my whole body into the punches and less using my muscles, so I could last longer. It all went pretty well, till his leg hit the small grenade, probably by accident and kicked it out of the ring. Which nullified all the hard work I was doing because he healed and started growing immediately and growling at me.
Pissed off, I Reloaded again. I checked with Alice, and apparently she'd made more nullifying grenades without my asking. I commended her and instructed Imp to enable 4 grenades in the 4 corners of the ring from the outside, and then to throw another one in the center and to keep adding them if they wore off.
We did the whole song and dance thing again, except this time I eventually punched Lung into one of the corners with an active no-powers field on. He didn't bounce back from the corner. I closed in and kept punching him in the ribs and the face till he almost collapsed. I finished with a right uppercut, which made him bounce and fall face-first into the ring. Uber, counted, announced my victory, and started to try and wake Lung up, while I kept my eyes on Oni Lee and the ABB guys. They were apparently rooted in place and not doing anything. Then I noticed the familiar pink transparent field from under Oni Lee's chair and realized Imp nullified him too, when nobody noticed, and he wasn't smart enough to just walk out of the field. Or maybe he just didn't care or wasn't ordered to do anything. It didn't matter to me.
Eventually, the grenades by the ring ran out of juice. Lung recovered and sat up. I walked over, without the gloves already, and gave him a hand helping to stand up. He let me help and just stared at me while Uber made the final announcements and till Leet had cut the stream.
"What did you do? You fucked with my power?"
"I did say 'no powers', and you agreed. Next time you hear of a too-easy offer, look for the catch better. Declare the dismantling of ABB as a gang, tell Oni Lee to leave town or to give himself up to PRT, come to our office and I will tell you everything."
"I can't just end ABB! The Empire will take over our turf immediately!"
"You know what, ABB, with a new name I approve and under your management and my public support, can remain as an Asian community self-defence thing, at least until we finish off the Empire. Then, there should be no need for it. But no brothels or drugs. Makes sense?"
And so, 15 minutes of intensive negotiations between Lung and my Dad and Lisa later, Leet made another recording that was broadcast over the net, showing Lung and me shaking hands and stating that ABB was no more, but that ASDF, the Asian Self-Defence Force, was immediately replacing it, with Lung and the Boss managing its strictly legal affairs until the Empire was no longer a factor in Brockton Bay. I insisted he didn't add "Boyz" into the name - or demanded he add Girls too, which made it even longer and uglier.
Lung faced the camera and told all the ex-ABB members to cease anything illegal and disperse, to destroy the drugs or risk being caught with them by the police, whom he will not stop anymore, to close the brothels, and to pay all their workers a $1000 each, besides the normal payment owed, instructing them to contact authorities or social services if they wanted to. He promised to punish anybody who'd prevent this from happening too.
Afterwards, Lung came to our office, where we both unmasked, and I told Kenta the whole story, the fact that this was the third time I was beating him, in the least humiliating way of the 3, and that we had a much bigger fish to fry than some local gangs' politics or grudges. He wasn't happy, but turned out to be a rather chill guy, when not threatened and treated with the proper respect.