Of Wasps and Wizards, Chapter 12
* Hebert *
India was weird, I decided. Or rather, India's bugs were weird.
Truthfully, they weren't. In fact, had I been born here, I'd probably think that American bugs were weird. Hell, it had taken me quite a while before I'd really gotten used to the small differences between Chicago and Brockton Bay.
New Delhi, or what remained of it, had roughly the same kind of bugs. crawlies, fliers, ants and spiders, the big differences were in what kind of species they were.
Which would have been a bigger deal if I actually had to use their abilities, instead of my own.
I focused my attention on the little focus I'd created with Harry's help. Mostly a practice tool, it consisted of a richly carved ball of hardwood, shaped to roughly resemble an eye, and small enough to carry in my utility compartment.
"Deprehensio radiatus" I mumbled. The Latin was quite obviously incorrect, but apparently that didn't matter. After all, Harry managed to make Fliccum Biccus work. Instead, what mattered was that my mind was protected from the flow of magical energies, which somehow worked by speaking in shitty Latin, and would keep working until I started using shitty Latin in daily life.
I idly wondered if there were any old wizards that chose, say, English, as a language, back when French was the lingua franca. It would've sucked when everyone suddenly started speaking the language you're using to force the world to conform to your will.
Through the spell, I gained more awareness of the surrounding, giving me the ability to see sources of nuclear radiation, left behind by Behemoth's attacks. Then, I went into my mind, and looked for the connection that bound me to my bugs, purposefully channeling the energy of the spell through it.
It was still difficult to 'see' through my bugs. They didn't really have eyes the same way people have, and their other senses were different as well. Their new, magical senses however, were exactly the same as they were with me.
I moved my swarm around, making them form into markers wherever I located a source of radiation. Big hazard signs, made up out of ants and fireflies mostly.
In all honesty, I wasn't very good at helping out in this situation, I was just doing it because I had nothing else to do, given what had happened, the big shots needed some time to talk things over, and we probably wouldn't be heading back until much later.
I hadn't been very good at fighting Behemoth either. Somehow, I was even more mismatched against the herokiller himself. Thus, I'd had to stay on the back-line, helping coordinate the evacuation where I could. It had felt weird, seeing things suddenly turn around like that without being involved. Maybe that was how it felt for most people, after all, a single foot soldier generally wasn't the one turning the tide of the war. My activities back in Brockton Bay were the ones that were outside the norm, not my lack of effectiveness here.
Through one cluster of bugs, I saw the local radiation levels suddenly recede, and I spotted the cape responsible. I couldn't be quite sure before actually seeing him, but I was quite sure he was wearing an actual Zorro costume, flowing cape, sword, an old pistol, and a bandana with eye holes. He even wore a silly hat to complete the theme.
Interested and bored, I made my way through the ruined buildings, using my bugs to map out a good path.
Eventually, that led to me having a good view of the cape, as he was busy removing the radiation left behind in Behemoth's retreat.
Given what I was seeing, I was also quite sure he wasn't actually a cape, since he was using magic to do what he was doing. Although that depended on your point of view. In many ways, he was more of a cape than someone with parahuman abilities using them to, say, make pancakes.
He looked to be about my age, maybe a bit older, although the costume made it hard to guess. His outfit, rather than being completely black, like the classical Zorro costume, had a brown cape, colored in a way that reminded me a lot of the apprentice's robe Harry had provided me with, an itchy thing that, luckily, was for official Council events only. It made sense that he'd be wearing it. It was innocuous enough that those not in the know wouldn't look for anything behind it, and recognizable enough that anyone who knew about the White Council would be able to recognize him as an apprentice.
He had tanned skin and dark eyes, and from what I could see, his hair was just as dark. His features, what I could see of them at least, were Spanish, something which had probably been the reason behind his choice for the Zorro costume. He looked rather fit. Much like Brian, he had the body of someone that actually used his muscles, instead of the ridiculous stuff you sometimes saw on Brutes and Bodybuilders.
He turned, and I got a good look at his face. He seemed to be slightly in shock, something which could be explained by the fact that he was an apprentice, and probably just went through his first endbringer battle. Then, he started smiling and gave me a wave.
I gave him a short wave back, and made my way to him.
As I came closer he held out his hand in greeting. I obliged, holding it, when he stopped acting like a normal person. One hand behind his back, the other holding mine, he bowed forward, and kissed my fingers in a move that had been out of date a hundred years ago.
"Greetings, and a pleasure to make your acquaintance, young lady. My name is Ramir-" He stopped in the middle of telling me his name, he evidently did not have a lot of experience with secret identities. After a short second however, he recovered.
"I am Zorroceror: Hero, magician, gentleman."
"I think you forgot drama major," I replied wryly."
"Ahhh, you wound me!" he replied, most definitely overplaying it when his hand clutched at his heart.
"So, you're the one cleaning up this stuff?" I asked him.
"Yeah, some simple water magic, it's not all that hard when you have all the time that you need. What about those bugs here? I've never seen anything like it," he replied. I wondered what he meant. Probably not the fact that I controlled them, or he would've simply assumed it was my power. Had he detected my little spell, and gotten confused, thinking I was using magic to control the insects?
"The bugs? That's my power, I'm just casting through them," I explained.
"Ahhh, I see!" he said, suddenly a bit more giddy. "Like Myrddin!"
"A bit like him yeah, I've only been learning magic for a few months though, and I don't really have the raw power he has," I replied.
Harry claimed that he was a special case, a powerhouse that had access to raw power that put him somewhere in the top five of White Council wizards. I wasn't quite sure whether or not to believe him, because the two other wizard's I'd met so far, Ebenezar McCoy and Injun Joe, hadn't really been representative of the Council as a whole either. Anyway, compared to those three, I was basically a toddler with a sharp knife.
Luckily, I had access to an army of miniature flying toddlers, each perfectly capable of carrying that knife. In addition to that, even my mental metaphors were feeling the effects of being around Harry too much. The man had a way of turning everything he came into contact with into absolute nonsense.
"You mean you actually know the guy?" Zorroceror asked.
"Know him? He's the idiot I have to learn from," I answered.
I wished I hadn't. At the mention of me actually knowing Myrddin, he got even more fan-boyish. Which wasn't something I'd expected from someone who knew magic himself. He kept asking me questions like what's he like, can he really fly, has he ever banished you? that sort of thing.
"Skitter, by the way," I said, actually introducing myself.
"Zorroceror, as I already said. I'm not sure about the name, but the ladies love the costume that goes with it," he replied. I wasn't sure if I believed him or not. The costume and mannerism were kind of cute, sure, but cute and attractive were two very different things.
"First fight?" I asked.
"First time I've been able to convince my master that I would survive, and there were a few close calls. You?"
"Second, first was back home, Brockton Bay."
Hearing that, Zorroceror winced. "My sympathies then," he said.
"It was… different. I could actually do something against Leviathan. With Behemoth, I couldn't even bring my bugs close," I replied.
"I mostly stood in the back, shielding the blasters and trying not to get distracted by the fireworks," he said. "It was interesting, seeing all the people you only hear about in stories in action. The Triumvirate, the Senior Council, the Summer Lady, and I believe I even saw the Erlking. Not to mention what that girl did."
We walked through the half-torched streets, my bugs pointing him towards the largest pockets of radiation, and him removing it somehow. I wondered if, in the end, it would be enough. After all, there had been a lot of it thrown around at the end, and while most people had been shielded from its effects, the city itself had not been.
"Speaking of what happened, what did happen?" I asked him.
"I'm not sure. Everyone was failing to do much of anything. Capes, Wizards, supernatural creatures. They slowed him down, but that was it, they weren't actually hurting Behemoth. Stuff changed when this little glowing drone thing started talking to this cute girl with a crossbow, and I only know that because I was nearby at the time. Somehow, she was actually hurting it, the arrows going straight through. Once that information got out, a lot of big names showed up and started supporting her directly, all up until, you know, that," he said, pointing at a half-destroyed office building, marked by the fact that Behemoth's decapitated head was lying on top of it. I'd seen that much, and I'd seen the mad dash to safety Behemoth had gone for once that had happened, throwing around fire, lightning, and more obscure forms of attack that a theoretical physicist would have a field day with.
It hadn't been the first time an Endbringer had been driven off. It had, however, been the first time one of them had been damaged to such a degree, without everything turning to chaos while it was happening. Whoever had used telepathy to quickly organize everyone when Dragon's armbands had been destroyed was to thank for that.
"So, where are you from?" I asked.
"Small village on the west coast, my teacher isn't one for the big city," he replied.
"Anything exciting happening there?"
"Not really. We had a black court vamp coming through town last year, but that's it really. Nothing like Chicago."
"That's just lucky me. Out of the frying pan, and into Chicago. Did you know we actually had four different kinds of werewolf in town a few months ago?"
"I think I read something about that, something with a time-slowing naked wolf-lady?"
"Something like that. Turns out most magical shape-shifters don't take their clothes."
Our conversation was interrupted by what felt like a tiny metal sphere bumping into some of my bugs, followed by Tattletale's arrival. Her LED's had been destroyed, but the levitation mechanism still worked, and she was apparently still able to deliver it enough power to fly around like an idiot.
"Heya Skit," she said.
"Hi Tattletale, they finally let you go?" I asked her.
"Ehh, mostly. The Triumvirate did some sort of shady back-room dealing, and now they get to keep the severed head. They'll probably ask for my help, but there's enough biotinkers around that also want a go. Anyway, who's this?" she replied.
"Oh, this is-"
"Wait wait no, lemme guess, its more fun that way!" Tattletale interrupted me.
"Let's see, suave guy, cape, sombrero-like thing, actual eye-mask, gun and sword, in addition to what seems to be a staff, I'm thinking Wizzorro?"
"Shit, that's actually better, given the dirty joke potential. But no, it's Zorroceror. I believe you were Tattletale?" he replied.
"Yep, that's me. Tattletale, sexiest sort of ghost this side of the Atlantic. Only we're on the other side of the Atlantic right now. Does that still work? I mean, I haven't actually met all that many other ghosts, but I'm quite sure I'm the sexiest ghost period. Except maybe the ghost of Helen of Troy is hanging around somewhere, and I don't think I can measure up to her until someone launches a couple thousand battleships for me. On a completely unrelated note, Skitter, do you think you can get your hands on a battleship?" Lisa replied.
"Sexy ghost, you say?" Zorroceror asked.
"Hey, I may not look like much, but I'm wearing skintight spectral spandex under this thing!" Lisa replied.
"You know, I'm a lot more motivated to work at this whole wizard sight thing now," Zorroceror replied.
"Anyway, the first group of people is going back to Chicago in an hour or two. Revel wanted to know if you were going back or staying here to help out a bit more."
"What's everyone else doing?" I asked her.
"Revel, Myrddin, Hati and Panacea are sticking around for a bit, as are a few of the villains. The Scarlet Lady, Topsy, one of the guys from the Folk."
"Hati's staying? Didn't even know she came along" I said.
"She's giving the healers more time. Never joined the fight proper. Something about being pregnant I think."
"Already? The wedding was just a month ago."
"Well, Panacea's pretty good at diagnosing that sort of stuff, and I assume she's making sure there aren't any complications."
"Do you happen to know what Tim the Enchanter is doing?" Zorroceror asked.
"Tim the Enchanter? really?"
"Not everyone is as amazing at coming up with cape names as I am, and he loved that movie," he replied.
"Right, well, you'd have to ask someone else. All the wizardy types keep giving me the shifty eyes, probably because they believe I'll break down if I sneeze too hard."
"Why don't you?"
"Tinkertech, it's shielded from your hexings, rather ingeniously if I say so. Plus, it's not like I use most of the stuff in here. Only problem is Behemoth fried my wifi. Plus, no connection here anyway."
"So you're going to bother Cuff about bothering Tecton again?" I asked.
"Well, Panacea's not going to fix me, so yes!"
"There's gotta be a better way to do that..."
"Well, sure, yeah, but it's not like those are as funny as annoying Cuff about it."
"Just… try to make him keep the enchantments intact this time? I just know old Yoda is going to give me that task otherwise."
"You need the practice. I mean, come on, with a little more training you could be as cool as Zorroceror over here!"
"Well, not as cool as me, but I'm sure you could get close," he replied.
***
Unlike the trip to India, the trip back to Chicago wasn't done with a swanky teleporting cape. Instead, we were put on a big transport plane thing, courtesy of Dragon. She even told everyone it was shielded from powers that interfered with modern aviation technology, which made me very suspicious about how much she knew about magic.
There were quite a few people on board our flight. Chicago is a major travel hub, and most of them would spread out further on flights leaving from there.
That meant that this was one of the most dangerous planes in the history of humanity, with some of the stronger capes of the North-American continent on board.
I sat down in one of the seats, attached to the side of the transport, and Lisa promptly plonked down on my lap. She was tired, for lack of a better word. It was more like meditation than sleeping. She'd seen a lot of new and interesting things today, and her power had gone into overdrive, so she had to rest for a bit.
Before I could use my bugs to grab the attention of Cuff and a now one-armed Grace, someone sat down next to me. I looked at her, and saw that it was Miss Militia.
"Skitter, it's been a while," she said, her power having formed into a combat knife at her waist.
"About four months," I replied, trying to ignore her.
The last time I'd seen her, she'd been firing tinkertech bombs at Leviathan with some sort of special launcher. The time before that, she'd held a knife to Regent's throat, after which he promptly outmaneuvered her.
In other words, we weren't exactly on the best of terms.
"I heard you've been going at it alone, as a vigilante," she said.
"That's correct."
"Revel called me, a few days after you first appeared in Chicago. She wanted to know what you were like."
"What did you tell her?" I asked. Had Miss Militia been the one responsible for me not getting arrested the moment Harry recognized me?
I'd thought about sending her an email once, back when I'd first figured out that the Undersiders were working for Coil. I hadn't done so because of a fight with my dad, but perhaps I should have.
Then again, that would have meant selling out the rest of the Undersiders. Although, had they been in jail, they probably wouldn't have died in the attack.
"I told her you obviously had some heavy problems you needed to work through, but that I didn't think you were actually evil."
"Heavy problems?" I asked.
"On your first outing, you made Lung's crotch rot off. The second time around, you gouged out his eyeballs."
"That was perfectly reasonable," I replied. "If I hadn't taken them, he would've simply gotten up like nothing had happened afterwards."
Miss Militia looked at me, an inquisitive look in her eyes.
"I'm not saying it wasn't the right move, I'm saying that perfectly stable people don't generally go around gouging people's eyeballs out."
"And perfectly stable people don't start manhunts for newly triggered teenagers either."
She sighed. "You're talking about Hellhound."
"Her name was Bitch," I replied.
"Look, I don't like what happened there either, but I wasn't involved in it. The Protectorate, like almost anything, isn't perfect, but that doesn't mean that there's nothing good there. Fighting corruption and bad decisions is just part of the job."
"And every time you go on patrol, you grant legitimacy to all the assholes flying the same flag."
"So you hang out with them, without actually joining."
"So I hang out with the people I want to hang out with, instead of following the commands of an asshole like Armsmaster because the government wants me to."
"Well, I guess we have very different ideas about the role of legal authorities."
"I guess we do," I replied.
We sat there in silence for a bit longer, the transport ship lifting up on softly humming anti-gravity generators, then accelerating, moving at what seemed to be a rather high speed, judging by the rate at which bugs were moving in and out of my range.
I looked around the transport, trying to figure out who was who. I recognized Chevalier, who had just returned from what seemed to be the cockpit. I wondered if Dragon was in there, or simply steering from her home in Canada. It was generally known that she almost never left her laboratory, instead choosing to work from her home, using remote-control vehicles.
I also recognized Weld, a rather famous monster cape. He was made purely out of metal, which made him a veritable tank. I wondered for a bit whether he was truly a case 53, the official name the PRT gave the monster capes, or some sort of metal spirit pretending to be a teenage boy.
Also made out of metal, but the polar opposite of media-darling Weld, was Hookwolf. Apparently, the crazy motherfucker had survived, even without the rest of the Empire Eighty-Eight to back him up, and he'd come to fight Behemoth. Interesting was that he seemed to be carrying some new gear, like a pair of belts slung around his shoulders like a gunslinger, which included some rather diverse weapons. A silver dagger, a vial of what I presumed was holy water, a crucifix and what I presumed were actual heads of garlic.
Thinking back to what Rune had told me, Hookwolf had been the one taking care of the Empire's supernatural opponents. Given his general character, he'd probably been overzealous, which explained why I hadn't ever seen any vampires or anything like that in the Bay. It made even more sense when you thought about the background of their organization. The Empire consisted of Neo-Nazis. The actual Nazis, back during the second world war, had famously been borderline obsessed with the supernatural, hoping to find some sort of Wunderwaffen, miracle weapon, by checking out old stories and myths. Legend had it that Hitler was in the possession of the very spear that had stabbed Jesus on the cross, and Aleph cinema was absolutely filled with vampire Nazis and other such things.
Did that mean that, horrible a person as he was, Hookwolf had used his specific skills and knowledge to protect Brockton Bay from supernatural predators? His Changer form, sturdy and made out of what seemed to be steel, was most definitely useful for that purpose. Hell, if it was close enough to iron to count, he alone could have been enough to keep the fair folk out of Brockton Bay. Given the fact that Kaiser's predecessor had actually called himself Allfather, I couldn't help but wonder about how much that man had known. Sure, Nazis were known to be into Norse mythology, but what if Allfather had actually been into Norse mythology?
Eventually, I figured out that I wasn't going to recognize anyone else. Half the people in the plane were like Zorroceror, this probably being one of their first outings as a cape, the others I dimly thought I'd maybe dimly recognized from a news reel somewhere, but not famous enough for me to know their names or powers.
Speaking of the devil, I saw Zorroceror sitting next to an older English-looking man, who had to be Tim the Enchanter, enthusiastically telling stories about the fights, and pointing to me.
"Someone you know?" Militia asked, looking up from the magazine she had been reading. I wished I had been smart enough to pack something for just this kind of situation.
"Met him after the fight, he's nice enough," I replied. "Bit of a Casanova though."
"Oh?" she asked, questioning.
"Not like that. He was more interested in Tattletale anyway."
"So, what happened there?" she asked, motioning towards Tattletale.
"She died, then she came back as a ghost somehow, pretty similar to Glaistig Uaine's power. Myrddin did something to give her a body again."
"And now she lives out her life in a tiny metal shell? I never liked her, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
"Not necessarily? I mean, she can go out whenever she wants to, that just makes it harder to affect the world, what with her not having a body and everything."
"Is there any reason she needs to have this body? I heard Dragon has been looking into lifelike android bodies," she said.
"It's an option, I guess, although I'd just ask Panacea instead. And I'm pretty sure she's enjoying the ability to fly, as well as the lack of headaches."
As I said that, I felt something shift again, the transport plane suddenly slowing down. According to the screen hanging above the door to the cockpit, we were almost arriving back in Chicago.
***
As I left the transport, I saw Cuff waving to me, standing next to Shuffle and Dovetail, who had been waiting for us to land.
I made my way towards them, hoping to catch up with Ava. I'd lost track of her early on in the fighting, and Militia's little conversation had stopped me from talking to her in the transport.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," she replied.
"Skitter, can you gather all the locals here with your bugs?" Shuffle said.
"Just the white hats, or?" I asked him, placing Lisa's metal body in my utility compartment while scouting out everyone with my bugs.
"As long as we're still under the truce, gather everyone. I don't like it, but we need all the help we can get."
He was obviously stressed out, something had happened in the night that we'd been gone, fighting Behemoth. I grabbed the attention of everyone I recognized as being from Chicago by flying a bunch of flies into their face, then drawing a line of arrows towards our current position.
"Also, something wrong with Tattletale?" he asked.
"She's tired, her power was overclocking during the fight and afterwards.
"That's too bad, we could've used her with the current situation."
"Which is?"
"I'll explain in a minute, I don't want to have to repeat stuff."
Quite soon, we were joined by Grace, Snaptrap, Glory Girl and Chubster, as well as Topsy, Crimson Blade, The Temptress and Genoscythe. Revel, Myrddin, Panacea, Hati and Tecton were staying in New Delhi, while Wanton and Annex were probably still at their headquarters.
"What's the matter?" Genoscythe asked.
"What's the matter is that someone took advantage of half the people leaving town to fight Behemoth, and a possible incoming kill-order," Shuffle said.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Someone killed about a dozen innocent people, in a manner that was obviously not normal. The really problematic part was that whoever did it was being ritualistic about it. Candles, diagrams drawn in blood, the whole shebang. Given when it happened, and that it doesn't look like they'll be stopping anytime soon, Director Heathrow declared a temporary state of emergency." Shuffle said.
"For you," he continued, looking at the assembled villains. "That means that we won't have the time to deal with you, and will have to ignore you as long as you don't do anything overly illegal. Of course, if you have any information regarding the perpetrator, we would be happy to reward you for your co-operation."
"A truce then, I'll inform my friends in the Folk," Topsy said.
The rest of them murmured similar things, after which they dispersed, probably to tell the rest of their friends about the current situation.
"As for the rest of you, be careful. Creeps like this don't suddenly become less lethal in an actual fight. Furthermore, according to Heathrow's analysis, he, or they, or even she, will probably escalate. That means the next target could very well be one of us. So keep everyone informed, and try not to go anywhere on your own until we know more. This guy isn't playing by the rules, and our most experienced people are still out of town. Don't do anything stupid, don't go out on your own, try not to get killed," he said, his words somewhere between advice and orders.
"Sounds like a bit of an overreaction. I mean, it's not like this is the Slaughterhouse or something like that," Glory Girl said quietly. "Seems like a bit of a stretch to say whoever's responsible is going after us."
"In all honesty, I agree with you," Shuffle said. "But director Heathrow insists on taking every possible precaution. He was being evasive when I asked him what his sources were, but he insisted on whoever did this being dangerous."
"Besides that, anything that stands out? What are we watching out for?" I asked.
"Given the theatrics of it all? The simplest way to classify our perp is as Myrddin's wannabe evil twin. Circles drawn in blood, pentagrams, what seemed to be an honest-to-god robe, that sort of thing," Shuffle replied.
That, everything considered, was rather disconcerting. The last few months, Harry had mostly focused my apprenticeship around the movement of energies, the basics of using magic. I could infuse circles with my will to hold off both matter and energy, I could, with some effort, gather more metaphysical information with my senses, and I could light candles with my mind, and all of that through my bugs. I could even perform a tracking spell of sorts, triangulating someone's position by establishing a magical connection. He hadn't had the time to tell me about the larger dangers of the supernatural world, except a short introduction to the bigger players. Vampires, faeries, that sort of stuff. What he had gone into even less was black magic. Maybe he was uncomfortable with the topic, maybe he didn't know all that much about it, or maybe he just wanted to shield me from what it was. I hadn't thought much of it, since I'd been busy getting my head around getting my head around spells, meditation, and other such things.
I knew black magic was based around the darker emotions, that it could include stuff like tearing someone's heart out at a distance, and that it had a sort of stench to it. I'd also gathered that, in the context of ritual murder, it was believed to be possible to increase one's own power by taking that of another. I wasn't sure if that was true, although Harry would probably know, but it would explain the ritual murder.
Furthermore, if what Shuffle had said was true, and whoever was responsible was coming after parahumans next, I could guess what he was going for. I had no idea if it would work, but I suspected that whoever our enemy was thought that by, for lack of a better word, eating a parahuman, he could take their powers for himself.
Given that that was exactly how Glaistig Uaine seemed to work, it wasn't even all that unlikely.
"You know… I'm actually kind of happy that Amy is still in India," Glory Girl said, talking to me instead of the entire group.
"Afraid she'll get hurt?" I replied.
"Sort of, maybe. She used to have stalkers, people going after her to get healed, there was even a maniac that thought he could claim her powers by circling her three times while shouting his name. Judas will protect her, even though her clothes will probably get soaked with drool. Thing is, I just keep worrying anyways, she just keeps getting into trouble. I mean, she'd be going to the bank and BAM, she's caught up in a robbery and hitting supervillains in the face with a fire extinguisher."
"Ha ha," I replied dryly.
"So, about this not going out on your own thing," Glory Girl asked, looking at me with a mischievous look in her eyes.
"What about it?" I asked, although I'd had some ideas about what she was going to say. It wasn't really too hard to figure it out.
"I'm not sure about you, but I'm not planning on hiding like a little child while a murderer is tearing through my new home, and I'm pretty sure you agree with me on that," she said, slowly, I felt my admiration for her rise, although I wasn't quite sure if that was because of her pro-activeness, or just a side-effect of her aura kicking up a notch in anticipation.
"Are you going where I think you're going with this? Because I know a journalist without a sense of self-preservation that could help us out," I answered
"Good," she replied, smiling.
We were interrupted by someone else walking towards us. Not one of the locals, but someone I'd expected to leave on one of the connecting flights.
"So, I heard you've got a Warlock in town," Hookwolf stated, talking to Shuffle.
"And you are?" he asked.
"Hookwolf. A Nazi, a murderer, and an all-around savage. Used to be part of the Empire Eighty-Eight," Glory Girl said.
"Don't forget the fucking dog-fighting," I added in.
"Means towards a worthy end," Hookwolf replied. "Is it murder to kill vampires? to slaughter your way through ghouls and the unseelie?"
"So you're a murderer and a loonie, whoop-die-fucking-doo," Glory Girl said sarcastically.
"You're here to help with our target?" Shuffle asked.
"I live for the hunt. You give me an acceptable target, and I'll take him down," Hookwolf said.
"You can't seriously be entertaining this guy's proposal? He's a murderer, not a superpowered corner-store thief!" Victoria said.
"Me? No, I don't want to accept his help, but I'm not the guy in charge, and given how serious director Heathrow is taking this, I'm willing to bet he'll take any help he can get," Shuffle replied.
"Even if your little cure is just as bad as the problem?" Victoria asked.
"If the cure turns out to be worse than the disease, then I'm happy I'm not the one calling the shots," Shuffle said. "If the boss wants it, then the boss can take the blame if things go wrong."
"Bullshit!" Glory Girl exclaimed.
"Hush child, the adults are talking," Hookwolf replied.
"Oh go fuck yourself. You're not some misunderstood edgelord like fucking Shadow Stalker, you're a fucking Nazi!" she yelled back. Given her background, the way her family worked, I could kind of understand her point of view. New Wave, after all, didn't have civilian oversight to hide behind if things went wrong. It reminded me of my conversation with Miss Militia, and it wasn't a conflict that was going anywhere.
Then again, I couldn't help but think about the temporary alliance we'd had against the ABB. Hookwolf had been part of that as well, although Kaiser's selfish behavior had almost gotten us killed against Lung. Plus, there was the very Endbringer fight we had just returned from.
"Come on, let's go, no use talking to men like him," I said, pulling on Victoria's arm. "Besides, we have a criminal to track down. Can I borrow your phone? I need to call someone."
As we walked away, Victoria handed me her phone. Then, hoping my techbane aura didn't destroy it instantly, I dialed the number of my teacher's girlfriend. We had a warlock to catch, and a scoop to get.