Dragon's Progeny [Worm/ABB OC]

Yuko Araki hummed quietly to herself as she brought her pencil across the notepad on the table in front of her, squinting as she did her best not to smudge the graphite unnecessarily.

The scene she was currently sketching was nothing of importance, merely a way to keep her mind busy as she waited for her friend to arrive. It was fairly simple, a small willow tree overlooking a cliff, but she still wanted to at least make it look good. Practice didn't mean much if you didn't try after all.

She took a sip of her tea, savoring the bitter taste while wincing lightly at the heat. It was the middle of autumn in the Bay and as such, it was quite chilly outside. Perfect weather for cozying up in a cafe with a hot beverage by your side.

Just outside of the cafe, Yuko's enhanced hearing could just barely pick up the sounds of the waves crashing against the rocky shore of the bay or the indistinct chatter of the people who passed the cafe on the way to their destinations. It was somewhat relaxing, akin to white noise at this point in her life, helping her tune out any unwanted distractions.

*Ding*

'And speaking of distractions…' Yuko looked up as the door to the cafe opened, a bell sounding out throughout the building, and grinned lightly as she recognized the person walking in, silhouetted by the early evening light.

Said person, a blonde teenager around the age of Yuko herself, looked around the cafe, clearly searching for something. Yuko raised her hand in the air and the blonde locked into it immediately, smiling when she caught sight of the black-haired girl.

She made her way over, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulders as she walked, and stumbling slightly as she nearly bumped into someone on her way out.

Yuko gave her a small nod in greeting as she reached her, "Tammi, it's good to see you."

"Hey Yuko, sorry I'm late, dad was giving me the third degree." Tammi greeted back as she reached her, and Yuko gave her a sympathetic look.

"Does he still think you're going out to meet a boy?" She asked. Tammi groaned.

"I swear to god, one of these days I'm going to snap at him," she confessed, "Everytime I try to leave the house and he's around, he has to interrogate me about where I'm going. 'You better not be going out to see any boys Tammi!' 'Don't go talking to Jake again Tammi!' I'm sick of it!"

Yuko nodded at the blonde's words, more than aware at this point of how her father could be. Elias Herren was a strict man, far stricter than even her own to the point that he often came across as overbearing. She had lost count of the amount of times Tammi had ranted about the man's treatment of her.

"Whatever, fuck him anyway. I'm not a kid who needs to be constantly supervised." Tammi muttered, and Yuko winced at the language used. One of the first things she had learned about her friend was that she had quite the mouth on her. She had gotten used to it over the course of their admittedly short friendship, but it still surprised her from time to time.

"Anyway, I didn't keep you waiting too long did I?" She asked as Yuko made some space on the table for her.

Yuko shook her head, "No, I've only been here for fifteen minutes or so. Barely enough time to get my drink." She gestured toward the steaming styrofoam cup sitting on the table. There was no lid on it as Yuko wanted the drink to cool faster.

"Really dude? Are you drinking tea?" Tammi snorted as she caught sight of the liquid in Yuko's cup. She placed her school bag beside her chair as she took a seat across from her friend, "Could you get any more stereotypical?" She teased.

Yuko hummed, taking an especially slow sip of her drink. She made sure to make the action as noisy as possible, and was amused as her friend's face scrunched in annoyance.

After several long seconds, she returned the drink back to its place on the napkin, grinning at the sight of relief her friend gave, "I suppose I could start wearing ceremonial yukatas and only sit seiza style from now on. But I have a feeling that would get uncomfortable after a while so I think I'll pass."

Tammi waved off her words, "Oh please, like you could be uncomfortable. I've seen you sit in the same spot for over an hour as you draw in that notebook you've got. You always pick some of the most awkward positions too. I wouldn't be surprised if one day, I found you with your legs crossed behind your head like it was normal or something."

Yuko shrugged, "I'm very flexible." Sometimes anyway.

Tammi snorted, shaking her head, "Sure dude, whatever you say." She leaned down and pulled a laptop out of her bag, placing it on the table and powering it on, "Anyway, how have you been?"

Yuko smiled lightly as she and her friend settled into amicable conversation. She continued her sketches as she talked, while Tammi worked on something on her laptop. They paused briefly as the worker inside the cafe asked if they would like a drink, but other than that that talk continued uninterrupted.

Her mind went back to how the two of them had met in that very cafe some months ago. It had been an especially busy day, not a single table had been empty. Yuko has been enjoying a cup of tea and some pastries as she worked on an assignment from school. Tammi had walked up to her table and asked for a seat as all the other tables had been full, and Yuko been more than happy to share.

At the start, there had been some definite tension between them, the blonde barely said a word to her the entire time she was there, merely eating her food and beating a hasty retreat, not even bothering to say goodbye or thank you to her. Yuko hadn't even gotten her name.

Yuko had shrugged it off, it was rude, but not anything worth crying over. She went about her day, barely thinking about the odd teen.

The next day, something similar happened, the cafe was busy, the blonde asked to sit with her, and seemed determined to stay silent the entire time. Yuko however, decided not to let her. She spoke to the other teen, asking her inane things like her name or how her day was going, questions designed to get some conversation flowing. The blonde had answered her stiffly clearly not enthused by the questions, but Yuko had been able to get her name regardless. Tammi.

And now she had a goal, she would make friends with this girl, whether she wanted it or not.

Day after day, whenever Tammi sat down at her table, Yuko pried open her cold facade more and more, and slowly the tightness of her eyes disappeared, and smiles became more and more common. No longer was Tammi giving her the cold shoulder. Instead she was laughing uproariously at Yuko's dry humor and sharing jokes of her own in return.

After getting the other girl talking, Yuko found that she actually enjoyed Tammi's company. She was sharp-witted, funny, and pretty attractive besides that. And though Yuko could take or leave her crass language, she couldn't deny it fit perfectly with the blonde's personality.

Yes it seemed that after several years of living in Brockton Bay, she had finally acquired what she had desired for some time. A friend. And she found herself constantly looking forward to their little chats.

"-and so what if I was a little late turning in my project!? I still got it done!" Yuko tuned back in as Tammi finished up her story.

"-but noooo, he was all, 'Tammi if you don't try in school, you won't go anywhere in life.' Like fuck you dude! I don't want to hear that from some old man who barely makes minimum wage after going through who-knows how many years of college. He docked three whole points for that. On a midterm!" She huffed, crossing her arms angrily, "Jackass."

"Did you get in trouble with your father over it?" Yuko asked her as the worker (she really needed to figure out what to call them. Barista?) placed another steaming styrofoam cup on the table. Yuko gave him her thanks as she replaced her old one.

Tammi shook her head as the man placed her drink on the table as well, "Not my dad. My aunt though… Well she wasn't very happy. Looots of yelling." She sighed and Yuko winced.

"I'm sorry to hear that." She said and Tammi just shrugged.

"Eh, it's fine. She's been a lot more mellow now that I'm coming around more often." She took a sip of her drink, humming happily at the flavor.

"Oh, did you finally cave and join that book club she's been talking to you about?" Yuko asked.

Tammi's aunt had been brought up in conversation before, usually because Tammi was complaining about the woman pestering her to join a book club. Yuko was pretty sure that was a bit out of the blonde's ballpark, but figured that the woman just wanted to spend some time with her niece.

Either way, it was nice that Tammi had finally chosen to spend time with her voluntarily. One should always spend as much time with their loved ones as possible. One never knows when they won't have the chance anymore.

"Heh, yeah I did." Tammi nodded as she looked away, "Not like I really had much choice in the first place considering that other club…"

Yuko could just barely hear the other girl's muttered words and was confused by them. What did she mean she didn't have a choice? Other club?

'Maybe her dad forced her to join. He seems the type to want her to spend more time with her family.' Yuko shrugged, putting it out of her mind as she picked up her drink. If Tammi wanted her to know, she'd tell her. She wasn't going to pry.

"I really don't understand how you can drink that shit." Tammi piped up as Yuko took a very cautious sip of her fresh tea, "It tastes like cough syrup to me."

The Asian girl just gave her a small smile as warmth filled her mouth and throat, warming her entire body on the way down, "You just have no taste. How much sugar do you have in that 'coffee' of yours?" She made air quotes at the word coffee due to the fact that the drink inside of the cup Tammi was sipping from could barely be called that anymore.

The other teen just gave a shrug as she took a draw from her drink's straw, "Dunno. Enough to keep me awake I guess."

Their chat was interrupted as Yuko's phone buzzed on the table, indicating she had a message. She picked it up and powered it on, gazing at the message that appeared on the screen curiously, eyes widening slightly as she recognized the caller ID.

Father: Return.

That was it. That single word was the only thing she had been sent, and yet Yuko knew better than to even consider ignoring it.

She placed her phone in her pocket, standing as her friend looked at her curiously. "Sorry Tammi, I've got to go. If I'm not busy, would you like to hang out tomorrow as well? We can go to that store in the mall that sells all the weird goth stuff that you like so much." She asked as she slid her sketchbook into her bag.

Tammi was more than used to her friend's sudden exits by now, and as such was not put off at all, "Yeah, sure thing. I'll text you later tonight. Wouldn't want you getting too bored without your best friend." she grinned as she began gathering her own things.

Yuko rolled her eyes good naturedly as she retrieved her wallet, counting out several bills and placing them on the table. A tip for letting them loiter in the cafe for as long as they did, "We've only known each other for three or so months. If even that."

"And yet, you didn't deny it." Tammi smirked, "You know you like hanging out with me. I'm your best friend and you know it."

Yuko let out a huff of amusement as she slid her sketchbook into her bag, "Yes, whatever would I do without your crass mouth? Why, imagine a world where I am forced to spend time in more polite company, with people who don't insult my tastes in drinks every chance they get." She shuddered theatrically, "How horrible. I dread the very thought of it."

"Yeah yeah, get out of here grandma. And take your tea with you." Tammi waved her off as she zipped up her bag.

Yuko gave her a small smile, "I'll see you tomorrow then." She wrapped her bag around her shoulders, clipping it in the middle.

Tammi nodded at her, "Yup, see you Yuko." And Yuko gave her and the worker a wave as she stepped out into the lamp-lit streets of Brockton Bay.

As she began her trek back home, Yuko couldn't help but wonder what her father had called back for.

~~~

The Araki household was a large, two-story building with a rather large addition built in the rear. Japanese iconography littered the yard, small statues of various yokai and other creatures lined the way up to the door, where two large knockers were situated.

Considering she lived there, Yuko decided to forgo the knockers and simply opened the door, "I'm home!" She called out to anyone inside.

The foyer was completely empty, but she could hear the sounds of footsteps further into the house. She slipped her shoes off at the door as she was taught, before walking further into the house.

A tallish man in a sharp white button up greeted her as she entered the house proper, "Welcome home Hime." He bowed to her, "Your father is waiting for you in his office."

Yuko nodded, "Thank you Takada, I'll go up to him right away."

As the man walked away, Yuko began making her way up the stairs. In moments, she was standing in front of the door to her father's office

She knocked on the door once and upon the answering grunt, opened it and walked inside. The office was dimly lit. Candles burned quietly atop the desk near the back, casting a warm glow into the darkness. A silver dragon mask gleamed in the dim light, casting menacing shadows upon the walls.

Sitting at the desk was her father, hunched over as he stared at a paper with furrowed brows . Dragon tattoos, similar to the one on her own back, covered a good portion of his exposed skin including his muscles arms. He looked up as she entered, hard gaze softening ever-so slightly as he recognized her.

"Yuko." The Dragon of Kyushu greeted her as she closed the door quietly behind her, "You received my message."

Yuko gave him a bow, showing deference to him as he had taught her, "Yes father. I apologize for taking so long, I returned as quickly as I could." She spoke quietly.

He gave her a soft grunt, one reserved especially for her, as she rose from her bow, "Welcome home."

"Thank you father." Yuko smiled at his welcoming, "Though I must admit, I am curious why you have asked me to return. It was my belief that you wished for me to remain away from the house for the day."

What she did not say was that she knew the reason he wanted her out was due to the fact that he was meeting with his subordinates, specifically the ones that handled the majority of the ABB's day-to-day affairs. He had always refused to let her sit in on the meetings, which had hurt at first but she now understood that he wished to keep the fact that he had a daughter hidden for as long as possible.

However loyal those men claimed to be, both she and her father knew that most didn't get there through their undying loyalty to the gang. Backstabbing and blackmail was all too common to men like them, and the moment Yuko's existence was revealed, their enemies would find out about it. One way or another. Her father had decided to keep her existence close to his chest, and to her knowledge only Lee knew who she was. A rare show of sentimentality from the normally heartless man.

So that begged the question, why had he asked her to return so soon? To her knowledge the meeting hadn't passed yet. Why had he called her back?

"As you know, I am meeting with my subordinates," Her father rumbled, and she nodded, "There have been murmurs that some of those under me are displeased with my rule."

Yuko did know that. She very carefully did not say that there was likely good reason for the displeasure. Though her father may love her and she, him, she also knew he was not a good man in any sense of the term. The way he treated those under him left much to be desired, and though Yuko herself had never been subject to his displeasure, she had certainly heard the screams of those who had.

She did not say any of this, instead simply making an easy conclusion from what he had told her, "You suspect there's a traitor."

"No, I do not suspect." Her father rumbled angrily, "I know." He picked up the paper he had been looking at when she walked in, holding it out for her to take.

She took it delicately, studying it intently. It was clearly handwritten, and Yuko recognized the hasty scrawl as Lee's.

It was a list of observations, each time-stamped within hours of each other.

10:33 - Kaito Nanaki exits his home.

10:50 - Kaito enters a bar named 'Patt's Pub' in Empire territory.

11:02 - Kaito exited with a Caucasian male with a shaved head. No overt Nazi paraphernalia is on display.

11:57 - Kaito and the unnamed man enter a warehouse. Over the course of an hour, several other people enter the warehouse.

12:23: Victor of the Empire 88 enters the warehouse.

2:07 - Kaito exits the warehouse and makes his way home

Kaito does not leave his home for the rest of the night.

Yuko furrowed her brow as she placed the paper back on the desk. She knew the name Kaito Nanaki, he was one of the more trusted of her father's subordinates, handling a good portion of things dealing with the gang at large.

Weapons suppliers, hidden caches, recruitment tactics, brothel locations. He knew it all.

If Kaito was a traitor, then the Empire had insight into each and every one of their internal operations. There was no telling how much damage could be done.

Yuko looked to her father as she realized the direness of the situation, "What are you going to do? Are you going to send Lee to make an example out of him?" Was she in for another sleepless night filled with screams?

Her father didn't answer for a long moment, merely gazing at her seriously. She met his eyes, keeping eye contact despite the strong urge to avert her gaze.

Apparently she passed some sort of unspoken test, as after only a few moments her father nodded in satisfaction, "You will join me at the meeting." He said, and Yuko's eyes widened.

"You're going to have me sit in?" She asked, surprised and somewhat horrified at his decision.

Lung nodded, "It is well past time to introduce you to my enemies. You are my heir, and as such you will strike fear into those who would strike against us, just the same as I have."

He picked up his mask from its place on his desk, putting it on his face. The silver accessory shone brightly as the candles around the room flared with his anger, rising and falling with his every breath.

"If those under me would attempt to betray all that I have built here, then I will destroy them. And so will you." He spoke firmly, reaching down into his desk and placing the item he retrieved onto its surface.

"Your previous mask was amateur at best. That will not do for this meeting. You will wear this instead." He said as she picked up the item he placed on the desk.

It was a half-mask, a beautifully crafted one at that. It's appearance was that of a Kitsune, the upper muzzle and ears of one at least, composed of mostly red and black with silver accents, and clearly made to fit Yuko specifically. It also fit with her costume's colors perfectly.

While Yuko hadn't had a chance to truly go out and participate in the cape scene, her father had made sure she would be properly equipped in case trouble ever came to their doorstep. This included making her a costume that would allow fight without restrictions, although given the nature of her power, it was kind of a moot point.

Still, even though she technically had a costume, Lung had refrained from giving her a mask, forcing her to instead make one herself. It was his way of telling her that she was not ready to join him in ruling the ABB, to stand by his side as Lee did.

This mask was his way of telling her she was ready. She was both excited, and terrified at the prospect. Still, she knew better than to let either show on her face.

Yuko instead bowed deeply, expressing her gratitude towards her father, "Thank you father. I promise, I will not disappoint you."

He grunted as he stepped around the desk, making his way to the door, "See that you don't. Get prepared and join me in the war room. Don't be late." And then he left, heavy footsteps echoing throughout the hall.

Yuko stared at the mask in her hands, turning it this way and that as she came to terms with exactly what it meant. The moment she put it on, everything would change, she would be expected to take an active role in the gang, become one of her father's enforcers or even take on a role above that.

Her biggest concerns would no longer be schoolwork or possible commissions for her artistry, instead she would be worrying about whether or not she would be forced to fight one of the numerous dangerous parahumans who called the ABB their enemy. Would have to worry about if she would see her friend again or end up as another statistic on the forums, dead from a stray shot from a gangbanger or another cape's lower.

Or even her father's anger. Things would change between them, she would be his subordinates as well as his daughter. And she did not know if that fact would save her from his wrath should she screw something up. She loved her father, and she would like to believe he would never do that to her, but she did not know. And she would be lying if she said that didn't scare her.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

And yet It was much too late to back down now, she had lost any choice in the matter the day that she triggered. It had only been a matter of time from that point on. And it seemed that time had arrived.

She took a deep breath to steady herself, and placed the mask on her face, one hand slipping up to pull the strap behind her head and under her hair.

And as the mask slipped comfortably onto her features, sliding into place as if it had been there all along, Yuko ceased to be.

And only Yosei, Daughter of the Dragon, remained.

The war room was unusually silent. That was the first thing Hiashi Nogi noticed when he entered.

As one of the six Faces of the ABB, Hiashi's duty's revolved around the creation and maintaining of the various drug smuggling routes. A very important job and one he did well, or at least he believed so. And luckily it seemed Lung did as well, considering the fact that despite his relatively young age, he had maintained such a coveted position in the ABB.

Said man was currently lounging in a large chair at the center edge of the table as he waited. His mask glistened in the dim light of the war room as he stared straight forward while he waited. Oni Lee stood silently on the left side of his master's chair, hands folded behind his back as his blood red mask scowled at them all.

Hiashi personally didn't like the Oni, though he would never say so aloud. The man struck him as…off. Doll-like. His movement, his speech, even the way he stood, gave Hiashi a sense of uncanny valley, like he was looking at something poorly attempting to pretend to be human.

That didn't mean he was any less dangerous. As a matter of fact, he was even more dangerous for it. Hiashi had been unfortunate enough to witness the facsimile of a man in action. He moved swiftly, each and every motion deliberate as he cut down his foes, leaving blood and ash in his wake as his targets fell one by one.

And he did it all without uttering a single word, a dozen lives snuffed out in mere seconds with simple stabs and slashes. Horrifying was an insufficient word for what he had witnessed, and he was glad that his responsibilities now lay behind a desk as opposed to on the field.

Hiashi gave the door a wary glance, much like his colleagues had been doing since they sat down.Usually the meeting would have long since started, but when Lung had entered he had proclaimed that they were waiting on one more. Although, considering that Hiashi could just barely hear the sounds of footsteps making their way closer, he had a feeling that their guest was about to arrive.

The door to the room opened, breaking Hiashi from his thoughts as he and all of those present turned their gazes to the person entering the room, clearly the reason they had all been waiting.

It was a woman, which surprised Hiashi, as he knew that apart from the serving girls, all women were forbidden from entering the war room.

Still, Hiashi could tell this was no serving girl. She was wearing a flowing black and red kimono, upon which were depictions of various creatures that Hiashi recognized. Raiju, Dragons, Oni, and what he was pretty sure was a Cerberus were just some of the creatures depicted. The theme was clear to see given that nearly all of the depictions were of some sort of mythical creature, perhaps a deliberate nod to her powerset? Most parahumans knew better than to do that, Yosei was either arrogant, or extremely confident in her abilities.

A black, red, and silver half-mask in the shape of a fox sat firmly on her face, obscuring the upper half of her features and leaving only her lips and jaw exposed, and Hiashi could just barely see the dark edges of what looked like a knife scar on the right side of her jaw, creeping up her cheek and ending just before the edge of her mask.

Even disregarding the fact that she was very clearly a parahuman, the sheer presence she excluded was eerily similar to Lung's own. It filled the room, a weight pressing down upon every person present and making them acknowledge her for what she was. Above them.

She moved with purpose, shoes clicking upon the laminated floor as she strode confidently towards Lung, kneeling in front of him, and Hiashi's heart nearly stopped at her words, softly spoken into the now silent room.

"Father." She bowed her head, "I have arrived."

'Father?' Hiashi's eyes widened and muttering immediately broke out around the room as they processed the woman's words. He could hear the whispers of outrage and those of worry, concern and anger prevalent for this woman who dared to claim to be the Dragon's spawn.

And yet, Lung did nothing to refute the woman's words. In fact, he looked… approving, if that was even possible. His posture did nothing to indicate his anger at least, and Hiashi had a sinking feeling that the woman was telling the truth.

He looked up and around at them all. He stood slowly, and the mutters immediately ceased to exist as he gestured toward the still kneeling woman.

"This is Yosei," He spoke clearly, "My daughter and heir to the ABB."

Murmurs began to break out once more and as Yosei stood from her kneel, Lung held his hand up to silence them all, "I have not finished speaking."

That simple statement silenced the murmurs immediately, tension filling the room once more. Lung gazed around at them all as Yosei came to stand on his side that wasn't occupied by the Oni, clasping her hands in front of her elegantly. He waited a moment to ensure there would be no interruptions before he continued, "I have kept her hidden from you all deliberately, partially for her safety, and partially because I did not deem her ready. That has changed. As my heir, she will be below only me in the ABB's hierarchy. That means that an order from her is nearly as absolute as my own. Even Lee is not exempt from this."

He sat back down in his chair, "She will be taking over my role in the managing of a large portion of the ABB's internal affairs. From now on, if you have an issue that would affect the gang at large, you will defer to her before me."

Hiashi's sharp gaze caught the sudden stiffening of Yosei's shoulders, and he had the feeling that this was the first time the woman had heard of this. Still, she apparently came to terms with the new information rather quickly, as her posture returned to normal mere moments later.

So she was level headed, or at least good at keeping her emotions in check. That was good, Hiashi would rather not have another Lung to defer to if he could help it. It was a miracle he had stayed alive so far with just the man himself, there was no telling what would happen if his daughter had inherited his explosive temper.

"Are you kidding me!?"

And speaking of explosive tempers…

A few chairs down from Hiashi, Kaito Nanaki stood suddenly from his chair, face twisted in outrage, "Why the hell should we have to listen to another crazy cape!? Just because she's your daughter!?"

Hiashi didn't think the room could get any more silent. Heads turned toward the standing man, including the three clad in masks. He could see the thin line of a frown creasing Yosei's lips and shook his head at Kaito's arrogance.

Kaito was from an extremely influential family. Or at least they were, before Kyushu was sent plummeting into the depths of the sea. He and his family had moved to Brockton Bay years before Lung had made the journey himself and, in an attempt to reclaim some of their lost prestige, had set about creating a large-scale crime syndicate.

He had failed of course, so many refugees of different nationalities do not make a good or even semi-productive gang. Despite his admittedly valiant efforts, his little empire had come crumbling down around him within the year and Lung had strode in to pick up the pieces, using his superior strength and power to beat the remnants of the various Asian gangs into submission.

Kaito had been lucky enough that Lung had seen his worth and decided to recruit him instead of making an example out of him. He had elevated Kaito to a position near the top of the ABB, giving him rein over a good portion of the gang itself. Much more than the man deserved in Hiashi's opinion, but he seemed to be doing a good job thus far.

It appeared that Kaito had been afflicted by a temporary bout of insanity however, as the man stood from his chair to address Lung as if he were just another member of the gang and not the man who had fought Leviathan to a standstill in his very own homeland.

Honestly, Hiashi wondered if the man was secretly suicidal and had just decide that it was his time, because those were decidedly not the actions of a man who valued his life, and he just barely held back a sigh at the man's foolish words. He knew what was coming, the Dragon would not let that sort of disrespect lie.

And indeed, he could see his leader tense visible with anger, hands clenching in his chair as he took in the man's insolent words. Hiashi could feel sweat begin to form on his neck as the ambient temperature of the room increased dozens of degrees in just a moment.

Kaito seemed to realize his mistake, his skin paling and his eyes widening as he was subject to his leader's rage. He scrambled into a low bow, profusely apologizing from his foolish words, but it was far too late. Had been from the moment he opened his mouth.

The temperature continued to rise, several Faces around the room beginning to pull at their collars as they began to stick to their necks. The temperature continued to climb, and Hiashi looked down at the table in front of him, finding that his once cold glass of water was emitting steam.

He swallowed roughly. This was bad, if it continued like this, the lot of them would be dead within the minute. The heat was obscene, the air of the room becoming hazy as if they were in a desert, and Hiashi's breaths began to come out in short pants.

He looked around the room, wincing at what he saw. Most of the other faces were much older than himself, early fifties at the youngest, and as such they weren't faring nearly as well in the heat. Their eyelids drooped and some of them had slumped over in their seat, borderline heatstroke taking its toll on their fragile bodies. They would cease to be very soon if something didn't change.

And then, miraculously, the temperature stopped climbing, settling down at what felt like a little over a hundred degrees before it began to slowly drop once more, dropping just as fast as it rose until finally, it was back at a relatively comfortable temperature.

As Hiashi thanked whatever gods were listening, Lung took a deep breath, slowly unclenching his hands, splinters of wood falling from his fingers from his armchair. He took a moment to calm himself, before turning to Yosei.

"Yosei." Lung spoke to his daughter, who seemed completely unaffected by the heat the man had been producing, "For your first act as my right hand, you will give this fool the proper punishment for his blatant disrespect. Ensure he regrets his decision."

What? Lung was letting his daughter take care of it? That was uncommon, while he had sometimes allowed Lee to handle the punishment of his subordinates, Lung usually preferred to handle any discourse by himself. Hiashi personally believed it was a way for the man to show his power, to show that he had not gone soft during his time leading the gang. As if anyone would believe that the man was soft in any sense of the term.

Yosei was silent for a long moment. Finally, she gave Lung a slow nod before unclasping her hands as she began to slowly walk around the table. Hiashi could tell the slowness of her movement was deliberate, and he was suddenly reminded of a scene from a nature documentary he had seen recently, that of a panther stalking its prey, moving with unnerving patience as it crept up on the unknowing victim.

Unseen until it was too late.

As Yosei walked, mist seeped from her flowing robes, spilling into the air around her and the ground below her. It was thick enough that it obscured everything behind it, and as it continued flowing forth, it consumed her form as well, blocking her from sight, transforming her.

The cloud of mist slowly wafted towards Kaito, who was becoming more and more nervous by the second. It seemed he had finally realized his error, much, much too late.

From his place on the other side of the room, Hiashi could feel the presence of something, an unseen weight pressing upon his shoulders and rooting him in place. He wondered what Kaito must be feeling at that moment, so much closer to the cause of the feeling than he himself was.

As the mist dissipated, Yosei had transformed, the changes in the woman plain as day. She was taller for one, having grown at least two feet in mere moments to stand at over seven feet tall. Her medium length black hair had become stark white and now fell down to her lower back, lustrous and full as it flowed in an unseen wind.

Her mask was also gone, and yet Hiashi had a feeling he wasn't looking at the woman's real face. Her eyes were now an orange so bright they were practically glowing, slitted pupils staring straight forward as she walked. A pair of fuzzy white fox ears emerged from the top of her head in a facsimile of her mask's design, and two large bushy tails protruded from her lower back.

Her rather modest kimono had transformed as well, now much more revealing and made from all silk instead of whatever it was made from before. Her arms were now visible as well as a good portion of her legs and thighs, feet now encased in wooden sandals that clacked along the floor as she walked. The neckline of her kimono had lowered significantly, now displaying an amount of pale cleavage that Hiashi personally thought was inappropriate. Not to mention, he was pretty sure she didn't even have that much to show off only moments before.

In fact, thanks to the clothing along with the added extremities, she now looked remarkably like…

'A Kitsune!' Hiashi realized. He remembered the stories his father had told him when he was little, of mischievous fox spirits with the ability to use magic and cast illusions on the unsuspecting mortals that happened to venture into their territory, or simply to prank them. They often took the form of beautiful women to better blend in with humans, though most were identifiable by their fox-like features. Did the woman's power truly give her the ability to transform into creatures of myth as her costume suggested?

As Hiashi ruminated on the woman's possible power, Yosei had reached her destination. Kaito stared at her with both defiance and fear as she slowly reached out her hand. He startled as she grabbed him by the chin, holding his head motionless as he tried to jerk out of her grip.

As she held the man still with unnerving ease, the transformed woman leaned forward, her other hand coming up just below her face in a cup, as if she was gently cradling a pool of water or sand. As it reached her lips, she inhaled softly, before releasing it, blowing air into her palm and Kaito's face.

Colored smoke came into being, floating on an unseen wind as Kaito tried to back away while Yosei held him still. The veritable rainbow of colors was surprisingly fast, it surged forth upon Kaito, surrounding the man's head as he yelled surprise. Yosei stepped back, clasping her hands in front of her as she watched him begin to panic with an odd calmness, flailing his arms this way and that as he tried to disperse the odd smoke.

Soon enough, as the smoke slowly dissipated, Kaito's screams of panic turned into howls of terror. Hiashi's heart clenched as he caught sight of the man through the thinning smoke. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, pupils darting around as he stared at things unseen by the rest of them.

"No! NO STAY BACK! GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY!!!" He stumbled backwards, falling to the floor and holding his arm out in front of him to ward off some unseen evil. His shoes scraped against the floor as he tried to distance himself from whatever he was seeing, scrambling backwards with speed belaying his age until his back met the wall.

As the afflicted man curled into a ball of sobbing terror, Hiashi turned his gaze back to Yosei.

The woman was staring at Kaito with unnerving calmness, face set into a placid mask of indifference as she watched her victim writhe in horror and agony. She seemingly felt his gaze upon her, as her eyes flickered toward his own, and Hiashi felt a chill run up his spine as her slitted pupils met his own.

There was something unnerving about those eyes, burning orange slits surrounded by a thick layer of eyeshadow that only enhanced their dangerous appearance. He was frozen, locked into an unwilling battle as he fought to tear himself away from the predatory gaze as it kept him trapped.

Luckily, moments later she turned her gaze back to the show in front of her, and Hiashi breathed a sigh of relief, his heart beating wildly in his chest from just those few seconds of eye contact.

Soon, Kaito's screams of terror came to a screeching halt. The man's already wide eyes widened even further and his face morphed into an expression of pain as he began clutching his chest. He clawed at his shirt with both hands as if he was trying to dig into his chest. His breaths came out in ragged pants, and his eyes darted around, this time stopping periodically on the other Faces of the gang as he was freed from whatever had afflicted him.

"Help…" He whispered out, nearly choking on the words.

And then he stopped, slumping down against the wall and ceasing motion entirely.

The room was filled with an unnerving silence, the lack of screams now more eerie than ever before. Yosei walked toward the motionless man and slowly leaned down, placing a hand on Kaito's chest with an odd gentleness. She paused, ears flicking on top of her skull, before she shook her head slowly and stood once more, turning to face her father with a placid expression.

"He's dead." She spoke quietly, and Hiashi noticed that her voice was much deeper than before, indicating the changes weren't just skin deep, "A heart attack it seems."

Sweat broke out on Hiashi's forehead at the frank proclamation as Lung nodded in apparent approval, "Good. It is a fitting punishment for his crimes. Well done Yosei"

Lung stood to address the rest of the Faces, and Hiashi felt a tinge of terror as his masked gaze roved over his seated form, "Kaito Nanaki was a traitor. He believed it was okay to give up valuable information on our operations to the Empire. This was his punishment." He pointed at the body, quickly cooling on the wooden floor, before casting his hand out to the rest of them.

"Let this be a lesson to you all!" He spoke clearly, "Traitors to the ABB have never and will never be tolerated! And now, your punishment need not come from Lee or I, for Yosei can and will make your deaths as slow and painful as I see fit!"

Swallowing dryly, Hiashi turned his gaze to the woman once more, finding that she had turned back to Kaito's corpse, observing its slumped form silently. Once again, she seemingly felt his gaze upon her as she turned her head ever-so slightly to meet his eyes.

Hiasi felt his face pale at the tenseness in her gaze, her face was set in a sharp expression that he couldn't decipher. And after a mere moment of holding his gaze, Yosei turned sharply to face her father. Mist fell off of her shoulders in massive quantities, pooling on the floor at her feet as Lung's gaze turned to her.

"Father," Yosei spoke quietly as she bowed toward the man, ears flicking lightly on the top of her head, "I would ask to be excused. I require time to… collect myself, after such an ordeal."

Collect herself? Hiashi noticed her hands were shaking ever so slightly. Excitement perhaps? Did she gain such euphoria from killing a man that she couldn't stay in polite company for a short period of time!?

Lung stared at her silently for a moment, before giving the woman a nod, approving her request. Yosei bowed once more before turning sharply on her heel and striding out of the room. Mist trailed in her wake, settling lightly on the floor before dispersing as it followed her. Hiashi could see it begin to gather around the woman once more as she strode out the door.

As Yosei exited the room just as silently as she entered and the sweat in his shirt began to seep into his coat, Hiashi was filled with the sudden fear that his earlier thoughts about Yosei had been wrong. The lack of emotion as she watched a man writhe in horror and then agony, the cruelly causal way she had killed him and proclaimed his death to her father, shaking with excitement and possibly looking for some twisted semblance of approval from the powerful man…

Yosei wasn't Lung, but she certainly might be worse.

The door to the greenhouse slammed shut as Yuko stormed inside, just barely managing to remember to lock the door behind her as she entered. The remnants of her transformation faded into curling mist as she grabbed her mask, throwing it violently to the ground as her stomach churned.

It landed with a clatter, spinning along the tiled walkway and coming to rest against a paved stone, staring up at her with an empty gaze. The girl's vision blurred, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. She turned away, planting her hands on the rim of a huge pot and leaning over it as she felt her gorge rising with each second. She heaved as what little was left in her stomach attempted to make a reappearance, dry hacks escaping her mouth.

The plants were luckily spared her stomach's contents as nothing came up, but that didn't make Yuko feel any better. She turned away from the pot, sliding down its wide surface to come to rest on her bottom.

The eyes of Kaito Nanaki appeared in her mind once more, bloodshot with panic, yet glazed over and sightless as the soul behind them was nowhere to be found. She shivered with the remnants of the realization of what she had done in that room, in front of the horrified eyes of the other Faces. What she had been ordered to do.

Yuko's chest clenched as she recalled the terror she felt when she had been ordered to take over Kaito's punishment for her father. She had known what was expected of her, had known just how brutal her father's punishments could be and most importantly, she knew that she would have to mimic that ruthlessness or else she would just implement his own punishment on top of hers.

She had chosen her Kitsune form because its illusions caused mental harm instead of physical. Oh sure, if she wished she could make the illusions physical, but that would have required power she hadn't had access to at that moment. And even if she had, she didn't want to hurt him too badly.

She didn't want to kill him. Didn't mean to kill him.

"I just wanted to scare him enough that he would pass out or something…" She muttered to herself as she stared down at her hands, vision blurring and making it difficult to keep them in focus, "He died so suddenly."

Did he have heart problems? Were the images she dredged up too much for him to handle? The illusion was based off of what was in his own mind, even she herself didn't know what he was seeing, were his fears just that potent?

Yuko let out a small hysterical laugh as she made a sudden, horrifying realization. Her father had handed her her mask less than two hours ago. She hadn't even been an active cape for twenty-four hours and she had already killed someone on her father's orders.

Just two hours of Yosei's existence and already she was a murderer.

Her laughter slowly transformed into light sobs, and she dragged her knees to her chest, her shoulders shaking as she came to terms with what she had done. Was this how her cape life was going to be? Killing anyone who dared to entertain the idea of betraying the gang and her father?

Was she going to just be another Lee?

No. No, she knew that wasn't true. Kaito Nanaki was a dead-man walking from the moment he had entertained the idea of betraying her father. The fact that she had been the one to kill him had just been a coincidence, and in fact, was likely just an act of opportunity by her father. It probably was just a coincidence that she had been given the mask before the disastrous meeting.

Her father loved her, he wouldn't make her a tool to swing at his enemies like that husk of a man masquerading as a demon.

And yet, despite believing this with all of her heart. It didn't stop the shaking of her hands or the churning of her stomach. Didn't stop Kaito's heart-wrenching screams from ringing in her ears, echoing loudly in her tormented mind.

'Something is wrong with me.' She realized suddenly as her heartbeat pulsed loudly in her ears. She looked down at her fingers, not really seeing them. It was like an out of body experience, she could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest and her uneven breaths escape her mouth, but it was like there was a thin film between the sensations, masking them so they couldn't truly be felt.

She had heard about something like this before, recalled the symptoms she was experiencing with an odd sense of clarity.

'I think I'm having a panic attack.' The sudden realization was odd, akin to an out-of-body experience as she stared down at her shaking hands with numb fascination.

She had heard that disassociation could be one of symptoms of a panic attack, but had never experienced one herself. And now that she was, she had no idea what to do.

She distantly recalled that having someone to talk to could help, grounding she was pretty sure it was called.

Tammi. Tammi might be able to help her.

With shaky hands, Yuko retrieved her phone from the pockets under her kimono, cursing as she fumbled with its blocky form and nearly sent it crashing to the ground. She just managed to affirm her hold on the device, powering it on and navigating through the glowing symbols.

Her shaky fingers scrolled through her limited contacts, quickly coming upon the name she was looking for. After a few fumbled presses, she finally managed to pull up the blonde's name, pressing the little green bubble that would connect her to her friend.

As the phone rang, Yuka was suddenly hit with the realization of just how late it was, almost eleven. There was a good chance that Tammi was asleep.

Still… 'Please please please pick up…' she thought to herself, pleading to whatever god was listening that her friend would answer her call.

The phone rang and rang without any answer, and just as she was about to give up and toss the phone away just like her mask, the ringing stopped, and her friend's voice came through the speakers.

"Yuko, I literally just fell asleep." Yuko could hear the sleepy annoyance in Tammi's words, clearly disgruntled at being woken up like this, "Can't this wait till tomorrow?"

With some effort, Yuko managed to untie her tongue from the knot it had found itself in, "Tammi, I-can you talk to me?" Yuko asked shakily, hands gripping the phone to the point the plastic began creaking. She did her best to ease up on the pressure, not wanting to break her phone by accident.

On the other side of the line, she could practically hear the gears turning in her friend's head as Tammi took in her distressed voice, "Huh? You wanted to talk about something?" She asked in sleepy confusion, and Yuko licked her dry lips.

"I-I just need… I just-" She couldn't get anything out. It was like a vice was constricting her throat, killing the words before they could get out and she sniffed as her vision blurred with even more tears.

Tammi's bed creaked audibly as she sat up, voice much more awake, "Hey, are you alright? You don't sound too good."

Her chest heaved, mind going back to Kaito's sightless eyes, "Please…" she whimpered, "Just talk, anything. Please…

There was a long moment where Tammi didn't say anything, before,

"The guy at Fugly Bob's messed up my order the other day." She began quietly, "I just wanted a regular cheeseburger with no pickles and extra ketchup, and he brought me out something that looked like the Challenger's younger sister. He gave me a discount which was cool, but I couldn't finish the whole thing so I brought it home but then my dad decided that it would be fine if he-"

Yuko latched onto the nonsensical ramblings as Tammi began talking about whatever inane topic came to her mind. She focused on the words the girl was spewing, focused on the syllables and their meaning as she pushed Kaito from her mind.

She listened as Tammi complained about how she had gotten a sprain in gym class last week and hadn't even been allowed to go to the nurse's office, and how her mother had been, as she put it, a real bitch recently because she was hanging out with her aunt more and more.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Yuko relaxed. Her breathing slowly returned to normal and her grip on her phone became more sure. Her hands ceased their shaking as Tammi diverted from talking about her family to the grades she had gotten in school recently.

And as she calmed down, Yuko was struck with an extreme sense of gratitude. She and Tammi had only been friends for a short while, and yet here she was doing her best to calm Yuko down without even knowing the reason for her panic.

She'd have to get the girl something nice to show her gratitude.

Eventually, Yuko was actually laughing alongside Tammi's story, shoulders free of tension as they moved up and down with her giggles.

"-and the thing had a spiked collar on and everything!" Tammi wrapped up her latest story, "Like anyone would ever think a poodle could be intimidating."

Yuko grinned softly as the last of her tension faded away, "I'm pretty sure that's to stop them from getting attacked by other dogs."

"Eh maybe. Nobody thinks that when they see it though." True enough she supposed.

"So are you okay now?" Tammi asked and Yuko gave an affirmative hum, "What was that all about?"

Yuko leaned her head back against the pot behind her, staring down at her mask, "I was having a panic attack I think."
"Yeah, no shit." She nearly laughed at the blonde's blunt response, "But why. Did something happen to you? You're at home right?"

"...Yeah, I am." Yuko hesitated. She definitely couldn't tell Tammi what the attack had been about, that would be ridiculous, "I-I cant say what caused it, sorry."

"...seriously?" Tammi clearly wasn't happy with her decision, and Yuko winced.

"I'm sorry." She repeated as she slowly stood from her place on the ground, "It's… really personal. I'm not really comfortable talking about it."

"Was it your dad? Did he do something to you?" Tammi's voice dropped from its light outrage to quiet concern and Yuko's eyes widened.

"No!" She said, immediately wincing at how loud she had been. She quietened her voice, "No, he'd never do anything like that."

Sure, her father had gotten angry before, but in all his rage he had never actually imposed it on her. Though, now that she was his right-hand, that could change.

Tammi hummed, and Yuko got the distinct impression that she was unconvinced for some reason, "Your dad, he's a-uh, he's Chinese right?"

Yuko didn't know what that had to do with anything, but gave an affirmative all the same, "Yeah, half-Chinese, half-Japanese. Both of my parents were." Yulo didn't know how exactly the racial logistics panned out with her, but it wasn't important at the moment, "Why?"

"No reason." Tammi said suddenly, and there was a short pause before she spoke again, "Just… is he really hard on you? Like has he ever…hit you for not doing good enough or something? You can tell me, you know? I'm not gonna tell anyone."

Yuko's eyes widened at the line of questioning, "What? Tammi, what are you talking about? My father has never struck me."

"...right. Sorry dude it's just, you call me in the middle of the night having a panic attack, and it's just you and your dad there and you won't tell me anything. I just kinda assumed… Sorry."

It wasn't just Yuko and her father at home, but Tammi had no way of knowing that. Despite the odd way she phrases it, Yuko knew that her friend was just trying to look out for her.

"Look, I can't tell you what caused it." Yuko spoke softly, "It-it's really personal. But I swear to you, my father is not the cause of it."

She could immediately tell that didn't sit right with Tammi, but the girl didn't say anything, "Alright."

Yuko sighed lightly. She sincerely wished that she could tell her best friend about what had caused her attack, if just to alleviate her worries. But that would mean telling her that she was a Parahuman and likely that she was a member of the ABB as well.

Somehow, she couldn't imagine that going over well with her blonde friend.

So for now, she just put it out of her mind. Maybe one day she could tell Tammi about it, but today was not that day.

"Thanks for answering so late at night Tammi. I really appreciate it." Yuko said quietly as she walked over to her mask. She picked it up, inspecting it for any significant damage and thankfully finding none apart from some small scuffs on the underside of the jaw.

"Sure thing dude. Hey, we still going to that new place that opened up in the mall? I heard they've got really weird shit in there."

Yuko gave a small giggle at the blonde's question, noting the eager tone, "Yeah, we're still going. It's not another taxidermy place is it?"

"Nah, I stopped going to those cause they always have a weird smell. Who woulda thought that a place full of dead animals would smell weird huh?"

Yuko rolled her eyes as she placed her mask back in her face, "Who indeed."

"Anyway, I'm going back to bed. Unlike you, I have to go to school in the morning." She snarked, and there was a small pause, "But hey uh, if you need anything else, you can call me. I don't really mind." She said.

Yuko giggled as she detected the hint of genuine concern in the girl's nonchalant voice, "I think I'm fine for now. Thank you Tammi, I'll be sure to make it up to you somehow."

"Nah it's fine."

Yuko shook her head even if Tammi couldn't see her, "No it's not. I want to show you how thankful I am." She bit her lip,trying to think of something she could do to show her appreciation.

"Dude, really it's fine." Tammi sounded exasperated, "I know you'd do the same for me if I was having issues. It's no big deal."

It really was, for Yuko at least. Tammi was literally her only friend and she really wanted to show the girl she appreciated her despite the few short months they had known each other.

She'd have to think on it, there was surely something she could do or buy for the girl to express her thanks.

For now, she should probably let Tammi go back to bed. She did have school in the morning after all, "Alright then, if you say so. I'm sorry again for waking you up. Try and get some sleep, don't stay up watching weird videos again."

Tammi chuckled tiredly, "We'll see, no promises. I'll talk to you later."

"Mhm."

Yuko took a deep breath as the line went dead, taking a look at the time. It was a little after midnight, the meeting was likely long since over. She was fine with that. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to stomach sitting through the meeting after what she had done.

Her father would surely have questions for her, but hopefully he would understand. She unlocked the door to the greenhouse, collecting herself.

She looked down at her hands, now firm and free of shaking, and thought back to what she had done one last time, coming to terms with it.

Kaito Nanaki was a dead man the moment he met with the Empire willingly. That Yuko was the one chosen to kill him was just an unfortunate circumstance. She was her father's right-hand now, and as such it was her duty to take care of the things he didn't have time for. She couldn't anguish over every traitor she would inevitably have to punish.

She took another calming breath, swallowing down any unnecessary feelings, before throwing open the door to her home proper.

Her first day as Yosei had been a short yet harrowing one, and as she began walking into the silent halls of her house, she could only pray the rest wouldn't be the same.

Or that at least it would get easier with time.

Yuko winced as the van she was in rolled over a rather large pothole, bracing a hand on the seat to steady herself. Who in the world designed a van with no seatbelts?

Around her, the men who were accompanying her gave no indication of being bothered, their guns staying still on their laps as they moved with the van itself like a sailor on a ship. One of them looked at her, and she got the distinct impression the man was amused though his face didn't show it. She looked away, trying not to pout.

It had been a few weeks since her father had fully inducted her into the gang, and those weeks had been spent primarily going over the internals of how the ABB as an organization functioned. The types of drugs they sold and the types they didn't, how they acquired their munitions and where they kept them, all of this and more was crammed into her head at a dizzying pace.

Where before she didn't pay much attention to gang affairs apart from what her father did, as a part of it, Yuko was forced to take a more hands on approach thanks to her new responsibilities, which had led her to learn much more about the ABB's inner workings.

For example, the ABB as a gang itself was split into several tiers, each having more authority than the last. Yuko had known this, but over the past weeks she had gained a much more in depth look at their internal hierarchy apart from the just fact that her father sat at the top.

From most authority to least, it went like so: Lung, Yuko, Lee and any other cape enforcers her father may choose to employ, the Faces, Officers, Captains, and finally Grunts.

The first three were pretty self explanatory, her father was in charge and she was right behind him - his right hand as he had explicitly stated - and Lee was behind her. If her father cose to recruit more capes to his side, they would fall behind her as well, after they had proven their loyalty of course.

After that it got more complicated, though still relatively straightforward. From top to bottom, the ABB's hierarchy was basically a pyramid of authority, and the number of members followed suit.

Below the Enforcers were the Faces, the people who managed the day-to-day aspects of the gang. Their brothels, drugs, recruitment, guns, and money were all managed by these few individuals. Their numbers fluctuated based on who took on more responsibility and who took on less, but they always remained about the same, evening out at around six, give or take a member or two.

Below them were the Officers, who were the go-between for the Faces and their subordinates. Each Face had only one or two officers, and it was a very coveted position in the gang, and the one that most new recruits were told about to get them to join, using tales of money and women to get in their head. In actuality, being an Officer was probably the most grueling position in the gang, as you were always jerked about from place to place as you did your best to keep things running in spite of idiots trying to undo your work. Not fun.

Below Officers were the Captains. These people were most often seen out and about, herding the lowly grunts so they don't get out of hand. Coincidentally, this was also the title with the most amount of betrayals. Apparently getting put in charge of a relatively large group of men made one think they were bigger than they actually were. They were always dissuaded from that notion rather quickly.

And finally, Grunts were the lowest on the ABB's totem pole, and where the most bodies were sourced from. From new recruits to veterans, the largest chunk of the gang's manpower was located here. Last Yuko had checked,they had a little over four hundred members, a respectable number even in Brocton Bay, Massachusetts.

Of course, among the Grunts they tended to give each other titles and responsibilities, but those titles were mostly kept to their individual cells and had little-to-no bearing on the gang as a whole.

Now, given Yuko's inexperience with the ABB itself, it was only expected that she would shadow someone who would show her the proverbial ropes. It would be a disaster if she was just suddenly thrown into the deep end in regards to her responsibilities, and it seemed Lung had agreed.

The man her father had chosen, Hiashi Nogi, was one of the Faces of the gang, specifically, the one in charge of maintaining their drug trade. Despite his unusually young age, a mere thirty-six as opposed to the fifties and sixties of his peers, Hiashi was extremely adept at his job. Since he had been promoted, the number of 'missing' drug shipments had all but disappeared, and the money from sales had nearly doubled. Her father was extremely pleased with his performance.

Even with his duties having increased with Kaito Nanaki's death, Hiashi had taken the changes in stride and had quickly gotten ahold of his duties once more, adjusting things for the influx of responsibility.

He was a relatively quiet man, introspective if Yuko had to guess, and when he did speak, it was usually best to listen. Yuko was happy that she had been assigned to shadow him instead of one of the much more shady Faces, Takao especially. The pervert. He seemed to be a man of principle which was odd for the gang and she would love to hear his story.

Unfortunately for her, Hiashi also had a habit of staring at her like she was going to tear his spine out through his throat at any given moment which kind of put a damper on their conversations. Hiashi had deliberately kept their interactions brief, not staying any longer than was absolutely necessary.

Yuko had a feeling she knew why this was, she recalled seeing the man during her display in the war room, and she distinctly remembered the look of absolute horror he gave her as Kaito Nanaki died under her watchful gaze. He was afraid of her. Terrified even.

Still, showing his professionalism, Hiashi didn't let his fear of her get in the way of teaching her everything she needed to know about her responsibilities as her father's second-in-command. She would often shadow his Officers on their outings to their various caches and holdings as they made sure things stayed operational, always keeping a careful distance from the proceedings as she was shown how they were done.

It was pretty dull all things considered, and though Yuko knew how important the various visits were, she often had found herself spacing out during the proceedings. Through sheer willpower though, she managed to rein her straying thoughts in, and absorbed as much knowledge about her duties as she possibly could. She was her father's right-hand now, she would not disappoint him by bumbling around in things she should be proficient in.

Which brought her to what she was doing now. Apparently she had shown a sufficient amount of knowledge in their operations as Hiashi had allowed her to attend to one of the holdings by herself. Well, almost.

The men riding in the van with her were ostensibly her guards. While Yuko was more than confident in her abilities thanks to her power, Hiashi had insisted they follow her on this outing just in case. And really that just spoke even more to the man's character than despite his fear of her, he would say something that could so easily be misconstrued as an insult.

She had reluctantly agreed, on the caveat that this would be a one-time thing. She was not a child in need of a babysitter. Under the right conditions, she could easily be the most powerful cape in Brockton Bay.

And besides, she was pretty sure her father had Lee shadowing her from the rooftops anyways. So there was that too.

The van pulled up outside the warehouse in short order. Already somewhat used to procedures but now, Yuko waited for her guards to secure the general area before stepping out of the vehicle.

It was late, the setting sun just barely peeking over the roof of the warehouse and Yuko winced behind her mask as the light got into her eyes. She gave the man who had opened the door for her a nod, noting that he was the same one who had stared at her in amusement, and made her way up to the warehouse.

Flanked by armed men at her front and back, Yuko stopped just before the door, gesturing to one of the men to open it for her. He did so, and Yuko gave him a nod of thanks as she walked inside. As she entered the warehouse, Yuko stopped dead in her tracks, and her eyes widened behind her mask at what she was seeing.

It was a mess to put it lightly, piles of wrapped white bricks lay strewn about and ripped to pieces, cocaine spilling from plastic packaging and ruining itself upon the floor. Yuko could just barely see small craters in some of the moor intact packages, someone having taken small chunks out of the bricks for their own use.

And not only that, but it seemed that simply consuming the drugs hadn't been enough, several bricks had been stomped flat, like a child had had a tantrum atop them, crushing them into the concrete and utterly ruining them.

Beer bottles and cans, enough to supply a particularly loud frat party, were discarded around the warehouse, and in a similar vein, piles of cash were also piled up near the coke. Stacks of paper towering higher than the drugs themselves though oddly enough, they had been neatly organized into several rows.

The people who were responsible were still there, clearly enjoying their continued indulgence as they hadn't even noticed Yuko and her contingent enter. There were around twenty of them, wearing ABB colors and stumbling around drunkenly or fidgeting with energy from the drugs they had no doubt consumed.

Possible hundreds of thousands worth of drugs had been utterly ruined by a group of twenty or so idiots. Father would be furious.

Yuko shook out of her shock, eyes narrowing in outrage as she took in the chaos. She turned to her guards who looked just as dumbfounded as she had, staring at the scene with wide eyes.

"Round them up." She ordered coldly, "Do not let a single one of them slip away. They will answer for this betrayal."
"Yes, Yosei-sama!" Came the chorus from her men, before they sprung into action.

The inebriated men shouted out in surprise and fear as they were rounded up. Rifle stocks slammed into stomachs and faces as her men carried out her orders expeditiously, forcing men to their knees and tying their hands behind their backs with whatever could be found.

One of the men, a smaller individual wearing shorts and a stained T-shirt, cottoned on to what was going on and attempted to dart past her and out the door. Instead of calling out to her guards, Yuko simply flexed her power, willing the Mist into her eyes and changing them into something else.

She gave him a hard glance as he got near her, and he immediately froze as if he had been struck. She looked away, releasing her power, and the man yelped as he fell to the ground, clutching his legs in pain. Yuko spared him another glance, observing the changes her power had wrought on him or more specifically, his legs.

The gorgon was a Greek mythological creature whose gaze had the ability to turn people to stone, and for just a moment thanks to her power, so had Yuko's.

From the man's foot up to his thigh, the skin and muscle had been turned to dark grey stone, immovable, extremely heavy, and irreversible without the use of a parahuman power. He would likely never walk again. A pity.

Yuko turned her gaze away from him and back to the room proper as her men finished the fools up, tying their hands behind their backs and forcing them to kneel in a line. As she took in the terrified faces, Yuko realized something was off.

"Where is the overseer of this warehouse?" She demanded the most sober looking man.

It seemed that the reality of his situation was beginning to set in, as he quickly complied with her as opposed to arguing or just screaming in terror.

"W-we left him in the office! Up the stairs!" He started out, body jerking as he tried to point with his tied up hands, "H-he's behind the desk I think!"

Yuko kept her eyes on the man, the dark shadows created by her mask making him sweat, before she nodded in satisfaction.

She turned to her nearest guard, "Make sure they don't try anything stupid. I will be right back."

The man nodded firmly at her, before returning his attention to the inebriated individuals on their knees.

The door to the office was up a set of stairs and clearly labeled as such. As she reached it, Yuko prayed that the person inside was at least semi-lucid. She would like to get at least some answers as to what was going on and how it had reached this point.

The moment she entered the room, she could immediately hear the muffled screams coming from behind the desk. Thankful that the man below wasn't lying and even more thankful that the Overseer was conscious, Yuko made her way around the desk.

The Overseer was a heavy set man with noticeably thinning hair. He was lying on his side on the floor, hands and legs tied together in a hogtie that would look comical in any other situation. His eyes widened in surprise as he caught sight of her, relief stark in the dark orbs as Yuko leaned down towards him with a hand.

He took a deep breath as Yuko pulled the gag from his mouth, casting a thankful gaze up at her, "Thank you so much Yosei-sama! God knows what they would have done to me when they were done down there."

Yuko stepped back, folding her arms in front of her and looking down at him as he slowly stood, taking in deep breaths of relief. She looked around the office with a frown, taking in the scattered papers and open cabinets who's content's had been scattered all over the floor, deliberately opened and rifled through. Clearly the ones responsible had been looking for something in particular. How interesting. Especially so given that the majority of the men down below didn't look to have more than one brain-cell between them.

"How did things progress to this point?" Yosei asked sternly, "Surely they have been planning this for some time? How could those under you revolt so openly?"

The man scoffed as he got to his feet, before blanching as he realized what he had just done. He gave her a hasty bow, "I mean no disrespect ma'am, but the men who you call 'under me' barely tolerate me. They were conscripts."

Yuko blinked, "Ah. I see."

Conscripts were exactly what they sounded like, people (Usually young men) who were forced into the ABB for one reason or another. Given that most were plucked out of the prime of their life, early high-school usually, they had a tendency to be loose cannons at the best of times. It wasn't unheard of for them to attempt to revolt if a large enough group of them got together.

Still, what were they doing rummaging through the files in the office? They would absolutely know there was no money to be found in there. Something was off.

She followed the man back to the main floor, mind whirling with confusion and wariness. Was this truly just a revolt from conscripts? All the signs pointed to it, but something deep inside of Yuko's gut made her think it wasn't so simple.

"What should we do with them, Yosei-sama?" The same man who helped her out of the van asked.

She hummed lightly as she thought. It would be simple to just give them the 'concrete-shoes' treatment, but Yuko's gut still wouldn't shut up and she had a feeling that any answers would die with them if she did so. She bit her lip lightly, trying to decide what to do.

"We will take them to Nana." Yuko finally decided, "They were looking for something in the office upstairs. I would like to know whether or not this was a planned operation, or just a spur of the moment bout of foolishness." Better to err on the side of caution in this case. If she was wrong, nothing would come of it except for Nana's lost time.

The men on the floor immediately started to struggle in their binds, and Yuko couldn't exactly blame them, being sent to Nana was probably the worst that could happen to them.

Nana Akagi was the ABB's go-to interrogator. The woman was a bit of an oddity in the gang given that she was a woman who held a relatively high standing in the gang's hierarchy, akin to an Officer with none of the responsibilities of one. It was practically unheard of, but Nana was just that good at what she did. That primarily being torture.

She was also extremely sadistic and enjoyed her job immensely, often looking for new ways to inflict the most pain on her subjects as possible while trying to get information out of them. Though she rarely killed any of her victims, those that came out of one of her little sessions alive were never the same afterwards and often unfit for duty besides that.

If that's what it took to find out exactly what had spurred this betrayal, then Yuko was fine with that.

"Call Teruo." Yuko ordered the man nearest to her, "Tell him to send a couple vehicles out here, preferably vans. I don't want to wait here longer than we have t-"

Just then with little warning, the wall to Yuko's right exploded inward, stone and debris flying into the building as the tied up men screamed in surprise. She brought a hand in front of her face, shielding her eyes from the offending detritus as she tried to make out the cause of the sudden eruption.

Though given the lack of gunpowder in her nostrils, as well as the lack of police telling them all to get on the floor, she had a feeling it wasn't a swat team. She grimaced as she felt her power begin to churn inside of her, more mist accessible to her than she had had in a long while.

Much like Lung, Yuko's power worked off of the threat she was facing at any given time.
Though instead of simply transforming to suit the threat like her father, Yuko simply got access to more Mist with which to use her power, and more forms to choose from.

The biggest caveat of her power was that she could only transform into mythical creatures, and only those she was relatively knowledgeable about, though it wasn't limited to just eastern ones. Harpies, Gorgon, even Gnomes (though she had no idea why she would ever want to turn into one of those) all were things she could become.

The other biggest caveat was that every transformation used a certain amount of her power, or Mist, as she called it due to how it presented itself. The amount varies depending on the creature she wished to become, with each requiring different amounts.

Her Kistune form for example, varied in the amount of Mist it used by the number of tails she wished to possess. One tail would cost practically nothing, while nine would cost magnitudes more.

If she wished to, she could simply take on aspects of the forms she could choose from, say a Siren's voice or a Unicorn's affinity for sussing out negative emotion. Doing this used much less Mist than simply transforming, though the more aspects she took on, the more difficult it was to not simply undergo the change.

She wasn't sure exactly what decided how much most each form used, but she speculated it had something to do with the public consensus on their general power. Everybody knew that a dragon was stronger than a big dog after all, so of course it should cost more. It was simple playground logic.

Depending on the threat she was facing, she would gain access to more Mist and by extension, more forms. If she was facing off against a group of unarmed thugs for example, she wouldn't get nearly as much as she would fighting, say, Armsmaster or Purity, actual threats in other words.

She had felt what she was relatively sure was the upper limits of her power exactly once in her life. When she had triggered. She would rather die than be put in that situation ever again. The idea of feeling that helpless, despite having so much terrible power at her disposal once more… It made her sick to her stomach.

Luckily, while the swelling of her power within her was more than she had felt in a long time, it was nowhere near as potent as That day. No, this was much more mild, and if she had to guess, she'd say she could achieve maybe three or four tails in Kitsune form before her Mist ran dry. That meant there was definitely a cape present. A rather strong one too.

And as the smoke cleared, and Yuko got her first sight of the person responsible for the destruction, she narrowed her eyes at who she saw.

"Wrap it up boys! I'm taking this little operation of yours down and you to jail!"

Lustrous blond hair fluttered in the breeze created by her extremely dramatic entrance. Her white and gold dress seemed to be unaffected by the dust in the air, remaining just as pristine as the cape flowing behind her back.

The picture of perfection was capped up by a golden tiara, twinkling merrily on top of her head, also unaffected by her entrance. All in all, she looked the part she was so clearly trying to play, the resplendent hero, come to save the day, and Yuko felt a hint of awe that wasn't her own creep up her spine as the blonde's power went to work on her mind.

Victoria Dallon aka Glory Girl, was a known entity in Brockton Bay and had been for some time now. Yuko had seen many PHO posts talking about the blonde's reckless nature and general hotheaded demeanor, while just as many praised her for her admittedly impressive heroics when it came to the gangs.

She didn't come into contact with the ABB nearly as much as the Empire or the Merchants, but that was likely due to the fact that the ABB didn't operate nearly as overtly as either of the other gangs. Glory Girl thrived on finding out-and-about criminals during her patrols given how often she patrolled on her lonesome.

While the Nazi's liked to grandstand with their racism and the Merchants were, well, Mechants, the ABB focused more on its internal operations such as drug trade or gambling rings. Apart from the kidnapping of women for brothels (Which Yuko was still trying to make her father see reason on) the ABB didn't really do anything to catch the public's eye.

In fact, Yuko could count on one hand the number of times her father or Lee had gotten into an altercation with the heroes in the past few months, least of all New Wave. It seemed she had just broken that streak.

Glory girl's gaze roved around the room, somewhat smug as she took in the terrified forms of the cowering ABB members before her expression shifted as she spotted the ones who were already tied up. That confusion grew even more when she took notice of Yuko, clearly not recognizing her costume.

"Uhh, what's going on here?"

---

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"Uhh, what's going on here?"

The warehouse was completely silent apart from the quiet whimpering of the traitors huddling on the floor. The men who had come with Yuko stared at the floating cape with wariness, hands clenching their guns tightly and one of them, the same man she had spoken with earlier, gave her a look, nodding his head towards Glory Girl discreetly.

Yuko shook her head minutely, and the man immediately relaxed his grip on his gun, still aiming it at the cape but with much less hostility than before, and as she turned back to the floating teen, her mind whirled.

This was an issue. What was Glory Girl doing patrolling this late, and in this part of town no less? Had she followed Yuko's van? No, there would have been no reason to do so, they had made sure to leave from a completely random location in the ABB's territory so there was no reason to be suspicious of it.

Whatever the reason for her arrival, the heroine's presence would make escaping with all of her men rather difficult. Unlike Glory Girl, Yuko could only fly in certain circumstances. Not only that, but none of the ones she had accessible to her would be able to take her men along with her if she did decide to flee through the air.

Yuko temporarily debated leaving the traitors behind, but ultimately decided against it. Not only did she need to know what they were doing in the office, it was also her duty to punish them or at the very least bring them in to be punished. Her father would be more than a little disappointed with her if she were to let them off the hook by way of simply being sent to prison.

That meant she would have to fight. And to do that she needed to get her men out of the warehouse safely.

She cast a glance to the man she had been talking to, waiting until his eyes turned towards her. She glanced at the floating blonde, back to him, then nodded her head toward the tied up traitors on the ground. His eyes widened, and the grip on his gun tightened, until she shook her head. She nodded to Glory Girl once more, then let a bit of her power seep into her eyes, causing them to glow.

She then nodded to him, and then the men on the ground once more, wishing more than anything that she could actually talk. This was extremely annoying.

Luckily, it seemed the man understood her meaning, and Yuko could see the exact moment it clicked in his mind. He gave her a shallow nod, before turning towards the man next to him, leaning in to whisper in his ear as Glory Girl looked elsewhere, pointing discreetly at the tie up men.

Good. Now all she had to do was incapacitate Glory Girl long enough for them to escape.

Easier said than done. Despite the jokes made at her expense online, Glory Girl was far from weak. Seemingly invincible and having enough strength to make the likes of Hookwolf balk at taking a straight hit from her, she had earned her title as one of the strongest Brutes in Brockton Bay.

The cape in question spoke up once more, looking a bit irritated, "Hello? Does anyone here have working ears? What's going on here?"

Yuko took the chance as she saw it, stepping forward, "I'm very sorry Glory Girl," Yuki spoke up as she strode forward, mind cycling through the forms accessible to her at the moment. Glory Girl's eyes locked onto her, watching her warily as she took in the iconography upon her costume, "This is a bit of an internal investigation. I am going to have to ask you to leave."

The New Wave cape's eyes narrowed at her, "And who are you?"

Yuko gave her a small bow, keeping her eyes on Glory Girl as her men shuffled behind her in preparation, "I am Yosei, second-in-command of the ABB. It's lovely to meet such a well-known heroine."

The blonde gave her a narrow-eyed stare, "Yosei? I didn't know the ABB had any more capes."

Yuko smiled demurely, folding her hands into her sleeves, "My father felt it necessary to keep my existence hidden from those who would wish me harm. I have just recently taken up my birthright."

"Birthright?" The blonde's face scrunched in confusion, though the hostility didn't disappear from her posture.

"The ABB." Yuko clarified, watching as Glory Girl's eyes widened as she took Yuko's words in, "I am the heir to the legacy my father has built. Should anything happen to him, I will be the one to take the reins."

"Since when did Lung have a kid!?" The floating blonde yelled out in shock, "You're like what, eighteen? How the hell did nobody know about you?"

"Like I said, my existence was deliberately kept a secret from our enemies." She reiterated as she stopped walking forward, standing just in front of the blonde, "Why, imagine if someone like, say, the Empire got hold of the information and something happened to me. I very much doubt there would have been much of a city left standing after my father's wrath had run its course."

Glory Girl blanched, her skin paling as she imagined what Yuko was thinking of. Yuko smiled dryly, "Yes, I much prefer this outcome."

As she spoke, Yuko debated on what form she should take for the upcoming battle. Glory Girl was known to be rather destructive in her fights. And while if Yuko was alone she would be more than fine with going toe-to-toe with the girl, she had her subordinates to think about. She would need to choose carefully, choose a form to incapacitate the girl without turning this into a simple slugfest.

She couldn't imagine the amount of damage they would cause if she were to turn into a Minotaur or something similarly brutish. The warehouse would no doubt collapse around their ears.

Her Kitsune form was available to her but most of her illusions would work off of her victim's own constitution with those with more willpower being more resistant, and Glory Girl was nothing if not willful. And besides, even if they did work, she imagined the blonde was more the 'fight instead of flight' type. Horrific illusions based on her own subconscious could send her into a rage and do exactly what Yuko was trying to avoid.

Eventually, she settled on a suitable form, one that would hopefully keep the damage to a minimum. He would have to do this just right however, and keep the slip ups to a minimum.

At the same time that she decided, Glory Girl reared up, floating higher in the air to stare down at her from on high, "It'll be kind of hard to run a gang from prison. I'd advise you reconsider your choices before you do something irreversible."

Yuko took a small breath, gathering her power within her, "I don't suppose I could convince you to simply leave? Surely there's no need for us to fight?" She asked the blonde teen hopefully.

Glory Girl scoffed, "Not a chance. But I'll tell you what, you surrender right now and don't interfere while I round up your goons, and I'll try to get you a lighter sentence. Maybe you could join the Wards or something, or the Protectorate if you're old enough." She offered an olive branch.

Yuko raised an eyebrow behind her mask as her power reached its apex, "Oh? Do you truly have that kind of sway in the organization?" She asked rhetorically. Her eyes flickered to her subordinate, and he gave a shallow nod. Good.

Before Glory Girl could answer, Yuko unclasped her hands, letting them fall down to her sides, "Well, either way, I'm afraid I cannot simply surrender. You see, I have a responsibility to my men as well as my father, it wouldn't do to fail both on my first actual outing."

She smiled up at the blonde, "I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer."

The moment the words left her mouth, Yuko released her power. Mist exploded outwards from her body, eliciting a startled yelp from Glory Girl as well as some of those on the floor as it rapidly overtook their kneeling forms.

"Hey! What the hell!?" Glory Girl shouted out in surprise as the mist overtook the entirety of the warehouse, hanging thick in the air like fog rendering sight almost useless. There was a tinge in the air, like the feeling one would get when they knew they were being watched but not by what, and she could feel the New Wave cape tense as she prepared to fly out of the warehouse, only to stop as she realized that the mist wasn't doing anything to her.

"This is your power? What are you, some kind of budget Grue?" Glory Girl exclaimed in annoyance. Yuko could feel her in the mist, turning her body around as she watched warily for attacks, oblivious to the fact that none would be coming.

Yuko didn't focus on her words, instead keeping her mind on her men moving within the Mist. They burst into action the moment sight was impaired, rushing to the tied up traitors and bodily dragging them towards the door. Yuko strained herself, working against her power and keeping the Mist spread out in a way that it wasn't really supposed to be while her men rushed to the exit, dragging the traitors behind them.

Soon enough, they were gone and only Yuko and Glory Girl remained in the warehouse. The Asian girl took that as her cue, pulling her mist back into herself and finalizing her transformation.

Glory Girl looked around, narrowed eyes observing the suddenly empty warehouse as she realized what Yuko had done. She turned to her with an angry scowl, only to freeze as she took in Yuko's transformed state.

The form Yuko had decided on was no doubt unsettling for the other cape, which was part of why she had picked it in the first place. Her mask had once again disappeared, allowing her altered face to be visible as she took a deep breath. Her upper body had lengthened, her once short stature becoming much less so as she rose to her full height and her short hair had lengthened, flowing down to her lower back in straight, inky black tresses. Her kimono had gone from its normal red and black color to just black, all of the iconography upon it disappearing as it lengthened into something more akin to a flowing robe.

Her lower body, on the other hand, had seemingly disappeared completely. Her original legs were nowhere to be found and in their place were eight chitinous legs whose razor-sharp tips tapped along the concrete floor as Yuko adjusted her balance. A bulbous abdomen, complete with spinnerets jutted from the rear of the robe, marked with dark red marks that also appeared upon her legs.

Yuko sighed, feeling her mist settle within her once more as her transformation was completed, shrugging her shoulders and flexing her legs to get used to her new form.

She turned her eyes back to Glory Girl, poisonous yellow orbs staring up from a pale angelic face, "Sorry about that. A bit of a quirk of my power you see."

Glory Girl just stared at her with wide eyes, "So… not a budget Grue. Got it." She said faintly.

Yuko smiled wryly, the mandibles around her mouth twitching with the motion, "Not as such, no."

Glory Girl looked around at the empty warehouse, "I see your men escaped." She said casually, before turning back to Yuko with something akin to resignation in her eyes, "You sure I can't convince you to surrender? I'm sure you'll find some pretty cool people in the Protectorate." She offered once more.

Yuko just shook her head slowly, eyes roving around the room to make sure all of her men had truly escaped, "I'm afraid not."

Glory Girl sighed, "That sucks. You seem pretty cool, what with the lack of angry screaming or yelling slurs at me. It would've been nice to have a new hero around here. Oh well, I'll try to make it quick at least."

She suddenly burst into movement, shooting forward like a rocket towards the ABB cape, fist cocked back to slam across Yuko's face. Yellow eyes widened and Yuko jerked her body to move out of the way as the heroine flew…

Straight into the massive invisible web that Yuko had weaved moments ago. Glory Girl let out a shout of confusion as the invisible strands of silk wrapped around her, flailing her arms angrily and tangling herself further, "What the hell!? What is this!?"

The silk shimmered, becoming visible as the Yuko Glory Girl was looking at faded into nothingness. From behind the panicking girl, the air shimmered as the real Yuko made herself known, her illusion fading with her sudden movement as she surged forward on skittering legs, racing towards the downed cape who was frantically ripping the clinging strands from her body.

Unlike Kitsune, the Jorogumo's illusions worked by affecting the world around it instead of simply using the victim's imagination. That said, they weren't nearly as powerful and if one were actively looking for the illusion, it would fade. The only reason Yuko was able to so blatantly use her power like she had was due to Glory Girl having no reason to suspect that the Yosei she had been looking at was fake. She would be much more wary in the future.

Which meant Yuko would have to do this fast.

The spider-girl reached the downed cape quickly, raising up on her back legs as the front worked with a flurry of motion, spinning silk between the spindly limbs it emerged from her abdomen. Soon enough, she had a good enough amount to work with. She climbed atop the downed blonde, eliciting a shriek of terror as Yuko's legs stabbed down into the concrete beside her. Utilizing all of her legs at once, Yuko began wrapping the hero in webs, flipping her around as she wrapped sheets of silk around the blonde.

Unfortunately, just as Yuko completed the first layer, Glory Girl gained a sudden burst of strength. With a yell, she thrust her arms outwards, aided by her fear and anger, breaking through the silk with a snap and pushing Yuko back in the process.

There was a sickening 'crack' as the blonde's hand made contact with one of her legs, and as Yuko stumbled backwards, she winced in pain the moment she put pressure on it, a throbbing appearing in the limb the moment she pushed down.

She looked down, finding that even though it had been nothing but a graze, the leg that Glory Girl had smacked away was sporting a large, deep crack along the length of the chitin. It hurt, and Yuko was suddenly extremely glad that broken limbs didn't transfer to her when she turned back to normal and instead just increased her fatigue.

Still… 'Either I'm extremely fragile in this form, or Glory Girl is stronger than I had suspected. Either way, I can't let her touch me again.' She decided, bending down on her seven remaining legs as Glory Girl shot up into the air, turning this way and that as she ripped off the clinging webs, 'A drawn out fight is not in my favor, I'll have to finish this even quicker than I had thought .'

Capitalizing on the other cape's still-disorientated state, Yuko launched herself upward, spindly legs coming up to latch onto the ceiling as she activated the second of this form's abilities once more, cloaking herself in a simple illusion that would make her harder to detect. She knew it wouldn't be enough to do what she was about to attempt, but it should at least make it possible to get close to her.

By now, Glory Girl had completely rid herself of the webs, and she was angry.

"Alright, that's enough! Screw getting you a lighter sentence, you're done!" She screamed out as she shot upwards like a rocket. Her face was contorted into an expression of rictus anger as she scanned the warehouse, looking for her, "Where did you go!? Stop hiding so I can tie those legs of yours into a knot!"

Yuko slinked forward on the ceiling, somewhat hidden by her illusion. She was careful not to move too quickly as she knew the moment Glory Girl's eyes actually looked her way, the illusion would break immediately.

Luckily, it seemed that in her anger the teen had forgotten about spider's proclivities for climbing walls; or perhaps she simply didn't think Yuko could do so as well. Either way, Glory Girl didn't make any attempt to look upward as Yuko got into place directly above her. She let go of the ceiling with four of her legs, leaving four still attached, and began weaving one more, clinging strands of web being stretched between her hands and legs as she molded a thick sheet..

She waited as her prey floated beneath her, getting into position as she looked around for Yuko angrily. The moment she was directly under her, Yuko released her remaining legs, sending herself plummeting down towards the unaware cape as a strand of web kept her connected to the ceiling.

Glory Girl gave a rather impressive shriek as Yuko landed atop her, eight legs moving rapidly to tie her up once more. The ABB cape didn't let her body touch the ground, not wanting to accidentally stick her to the floor, and instead held her aloof with several legs as more and more silk was excreted from her abdomen, which she used to continue restraining the other girl, flipping her around and wrapping her up like an actual spider would do to its prey.

Unlike before, Yuko didn't stop at just one sheet of silk, instead continuing to weave several layers over top of one another as Glory Girl became more angry below her. Soon enough, she had a thick blanket of webbing laid atop the blonde, one that should be more than capable to restrain the Brute for several seconds at the very least.

She knew it might still not be enough however, so she began enacting the second part of her plan.

In numerous legends, Jorogumo are said to have the ability to excrete a venom to weaken those trapped within their webs, sapping the strength and willpower of those inside. From Yuko's lips seeped the same venom, falling down into the webs as she wrapped them tightly around the struggling cape below her, seeping into the silk and dying it a sickly green.

Immediately, Glory Girl's struggles slowed significantly as she was sapped of her strength. Her eyes fluttered and her limbs grew heavy. By the time Yuko completed another layer of webs, the blonde's struggles had all but ceased, weak jerks all she was capable of producing. Deciding it was sufficient, the flow of venom from Yuko's mouth ceased, and she continued wrapping the heroine in normal webs.

After she was sure that any escape attempt by the cape would be futile, Yuko finished her bindings with one final layer of webs. By the time she was finished, the blonde cape looked like she was trapped in an off-white cocoon that left nothing but her head and face exposed. Yuko gave her work a once over, before beginning to climb her way back up the strand of webs that had kept her attached to the ceiling.

She reached the ceiling, and began to weave even more webs, attaching these between Glory Girl's cocoon, before slowly lowering her down, stopping just before the blonde's head touched the ground and reinforcing the webbing to ensure she would remain there for the time being.

Glory Girl clearly wasn't happy with the new arrangement as she began weakly struggling once more, though it did nothing but cause her to swing back and forth like a pendulum, blonde hair swaying near the ground as Yuko lowered herself back to the floor, releasing her power's hold on her.

As her transformation faded into trailing mist, Yuko gave a small sigh. Her little smokescreen and subsequent transformation had used up basically all of her available Mist. She wouldn't be able to manage another full transformation tonight without recharging first.

Or running into someone like Purity, but Yuko would really rather not run into the second most powerful Blaster on the East Coast tonight. Or any night soon for that matter. She honestly just wanted to go home and go to bed.

She took a moment to get used to walking on two legs once more, before making her way over to the entrance of the warehouse. Just as she went to leave, Yuko was suddenly struck by a thought, and made her way back over to Glory Girl, looking up at her curiously.

"If I leave you here, will someone come to get you?" Yuko asked the dangling heroine. Glory Girl didn't answer her, face twisted into an angry scowl as blue eyes glared at her tiredly. Yuko repeated her question, and sighed when she didn't get an answer, "I see. Well it wouldn't feel right to just leave you here like this. This is far from a good part of town." She muttered as she looked around the room.

"So what? Are you gonna untie me?" Her captive finally spoke up angrily, "You do realize when I get out I'm gonna deck you right?"

Yuko nodded as she found what she was looking for, bending down to grab a discarded phone, "I do. That's exactly why I am not untying you."

She powered the device on, both happy and unhappy to see that there was absolutely zero security on the device. With a bit of difficulty, she navigated the unfamiliar ui until she found the dial pad, pressing a series of numbers and holding the phone up to her ear as Glory Girl began struggling once more.

It only took a few seconds for her call to be picked up, a weary sounding male voice coming through the phone's speaker, "Hello, this is the PRT Hotline. How may I assist you tonight?"

Yuko hummed as she watched the blonde swing back and forth in mild amusement, "Good evening, I currently have a parahuman in my captivity and would like to request transport for her."

There was a moment of silence as her words registered in the man's head, "A-ah. Yes, ok. May we have the name of the parahuman and your current location so that we can issue the proper assistance?" He sounded much more awake now, which made Yuko wonder if this was a rare occurrence.

Yuko didn't actually know the exact number of the warehouse she was in, but that shouldn't be a problem given the massive hole in the wall, "I am currently in a warehouse off of Allison Avenue. I'm unsure of the exact number, but there is a large hole in the wall so it shouldn't be too difficult to find."

"I see. Please do your best to avoid property damage in the future. While we understand that some things are unavoidable, insurance will only cover so much and you may be held liable depending on the situation." He lectured, and Yuko could hear the tapping of a keyboard in the background, along with some other noises that must have been other operators attending to their own business.

Yuko huffed at the assumption, "The hole was not my doing. That was my captive, she seemed to be intent on making a dramatic entrance despite the fact that someone could have easily been hurt in her doing so." She cast a glance at Glory Girl who gave her a scowl.

There was a beat of silence, "Ok then. And who is the parahuman you have in captivity?"

"Glory Girl."

"..."

"..."

"...Excuse me?"

"My captive is Glory Girl. " Yuko repeated, "She interrupted some very important affairs on my end and attempted to arrest me. She is now tied up and dangling from the ceiling."

'...Ma'am are you a villain?" The background noise ceased altogether at his words, the man's colleagues no doubt listening in on the conversation.

She hummed lightly, "I suppose I am, though I have yet to do anything particularly villainous in my opinion." The sightless eyes of Kaito flashed in her mind and Yuko immediately shook her head. It was not the time nor the place.

There was a long moment of silence, which was starting to annoy her, and Yuko spoke up, "Are you sending the transport? I cannot stay here all evening, I have things to do."

That seemed to spur the man into action, "The transport was sent two minutes ago." He spoke hesitantly, "Though I would like to ask that you stay nearby so that-"

"I'm afraid I can't do that sir." Yuko interrupted the man, "My father is no doubt worrying about where I am right now, so I really must be going."

"Can we at least have your name ma'am? Or your affiliation?" The man sounded somewhat desperate, probably because he would no doubt have to report this to his superiors. Yuko decided to throw him a bone.

"My name is Yosei, I am a member of the ABB." She cast another glance at Glory Girl, noting the sick look on the blonde's face, though that might have just been vertigo. Still, "I suggest you get here quickly. Like I said, she is currently tied upside down and I can't imagine that is good for her health. Something about blood pooling to the brain I believe."

"W-wait! I still have some questions for you-!"

"Have a lovely evening sir." She ended the call, cutting the man's frantic voice off in the process. As the line went dead, Yuko looked down at the phone in her hand, before shrugging and placing it in the inner pocket of her kimono.

She made her way to the exit, casting one more glance at Glory Girl whose face was turning red, "Help is on the way. In the future I hope our meetings are more cordial."

"Bitch." Was all the blonde had to say.

Yuko gave her a nod before making her way out of the warehouse. As she did so, she was happy to see that her men had seemingly done as she asked and called Teruo, as there were two more vans out front than before. One of her men was standing outside of one of them, gun held at the ready.

She made her way over and he gave her a bow, before opening the rear doors, "Welcome back, Yosei-sama. Looks like everything went well?" He phrased it like a question, giving her a discrete once-over

Yuko gave him a nod as she climbed into the van, "Well enough I suppose. I imagine father will certainly want a report when we return."

"I am sure he'll be pleased. Glory Girl is known to be pretty strong, and you beat her with little effort it seems."

Yuko hummed, "Yes… I imagine so. Father always did value strength above all else. He will likely see this as a great victory on my part."

Personally, Yuko thought her father's obsession with strength was a little odd. She had somewhat enjoyed the fight in hindsight, certainly, but she would also rather not do it again any time soon. Right now, she just wanted to report her findings to her father and go to sleep.

She turned to the man, "Now let's go home. I am more than fed up with tonight. "

"Yes, Yosei-sama."

~~~

Yuko was struck by a sudden revelation as the van began making its way back home. She turned to look at the man sitting a few spaces away from her, the same one who had been her go-to all night. He was currently leaning back in his seat, one leg folded over the other as he sucked on a bright blue lollipop, humming some tune she couldn't make out.

It was completely unprofessional, and Yuko were anyone else the man would have gotten a stern reprimand and likely a pay cut or worse. Luckily for him, Yuko was not anyone else.

"You, with the lollipop. What's your name?"

She could see it in his eyes, the sudden fear of being called out like that, and the van suddenly became incredibly still.

He pulled the treat from his mouth, straightening, "Kon, Yosei-sama." She could just barely hear the tremor in his voice. The other people in the van shifted nervously, worried faces straying to the two of them in a way that told Yuko they were attempting to be discreet.

She didn't pay them any mind, instead keeping her eyes on the newly-named Kon. Now that she was actually looking at him, the man wasn't that much older than her. Twenty-three, twenty-four four at maximum, young in other words. And yet, despite his age he had been the most effective member of his team, the first to act on her orders and do so efficiently on top of that. It was impressive.

She told him as such, "Kon, your performance tonight was admirable. I will ensure your superior is informed and you are properly rewarded."

He clearly wasn't expecting that given the way his jaw fell open slightly, but he gathered himself quickly, "Oh! Uh, thank you, Yosei-sama. I am extremely grateful."

"Continue to perform as you did tonight, and I am sure you will rise through the ranks in no time." She gave him a small smile, before turning to address the rest of the group, "That goes for the rest of you as well. You did well tonight, much better than I had expected. We suffered no losses despite an appearance by a rather powerful hero, good work."

Yuko could tell they weren't used to the positive reinforcement by the sheer befuddlement that was visible on all of their faces. That was too bad, hopefully she would get the opportunity to utilize their skills in the future.

"And someone call Nana and tell her we've got a few gifts for her. I'm sure she'll be ecstatic, crazy woman."

---

Had to watch videos of spiders doing spider things for this chapter. In a completely unrelated note, spiders are pretty cool little critters that I would never let anywhere but my back porch or the dusty corners of my basement.

Next six chapters available at Sadguychet | Patreon

Vicky winced as her sister's hands ran through her hair, catching on the sticky webs held there and pulling on her scalp, "Careful Ames, that sort of hurt."

Her sister gave her a snort, removing her hands from Vicky's hair and depositing several clumps of web on the kitchen table where they were sitting, "You want me to stop? There's still a bunch of webs in here, but I'm sure a haircut could get rid of most of them." She gave Vicky's head an appraising glance, "I wonder how Dean feels about bald women." She thought aloud.

Vicky paled at her words, imagining a shining dome where her beautiful hair once was, "Nevermind, keep doing what you're doing!" She insisted.

Amy gave her a smirk, before moving her hands back to her sister's hair, using her powers to loosen the bonds between the webs and her sister's blonde tresses.

Vicky winced as the tugging began once more, before turning her attention to the only other person in the room. A person who was practically shaking with her anger.

"What in the world were you thinking Victoria! You could have been seriously hurt, or worse!"

Carol Dallon was very clearly not happy with her daughter, and Vicky winced at her mother's words just as much as the pain in her head. She was pretty sure Amy was doing it on purpose.

"But I wasn't!" Vicky defended, her mother's disappointed gaze striking a cord in her, "I didn't even get hurt! My shield didn't break once!"

"And what if you had been?" Her mother countered, "What if Oni Lee had been there? Or Lung? What would you have done then?"

"I spent like an hour staking out the warehouse, I couldn't see Oni Lee anywhere nearby and Lung doesn't ever leave his house unless he has a reason to! How was I supposed to know they had a new cape, much less that it was Lung's daughter!? Nobody even knew he had a daughter!"

Her mother clearly wasn't happy with her argument, the woman's face twisting into a scowl, "That's no excuse Victoria. You know better than to ever fight an unknown parahuman on your own, especially one from the ABB."

"I just thought I could take her…" She muttered.

"And you were clearly wrong." Carol said firmly, placing her hands on her hips, "And you are lucky that she isn't as bloodthirsty as her father or, god-forbid, Oni Lee."

The fact that Lung actually had a daughter was still a bit shocking to Vicky. The idea that the man who had fought off basically the entire hero population of Brockton Bay at once now had an heir was something that didn't sit well with the blonde heroine.

Yosei seemed to be much more level-headed than her father was said to be and was definitely saner than Lee, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Given what Yosei had said, if anything happened to Lung, Vicky had no doubt that the woman would step forward as leader of the ABB.

And Vicky honestly had no idea whether that would be better or worse.

"That's the last of the webs." Amy said from her side as she pulled one more strand from Vicky's head. The blonde sighed in relief, leaning forward to grab a hairbrush that had been set aside and immediately went about neatening her messy hair.

"You think things made by her powers are permanent?" Vicky asked curiously, looking at the now semi-large ball of webs her sister was holding as she began running the brush through her hair.

Amy got a weird look on her face as she rolled the webs into a ball, "Maybe. It's slightly uncommon for things made by capes to stick around permanently, but not unheard of."

Vicky noticed this, "What's up? You just got this weird look on your face." Amy gave her a surprised look for noticing, before frowning slightly.

"We had a bunch of ABB guys come into the hospital today. That's nothing new of course, we get a ton of gang idiots that can't tell the barrel of a gun from their own ass and end up in the ER, but these guys didn't have gunshot wounds or even stab wounds. They were tortured." She looked at the ball of web between her fingers, squishing it lightly, "Ripped out fingernails, flayed bits of skin, electrical burns and signs of drowning, that sort of thing; definitely not accidents."

"So?" Vicky winced as her sister shot her a look as she placed the ball on the table, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I meant, isn't that sorta normal? I thought it was common knowledge how Lung deals with people he thinks are traitors. I remember you complaining about something similar a few weeks ago, something about someone inside the ABB being a sadistic sociopath because of the kinds of wounds that were coming in."

Lung was well known for his treatment of traitors in the past. The man seemingly despised them more than he did everyone else, and treated them even more harshly as a result. Only in the past few months it seemed that the gang leader had been handing his problems off to someone else, someone who didn't just burn the traitor alive and leave them for the authorities to find.

It had been causing her sister a massive headache because more often than not, the victims had mental wounds to compound the physical, leading to them needing to be strapped down for the healer to even get near them.

Amy had once said that if she ever found who was causing it, she'd make sure their stay in the psych ward was a long one which was both funny and kind of scary thanks to the face she had made at the time.

Amy scowled at the memory, "And I stand by my words. Those wounds were from someone who definitely enjoys inflicting pain, there's no other way they could be so precise and cruel at the same time." She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, "But that's not weird. Like you said, it's become pretty common recently. What isn't common was a guy we got in the Parahuman Treatment ward."

The Parahuman Treatment ward was a section of the hospital specifically for people who had been affected by a parahuman power. Someone who came into contact with Newter and couldn't handle the high would be sent there for example. Given the lack of lingering powers in the Bay despite the sheer amount of capes present it wasn't often occupied so to hear that there was suddenly someone inside and that they were connected to Yosei was concerning.

"This guy was from the same group as the rest of the ABB victims. Both of his legs, from the thigh down, had been turned to stone. Muscles, tissue, skin and bone, nothing was left alone from what I could tell. It was like someone had taken his legs and replaced them with the legs of a statue." Amy scowled, "My powers wouldn't work on them at all which means they are actually stone. They'll have to be amputated."

"And Yosei was responsible?" Carol asked severely.

Amy nodded, "That's what he said. He said he tried to run past her and she just glanced at him, her eyes glowed, and bam, his legs were stone. Said it hurt like a bitch to." she hummed, "The PRT were heading in when I was leaving the hospital, so they'll probably have some questions for him. Maybe they'll even be able to fix his legs but I doubt it, they weren't even really legs anymore."

Carol didn't say anything about the use of language as she turned a harsh stare on her eldest, "See Victoria? What would have happened if Yosei decided to use this specific power on you? Your sister can't affect stone which is by all means what Yosei's power can cause and there is no telling whether or not your shield would have stopped a sight-based power. You could have lost a limb at the very least!"

Vicky looked away, a sudden pit in her stomach as she realized just how badly the encounter could have gone, "... Sorry mom." She said quietly.

"Don't be sorry, be better." Carol spoke sternly, before her gaze softened slightly, "Next time something like this happens, call us. You don't know how hard my heart sank when I heard you had been captured in ABB territory. They aren't the Empire, Victoria, they have little interest in keeping the status quo unless it benefits Lung."

Vicky nodded, feeling slightly ashamed, "I know I just thought I could handle her. She was new and I thought that meant she wasn't strong, so I got in over my head. It won't happen again."

Carol nodded with a slight sigh, "Make sure that it doesn't. I don't want to come home to find that you've been hospitalized and Amy isn't able to do anything about it."

She looked around the kitchen at the clock, "Now I've got to go. My firm is holding an important meeting in an hour or so and attendance is mandatory. Everyone is getting called in.."

"You think someone bumbled a case again? Another Jenkins situation?" Amy asked curiously.

Carol sighed, "God I hope not, that took weeks to deal with…" She glanced at the clock again, "Alright, I really need to go. I love you both and Vicky, you're grounded. No patrolling for the rest of the week and no Dean."

Vicky knew better than to argue at this point, and so she just nodded silently, feeling more than a little ashamed of herself and her mother gave a nod in return before leaving the room to get ready.

She and Amy sat in silence for a moment, Amy picking the ball of web up and playing with it once more, before Vicky suddenly realized something.

"Hey, wait," she spoke up, looking at her sister, "Yosei's powers turned her into a spider. What kind of spider turns people to stone?"

Amy shrugged, "If her powers can turn her into a spider, why not something else?" She didn't move her eyes from the webs in her hands, "I don't know what sort of animal can turn people to stone, but powers are weird so it might not be an animal at all. I mean, her dad turns into an actual dragon and those don't actually exist."

Vicky sighed, "Kinda wish she turned into a dragon during our fight, maybe then I'd actually have been able to do something.".

Amy raised an eyebrow at her, "Was it that bad?"

"Worse." Vicky grumbled, "When I tried to end the fight quickly, I flew straight into an invisible web she hung up when I couldn't see her. And then I found out that that wasn't even her, just some clone or something as it disappeared. After that, I didn't get a chance to hit her again before she had me tied up and the fight was over. It was embarrassing."

Amy grimaced, "So you're telling me that the ABB got someone who actually knows how to use her brain? That's not good. We already had our hands full with just Lung and Oni Lee."

Vicky groaned "I know right? At least Lung just stayed in his lane unless someone decided to kick up shit, and Lee normally stays in their territory. There's no telling what Yosei's gonna be doing."

Amy had apparently grown bored of the ball of webs, as she tossed it toward the open trash can, scowling as she missed.

"Whatever she does, it's not like it could be worse than the shit the Merchants have been doing. They've got some new drug in from Boston and unlike literally everything else, their bodies haven't built up an immunity to it so they overdose super fucking quickly."

Vicky shook her head, "Merchants will be Merchants right?"

Amy growled, "Oh don't even give me that! I've had to tread nearly twenty idiots who thought it would be a good idea to snort heroin this week. You can't snort heroin that just kills you!" she huffed, "I swear one of the only rules of being a Merchant is that you're not allowed to have any common sense."

Vicky laughed at her sister's angry demeanor, "True enough I guess. Though I honestly doubt Skidmark of all people has rules." she stood from her chair, making her way over to the fridge, "I'm hungry. You want an omelet or something?"

Amy shrugged, "Sure. I don't have to be at the hospital for a few hours so that should give me a bit of energy."

As Vicky began pulling out the ingredients, setting a pan on the stove to heat, her mind went back to a question that remained unanswered.

What had Yosei been doing in that warehouse in the first place? And even more importantly, where did her Mom put the shredded cheese?

Small note, this chapter and all future ones in Yuko's pov will be in first person. This is due to the results of a poll via my patrons. Please Enjoy!

---

My shoulders were tense with discomfort as I tapped my fingers against my thighs as a way to drown out the sound of the fluorescent light buzzing just above my head. I was currently in the basement of a tattoo parlor near the center of ABB territory. It was a relatively unpopular spot, especially since it was open only a few days a week, and the reason for this was the woman who owned and operated the parlor itself. Nana Akagi.

The reason for my current discomfort was the fact that the woman herself was actually practicing her craft mere feet away from me, separated by nothing but a relatively thick stone wall.

The one currently being subjected to the woman's… treatment was the last of the bunch that had been captured at the warehouse. He was also the last one who could possibly tell us exactly what was going on as the rest of them had known exactly nothing.

Nana had actually been waiting outside for me when I had arrived to her 'playroom'. The woman had greeted me happily and when I had requested information on her progress, she had simply said that she was nearly done and that 'she could feel him about to break'. How lovely.

So here I was, waiting for nearly two hours as the woman tortured a man not a room away. Truly the best way to spend my evening.

I sighed lightly, crossing one jean-clad leg over the other as I adjusted my position on my chair to a much more comfortable one. I wasn't currently wearing my costume due to the fact that there wasn't really any reason to. Anyone who saw me enter would just think I was another patron and those that didn't would know better than to ask questions. There was also no way to tell how long I would have been stuck here beforehand, Nana was very thorough in her craft after all, and even the smooth fabrics of my costume started to get uncomfortable after a while.

Given how long I had been waiting so far, I was glad that I had made the decision.

To occupy my thoughts as I waited for Nana to finish, I turned them towards recent events. It had been a little over a week since my bout with Glory Girl, and all had been well since that particular hiccup. My role in the ABB had been solidified with her defeat, and the numerous detractors to my position in the gang had been silent since. All was well.

I personally was happy with my performance against the heroine. The fight had been a resounding victory all around and had been a good way to introduce myself to the city's heroes. My father had also been pleased with my victory, as had Hiashi. The man had even gotten over his apparent fear of me to congratulate me, even going so far as to offer me the services of the guards that had accompanied me that night.

I had declined as I didn't have any true need for guards, but I had kept true to my words to the men and commended them all for their actions, informing Hiashi to raise their pay accordingly. He had accepted my words without any fuss and last I heard, the group of men had been given much more responsibility in their respective branch of the gang.

I sighed to myself as a shrill scream followed by a happy groan broke me out of my thoughts once again. I brought a hand up to my face, rubbing lightly at the bridge of my nose as the room went silent once more. By all means Nana's playroom was almost completely soundproof. It just happened to be that I was unfortunate enough to possess powers that granted me enhanced hearing. Lucky me.

While my powers may have mainly revolved around my transformations, even while in my human form I retained some traits from my shifts. Enhanced hearing and smell, slightly enhanced strength that made me strong enough to crack stone if I really tried, and the need to only sleep an hour or so every day.

It wouldn't be apparent to anyone looking in from the outside, as unless I was actively using them my powers had no apparent signs. Only my father knew about these aspects of my power and I planned to keep it that way for as long as I possibly could. It wouldn't do to give my potential enemies any extra information, especially in a place like Brockton Bay.

At that thought, I couldn't help but wonder how much of a known entity I had become in the city thanks to my bout with Glory Girl. While our fight had taken place in the middle of the night and in a relatively empty part of the city, I knew that that didn't really matter all that much to the users of PHO. Word had a habit of getting around despite the fact that it by all means shouldn't, especially in the cape capital of the US that was the city I called home.

And even despite that, there was no doubt in my mind that the heroes had already written up a report on me and my abilities. My father was already one of the most feared individuals in the country, and as his daughter I would no doubt inherit some of that fear myself. It just made sense that the Protectorate would at the very least make a threat assessment as they tended to do with all of the parahumans in the city.

I suppose it was a good thing that I had managed to avoid using more than one transformation against Glory Girl. The New Wave cape would have a very limited scope of my powers and wouldn't be able to inform the other heroes of many of my actual abilities as a result. That was likely to be an extremely large help in any future battles.

Knowing is half the battle after all. The less my potential enemies knew, the greater my advantage.

My thoughts were interrupted once again, this time by a happy shout, "There we go! Was that so hard?" That was Nana, she sounded happy. It seemed that she had finally gotten what she wanted out of the man, "Now I need to step out for just a moment honey, I've got a very important guest to tend to. Don't go anywhere, I would just hate to pull out the clamps again~"

I shook my head lightly at her words, purposefully sadistic. There was no doubt in my mind that Nana had tied him up to whatever surface she was torturing him on, the words were simply meant to make the man quake in fear as he awaited her return.

I stood from my chair, adjusting the jacket on my shoulders as I turned to the door to Nana's playroom as it clicked open softly, admitting the woman herself.

Nana was attractive in a 'cute librarian' sort of way. Once one got past the blood that was almost always covering her at least. She was relatively tall, standing around five foot eight which was especially odd for someone of Korean descent like herself. She kept her hair pulled up in a perpetually messy bun leaving strands of hair hanging around her ears and allowing room for her glasses to sit.

The last two fingers on her right hand were missing, as became apparent when she brought her hand up to adjust her skewed glasses. They had been replaced with relatively simple prosthetics that allowed her to continue her preferred ghastly pastime. As she exited the playroom, my sensitive ears caught wind of a light sobbing, no doubt coming from the man inside, moments before Nana closed the door once more.

She gave a small sigh, before turning to me with a face flushed with what seemed like excitement and I very carefully didn't think of why that could possibly be.

"Sorry for taking so long Hime." The woman apologized, giving me a small bow, "That one was a particularly tough nut to crack."

I nodded at her, not minding the nickname since it was only the two of us and I wasn't in costume besides that. I had known Nana for several years at this point as the woman frequently met with my father and despite her… proclivities, I would tentatively call her a friend. Certainly not a friend I would invite to a wedding, but a friend all the same.

"It's alright Nana, I understand." I gave her a small smile, carefully not staring at the bloody stains on her lab coat. I rose and nodded towards the closed door she had emerged from, "Another dead end?"

At my words, Nana smiled a smile that was entirely too much teeth, "Oh I wouldn't say that. In fact, my work has turned up some very interesting results." She reached into her pocket, retrieving a small rag. She pulled her glasses from her face, wiping them free of the light speckle of blood that I had noticed earlier.

"Our friend in there was actually hired to organize the whole uprising. If you could even call something that chaotic and idiotic organized." Nana shook her head derisively, placing the rag back into her coat and her glasses back onto her face, "He was oddly protective of the information for someone of his disposition, but I suppose the person who hired him put the fear of god into him." She smiled lightly, "Too bad for them I can be much scarier than any god. I got him to sing eventually."

I hummed, "And what tune did he sing? Do we know what he was looking for in the office?"

Upon investigation of the warhouse the day after I had visited, the only things messed with in the office had been financial reports and simple spreadsheets, the kinds of things one would expect and not at all crucial to the gang or anyone looking to get a leg up on us. The overseer said that that was normal, and he knew better than to keep anything important in a warehouse on the outskirts of the territory.

Nothing of importance was lost as a result of the riot simply because nothing of importance was there in the first place apart from all the drugs. So that begged the question, why had someone set the man up to this in the first place? Were they just misinformed about the importance of the warehouse?

In response to my question, the woman reached back into her coat, producing a folded sheet of paper and holding it out. I took it with curious fingers "It's not a well known tune, but it's one that you should know. Though I'm pretty sure that's the problem in the first place." She nodded at the paper.

I unfolded the paper, examining its contents curiously. I read the words written down and my heart nearly stopped at what I saw.

Hiashi Nogi
Kaito Nanaki
Aoi Matsuda
Takumi Tani
Sadao Gumo
Takao Yamakawa

It was a list of names. Not only that, but the names were… These were the names of all the Faces! How in the world had he gotten his hands on something like this!?

"You know what this means don't you?" Nana asked rhetorically, pulling a pack of cigarettes from her coat pocket and retrieving one as I stared at the paper in quiet disbelief, "It doesn't make any sense for a low level grunt like him to know the names of the Faces. Especially considering he's never even met one of them, much less all six. Even I only know a few of them."

She put her cigarette in her mouth before bringing her hands up and fiddling with one of her prosthetic fingers. It flipped backwards, a small flame extending from the joint which she used to light her addiction. The woman took a deep inhale, holding it for a moment before exhaling smoke through her nostrils as my own nose wrinkled at the acrid smell of nicotine.

I understood what she was getting at, Faces rarely used their names when meeting with anyone but their Officers and rarely operated outside of their purview besides that. The fact that the man even knew Aoi (the head of recruitment) much less any of the others made little to no sense.

Nor did the fact that Kaito's name was on the list. I was still admittedly doing my best to avoid thinking about him but that didn't change the fact that Kaito was dead. That meant that the list was likely made at least several weeks prior to when it was found and was planted for the man to find.

Which meant that this was planned in advance by someone who knew all of the faces by name. That list was very very short. Less than a dozen people short. Three of those people were myself, my father, and Lee who was way too loyal to even think about telling anyone. That meant…

"There's a traitor." I finally answered Nana's question, a pit settling in my stomach.

Nana nodded, "Yep. High up too, can't remember the last time one of the Faces turned coat." She hummed, "Can't imagine the Dragon will be too happy about this." She mused.

No he wouldn't. I could distinctly remember the last time one of the Faces betrayed the gang. Or more accurately, I could remember the man's screams as he was burned alive. Slowly. My father didn't suffer traitors, but he certainly enjoyed making them suffer in his place.

"He'll likely tear the entire gang up from its roots to find them. It will be a massacre." I said numbly as I thought of the amount of lives that would be lost from this debacle.

I loved and respected my father, but I knew that his way of going about these sorts of things was less than desirable. The man's rage was like a hammer, smashing everything in his way until he reached the one responsible for inciting it in the first place. If I allowed him to handle this, there was no telling the amount of innocent deaths that would be caused, dozens at the very least.

I couldn't let that happen. This situation didn't require a hammer, it required a scalpel. Someone needed to find and carefully cut the traitors out of our ranks, leaving the rest of the gang undisturbed lest it all crumble down around our ears.

That meant I couldn't let him find out about it.

I turned my attention back to Nana, finding her staring at me with a raised eyebrow. I looked at the paper in my hand, before carefully folding it into my jacket out of sight.

"So what's the plan? Should I start writing up a report to the big boss, let him know we've got a little rat problem?" Nana asked, taking another puff of her cigarette.

I shook my head slowly, the beginnings of a plan formulating in my mind, "...No. I'll handle it myself, there is no reason to inform my father."

Nana gave a sharp sigh of relief, "Thank god, I hate writing reports." She finished the last of her cigarette, flicking the remains away into a random corner of the room. I gave it a slight stare as it landed among a rather large amount of its fellows. Apparently she did that often.

She turned to me, "So what's the plan? You even have one yet?" She asked. I nodded,

"Roughly. I'm going to make the rounds in the various branches to see if I can't find anything that seems suspicious. I've already done it with Hiashi so there shouldn't be any suspicion cast on me. They would likely simply see it as me wishing to know more about how the gang is run."

I could also call upon the guards that Hiashi had offered me. Though I still didn't need them, they could be useful to give me an air of legitimacy in that people who looked upon me would believe that I was still learning the ins and outs of the gang. They would believe that my father still did not trust me and would be more liable to let their guard down me.

It was a rough plan and one that would likely require much more revision before I could put it into effect, but it would work for now.

I turned back to Nana who had pulled out yet another cigarette, "The moment I find anyone with useful information, I will send them to you. Expect to be busy in the coming months." I told her seriously.

"So many new people to play with…" She sighed happily, eyes looking up to the ceiling as she thought of it. The grin slowly stretching on her face was making me distinctly uncomfortable, "I can't wait."

I grimaced, "Right… Please ensure you get your current victim to the hospital before he dies, I don't want to have people see a cleanup crew outside your parlor so soon after the last. You provide a valuable service to the gang and we can't have you compromised. Especially not now." I ordered.

"D'aww, you care about me Hime? How lovely." Nana teased, bending down as if she was going to pinch my cheek. I pushed her away with a slightly annoyed grimace, stepping away from her, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Though I have a feeling the hospital is going to have their hands full with this one." She mused, lighting her cigarette and taking a drag.

"Just make sure no DNA is left on him."

She waved her hand, "Pfft, I'm not an amateur Hime. I've been doing this for years. He'll be cleaned up before I haul him off."

I nodded at that, Nana was extremely competent but it always paid to make sure, before turning and beginning to make my way from the basement.

"Any time you want to talk, don't forget about old aunt Nana! It gets pretty lonely here you know?" The woman called after me as I exited the basement into the parlor proper, "And let me know when you want to get more work done on your back! You know I hate seeing my art fade away, Hime!"

I shook my head lightly, not giving any response. The winding dragon tattoo along my spine was far from faded given that I had only gotten it a few months ago, and it wasn't yet time to get it touched up. I knew that the woman was just looking for an excuse to try to convince me to get even more of them. Some may get tattoos for simple decoration, but I had always believed that something so permanent should have much more meaning behind it. I would get more when I had reason to.

I squinted my eyes as I exited the parlor, holding a hand up to stave off the blinding rays of the midday sun. It was a little after two by my calculations which meant I had practically the whole day left to continue planning what to tell my father.

I sighed, the next few weeks of my life would no doubt be even more busy than before and I couldn't say I was looking forward to it.

Still, just because things would be hectic, didn't mean my life needed to be completely stressful. There was always someone willing to help me unwind.

I pulled out my phone, navigating to Tammi's contact and sending the girl a text.

Are you free this weekend? Things have been busy and hectic recently and I would like to get my mind off of it.

I placed my phone back into my pocket to await my friend's response, only to have to retrieve it almost immediately as said response caused it to buzz. I brought it back out, smiling at the response I had received

Yeah Im free. Usual place?

I quickly typed back my own response as I climbed into the car that would take me back home. I was extremely glad to have met Tammi, as having a friend outside of the gang had become quite a boon as my responsibilities grew. The girl may have had a crass mouth at the best of times which I wasn't too fond of, but she was always willing to hang out and simply be my friend. That was really all that mattered.

The fact that she was easy on the eyes was just a bonus.

---

Next five chapters available at Sadguychet | Patreon

Tammi wasn't really sure what was with the weather today. Brockton Bay was a coastal city, hence the name, so fog wasn't exactly abnormal. This much fog on the other hand, was kind of a bit much.

It was almost noon and still the clouds that should have been high in the sky were sitting happily on the ground instead, bringing a muggy atmosphere along with them. It wasn't a really good day to hang out in other words and normally Tammi would be at home in bed or doing something for Kaiser or

Tammi didn't care about all of that though, she knew that Yuko needed this. The girl had been extremely stressed at whatever job she was currently working for her dad and it had shown in her texts. That wasn't even mentioning that call.

She still wasn't able to get that phone call out of her head despite it happening weeks ago. Waking up at the butt crack of dawn by a call from someone who didn't like calling people in the first place had been a bit jarring. The panic and borderline hysteria in Yuko's voice had only turned that jarring feeling into full blown fear.

Tammi had limited experience with panic attacks. She had never had one before and had only really heard about them online and stuff, so for her closest friend to call her in the middle of one had shaken her up quite a bit.

She had been able to calm the other girl down, mostly by just doing as she had asked and Tammi was happy for that. She wasn't happy that Yuko was so cagey about the reason for her attack though, and even though her friend had assured her otherwise, the blonde had a feeling she might know the origin of her issue that night.

Tammi had met Yuko's dad once and the man was clearly some sort of thug. He was absolutely covered in tattoos and actually kind of tall and muscular despite his race, making his already intimidating demeanor even moreso. He was cold with his daughter and Tammi had a feeling that that didn't change behind closed doors.

Yuko almost never talked about the man, and that, even more than his race, was enough reason for Tammi to be suspicious of him.

Tammi was broken out of her thoughts by the sounds of footsteps approaching. She turned to find the subject of her thoughts approaching with a smile on her face, one hand coming up to give her friend a wave.

Tammi returned the wave even as she took in the outfit her friend had decided to wear for their little outing; a white and purple jacket with skinny jeans, as well as her ever-present bag slung over her shoulder. Simple, but fashionable.

Tammi had always thought Yuko was pretty good looking. Objectively of course. Her skin was pale and completely smooth apart from a small scar or imperfection here and there and her hair was a shade of black so dark that Tammi sometimes wondered if she dyed it, kept in a straight bob that ended along her jaw.

She couldn't help but wonder what her friend's mother must have looked like to produce such a beautiful daughter with her brute of a father.

Beautiful. Tammi shook her head with a small grimace at the thought, ringing in her head like a bell. What the hell was she thinking? That was the kinda talk that would get her beat within an inch of her life if she ever said it out loud near Brad. She needed to watch that shit.

"Sorry for making you wait, Tammi. I had to take care of something at home." The other girl smiled apologetically as she reached her, the scar along her jaw stretching with the movement.

Tammi's eyes took in the scar, old questions coming to her mind. She didn't focus on it for long though, instead moving to return her friend's greeting, "Hey Yuko, It's fine. I didn't really have anything else to do today." She shrugged, giving the girl a lopsided grin, "Sitting around out here beats sitting around at home."

Yuko giggled, bringing a hand up to hide her smile, "I'm sure it does. And I'm also sure that it has nothing to do with whatever homework you may have been assigned for this weekend." She said slyly.

Tammi just shrugged in a 'what can you do' sort of way. That turned Yuko's giggles into actual laughter so bright her eyes nearly closed with the force of it, drawing Tammi's gaze.

For the umpteenth time, Tammi couldn't help but notice just how unique her friend's eyes were. They were an odd shade of grey, looking almost silver in the right light, it was… striking, and Tammi often found herself staring a bit despite herself.

"Anyway, I was thinking we could go check out that crafts store by the mall." Yuko's voice broke Tammi out of her thoughts, bringing her back to reality, "I'm running out of canvas and need to grab some more. After that, we can just go over to the mall itself. Is that fine with you?" she asked, the remnant of laughter still in her voice..

Tammi nodded, clearing her throat and her brain free of imposing thoughts, "Ahem, yeah. That's good for me."

Get it together Tammi.

As they turned to walk, Tammi looked around a bit, noting the direction they were going and where they'd have to pass through to get there, "Let's be careful though. We're going through ABB territory and I have a feeling they might not like me being there very much." She said, a bit wary.

"They won't bother you." Yuko said simply and Tammi gave her a confused look at her confidence, "I know practically everyone around here. As long as you're with me, they won't bother you." She clarified.

Tammi wasn't too sure about that. In the Empire, it didn't matter who you were, hanging out with any non-whites was like waving around a sign that said 'kick my shit in, please and thank you.'. Hell, even Tammi would have to pull the cape card if any of the people at her school caught her hanging out with Yuko. She couldn't imagine things were all that different in the ABB.

Still, she decided to trust her friend on this one. She knew the area best.

"So did you have an idea on what you want to do other than grab some canvas?" Tammi asked as they made their way through the city.

Yuko shrugged, "Not really. I kind of just wanted to get out of the house and do something fun. It's been… draining here recently."

Tammi frowned at the words, draining? What was she talking about?

Tammi looked over at the shorter girl, finding her staring straight ahead with a light frown on her face. She hesitated, before deciding to go ahead and ask the question that had been bugging her for weeks.

"Hey, Yuko," Tammi did her best to make her voice as soft as possible, knowing that broaching this topic in the first place was probably a bad idea. She couldn't help it though, she was worried for her friend.

Said friend gave her an odd look at the tone she was using but didn't question it, "Yes? Do you need something, Tammi?"

"Is everything alright at home?" She decided to just come out and say it, "I know you said your dad wasn't doing anything but like…"

Yuko was giving her an odd expression, looking around slightly at the empty streets, "Tammi-"

"You can tell me you know? I'm your friend, I'm not going to judge you or anything." Tammi interrupted, wanting to let her friend know that she was here for her.

"Tammi, my father is not abusing me." Yuko's voice was firm, clearly not willing to even broach this subject. She looked at Tammi and the blonde was taken back at the intensity in her steely grey eyes, "I'm not sure where this idea came from but I want it to stop. Now."

Tammi swallowed lightly, biting back the response that wanted to leave her mouth. She had pushed too far, even she could see that. "...Sorry. I'm just worried I guess."

Yuko's expression softened slightly as she led her friend into a nearby alley, clearly wanting a more private place to speak, "I know. And you don't understand how thankful I am that you are."

Yuko stopped, turning to face her with earnest eyes, "You are a good friend Tammi, and that's why I want you to trust me when I say that my father has been nothing but caring to me since my mother died. Sure, he might be a bit cold and seem unloving but he has never in my life laid a hand on me in anger. I swear it."

Tammi stared down at the girl, a swell of emotions bubbling inside of her as she processed her words.

She nodded slowly, "Alright. I'll drop it. Just… just tell me if you need help, okay? For whatever, it doesn't matter. Just tell me. You're kinda my only friend you know? All the other people I have to hang out with are either bitches or just straight up assholes." She joked but not really.

Yuko nodded, "Only if you promise to do the same."

Tammi was sure there was quite a bit she would never be able to tell her friend if she didn't want to lose her, but she nodded all the same, "Deal."

Yuko gave her a smile which she returned despite the turmoil simmering in her head, and the two of them turned to exit the alley and continue their journey.

Only to stop mere feet later. Tammi stepped back, putting a hand on front of her friend as a man met them at the mouth of the alley, hunched over and looking shifty as fuck as he walked towards them. She looked behind her, frowning as she saw the wall of the alley behind them with no exit to be found. They were trapped.

Her wariness was proven warranted as the moment he blocked the entrance of the alley from them, the man pulled a gun out of his coat, pointing it at them angrily.

"Don't move!" The man shouted, moving towards them while pointing at them with the weapon in his hand, "I-I wanna see my-I mean your! Your hands! Show me them!"

The man was dirty and unwashed and Tammi found her lip curling at the sight of his dark skin just as much as the gun he was waving in her direction. Seemed like it was just another parasite looking to make a living terrorizing the actual working citizens of the city.

His gun, if you could even call it that, was so dirty and damaged that it barely resemble whatever it had once been, little more than a hunk of dirt and rust thanks to whatever hole the wetback had pulled it from.

Tammi had been around guns for more than long enough to know that the idea of the thing managing to shoot was just laughable, just as laughable as the idea that he actually had bullets in his magazine.

Still, he was a rather large man compared to herself and Yuko. Tammi was the taller of the two of them at five seven and he still almost towered over them, reaching six feet easily. Tammi doubted that he would have any problems overpowering them.

At least he wouldn't if Tammi was just some random girl and not a member of the most dangerous gang in the city.

That knowledge gave the girl more than enough confidence to laugh in the face of the man's threats, "Hey you stupid spi-fucker," Tammi bit her tongue before she shouted the slur in front of her friend, "Why don't you just fuck off back to whatever hole you crawled out of?"

"Sh-shut the fuck up!" The man slurred, practically swaying from side to side as he held his hand out to them expectantly, "Money! H-hand over all your shit!"

Tammi snarled at the man's demand, taking a step forward as her fists balled at her side, "Oh I am going to shove my goddamn foot up your ass you stupid piece of shit!"

Just as she moved to do exactly as she had threatened, Tammi was surprised as Yuko put a hand out, holding her back even as the much shorter girl stepped forward in her place.

Normally Tammi would have stopped her, but something was different, her face was no longer the familiar girl Tammi had come to know. Her friend's entire demeanor had changed in an instant, the easy-going, polite Yuko had seemingly disappearing only to be replaced with someone much more intense. Colder.

"Sir, I understand that your mental facilities might not be what they used to be, but I would advise you to use what is left at your disposal to reconsider what you are doing." Yuko spoke, voice soft but intense as she folded her hands in front of her, "And if I were you, I would do so immediately. My patience is limited when it comes to fools."

Tammi was left staring at the back of her friend's head at her sudden shift in personality. The mugger was just as surprised, his anger and confidence giving way to wariness as he stared at the five foot four girl who was walking up to him so brazenly.

"You fucking s-tupid or somethin'?" The man waved his gun in her face, "You not see this? You not know what this is?"

Yuko just scoffed, the sound completely at odds with the polite girl that Tammi had come to know, "All I know is that a fool who doesn't know his place had the bright idea to attempt to mug an Asian girl in ABB territory. Has your brain been so fried by whatever drugs you partake in that common sense is something you are no longer capable of?" She taunted, causing the man's face to go red under the thick layer of dirt.

Tammi could almost taste the disgust that her friend had for the man in front of them and was more than a little shocked by it. She had no idea that her friend was capable of mean words much less this.

Putting it out of her mind for now, Tammi looked around and behind her, searching for something that might help them out of this situation. There wasn't much, just a shitload of trash and a few broken bricks. Junk really.

Wait. Bricks, she could use that.

The fog in the alley was thick and seemingly growing thicker by the second, obscuring her vision more and more. Tammi thought it was a bit odd how fast it was coming in but was thankful for it anyway. Hopefully it would obscure what she was about to do.

She stepped backwards, using the fact that Yuko was distracting the mugger to her advantage as she bent backwards, lightly pressing a finger to the largest and most intact brick she could find.

Tammi's power worked based off of the sigils she placed on objects she touched, allowing her to control them telekinetically. With her power she was able to lift multiple met shipping containers at one time, and so a single brick was absolutely nothing to her.

She stepped back into her place unnoticed, the brick she had touched silently floating up off of the ground, obscured by the fog as Tammi waited for the right moment

The man shouted something that Tammi couldn't make out as she, slurring his speech as he shook his weapon at her friend angrily. He was nearing the limit of hit patience, becoming more erratic as his eyes darted from side to side. The blonde tensed, the brick rising into the air just behind her head as she prepared to smash the bastard's face in.

Tension, extremely heavy and almost worrying, settled on her shoulders as she kept the bastard in sight. He had stepped forward, practically pressing the barrel of his poorly-maintained weapon to her best friend's head, and Tammi snarled silently, sending her brick soaring backwards towards the rear of the alley in preparation to fling it forward once more.

As she did so, the blonde couldn't help but take notice of just how calm her friend seemed despite probably death hovering mere inches from her face. Yuko hadn't moved from her spot, merely standing there with her hands folded in front of her as she stared straight at the mugger, completely still. Completely unmovable in the face of her possible death.

Tammi felt her liking for the other girl deepen slightly. Who knew her friend was such a badass?

The blonde focused on her power, doing her best to make sure that she wouldn't hit the other girl in the back of the head by mistake. The mugger stepped backwards slightly, clearly unnerved by Yuko's calm and gave Tammi the perfect opening in the process.

However, just before Tammi let the brick fly, there was a blur of blue, zooming from the mouth of the alley and straight into the man holding them hostage. The blonde flinched, her power fading and the brick falling to the ground as she lunged forward, grabbing Yuko and pulling her back as instinct took over at the familiar sight.

Her friend yelped at that, stumbling backwards as the mugger out what sounded like a curse as he fell onto the ground. Or rather was forced to it.

She and Yuko watched as the blue blur resolved into a feminine figure kneeling over their mugger with a knee on his back. She was easily recognizable thanks to the bright blue visor on her face and the glowing lines on her costume. It was Battery, a long time hero in the Protectorate.

"You two alright?" The woman asked them as the glowing lines on her costume faded away. The man underneath her foot groaned and tried to rise but Battery just pressed harder on his back, pushing him to the ground once more.

Tammi couldn't stop the small bit of fear coming to her mind as the heroine's gaze reached her, and she had to remind herself that she was Tammi, not Rune today. There was no reason for Battery to suspect much less do anything to her.

"Yeah. We're fine." Tammi's words were a bit curt as she watched the heroine warily. Yuko gave her an odd look, clearly noticing how cold she was being to their savior.

The Asian girl on the other hand, had no problem walking up to their savior with a smile on her face, "Much more than fine now that you're here. Thank you for saving us, I wasn't sure what would have happened if you didn't arrive when you did."

Tammi got the oddest feeling that Yuko was just saying that to be nice. Her earlier display had left even the blonde a bit shaken, and she couldn't help but feel that even if Battery hadn't shown up when she did, or even if Tammi didn't smash the black man's face in with her brick, things would have turned out fine.

Tammi's eyes shot past Battery and to the mouth of the alley as she caught a glimpse of red. She found the other half of the heroic duo, Assault, making his way inside with a sunny smile on his face.

"So this is where you ran off to! I was wondering what got your hackles raised so suddenly." The man said as he stopped, hands on his hips as he stared down at the mugger under Battery's boot.

"Saving damsels in distress is usually my job! Are you trying to replace me?" He asked jokingly. Battery sighed before turning back to Tammi and Yuko.

"Ignore him. He has trouble separating reality from the delusions in his head." Battery told them.

"You love my delusions and you know it!"

The heroine shook her head but didn't respond, "Anyway, the two of you should probably postpone your date for another day. It's getting dangerously hard to see out here." Battery said lightly, looking around at the evidence of her claims. The fog around them wasn't quite as thick as it had been in the alley but it was still pretty bad, bad enough that it would be hard to see any more muggers who thought to try their luck.

Wait, date?

Tammi opened her mouth to refute the heroine's obviously wrong assumption but was stopped by Yuko grabbing her by the arm, wrapping her own around it as she gave the woman an easy grin, "Oh trust me, we have no intentions of staying out after an incident like this. More than enough excitement for one day."

Assault chuckled, wrapping an arm around his fellow hero's shoulder in a decidedly intimate way, "You have fun you crazy kids. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Which isn't a lot." Battery muttered, clearly not meaning to be overheard. Assault gave her a grin but didn't comment, instead making a shooing gesture towards the two of them.

"Come on Tammi, let's go." Yuko grinned up at her, pulling her along and away from the two heroes, "We can grab something to eat or something on our way back."

Tammi startled slightly, "O-oh, yeah. Right, let's go."

Yuko giggled as they caught more yelling coming from the alley, obviously amused by the continued byplay between the two heroes, "And they want people to believe they aren't a thing. I swear I've never met two people more smitten with each other in all my life."

That was an understatement. Assault and Battery were always a pain to fight whenever the Empire came into conflict with them. They always had each other's backs and their powers complimented each other damn near perfectly.
Hell, she'd seen Assault put Brad through a building after that girlfriend of his hit him hard enough and he was one of the heaviest capes in the Bay. It was bullshit.

Tammi looked down, noting that her friend was still holding onto her, "Hey, Yuko. Could you, uh, could you let go of my arm now?" she asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Oh. Oh sorry!" The shorter girl released her immediately, stepping away, "I'll admit, I sort of forgot I was even holding onto you."

Tammi rubbed her arm, studiously ignoring the part of her that missed the other girl's arm locked in hers, "Eh, it's fine. I get you were probably shaken up by that whole thing."

Yuko smiled, though Tammi felt there was something off about it, "Right."

"Hey, there's something I've been wondering for a while now." Tammi spoke up.

"Hmm?" Yuko looked up at her in questioning.

"Where'd that scar on your jaw come from? It looks like a knife scar but not quite as deep." She asked.

"Oh, that." Yuko brought her unoccupied hand up, rubbing lightly at the old wound, "It's been so long since I got it that I sometimes forget it's there."

Tammi noticed Yuko's voice lowered slightly, like she had been caught up in a bad memory. Her lips turned downwards in a frown and Tammi could feel her own do the same.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She said, offering a way out, "I was just a bit curious because… well. I'm gonna be honest, I thought your dad did something to you." She gave her friend an apologetic look.

Yuko gave her a look, but shook her head, "No, no it's fine. You're my friend and I'm honestly surprised you haven't asked me before."

She was silent for a moment before speaking again, "I don't think I ever told you where I was born, did I?" Tammi shook her head at her friend's quiet words, and Yuko nodded, seemingly having expected the answer, "I see. Well, my father and I are actually immigrants. From Kyushu. Well, China technically, but Kyushu was where I was born and raised for the largest portion of my life."

Tsmmi's eyes widened at her friend's words. She knew about Kyushu. Hell, there probably wasn't a person on earth who didn't. It was one of the first places that was actually rendered inhospitable by the Endbringers, nearly an entire country drowned beneath Leviathan's waves.

She could connect the dots on why the other girl was bringing it up now.

"You were…" she didn't finish her thought, a bit afraid to bring up bad memories. A bit of a moot point considering her question was what brought this up in the first place.

"I was in Kyushu when Leviathan attacked." Yuko nodded, finishing her thought, "I think I was maybe seven or eight, somewhere around there. My parents and I were visiting some family in the Oita Prefecture when the sirens went off and everything happened."

Her frown became more severe, "The Oita Prefecture was a coastal region and known for its hot springs besides that, so there was plenty of water around for Leviathan to use."

"I don't remember a lot of what happened, or at least I try not to, but one moment I was running to the shelters with my parents and the next I was drowning under gallons of scalding hot water as the nearby hot spring erupted like a volcano."

Her voice was shaking slightly, and by instinct Tammi wrapped an arm around her comfortingly. Yuko gave her a thankful look before continuing her story.

"It was absolutely horrible. I was caught under dozens of wooden boards and rocks and all sorts of other stuff, completely helpless as the water around me seemingly did its best to make sure I couldn't get a single breath of fresh air. Like that lizard was making it his personal mission to kill me." she shuddered lightly.

"My father managed to pull me out before I drowned and ripped his arm up something fierce in the process. As I came up a sharp piece of debris caught my jaw." She rubbed lightly at her scar, "Add in the extreme heat of the water as well as several other factors, and I'm left with an eternal reminder of that day."

Well that was… Tammi didn't know what to say..

Yuko smiled slightly, apparently finding humor in her bleak story, "Heh, I suppose you weren't exactly wrong in your assumption that my father is responsible for my scar. Though I personally think the alternative might have been a bit worse. Being cooked alive in an onsen is probably one of the worst ways I can think of to go."

Tammi looked down at her, feeling more than a little shitty for bringing this subject up, "I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories."

Yuko shrugged, "It's alright. Like I said, I'm surprised you didn't bring it up before now. At least now I can lay some of your ideas about my dad to rest."

Tammi was glad her friend was so pragmatic. It really helped to stop her from feeling like a tool all the time.

"Now come on, I might have told Battery we'd go home but there's no way I'll survive running out of canvas right now. We'll just take the main way to the mall and keep out of the back streets." Yuko said, moving along.

As they walked, Tammi noticed that she still had Yuko under her arm, though the position had shifted from a comforting one to something much more casual, simply resting on her shoulder instead of around it.

She moved to slip her arm free, only to freeze as Yuko pressed into her, leaning against her taller form ever so slightly as they walked. She looked down, frowning slightly as she noticed that Yuko's hands were shoved firmly in her pockets, a clear sign of her anxiety, and causally adjusted her position to bring the girl in closer

Her friend still needed comforting. She'd keep her there just a little bit longer. It wasn't like anyone could see them anyway.

Just a bit longer.

---

Next five chapters available at Sadguychet | Patreon

Battery stared after the duo as they disappeared into the fog, arm in arm. She smiled slightly, glad to see that even in Brockton Bay of all places those relationships still found a way to flourish. It was nice to know that despite the Empire's presence, they hadn't completely instilled fear into the younger generation.

It was even nicer to have a little reminder of what they were fighting for. Sometimes the constant grind of fighting back the gang's could get… tiring.

She looked back as Assault walked up to her with a sunny smile on the exposed portion of his face, "Alright, the paddy wagon's on the way. This no good evil-doer is going away for a long time."

Battery rolled her eyes as he stopped next to her, "What a relief. I'm glad we can finally get such a dangerous criminal mastermind off the streets."

He grinned at her sarcasm, before turning to look in the same direction that she had been. His smile became a bit more sincere, "They seem like good kids." He said, "It's good that they aren't afraid to be themselves in a place like this."

Battery nodded as he echoed her earlier thoughts, "It is. Though I hope they're more careful in the future. I don't want to think about what might have happened if we weren't nearby."

"Eh, I think they would have been fine." Her husband commented, "Did you see the way the blonde pulled the other girl behind her when you showed up. She's clearly got some fight in her. She might have even tried to take you down if you got too close!" He joked, nudging her.

Before she could respond, he gave her a pat on the shoulder, motioning to the flashing lights that were making their way in their direction further down the road, "Come on. Let's go give those statements. I'm starting to mold with all this moisture."

Battery rolled her eyes but smiled softly as she joined him. She was starting to think she was growing some herself.

It took less than thirty minutes to get everything taken care of with the police and the mugger loaded up for prison.

After everything was wrapped up, Assault turned to her, clapping her on the shoulder, "Welp. I'd say that's good enough for today's patrol. We beat some baddies, saved some girls, and got thoroughly drenched from fog. We should probably head back if we don't want to be late for that meeting. Hopefully before Beardmaster decides to chew us out over comms."

"You know he hates that nickname."

"Yep!" Her husband nodded, "That's why I use it. It's good to seem him show some emotion other than focused determination. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I've heard Miss M call him that once or twice when he's annoyed her without realizing."

That didn't surprise her. Hannah could have a vindictive streak if you annoyed her enough.

"Come on, Puppy! Let's get back! She watched with resignation as Assault climbed up a nearby ladder, giving her a mischievous grin, "I'll race you!"

"Assault, don't you dare!"

He ignored her completely as he leapt off the highest point, slamming into the ground and then immediately shooting out of the alley as his power redistributed the kinetic energy, sending him flying forward at incredible speed.

She stared after him with an annoyed grimace, "Damnit Assault…"

She sighed as she bent down in a runner's stance, the blue lines on her costume beginning to glow brighter. A race. How childish.

Despite her thoughts, Battery couldn't stop the small smile that came to her fac as she kicked off, racing after her husband, nor the competitive fire that lit inside her as she did so. Just because it was childish, didn't mean she was going to let him win.

He'd gloat about it all week if she did.

~~~

Their race ended in a draw when they both had to slow down thanks to heavy traffic, but Battery was confident she would have won. Confident.

She studiously didn't look at her husband and his shit-eating grin as they walked into the meeting room. Several of their colleagues were already present and gave them various greetings as they entered.

Battery sat down between Miss Militia and her husband. The camoed woman gave her a nod and a smile that crinkled her eyes above her mask, "Hello Battery. How was your patrol?"

"It went well enough. Stopped a few drug deals, a robbery, and a Merchant who was trying to mug two girls in an alley." She gave a small smile, "No cape fights so that's good. I wasn't really in the mood for it today."

Militia chuckled at that, "Who ever is?"

"True enough. Though I'm sure Stalker would have a few words to say on that subject."

The other woman groaned lightly, "Oh don't even get me started on her. I'm at my wits end with that girl and Armsmaster is not helping things at all. I swear I don't know what Piggot was thinking when she-"

Her words were interrupted as the door to the room opened once more, and the director slowly made her way in. Battery grimaced as she took Piggot in, noting her sickly completion and sweaty face. It seemed today had been particularly difficult for her.

Despite how she looked, Piggot's demeanor remained the same as always. "I'm glad to see everyone was able to be here on time." she commented dryly as she made her way to her chair, sitting down with a light huff and placing her briefcase on the table in front of her, "That means we don't have to waste any time which is good because I doubt you want to be here right now anymore than I do."

She leaned back in her chair, the object giving a shrill squeak as she did so. She cleared her throat, pulling a stack of papers from her briefcase, "Let's begin our first topic of discussion, the ABB."

Everyone perked up, giving the woman their full attention as she began speaking, "Around a week ago, Glory Girl performed a bust on a known ABB storehouse on the edge of their territory. It was a solo patrol, and one she wasn't supposed to be on besides that according to her mother, but thanks to her actions, we've acquired some extremely important information on a recent development in the gang itself.

"Apparently, the ABB has a new parahuman and Glory Girl had the pleasure of being her first victory against an enemy cape. Something the girl isn't very happy about, I assure you. The cape, a woman of unknown age, was apparently in the middle of doing some internal cleaning as Glory Girl burst in to find several ABB members bound on the floor with several more watching over them.

"According to her, this woman identified herself as Yosei. And more importantly, she claimed to be Lung's daughter and heir to the ABB."

What? Lung had a daughter? And not only that, he had a daughter that had not only already triggered, but was apparently old enough that he felt comfortable making her the heir to his entire gang!? That was… worrying.

Piggot looked around the room at the shocked faces of her employees, "She has since been seen in various parts of his territory and seems to hold a position of power akin to Oni Lee, giving at least a little credence to her claims."

"Wait," Velocity spoke up, "You said a week ago. Why are we just now learning about this?"

Here, Piggot gave a small smirk, "It seems that Miss Dallon was a bit embarrassed to have been beaten by a lone cape on a patrol she wasn't even supposed to be on in the first place. The only reason we're learning of it at all is due to her mother informing us about it."

That about added up to Battery's knowledge of the girl. She was glad that at least Brandish was responsible enough to know how important this could be.

Trumph sighed, "So Glory Girl was embarrassed that she got beat by a newbie and didn't tell us." He shook his head, "Do we at least know what her powers are? What she looks like, even?"

In response to his question, Piggot powered on the large projector on the table, an image already queued up to be displayed. Battery leaned forward in her chair to examine the image as it appeared. It was taken from far away, as if the photographer was afraid of being seen.

The main subject of the picture was a woman in a red and black dress. She was pointing in the direction of the building, directing the crowd of men carrying boxes around her into an open garage. Though it was hard to make out details from this distance, it was abundantly clear that the woman was a Parahuman given the mask she was wearing and her ostentatious clothing that stuck out in comparison to those around her.

"This is Yosei. And unfortunately, that's the only picture we have of her." Piggot nodded to the screen, "From what little we can gather from this picture as well as Glory Girl's testimonies, Yosei is an Asian woman aged somewhere between twenty and twenty-five. She stands around five-foot four and according to her, 'talks like she's some sort of twelfth century British noble'. Her words, not mine.

"As for her powers, Glory Girl described her as being able to create enough lingering mist to fill the entire warehouse that they were in. It was also thick enough that she didn't notice as the other ABB members fled until it dissipated. The mist seems to be a byproduct of her primary power, that being the ability to transform into a large woman with spider legs and abdomen. She could create illusions, webs, and utilize a venom that sapped Glory Girl's strength to the point that she couldn't break free when Yosei trapped her in a cocoon of webs."

"The creature she transforms into, by all accounts, seems to be a Jorogumo." Armsmaster chimed in, bringing their attention to him. His visor was glowing as he read whatever was being displayed on it, "A mythological spider creature that has been prominently displayed in various legends and texts since the Edo period of Japan. I'll forward you all the relevant ones later."

Assault snorted, "So the dad gets to turn into a dragon and the daughter gets a spider? Seems a little unfair, doesn't it?"

Piggot smiled sardonically, "It would be, yes. If it weren't for a development that happened just days before Glory Girl informed us of Yosei's existence."

The director pressed a small button on her remote and the image that had been on the projector slid over to a new one.

Battery stared at the picture with a morbid fascination. One of the man's legs was completely healthy, if a bit pale, while the other was made completely out of a dark grey stone that perfectly mimicked the flesh that should have been there instead. Even the tiny little hairs on the man's leg were stone.

"This is the leg of one of the ABB members that was present when Glory Girl broke through the wall. He was admitted to the hospital and immediately sent to the Parahuman Treatment ward. I'm sure I don't need to tell you why." Piggot said sarcastically.

"Since you're showing us this. I'm guessing petrification isn't something that these Jorogumo are able to do?" Battery asked rhetorically.

"No." Armsmaster responded in Piggot's place, "The closest thing that I was able to find reference to was long term paralysis, and nothing mentioning stone."

"Which means that Yosei either has multiple powers, or that the one that she showed wasn't as it appeared." Piggot finished. "It might be that our assumptions are wrong and she isn't related to the creature at all."

Which would make it a lot harder to figure out what her actual powers were. Lung was easy, the man was a dragon so it wasn't hard to connect his abilities. Hopefully his daughter would be the same.

"For now, Yosei will be given a rating of Changer five, Trump two, and Shaker one pending further investigation. Depending on what she shows us in the future, that rating may increase or decrease." Piggot concluded, powering off the projector and placing the remote on the table.

"If any of you encounter Yosei, do your best to make her show what she's capable of. The only thing worse than a strong enemy cape is an unknown enemy cape. Other than that, standard procedures apply."

She looked around the room, "Any questions?" Nobody spoke up, and she nodded, "Alright then. Let's get on to the next order of business, fund allocation for the next financial quarter."

Groans sounded out at her proclamation which she easily ignored, turning to switch the slide on the projector to one that was all graphs and charts. One was displayed more prominently than others, with a big red arrow pointing straight down. A title hung above the graph in big grey letters: Tinker Budget.

Battery gave a sigh that was shared by her husband as she read that. Judging by the look on Armsmaster's face, they'd be here for more than a little while.

Two hours later, she would lament being so right all the time.

---

Next five chapters available at Sadguychet | Patreon

I frowned at what I had been told as I stood in my father's office. To my left, Lee was still as a statue, barely even breathing as we stood across from the man's desk.

"I don't mean to question your decisions father…" Lung inclined his head indicating that I was free to speak, "Are you sure this is wise? This woman is clearly unstable, there's no guarantee she'll follow your commands."

I was all for trying to supplement the gang with more capes. While we had more than enough actual power between Lee, my father, and myself, it would be nice to have more actual bodies to defend our territory.

But the Cornell Bomber? That woman was not only clearly unstable but she also had the means to cause more destruction to the gang than their enemies could if she got the idea in her head.

Not to mention she was most definitely on the Protectorate's radar. If she joined them they would begin to look at the ABB as a much more serious threat than they already were.

"What if she decides to betray us or attempts a coup?" I asked worriedly, "A tinker of her caliber could cause a great deal of damage before we could put her down."

"She will not." He said simply, "She will recognize her betters and know to follow. I will make sure of it."

He wasn't going to be swayed on this decision, I could already tell. I looked to Lee who just stared back with a placid expression and I immediately looked away. I wasn't really sure what I expected.

"Very well, father." I acquiesced, folding my hands, "When do we depart?"

"We will not. I will be going alone." He revealed, shocking me, "While I am away, you will run the ABB in my place and Lee will assist you."

I froze, "Father are you-... already? Our men just barely recognize me as one of their leaders. What if they try something?"

He snorted, "They will not. And if they do, they will face my wrath when I return." He looked towards me and his gaze softened minutely, "Yuko, you are more than capable enough to take command of the ABB while I am away. You have proven yourself a formidable force and already have an ally within the Faces. You will be fine."

The praise was unexpected and I found myself at a loss for words. I knew that my father thought highly of me, I was his daughter after all, but to know that he trusted me enough to basically hand over a position that dozens coveted, even if just for a few days was…

I bowed low. "As you command, father. I will not fail you."

His approving humm rumbled in his chest, "Good. I will depart tomorrow morning and before I do, I will inform the Faces of the change. Take tonight to prepare yourself for your duties."

He waved his hand in dismissal and both Lee and I bowed low before turning to make out way out of his office.

Lee immediately disappeared with a glance out of the nearby window and I sighed as a pile of ash was left in the wake of his disappearance. I would have to grab one of our servants to clean that up before someone tripped.

I had preparations to make. My father had trusted me with one of the most coveted positions in the ABB and at my very core I refused to fail him.

If - gods forbid - something happened to my father, then this would be a good way to test my abilities as a leader, even if temporarily.

I would not fail him.

~~~

Two days later, I sat at my father's desk, staring at the numerous files splayed out before me.

The ABB at large didn't even seem to notice the shift between my father and myself apart from the upper echelons. Business was as it always was except for the fact that at the very top, I now stood

Running the gang was… different yet the same to my original position. While my duties had increased, so had my authority. If I found myself in need of a specific file or person I could simply order them to be brought to me instead of having to seek them out myself.

That helped greatly in my self appointed task.

My father's absence made an excellent opportunity to do a more overt investigation into our potential traitor. Unfortunately I wasn't making much headway at the moment. It seemed that whoever it was was astoundingly good at covering their tracks.

Luckily, in my time with the other Faces I had narrowed down my suspicions greatly. At the moment I had two prime suspects. Those who would have an easy time betraying us and stood to gain the most from it.

Aoi Matsuda was the head of recruitment in the gang. If he decided to betray us, it would be fairly simple to do so. He could simply slip information to informants via his recruiters under the guise of scouting for new recruits.

Would he though? Aoi was seemingly content in his position within the ABB and though he certainly had disagreements with his fellow Faces, that was a normal occurrence with all of them, not much of a reason to suspect the older man.

I would need to bring my investigation to his underlings. The man himself was unlikely to implicate himself if he was the traitor, but those under him would have no reason to suspect anything was wrong unless they were in on it. I would simply attempt to find out whether or not their duties had changed in a large way recently.

As for the other possible traitor… I brought a file in front of me, frowning slightly at the scowling man pictured there.

Takao Yamakawa, head of kidnapping and brothel operations. My suspicions of the man were admittedly bias as he was currently the biggest roadblock in stopping the ABB's kidnapping operations, but Takao had always been power hungry and I wouldn't put it past him to attempt to sell us out to our enemies in an attempt to gain an higher foothold in the gang.

In fact, if I recalled correctly that was exactly how he had acquired the position he was in in the first place. Oh sure, the evidence wasn't completely concrete, but nearly all signs point to the fact that Takao had assassinated his predecessor for his coveted position. It was dishonorable and completely against nearly everything the Faces stood for. If he were ever implicated on it he would be ousted immediately.

The issue was, Takao was extremely sneaky. The man was a master at hiding his dirty deeds due to decades of practice. I had little doubt that even a thorough investigation would turn up anything relevant.

"I need to keep this under the radar. The moment that he gets even the slightest hint that I suspect something he'll go to ground and I'll never find anything out." I said to myself, placing the file back on my desk and bringing out a notepad.

I would need to do more research before I could reach a solid conclusion. For now, I would need someone to infiltrate their ranks in my place as was now much too well known and the guise of wanting to witness how the ABB operates would no longer work

"I'll write to Hiashi." I said aloud, "Kon would be the ideal infiltrator in this circumstance. Somewhat personable and extremely competent, and few would expect him due to the way he carries himself."

I would have to distance myself from him for the time being which was somewhat unfortunate. I had been growing to enjoy his company on the occasions that I called for him and the rest of Hiashi's guard. Ah well, leadership calls for sacrifice I suppose.

It only took a moment to write up the request to Hiashi. I made carefully sure that he would know exactly what I was asking while also ensuring that any outsider who might happen upon the letter would have no idea.

There. Hopefully we could get to the bottom of this relatively quickly. The longer we dawdled on this matter the more likely that my father would find out which was the entire thing I was trying to avoid.

No sooner than I had placed the letter in the envelope to be delivered, my door burst open. I nearly jumped in my seat but kept control of myself, instead turning a glare on the one responsible.

It was a Vietnamese teen, panting and out of breath as he looked towards me in panic. His outfit was soaked with sweat and he had clearly sprinted a great distance to get here.

"Speak." I commanded. The teen took a moment to regain his breath, before looking towards me with frantic eyes.

"Hookwolf and some other capes are over by the old bakery!" He nearly shouted, causing my eyes to widen, "They're talking about taking back what's theirs! They've already beat a few of our boys and trashed some stores!"

I immediately stood, startling the teen as I walked around my father's desk. He stared at me nervously, eying my mask as I stopped directly in front of him, "Where are they?"

He told me and I strode past him towards my destination, nearly bowling over a servant who was dusting a nearby cabinet in my haste. I would grab Lee along the way. He had a habit of loitering in the gardens and that was likely where he was right now.

Hopefully this would be a simple matter to resolve. The last thing I wanted was a gang war to break out while my father was away simply due to the Empire's arrogance.

~~~

It took only a few minutes for us to reach the place that the man had said the intruders were. I frowned as I realized that it was actually one of the more important areas of our territory, a place where the majority of the buildings catering to civilian needs were. Stores, restaurants, even laundromats sat in this area of our territory. Prime pickings for someone wanting to instill terror into our people.

Luckily it seemed that the civilians had already evacuated themselves. That was good.

As I rounded a corner I saw them and more importantly, I recognized each of them. Hookwolf and Stormtiger were standing beside each other and we're chatting amicably, gesturing around them at the empty buildings. Rune was floating on a piece of sheet metal, level with the roofs of the nearby buildings.

I frowned internally as I approached. Three members of Kaiser's court so blatantly entering ABB territory the day after my father left the city? It was more than a little suspicious.

Perhaps our traitor's reach extended beyond just the grunts and conscripts of the gang. If so, then that was extremely worrying.

I kept my calm as I approached them. They caught sight of me almost immediately and took up hostile stances. Those stances only intensified as Lee popped into being beside me, having been following along the rooftops as he scouted out any more potential opponents.

A discreet gesture with his right hand told me there were none, the only capes in the area were the ones we already knew about. That was good, it meant less surprises down the road.

Rune spotted me first. She called down to her fellows, saying something I couldn't hear as she alerted them to my presence. They turned in my direction, and judging from their postures they weren't surprised to see me at all. It seemed that word of my existence had already gotten to them. That or they were tipped off beforehand.

I called out to them once I was close enough to be heard, "I'm not sure why the Empire has decided to intrude on our territory, but I would advise you to return back to your own. There is nothing for you here."

They looked towards each other in disbelief, before Rune laughed loudly at my threat. "Why the hell would we leave!? Just because there's another of you!? One more chink isn't gonna make a difference! You aren't Lung and he isn't here!" She shouted mockingly from her platform.

I paused as I heard her voice, echoing slightly due to her mask. It was familiar, extremely so, and yet I couldn't quite place a face to the voice.

I didn't dwell on it, she may have just been someone I passed on the street or a frequent visitor to the stores I went to. There were more important things to take care of at the moment.

I sighed theatrically as I folded my hands in front of me, "Once again, I ask that you leave my territory before I am forced to do so for you. There is no need for this to come to violence."

In response to my words, Stormtiger held out a hand to the side. A whirling column of wind surged forth, slamming into a nearby shop and utterly devastating its interior.

"Does that give you a better idea of what we're here for? We're not leaving." The man said simply.

I stared at the damage he had caused with one gesture. That was going to be costly to repair. Sadao was not going to be happy. I turned back towards the cape who seemed rather pleased with what he had done. "I see. That is regrettable."

It seemed like a fight was inevitable then. I analyzed my opponents while I built up the mist inside of me, trying to decide which form to choose.

Even with Lee at my side, I had a great deal of mist at my disposal and as a result, several different forms to creatures from. It was all about which one fit the situation.

Hookwolf would require something hard-hitting, hard enough to keep him down while at the same time weather any attacks Stormtiger threw at my back. That threw out several options such as Sirens or Banshees which would have been ideal for getting Rune down from her perch.

Truthfully Rune was a bit of a non issue in this situation. There was almost nothing she could do to me that either Hookwolf or Stormtiger couldn't also do. Those two would be my main priority.

Divide and conquer would be the strategy here. Deal with the biggest threat first and the others would fall soon after.

"Lee." I looked towards the man, "Harass Stormtiger and Rune while I handle Hookwolf. Keep your strikes non lethal for now. We don't want to deal with a full on incursion while my father is away. Just keep them off of me and incapacitate them if possible."

The man nodded wordlessly and I looked back towards my soon-to-be opponent as he crumbled to ash beside me.

He reappeared right next to Rune, causing her to let out a yelp of surprise in that oh-so familiar voice. He swiped out at her with a blade which she scrambled back to dodge. A brick surged towards him but he was already gone the clone fading to ash in his wake.

Unlike Rune, Stormtiger was expecting him to attack, and so when Lee appeared behind him the cape immediately whirled around and struck out at him with blades of wind.

It did nothing but kick up ash as Lee relocated leaving Stormtiger to glance around warily for the psychopath's next assault.

While this was happening I had strode forward to stand across from Hookwolf. The man took in my tiny stature and grinned.

"Come on girl," he taunted, slamming his fists together with a loud thump, "Give me a good fight before I break you over my knee. When Lung comes back, it's gonna be to a dead daughter and the Empire running the show."

I smiled at him benignly even as I built up my power, having chosen what should be the perfect form to deal with my current opponents.

"I'll be sure to tell him you said as such when he returns. I'm sure he'll need a great deal of amusement to improve his mood after the task he is undertaking."

Hookwolf snarled at my thinly veiled insult, "You cocky little bitch! You think you can beat me by yourself? Don't you know who I am!?"

"A rabid dog in need of some discipline."

Mist exploded outward from under my kimono. It wanted to fill the street but I kept it reigned in slightly, not wanting to impede Lee's vision and thus his power.

My transformation was nearly as drastic as the Jorogumo, but in the opposite direction. Instead of my legs ceasing to be only to be replaced by chitin, they grew and grew even as the rest of me did with them.

My clothing disappeared, nothing but simply fur left to protect my modesty and my muscles hardened until they were more akin to steel cable than anything remotely natural, pulsing with barely restrained power with my every breath

The moment my transformation was complete, I shot out of the mist, my now bare feet slamming into the concrete with enough force to crack it as I let out a roar of bloodlusted aggression towards my enemy. Hookwolf's eyes widened and his body began to split along the seams, sharp metal poking from underneath the skin as he tried to transform.

My bare shoulder slammed into his body mid transformation and he let out a hole of pain as his hooks broke and bent against my crimson skin. He bent around me and was sent flying away from the force of my tackle, soaring backwards to slam through what was left of the glass storefront Stormtiger had ruined, disappearing inside with a crash.

"Hookwolf!" Stormtiger yelled out with wide eyes as his comrade went flying. He was forced to turn and deflect a knife aimed for his ribs as Lee appeared to his right. He swiped out only to strike ash as Lee disappeared once again, causing him to curse and bring his guard up once more.

Lee was doing his job, which meant that I was free to handle Hookwolf without any interruptions.

I breathed deeply as I stared at the store which Hookwolf had disappeared into, my massive shoulders rising and falling with the movement. I stepped forward, my muscled legs bringing me towards my fallen foe.

I licked my lips, running my tongue along the tusks protruding from my mouth before grinning. Particularly powerful forms tended to have an influence on my emotions, and the Oni was one such form.

Energy coursed through my veins, anticipation for the coming battle crackling under my skin as the Oni's bloodlust reared its head within me. Even if this was my duty, I had a feeling I would enjoy it quite a bit.

I laughed sharply as, with a loud crash and a snarl, Hookwolf tore out of the shop I had thrown him into, blades and hooks spinning around his lupine form as he bounded towards me like a rolling semi truck.

And as the cape opened his mouth to let out a roar of challenge, I couldn't help but respond with one of my own.

---

Next five chapters available at Sadguychet | Patreon

Our bodies met with a rancorous crash, flesh meeting steel and neither giving in the slightest.

Stormtiger tried to help his comrade, bringing his claws to bear as he prepared to use his power only to be interrupted as Lee began his task of keeping him off of me.

The masked man appeared directly in front of Stormtiger, catching him off guard as the man struck out with one of his knives, forcing Stormtiger to abandon his attack to defend himself.

In the meantime, Hookwolf had begun to give ground, having trouble doing anything against my equally massive form as he slowly slid back while I moved forward. I was stronger than him.

I snarled and my muscles bulged as I threw the lupine man backwards before surging forward into him again. My fists sounded like thunderclaps against his metal skin skin, and he let out a howl of pain before rearing up and bringing his massive paws to bear.

The proceeding battle between us could only be called a slugfest. The streets echoed with the sounds of flesh and steel colliding with one another. Hookwolf's claws failed to find purchase in my skin while my fists dented and snapped the metal comprising his form yet it simply popped back into place soon after, the damaged metal falling to the ground as it was replaced.

I growled as a paw slammed into my jaw. The Oni's bloodlust made it easy to get lost in the tide of battle, but I did my best to keep my wits about me. This form had enough strength within its muscles to literally tear the metal cape into pieces if I so desired, but I was not aiming to kill the man, merely incapacitate him.

As his claws scraped across my abdomen, I slammed my fist against his jaw in a vicious uppercut, sending him reeling backwards.

As he lost his footing I grabbed one of his steel legs and pulled on it with all of my might. Hookwolf let out a startled noise as he was lifted into the air, claws scrambling along the ground desperately.

"RAAAGH!" With a roar, I slammed him into the concrete with all of the strength available to me. The concrete cracked underneath him as he impacted it, chips of stone flying in every direction before I lifted him back up to do it all again

Back and forth, I slammed him into the ground, turning my body as I swung my opponent with all of my power, beating the earth with his unwilling body over and over again.

I suddenly blinked in surprise as, with a loud snap, the weight I was hefting lessened significantly. I turned my head, watching as Hookwolf was sent flying away as my handhold on his body snapped off in my grip, leaving me holding just his leg.

A huff of amusement escaped my mouth unbidden as I watched him go soaring away to slam into a brick wall "Puny wolf."

My blood pumped powerfully through my veins, my heartbeat pounding in my ears as I grinned ferally, truly beginning to enjoy this. I threw the destroyed leg to the ground before racing after him with a battle cry.

~~~

Up above, Rune watched what was happening to one of the E88's strongest capes in silent horror. Hookwolf just barely got back to his feet, regenerating his leg as the woman bowled into him again, what sounded like laughter spilling from her lips as they began fighting once more.

"What the fuck is going on!? Why the hell is Hookwolf losing to some random bitch!?" Rune shouted out in disbelief, "That motherfucker didn't say she was anywhere near this strong!"

Her words were undercut by a small amount of fear as she witnessed the massive angry ogre or whatever grab onto Hookwolf's thick neck, squeezing hard enough that she could hear the metal shrieking from several yards away.

"Rune! Pay attention!" Stormtiger commanded her as he destroyed another clone.

The girl yelped as the masked man appeared in front of her again, giving her a swift punch to the stomach that she curled around in pain. Her platform wavered for a moment before she reasserted control on it as Oni Lee disappeared.

"Fuuuck…" She groaned, feeling bile attempt to rise up her throat, "I'm gonna be sick…"

This was supposed to be an easy mission. They would go into the ABB's territory and stir up some trouble so that they could get Yosei to show up, fight her, and report to Kaiser what she was capable of.

They got a tip that Lung was going to be out of the city by one of Krieg's contacts, so it was the perfect opportunity to get an idea of what his 'heir' was able to do.

Hookwolf and Stormtiger were two of the best close range and long range combatants in the Empire respectively, so it shouldn't have been too hard to put her down even if she was actually Lung's daughter! So why the fuck was Hookwolf loosing so badly!?

Rune was completely helpless to do anything but watch as the ABB's newest cape mercilessly beat down one of her gang's strongest members. After all, what the fuck was she going to do? Throw bricks and dumpsters at the ten foot tall monster that was throwing around a two ton wolf made of razor sharp blades?

The thought was almost laughable, and Rune felt a helpless laugh well up inside of her, only to immediately double over in pain at the feeling in her abdomen. That was going to bruise, great.

She hadn't even really wanted to come on this mission, having wanted to take the day off from the gang and maybe chill with Yuko for a while, but she was the gang's go-to mode of transportation so she had been forced to come anyway.

That was all Rune really amounted to these days, nothing by a big walking taxi for the actually powerful members of the Empire. She couldn't remember the last time she got into an actual fight.

What a fucking joke.

As Rune slowly regained her bearings up above, back on the ground Stormtiger turned to the teleporting cape as he appeared directly behind him and swung out with wind. The resulting ash cloud hid what happened next from view, but once he was visible again, the E88 cape was visibly frustrated and sporting a cut on his right arm.

"Cowardly chink! Stay and fight!" He shouted out. Oni Lee responded by appearing a few feet to his left before immediately teleporting away. The clone left behind slowly held out a hand, in which was a gunmetal grey sphere.

"Fuck!" Stormtiger threw out both hands and a column of wind slammed into the clone and sent it flying away.

The clone held together until it slammed into a brick wall at which point it fell apart like the rest. The grenade that it had been holding slipped free of its fingers, falling onto the ground with a loud clang.

It rolled on the ground for a few feet before stopping, and Stormtiger stared at it warily for several seconds and nothing happened, no explosion to be seen or heard

It didn't take long for Stormtiger to realize what had happened. "A fucking fake." He cursed to himself, "He's not taking us seriously."

As if he had heard the words, Oni Lee appeared beside him once again. The teleported lashed out with a knife which Stormtiger easily sidestepped before sending a blast of wind at the other cape.

Oni Lee collapsed into ash once more and Stormtiger dodged another knife strike aimed at his abdomen. He ducked low into a leg sweep, hoping to catch the other cape off guard but all he hit was ash once more.

Stormtiger rose back to his feet and slowly turned to the air currents that he knew to be Oni Lee. He found the other cape standing only a few feet away, staring at him. The masked demon stayed silent as he slowly tilted his head, taunting Stormtiger.

That caused the aerokinetic's already frayed temper to snap.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Stormtiger shouted furiously. He threw out his hands, fingers curled into claws as numerous blades of wind flew in every direction, shredding everything in their path, "DODGE THIS YOU STUPID CHINK!"

The blades burst out, cutting through sign posts and slicing into brick walls as they flew. Oni Lee appeared for only a moment before bursting into ash as he teleported away just as he was struck, not reappearing again as the assault played out.

Knowing that he had a few seconds of freedom from Oni Lee's assault, Stormtiger suddenly turned on his heel, wind whirling around his hand as his eyes locked onto Hookwolf and the big red chink

He thrust the hand forward and three massive blades of wind surged forth directly at the woman who was completely unaware of his assault.

The moment that he threw them, he was forced to turn and dodge Oni Lee once more, and he cursed to himself that they hadn't brought more members with them for this excursion.

~~~

I stiffened as my ears picked up the sound of wind rushing towards me, and was just barely able to brace myself as several blades of compressed air slammed into my back.

I grunted as the sharpened air bit into my skin, slicing through it far easier than any of Hookwolf's metal ever had, sinking nearly an inch into my back before dissipating.

I whirled around to the aerokinetic who was once again focused on Lee, my blood boiling at the man's actions. That was a mistake.

The next thing I knew, Hookwolf was upon me. The man had recovered from his earlier treatment and slammed into me at full force, sending up both to the ground as my face slammed into the pavement.

His hooks and claws tore at my back, a few finding purchase and carving small furrows in my skin. I snarled angrily, trying to get back to my feet but Hookwolf had found the perfect angle to keep me pinned down.

His jaws snapped at my face but I managed to get my hand up and place it against his thick neck, keeping it at bay and away from my own.

With a shout and a burst of adrenaline fueled anger, I slammed the back of my head into his metal face, crumpling the metal held there. It didn't do anything to stun him or even hurt, but it did dent the metal comprising his features which meant that he would now find it hard to see.

Suddenly blind, Hookwolf attempted to keep his hold on me, using his body to feel for my position but I managed to twist myself in place, pulling my body out from underneath him and grabbing onto his middle.

With another roar, I flipped him over, slamming him into the ground as I climbed on top of him. The back of my head throbbed from my earlier actions but that only added fuel to the raging fire burning inside of me.

Roaring directly in his face, I held him down, pinning his body underneath my muscled legs and holding onto his forelegs with my arms. He squirmed as he tried to get free, but was apparently either unwilling or unable to simply relinquish his hold on his lupine form to do so.

That worked just fine for me.

Early depictions of Oni were said to harness the incredible destructive power of lightning and thunder to wreak havoc on the mortal world. That power welled up within me, surging throughout my body as sparks danced and crawled over my skin before surging straight into the struggling cape in my grip.

He howled and writhed as he was fried inside of his metal shell, bucking against me in agony as I held him still with a vicious snarl on my face. I pressed my clawed fingers deeper into his metal form, sending another wave of lightning through him and eliciting another noise of pain.

"Hookwolf!" Stormtiger shouted in horror at what I was doing to his comrade. He reeled his arms back, wind whirling around them as he prepared to send it at me, only for him to be blindsided by Lee's boot slamming into the side of his face.

He fell to the ground with a heavy thud, and before he had the chance to regain his bearings, Lee walked forward and slammed his boot into the man's face once more, rendering him unconscious.

Hookwolf followed soon after, the man unable to stand up to the incredible amount of lightning being pumped into his body. The metal reddened and softened underneath my grip, the electricity heating the steel and fuzing it together, trapping the wolf man inside of a steely coffin.

Unfortunately for the greater part of the Bay, I wasn't trying to kill him. With great difficulty, I reigned in my instincts to keep pouring lightning into the unconscious man and slowly let up, pulling my hands from his forelegs and noting the imprints left in the softened metal.

As I pulled back and got off of the now-unconcious man, my instincts got the better of me and I raised my head high and roared in victory. The ferocious sound echoed through the empty streets proclaiming to all who were listening that I had triumphed over my enemy.

As the sound faded, a whimper cut through the air. My eyes instantly locked onto the platform still floating high above the battlefield and the cowering cape atop it.

Right, I had forgotten about her.

In one mighty leap I cleared the distance between us. Rune let out a shriek of horror and her platform began to move backwards and upwards in an attempt to get away.

It wasn't quite fast enough though, and as I reached her I grabbed the girl around the waist in a single massive hand, plucking her from her perch and falling back down to earth.

I cracked the concrete as I landed and Rune gave a squeak of terror that morphed into a sound of pain. I turned my eyes towards her, quickly spying the issue.

Her arm was squished between her body and my hand. It was bent at an odd angle near the elbow pressing into her side in a way that was no doubt extremely painful for the girl.

Broken. It seemed that I had grabbed her with a bit more force than I had intended. That was careless of me. I let up on my hold just a tad, not wishing to be needlessly cruel yet still kept a firm hold on her.

Lee walked up to us, hauling Stormtiger on his shoulder. As he stopped beside us, he tossed the man beside Hookwolf on the pavement, the shirtless cape landing with a dull thud and an unconscious groan of pain.

Rune stared down at Stormtiger in disbelief, before slowly turning her gaze back up to me, gulping slightly as she caught sight of my sharpened tusks mere inches from her face.

I spent a moment just observing the girl, holding her in front of my face as I scrutinized her intently. She was afraid of me, that was for certain, practically frozen in terror despite the pain she was no doubt feeling as she stared at me with wide eyes from underneath her red hood.

I debated what to do with her for a moment as I stared her down, before eventually deciding that it simply wasn't worth the trouble to attempt to keep her captive. If Kaiser caught wind that one of his enforcers was being held by us, it would cause untold amounts of chaos when he inevitably tried to get her back.

Best to just release her. It wasn't worth the trouble.

"I am going to let you go." I spoke slowly, making sure she was listening through the haze of fear. My voice rumbled like a thunderstorm and I could feel Rune flinch in my grip as I spoke, "You are going to return to your master, and you will make sure he knows that the ABB is not to be trifled with just because my father is not here. Do you understand?"

Rune nodded, eyes darting between Lee and I as she practically shook in fear, "O-Okay. Yeah, I can do that, no problem."

"Good." I let go of her, allowing the teenager to fall back to her feet. She stumbled on her landing and her hood fell back, revealing bright blond locks held in a single braid behind her head and once again I was stuck with a sense of deja vu. Why was this girl so familiar?

"What about…" Rune glanced towards her downed compatriots, wincing slightly as she saw the slightly melted form of Hookwolf and I shook my head.

"I am giving you, and you alone the opportunity to leave. They will remain where they are." I nodded to her platform, laying flat against the ground where it had fallen after I snatched her from it, "Go, before I change my mind."

She didn't waste another second at my words, practically scrambling towards her fallen platform with fear-induced haste, clutching her broken arm all the while.

She hopped atop it and immediately rose high into the air with speed that I didn't think the teenage cape was capable of. She looked back down at me, and just when I thought she was going to make some remark or an ill-advised attempt to rescue her compatriots, she turned forward and flew away, leaving them behind.

The moment that I was sure she was far enough away, I released my transformation, shrinking back down to my diminutive stature from the giant I once was.

I sighed as I came back into myself, the manic energy that had been suffusing my very being fading away along with the mist, leaving me calm once again.

It had been a long time since I had needed to use a form such as that and I hoped it would be a long time before I needed it again. They always made me feel a bit off when I returned to normal

"Now then, what to do with these two…" I mused as I turned my attention to the defeated capes.

Hookwolf was twitching and I could hear faint groans coming from the slowly cooling heap of metal so he was likely alive. That was… good, I supposed. While the man was detestable at best, killing him would no doubt lead to further conflict with the Empire.

"I suppose we shall leave them here. The heroes are likely already on their way after all." I said, lightly rubbing my arm where Hookwolf's blades had bit into me. The wounds would be healed by morning apart from the slashes Stormtiger's attack had left in my back. Those would likely scar as already I could feel blood leaking into my shirt underneath my costume.

Still, a superficial wound such as that was a small price to pay for such a resounding victory. The Empire would certainly think twice about doing this again.

Lee tilted his head at me in a silent question, motioning towards the downed capes. Years of knowing the man let me know exactly what he was asking and I shook my head, "No, I doubt they'll manage to keep them for more than a few days at most. Hookwolf is far too important to Kaiser for the man to let him remain locked up, as is Stormtiger. They will almost certainly break them free before anything can be done."

Another motion of his head and I narrowed my eyes slightly, "No, Lee. Killing them would do nothing but cause the issue I was trying to avoid in the first place. We leave them for the heroes."

Speaking of which, I could already hear the sirens that indicated the Protectorate was on their way. It was time to go.

"Come, Lee. We're returning home." I ordered the man, turning to make my way in that direction, "I do not wish to be here when they show up and start asking questions."

I didn't have to look back to know that the man had already vanished, following me silently along the rooftops as he tended to do.

Today was a resounding victory, both for the ABB and for Yosei. Word of what happened would no doubt get around and people would begin to treat me with much more respect and caution than ever before

When my father returned and heard of what had occurred, there was no doubt in my mind that he would be pleased. Truly, a momentous day.

---

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I sighed as I read over the paper in front of me, taking a sip of tea to alleviate my boredom with a burst of flavor.

The document I was currently going over was an exceedingly dull report of this year's treasury expenses and the effect they might have on the gang as a whole in the coming quarter. It was necessary to make sure the gang was running smoothly and also helped keep an eye on any potential embezzlement, but it was also mind numbing work at the best of times. Paperwork like this was probably one of the aspects I liked the least about my high ranking position in the gang.

I squinted, pausing mid tea-sip as I realized something, "Why in the world is Hiashi's discretionary fund so small in comparison to Takao's? He does twice the work that that man even sees in a day."

Grabbing my pen, I pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote a note to Sadao, our Treasurer. The older man would doubtlessly agree with my sentiment and increase Hiashi's allotted funds accordingly.

Mere moments after I folded the letter in an envelope and penned it to the Face's house, I raised my head as a knock sounded at the door to the office.

Ah, I had almost forgotten I called him here. Finally, a break from this mind numbing paperwork.

"Enter." I called, smiling slightly as a young man opened the door and made his way in somewhat nervously, "Kon, it is good to see you again."

He was wearing plainclothes consisting of a hoodie and skinny jeans and once again had a sucker in his mouth, purple this time, which I was beginning to believe was a permanent fixture for the man.

He gave me a nervous smile as he approached my father's desk, bowing respectfully, "Heh, you too, Yosei-sama."

I couldn't help the frown that came to my face at the respectful form of address. Coming from Kon of all people it felt… wrong somehow.

I waved my hand, wanting to dismiss his overly respectful tone, "Please, just call me Yosei, Kon. You have earned at least that much."

His jaw fell in surprise but he recovered before his sucker fell to the floor, "A-Are you sure?" I nodded, "Alright then… Yosei. I'm happy to be here."

His words caused me to smile and I gestured for him to take a seat, "That's much better. Now come, take a seat. We have much to talk about."

He did as I requested, looking oddly nervous as he did so, "I uh, I'm not in trouble, am I?"

I blinked, surprised at his question, before shaking my head, "Oh no, Kon. Quite the opposite in fact. Your continued performance has been nothing but exemplary and while professionalism may need some work, that's neither here nor there."

I leaned forward in my chair as he blushed slightly in embarrassment, "No Kon, you're here because I have a task for you. One I believe you might be perfect for."

Kon huffed a sigh of relief, "Oh thank god. I thought that Hua actually ratted on me for swiping a few extra-I mean I'd be happy to assist, Yosei." He hastily corrected at my tilted head, "What's the job you need me for?"

While I was admittedly curious as to what he was about to say, that wasn't important right now. I schooled my face, giving Kon a serious stare through my mask that caused him to flinch ever so slightly.

"What I am about to say cannot, will not leave this room. Is that understood?" My voice was deadly quiet as I tried to impart the seriousness of the subject I was about to broach.

Kon gulped audibly, "Understood. I won't tell a soul." He promised. I stared at him for a long moment, judging the sincerity of his words as he shifted uncomfortably on his chair.

After a long moment, I spoke, "There is a traitor in the ABB, likely one of the Faces." I said simply, causing his jaw to practically hit the floor, "As of now, you are one of three people who know of this information and for the foreseeable future, it will stay that way. My task for you-"

"Wait wait wait! What do you mean there's a traitor!?" Kon interrupted me, clearly too surprised to even attempt any sort of propriety, "Who is it!?"

"We don't know. And that's the issue." I responded, "While there are a few that are above suspicion, there are just as many that would have both the motive, and the ability to betray the gang. That's where you come in."

He gave me a confused look, "Me?"

"Yes, you. That's what I called you here for. I need someone to infiltrate the ranks of our most likely suspects and keep an eye out for anything suspicious." I said, reaching into the desk for a moment, "Your… general mannerisms combined with your extreme competence makes you perfect for this task."

As Kon stared at me in shock, I held up what I pulled from the desk, "You will, of course, be generously compensated should you accept." I said, sliding the full envelope towards him.

He stared at the envelope for a long moment before hesitantly reaching out and grabbing it. In front of my watchful eyes, he opened it and ordered inside, only to bite through the rest of his sucker as he caught sight of the amount inside.

I watched with concern as he nearly choked on the shards of candy that slipped painfully down his throat, thumping his chest with one hand while the other clutched the envelope for dear life.

Luckily for me and whatever unlucky servant was slated to clean the office today, he recovered relatively quickly, swallowing the remnants of his treat, before leaning back in his chair, breathing heavily.

"That's… a lot." He said after a moment of catching his breath, "I don't think I make that much in three months!"

"Consider it hazard pay." I said, pushing forward what was left of my tea in case his throat was aching. He grabbed the styrofoam cup, lifting it to his lips and taking greedy sips of the by now lukewarm tea.

Hazard pay as well as a good deal of hush money to be precise. There was a little under twenty grand in that envelope, all hundreds, and I had a feeling that the man would understand just how serious I was about keeping this under wraps when he actually got home and counted the amount.

I waited patiently for Kon to recover from his near accident, taking the time to glance over some of the documents I still had to review.

Hmm, a request for more men by Takumi, how strange. One would think that the ABB's arms dealer would have more than enough manpower at his disposal but I suppose that you could never go wrong with extra security.

I wrote out a quick approval, making sure that he knew this would just be a temporary force to supplicate his own. No need to give the man more power than he needed, especially not now.

Meanwhile, Kon had drained the tea in the cup and now sat taking deep breaths. He looked down at the envelope in his hand with a conflicted expression, his thoughts a mystery to me as I patiently awaited his response.

Eventually, his expression smoothed as he reached some sort of conclusion, and I placed my pen down once more, giving him my full attention.

He took a deep breath, "Alright, I'll do it."

I couldn't keep the smile from my face, immensely pleased by his response, "Wonderful, Kon. I'm extremely grateful you're willing to risk yourself like this for the good of the ABB."

He just shrugged, putting the envelope into his hoodie pocket, "It's no issue. This gang has been the best part of my life for years at this point. I'm not letting some idiot ruin it just because he wasn't happy with the shit-ton of power he already had."

"Still, you are taking a great risk agreeing to this. If you are found out, I'm not sure I will be able to pull you out in time." I said, making sure he knew how much I appreciated this, "If there is anything that I can do or aquire to make this operation easier for you, just let me know and I'll have it taken care of."

Kon suddenly smirked, pulling a fresh sucker out of his pocket and unwrapping it to reveal a bright green interior, "Well if you're offering…" He said, shoving it into his mouth, "I've got a few ideas."

~~~

The next day, I kept my hands folded in my sleeves as I waited in my father's office. Mere hours earlier, I had received word that my father was on his way home with his new recruit in tow and this had begun preparations for his arrival.

Fresh barley tea, just how he liked it, as well as a bowl of warm rice sat ready to consume on his desk. A very simple snack but one he had enjoyed numerous times before, and one that I had no doubt that he would enjoy after the task he had just undergone.

Truthfully, I still wasn't sure about my father's decision to recruit the Cornell Bomber, but it wasn't my place to question him. I would still be keeping a close eye on the woman though, and I would make sure that Lee did the same.

I straightened as the door to the office opened and permitted the man I was just thinking about. I bowed low as Lung strode in, followed by a figure that was lost to my vision as my head bent in deference.

"Father, welcome home." I greeted the man, " All went well, I hope."

There was a note of approval in his voice as he spoke, "Indeed it did. Rise, Yosei, and greet our newest Enforcer, Bakuda."

Bakuda, a fitting name for a Bomb Tinker, I suppose. I rose to get a full view of the woman.

She was short, was my first impression, nearly as short as I was, wearing a makeshift costume consisting of a black bulletproof vest with a single bandolier crossed over her chest. Her face was obscured by a gas mask, tinted glass preventing me from getting a good read on her features.

I gave the woman a bow of greeting only to be met with a tilted head. Seemed that she didn't know the proper etiquette. That was fine, she'd learn.

"Bakuda, this is Yosei, my daughter and your superior. You will show her the proper respect." Lung said, dissatisfaction with the woman's disrespect plain in his voice.

That caused the woman's shoulders to stiffen and she immediately bowed low in my direction, "I-I'm sorry, I had no idea. It's nice to meet you."

The bow was sloppy and more importantly, not at all genuine. It was clear as day to me that she was simply doing this to placate my father moreso than showing any actual respect for me.

Not noticing or more likely simply not caring, my father nodded in satisfaction at her supplication before turning towards me with a surprising amount of pride in his face.

He reached forward, causing me to flinch minutely at the sudden movement as he clasped my shoulder. Any amount of fear or worry completely disappeared as I took in my father's face. He was smiling.

He gazed down at me with pride prevalent in his face, "I have been informed that you performed more than exceptionally in my absence. Hookwolf and Stormtiger are worthy foes. Besting them does credit to your strength, daughter. Well done."

I felt a surge of happiness well up inside of me at my father's words that was immediately ruined by the other occupant in the room.

"Pfft, what's so great about beating two capes?" Bakuda scoffed, "If Lung-sama hadn't recruited me, the entire Protectorate in my city would have been decimated when they tried to stop my vengeance."

I frowned, my good mood evaporating almost immediately, "Considering that Hookwolf alone has enough blood on his hands to earn him a Kill Order twice over and I had exactly three minutes to prepare myself, I'd say my feat is actually quite impressive." I said, unable to keep a bit of heat out of my voice, "Your bombs may have been impressive where you come from, Bakuda, but you will quickly learn that the Bay is different from most other cities, and not just in the number of our parahumans."

Something about this woman rubbed me the wrong way. She had been here for all of an hour and already she was making not-so-subtle comments towards me, obviously testing the waters about what she was and wasn't allowed to get away with.

My words clearly struck a chord in the woman as her shoulders stiffened, but she was prevented from saying anything in retort as my father raised his hand, silencing the woman.

He turned to me, "Yosei, as a reward for performing so well in my absence, for the next week, you can take some time for your leisure." He said, shocking me, "I will call for you if need be, but otherwise you are free to do as you wish."

I stared at him in surprise even as my mind whirled behind my eyes. This… this lined up perfectly with the task that I had assigned Kon! Now I wouldn't have to tip-toe around my father waiting for him to report back to me and could actually monitor his findings while he was undercover.

Not to mention a break was exactly what I needed after the admittedly stressful task of keeping things running in my father's absence. Keeping the panic down after the ABB incursion had been a headache and I needed some time away from the gang to recover.

Maybe Tammi and I could do something in Boston. It was a mere forty-five minute drive which meant that I could be back in mere minutes with a careful application of my power. Much as I loved it, Brockton Bay's entertainment options paled in comparison to our sister city.

I bowed low, already thinking of things I could do during my time away from the gang, "Thank you father, you're much too kind."

"You will need the rest." Lung said simply as he moved around his desk to sit in his chair, "When you return, we will begin discussing plans to punish these Nazi fools for their transgressions."

I froze at my father's words as he leaned forward to grasp his tea, all thoughts of fun and relaxation dissipating in a single instant as my brain processed his statement. Surely he wasn't suggesting…

"Father… what do you mean by that?" I asked hesitantly.

Lung rose up, power in his every movement, and my heart sank as my hunch was proven correct with his next words, "The Empire has overplayed their hand this time. Defeating both Hookwolf and Stormtiger, as well putting Rune out of commission has dealt a great blow to their manpower. And now, with the assistance of Bakuda, the four of us will be more than capable of driving the rot out of this city."

I just stared at the man in shock, too stunned to formulate a response to the fact that my father was apparently going to do the very thing I had been trying to prevent. Bakuda perked up in clear interest.

"I've got some designs for bombs that can turn their hideouts to molten slag, Lung-sama." Bakuda said almost eagerly, "If we do what I suggested on the way over then they won't even see it coming!"

"No." My father rumbled, looking slightly angry, "We will not be planting bombs into the bodies of our conscripts."

What?

I turned towards Bakuda, eyes wide in horror as the woman scoffed, "But it's not like they're even loyal anyway! Why not use their numbers in a way that could actually be advantageous to us?"

"And lose all respect with the senior members?" I spoke up, voice frigid with rage at what this woman, this maniac, was suggesting, "What happens when they decide they no longer want to work under a gang leader who kills their members on a whim? The ABB would last mere weeks before it imploded."

"Then we put bombs in them too." The maniac said like I was stupid, "Anyone who doesn't agree with us can be examples to the others. We're on top, they should bow to us."

"Bow to us?" I said incredulously, "We are not gods and they are not our subjects! They are our people. We brought them together and it is our responsibility to keep them safe just as much as it is to lead them! To do what you are suggesting would be-!"

"Enough."

Both of us froze as my father spoke the word firmly, putting an end to the impending argument with just two syllables.

He breathed heavily out of his nose, turning to the woman beside me, "Bakuda, I have already declined your proposal once. To bring it up again to me was foolish. I will hear no more of this idea of yours, is that understood?"

Bakuda nodded, much more respect in her movements than had ever appeared when the woman had been talking to me, "Yes, Lung-sama. Please forgive me, I will not bring it up again." She promised.

My father stared at her, hard and unyielding, before nodding, "Good. Make sure that you don't."

He turned to me and I bowed my head in deference, "Yosei, your time away begins now. Go rest and take time for yourself. In one week, we begin preparations to drive the rot out of our city, once and for all."

Everything in my body wanted to protest against this idea that my father was suggesting, to talk him out of the foolish idea of starting an open gang war when the E88 still had the majority of their capes.

I knew it would be futile however. I could see in the set of his shoulders and the glint in his grey eyes behind his snarling mask. My father's decision was set in stone and there was absolutely nothing I could do to talk him out of it.

So I kept my mouth shut for now, resolving to think of a solution during the coming week. I gave my father a bow, "Understood, father. I will return when my time is up. If you have need of me before the week is up, do not hesitate to call."

He gave me a wave, dismissing me and I bowed, turning to exit. Bakuda's masked face followed me intently as I walked out of the room and I shook my head as the door closed behind me.

That woman was definitely going to be trouble. I would have to keep an eye on her.

---

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