Worm's Finest: Darkness Rising
Interlude 3A - Donald

Donald Chen hadn't wanted to join the ABB. He really hadn't. He'd grown up on movies, Aleph imports and bootlegs mostly; they seemed... purer somehow, maybe a consequence of having fewer capes, and as a kid, he'd dreamed of bringing that to life here on Earth-Bet. But Brockton Bay was his home, and even if he wanted to leave, he couldn't afford it. And then his mother had gotten sick. He needed the money, and... well, it was just a little off-the-books guard duty. No harm in that, right?

Besides, he was Chinese-American. The Empire hated anyone who didn't fit their WASPy standards. The Rising Sons hated the Chinese almost as much as they hated the neo-Nazis. The White Jade only accepted those who had fled the CUI and their families; half-breeds like Chen and descendents from earlier immigrants who hadn't known the terror of the CUI didn't count.

That left the Azn Bad Boys.

Things had been good, for a while. He'd managed to climb the ladder without having to do anything too questionable, and he'd been able to pay for Mama's treatments. The Brockton Bay branch of the ABB had been led by two capes: Sasuke, a telekinetic ninja, and his second, Dragonfly, a student of Crane the Harmonious who moved with an assassin's grace.

Sasuke had been surprisingly flamboyant for someone who adopted a ninja motif, and he clearly enjoyed playing his role to the hilt, but underneath the flair, he was a practical man who understood the value of loyalty and maintained at least a veneer of civility. Dragonfly, on the other hand, had been quietly terrifying, in a could-kill-you-with-a-flick-of-the-wrist-and-not-lose-a-wink-of-sleep way. When something needed a soft touch, Sasuke either handled it himself or sent someone with a clean record like Chen. When something needed a... firmer hand, that was when Dragonfly took charge. It was a good system, and it worked.

That was before Batman.

Chen had seen the black demon once. There had been a shipment of underbarrel mounted tinkertech lasers coming in. There were rumors of some new guy trying to set up shop in town - Snake or Cobra or something like that - and they'd gotten wind he might try to appropriate the shipment to augment his mercs' firepower.

So Dragonfly had chosen to check on the shipment personally, backed up with heavier firepower than most street gangs were willing to risk fielding.

And then Batman had come. Humiliated them, taken down Dragonfly, made them flee like cowards. The ABB was dying, and in the process, Sasuke seemed to have become... unhinged. Not that that mattered anymore, given he was dead now.

Now, the ABB had but one cape: Lung.

And by virtue of seniority, Chen was one of his top lieutenants. It was no longer an enviable position, given where that put him now. Batman had struck again, bringing down a brothel in ABB territory, and someone had had to tell Lung.

He stood painfully straight and refused to meet Lung's gaze as he finished his report. For his part, Lung sat on the well-worn old couch he had made his throne, chin in hand, elbow on knee, like some sort of barbarian king.

On thinking about it, Chen could see it. Despite his mixed Asian heritage, Lung was a giant of a man. He certainly had the size and build to pull off a good Conan. Give him a loincloth and a sword, and he'd be a shoe-in if someone ever wanted to mix the old sword and sorcery genre with a more Asian flair. Maybe even add a bit of John Woo, but less wirework...

"Tell me, Chen," Lung's voice broke the silence, "do you fear this 'Batman'?"

"N-no, Lung," he stammered, resisting the urge to back up a step.

"You lie," Lung said simply. Chen felt his stomach drop. "That is good."

What?

"You fear the Batman, but you lie because you fear me more," Lung elaborated. "Do you know why?"

Chen shook his head hesitantly, afraid to speak.

"There are two kinds of fear, Chen. This 'Batman' is a ghost. He moves through shadows and claims darkness as his ally. He uses the fear of the unknown. Who is he? What is he? How can he hurt me? Can I defeat him? You do not know, and you fear him because you fear what could be. Do you understand?"

Chen took a moment to ensure his voice was steady. "Yes, sir."

"Good. It is a common fear, and it can be effective, but it is also a weak fear. It dies a little with every day that passes in which he avoids battle, with every fact you learn of him. It diminishes as your strength and the strength of your allies grow. Even now... tell me, do you fear him as much now, knowing that I will stand at your side?"

Chen opened his mouth, but Lung held up a hand. "Do not be hasty with your answer. Think about it."

So he did. Batman was terrifying. He didn't know what Batman was capable of, but... he did know that Batman had not answered the call to fight Lung like other heroes had.

"No, Lung," he said finally. "I do not."

"Exactly. But your fear of me is a fear of the known. You know who and what I am. You know how I can hurt you and that you cannot defeat me. You know that if you try, you will fail and suffer and die. You do not fear me because of what could be; you fear me because of what is. It is a fear that is fed by knowledge, not weakened by it, and it is a fear that grows with time, with the certainty of what will happen should you cross me. It will never diminish no matter the strength you gather, because I will always be stronger."

Lung stood up and began pacing like a tiger.

"The Rising Sons and White Jade know this. They skirmish and raid, but they do not commit, because they share that fear. The Empire, for all their talk of their so-called superiority, are also wise enough not to truly risk my anger. Even the Protectorate and New Wave understand that what is mine is mine. Only Batman, it seems, still needs to learn this lesson."

He finally stopped at a large window, gazing out onto his territory. The warehouse he had claimed as his own wasn't outwardly impressive - fairly ramshackle, really - save for towering above its neighbors.

"Batman will fall, Chen," he declared softly. "I will break him. It is... inevitable."