CHAPTER 11

Some time earlier…

Julia Richelieu crossed her legs and lifted her glass of wine to her mouth. Her lipstick left a burgundy stain on the rim, and she savored the taste of the vintage on her tongue, the cask having been liberated from the cellar of an exclusive upscale restaurant in the confusion of the preceding days. The rest of the Sins lounged around what had once been an executive boardroom near the top floor of the Nimbus Building.

The preceding few hours had been hectic. Once she and Sloth had beaten back the heroes on the upper west side, they had retreated to Nimbus Tower to regroup, much as she assumed the heroes were doing as well. Though the police seemed to think they had them pinned here like a treed Meowth, Julia knew that was far from the truth. Lust and his Xatu had been teleporting the Sins all around Clarus City's boroughs for the past three days so that they could position their men and consolidate their hold on the city. So long as they were not seen outside the tower, the police force would be none the wiser.

They were all waiting on Sloth's next orders, but Marcus Braun seemed content to let them linger around the tower for the time being, only dropping cryptic hints as to the next stage of their plan.

Julia had to give Bran the credit he was due; their plot had gone over marvelously well. For months, the Sins had appeared to act erratically, striking seemingly random targets, occasionally in broad daylight. However, the attacks had all been sleight of hand, designed to draw the focus of the police and the self-proclaimed heroes, forcing them to step in to halt the showy displays while the Sins gathered up the property rights and assets needed to truly throw the city off its axis. They had secured the rights to several key sites, and that allowed them to access the sprawling network of old sewers under Clarus City to plant their bombs with no one the wiser.

It had all come together brilliantly, bringing the city to its knees while they instilled terror in the citizens and hobbled the police force. Braun had a brilliant tactical mind and terrifying physical prowess even without his powered armor, though Julia could not help feeling that his tendency to grow indolent after a successful heist was more of a liability than the other Sins would let themselves admit. But Braun got results, and she was nothing if not loyal. Braun had come to power in a desperate and bloody struggle for ascendancy in Clarus City's underworld, and he had bested her with ease. Though he would have been well within his rights to have killed her right then, he had offered her a chance to join her strength to his and to rise at his side as his trusted lieutenant. Julia had agreed, and had never been given reason to second guess her choice.

Together, she and Braun had brought order to Clarus City's underworld, and he ruled with an iron fist. She could respect that, and he, in turn, respected her. Sloth had very little in terms of manpower that answered directly to him. Outside of the six other Sins themselves, he had a few cells of men from his original gang, but he preferred to delegate operations to his immediate subordinates, only dealing with the organization on a macro level. It was Julia's keen business acumen that had helped them establish a solid power base as the dust of the coup began to settle and cemented her as the strong right arm of the Sins' enterprise. Braun was the brain, she was the scalpel, and between the two of them, they could exert enough control over Aukai, who was the stick they used to beat down any opposition. Once they had all of that, the rest of the Sins had fallen in line easily enough.

Braun, sprawled out on a large leather sofa across the room, caught her eye and turned his lips up in a lazy smile. He held a cut crystal glass of scotch with his large fingertips, slowly shaking the tumbler to make the amber liquid circle the base. He tilted it ever so slightly in her direction and raised it to his lips. Julia inclined her wineglass towards him, acknowledging his acknowledgement, and took a sip of her own.

The small, reedy man sitting on the other end of Braun's sofa nodded to her and fingered the stem of his martini glass, careful not to disturb Braun's Slaking, who was sprawled at his feet. James Stocks, known more by his reputation as Lust, was an utterly nondescript man whose only distinguishing feature was the varied and somewhat garish collection of rings he wore. He had the uncanny skill to blend into the background of any surroundings, a useful skill when one traded in secrets and blackmail like Lust did. Julia was sure that he knew enough to take any member of the Sins down, and though plenty of her other associates were far more intimidating physically, she was reasonably sure that Stocks had the potential to be one of the most dangerous men in Clarus City.

Between her chair and the sofa, Kekoa Aukai and Anya Petrovna sat on either side of a small circular table, their hands locked together in an arm-wrestling match. Veins bulged on Aukai's forehead as he strained with all his strength to budge Petrovna's hand even an inch, with no apparent effort exerted on her behalf. For her part, Greed gave an exaggerated yawn and waved over one of her men standing at the fringes of the room. "Boris!" she called. "More vodka!" Then she turned to Aukai and smirked. "You are being rather depressing. Maybe use both hands to give me a challenge?"

Aukai snarled with wordless rage while Petrovna casually threw back a shot and laughed. "You do not want my generous offer? All right." With a casual twitch of her arm, she slammed Aukai's hand down on the table. "I win again! That makes me four for four, yes?"

"This is unacceptable!" Wrath snapped. He dropped his elbow on the table again and flexed his fingers. "One more round."

Petrovna waved her hand dismissively. "It will not change anything. Come, have some vodka." Aukai begrudgingly accepted a shot, and the two of them drank together. Julia rolled her eyes at the two rowdiest members of the Sins, but privately she was glad that they were taking out their pent up energy on each other rather than driving the rest of them up the wall. Eva Muller, better known as Gluttony, chortled and elegantly raised a small sherry glass to her lips, the cup looking all the smaller in her large hands. She sat next to an abandoned poker game, one that they were not likely to return to. It just wasn't as fun when more than half of the players could count cards.

Yousef al Najem gave a derisive snort and leaned back against his Luxray, pushing his hair back from his forehead in what was obviously an affected pose he was trying very hard to make look natural. Envy was the youngest of the Sins by several years, and while he and Julia were of a similar temperament, she found him to be finicky and too obsessive for her tastes. The young man didn't know when to let things go once he had set his sights on something, and that had made trouble for them all in the past.

As she looked past al Najem, her eyes fell on the handful of hostages they had brought up to keep an eye on and occasionally taunt. The rest were being held in a conference room one floor below under heavy guard, but the truly special VIPs had been dragged up for a personal audience with the Sins. Commissioner Bright had been a thorn in their side for years now, and while her aggressive policies had forced the Sins into difficult corners, Julia noted with some satisfaction that she didn't look nearly so "tough on crime" now. Mayor Charles Lynden had visibly lost all hope several hours ago after a beating by Aukai.

And yet no matter what they did, the only one they couldn't break was the Hammer. They had already broken his left arm, and his face was a rainbow of bruises. Every few hours, they would beat him again, try to make him submit, but the old bastard refused to give them the satisfaction. Even now, he glared at her from across the room, daring her to get up and try again. No matter what they did, they couldn't even make him cry out in pain.

Even when she looked away, Julia could feel the Hammer's eyes on her, and it infuriated her. She set her wineglass down and prepared to stand up when Sloth waved her down. "Let him be for a little while," Braun said. "If he's making himself a tough nut to crack, it only means we get to drag out the fun a little longer."

Julia acquiesced with a nod and waved over one of her subordinates to fill her cup. The enforcer poured inexpertly, making a few drops splash out of the glass and onto the black marble tabletop, and Julia's nostrils flared. But she bit back her irritation; she expected her men to be killers, not busboys. She crossed her legs and took a slow sip of wine before tossing her dark hair over her shoulder. "So Braun, you've kept us in suspense long enough. What's our next play?" Her lips curled up in a smile. "I'm starting to get antsy."

The woman walked past the police cordon with a blasé disregard for the heavily armed officers in riot gear standing all around. For their part, they seemed not to register the woman in a simple white blouse and sharp pencil skirt as she walked quickly but without apparent haste through their ranks. Once she was through, four vacant-looking men in nondescript suits fell into step alongside her, and a Gothorita skipped along at her heels. Together, the odd party stepped through the large glass doors of Nimbus Tower just as the assembled forces outside realized what had happened and the uproar began.

The woman, however, heard none of this. The glass doors closed behind her with a whoosh, and the Sins' guards stationed around the lobby sprang up with a shout. They pulled their weapons, and the woman shook her head. "Put your gun in your mouth," she said. The enforcers' eyes went wide as their hands moved of their own volition, and they all raised their guns to their mouths and bit down on the cold metal. The woman's blank visage cracked into a small smile. "Pull the trigger." She pointed to one man standing by the elevators. "Not you."

Seventeen guns fired at once, and seventeen enforcers dropped to the ground with holes in their skulls. The remaining man trembled as the woman and her guards walked closer. "Tell me," the woman purred. "Which floor are your employers on?"

"Forty six," the man mumbled, the words muffled by the gun.

The woman keyed the number into the elevator's number pad. "Thank you. Now you may pull the trigger."

There was a crack, and the man fell to the ground in a heap. The woman stepped over the spreading pool of blood, careful not to get any on her stiletto heels. The elevator doors dinged and swept shut, whisking them away from the carnage in the lobby.

Sloth took another sip of bourbon and swirled the glass again before setting it down on a small circular table next to the couch. He shifted his position and rolled his shoulders back. "I guess I've kept you in suspense long enough," he rumbled. "Stocks and I are already moving the money and liquid assets we've seized around our offshore accounts. About a year ago I set up three shell companies, so most of the money will be held there." He paused, something his lieutenants were used to. "Interpol is going to be up our asses, so I'll be going to ground for a while. The rest of you ought to take some vacation time and get out of Clarus City for the time being. I hear the Coumarine Riviera is nice this time of year. Or a sightseeing trip to Orre? No extradition there." He laughed, and Julia felt her mouth twitch up in a smile. "It's in our best interests to keep a low profile for now. We'll let the enterprise run on autopilot for as long as it takes to get the powers that be to let their guard down. Stocks is going to stay here and keep an eye on things while we get some R&R and let us know when everything's clear."

"So your orders are to take a vacation?" Muller said. "I could get used to this."

The elevator dinged, and Julia whirled in her chair. They weren't expecting anyone to come up. Four men in drab suits spilled out, guns in hand. The enforcers stationed around the room raised their own guns, and various pokemon prepared to pounce As Julia reached for her own weapon, a woman stepped out of the lift. "Stop." Julia's hand froze and, try as she might, she couldn't move a muscle. She tried to cry out and demand an explanation, but her throat wouldn't move. The woman from the elevator raised a finger and slowly lowered it. The enforcers' weapons dropped too, and a smile spread across the woman's lips. "That's better. Why don't we all be civil?"

Braun's knuckles were white on the arm of the sofa. "Who are you?" he gasped out.

"So you can resist?" the woman asked. "You aren't just a dumb slab of muscle, are you?"

"Who are you?" Braun repeated.

"A business rival, I suppose. I thought I'd swing by and scope out the competition."

Braun struggled to rise, only to be pushed back into his seat by a physical force. Esper, Julia thought. And a damn powerful one. The woman tutted and folded her arms. "Now let's have none of that. You know, I was perfectly content to lay my own plans and carry on without interfering with you all, but your ill-conceived charade the other day made a real… well, a real clusterfuck of everything. I hate to curse, but there you have it. I had to step in and clean this up before you ruin absolutely everything."

Julia's eyes darted around the room and saw that all of the other Sins were likewise incapacitated. Aukai's eyes were practically bulging out of his skull as he strained against the invisible bonds that held them, while Petrovna and al Najem were quietly seething. Muller and Stocks were not visibly struggling, but they were watching intently.

Braun had managed to raise himself to his feet, though the effort had seemed to take all of his incredible strength. "You don't know who you're dealing with," he growled.

"I know exactly who I'm dealing with!" the woman from the elevator cried. "I'm dealing with a man who thinks he's so very clever, but any time you run into a problem you just pummel it into the ground. You have no sense of nuance, no sense of subtlety, all you do is break and destroy, and honestly, you have been nothing but a nuisance!"

Braun lurched forward, his fist swinging through empty air as the woman stepped back. She snapped her fingers and her four men turned their guns on Braun. "I was willing to negotiate with you, but I see that's rather pointless." She flicked her finger at Braun's Slaking. "Get rid of him." The Slaking lumbered to its feet, its vacant eyes hooded as it lurched towards its trainer. It raised one hairy fist and brought it down, but Braun was moving quicker now. He threw up his arms and stopped the normal type's blow, but the impact shook him. The Slaking grunted and cracked its other arm across Braun's ribs, hurling him against the glass windows on the far wall. The reinforced glass cracked with the impact, and Braun picked himself up with a groan. Julia could only watch in mute horror as Braun and Slaking traded punches, though the leader of the Sins could barely seem to wind his pokemon.

The woman in the white blouse rolled her eyes. "Tick tock, tick tock. Let's wrap this up."

The Slaking hip checked Braun against the window and threw another fist. Braun's hands came up and seized it, stopping the blow in mid-air. Sweat poured down Braun's face and his arms trembled as he struggled to hold it back. "Snap out of this," he rasped to his partner. "You're stronger than this bitch." For an instant, the tension in the Slaking's arm relaxed, and Julia thought that Braun had the woman beat.

But she just gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh, put your back into it, why don't you?"

The Slaking growled and shoved off its back foot, slamming Braun into and then through the window. The momentum of the shove carried the Slaking out too, and Julia's eyes went wide as Braun and his pokemon tumbled out the forty sixth floor window and disappeared. "You bitch!" she screamed and jumped up from her chair. Before the shock of being freed could pass, she felt herself locked in place again.

"Let's not make this any messier than it has to be," the woman said. Julia felt a pressure in the back of her head, like an acute migraine. "I believe this is what the finance types refer to as a hostile takeover? So I'll make you all an offer." The migraine at the back of Julia's head seemed to shift, as though it were a tentacled thing, and she felt another alien presence in her head. I can see you want power and order. I can give you that. It sounded like the woman was speaking just beside her, but Julia also knew that the voice was coming from inside her head. Julia tried to shut her out, but she heard the woman tutting again. Now you know that's counterproductive. Julia Richelieu, I'm in your mind. I know what you want. You want to rule this city and remake it in your own image. What if I can give you that?

Julia tried to amplify her anger, to force the esper out. She could see the other remaining Sins fighting their own private battles, and she had no doubt that the woman was in their head as well. You followed Marcus Braun because you admired his strength, the woman said. And while I'm not the muscle-bound colossus he was, I think it's fair to say my strength is greater than his, but even so, I can't accomplish my aims alone. Julia, if you join me, I'll use my strength to pull you up along with me.

It seemed acquiescing with the esper was the easiest way to escape this. If she agreed, she could just wait until the bitch's guard was down and quite literally stab her in the back. The esper tutted in Julia's head again. Now dear, that's hardly a good idea. I'm giving you the chance to join me of your own free will because I value what you bring to the table. But if you don't give it to me freely, I can just make a puppet out of you the same way I did with that poor Slaking. I'll use you up, and then when I'm done with you, I'll have you put a bullet in your head. That hardly sounds pleasant, no?

So, Julia reasoned, she could join this esper and raise her status by being no better than a Herdier trained to come at her beck and call, or she could be a mindless puppet that would be summarily disposed of as soon as it became too troublesome to keep around.

So glad to see we're on the same page, dear. I think you'll rather enjoy working for me.

Julia gave a brusque nod, and saw Envy, Wrath and Greed do the same. Muller took another moment as she and the esper seemed to confer privately, perhaps working out the terms of their arrangement. Muller always was a stickler for contracts. Finally, after a long hesitation, Stocks gave a barely perceptible nod, really more of a narrowing of his eyes and a twitch of his head.

"Wonderful," the esper said aloud. "Now, you can keep those ridiculous codenames Mr. Braun gave you if you like, though I shall not be using them. We have a lot of business to attend to, and as I understand it they have already mobilized the national guard to…" She turned to the hostages as though noticing them for the first time. "Who the hell are they?"

"Some VIPs," Muller explained. "The elite of the city. We were going to—"

"I don't give a damn what you were going to do with them," the woman said sharply. "I have no use for them. Get them out of here." She paused for a moment and pointed at the mayor. "Except him. I could have some fun with him."

Al Najem leaned forward. "But we spent weeks planning to—"

"And your plans changed. Get them out of here." Her four men and the enforcers around the room moved stiffly to the crowd of hostages and lifted them to their feet. Those that had their legs broken were supported by the other captives and bustled to the elevator. Julia felt the alien prickling sensation in the back of her head again, and the esper groaned. "You have more of them?" She flicked her fingers at two of her men. "Get down to forty five and move the rest of them out too. For Arceus's sake…"

Once the clamor had died down, the woman flopped down in Braun's place on the leather sofa. "Now, as I was saying, we have quite a bit of ground to cover and very little time to do it, no thanks to the heavy-handed tactics of your former boss…"

Alex adjusted his grip on his new batons and took a deep breath. The suit Jiro had designed for him fit like a glove. The nanofibers were light and breathable, and just like Jiro had promised, the material that made the wings was elastic and would stretch to increase drag. He hadn't had time in their frantic rush to Nimbus Tower to test its flight capabilities, but if Jiro was to be believed, it would measure up with his old suit.

According to Echo and the Gunslinger, not long ago a woman had breached the police perimeter and entered Nimbus Tower. The heroes had mobilized quickly, aided by Isabelle Forbes's private helicopter. Alex, Jiro, Lakshmi and Isabelle had all piled in while Captain Unova flew ahead with his Braviary. Alex had watched in amazement as Jiro had procured his armor from the trunk of Noboru's car, the various pieces anchoring themselves to his body with a hiss of their powered clamps. Pulling on his own suit had miraculously taken less than a minute, a far cry from the struggle it had been to don his old one. He had changed right in the driveway of Forbes Manor, sparing no thought to modesty.

The helicopter flew at top speed over the city, and they quickly landed in a square a block away from the tower, arriving just before something was hurled out of the windows near the top of the tower. Echo had rendezvoused with the rest of the heroes when they had all arrived and reported that she was fairly sure she had seen a Slaking fall through the window, and a large human whose body type would be consistent with Sloth. However, only dental work would be able to prove that, as the only thing left of the falling forms was a large bloody smear on the pavement and an assortment of shattered bones.

Using the combined credentials of Blaziken Man, the Dryad and Volcarona Mask, the heroes made their way to the front of the police barricade and were soon joined by the Cavalier and the Gunslinger. The Phantom and Archangel teleported to their side a moment later, and they formed a line just behind the riot squad's clear shields.

Hierro whistled low in his throat, and Alex glanced up. There was movement in the lobby behind the glass doors. The riot squads raised their guns as the doors hissed open and a crowd of people came tumbling out. Several had their hands raised over their heads, and many seemed to be injured. "Don't shoot!" Blaziken Man commanded.

"But what if it's a trick?" a sergeant next to him said, still sighting down his rifle.

"Don't shoot yet."

Blaziken Man strode forward with his hand extended, his armor clanking. The white circle on his armored hand began to glow as he charged a blast, and fire crackled around Masakado's wrists as he walked at his trainer's side. As Blaziken Man reached the first people in the disorganized mob, one woman pitched forward, and he caught her with his left hand. "These are civilians!" he shouted. "Many of them are hurt!"

"MEDICS!" the Cavalier boomed. "WE NEED MEDICS."

The police lowered their weapons as the heroes and emergency teams rushed forward to see to the injured. Alex and Hierro each got on one side of a swaying middle aged man who had a thick crust of dried blood on the side of his head, and supported him until a doctor relieved them. They turned back to find more people to aid, only to spy a familiar face.

The Hammer and Commissioner Bright limped out through the lobby doors, the old man's arm held in a crude splint. "Johannes!" Blaziken Man cried as he ran over. "What happened to you?"

"I've had worse," the Hammer grunted. "See to the commissioner."

While Blaziken Man led Bright away, Alex slipped under the old man's good arm. The Hammer grinned despite the obvious pain he was in. "Well, if it isn't Hawlucha Man! You changed up your wardrobe!"

Alex couldn't help but smile back. "It was time for an upgrade. What happened to you in there?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle," the Hammer replied.

"Is it true what they're saying? Is Sloth…?"

The Hammer nodded. "Yeah. Once the dust here settles, Jiro and I will have a talk and figure out how to proceed." He and Alex reached the perimeter and an emergency technician shooed Alex away. Before he could leave, the Hammer grabbed his arm. "Don't think that just because Sloth is gone the city is safe. The fight has only just begun, Hawlucha Man. Clarus City still has need of your talents. I'll be in touch."

Alex nodded, and he and Hierro ran back into the press of bodies. Lakshmi glided to the Hammer's elbow, and a single look at the medic made him think twice about sending her away. "Thank goodness you survived, Johannes."

The Hammer thumped his chest with his good hand. "It takes more than a few beatings to keep Johannes Schlagen down."

The Dryad smirked. "You and your bluster. You don't have to keep the brave face up around me."

The Hammer looked around at the milling crowds. "I'm not doing it for you. In times like this, people look to heroes to set the tone. If I gave in to pain and despair, they would have too. I can lick my wounds when this is over." He winced and sucked in a breath as the medic prodded his broken arm. "Jiro and Isabelle, they're doing what I can't do right now." He glowered down at his arm. "I should be out there helping. That's what's expected of me."

"Johannes," Lakshmi said gently. "No one expects anything more out of you right now. You stood up to the Sins and came out alive and undaunted."

"So has every hero here today," the Hammer said.

"You aren't the only hero in the city, Johannes. Let the rest of us carry the burden for a little while." Lakshmi turned and helped a woman through the police barricade and signaled several of her grass types to move further down the perimeter as the crowd began to disperse. "We won't be around forever." She nodded to where Volcarona Mask was herding a group of dazed men and women to safety. Nearby, the Phantom escorted a man in a tattered suit to an ambulance while his ghosts took up positions around the doors to Nimbus Tower. Archangel spoke softly to a hysterical man, and he quickly calmed down. Echo used the microphones wired into her bodysuit to direct the traffic, waving over those who needed help and sending them onward in an orderly fashion. Hawlucha Man supported a woman with a broken leg while his pokemon partner held the hand of a blind man who was clearly in shock. Lakshmi turned to Johannes and smiled. "You've done your part. Now it's time to let the younger heroes have their chance."

"You're right. As usual."

Lakshmi tracked the Hammer's eyes and winked. "You've taken quite a shine to Hawlucha Man, haven't you?"

"Can you blame me? A talent like his, and no hesitation when it comes to facing down danger? For Arceus's sake, he charged Sloth himself without a second thought." Johannes laughed. "The lad has balls of steel!"

"I watched him run to the aid of civilians in the initial attack. I almost wonder if the thought of his own safety even crossed his mind." Lakshmi sighed. "We spent all this time grooming Izzy to be Clarus City's hero when we're gone. I'm starting to think we might have been too narrow-minded. We could never protect this city on our own, and it's cruel to expect her to do it."

"I don't doubt the little sparkplug could, but I see your point." The Hammer settled back on his stool. "But we're learning too. We already know what Izzy and Archangel are capable of, so maybe it's time to widen our reach. With my arm busted, I'll be out of commission for a while, so I'll see if I can start laying the groundwork there." He nodded. "Hawlucha Man, Echo, the Phantom, they all have the makings of great heroes, they just need a little guidance. It's a hard road to walk, but it's our job as the older generation to smooth the way as best we can."