"I smell one. We're close."
"Thanks, Bitch. I'll set up the sensor."
"I'm taking Judas. I'll check the area."
"Bitch, call in when you find it. Tattletale, I'm getting a response on the sensor. Do you read?"
"Let me just check. Yep, that's our payday. This wave-form is...
prooooobably a category D."
"When Bitch finds it, I'll move in and smoke it. You wanna call it in?"
"On it, join you in thirty with the van and Mr. Mage."
-- === --
"Pee-Are-Tee, how may I direct your call?"
"Gate claim, rogue team Undersiders."
"Please hold."
-- === --
"Claims desk, thanks for holdin'."
"Hello agent Reed, I'm calling to report the discovery of a category D Gate, and get a claim registered. Also I'm sorry your date didn't go well last weekend."
"Oh great, it's Tattletale."
"Mm-hmm. Her type wouldn't make you happy, not even if you made enough to keep her interest."
"Just tell me what you got."
"Surprise, it's a Gate. Initial readings put it as a category D. I'll get a better read on my way in, and if it doesn't match up I'll call for backup. Either way I'll email the location when we're in front of it."
"Good enough, but just barely and you know it."
"Just eff-why-eye, I'm calling from a remote location. Don't bother tracing the call."
"Sure, sure,
aaaand it's logged. Good huntin'."
"Tah-tah, agent Reed."
-- === --
"Hey Reed, why do we let them get away with that shit? They know we can't cross-check a claim so fast."
"It's policy."
"Yeah but why?"
"Probably half 'cause we can't really stop 'em."
"Fuckin' Hunters."
"I hear you, but the other half is 'cause they're clearin' a Gate."
"I guess."
"You ever seen a break-out?"
"They're on TV all the time."
"But you been
at one?"
"No, not at one."
"You might feel different if you saw one up close. Hope you never do."
"That bad?"
"Not always, but... but yeah, yeah it can be, and you never know."
"Damn."
"Yeah. So even if those rogues are runnin' roughshod on the rules, they're still
clearin' a Gate. That's one less nightmare for our boys, one less breakout in the middle'a town."
"Ah, shit. I guess that's fair."
-- === --
Nothing's ever fair, Brian thought, as he covered the Gate with dark smoke. His darkness would suppress any magical signature from detection, which gave his team's Scout time to call in the claim. By maintaining a clear line of effect to the entry, he'd even be able to keep the Gate off the sensors of any claim-jumpers while the team worked.
He felt a bit useful doing this, at least, unlike how he felt about combat inside.
Technically he was categorized as an Assassin-type, because in theory his clouds of darkness could augment infiltration, but in practice the darkness was too obviously magical to evade notice.
In practice, he was more like a Mage with area effects that could hinder communication, and hinder magical attacks. It wasn't a bad ability, but it wasn't sufficient for the role of a Mage, since he had no particular offensive capability... but he could keep a Gate secret, prevent its magical signature from being seen from afar, and that was key to his team's MO.
In combat, he was fragile with some concealment (if his darkness covered enough area) and an anti-magic ability (if his darkness was thick enough to ablate the enemy's attack). His role was officially Assassin, just like Oni Lee or Cricket, because evasion + anti-mage = Assassin. That was good enough for the PRT offical evaluating him.
His performance in the role was not good enough. That's why he was class E.
He sighed.
His ruminations ended suddenly as a van turned into the alleyway, the glare of its headlights jolting him into alertness for a moment before the interior light flicked on and he could see the familiar faces of the driver and passenger.
Tattletale eased the van between the low suburban buildings and into the rear parking area. She killed the headlights and then did a three-point turn, ending up with the van blocking the alley. Grue guessed it was the best she could do to arrange a quick getaway if things inside turned bad. If so, that might be generous of her, since the driver's side door was blocked by an adjacent wall. Or maybe she didn't plan on needing the van if things went sour inside.
Regent had reclined in the passenger seat. When the van stopped, he huffed himself forward and made a show of looking around.
Brian started directing his smoke above the van, to cover their entry from any aerial observers. He heard a few sharp notes of Tattleale's voice from inside, then Regent's door opened and he stumbled out, yawning and stretching in a way that was somehow aggrevating to watch.
Regent stretched in his annoying way for 30 seconds or so, while Brian blocked out the sky above them, and then Regent suddenly bounced down to touch his toes.
The van rocked as he did so.
"Could you fucking
not?" Tattletale shouted from inside the van.
"Sorry," Regent barked with a chuckle.
"Someone help in here," Tattletale called.
Regent made a show of checking Brian's aerial coverage. He nodded at Brian like a satisfied manager.
What an asshole, Brian thought.
"Fine, I'll help." Regent slid the side-door open, revealing a steel matrix which functioned as a cage and hardpoints to restrain its three prisoners: werewolves they'd taken from a Gate.
This was their secret weapon, and these were their last three. Now that Regent was awake, they were fully under his control, and their restraints weren't necessary -- but they couldn't help themselves out of their own restraints, for the very obvious reason that they should be unable to do that during the times that Regent was not controlling them.
In the fifteen minutes it took for Tattletale and Regent to get their captives free, Bitch returned, and Brian got a very solid-feeling screen above the back-lot where they were gathered.
Bitch started using her power on the werewolves as they were unshackled: three minutes on each, then back to her four dogs, keeping all of their canine assets buffed.
Tattletale shouldered her crossbow and locked the van. They were ready to go.
Brian hoped this one wouldn't hurt.
-- === Worm x Solo Leveling === --
The Undersiders:
Regent, Mage / class B
Tattletale, Scout / class C
Bitch, Tank / class D
Grue, Assassin / class E
A/N: Brian seemed like the best fit for the MC of Solo Leveling, from the absent parents to the younger teen sister, and the dangerous job on which he's tethered himself to care for her... not to mention the shadowy power thing. Not sure I'm interested in him enough to keep him as the MC, though, if I ever do more of this.
This setting fusion would impose some significant changes to canon, such as the Undersiders being a Rogue Guild rather than a Villain Gang, but the dynamics could be largely intact -- both settings have super-powered people challenging state power and threatening to disrupt civilization, for example, and in that respect the two settings are perfectly compatible.
The setting metaphysics can also be made compatible, probably in several ways, and one of those seemed best to me -- but telling more would be a spoiler.