"This is Ocelot-7. The location has been secured and secured for Sit-Rep. Confirming the recovery of all individuals on site. Additionally, all of what the boys are calling Scarlet Letters, the Mastered minion animals made of the Cape Maou's powers have faded after we have recovered each bound or protected individual, Sir."

I grunted, turning my attention away from the GUND MkIV HUD to face a saluting Protectorate Officer.

"The hosta-"

I paused. We were lucky that they were not such. I loathed being wrong, but this time the data didn't line up in our favor. It was a small grace.

"The rescued women, are they all secured?"

Ocelot-7 stayed at attention as he replied. It was unusual for an officer of the local protectorate, but he was more of a stickler for protocol. It made for good men, a proper cog in order. I appreciated that.

"Undergoing facial recognition scans at present, sir. If any are in the system, we will return them properly to their families. All accounted for except someone they're referring to- as… ehrm…"

I kept my eyes from straying and interacting with the HUD as Ocelot-7 unusually shifted in place awkwardly.

"What is it?"

"There's little to no doubt that they're withholding her name, likely out of a sense of comradery or sisters in bonds, but the victims are claiming they were given… fetishtic denominations to be referred to as and to refer to each other as. Likely a part of the ABB's dehumanizing process to better control them, some sort of in house marketing, or both. They referred to Cape Maou's target tonight as… well…"

Ocelot-7 looked uncomfortable and somewhat embarrassed through the clear face-plate of his helmet.

I sighed, unable to resist the urge to put together schematics for a new scanner after tonight's events, adjusting a conceptual blueprint, straining against the desire to Tinker.

Forcing myself to keep some of my attention on the current report, I felt the frustration in my voice, heavy in tone.

"Spit it out, Ocelot-7."

He squinted with visual discomfort.

"B-big Titty Goth GF, sir."

My mind blanked out at the absurdity.

My attention reset and was able to adjust to the situation at hand once more. A positive. Though the shock value cost precious seconds of mental processing, it was necessary for the acquisition of the information on hand.

"Tragic." I intoned, bluntly. "Continue the Sit-Rep."

"Sir. Only Big- I mean, said individual was missing from their stated line up. The working girls have confirmed everyone else is present, sir. Any damage from the building is mostly a result of the ABB's own illegal renovations and health code violations with one exception, sir."

It caught my attention, causing me to make a note on the GUND visor to highlight this segment of our conversation for later investigation.

"I see. Related to Demon Lo- no. Related to Maou?"

That was the thing.

Something about the way he spoke. As if two words layered on each other, but both completely audible and comprehensible despite the overlap. Might be useful for taking down the videos of tonight's mishap with the blanket statement of memetic hazard angle if it could be picked up in footage form, though a double check of the recorded footage played at x2 speed revealed plain Maou in English without any issue.

Damn. It wouldn't stick, but we could still buy 24 hours of legal censorship responses.

Even though I had first hand experience of the unnatural verbal phenomena, confirmed by the reports of witnesses stating that they had heard different iterations of his Cape name. I gave an order on site to have it adjusted for cohesion to reference all mention of him going forward to be listed as Maou.

Demon Lord. Demon King. Lord Over Devilkin. Maou.

Which was illogical as the third didn't even translate properly.

As if the very words he spoke interfered or, more likely, bypassed the Broca's and Wernicke's areas of the brain.

Cognition manipulation was messy as it fell under Stranger protocols, and was going to be a massive pain.

Master, Stranger, Shaker, Brute, and Mover. Even for a potential grab-bag/Trump cape like Maou, there were a lot of classifications to fall under. Though invisible to the naked eye, not unlike Stormtiger, Maou had manipulated the very air itself under a form of aerokinesis. The GUND visor had reported that the experimental module meant to record, track, and predict localized atmospheric pressures as a possible countermeasure for Stormtiger had gone off full seconds after tonight's confrontation, focused solely on the whole of my halberd and arm.

Too late, but at least it still served its primary purpose.

That and it overheated and shorted out soon after. More improvement was necessary. Luckily the module was built as an isolated system.

Perhaps at this point, the chips were best left on Trump, which made him even more dangerous.

Thoughts flashed briefly towards Dauntless, which I then shut down internally. That comparison was not important right now.

My eye turned briefly to my weapon as I re-inspected it for the fifth time.

Undamaged, unlike my pride.

It too gauged that a sudden outer vector of neutonic force had been applied, mini-thrusters firing in an attempt to correct course to no avail.

But none of it could measure the lingering sense of-

"Yes, sir. We've taken samples of material from a more or less perfect hole at the end of a hallway on the second floor. Surface level inspection appears as if the physical material simply degraded into wet clay dust and mortar. I assume you saw it when you went up to verify the physically incapacitated Oni Lee, sir."

-yes. That hole below, an afterthought compared to the malice.

The wrongness. Not even in regards to the scent of cooling bile and iron, or the forearms and shins shattered by a hateful, crushing boot. I had experience in combat and had developed an instinct, but I trusted data, never my gut feeling. It was illogical.

But this was different. Whatever had happened to Oni Lee was numbing. Whatever it was made my blood run hot and I knew the people were in danger. I-

…it was the first time… in a long time that I truly felt I leapt to the people's defense with all my heart.

It was a moment of hot-bloodedness that I would not repeat again. It was not like me to begin with. Something about what he did to Oni Lee was twisting something in me, rubbing every instinct the wrong way. Sensations and emotions that I had compartmentalized away, as it interfered with my work as both Tinker and Hero had suddenly burst like a dam and overflowed.

I hated this feeling of unbridled passion. It was alien. Not like or OF me.

"And no one was hurt?"

There was no way that child could have not mishandled-

"Aside from guilty parties with minor puncture wounds to their faces as they were bound up by the Scarlet Letter Pythons gagging via snakebite, only one minor strained back on an ABB squad lieutenant as he was knocked back into a wall as Maou entered the building, sir."

My chest still felt hot, not just at my instinctive leap in assumption. Why did I keep doing that? It was also quite a literal sensation of heated and faintly singed flesh, as the insulation on my EDPM prototype had not been able to endure its maximum output. Meant to discharge electricity at variable output depending upon the strength of the attacker, the Electric Discharge Platemail Mine had been capped at, theoretically, dealing with an attacker of Brute 4 for safety reasons.

Which Maou endured without issue, even with his costume rending apart.

Minimum Brute 5.

A mini-servo in my right shoulder stuttered.

And I'd have to create more redundancies in my suit. Alongside a miniaturized insulation frame and-

"Good." The words left my lips as I pulled myself back into the conversation. Tinkering was for after the clean up was done. "Continue to follow up on the return of the women to their families and getting them into safe care if that is not possible. Don't forget to keep attempting to get information on this… Goth GF. We need as much details on the nature of these contracts of his. For all we know it will add to his power and it could result in a snowball effect if left unchecked. Inquire about that to I-"

My eyes strayed to a blinking message in the corner of my visor.

"-want whatever you can get from the witnesses and victims alike on that front. I have a meeting up top to return to now. Dismissed."

Ocelot-7 gave a sympathetic look and nodded, returning to his duties and spreading orders to the rest of his squad.

While Ocelot squad was dealing with on site rescue, squads Bear and Minnow were attempting to confiscate recordings of tonight's activities as well as Maou's wish granting cards as the police prevented people from spilling onto the streets again.

As I rode away, a heavy styrofoam cup flew by, missing me wildly as the scent of imitation vanilla was registered by my suit's chem sniffers. The thick, sloppy milkshake spilt on the ground as the cup split into multiple fragments upon impact with pavement.

An angry yelling bystander was grabbed by a police officer as his outline faded behind me as I rode over to ENE Headquarters.

This was going to be a long night.

"So… rough night, right? Hours are killer."

Of course the most prolific gossip would have been waiting for me in the officer parking lot floor.

I could already guess what the current response output would be. Miss Militia as a more PR friendly, maternal figure would perform more public acts to draw attention away from the situation. Velocity was off duty tonight, but might be called in for support, but Dauntless would be out for damage control, probably taking Triumph with him as while he recently reached the age of majority, was still too green for this debrief to come.

Though it was still strange that it would be Assault and not Battery that was waiting to escort me up.

"I'm not in a mood to talk about it." I growled, dismounting from my cycle.

"C'mon, Armsy." Assault frowned, "It's not even like that, uh, this time."

Assault scratched his cheek, looking apologetic.

"Look, it's not like I don't wanna know the details, but the Director asked me to come down and pick you up. Probably would have sent Miss Militia if she wasn't sent out for public patrolling and Dauntless with Triumph for actual damage control to keep any of the other gangs from acting up in the chaos."

I walked past Assault quietly to enter the elevator behind him.

"C'mon buddy, wait up."

"I'm not your buddy, I'm your coworker."

The doors closed, as Velocity entered in a red blur, not quite masking the faint elevator music began to play.

"I'm inviting you to my wedding! You accepted the RSVP!"

"I have set aside time for an important time in the life of a coworker. Don't make me regret it."

Assault threw his hands up.

"I can't believe I'm being coworker-zoned. That's a step down from a colleague!"

I frowned as the blinking lights of the floor number shifted.

"They're synonyms."

It made little to no logical sense.

"Sure, but there's still an order to these things! Coworker is so impersonal."

"Our correspondence exists in a professional nature, Assault. It's not necessarily meant to be personal."

"You say that but you'r- holy shit. I saw the corner of your lips rise. I-I've never seen you smile before."

I blinked, fingers rising to feel an upward tilt of my lip.

What was happening?

I relaxed my facial muscles, adopting a neutral tone once more.

"You ok, Armsy?"

"First, watch your language. It's a bad habit that you've been too liberal with around the Wards. Second, I had the barest hint of a smile and your response is to ask if I'm doing alright?"

"Ok, yeah that sounds… bad when you put it like that. But I'm just saying! You were told to bring him in, even if you had to twist his arm a little, but you attacked him the moment it looked like he was refusing. I know you and your track record. You don't fly off the handle like that. And now you're smiling? Man I'm worried you're gonna be forced through Master/Stranger protocols at this rate-"

The door to the elevator opened as we arrived and I stepped forward.

"I might have to either way, with his powers as either a Trump or a Grab-Bag definitely include both Master and possible Stranger ability."

Assault quickly stepped forward to match pace as we made a beeline for Debriefing Room G.

"Oh come on, firstly we all know that Master abilities that summon minions are hardly-"

"Not for that. I- you're right. My behavioral patterns may indeed have been affected. We'll worry about that after the debrief."

I did not notice that I left Assault behind as I opened the door to Room G.

"You admitted that I'm- yeah ok. Can we maybe skip the protocols? I like new Armsy, even if he- ah actually no, attacking that Maou kid so publically was still kind of-"

Assault grabbed the edge of the sliding door, keeping it from fully closed, squeezing by as it finished closing.

"Still, I-"

"Whatever conversation you two were carrying, leave it outside." Director Piggot squinted from over her spectacles, "And close that damn door."

"Yes, ma'am." Assault nodded quickly, snapping into a professional state.

Why didn't he act that way with me? Assault was many things, but he was no brown noser. Would it kill him to be more by the books when I address him? I was his leader. But then again, I suppose it wasn't me that signed his checks.

"Alright. I've gotten the rundown of everything that happened from Ocelot Squad. So I believe I've got a decent grasp of what happened tonight as does the REST OF THE CITY!" Piggot didn't physically let her anger be known, though her whitening fingertips against the table made her displeasure clear. "I wanted you to bring the new factor into HQ ideally, but what was important was that we would make contact and discern his intentions for this city. So explain what the hell happened tonight?"

"..."

I took a soft breath as I looked around the room.

The Director was present, a Senior PR Manager by the name of Higgens, Logistics & Human Resources Head Calvert, and Battery. Aside from her and Assault, no other powered response unit was present. Likely only on standby for any last resort measures tonight.

"Tonight was a mistake." I lead truthfully, "I acted rashly, which is severely out of character for me. My self-analysis leads me to believe that currently I may require to be processed with Master/Stranger protocols after this debrief."

"Oh joy." Calvert sighed, taking a note on his laptop, fingers clacking against the keyboard, "So we can't even take the current debrief with a hundred percent certainty."

He looked up from the laptop with an empathetic smile, the skin around his cleft chin stretching taut as he did so.

"Sorry, just reminding everyone of protocol."

I nodded mutely, jaw clenched.

"This better be actual and not just a measured response to avoid responsibility." The Director warned grimly. "Explain."

I linked my power armor's systems with the holo-projector at the center of the table displaying images and small video clips that I had put together on the way back to ENE Headquarters as my STEED bike had run autopilot protocols.

"Firstly, I approached the new factor, who introduced himself as Maou, which will be our Codename going forwards in reference to the subject, but there is a small catch to this designation."

"What exactly would be the issue with that?" Manager Higgens followed up, scribbling into a paper notepad, "The full unedited surveillance video you sent ahead from your suit made that very clear."

"It didn't get caught on the recording, but there is the potential for a memetic hazard spilling forth from a Thinker, Stranger, or even Master type ability when he spoke in person. Multiple eyewitnesses stated that they also heard the words akin to Demon Lord or Demon King somehow overlapping over his given name." I replied, bringing up photographs of some of the testimonies in question.

"It's a shame none of that can legally stick to the footage if it lacks the direct effect from his power." Calvert noted, "Real shame. Would have made our job tonight easier."

"Try to push for its removal online with this concern as justification." The Director ordered, "We won't be able to keep it down forever, but for now we have a twenty four hour legal course for emergency Stranger containment verification protocols, so use it."

"Do continue, Armsmaster." Higgens continued, scribbling, "I need something that we can spin for the press. My juniors are currently stalling, but we'll have to get a proper story together while the more tabloid articles are already jumping the gun. Time is of the essence."

I nodded, bringing the image of Oni Lee's destroyed body onto the screen as well as the emergency response's notes on his condition.

"Jesus Christ." Assault muttered, a small hum of displeasure from Battery. "I kind of get Armsy's reaction a little now."

"It's true that incapacitating Oni Lee for capture is close to impossible." I started speaking, "His teleportation is, while confirmed to be limited to sightlines, has extreme range within the current known maximum of a half-mile, though it is clear his accuracy suffers greatly at such distances. Not to mention the copy he leaves behind that can stall for time before it degrades to carbon ash. However-"

"While this level of violence, even towards a Villain, is unmistakably brutal and too far, that isn't enough justification for the general public opinion to be satisfied for what happened tonight." Director Piggot interrupted, "Normally it would be grounds for such a strong armed response, the issue is different when it was made evident that he had done so to stop a human trafficking establishment to an open public. I don't know or care if it was planned or staged, you knew better to act in that regard. Why did you? I expected better from you, Armsmaster."

"Once again, it is the reason why I wish to be inspected for Master/Stranger influence." I replied, still feeling that feeling of swirling malice, like ants crawling and biting from beneath my skin. "I've seen equally worse sights. I can handle myself in the horrors of violence. I always considered myself above such banal reactions. No, I prided myself in it."

I grit my teeth, my anger and pride boiling on the surface with equal measure, to the surprise of all of those within the room, "But when I was up there… I could only feel a sick twisting in my gut and boiling anger and hatred from the location of Oni Lee, as if either the end result or the location itself had been seeped in malice, possibly by his power as I- I've never had such a base reaction before. I don't believe Maou had anything in mind when he guided me to the incapacitated villain in hindsight, unless this was an unnecessarily convoluted master plan to get me to strike him publicly. And I-"

I swallowed hard.

"I realized there that I had left the boy capable of such casual violence in the middle of a curious crowd that was closing their distance to him, believing him to be a potentially new Hero. I believed at that moment that it had been a message from an unhinged Vigilante at best and was an act to use the crowd as hostages to force me to allow him a way to leave the scene without his capture. If it had turned out he was unhinged or truly violent…" My voice trailed off, feeling… disgustingly weak as a strange worry seeped into my voice.

Director Piggot slowly removed her reading spectacles, pinching at the bridge of her nose, seemingly uncomfortable about the raw emotions bleeding from my person.

I too disliked this heavily.

"...I will take that viewpoint into consideration. Especially considering that your current emotional state is obviously compromised." She muttered darkly, "We may have to suggest to the public that Maou has a high Master rating. Oni Lee may be a murderous villain with a long list of bodies, but he was also stopped without any casualties and with a whole human trafficking business liberated from the ABB with god knows how many women to return to their families… We could twist the facts to suggest that he's a Villain that manipulated and orchestrated public opinion as well as a member of the Protectorate to paint himself in a good light."

"That point of view isn't impossible to manufacture, but I personally recommend against such an allegation. Unless you want to cause panic on the level of people believing that a new version of Heartbreaker has entered the city? Either way it still doesn't change the fact that Master or no, he rescued those women which, by the gathered report, would be a total of thirty one people between ages fourteen to twenty-seven." Calvert's fingers smoothly clicked over his keyboard before pausing abruptly, "Not including the missing… wait, they can't be serious."

"What is it?" Battery spoke up for the first time, still reading over a different section of tonight's affairs on a tablet.

"Apparently this, and I hate to use the word establishment, was attempting some sort of marketing and dehumanizing method of stripping their workers of their names and giving them fetishized designations. I don't know how well they obeyed in private, but testimonies from customers and gang members have confirmed the victims' statements to some extent. The gang members in particular didn't even bother to learn their real names as a result, so were beyond useless to us. The missing girl in question that Maou claims to be reuniting with her brother was listed as, and I'm just quoting the official report here, Big Titty Goth GF."

Assault could be seen pinching his left bicep with his thumb and index finger, doing his damndest to not laugh out loud, acknowledging that the situation was serious.

"Pigs." Battery grunted with distaste. I noted a shuffle of movement that was her kicking her fiance's ankle lightly from under the table. It unfortunately only made Assault tremble harder in an attempt to not laugh out loud.

Higgens scribbled down another note.

"It's going to be-"

A sudden call request from the Digital Communications & Monitoring Department interrupted Higgens, who looked quite put off by the sudden ringing.

"How rude." He sniffed, eyes narrowing.

"If they're calling it must be an emergency." Piggot groaned, wincing as she held a hand over her side as if an ulcer was forming, "Patch it through."

A panicked looking young woman with big round glasses, messy shoulder length hair, and deep bags forming under her eyes appeared on the hologram feed.

"M-madam Director!" She cried out, "We've got a problem!"

"What is it now?" Her voice was stressed and tired.

"Uploading the feed to you now, I'll start from the beginning of their livestream, but I can skip forward if needed."

Battery leaned in with a puzzled lip pulling downward.

"Livestream? I know that Uber and Leet managed to escape transport midway two days ago after their arrest, but it can't be them, right?"

"It's worse, miss Battery." The overworked digital communications officer replied, "Maou is being interviewed somehow."

"...Perhaps this was orchestrated." Piggots eyes narrowed with a dark glint.

The feed opened up to a CG of the words 'The Uber and Leet Show!' in their recorded norm, but with an added graphic that stated 'Late Night Edition! With a SPECIAL guest!"

"Wwwwwwelcome to the Uber and Leet show!" Uber's voice called out in a smooth baritone that emulated a late night talk show host, "Where normally we bring you the latest in superpowered gaming hijinks, tonight we're here with an experimental stream to bring you all to new elevated levels of CONTENT! Brought to you for a free episode one, to whet your whistle!"

Some part of their hideout located somewhere in the Bay was often used as a show stage, but this time they were dressed up in more professional looking suits, expensive looking as well, which was odd, as the two weren't necessarily making much in the way of money. But it might have been a result of Leet's tinkertech projector systems, as they shamelessly ripped off the scene of more popular late night television hosts.

"Now I'm certain that many of you might have seen some of these funny little fliers floating around the Bay-"

"Goddamn it." The director growled, "Get it off the air!"

"T-the show is mostly over already, madam! This is the beginning of it!"

"How did this get on the air in the first place?!"

"L-Leet is one of few Tinkers that can somewhat successfully get by Dragon's censorship protocols, ma'am! It's why their live streams have any traction, they don't have many competitors."

"-and we met the gorgeous Contract Devil Oracle! Are you sure you don't want to introduce yourself to the audience?"

"I'm sure." A female voice responded from off camera, "Your wish was for new material ideas that would be more profitable, I gave you one."

It was sharp and relatively no-nonsense, though the faint disdain was evident through her tone.

"A Demon Lord and Oracle? That feels weird somehow." Assault muttered. "Like Beauty and the Beast?"

Battery hushed her fiance quickly.

"What's more important is the knowledge that there are now two of them." I muttered darkly, turning to Assault to shush him. "A Thinker, based on her name, but we'll have to reserve judgment."

If we were too late to adjust to this new information, it was better to gather information on our opposition.

"And speaking of profit!" Leet piped up, "This live stream IS free to watch, but will be locked behind membership for the VOD! And we will be taking down any non-consented uploading of our personal content! Plus our donation page is open tonight with proceeds splitting 50/50 between ourselves and the Cape making a WILD splash tonight! If you haven't seen the clips going outright viral, then you're late to the party my friends! Here's an example from tonight's festivities!"

Leet's voice was much less enjoyable than Uber's though it might have been a result of the taller man's Thinker powers at play, giving him all the ability and vocal range of a professional voice actor and announcer.

"Oh, this is a nightmare." Higgens moaned as he nervously nibbled at the back of his pen as various scenes and clips from tonight played out, including my attempt at bringing him in.

"But it's Uber and Leet. Their viewership is annoyingly loyal, but small. Rarely breaks into triple digits at best right? How bad could it be?" Assault tried to be a positive voice in the room. "Please tell me some good news, miss."

"Seventeen th-thousand, sir."

"...Dammit."

Maou stepped in in full costume, missing the cosmetic damage from my EDPM.

Small mercies, but it was also a concern that he even had spare costumes. Where did it all come from- unless his power could also create costumes? Hopefully it was that, rather than a financial backer, although both options were concerning.

"Hello everyone," Maou waved, his domino mask blinking expressively with an easy smile that was near supernaturally handsome, "I am Maou. My cute Bishop Oracle has-"

"Don't give out excess details!" The female voice hissed, barely audible but clearly exasperated.

"-requested that I assist in the livestream today. Especially to make up for in my, rather unfortunately, very public affair against an ABB establishment."

"-told you not- keep low profile but no, clash directly with- why don-" bits of the female voice's complaining could be barely picked up by the microphone.

"However, after events snowballing into such a messily and, rather embarrassingly, public affair, I agreed to this discourse." Maou nodded sagely before smiling again, looking somehow like some hollywood actor in his almost but not quite superpower level of handsomeness.

"After all, what's better than a Devil you don't know?" He questioned before leaning in conspiratorially towards the camera, zooming in slightly on his face as the handsome teen flashed a too-beautiful smile, "...a Devil that you DO."

Uber gave a laugh and a vigorous small applause.

"Man, this is gonna sell so hard!" Leet's voice unprofessionally squealed grossly in the background.

"Well here you hear it! A Devil granting, sorry, a pair of wish-granting Devils have graced our little Bay! What brings you two here instead of somewhere bigger like Boston or New York?"

That was a good question.

"I don't believe operating directly under a Triumverate's nose is the wisest of decisions, so New York was definitely off the table." Maou laughed as he sat down on what looked to be a plush leather couch, though it rippled with a little bit of Hard Light. "Besides, the Bay looked like a nice, quiet place to settle into, to help a few people."

"Oooh, so you're wanting to be a Hero then?" Uber asked with a fake million dollar smile, getting a shake of the head in return.

"Oh no. While I'm not here to be a Villain, after all, I have my own personal moral values, I am a Devil and certainly no Hero."

"So like us, Rogues?"

"If I'm correct, while you might view yourselves as such, I don't believe the public does? They see you as some small-time Villains, do they not?"

"Semantics, semantics." Leet responded from his seat at the show host table, almost shoulder to shoulder with his taller friend and partner. "We cause a little mayhem, but we don't really do anything bad compared to Merchants, E88, or the ABB."

Maou frowned visibly.

"You almost ran me over in your little Mario Kart display when I was out of costume you know."

Leet coughed, awkwardly as Assault snickered.

"...Which one was-" Uber maintained calm.

"Luigi."

Uber winced visibly.

"Ok, that was me. Sorry man."

Maou shrugged.

"If the apology comes simply because I am a fellow cape rather than a human being, that isn't an apology, it's just you covering your ass from potential fires. Not that I'm forcing you to do anything, of course. I've come on to this show as a guest and as a part of my cute B- I mean, Oracle's Contract with you two. If you don't mind me asking, how did you two get free so quickly?"

Leet puffed out his chest with a bit of pride.

"Short range teleporter! It uh- kinda fried after, but the man can't keep Uber and Leet down for long!"

Maou chuckled.

"I'll say. I feel sorry for those poor officers. They must have gotten quite the reprimand for losing you so immediately."

"They live off our tax-dollars. That's their problem, not ours."

"Do you two even pay taxes?"

"Nope!"

A laugh track played as the debriefing room stared at the stream with disdain.

"So, the good Miss Oracle seemed rather cross with you tonight."

"Ah…" Maou had the decency to look properly sheepish, "Well it really was supposed to be a very quick smash and grab. My Contractor simply wanted his sister returned. As I grant wishes, not miracles my assurance was that I would bring back whatever remained of her, dead or alive. The complication was once I reached the girl."

"Oooh, juicy details! Do share, dear guest." Leet, once again, squealed a bit too excitedly.

"I suppose I'll have to address the elephant in the room. I am no Hero. I happened to do a lot of good tonight, but that is thanks to the Contractor's sister. If anything, all credit goes out to her tonight. Frankly, I had every intention of simply leaving with her, threatening the ABB to not come back after her, and calling it a night." Maou turned to the camera with a shrug, "Oracle pulled up some articles that jumped the gun and discussions on your Redd- I mean, PHO. Thus I must first be completely honest: I am a Rogue with morals enough to accept and turn down wishes based on my personal whims."

"Well this works in our favor." Higgens scribbled thoughtfully in his notepad, "Actually this implies that even we might be able to get Maou to work with us in the future, perhaps a more permanent Contract of sorts."

I narrowed my eyes.

This was too convenient. A white flag? No, if that were the case he would have simply come in willingly. What was his play here?

"Well that wasn't quite what I expected to hear," Uber replied, mulling over Maou's words. "Then what did the poor girl even do to make you reconsider it all?"

Maou laughed, as if imagining the situation back in his mind. Quite from his belly, as he almost hunched over in mirth, though there was a faint buzz of irritation to it.

"Let us say for brevity that she offered to make a Contract for the rescue of her fellows. I'm not quite in the habit of spilling the tea on what the payment for such a wish was-"

"Actually, real quick. I'm sure our viewers at home are very curious about the whole wish system." Uber interrupted, pausing as if he knew every viewer would now lean into the conversation, "Now nothing prevents me from talking about what Leet and I are, uh, paying for our wish of having this show, this new content idea from miss Oracle, right?"

Maou nodded, magnanimous.

"Cool, just double checking. If it isn't obvious, Miss Oracle is a fair bit business savvy as we're at…" Uber glanced at a tablet on his desk, mouth agape as he elbowed his partner in crime. "Leet. Fuck man, we're at 6k viewers and RISING!" He hissed excitedly.

Leet just grinned like a loon, almost trembling in his seat with excitement.

Uber coughed, regaining his composure.

"Sorry about that, this wish of ours is working out way better than we anticipated." Uber laughed, his voice artificially suave from his Thinker power working overtime, "But like I said, Miss Oracle, bless her magnificent brain, wished for half of tonight's proceeds, which I felt was a bit harsh initially, but yeah I get it now."

"Pft. You're welcome." Oracle's condescending voice had a preening lilt.

"Note that Oracle has an ego that responds well to compliments." I noted to Head Calvert, who tacitly nodded and added an addendum on his laptop.

"So what kind of money did you make from tonight's activities? Did your damsel in distress promise you all the cash in the store or what?"

Maou's mask blinked, almost in confusion.

"Zero?"

Everyone paused.

"What?" Calvert muttered.

"H-hold up. You did that all for free?" Leet sounded incredulous, and the sound of a facepalm could be heard offscreen from Oracle.

"Of course not. Every wish has a price." Maou replied easily, "The brother had unwittingly granted me quite a personal favor out of costume, even though he was not aware of what he had accomplished. Thus his price was well paid ahead of time. The sister on the other hand created a bit more of a complication, but neither paid in something as simple as money."

"Shit man, did she like, promise you her soul or something?" Leet sounded nervous.

"Oh no. Nothing of the sort." Maou laughed, "We Devils stopped collecting souls over a millenia ago." He joked, "Did you not read the fliers?"

"Ok, like yeah, but." Uber whipped out a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. "We live in a world of superpowers. What's wrong with a touch of the supernatural? Make a deal with a Devil and have your wishes come true. No souls, no firstborns, no blood sacrifice! Payments are negotiable. Barter and favors allowed. Instructions: Use only after sunset. Place hand on circle and have a desire in your heart. Must be alone and indoors. So you're saying that if it has equal value-"

"Oh that's a misunderstanding as well. It doesn't have to be a payment of equal value to the wish made. That's purely up to the Devil fulfilling the Contract, they simply get final say."

"Wait, then that still makes what you did tonight a good thing! You didn't take a dime from both of those siblings?" Leet asked, his reedy voice not suited for the role he played.

"Like I said, what the brother unwittingly accomplished was worth to me more than such a banal thing as money. Not that I couldn't ever use a few more dollars or that I couldn't charge proper fees for my services. And the sister paid in the form of a non-sexual promise, in case any deviant minds out there accuse either of us of anything. For example: Yesterday I was paid with five pounds of frozen pork shoulder for helping an old man pick himself off the ground and helping him out a bit more after, gave a massage to another Contractor for a small sum of cash, and played hide and seek with a kid left home alone for a treat." Maou shrugged. "Oracle will likely charge direct cash as it's more in her personality, but I'm happy to be flexible."

"So like no set prices for anything?" Uber asked incredulously.

"I'm clearly not doing this for money." Maou replied with a smile, "It'd be easier to rob a bank or jewelry store if that were the case. I am a Devil, we grant wishes."

He stated it so matter of factly, I'm sure that most people would simply take that at face value.

"Send all this footage to Watchdog with priority requests. If he's gaining power from fulfilling Contracts, I want to know immediately." Director Piggot demanded of the overworked Digital Communications Officer. "We'll need to adjust our approach heavily if he turns out to be a Trump."

"I would like any follow up information about the results to come to me and my team as well, Director." I requested.

She nodded, with a short pause beforehand.

"The moment we get it and you are cleared to operate on the streets again, Armsmaster."

That would have to do.

"Ok, wild. Wild. Wild." Leet seemed very contemplative, as if he was planning something and hoping to pull Maou into it, much to everyone's concern. "Then how about your encounter with the Protectorate today? A bit spicy wasn't it? How do you feel about Arms-"

"It's Ser Kamen Rider Armsmaster." Maou corrected, like it was a logical sentence that left his lips.

I flinched.

Assault fell out of his chair in laughter, as Battery sighed heavily into her hands, though I could see her lips tug upwards as well.

Even Head Calvert, professional as he was, couldn't resist smirking, much to my annoyance.

Uber and Leet on the other hand needed a few straight minutes of laughter to calm down.

"Damn, Maou, shit… ok, that's funny. You a Kamen Rider fan then?" Leet asked excitedly.

Maou coughed somewhat sheepishly, still looking too damn handsome as he did so.

"Well, it was always more of my twin sister's thing, anime and such in general. But I grew up with her and there were a few years when she liked the Sentai Rangers and the Kamen Riders as much as her Sailor Senshi."

"Yo wait, you have a-"

Maou's masks eyes narrowed as he leveled a glower at the show hosts, causing Leet to fall out his chair and Uber to look very nervous.

"Yes. We weren't born there, but we grew up in Japan. My sister was, quite happily, an otaku, I am a twin, and we will leave it at that."

"Yessir." Uber nodded quickly, sweat visible on his cheeks.

Calvert and Higgens fingers were ablaze over their respective notes.

"Good. Back to the question at hand. Continue."

Maou's tone was imperial, demanding authority and intent, oozing with the sort of charisma of a man that knew the power of his words and appearance and used it to their fullest effect.

"Well, as YOU stated, in regards to your clash with…" Uber still couldn't hold back a snicker, "Ser Kamen Rider Armsmaster today. How do you feel? I mean you made his job easy for him and more or less gave him an easy clean-up and the so-called Hero attacked you the moment you stated you wouldn't come to ENE Headquarters with him. How did it feel that the Protectorate-"

Maou held up one hand to stop Uber's clearly veiled twist of a knife at the local PRT branch.

"I want this to be very clear. No one is forcing me to state this, as this is purely my professional feelings on the matter. Even though Oracle asked me to come onto the show and talk so that I might try to clear the air and lower the heat from law enforcement, it has actually zero input on my personal opinion on the matter here."

I gripped the edge of the table, it groaning between the powered gauntlets of my power suit.

"I believe, full heartedly, that Ser Armsmaster did nothing wrong." Maou stated with the simple confidence of a man that stated that the sky was blue, or that fire was hot.

Uber dropped the mic, resulting in a painful screech.

But everyone stared at the feed in silence.

Even Oracle's soft "Huh?" of confusion did not break the radio silence for the next two minutes.

I didn't understand. What was his game?

"I suppose it's possible that this Maou knows how to play ball." The Director's voice was strained, hard to interpret her feelings at the moment. "But this might give both parties a way out."

What on earth was Maou planning?