A thin fog hung in the air as I stood in the alley outside of my hotel. The crisp early morning air caressed my cheeks, somewhat alleviating the heat of the stuffy suit I was wearing. I looked down at my watch,
5:58, my bodyguard should be here any second.
I had been wary of purchasing the services of a mercenary in the first place, but given what I had heard about the Bay, it felt prudent to at least have some form of protection. It just happened to be a happy coincidence that Faultline and her crew were based in the city.
From what I had heard from my compatriots, the few that were still willing to talk to me after the shit storm I kicked up for my boss, Faultline was known to be one of the more trusted mercenaries in the US. She rarely took contracts that she was unsure of her ability to complete, and those she did complete, she did so with nary a complaint from her clients. In other words, she was reliable.
All in all, I felt I had made the right choice purchasing her services, paying a premium to have one of her capes protect me during my time in the nazi infested city of Brockton Brockton.
Speaking of which…
I heard her before I saw her. The heavy thuds of booted feet hitting cement as their owner made her way toward me. Her skin, what I could see of it anyway, glinted in the early morning sun and under her similarly metallic mask, I could see sharp blue eyes peering out at me intently.
I had never seen or heard about her before, but given that she was approaching me so brazenly, I concluded she must be one of Faultline's mercenaries. The woman had said she was sending one of her newer crew members to be my bodyguard, and while I had at first been unhappy about that fact, Faultline had assured me that the cape, Aspect, would be more than up to the task of guarding me.
And given her appearance, I was somewhat reassured of that fact.
She was young, younger than I had thought she would be, maybe 18 or 19 by my estimates. Her costume was simple yet practical, a hoodie and mask to obscure her identity, cargo pants with numerous pockets, and a pair of steel toed boots. Somewhat amateur, but very practical and unassuming.
Or it would be, if it weren't for the way she carried herself, sturdy and unmovable, like she could be attacked with the full force of nature and not budge an inch. Unflinching in the face all that the world would throw at her. I had seen the same demeanor in capes like Alexandria, capes strong enough that they didn't have to worry about everyday struggles like their weaker brethren.
She may be new and younger than some of my coworker's children, but she already carried herself better than some veteran capes I had seen. And if it was all an act, then she was a damn good actress.
I shook myself out of my thoughts as she stepped closer, "Aspect I assume?" I asked.
"You assume right." She said, and the lightness in her voice gave credit to my earlier estimate about her age, "And you must be my client, David Beller. It's nice to meet you." She held out her hand to shake, exposed digits gleaming in the light. I took it and could instantly feel the restrained power in her grip, like she was forcibly holding her strength back so as to not crush my hand.
I let go, flexing my hand to rid it of the stiffness and nodded, "Yes I am, it's a pleasure." turned to look at her, "I assume you've read the contract?"
Aspect nodded, crossing her arms under her chest, "Yes I have. You know you're likely being set up right?"
I just sighed, reaching into my back pocket and retrieving a pack of cigarettes, "Yeah, I know." I retrieved a cig, lighting it with the lighter I produced from my other pocket and taking a deep drag. I held it there for a moment, savoring the nicotine circulating through my lungs before exhaling, "I wouldn't come within a hundred miles of this city if they hadn't told me to go. No offense."
She just shrugged uncaringly, "Nah, I get it. The city's a shithole. I'm only still here because I have nowhere else to go. That, and I still have people I care about here." I nodded at that, offering her a smoke from the still nearly full pack. She shook her head, rejecting my offer. I shrugged, even if she's probably underage, it would have felt rude not to at least offer.
"So who'd you piss off to make them send you here? I'm pretty sure sending you to this part of the Bay specifically has to be illegal in some way. It must have been someone high up if you couldn't just tell them to screw off." She asked.
I let out a small laugh at the blunt question, "Yeah sure, if by 'high up' you mean my regional manager. I embarrassed him in front of the people back at home office and he is
not happy about it." I took another drag from my cigarette, "If he'd just do his damn job and stop delegating it to me, maybe he'd have nothing to be embarrassed about. Asshole."
Aspect's head tilted in confusion, "Why not just fire you? No offense, but he's your manager, couldn't he just replace you?"
I snorted, "Yeah right. If he fired me, he'd need to hire five other people just to do half of the job I do." I looked down at the nub of a cigarette I now held before putting out on the wall beside me with a spray of hot ash, "The best he could do is make me look bad for
his superiors and try to get me demoted, docking my pay while still giving me the same amount of work. Hence him sending me, a black man, to the nazi capital of the US. He's probably hoping I'll get mugged on the way to the meeting and make our company lose out on the deal. The bastard."
She nodded in understanding, "Sounds like a real piece of work. I don't envy you." SHe uncrossed her arms crouched down, placing her exposed fingers on the dirty alley floor. Just as I went to ask what she was doing, I stopped, watching in fascination as the pavement under her fingers seemed to creep up her skin, turning the metallic surface a dull stoney color.
She stood from the ground and cracked her neck, the exposed skin of her collarbone now the same material as the ground under our feet, "Don't worry David, I'll make sure you get to and from that meeting in one piece. You've got my word."
I stared at her for a moment before nodding, "Alright Aspect. I'll put my health into your hands." I looked down at my watch,
6:26am, "We should probably get going. The meeting spot is around fifteen minutes away on foot and it's nearly 6:30." I turned back to her, "So how are we gonna do this? Are you just going to follow behind me, run along the rooftops or something? I don't want the Medhall execs to think I brought some muscle to strong arm them or something equally asinine."
She laughed lightly, "Don't worry David, you won't have to worry about that one bit. In fact…" I watched in astonishment as the asphalt under her feet softened and she began to slowly sink into the once solid ground until only her neck and head remained in the open air. She winked at me from under her mask, "They won't even know I'm here." She sank the rest of the way down, leaving me seemingly alone in the now empty alley.
I looked around, searching for any sign of the cape I hired and finding none. I laughed and nodded, "Well, alright then."
I walked out of the alley, feeling much safer walking through the streets than I had before.
~~~
'I should've grabbed my phone before I melded.' I thought to myself as I sighed into my palm. I was currently half immersed into the building below me, leaving the upper half of my body sticking out of the ground like a carrot ready to be picked.
It was an odd sensation as I could both sense the room I was melded with, and still had all the senses that my upper body experienced. There was little to no disconnect between the two and it had left me somewhat disoriented at first. Luckily I had adapted quickly, and was able to keep an eye on my client without actually being in the room with him.
In fact, in the room directly under me David was currently in his meeting with the Medhall executives. There was a lot of corporate jargon being thrown about and even if I was actually in the room with them, I doubt I would have been able to understand any of it.
I sighed, turning my attention away from the meeting, sure that nothing would happen to David, "I really wish I had something to cut through this mind numbing boredom." I complained out loud.
"Hey you! What are you doing down there!?" I heard from above me. I looked up, bringing my hand in front of my eyes to shield them from the rising sun as I searched for the owner of the voice. It only took a moment before I spotted her, hovering a few dozen feet above me as she was.
Long blond hair, what wasn't held in place by her red headband, blew lightly in the morning breeze as blue eyes stared down at me. She was wearing a white and magenta costume with a stylized arrow going diagonally from left to right. Half a dozen lines trailed behind it over her left shoulder, with a single line zigzagging across the others.
Faultline had insisted I research all of the capes in Brockton Bay and as such, I recognized her as a member of New Wave. Crystal Pelham Aka Laserdream, New Wave's resident Blaster. Although from what I read, she didn't really patrol much anymore which made me wonder what she was doing floating around this early.
'Either way, she'll probably alleviate my boredom!' I thought happily.
"I've never seen you around before," She continued as she floated closer, though I noticed that she stayed well out of my reach while I was still very much in hers, "What are you doing stuck in the building like that? I can't imagine the owners would be happy if they knew you were up here doing that." She said, crossing her arms at me and raising an eyebrow.
I just shrugged at her statement, "Probably not. But my client is currently in a meeting in the room below me. I'm keeping an eye on him because I've been paid to guard him."
She raised her eyebrows in surprise, "You're a bodyguard?"
"No, I'm not a bodyguard. I'm a mercenary. Or well, I'm a mercenary who he paid to be a bodyguard so I guess I
am a bodyguard. Or at least I am for as long as he pays me to be one?" I shook my head as Laserdream stared at me in bewilderment at my little tangent, I was not willing to get into the semantics regarding my profession.
"Nevermind. I'm with Faultline, just joined up recently. I'm Aspect. This guy paid me to keep an eye on him so that's what I'm doing." I almost held my hand out to shake, before remembering that most people wouldn't be willing to shake the hand of an unknown cape.
In all honesty, I probably shouldn't be revealing this much, but given that Laserdream was a hero, she probably would have found out eventually from one of her fellow heroes, hopefully not one of the ones who hates us though.
Mercenaries sat in a moral grey area with most hero groups, there were some that thought we were all just villains who should be locked up, and there were those who saw us as potential assets they could use when the situation called for it. It really just depended on the group.
I had no idea what New Wave's policies on mercs were, but given that Laserdream hadn't tried to blast my face off or whatever, they were probably fine with it. Or she was just chill, it could be either one.
She hummed in disbelief, "How are you doing that? You got eyes on your legs or something?"
I shrugged, "Or something. Rest assured, I can see everything that's happening below us."
I could tell she didn't believe me. Or at least if she did, she was still wondering how exactly I was doing it if her confused gaze was any indication.
I prepared to continue explaining, only to stop as I heard something from lower in the building. The scraping of chairs rolling across the floor and the soft murmur of people exchanging cordial goodbyes. The meeting was over.
I debated for a moment in my head, before looking back up toward Laserdream who was watching me in confusion at my sudden silence. "The meeting just let out." I explained, and she looked surprised, "I've got to escort him back to his hotel, you wanna come with?"
She made a thinking face for a moment, before uncrossing her arms and nodding, "Alright, I have a few minutes to spare. And I'm bored, nothing's going on today." she added as an afterthought.
That explained what she was doing here, "Just stay out of sight, yeah? I'm trying to keep this covert." I said as I prepared to sink back down into the building. I was interrupted by the heroine.
"But wait," she said suddenly, "If you're supposed to be his bodyguard, why aren't you making your presence known? Wouldn't that make people less likely to mess with him?" She asked in confusion.
I shook my head, "It would, but David and I believe he has been intentionally set up by his boss. If that's true, then whoever he hired might see me and get reinforcements. It's easier if I just follow him unseen so I can deal with any surprises as they come."
She thought for a moment before nodding hesitantly, "I guess that makes sense. Alright, I'll fly above you guys and try to stay out of sight."
"Thanks, now I've got to go. He's waiting on me in the lobby." I sunk back into the floor, making my way through the building to the ground floor. I searched for David and found him standing in an empty hallway out of sight from the others in the building. As I approached him, I silently commended his efforts to keep the fact that I was here hidden.
I reached his side and moved my senses this way and that, making sure nobody was around. As I saw the coast was clear, I emerged from the floor to his right, keeping my lower body immersed just in case I needed to get away quickly.
"Hey." I said quietly, making him jump at my sudden appearance. I grinned under my mask at his reaction, "Ready to go?"
He removed his hand from his chest as he saw who I was, "Jesus Aspect, don't scare me like that. I'm not as young as you, you could kill me that way. Bad rep for a bodyguard to be killing their client via heart attack you know."
I just waved him off, "Bah, you'll be fine. You aren't that old."
He chuckled lightly, "When you're in my position, the stress increases your age two fold. I'm practically an old man by now." He rolled his shoulder and stretched his back to get rid of some kinks, "God I hate the chairs they've got here, even the ones at my office don't feel that bad. Next time I'll just bring my own."
"What? Gonna tie it to your back like a backpack? I don't think that'd go well with those stuffy suits you guys wear." I teased.
He laughed as he finished stretching, "Who knows? I might start a new trend back at corporate." He patted his suit to get rid of any wrinkles his stretching had caused before looking back toward me, "Alright, let's get this show on the road. You still gonna be following me like before."
I nodded, "Yep, best not to tip off anybody who might be targeting you." As he nodded, I remembered my conversation on the roof, "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you. We've got some backup. Laserdream saw me on the roof and we got to chatting. She's gonna be following along from above in case I need some help."
He hummed, bringing a hand up to stroke his beard in thought, "Laserdream… She's with that cape family right? New Wave?"
"Yeah, she's a blaster and can fly pretty fast. If we get into trouble I can't handle by myself, she'll jump in. Either to help me or to get you to safety." I explained.
David nodded at that, "All right. I won't say no to some extra protection. And this one won't even cost me an arm and a leg!" He joked.
I just patted him on the leg, "Trust me David, you'll get what you paid for. I can promise you that."
He laughed, "I'll hold you to that Aspect." He looked down at his watch, "Let's get going, I want to get back to my hotel before noon at least. I've still got to tell my higher ups that the meeting went well."
"Right behind you." I sunk back into the floor and followed him as he made his way out of the building and back into the streets of the Bay.
~~~
The walk back was mostly quiet as we made a good pace back to his hotel. And while I couldn't exactly feel Laserdream flying above us, I assumed she was still there as she had given me no reason to think that she would just disappear halfway through the walk back.
All in all, it was nice and peaceful.
Until it wasn't.
"Well boys, would you look at what we have here?" A man stepped out of an alley and into David's path a little ways down the road, several other men followed him out, six in total.
I recognized the leader. Every uncovered portion of his body was paper white from his pure white eyes to the hair on his head. He was wearing a dark brown coat with red accents, eagle symbols emblazoned in the fabric and denoting his allegiances. At either of his sides were two long knives held in holsters.
Alabaster grinned as he continued speaking to David, hands coming up to gesture theatrically to his fellow members.
"What's a criminal like you doing in a reputable white neighborhood like this?" The Empire cape grinned widely, exposing teeth as pale as the rest of him, "Your kind usually knows better than to come this far into Empire territory." He turned to address the unpowered members of his group, "How about we show him why, eh boys!?"
The skinheads around him let out shouts of agreement, raising their instruments of violence in the air and looking distinctly bloodthirsty.
I took that as my cue to reveal myself.
I emerged from my hiding place, startling the Empire members as I rose from the ground in between them and my client like a zombie rising from its grave. As I rose to my feet, several of the unpowered members backed even further away.
I stretched as I stood to my feet, extending my arms and popping my elbows.
"I hate to tell you guys." I started slowly as I finished stretching, "But this guy here is under my protection. I'm going to have to ask you to scram. No need to make this more violent than it needs to be." I lied.
"Who the fuck are you?" one of them yelled, brandishing a metal pipe in my direction, "I ain't ever seen you before! You ain't gonna do shit!
"Yeah, he's right!" Shouted a man with a baseball bat, bringing my attention to him, "You're just one cape against the seven of us! We're gonna take you down, then beat the shit out of the darkie behind you!"
A chorus of agreements rang out from around him and I took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. I turned my gaze upward, spotting Laserdream hovering a few dozen meters above us, well out of sight of anyone who would not know to look for her,
"Laserdream!" I yelled out to the New Wave cape, startling the people in front of me. The other girl floated down slowly, keeping the Empire members in view as she came to hover by my side.
"What, you need some backup?" She asked, bringing her hands up and revealing bright magenta lights shining in her palms. There was some muttering across from us as the Empire members realized that there was another cape present and Alabaster frowned.
I held my hand in front of her, shaking my head lightly, "No. I need you to stay back with David, get any that make it past me."
She looked at me in confusion, "You sure? There are quite a few of them. And Alabaster may not be that tough, but there's a reason Kaiser's kept him around. He's no slouch when it comes to hand to hand."
I just nodded, as I stepped forward and deactivated my power in preparation, "Yeah, don't worry I got this." I bent my neck from side to side, cracking it as I tried to keep my excitement from showing.
I placed a hand into one of the pockets of my cargo pants, touching my fingertips to the chunk of quartz held there and reactivated my power, grinning as I felt my body change to match the crystal. I could feel my strength increasing even further beyond what it had been when I was made of asphalt.
I clenched and unclenched my fists to get used to my new strength before turning back to Laserdream, "Just keep an eye out for me."
I didn't wait to hear her agreement before I was rushing forward, boots pounding roughly against the asphalt and leaving cracks in my wake. I crossed the distance in seconds, reaching the first gang member before he had the chance to do much more than yell in surprise.
I shot my right arm forward, slamming my fist against his chest with the sound of cracking bone as several of his ribs failed to withstand my assault. He flew backwards with a pained shout, landing on his back and immediately curling up in a ball as he clutched his chest in agony.
I turned to the next one and prepared to repeat my actions, only to be forced to bring an arm up to block a metal pipe that had been swung towards my head. It slammed against my forearm with a loud thud and I grinned at the lack of pain I felt. I grabbed the pipe in my hand and jerked it out of the faltering grip of the man wielding it, sending him stumbling forward and into my knee as I shot my leg up.
He curled around my leg with a wheeze and I took the opportunity to slam the pipe I had stolen from him down on his exposed shoulder. There was a loud pop as the appendage was forced from its socket and the man's wheeze turned into a scream of pain. I jerked my leg, removing him from my leg sending him sprawling to the ground.
The other four unpowered Empire members backed away from me as I laid out two of their members in quick succession. Alabaster was standing in the background, content to watch the proceedings which was more than fine with me. I would deal with him last.
The unpowered members stared at me warily and I grinned wider, dropping the pipe and spreading my arms wide in a clear challenge, "Well…?" I asked expectantly, "Who else wants to give it a go?"
They looked at each other before looking back at me. Two of them seemed to gather their courage as they let out war cries and rushed forward, knife and bat brandished respectively. I lowered my stance as they approached, just like I had practiced with Newter.
The one with the knife reached me well ahead of his friend, slashing out at my chest with the sharpened piece of metal. I ducked, slipping under his attack, and grabbed ahold of his forearm with one hand while at the same time placing my other on his elbow.
I could see the fear on his face as he realized what I was about to do and he jerked, trying to dislodge himself from my iron grip to no avail. I tightened my grip on his arm, before jerking my hand forward, breaking his arm at the elbow with a sickening crack.
I let go and he fell at my feet screaming in pain just as his friend with the bat reached me. He brought the wooden weapon down on me with a shout full of as much anger as there was fear and I didn't even bother trying to block it, trusting my power to do the work for me as I brought my fist toward his face.
The wooden bat impacted the top of my head and splintered around it, sending shards of wood flying in all directions. Including back at its wielder, which he noticed as his face was peppered with the splinters. He jerked backwards, a shout of surprise leaving his lips before it was silenced by my fist slamming into his jaw.
He slumped down, falling unconscious beside his still groaning buddy.
I brought a hand up to my hood, picking out a few splinters that I could feel poking me in the head, before turning to the remaining two skinheads. They were staring down at the bodies with something akin to horror, "Well? Come on." I said expectantly. Their gazes darted to me, then the bodies, then me again, then finally each other.
"Fuck this." One of them said, and the other nodded in agreement. They threw their weapons on the ground in front of them before booking it in the opposite direction, leaving me slightly bewildered.
"Ooookaaay…" I said, "Didn't expect that. Guess I'm more intimidating than I thought."
"No, Jeremiah and Andrew have always been cowards." A voice spoke to my left and I turned to spot Alabaster finally making his way in from the sidelines, "They've always been the first ones to run in situations like this. Honestly it was a miracle they lasted this long."
I turned to face him as he walked toward me slowly, "Oh so now you want to jump in? Not when I was beating down your little clique?" I asked.
He just shrugged, reaching his hands down to his sides and retrieving the knives stored there. They were odd, with blocky handles and flashing serrated tips, small glowing lines ran throughout the lengths of their blades. It only took a moment of analysis to realize that they were most likely tinkertech. Whether or not they would be able to injure my crystal body I didn't know, nor was I willing to find out.
"They were idiots. Fighting a cape when you have no clue what their powers are is a good way to lose your life." He twirled his tinkertech knives for a moment before holding them in a reverse grip and lowering his stance.
"But wait," I said, tilting my head in confusion, "you
just said those guys who ran away were cowards. Which is it? Is it cowardly to run away from a fight or is it stupid to fight an unkno-oH SHIT!" Alabaster surged forward at an astounding speed, closing the distance between us in less than a second and aiming his knives at my widened eyes through my mask. My eyes may be as hard as the rest of me, but there's no telling whether or not his knives were capable of cutting through them despite that. Best to ere on the side of caution just in case.
I fell backwards onto my hands, bringing a leg up and kicking him in the sternum. I forgot to hold back my strength however, so instead of just breaking a few ribs I instead completely caved in his ribcage, sending him flying away from me to land on the ground a few feet away. Completely motionless.
I shot back up to my feet, staring at his prone form in horror, thinking I had killed another cape on my first job. I was filled with an odd mixture of relief and disappointment as the Empire cape's body seemed to flicker before he was suddenly standing on his feet once more, right as rain.
'Oh right.' I thought as he lowered himself to rush at me once more,
'I forgot his power did that. I won't have to hold back then' I lowered my own stance and darted forward at the same time as the other cape.
We met in the middle with the thud of a fleshy body meeting one magnitudes harder. I could feel it as just the impact of my body meeting his broke at least one of his ribs. He didn't seem bothered however, swinging an arm up and aiming for my mask's eye holes once more with just as much speed as before.
I ducked under the arm and slammed my fist into his leg with the sound of crunching bone, forcing him to step back as he lost his balance. As I went to capitalize on the opening however, his power activated again, returning him back to normal and he began his assault once more.
Things went on in a similar vein for a while. He would try to stab me in the eyes, I would dodge and break some part of his body, and he would be fixed a few seconds later and try again.
It was all so very annoying. And that wasn't even considering the fact that Laserdream had been absolutely right, this guy was no slouch in hand to hand.
We engaged each other once more, my fists pummeling his body and his knife doing it's best to get into the small hole in my mask.
Wait,
knife? Singular? Where was the other one?
My eyes caught a flash of steel racing its way towards my body and I cursed. I let my guard down, so preoccupied with his attempts to get at my eyes that I didn't think he'd try to target my body. I tried to twist out of the way of the knife to no avail and I cursed as the blade scraped along my body with a screech, sliding across the hardened skin of my abdomen.
I skipped backwards, hands coming down to the area and I grimaced as I saw the damage. There was now a long furrow in the quartz that made up my abdomen, reaching from my left hip and disappearing near my chest. It wasn't deep, and it wasn't like I wouldn't be able to heal it but the fact that it happened in the first place irked me massively.
Wait…
My fucking hoodie! I grabbed at the massive gash, wincing as I saw how bad it was, there would be no stitching it back together, my favorite hoodie was ruined. And I couldn't even get him back for it because his fucking power reset all the damage I did every four seconds!
"That power of yours is fucking annoying." I grumbled as I let go of the sliced piece of cloth. "How am I supposed to beat the shit out of you if you just repair the damage instantly? So unfair."
Alabaster grinned maliciously, twirling one of his knives as he shrugged, "You aren't the first person to think so and you won't be the last." All the damage I had done in our most recent exchange was already gone, not even a speck of blood remained.
'This is going nowhere.' I thought to myself as I stared at the other cape. We were at an impasse, he could barely hurt me and while I
could hurt him, his power made all of my efforts moot. Add on to the fact that I didn't get tired while transformed and he didn't get tired at all, and we could be here for a while.
"You new capes are all the same." He called out as I tried to think of a solution to our conundrum, "Just another brute who thinks she's tough shit because she's a little stronger than the average man." Alabaster taunted, "Well I've got some news for you girl, I've fought and beaten capes much tougher than you. You aren't special."
As he spoke, I was struck with an idea and I grinned, "You know what Alabaster, you're absolutely right." I quickly leaned down to place my fingertips on the ground and activated my power on it, melding my hands with the asphalt and spreading my presence through it, specifically directing it under Alabaster's feet. He noticed what I was doing and rushed forward in an attempt to stop me, but it was too late.
The moment my presence reached him, I exerted my power, softening the ground under him and sending tripping into the now liquid asphalt with a yelp, one of his knifes falling from his grip and falling on the still hard portions of concrete around him
Unlike with Newter, I didn't stop with just his hands and feet, instead I waited until his entire body except for his nose and eyes were underground before deactivating my power and returning the asphalt back to normal.
I stood back up, clapping my hands as if I was ridding them of invisible dust. I walked over to the now imobile Breaker and placed a boot on his head as he glared at me. I could feel a shit eating grin on my face as I loomed over him, "I should have done that from the start."
My foot hit something solid and I looked down to see the fallen knife sitting on the concrete beside my boot. I bent down and picked it up, turning from side to side as I inspected it, before nodding and looking at the trapped cape with a grin, "You don't mind if I take this do you?" There was the sound of muffled cursing and I nodded again, "Thanks pal. You're the best." I thanked him and put it in one of the pockets on my cargo pants.
An angry vein appeared on his head, disappearing a moment later as his power reset him once more. It did not free him however as his power probably didn't see his immobility as an injury, something I had been banking on. I had theorized that as long as he was able to breathe, his power wouldn't try to break him free, I was happy to see that I was right.
I went to gloat some more, only to whirl around with my fists raised as I heard footsteps behind me. But I lowered them as I saw it was just Laserdream and David making their way back toward me. The blond superheroine looked slightly uncomfortable as she took in all of the groaning bodies I had left in the wake of my rampage.
I took my boot off of Alabaster's head as they approached and looked toward the other girl, "Thanks for that. I had a feeling none of them would make it past me, but I couldn't be too sure." I held my hand out to shake and she took it hesitantly.
"Yeah, no problem." She said lightly as she took another look around at the defeated Empire members. She turned back to me, looking down at Alabaster buried in the concrete, the pale cape looking distinctly unhappy about his circumstances, "Don't you think you were a little…excessive?" She asked.
I snorted at the question and she raised an eyebrow. "They're
nazis." I emphasized, "Dirt, scum, bottom of the barrel dregs of society. If anything I was too easy on them."
She opened her mouth, probably to argue with me, but she was interrupted by David as he walked over.
"Well Aspect," He began as he took in the carnage, "you said I'd get what I paid for, and you were absolutely right. This is some good work you've done here." He looked down at Alabaster, who looked up at him with a glare, "So what are you going to do with tall, bright and white here? Just gonna leave him buried until someone finds him?" he asked.
I shrugged as I looked down at the glaring nazi, "I would, but I've got a feeling Laserdream here would have an issue with that." Given her stern gaze, I was probably correct, "I'll call the PRT so they can come dig him out. Make him their problem."
"Don't worry about that." Laserdream interrupted already called them while you and Alabaster were fighting, they should be here soon."
'Oh really? Dope. Thank you." I said, thankfully. "Um, by the way, as much as I'd love to stick around, I've still got a contract to complete. Do you mind…?" I trailed off, motioning toward the gang members.
She sighed and nodded, "Yeah sure. Go do what you have to do. I'll take care of it."
I grinned widely, "Thanks Laserdream. Come by Palanquin sometime while I'm there. I'll be sure to make it up to you!"
She waved me off, "Sure, I'll try to stop by when I'm free. Now get out of here, you don't want to be here when the PRT gets here. They'll have you stay here forever making statements about what happened."
I gave her a thumbs up before turning to David, "Well, shall we?" I asked.
"We shall." He said, playing along as we bid Laserdream goodbye and made our way to his hotel.
It was an extremely short walk and thankfully proceeded uneventfully. David thanked me for my services and promised to recommend me to his colleagues should they ever decide to hire a mercenary.
I bid the man goodbye and made my way back to the Palanquin with a small skip in my step. I had met and left on good terms with a hero, got to kick in some Empire teeth, got a sweet knife, and my client didn't receive a single scratch.
My first job had been a resounding success.
~~~
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