AN: This chapter written for IllusoryGentleman by request. Please enjoy!
January 20th
Seattle Washington
2015 PST
Eight months after the quake
"Biggy, we're in position." The Fencer said over the radio, absently placing his hand on the throat mic to communicate. He'd picked them up at a duty supply store for a steal on account of the fact they were damaged in shipping, and repaired them. He was a man of many talents, that one.
"Do we have to call him Biggy? For that matter, do we have to work with him at all?" Fencer's companion in both crimefighting, and life said. A pale, black haired beauty, she sat next to him in the van, her eyes far more focused on the several screens showing the hijacked feeds than her disdainful tone would let on.
"Terrible codename aside, he's good to have around." Fencer said, absently tap-checking the equipment on his belt and MOLLE suspenders for the hundredth time. Unlike the Metahuman he was madly in love with, he had no superpowers, just a brain and determination to use it for good. "Believe it or not, he's a legit sumotori."
"No. I refuse to believe it. He's big but he's not that big." The Jade Queen replied, shaking her head, but still refusing to take her eyes off the screens, the lot of them honestly reminding her of the camera monitors available to a director for an on-location film shoot, which, to be fair, is what the van they were occupying was used for.
"Believe it. Hand to hand, I don't always win when we're training, plus, he just knows things." Fencer replied, saving his blade for last. He'd kept the sword he'd disarmed from one of the Joker's henchmen, that weapon hanging over the small mantle back home in their apartment. It was remarkable quality, but when he realized it was time to upgrade, his beloved was already on top of it, having presented him with a beautiful Spanish steel blade she'd purchased in Toledo.
"I've made contact." Biggy said over the radio, the sound quality terrible since he had to use an earbud in his current guise. "There's definitely illegal fighting going on here, and that same woman is running the show."
"Roulette." The buxom metahuman said with a frown, going to the pinhole camera they'd been able to conceal in Biggy's tuxedo. Armani, and he just had it laying in his closet, why and how were completely beyond her, and she was not unintelligent. "That's my cue."
"Good luck, I'll be here waiting. Bug out code is zinfandel, and if I lose connection, I come in hot." Fencer replied, watching his love stand up. She smoothed out her long black cocktail dress, taking a minute to put her breasts in place, and slipped into seven inch heels. "I love you." He added.
"I love you both too." Biggy said over the radio.
"Damnit, he was talking to me." The Metahuman replied with a frown. This friend of her boy's had better be worth the trouble. She had to put that thought away though, as it was time to get to work. She stepped out of the van, and walked the two blocks to the building in the cold northwest snow, as though she couldn't feel it. It was because she really couldn't feel the cold anymore, but it certainly helped to sell the act.
Upon arriving at the front door of the otherwise unremarkable building off of the main downtown drag, she was greeted by a large doorman, who was about to give her the standard hassle, until his partner stopped him. "That's Veronica East. She gets in." the other doorman said, recognizing her immediately and using her stage name. It paid to be a famous actress for gigs like this, even if she did have to get creative when it came time to cool off.
"Thank you." The Jade Queen replied with an easy social grace, before stepping indoors. As unremarkable as it was on the outside, the interior was far less plain, with nice wood, deep and plush red velvet, and thick carpeting laid out for the elite to come and play. Just as Biggy had said, there was a large ring setup in the center of the place, several levels below, as though they were planning a private Wrestlemania for the wealthy.
She mingled about, occasionally casting a glance at Biggy, still wholly unconvinced he was remotely anything she'd been told he was. One small comfort came in that his responses were similarly surreptitious. The Jade Queen took a glass of champagne from one of the passing service workers, took a sip, and then had her attention stolen in short order.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" An amplified voice said as most of the lights shut off, save for running lights at the baseboards, and the spotlights over the ring. "Welcome to another night of Bloodsport!"
The Jade Queen stood there in the upper stands, having no desire to leave the nosebleeds. In a short moment, when entrance music for one of the fighters began playing, she was joined by Biggy, who leaned against the waist high wall on both hands, seeming perfectly comfortable. "Miss East, I love you films. Black Heart of Terror was underrated."
Well that was certainly different. "Thank you, most people skip it in favor of The Shadow Realm." She replied, her eyes focused on the ring.
"The production value's certainly higher, but Black Heart was the original. I feel like the writer's integrity was compromised when the studio bought the rights for the remake." Biggie said, absently gesturing, as though speaking with his hands, though the motion drew her attention, exactly like he'd planned.
In the center of the ring, Roulette stood there on the mic, refusing to let someone else build the hype for her fights. "We've got three fights on the card tonight, the main event promising to be a spectacle for the ages! First up, Sanguine Sal looks to come off of a losing streak tonight against Nikki Numbchucks."
"It's nunchaku." Biggy corrected under his breath.
"Next, all the way from Osaka, Masaharu Michinoku faces off against Kevin "Street Samurai" Morris in a live steel sword duel. We've set for first blood so we can see more of these great duelists, but one can never be too sure!" Roulette called out, knowing her crowd came for blood, but quietly hoping both of the swordsman would remember they were both more valuable alive than dead.
"Finally, a treat for you all that I've been working hard to make happen, so I hope you appreciate this. We have Rose "Ravager" Wilson facing off in a handicap match against five opponents, who you all know as the Blood Train!"
"Something about her attitude says that last fight's personal." The Jade Queen said to Biggy. Roulette had a strong vibe of smug self-satisfaction when announcing that last match. "Oh, excuse me." She added, when an older man bumped into her.
"Sorry miss." He said pleasantly, turning to look at her directly. The man was older indeed, with a mane of steel gray hair in a ponytail, and wearing a legit, honest-to-God eyepatch. At least he had some manners, and excellent taste in suits. "Should've kept an eye out." He added with a wry smirk.
"It's no trouble, nothing spilled." The Jade Queen replied, feeling absolutely unnerved all of a sudden. Something about the man was positively terrifying the minute he focused his full attention on her. "Enjoy the fights."
"Oh, I plan to." The man said, and strolled down the steps with an ease and economy of motion neither of the vigilantes missed.
"That man is scary as hell." Biggy said, quaffing the last of his champagne in one drink.
"Yeah." The Jade Queen replied, keeping her eye on him, and glad she had. He'd no more gotten to the bottom of the steps, right at ring level, when he reached into his coat, withdrew a pistol, and started shooting at Roulette.
"Shooting." She said, leaning directly into Biggy's ear to use his comm. They only had the one earbud and the throat mic would have ruined the lines of the dress. When Biggy nodded and ducked behind the wall, The Jade Queen made her move.
The uproar had definitely caused a panic, which had included the bartender in the upper level, who'd dropped the glass they were cleaning and taken off. It gave The Jade Queen a chance to duck behind the service station and trigger the metamorphosis.
It came easier, every single time she did it, that change from the woman to the creature within her. Milky green ice began crawling across her body, starting at her core and working its way out to her fingers and toes. The smooth material was broken up by sudden and symmetrical shards, extending from her body at dangerous angles; each change, they were totally different, as though a new creature emerged.
Fortunately, it seemed to obey her to some degree, as no portion of her dress was damaged, though that would certainly change in an instant. Coming over the bar, she saw the rushing mob of people making their way to the doors, and decided to let the evacuation happen. What they were interested in was Roulette, who needed to be alive to see justice.
When Fencer slipped in through a service entrance opposite, she smiled. It was time to go to work.
January 20th
Seattle Washington
2110 PST
Eight months after the quake
"Oh my God, who was that?" The Jade Queen said, urgently trying to patch up a series of cuts across Biggy's torso, while Fencer drove their van as far from the scene of that mess as possible. "That wasn't a human."
"Neither of them were." Fencer replied, driving one handed while he kept pressure on a nasty cut over his orbital. "I get the feeling we weren't even really on his radar that whole time, and the girl was more attacking out of spite."
"I've got footage." Biggy said weakly. "We can run facial recognition."
"Yeah, for real, we need to holy shit!" Fencer said, suddenly swerving when he saw someone flying alongside their van. Biggy and The Jade Queen were tossed in the back of the van as Fencer took it up onto a curb before coming right back off and hitting the brakes on the empty Seattle side street.
"What the hell was that?" The woman in the back snapped. She'd taken a nasty bump when the van had first hit the curb. It wasn't at all like her man to drive that badly, especially on streets he'd spent his entire life on.
"Bugger, sorry about that." They heard when the passenger door opened. "I need to work on my entrances. Do any of you need help?"
The Jade Queen turned to see who'd climbed into their van, and for a minute, felt absolutely challenged. Whoever the chick was, she was doing Goth like a genuine boss, in that bolero coat and corset dress with the perfect makeup. "Yeah, all three of us now." She snarked.
"Bloody hell I imagine so." Their visitor said, her appearance absolutely familiar to Fencer, who got the van moving again.
"We met you in Gotham not that long ago, didn't we?" He asked, making a beeline to their safehouse. They were far enough away from the mess that driving to obfuscate their route was no longer important. "You, Batgirl, and some cowboy, right?"
"Yes, that's me. Daeva, and the cowboy is," Daeva began, but the worst injured of the lot interrupted her.
"Daeva and Mustang, they're Justice League. I saw them on the news with some others." He said, almost deliriously. "Can we get home soon now?"
"That's where we're heading buddy, don't worry." Fencer said, hating the traffic lights, but knowing the attention running them would bring would be worse. "Could've used a hand from the League back there." He added, glancing at Daeva.
"I was busy putting the fire out in the building. For future reference, that was Deathstroke, and it pays to keep out of his way unless your first name is either Bat, Super, or Wonder." Daeva replied, sparing another glance at their injured. She had some magic for it, but she needed a quiet space to perform it.
"So, you're here to give us advice?" The Jade Queen asked, biting the ice back quite literally, as it wanted to climb out again of its own accord. "Because that would have been nice two hours ago."
"No, I came to check on you. Batman was tracking your work, and felt it was time to see how well you handled things. I'm supposed to give you a lecture if you're in over your heads, but that's not at all fair given who showed up this evening. Who was your intended target?" Daeva asked, giving the larger fellow in the back another worried look. Wherever they were based out of, she hoped it was close.
"Roulette, she's been running underground fighting rings up and down the west coast. We caught wind of her in LA, and followed her up here." The Jade Queen replied sourly. "She's in the wind now, if she's even still alive."
"Remains to be seen, Deathstroke is very efficient. She's a horrible person but I don't wish him on my worst of enemies. Fencer, please tell me we're close, I'm not sure your friend has much blood left to bleed." Daeva said, looking at their driver.
"Next block." He replied, and managed to skim the yellow light before pulling into a parking garage attached to an apartment building. They stopped on the first floor, close to the elevator, and piled into the lift. Fencer hit the sub-basement button three times in a measured pace, and together they traveled down, continuing to move even after sub-basement three lit up.
The doors opened up into what looked like a converted boiler room that hadn't boiled a drop since the eighties. Several flatscreens lined one wall, while a small server setup resided in the far corner. In the middle of the room was a large table that The Jade Queen was already swiping clean without a single care for what fell in the floor, while Fencer helped Biggy onto the table. "Do we have any for him?" he asked, pointing to a converted wine cooler, where a few blood bags hung.
"Yeah, here." The Jade Queen said, tossing him a pint. With an efficiency borne of practice, Fencer ran the line into Biggy's arm, and set him up to receive his own blood.
"I can table that lecture." Daeva said, in awe at the way the trio moved about their tasks. She detested standing idle, but she'd just be in the way until their first aid could be completed and she could work what healing magic she knew.
"Good, we wouldn't listen." The Jade Queen replied, beginning to pace, while frost formed in her footsteps. She stopped her pacing long enough to see their guest approach Biggy. Daeva placed her small hands on his chest, and began murmuring quietly. After a few seconds, her palms began shedding light, and the labored breathing of their newest teammate calmed.
Daeva kept at it for several agonizingly long minutes. Healing magic was not at all her forte, but it was better than nothing, and it would serve to support the work Fencer was doing as well. "Whew, that's me as far as that goes. Why didn't you let the EMT's take him?"
"Seattle has a very grim attitude about vigilantes. Green Arrow's presence in Star City has turned that place into a freak magnet, and the city commission doesn't want the same thing to happen here." Fencer said, his opinion on that issue perfectly clear. "We just got this place set up too, I'd hate to waste it already."
"I can't argue with that." Daeva said, wondering if this is how Captain Atom felt when he had to show up to help the Movers any of the several times they'd had to call for help during their first year. "Gotham's just warmed up to the idea and Batman's been there for ages it seems. What about Los Angeles?"
"LA wants more vigilantes." The Jade Queen said with a wry look on her face. "A television producer offered the use of his penthouse to a legit superhero team if they'd set up shop there. It felt like a shady deal though, and I bet LAPD isn't exactly keen on the idea either."
"So, you'll just bounce up and down the coast?" Daeva asked, absently touching Biggy on the shoulder, hoping her meager healing magics were powerful enough, and wondering if she could serve as a defibrillator if they weren't (though she hoped it wouldn't come to that, like, ever).
"Yeah, Coast City and Star City have their own heroes, but the rest of it is fair game." Fencer said, wiping the blood from his rapier clean. "Someone's gotta handle it, and the League's too busy on the east coast."
"There's the Titans in San Diego. I can give you a means to contact them if you need help sooner than later." Daeva offered, knowing Red Robin's team was just now starting to get their feet under them. "I know several of them as well, they're excellent people and very well trained. I'm certain they'd be happy to offer advice and training too."
"I wouldn't turn down the help." Fencer said, but the look on his love's face said she was less inclined to play well with others. Not that that was in any way surprising. "If we need it." He added diplomatically, which seemed to work well enough.