Jumping off a skyscraper never got old to Ace. As he fell from the top of the building, the wind rushing past him let out a scream of "YEAAAAH!" before the glider flew under him, letting him land on it and take off into the night sky.
This was the favorite part of his new "hobby"; flying about the city gave him a better perspective tactically and of the city itself. It kept him balanced, able to see that from above, the light still outweighed the darkness, that his war was still winnable. Ace's smile grew larger as his glider flew around the building and high into the night sky. If he were a normal person, he would have probably gotten cold zipping around so far up, but his suit and his power kept him warm.
Suddenly Ace picked up something from within the police scanner listener inside his mask. There was a robbery at the local gas station where the cashier had been killed.
Suspects are fleeing on foot near a construction by advise they are two white males mid-twenties bald heads black pants white t-shirts.
The radio chatter mashed with static before it switched to Xander's voice.
"Yo Ace, those sound like skinheads, I just checked, and there were some local reports of them attacking local people in that area."
"Got it," said Ace as he changed his course towards the nearby construction site.
"Hey Xander, did you finish Mr. Smith's math essay?"
"Are you seriously asking about homework right now?" asked Xander.
"Yeah, why?"
"Because you are superheroing?" said Xander
"Yeah, but I haven't finished my essay, and I was wondering if I could look over yours for help. Who the hell gives an essay over math anyway?"
"Well, it is supposed to help with pulling up people's grades for this semester. I would rather have an essay over math than an actual math final," said Xander.
"Truer words have never been spoken," said Ace as he found himself above the Construction site.
Inside the half-completed building, the three criminals panicked as they stumbled their way through the building, hoping to find a way out of it without being caught by the cops.
"Guys, I think I hear something." said one of them as they all paused mid-step to hear a low humming above them.
"Shit, you think they have a chopper above us?" asked another as it suddenly went quiet.
"Hey, why did it go-" one of the three said before he was suddenly grabbed by someone or something and pulled through a brick wall screaming.
"Fuck that!" the two remaining criminals yelled at once as they unloaded their handguns in the direction of whatever had taken their friend, but to their utter horror from the smoke of their pistols came a figure unharmed by the bullets.
"Normally, I tend to look over punks like you and let the cops deal with this shiit," it said as the figure kept moving forward. One of the men reloaded his pistol and kept shooting at the slowly advancing figure. "But you took a life today, and for that, well, it's not gonna end so pleasantly." The figure said as it kept walking towards them.
"DIE FUCKING DIE DIE!" yelled one of the two thugs as they emptied their guns at the monster before something flew into them, bonding them two together. A moment later, a jolt of pain ran through their bodies, and the next they knew, they were handcuffed in a cell.
The next morning Ace woke up late; it was nearly midday; at first, he could feel his heart drop to his knees before he realized he had already turned in his work the night before online after he got home from "work."
"Thank God for Turnitin," said Ace. Ever since the December after the first wave of lockdowns back when he was in middle school, the school system had pretty much been lax when it came to attendance, putting much of the work online. By the time he got to high school, most people only showed up for the first few weeks of the semester; the rest of the time, the school was a ghost town. The whole newer lax system resulted from an unspoken compromise between the anti-vax and pro-science parents. It allowed the parents to pull their kids out to do their school work online anytime there was a covid spike without that much paperwork.
That, of course, meant cheating was far more common, but honestly, at Ace's school, cheating didn't mean much for the most part in Ward-Douglass High if you're parents could afford to send you there or if you got in due to your brains school was just a stepping stone, little more than coming of age tradition into success. This was extra true for Ace; after all, half the school was named after his family, there was no way, even if he was an idiot, that the school would even think about failing him. Yet for him, school was more than a stepping stone; it was a hell of a good cover; who would expect the high school party boy to go around dressed as a ghost kicking ass in his spare time.
Ace finally pulled himself out of bed; as he did, his body was struck by how hungry he was; that was one of the many side effects of serum. He could hear Destiny's dad's voice in his head again from that night. It was more like bright splashes of pain and memories than a tangible thing.
We don't know what the side effects could be; the cases with the rats were all over the place, from eye sensitivity to extreme aggression.
Screw the side effects, Dad; if we don't do this, Ace will die
Ace made himself a cup of coffee and some nachos from the comfort of his built-in kitchen within his bedroom. He had this room redesigned for his birthday a few years back. The idea came from Xander to have a room where it felt like its own home. So that is what Ace did; he designed an open wall concept home within a bedroom. It had everything a teen could want: a rec area, a man cave complete with a "mini" arcade, a master kitchen, living room, even a hot tub. It was filled with other things, music equipment ready to be played, a library of books and board games stacked neatly together on bookshelves, four large Trophy cases housing the monuments to his martial arts training stood nearby the shelves.
Moving out of to a hallway, Ace took the elevator down into the main lobby of his home as Ace reached the lobby before the door had the chance to open. The young billionaire caught a smell of a scent he recognized.
Destiny sat drinking from 1700's glassware while laying covered up in a blanket on one of the room's many sofas scrolling through her phone. The sofa she had chosen was the nearest to the grand fireplace of the mansion, which was kindling with a small yet warm flame. Above the fireplace was almost a movie theater size television.
"What?" she asked, taking another sip from the priceless teacup before going back to scrolling through tik tok.
"What? What the hell are you doing drinking tea with those antiques? They are worth a fortune!"
Destiny raised an eyebrow. "Tea? I'm not drinking tea; this is tequila.".
"The hell your off-brand Zendaya ass doing using my good cups for drinking tequila!"
"First off, I'm the baddest bitch in the land, so if anything, Zendaya is an off-brand me. Second I'm drinking out these mini glasses because I'm a princess, and princesses are fucking fancy."
"Not drinking Montezuma," mumbled Ace as he sat next to her eating his nachos.
"Are you eating nachos for breakfast?" Destiny said, looking over at his plate as she let Ace get under the blanket with her.
"Says the woman drinking at midday."
"Not Ace Ward becoming anti-alcohol all of a sudden." She joked, flipping on tv to the news.
"Kind of a side effect of not being able to get drunk anymore."
"If you are joining us at the top of the hour, we have news coming from Atlanta serval men connected to a string of paramilitary and criminal activities which are suspected members to the Neo Nazi group Temple of Blood were found badly beaten after fleeing a scene of a robbery. One of the men is in critical condition, and the others are in police custody for questioning. This marks one of the many mysterious acts in a trend of alleged vigilantism that has been sweeping the nation."
"So, what are you reading?" Ace asked.
"Fanfic about us?" She said,
"Is it a self-inserted 5th wheel friendship with the writer being a Mary Sue, or an Ace X Reader or a weird slash fic of Xander and me?"
"Yes.".
"How many words is it?" asked Ace
"75k and still being updated."
"Yeah, go ahead and send me the link," said Ace. "Anway, where the hell is Xander?"
"Attempting to break things off with Amy."
"By himself, brave man." joked Destiny
"Nah, he brought Maxwell with him for backup."
"I don't see how much that will help him; you remember the Velma saga." She giggled,
"How could I forget, she threw poor Max out a second-story window."
"So what's the plan for today?" asked Destiny
"Little of construction, a little bit of sparring, and a whole lot of nachos.".
Meanwhile, Maxwell and Xander were dodging stuff being thrown at them by Amy as they rushed off towards Maxwell, still running Volvo.
"SCREW YOU! XANDER, YOU LYING SON OF A WHORE!" yelled Amy, throwing gifts Xander had given her throughout their relationship.
"You sure do know how to pick them, don't you, Xander!" yelled Maxwell as they ran into his car before driving off.
"Don't blame me, blame Ace; he was the one who hooked me up with her in the first place."
"It's your fault for taking any advice about dating from Ace Ward." joked Maxwell as they drove into town.
"Wait, I thought we were heading back to home base?" asked Maxwell. The name home base was a pretty popular nickname for Ace's home. Seeing how it was a massive mansion that almost functioned as a resort for the school. It was far enough out the way to not have noise complaints, and there was no adult supervision to top it all off; the drink flowed like a waterfall there during parties that could sometime in summer go on for almost a week straight. It was an open secret that Ace's home was the crash pad for the young, rich, and famous of the city.
The home had gathered many names of the years, The Palace, The Castle Of The South, and most curiously to the name"The Keep." Most people outside of Ace's close family, which were all dead or too distant to care, didn't know why it was called that. Most people assumed that the name came from the design of the main building and grounds. After all, with its opposing command of the hill on which its foundation overlooks the walls that surrounded the rest of the estate, it would be reasonable enough to assume its name was derived from those factors alone.
The mansion was built after the first family manor was burnt down soon after the fall of the south by ex-confederates; the new estate was designed to be a fortress to protect the family on many occasions, most notably the Atlanta riots, where it was put under siege by racists forces before they were beaten back by an army of hired Pinkertons and the newly formed Ward Security Group. Yet the home's design wasn't why it was named the Keep; the real reason laid under its foundations. Ace's great grandfather had worked on the atomic bomb project, and his grandmother was scarred for life after seeing these reports of men becoming shadows on walls.
Thus Tiana Ward started project Moses, an unfinished series of public and private interconnected bunker systems for Atlanta. The project's ultimate goal was to create what would be in function an "under city" for Atlanta. After the Cuban missile crisis, the government was in talks with his family company to expand the project to other cities. However, it fell apart during the late '70s after the death of Ace's grandmother. Now the systems of bunkers sat abandoned beside the one being used by the "Scooby gang," a nickname Ace gave to himself, Xander, and Destiny.
"Nah, man, we're gonna head to Shark Tank tonight," said Xander.
"Wait, wait, the Tank? Do you think that's a good idea?"
"Yeah, why not," said Xander.
"Well, you know, with all that para beef and the Mob."
"Wait, you believe in that New Black Mafia bs?" said Xander. However, his investigation into the local gangs was started to make him question his belief in the idea.
"How do you explain the drop in shooting? It seems like someone is making them put down the guns," said Maxwell.
Xander laughed, "Maybe they are scared of the Reaper."
"Cap, but not for real, the only thing I can see is making those guys stop beefing is a lot of easy money," said Maxwell
"Now you sound one of the conspiracy nuts c'mon just relax, man; it isn't like we have to go to school tomorrow anyway," said Xander
"In this city, chilling out isn't an option for people like us."
…
Ace was finishing vacuuming the carpet in the gym of the main Ward bunker. At the same time, Destiny was testing out some of his new gadgets nearby. The group of three teenagers had been conducting a massive renovation of the cold world era bunker, turning into a modern open concept hybrid between a computer lab, armory, and gym. Destiny, along with Xander, had drawn up the plans for the renovations in a computer program to which Ace only made a few edits to make things more realistic, but even so, the renovation would still take a long while to do by themselves, and there were months of not over a year away from being anywhere close to done.
"I don't understand what is with these near gas pallets? Don't we all ready have smoke bombs?" asked Destiny.
"There isn't smoke; there are gas bombs," said Ace turning off the vacuum and walking over to her.
"Yeah, that totally not the same as smoke," Destiny said sarcastically.
"They aren't; the gas in those bombs is a unique form of tear gas laced with LSD. I got the idea from the Maxwell science paper he did a few months ago about realistic fear toxins from Batman. I had to tweak a few things making the gas last harmful, but these babies will wonder if I ever need to do crowd control."
"Of course they are," said Destiny, putting it back into the case before looking towards a separate case nearby housing the suit. The case around the suit was glass with gold trimming in the shape of an upright sarcophagus. It stood out compared to the rest of the modern bunker as its style was almost victorian in a way.
"You know there is always rooms from one more out there," said Ace gazing at the armored suit absently, thinking about new improvements he could do it.
"Did you forget that you are the only out here with superpowers"
"True, but you are the better fighter," said Ace
"I'm not gonna be your sidekick, Ace."
"I never said anything like that, besides having you dress up in bright red tights might kinda impede the whole creature of the night aesthetic I got going on; I don't want you to be my sidekick; I'm just saying, we would make a great team. If anything, with how fast you are, I would be the one having to play catch up.".
"The answer is no, Ace. Have you read a comic book? The female partners always die, and I'm not trying to get killing joked." Destiny said stubbornly.
"You know she doesn't die in that right."
"The point still stands."
"So, how's your mother?" asked Ace, changing the subject as he turned his attention to the weapons case.
"I don't know, and I haven't spoken to her in a couple of days; I been spending a lot of time with my dad to avoid the drama with her and my sister. Besides, I don't think she really wants me there right now."
"Des, don't say that. I'm sure your mother wants you around."
"Not as long as I am around you and the rest of the Scooby gang, she thinks y'all are bad influences on me.". said, Destiny.
"How? Miss Monroe loves me."
"She thinks you and Xander are privileged womanizing rich party brats who were born with a silver spoon in your mouths who don't give a shit about anyone else but yourselves, her words not mine."
"Well, at least half of that is true..wait, what about Max? How did he get out of this?"
"Because, and I quote from my mom here, "at least that Maxwell kid actually knows what it is like for the rest of us you should be spending more time with him, not that boyfriend of yours," and by boyfriend, she is referring to you."
"Why does everyone think we are dating? Asked Ace.
"Because we are apparently a perfect match for each other,"
"Yeah, but it's not like we didn't try."
"Don't remind me of those two weeks we couldn't even kiss each other without breaking in laughter at how fucking ridiculous it was," said Destiny.
"Totally; I mean, it's so stupid personally I think me and Xander would make a better couple." Ace joked.
"Well, you wouldn't be the worst guy Xander dated; remember Aaron aka Mr.I Put A Defanged Cobra In Your Car Because I Was Jelly." "
"Well, that Xander for you is great at computers and terrible at dating.".
…
Meanwhile, back across town, Xander and Maxwell sat on the upper balcony of the shark tank club, looking down on the fancy club-goers dancing around the shark tank stage combo that was the centerpiece of the whole club. The upper balcony and catwalks of the old factory-turned club were modified to become a restaurant and hookah lounge for the high rollers.
"This isn't a date, is it?" asked Maxwell as the waiter brought out their food. Catfish, fish, fries, and hush puppies for Maxwell and for Xander lobster and steak "because it kinda feels like a date."
"Nah, no offense, but you aren't really my type of guy," said Xander.
"None taken and same to you."Maxwell joked as he looked over at the dancing people below, spotting someone "damn, Yazmin is here." Xander could practically see the man's pupils dilate, looking down at her.
Xander took another bite from his meal. "You mean the girl that roasted in front of the school after that little song and dance number you pulled?" He said with his mouth full, "Did you really think over the rainbow would work?"
"What can I say? I'm a sucker for pain."
"You can say that again, Draco was about to kick your ass for talking to her girl until Destiny stopped her. Which, by the way, started a whole other category five shit storm seeing how she and Destiny had a thing,"
"Had a thing? Wait, Destiny is?"
"Pan, I think," said Xander, sipping from his drink, "I'm pretty sure you are the only straight person in our friend group."
"What about Ace?"
Xander shrugged. "Ace is Ace.".
"You can say that again, and I never met a person like him before; I mean the way he bounced back after what happened to his dad and him beating cancer on top of that dude is practically Superman."
"If only you know, man," Xander thought to himself
The two ate their meals as they watched a live club performance by a few singers, most notably Damballa, better known by her stage name "White Snake" she had graduated from their high school when they all were freshmen. Two things most people knew about Damballa were her singing and her skin condition. Parts of her body had patterns similar to purple and white-colored snake scales, which match her bright purple eyes. Her style was something out of the 60's Marylin Monroe mixed with a modern and urban take. Everyone thought she would make it to the big time, but she never took off outside of having an ok time singing in clubs and a decent following on her YouTube channel, where she made jazz covers of modern songs. She was what she was currently doing as Xander and Maxwell finished their meal. It was a jazz cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya" when Xander got up to leave, paying his check but letting Maxwell stay as he wanted to listen more to the music or rather continue to stare at Yazmin.
It was around the time White Snake went to her third song when Maxwell noticed something going on in the stairway leading up to the balcony. It sounded like an argument, so Maxwell had the insanely dumb idea to investigate it. He found somebody else from his school Beverly the local red and scholarship kid, arguing with the bouncers. It was odd sightseeing the 5'4 curly-headed blonde reporter dressed in a black beret with a red pin, turtleneck, double-breasted coat, and black dress almost squaring up against the bouncer a solid 6'6 300 pound absolute wall of a man.
"Ma'am, for the last time, the guy you're looking for isn't even here, and that friend of his life almost 30 minutes ago, besides there's no damn way my boss is gonna let people like you up here stick to the bottom floor."
"People like me?"
"Fucking commies, do I gotta spell it out for you, kid?" the bouncer spit out with enough venom to kill a horse
"Listen here, you overgrown slug, I'm gonna up there rather you like or-"
"Ma'am, if you don't leave here, I will escort you out. Do you understand-"
"You can let her in," interrupted Maxwell, who had walked over to the stairway. "Just tell the owners she is with me. I will try and make sure she doesn't bother guessing here.".
The guard looked at Maxwell and glared back at Beverly, shrugged, and mumbled, "if you say so, kid.".
"Um, thanks, but do I know you?" asked Beverly, walking past the bouncer who was still glaring at her.
"We go to school together, I'm Maxwell, and I'm guessing you were looking for my friend Ace."
"Oh great, another rich kid who thinks buying a reporter some drinks and a fancy spot in a club is going to shut her up, but guess what bucko you have I another thi-"
"Actually, no, I was trying to save your life. Do you know this whole place isn't as clean as it looks? Could that guy have hurt you? What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking about how the Wards own half of this city meanwhile, and it's falling apart at the seams. Parts of this town are something out of a third-world slum in the richest nation on earth!"
"You can't really expect Ace to solve all of this city's problems single-handedly. He isn't God, Beverly."
"In this city, he might as well be, listen, I'm not calling for hammer and sickles; I just want people like the Wards, Musk, Bazos, and Spader to pay their fair share…wait, how the hell did you know my name?"
"I listen to your podcast," said Maxwell
"Really, I didn't expect that, with you being-"
"A rich brat, well I wasn't always one, the whole being part of the Bourgeoisie thing is kinda still new to me." joked Maxwell.
"For real?"
"I actually grew up in some of those same third-world hoods."
"So this is the part where you tell me you pulled yourself up by your bootstraps?"
"Nah, I got lucky that my dad got lucky bootstraps had nothing to do with it, just blind luck," he said as they took a seat at his booth. "Listen, I can't make any promises, but I can see what I can to get an interview."
Beverly smiled at him as down below on the dance floor Yaz had just caught a glimpse of the two smiling at each other.
"Yazzie, what are you looking act?" asked one of her friends Mars.
"How the hell do those two nerds get to sit up there while we are stuck in the lower section?"
"Because they're rich," said Mars.
"So what we're rich too and hot beside that Beverly bitch is a damn commie anyway."
"Looks like she is with Maxwell, who is friends with Ace Ward that put him on another level. We might be daddy credit card rich, but Ward and co are in another league. Their houses are measured in miles, not square feet if you get me."
"Miles, huh?" asked Yaz taking another look at Maxwell already forming a golden pathway in her mind.
…
Mia was tired when she woke up; that often happened when she used her powers; it felt like she couldn't get enough sleep for days afterward. When she first started using them to protect her village, she would sleep for almost a week straight after creating a single storm. Yet even in her dreams, she could not find rest as her past mistakes haunted her.
Sounds of her dad calling out for her to run, the sight of her trying to dig her sister out of the rubble it always played in her mind every time she closed her eyes after using her powers. Those images become spirits, forever haunting her mind.
Suddenly Mia noticed that she wasn't the only one in her safe house. In front of was a masked man dressed in an all-black jumpsuit highlighted with red West African tribal patterns; in the center of his chest was a shield overlaid with spears in the shape of an X. They would be really lovely to look at if the guy rocking them wasn't currently standing in her home holding a rifle. While Mia couldn't see the man's face, she could tell where he was from by his rifle. Venan military VPR-55 was based mainly on the British EM1, although the VPR-55 had been updated throughout the years, unlike its forgotten British counterpart.
"You're from Vena?" she asked.
"Indeed, how did you know?"
"The rifle was a dead giveaway Venan are the only people rocking that retro look. I don't recognize your uniform tho?"
"I'm the Splinter." He said, switching to Arabic in an effort to make her feel more comfortable, even adopting her regional accent. This peaked Mia's curiosity as she raised her eyebrows, and the young woman asked, "You speak Arabic?"
"I speak over a hundred languages; it's my side hobby of mine."
"A hundred they must train you, Splinter guys, pretty well."
"I'm the Splinter; there are no others…well," Splinter smiled as he copied himself, and suddenly there were three of him in the room. "Besides from Me Myself and I." He joked as he watched the look of shock flash on Mia's face.
"Y-Y are like me?" She asked, confused at what all just happened.
"Well, minus the cool sand powers, but I think my fashion sense more than makes up for it." Knowing that keeping the conversation in a joking tone would calm her down. It worked as Mia eased up and stopped being so tense.
"So why are you here? I'm guessing it's not for nightlife?"
"I'm here to offer you-" Splinter was cut off.
"I'm not interested in money, I am not a mercenary. If you blood for hire, look into Wagner I heard they give discounts to ex-soviet client states.".
Splinter chuckled at that mostly because his country had closer ties to China than the USSR. "I guess this isn't your first time meeting with state officials.".
" Bashar offered me a million dollars, Khomeini sent five just for me to think about it, I heard rumors that Erdoğan was thinking about giving me double." She changed to Kurdish. "I find that pretty ironic.".
Splinter raised an eyebrow. "You're Kurdish?" he said once again, switching languages.
"I'm no one," she said.
Splinter laughed " Nice catchphrase, no one, but I'm not here to offer you a job."
"So if you're not here to offer me a job, what are you here for?"
"I'm guessing you been watching the news? The world is getting crazier and crazier out there, especially with more and more people like us turning up. My success counted around ten so far, meaning it only a matter of time.".
"A matter of time until what?"
"We see the first attacks by metas. All it takes is one radicalized person to realize they can shoot fire from their eyes and can't be stopped by bullets to create the first."
"The first what?" asked Mia
"Supervillain." said one of Splinter's copies as he or rather what appeared to be she sat on a nearby sofa.
Mia laughed. "You seriously didn't say supervillain did you?"
"All supervillain is a terrorist with better toys.".
"Isn't that just a military?" Mia joked.
"Yeah, accept most military can at least be held to account. People like this Reaper guy or that cowboy freak can zoom in, cause massive damage and disappear all on their own. Let's say some midwestern Yankee, the kind that wants to glass this whole region, suddenly became the power equivalent of the atomic bomb and decided to make his back wood racist fantasy a reality? Who would stop him? Who could stop him?" One of the male Splinters said.
"I can see your point, but I don't trust you or your country. Vena doesn't have the best history with its military, let alone metahumans."
"It's been a long time since Biafra Vena had changed." said the female Splinter.
"Your country records on human rights say otherwise."
"Ironic coming from a woman working with Hamas."
"I'm not with them nor any other banner; I'm an agent of peace, not bloodshed.".
"Agent of Peace cool name, not my choice No One but who I am to judge," said the Splinters as they all rejoined into one person "but If you change, I am gonna leave this here" the man handed over a passport to Vena and small playing card "Take it to leave it use for a vacation, it will get you anywhere in the Vena.". As Splinter got ready to leave through the doors of the safe house, he paused one last time "One more thing it's about the name, Agent of Peace is little long not all that badass. I say go for what they are calling you online. After all Desert has much a better ring to it.".
Once the man was gone, Mia held the passport in her hand; it seemed pretty normal for Vena except for the card attached to it. It was all black except for a Red Bull in the center of it, and under the bull, it said something in Venan. It took a while for Mia to translate it, but the writing said one word and one word only.
Legion
…
"Ok, ok, ok, I gotta admit it was kinda fun watching those kids act." giggled KeKe
"Hey, they learned from the best," Bishop said, putting his arm around KeKe.
"Oh yeah, how could I forget Mr. President of the Dayton High school Theatre Club" she teased.
"I wasn't that bad." laughed Bishop.
"You nearly burned down the school gym!"
"Ok good point, but counterpoint it was one heck of an opening ni-" Bishop started, but he stop as suddenly a gun was pointed in his face.
"Your money or yo-" the mugger stopped as Bishop spoke his name.
"Zaire Boy, what the hell are you doing with that damn gun?!"
The young man's flash with fear at the sound of Bishop's now booming voice. KeKe clutched onto his arm, scared out of her voice.
"M-M-M-r Castle I-I thought Y-you were."
"Were what some other unfortunate soul to rob, what the hell is wrong with you to give me that damn thing right now."
"I-I-"
"Boy, don't test me!" Bishop barked out like an angry dad disciplining his son as he snatched the gun out of the kid's hand like it was little more than a toy.
"Yes, sir," Zaire said as he hung his head in shame.
"Zaire, go home before you hurt someone or get yourself killed."
"I can't, sir. It's my mom's she kicks me out."
Bishop's face softened as he realized what had happened
"That's why you out here robbing your brother, huh? Listen, give me that damn gun and head down to the aid center. We got a shelter set up there, but we are going to have a damn long talk about this tomorrow, you hear me." said Bishop as the boy who KeKe realized could not have been older than 14 slumped off towards the mutual aid center.
Kelly was stunned into silence for the rest of the trip, finally breaking through with the broken words of:
"Hh-ho-ow? W-Why? W-what?"
"He was a kid from the street; I think he might have been more scared of us than we were of him. I'm lucky I got to him before he pointed that thing in someone else's face that could end with somebody getting hurt."
"You should just call the cops," said Kelly.
"For what Keke? To have the kid thrown in jail? To make him a slave all but in a name for trying to feed himself.".
"Here you go with that commie talk, but," KeKe smiled at Bishop before kissing him on the cheek, "Thanks for saving me.".
Bishop smiled back as he watched her enter her apartment. Despite all that internet fame, Keke was still a small-time girl from Illinois.
Walking back into his apartment Bishop was confronted by his "project." The suit was little more than a grouping of flameproof fabric, which was an addition he made after his run-in with the fire girl. Bishop was still kicking himself in the ass about that one. He had spooked the poor girl something awful, and then she had attacked him out of pure. Now she was god knows where with this Ice woman.
"Nice job, Castle," he mumbled to himself as he sat down looking at his work. He had a rough outline of what he wanted his suit to look like. All black body with the stitches of it being dark green, two for the lack of better words military-style yellow stars at the neck collar. Above that for his lower mask was a red neck guitar covering his lower face and his old show taking care of his eyes. His red combat boots would match his lower front, but he wasn't all that sure if he was going to for a cape just yet. No matter what, he had a long day of work ahead of him and an even longer night.
…
The decrepit victorian mansion not being covered in blood was the first thing Jamie thought was odd, considering how many bodies covered the floor. She counted 15 on the first few floors alone—all left-hand path occultists of all types. However, the majority of the bodies were from the O 9 A. However, there were other dark mystics among the dead.
Jamie realized who, or rather bluntly, what was the cause of the deaths pretty quickly after bending down to look at the necks of each person. Everyone on that floor in the mansion had the same wounds on their necks for large fang marks with a massive hole in the center of each.
Jamie couldn't smell or even see any signs of a single gunshot going off, meaning the Strogi that did this was fast enough to take out all of these means effectively at the same time. There were a few of those things fast, sufficiently capable of doing that with a grudge against Neo Nazis Occultists. In particular, one Clan of vampires would go out their way for something like this.
Jamie found her Suspicion to be right as she heard and then followed the sound of slurping from the upper floor of the manor house. In a dark cramp corner of the mansion was a young woman, maybe her late teens, very early twenties, bent over on top of a dead man. A long serpentine-like tentacle covered in a clear mucus slithering out of the woman's mouth into the throat of the deadman drinking him like a Capri Sun. In moments the man was little more than a grey husk of a body. The young woman turned around her mouth like that of a shark-filled with rows of fangs and smiled.
"OH MY GOD, JAMIE, IS THAT YOU?" She screamed as she ran and hugged Jamie.
"Hey to you, Aunty Santell," Jamie said, hugging her back.
"I haven't seen you in years; you're all grown up. The last time I saw you were at your," Santell paused as she didn't want to open old wounds, "I haven't seen you since your 12."
"It's been a long time," Jamie said, her mind flicking to her dad's funeral.
He died fighting the good fight
I promise that I will destroy him for what he did to your father
"So how's is everything?"
"Sameish Adze and Angelique are in the wind something about worlds mixing the regular stop the apocalypse Jazz; meanwhile, I decided to get back my PI gig."
"You know you were kinda a legend from back then. I used to hear stories about some of the shit you got into with Adze and Angelique.".
"Well, officially, that was my mom, since I can't take credit for all that without explaining how I am still not old enough to drink," said Santell.
"Right right, you guys don't grow up, do you?"
"Nope, full-on Peter Pan Syndrome. I can't even grow, let alone age."
"Sounds sucky"
"It is; wanna get drunk and talk about it," Santell said, looking for an excuse to get drunk.
"Something tells me you were gonna do that anyway." Jamie joked.
"You have a pretty good gut there, kid," said Santell.
A few hours later, they were in Jamie's apartment high, drunk, listening to music and eating Nandos
"So, what brings you across the pond?" asked Jamie. "Besides killing Nazis wizards?"
"If I said possible looming apocalyptic threats would you believe me?"
Jamie sighed. "Great, I just saved the world six months ago."
"America is becoming a hot spot for the supernatural again," said Santell
"I thought you guys ended that in the 89,"
"It appears that it was the only chapter cults, witch, vampires, orbs, ufo, and monsters have been popping up faster than there were doing the panic. I've been trying to put them down as quickly as they pop up, but I will need an extra hand." Santell said, lighting another joint.
"I have my country to protect, and you have yours."
"That's why I already took care of your little O9A problem.". Santell said
"That mansion was one of many hotspots for their lot."
"I know that's why I killed them all. Pretty sure it's a hash brown on that twitter website or whatever."
"Wait, what do you mean all of them?"
"I ate the O9A. What more can I say?" The vampire said as the smoke from the weed left her lips. Santell tilted her head, letting the high hit her as the music on the radio station changed to the "season of the witch." she got up to dance, her body flowing to the music.
"Wait, how long have you been here?"
"Two days," the vampire said with a smile extending her hand out to Jamie, "Enough with talking. Let's dance."
You've got to pick up every stitch
Oh no, it must be the season of the witch
It must be the season of the witch, yeah
It must be the season of the witch
…
"What the hell do you mean you are out of hot dogs!" yelled Captain Slaughter in the drive-through.
Sir The Mcdog is currently out due to swine strikes
"Fucking striking commies," Cap mumbled under his breath.
Sir?
"I said let me get a big mac then with a chocolate ice cream."
The ice cream machine broke
"Bullshit, every time I come here, you guys always say that. Can't you please just fix my order? It's not like they are paying you to do rocket science back there."
Sir, they pay me the bare minimum in this shit hole; if you want good service or people who at least try and pretend they give a damn about you, go to Ward Burgers, they have a franchise down the street.
"Screw you, lady!" said Cap as he drove off towards the Warr Burger.
The meal at Ward burger was pretty good but was more expensive than five guys. Ricky didn't care. He had money to blow from his last gig against Vena. One thing about working for a shadowy US agency to help destabilize an African country was that they paid at least halfway upfront, so even if you fucked up and got half your face blown off and dragged through the streets, you still got half of a check. It was enough to pay the bill and splurge on a few treats, but that was about it.
It was late until he got to his little Austin duplex. It was the worst of the credibly shitty property his slumlord Anahid owned. Anahid was the stereotypical rich brat who had a nasty talent of being an absolute parasitic shit to her tenets. To keep his place livable, Cap had to become a handyman, which earned him praise from the neighbors he despised with a burning passion, but the rent was cheap, and in a rapidly gentrifying city, that was all that mattered. Captain Slaughter hated those liberal hipsters almost as much as his slum lord. There wasn't a day that went by where he didn't think about taking a flame thrower to his local Whole Foods or Semtex to their little gentrification towers.
"All it would take is a few pounds of fertilizer and boom; most of those east coast demshits would all move back to where they fucking came from." Thought Ricky to himself, but he knew that acts of terrorism, at least on US soil, were off-limits for him unless the Feds asked him to.
He stood up late watching tv on an old 13 inch that he got for the cheap at a garage sale. Ricky spent his nights watching 80's actions movies until he made himself turn off the tv and take his "sleeping meds." In his fridge was a bottle of Inland Taipan venom which he made himself a tall glass of. Then in one massive chug drank it all before collapsing on his futon and waiting for a few seconds for it to kick in.
"This should get me at least 4 hours." He mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes.
Ricky only got three that night.
…
"I don't give a shit because I don't give; if I gave a shit wouldn't give fuck because I don't give a shit." song Nat as she knocked on the door to the judge's house. It was perfect, all nice and isolated at the end of a developing semi-rural suburb, so far away from all the people he would send off for decades for drug offenses. Most importantly for Nat, it was quiet enough so that a silenced shot from a 3D-printed gun would not be heard by anyone nearby.
Nat casually knocked on the door. It felt as expensive as it looked. Nat wondered to herself how many bribes it took to build this travesty of an oversized McMansion. Then she got hungry and started to eat some of the pizza. The pizza was a meat lover with extra pineapples and sardinesher favorite. She didn't understand why people hated pineapple on pizza. It was the perfect complement to meat and sardines.
"Pizza? What the hell we didn't order in Piz-" the judge said, but as the door opened, he was met with three shots to the head.
"Pizza Pizza," said Nat mimicking the Little Caesar's commercial The screams filled the house as three more shots filled the cold night air, and suddenly the place was quiet once more. Just in case she missed a "customer," she walked through the house, checking any places someone else could be hiding.
"I guess I'm not getting a tip." she joked to herself before skipping off towards her trans am stilling singing to herself, "I don't give a shit because I don't give a fuck, if I gave a shit wouldn't give fuck because I don't give a shit.".
….
Uncle Sam rested on a lawn chair on top of the New York Apartment building, still trying to recover from his jet lag. That and the serval gun show wounds he got from his fight in Portland.
Thankfully he had something to cheer him up serval chop cheeses. Sam couldn't gain weight or lose it. In fact, since the morning he woke up with his powers, he couldn't not even so much as cut his hair without it growing back to the tight 1940's Boy Scout cut.
"The trash fash have stepped up their game from sticks to pistols." said a woman in a skin-tight red, white and blue leotard and heels. A yellow utility belt was strapped around her waist filled with homemade gadgets. And a black neck gaiter covering half her face.
"I'm guessing your that Liberty chick I've been hearing about?" asked Sam.
"Am I that well known?" Liberty retorted.
"I've seen a couple of your videos."
"Which ones?" asked Liberty slipping back to her identity for a split second.
"Huh?"
"Nevermind, the point is it's nice to see taking the fight to those assholes too," Liberty said.
"I'm just doing my part, but you guys PAF, are amazing. I see those videos not just the ones about kicking some fash ass, but that breakfast program and public housing initiative are ultra based."
"Well, don't give us the credit we copied a lot of the program from New Era.",
"Well, whoever you guys learned it from, it's cool nonetheless. You know you're the first another person…like me I met."
"Same for me, although I put some fleers for that guy in Chicago and that raincoat man. Those are the only two people we can verify to be the real deal still we haven't any luck contacting them directly."
"What about that ghost in Atlanta?"
"I doubt he's real beside that whole grim reaper aesthetic gives me Chud's punisher skull vibes."
"True, so I'm guessing you've been watching me for a while?" said Sam.
"For about two weeks, we tracked you down based on the areas you were most active, which was kinda hard seeing how you been popping up all over the country, but after a while, we found that you was most sighted in New York before geolocating your main haunts based on pictures and sighting of masked people stopping crime around the same time you started fighting it," said Liberty.
"You know that the most effort a woman had ever made at finding me outside of that time, I got lost at Coney Island when I was 8, and my mom freaked out."
Liberty smiled at that "she must be proud of you."
"She certainly would be," said Uncle Sam looking over the city.
"So I'm guessing you know I'm not here just to trade compliments?" Liberty said.
"I kinda figured that, so what are you going to ask me-"
"Team up? Maybe you're as smart as you look." She said as she walked towards the ledge.
"Wait, how will I find you?"
"You won't," said Liberty as she jumped off the ledge, disappearing into the night.
"Fucking Based and Batman Pilled" Uncle Sam