Southside 2.4
When I thought about making my debut as a cape, I can honestly say I never thought it would be like this.
Okay, technically this was my second night out. However, the only people who knew what happened were Sebastian and me. Lung knew of course, but I doubt he was going to sing our praises to the PRT about it.
The drive from where we met on the east side of town to here was weird. Probably because both of us were in full costume. Two obvious unknown capes openly driving through town on a noisy motorcycle tended to draw attention. I held on uncomfortably to Sebas… Renegade. I really needed to keep that straight before I screwed up and outed him.
Renegade seemed to understand and kept the bike in the limits of the roadway so all we got was a few odd looks. We even had a cop follow us for like six miles. Well, it looked to me like he was following us. Renegade didn't seem to care but I was worried. Thankfully he didn't pull us over since I knew I didn't have a license and was pretty sure he didn't either. I'm not sure what we would have done if that guy decided to pull us over, but thankfully we didn't have to find out.
I bet someone was going to comment on it tonight online. I'd be surprised if it didn't happen. Hopefully after this thing was done, it wouldn't be in reference to 'the two idiots who got their assess handed to them by Uber and Leet. Check out the steam on it!'
That would fucking suck so much.
As I was jostled again I heard Renegade mumble an apology for hitting another pothole. I clutched tighter to him as he swerved to avoid another one but I could see it wasn't going to be much better going forward. My discomfort had more to do with still not used to riding on a motorcycle. Or tandem. As I looked around I could see how far the docks had fallen in the years since the shipping industry went bust. I could see why Uber and Leet picked this spot for the trade. No one came out here.
I was in my own spider silk costume without the helmet. Too restricting I decided. Probably not the best idea considering Renegade's driving habits but I doubted I could get away with wearing both and not feel claustrophobic. Renegade wore jeans with armored plates strapped to his legs, and some kind of hard vestment. I thought it might have been a Kevlar vest, but it was too rough made for something he would have bought. It didn't seem to hinder him as he easily navigated the shabby street that probably hadn't seen a work crew since business dried up years ago. He did wear the helmet.
I felt a guilty sort of pride that my costume looked better. His was more like what other new capes ended up with when they first started out. Something hodgepodge together. Not exactly silly looking, but not exactly something that gives your rep a kick start. Okay, so I spent a ridiculous amount of time on my costume in the last three months. Enough time that if anyone knew the truth, it was a dead giveaway that I desperately needed a life.
But I had a kick ass costume.
"Remember," Renegades voice said in my ear. "The key to dealing with criminals, even moronic ones, is to look confident. You'd be surprised how much that works. If you act like you have the power to break them in half, you've half convinced them you can." The small earpiece he gave me when he picked me up took a lot of the isolation out of the drive. Being able to plan was a bonus too.
"Right," I responded sarcastically. Not too loud since he did something to it that made it so loud noises wouldn't carry over. "...because it's completely within reason that they should be afraid of a five foot-eleven, one-ten girl, in a silk costume." It was really starting to hit home what we were going to be doing. A small part of me rebelled at putting myself in this situation, but a larger part was excited despite my comment.
He must have picked up on it as he laughed. "That's all I'm saying. Hopefully they won't make us prove it, but if they do, then we'll break them in half for the viewing pleasure of their subscribers. It'll be like shore leave on Omega."
The buildings were becoming more numerous as we continued. Factories giving way to old storage warehouses. I hadn't seen a single person in the last two blocks we traveled. That didn't mean they weren't there, just that they didn't venture out to be seen. "You're way too excited about the possibility of breaking people in half." I stated dryly. "Please remember what we talked about. Besides, I doubt Uber and Leet are looking for trouble."
"Shame though, that's the part I was looking forward to the most." His muttered just loud enough for me to hear. I couldn't help but roll my eyes even as a smile formed on my lips. I was getting to know him well enough to understand this was just his way. There seemed to be very few things that he took seriously and I was willing to bet I didn't want to know what those things were. Or be on the wrong side of it.
Besides, if I was honest with myself, I wouldn't mind kicking the crap out of Uber and Leet. Actually kind of a tradition for most of the heroes and villains in the Bay, but I didn't want them seriously hurt. Hopefully they wouldn't push this to the point where Renegade might be tempted to cross that line.
After another few minutes of driving we finally arrived at the arranged meeting place. Judging by the lights shining through the half boarded up windows, they got here first. As the bike slowed to a stop, I wondered what theme they went with this time. Something flashy by the colors that peaked through the building. I dismounted first trying to rub some feeling back into my legs while Renegade shut down the bike. By the time he dismounted I had reached out to the bugs in the area. The selection was disappointing.
Making do with what I had I sent in a few flies to get a feel of what waited for us. After a moment I reported. "Fourteen."
"Not surprised. It was expected." He responded unconcerned.
"It's going to take a bit for the bugs to get here. I have some, but the rest will take a few minutes." I informed him.
That was one of the biggest drawbacks of my power. I was limited to what was on hand. Right now, that was a lot of cockroaches, flies, and mosquitoes. I could sense a lot of spiders in the area, but not many of the useful kind. I would have liked to have had access to more wasps and hornets but that just didn't seem to be my luck tonight. Maybe I should start carrying around my own? My costume wasn't really designed for it but I had my small pack. Still wouldn't give me much to work with but it would let me have some of the more useful ones available should I need them. The only problem I could see was where to store them until I needed them. Couldn't leave them at home… I shook the introspection off as I got my head back into what we were here to do. Looking at the warehouse again I figured barring any kind of bullshit power like I dealt with when I fought Lung, I felt I could make it work.
"We have time." He stated. "I didn't think it a good idea to ride through town armed. Pretty sure the local authorities wouldn't have liked it. Turn around; I'll get you geared up."
I turned to him noticing he was taking a knee right in front of me holding some kind of harness. I almost jumped back.
"Hey, um, what are you doing?" I barely got out as he reached toward me.
As usual he didn't seem fazed. "Getting you equipped. Hold still a moment."
My throat dried up as Renegade started winding the harness through my legs and hips. I was acutely aware of his hands even through my costume. I didn't know what to do with my arms so they hung frozen in the air just above him as I tried really hard not move. Or feel.
I failed.
My voice was embarrassingly unsteady as I tried to reply. "A, armed? You mean, like w, weapons?"
His helmet nodded. I tried not to think how close it was… to me. "The other day you mentioned you wished you had something with a bit more bite when you fought Lung. I doubt we'll have to worry about that kind of thing with these guys, but no soldier goes into a situation with any chance of combat unarmed. At least, not in a squad I'm in. Better prepared than regret it later."
It was an offhand comment I made and I didn't necessarily disagree with him. I tried to control my reactions as his hands held firm, if a bit embarrassingly high on my upper thigh. He tightened that side before moving to the next. He was halfway through securing the other leg before I felt I could ask my next question without embarrassing myself. It was bad enough I was slightly trembling. "What exactly did you have in mind?"
Instead of answering me he looked up at me. I bit my lip to stop the idiotic nervous giggle I felt trying to erupt from me. This was so not the time for what I was thinking. "That's not too tight is it? Should be tight enough to be slightly constricting, but nothing that'll stop blood flow or restrict movement."
I shook my head not trusting myself to say anything. "Good." He stated as he went back to it. "I got you a foldable baton, a good combat knife, and a pistol. Personally, I'd rather you used a sub machine gun, pistol, shotgun and maybe a rifle but didn't think you'd go for it. It is a lot of weight and you're not trained for it yet. Maybe later. I had some ideas I wanted to run passed you about a set of hybrid body armor using your materials and my tech that should take care of that though. Your silk would make kick ass ballistic cloth."
"Anyways, gun to your right leg, baton on your left." He stated as he grabbed my hips turning me around so I faced away from him. "Your knife will sit in the small of your back. Since you're right handed, the gun will be in easy draw range with the knife to your off hand. The baton will also make a good off hand weapon. Even if you decide to use either in your primary, it shouldn't slow you down much."
"Gun?" I asked as that caught up to me. It didn't escape me that he wanted me armed enough to take on a third world country but I couldn't seem to bring myself to think about more than one thing at a time.
"Just in case. As I said, better to have one on you and not use it, than need it and don't have it."
"I'm not sure if I'm completely comfortable with this…" I started looking at the warehouse, verifying with my eyes that no one was watching what he was doing. I wasn't sure if I meant the weapons or what he was doing but ran with the next thought that came to mind. "And where did you even get this stuff anyways?"
I felt the harness around my hips tighten getting a slight grunt from me. "Salvage."
Stolen. "Right. Stupid of me to ask."
I heard Renegade raise to his feet so I turned around. His helmet kept me from seeing his face but I could hear the amused tone to his voice. "This'll work for now until I can build you better."
Renegade took a moment to retrieve the weapons from the bag on the right side of the bike. Returning a moment later to holster the weapons on me. The pistol wasn't the biggest I've seen, but the knife looked huge. I tried to ignore the added weight. Both physical, and mental.
I watched as he returned to the bike to unstrap the large case. He hadn't told me what was in it, but I figured it was his half of the trade. After a moment to get it free, Renegade easily carried it toward the building.
In the end I decided he was right. It was better to be safe than sorry. My fight with Lung proved there were capes I couldn't handle in a straight fight. Leet was a tinker which meant we could potentially be facing just about anything. Just because I had lethal weaponry, didn't mean I had to use them that way. My bugs were easily just as lethal, but I wasn't trying to use them like that.
The warehouse looked about as bad as everything else in this area. Most of the windows were broken. At some point someone half tried to board them up but did a poor job of it. Paint had faded and creep weed grew everywhere pushing through cracks in the concrete. It was pretty remote, even for a location in the docks. If we did end up in a fight here, at least there wasn't a chance of civilians getting hurt in the crossfire.
Renegade approached a door in the side of the building. An easy pull allowed him to open it and hold it for me. As I entered it was pretty much what I expected to find. Mostly empty aside from a bunch of shipping containers toward the back. Most of the place had been stripped clean over the years, anything left would have been things too big to take, or things bolted to the floor or the building itself.
Uber and Leet stood close to a table that was set in the middle of an open area. Uber's costume was a grey skin tight, circuit board. Glowing neon red lines ran through parts of it. His mask covered his face completely leaving just his eyes visible. Leet was dressed similarly, but his lines were blue. Their henchmen, also identically dressed, had green lines. They didn't have masks, just sort of helmets that left their faces exposed.
I wanted to laugh. I can't believe I was worried. This was classic Uber and Leet. These guys have been around for several years now. As villains went, they were really tame. Every time they went out to do something they mostly chose a different video game theme to impersonate. Sometimes movies, like this, but rarely. I remember watching one of their clips before I got powers, seeing them dressed up as Bowser and Mario breaking into a vault looking for 'coins'. One of the solo heros once took them on and they responded with a Mega Man theme to drive them off. That was back just after I got my powers. I haven't been keeping track of them in the last month or so but I half remembered they went on a rampage stealing cars and beating up hookers some time ago. Things like that.
Apparently, today they decided to go 'Tron' on us. I felt sorry for their henchmen. That had to be uncomfortable for anyone who wasn't a fanatic. I mean, the movie was alright, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't ever see myself doing something like that. As we walked closer I took a look at the faces of the people I could see. Yeah, they looked really uncomfortable.
"What the fuck…" Renegade muttered under his breath. He didn't pause in his stride but his voice told me this was not something he expected, much less recognized.
I replied keeping my voice low so only the headset would pick it up. "I'll explain later."
"This can be explained?" Renegade asked disbelievingly as he slightly turned to me .
I tried not to laugh. I tried really hard, but when I replied I could hear how badly I was failing. "Probably not, but I'll try."
As we arrived at the table I managed to calm down enough to continue assessing the area. My bugs scouted the shadows letting me know there wasn't anyone else around. Like I couldn't see them with my eyes if there were, but it was probably a good habit to get into regardless. Movement to my right had me turn slightly to look at one of hanger ons. I almost tripped on my own feet when I saw him. It wasn't until he noticed me looking and turned to fully face me that I recognized him.
I couldn't completely place him at first. Jerry? Or was it Larry? I remembered he worked with dad in the past. Used to be a foreman if I remembered right. One of the people who lost their jobs when the docks shut down and the industry dried up. Mr. Gerry that was it. His eyes locked only for a moment on the goggles of my costume before he lowered them. The Irishman shuffled slightly foot to foot after looking away. He must have been really hard up for an income to work with these guys. Still, if you were going to work with local villains, Uber and Leet weren't a bad choice. At least you didn't have to worry about getting killed.
As Renegade stopped at the table, I amended that thought. Usually didn't have to worry about it. Hopefully nothing would happen. Mr. Gerry was always nice to me the few times I remembered talking to him.
"I don't remember you saying you were bringing anyone with you." Leet asked as his eyes turned to me. His voice was slightly synthesized but I recognized it easily.
"I don't remember asking your permission either. This a problem?" I folded my arms not saying anything, keeping to the script we agreed to earlier. Renegades tone suggested he didn't care if it was a problem or not. "It's not like you didn't bring your own back up."
"Your backup is one person?" Uber asked.
Renegade tiled his helmet slightly to the side. "Good point. Odds do seem a bit one sided. I could wait for a bit if you wanted to call in reinforcements. I'd be good to have something to do while Matriarch deals with those here."
I bit my lip to keep from laughing from what I could see on Uber and Leet's faces. All kinds of surprised and insulted. "Or." Renegade continued. "We can trade."
"You seem fairly confident of the outcome." Leet said.
Renegade shrugged. "You would be too if you saw her put down Lung like a sick animal. So, fight or trade? I'm good with either. Standing here posturing isn't what I had planned for tonight."
Uber looked to Leet nodding slightly. Leet met his eyes for a moment before stepping to the table himself. "You first."
Renegade set the case on the table. By this time my bugs were settling just out of sight but close enough to use if they tried anything. The bugs sitting on the glowing minions told me they relaxed slightly which helped me get a sense of things.
I weighed my options as Renegade opened the case. By far the biggest problem was one of numbers. They had more. One advantage we had was that Leet's henchmen had open helmets. Most of my bugs couldn't do much damage but I was willing to bet that if I swarmed their faces they'd panic. Most people, especially unpowered people, didn't react well to that kind of thing. With that in mind I started massing them close to each of the hanger ons. Due to their costumes I had them group themselves in the darkness above them.
I didn't have many venomous insects to call on but I had a few. I wanted to keep them in reserve for if this went badly so I summoned them to me. With the bright lights from their uniforms I bet their night vision was useless. Like when you're sitting at a campfire. I remember when I was at Summer Camp how everything around it is fine, but once past that, the darkness seemed worse. Keeping that in mind I brought the bugs I selected to the front of the building having them skitter to me keeping to shadows. I made sure they crawled along the backs of my legs to hide themselves in my mostly empty carapace pack. That way they were close if it turned out I needed them.
While I was directing my growing swarm Renegade started talking again. "You brought the power cell I asked for?"
"Here." Leet said as he pulled a small cylindrical thing from a pocket.
Renegade looked at it. I assumed knowingly but it was hard to tell since his helmet kept me from getting more information. "The casing is right. It's charged?"
"Yes."
"Acceptable." From the case Renegade took out a small sphere. He fiddled with it a moment before sliding in what I assumed was the battery. The sphere began to hum slightly.
"You'll need to figure out a way to make it fly, but I'm assuming that won't be a problem for you. Terminal connection?"
Leet picked up a laptop setting it on the table. I watched as Renegade ran a cord from it to the sphere. A moment later Renegade pulled a USB drive from his pocket connecting it to the computer as well. Leet walked around the table to see what he was doing while Renegade began typing. "As I explained before, you're going to need more hardware to get the most out of the drones. From what I've seen from your site your current cameras offer you technologically standard data rates, frame rates, and resolution for the current software and bandwidth availability your clients utilize. The feed is usually grainy or of such poor quality that viewers spend half their time guessing as to what they are seeing. Your older footage was better, but I'm guessing that has more to do with the tech you are using now. What I am uploading will change that."
"First, the codex is unique…" I quickly got lost as Renegade explained. Judging by the looks on the faces of everyone else except for Leet, they were too. Instead of trying to follow along I did my part and kept watch.
Leet asked a few questions which Renegade answered. I concentrated on my bugs. They could move pretty fast when I was directing them. Still, my range was just over two city blocks, and that was a long way for a spider to crawl. Even for me. The time it was taking was starting to get to me so I spent some time experimenting using my fliers to ferry the others. It was easier when I didn't try and micro manage them, just let them do what I wanted on their own. The process sped up dramatically which helped me feel slightly better.
That sorted I turned my attention to the swarms gathering in the building. Or I tried too. My attention kept drifting to Uber and Leet's henchmen. They were looking around bored. A few were whispering to each other. Obviously not interested in the conversation between Renegade and Leet. Though, it was more likely that they just couldn't follow it. Despite what he called his skills, it sounded a lot like what tinker talk read like from the PHO. Dry and impossible to follow unless you were a tinker.
However, the bugs I had on each of them were giving me different information. I had ignored it at first but it was like an itch on your back you couldn't reach. My attention just wouldn't stay away from it.
Could have been the uniforms they were wearing but that didn't feel right. As I paid them more attention I started to notice a few things. They were too tense. The flies on them could feel it. The longer the conversation went the more tense they got. Some of them kept reaching down to the glowing disks they had on their sides. Hands would drift downward to touch them for a moment then move away quickly. Most of the minions kept looking to Uber, then to us, before looking to their fellows. It wasn't just a few of them either. As I watched, they were all doing that. Like they were waiting for something. Anticipating...
A signal.
"I take it that this is acceptable then?" Renegades asked breaking from my spiraling thoughts.
I opened my mouth a bit trying to keep my words as quiet as I could. Thank god for these headsets.
"Set up."
"Hell yeah. The cameras we've been using lately suck. This will work perfectly." Leet stated excitedly as he moved around the table to rejoin Uber.
I heard Renegade's reply while Leet was talking. "Wait for my signal."
Did he know this was going to happen? If he did why did we go through this whole thing? I held firm to my bugs no longer thinking if I would use them, but knowing it was going to happen in a moment. I noticed that a few of the tron rejects looking at me now. Steadily looking at me. Did I do something that they noticed?
"Glad it passes inspection. Now, your end?" Renegade's voice didn't sound any different than it had before. I couldn't hear anything that sounded like he was anticipating anything.
Leet tilted his head to the side. I bet the smug asshole was smiling. Fucker.
"About that." He stated raising his arm. A weird gauntlet like thing appeared around his arm. "This thing is interesting. Like a tinkers toolkit, computer, and a whole lot of other things I could only guess at all rolled into one. I got a sense for what it did when I made it, but I'll be honest with you, I didn't fully understand how versatile it was until this morning. Your description on its construction gave me a few clues, but using it brought a whole new appreciation for it to the table."
"I'm impressed." Renegade stated. His helmet was fixated on whatever that was around Leet's arm. "I honestly didn't think you could do it. I was half convinced the things I read were bullshit. Well done and with a Savent interface too. A MK Nine or Ten. They were the only ones to use that particular style for the activation grip. Serrice Council makes the best military grade omni-tools. Except that's not a military model. Military models utilize cybernetic implants that soldiers have implanted into their arms. The bracer you made, that's one of Elkoss Combine's works. A Cipher Tool model if I'm not mistaken. Interesting hybrid."
Renegade took a step forward but stopped when Uber pointed some kind of raygun at him. He chuckled. "Yes well, as fascinating as all that shit is, I think we'll just move this along. We happy Leet?"
Leet nodded. "Very." He turned to look at Renegade again. "A little tip new blood. Tinkers don't share their work for a reason. Especially, with villains."
I tried shifting one step to the side but it was enough. All of the minions were holding the glowing discs, whatever they were, and Leet pulled a gun of his own to point at me. "Stay right there."
"Steady." Renegade said. It was quiet enough that it barely came over the headset.
"So," He said louder. "You're going to take the drones, and the omni-tool. Just curious, but why?"
Leet lowered his arm which made the gauntlet disappear. "I can make anything with my power. Even whatever this thing is. I recognize Armsmasters specialty in it, as well as a few others. No idea how you pulled that off or how you even designed this thing or if you stole it from some other tinker. Don't care either. I was going to make one for myself but you set the file to self-delete and scrubbed all mention of it from every source in our network. I've tried to recreate it, but can't. So, I'll just keep this one."
Renegade nodded. "Fair enough. Alright, what's next? I assume you thought that part out since you know we're not going to let this go."
Uber answered. "Option one, you and your little friend are going to 'disappear'. This here," He said shifting the gun slightly. "it's one of Leets interesting projects. Came up with it one night when he couldn't sleep. We've never figured out how it works exactly, but we know what it does. Anything shot with it pixelates, then breaks apart until there is nothing left."
I swallowed. That sounded like a really geeked out and fucked up way to kill someone. More important to our situation though was the fact this was really outside of their usual methods. I mean, these guys barely rated as B listers. High C list sure, B list on a good day. They weren't killers, just idiots.
"Option two," Leet stated. "You two walk over to that container. We lock you in, and go. Inside you'll find a console that, if you beat the high score, will unlock the door. By that time we'll be long gone."
I heard the screech of metal as the door was opened. When I looked I could clearly see the 'console' they set up for us.
Pac-man. They were seriously going to lock us in a shipping container and make us play Pac-man to get out?
Yeah that wasn't going to happen. I wasn't getting locked in a fucking box by anyone again.
"Fuck you! You're not putting me in there. You're going to have to shoot me." I hissed through my clenched teeth calling their bluff.
Uber took careful aim at Renegade while Leet took aim at me. Uber's arm was steady.
I already had my plan for Leet ready. No matter if they were bluffing or not. He was going to regret trying to lock me in a box for the rest of life.
Both seconds of it.
"Last chance." Uber said.
Renegade didn't reply.
"Alright. Have any last words?"
"Yeah. Actually I do." Renegade stated. Even now his voice was still strangely calm. "Chatika vas Paus."
