"I like it. You should keep making them."
Why did those words hit her hardest? She'd adopted a persona that was supposed to contradict him. To earn his hate, for the sake of owning some control over him. Instead, if anything, he still controlled her, because she still revolved her character around him. It was like the last few months had been a complete waste of time.
Robert stepped onto the apartment balcony. "Yo," he said. She was the only one in her unit that night, Emily didn't stay on weekdays. The morning mist was still across the city, from the floor they were on, they stared just above the mist to see the high rises of the city with the warm steam obscuring the streets.
"Hi," she said in a quiet tone. She was running her fingers against the gift wrapped present Accord had given her. She refused to open it.
"What's wrong?" He asked. She'd gone quiet since she and Vivan returned home. She acted happy around Vivan, but whenever he caught her alone, it was like she needed time to think about something.
"You still don't have to stay here," Robert said. "You don't owe us anything."
"I know."
He'd taken away her death wish. She couldn't hate him for it, but he took away something she'd been asking for for a long time. Being close to danger was a thrill to her. Narrowly escaping death gave her the sense of control over her own life, or the sense of non-control by believing that the Simurgh was somehow keeping her alive. Either way, she liked the cloud over her head. It made her feel safe, powerful, and now it was gone.
"You said you joined the Wards because someone put a gun on your head, what did you mean by that?"
Robert snickered, "it's not a big deal. My foster parents caused me to trigger because they kept pressuring me to win sports competitions. After I triggered, they forced me to join the Wards the same way they forced me to do everything else. So I never enjoyed my time there. I guess I became a villain solely to piss them off."
"How's that working for you?"
"Working great if you ask me. To be honest though, I'm not a villain to piss anyone off anymore. That doesn't last forever. I like being strange. Being a hero is too idealistic, being a pure villain is boring. I just want to have fun while I have these powers."
"Making up for lost time?" Aryana asked.
"Something like that. I like to think of the world like Mass Effect. It's not about the endgame, it's about all the roadmaps you take throughout the game. You can still have fun playing, even if the ending sucks, or the endings are the same."
"Renegade for life then?" Aryan jabbed a punch at Robert's shoulder.
"Paragade for life," He bumped her back. She rubbed at her shoulder with a smile. Robert looked down at her exposed hand and tapped a finger on her tattoo. "Accord told me that's real."
Aryana looked down at her hand, "you know, I vaporized earth in that game. You still think endings don't matter?"
"Honestly, yes. This doesn't change anything."
Aryana smiled, "when I saw the Simurgh for the first time, I honestly thought it was an angel… What a load of shit." Aryana tapped at the balcony rail, "are you going to tell Edwin?"
None of them were sure how Edwin would react. Sure, he had an immense loyalty to his team, but before Aryana came along, he was incredibly cautious with his powers. There was a very real possibility he'd stop tinkering all together if he found out he was heavily influenced by someone Simurgh tainted. "Of course not," Robert answered. "I just… Can't see you becoming a bad person."
"You don't really know me," she said with a sigh. She rested Accord's gift on the side of the balcony. "Robert, I'm not sure if this is because of Accord, the Simurgh, or because of how I triggered. Either way, I don't feel attachment the same way other people do. I can get close to people when I'm in the moment, but I don't feel attachment forever like other people do. I'll love the person in front of me, but the moment they go away, I'll move on like they were never a part of my life. I don't miss things, I can't get attached to anything. And I know it's because there's something wrong with me…"
"Living in the moment?" Robert said, "that's not so bad. Ever feel the urge to murder people like in Red Dead Redemption?"
"No," Aryana said, "but I've never felt regret murdering someone either."
Robert's eyes widened. "Oh…"
"Nothing feels real sometimes…. Like I've gone through so many highs and lows, that none of it effects me anymore."
Robert thought about Endbringer events, how a lot of recruits would fight optimistically, and come out changed and numb to loss. "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," he said plainly. "When people are forced to go through horrible things, they cope. Adapt so that they can still function with some level of normalcy. I don't think that makes you crazy or bad, just…"
"Different?" She asked.
"Not different, just changed. Everyone is different, you're not so different from the rest of us."
Aryana smiled, "so basically… I'm a Loser like everyone else."
"Bingo. I still can't believe how proud you are to call yourself that."
"Thank Tattletale," Aryana and Robert fist bumped, "it's the little things that piss people off."
Aryana wasn't sure what she wanted anymore. A death wish didn't go according to plan, and living on the fuel of earning someone's hate was self-destructive. She kept thinking of Robert's analogy, what character do I want to play in this game? She wasn't sure. But she did make a promise to herself, she wasn't going to revolve herself around external forces that were outside of her control.
She leaned over to Robert and kissed the side of his cheek. Then she stroked a finger against his golden hair and kissed him on the lips.
After five seconds, Robert backed away. "Nope."
"Oh come on, I've got this pent of energy I've gotta burn off somehow." She leaned closer to him again, to which he pushed her away.
"Girl, I will throw you off this balcony." He wasn't kidding, either.
"Come on," she pulled off her jacket, "you can't seriously tell me you'd reject a hormonal fertile girl who's literally throwing herself onto you."
Robert walked into the apartment living room. She floated towards him. He said, "Well, maybe you shouldn't have flirted with Edwin for three months just to make him a better tinker."
Aryana's mouth shrunk. He was right, she couldn't argue that what she'd done wasn't wrong, even if they both felt the methods justified the results. "Relax, I'm gonna hook him up with Emily."
"Nope," Robert said heading out the door. "Bro-code. He likes you, I'm not touching you."
"Touch me goddamnit!"
He closed the door behind him, leaving her in her apartment alone. "Goddamnit," she took out her cell phone and called Emily.
"Aryana?" Emily answered whispering, "class just started, did something happen?"
"Emily, I need a big favor from you. I'm also willing to pay you for it."
"Are you trying to prostitute me again?"
"...Kind of."
She hung up. "Okay..." Aryana said to herself, "I really need to learn to be more subtle."
XXX
Inside the Korean restaurant, the Losers took the liberty to buy all the customers free drinks until the PRT arrived. The customers were hardy, and surprisingly open to being held 'hostage' while the PRT slowly surrounded the restaurant. Spitfire sang Korean pop music through the karaoke machine while the rest of the 'hostages' cheered her on.
"She's surprisingly good," Leet said sitting at the bar stool.
Light looked at the laptop on one of the dining tables. "The fans still want to know when you're gonna ask her out."
Rush tapped at her phone as she reposted shipping comments that involved Leet and Spitfire.
Leet's face turned red underneath his domino mask. "Can you just tell them I'm gay? To save me from future awkwardness."
"Will do buddy," Light typed into the livestream chat, quenching some of the rumors.
Rush glared at them. 'Goddamnit Leet, you need to man the fuck up…'
Their camera drone was hovering around the room, emitting warm lights to brighten the mood. The livestream this time was more reliant on their mask feed while Marvin edited the feed from their base. Uber looked at the two restaurant owners that were tied up behind the counter. "Are you guys comfortable?" Uber asked in Korean.
The Korean man, slightly over the age of forty, looked mildly annoyed, "you guys better pay for those drinks when you guys are done."
His wife smiled next to him. She nodded, "as long as you all can keep the ABB out of our business, these handcuffs aren't so bad." She didn't understand why the handcuffs were pink and furry, but no one had the heart to explain where Rush had gotten them from.
The Loser's 'uniforms' were actually diverse clothes meant to mimic something from k-pop bands. Leet wore a glittering suit while Light opted for a 'rock band' get up that matched Leet through dark color schemes. Rush wore formal black jeans with a tucked in dress shirt, and Uber had on a pink skirt with a tight t-shirt. The whole team agreed to make Spitfire wear the school girl uniform.
Spitfire just finished singing through the song 'roly-poly', before the sounds of sirens closed in from the distance. "Damnit," one of the customers said in Korean, "someone shut those guys up, the lights hurt my goddamn eyes."
His Caucasian-American friend sat next to him. In perfect Korean he replied, "try squinting your eyes, that helps me all the time."
Everyone, both the Losers, Customers, and the hostages, yelled Korean at the same time, "racist bastard!"
XXX
The Wards and Protectorate arrived at nearly the same time. The PRT had already barricaded up most of the streets and lowered their sirens. The restaurant sat at the edge of Koreatown, just narrowly outside of ABB territory. It was one of the more expensive restaurants. The exterior of the building wasn't distinctly Korean, the owner's design for the restaurant was meant to appeal to an American-Korean cultural mix.
Battery and Assault left the PRT vans with Armsmaster leading them. It had reached the point where they agreed not to bring full firepower against the Losers. Since they rarely posed an actual threat, escalating conflict was discouraged, and instead, they did their best to make their battles a learning opportunity for the Wards.
All the Wards were there, including Shadow Stalker, whom hated Light more than anything. Battery said to the Wards, "we're not planning extended combat this time. With hostages inside, we won't let them get into danger in anyway."
Clockblocker looked at his phone. "Clockblocker," Aegis said, "now's not the time."
"Hold on…" He pulled up the Loser's webpage. "I knew it. They're livestreaming right now. Check out the hostages."
He faced the phone screen to the Wards. Leet was beginning his Korean karaoke performance while Rush and Uber were taking shots with the customers. Light spoke to a young girl there that was the restaurant owners' daughter. Even though she was handcuffed to the bar counter, she was surprisingly pleasant to Light, even speaking to him in a flirtatious manner.
"This doesn't feel like a hostage situation..." Kid Win commented.
"I'd like to make a suggestion," Aegis said. "The Losers are better known as entertainers than threats to civilian lives. If one of us could go inside and negotiate terms, maybe this 'hostage' situation can end without a confrontation."
The plan made sense, considering the Loser's tactics. But Armsmaster didn't like entertaining the games that they often played. In fact, Armsmaster often felt he was the only one serious about arresting them. While most considered the Loser's as the mascot villains of Brockton Bay, Armsmaster believed they undermined the gravity of crime.
"I volunteer Clockblocker as tribute," Vista suggested.
"No way," Kid Win said, "do you have any idea how many jailbait jokes that would lead to?"
"Well it can't be me," Vista argued, "Rush never stops hugging me whenever we're close."
Clockblocker looked over to Shadow Stalker, "hey Shadow Stalker, could you seduce Light and trick them to-"
"Fuck you," she said before he could finish the statement.
XXX
Taylor walked to the street corner three blocks from the library. When she visited to the library to search for more parahuman information, she was surprised to see that the Losers were livestreaming close from where she was. Unwilling to miss the opportunity, she walked out and reached the restaurant where the hostage situation was.
The barricades were up with police lights flashing and low sirens all around. She saw the heroes for the first time up close. There were a few pedestrians around the PRT barriers to try and film the conflict with their cell phones. Taylor walked as close as she could get to near the heroes.
She couldn't hear them from outside the crossing line, but as she drew her bugs into the building, she realized she didn't need to. Her bugs could hear the music inside. It was difficult since the restaurant was mostly bug free, but as she converged more bugs to their location, she could hear the voices inside.
"Leet," Rush said, "got the bomb ready?"
"You know it."
Shit, Taylor thought, they're going to far this time.
XXX
"Hello, my lovely heroes of the overworld," Rush's distinct tone echoed across the streets. The Protectorate looked forward to see mechanical helicopter-like drone flying closer to them. There was a screen at it's front to show Rush's face speaking directly at them.
"Today," she said with a smile through the drone, "on the Loser-"
"Armsmaster!" Leet pushed Rush aside. He stole the mic and yelled, "you're a bull**** fake ****** tinker, you know that!?"
Armsmaster with a cold face replied, "says the kid who buys robots from Toy Box because he can't outgrow video games."
"You son of a-"
"Stop getting in your own way!" Rush pushed him away and took the mic back from Leet. Annoyed, she looked back to the screen. "As I was saying… Today, on the Loser channel. We have taken the liberty to claim this wonderful restaurant as our territory."
An advertisement banner shamelessly formed at the bottom of the screen. Prices of the store's menu popped up, with words -Great Meals For Great Deals! - passing by. She continued to speak as the ad cycled through the menu.
"And in order to protect our wonderful new entrepreneurship, not only have we taken the owners hostage, but we've also taken the liberty to guard it with the greatest weapon ever made!"
The drone's display turned to Spitfire. She held up the drone that Armsmaster had deactivated a few days ago. "This," Rush said, "is a kiloton neutron bomb. And unless you want the west side of this city to blow up… I suggest you do exactly what we say."
"She's lying," Shadow Stalker said, "we've seen this trick before. Leet's just bluffing because he's a shitty tinker."
Leet twitched at the sound of that. In silent anger, he grabbed the bomb and opened the restaurant front doors. The PRT officers and capes watched as Leet lifted the drone over his head and pointed at Shadow Stalker. "Say that again mother******! I'm not bluffing this time!"
"I said," Shadow Stalker continued, "you're full of-"
"Shadow Stalker enough!" Armsmaster yelled. "Do not provoke him! My helmet is detecting immense radiation from that device, do not risk provoking him!"
The wards took a step back. Gallent asked, "wait, they actually did it? They built a tiny nuke just for the joke of it?"
Leet snickered, "that's right, fear me biiiitch." He returned inside and slammed the doors behind him, right after flicking them all off.
"I told you we're bad guys!" Rush said over the intercoms and drone. "Like, do we have to spell it out for you? If I threw you a dollar for every fuck we gave, you'd have zero dollars."
Light tossed a wad of bills out the window.
"Light," Rush yelled, "stop giving them our fucks!"
"I don't want my fucks," Light retorted, "fuck my fucks, I don't give a fuck about fucks."
The wad of bill rolled over the Assault's feet. He picked up the money and was genuinely surprised, "one thousand dollars… Wow, they really don't give a fuck."
Battery glared at her husband, "don't you dare take that money. They probably stole it."
Assault passed it for Clockblocker, both of them pretended it was collected for evidence.
"What are your demands," Armsmaster said .
Rush grinned, "we've taken the liberty to take requests from our fans. And according to our livestream chat... We demand that Shadow Stalker and Light get a room."
"God no," Light said over the intercom. "How dare they objectify us like play things. I'm offended on both our behalfs."
Shadow Stalker clenched her fist, don't fucking say anything. They're just trying to piss you off….
"Besides, I can do much better than Shadow Stalker."
Shadow Stalker yelled, "says the five foot little bastard that dresses like a mascot!"
"Don't call me little!" Light yelled through to front of the drone camera, "I am five two and still growing! Get it right!"
"Little!" Shadow Stalker yelled, "little little little little!"
Light yelled, "shut up you wannabe hero! You don't even dress like a good guy!"
"Little little little!"
"Your arrows are fake!"
"Little!"
"Argghh," Light busted open the entrance doors. He almost charged over at the hero team before Uber and Spitfire grabbed him by the arms and dragged him back inside. They hastily closed the doors before he could start a one sided fight.
No one could see Shadow Stalker smiling beneath her mask. Clockblocker commented, "Shadow Stalker, I think you just found his weakness."
"Okay… That was weird…" Rush returned to reading the livestream chat. "Let's avoid murder and forget that one. Demand number two, Kid Win becomes a man and sells his virginity to the highest bidder."
Kid Win lifted a finger up, but Gallant quickly stopped him from talking. "Don't make it worse, I guarantee they'll run out of things to say."
"Demand number three," Rush read, "Clockblocker freezes a…. Oh my God, my fans are disgusting."
"You reap what you sow," Spitfire commented.
"Lets cut to the chase," Uber said, borrowing the mic from Rush. "Leet's bomb will blow up half the city unless Armsmaster follows a few simple orders. Orders which involve him stepping calmly into the building, unarmed and by himself."
Armsmaster looked over at the Protectorate members, "I'm willing negotiate for the hostages. Just promise no one will get hurt if I step inside."
"Mwahaha," Leet laughed from the background.
Rush answered, "we promise the hostages won't get hurt, nothing more…"
Uber looked towards Leet, "Leet, put your gun away."
Light laughed, "haha, innuendo. You guys can't see this, but Leet just put his dick away."
Rush yelled, "God Light, get your mind out of the gutter."
Spitfire commented, "you know, I used to be pretty normal before I met you guys…"
XXX
Taylor hid her bugs on some of the joints of the Wards, Protectorate members, and Losers. She could get a thin outline of their bodies by visualizing them based on where her bugs were located. Like a skeletal computer model of their bodies.
Armsmaster stepped inside with no Halberd at hand. He looked around at the 'hostages.' The sound of foreign hip hop music filled his ears. "Oopa!" All the customers took another shot glass the moment Armsmaster stepped inside. Even the kitchen was still cooking fresh meat for everyone to smell. Each of them were enjoying themselves, having free drinks while willing to be a part of the plan the Losers had for them.
"This won't last forever," Armsmaster said to the Losers in a stoic tone. "This game you're all playing, it'll never last. Some people might entertain the games you all play, but not me. When the opportunity comes up, I will put an end to your charades."
"Oh my," Rush said waving him off with her Simurgh hand, "what epic foreshadowing."
Light said, "I bet a thousand fucks Armsmaster will someday get his ass kicked ironically by a tinker."
"You're on," Uber said. Uber and Light threw a wad of cash in front of Armsmaster's feet.
Leet stepped forward to Armsmaster. He looked up at him from his shorter height. "I have one demand." Leet crossed his arms with a grin across his face, "say I'm the better tinker, or else I blow up this city."
Armsmaster's helmet said Leet was telling the truth. But he wondered if Leet had some sort of tool that threw off his lie detector. "No." Armsmaster answered, refusing to give up his pride so easily.
Leet's eyes widened. "Um… Dude, we'll blow up a city if you don't say it."
"I think you're bluffing," Armsmaster glared closer to Leet, giving him an intimidating gaze. "I think you're still a joke tinker, and this whole conversation is just a ruse."
Shit, Leet thought to himself myself, he knows I'm screwing with his helmet. "You're seriously gonna risk that? Me blowing up this city, just because you don't want to say one sentence."
Armsmaster said, "I'm pretty sure I can trust my gut more than you can trust yours."
Rush commented, "is anyone else turned on by this?"
Leet swallowed, goddamnit, this fucker's got me right where he wants me...
Spitfire said, "he'll do it. He was laughing all day while he made that bomb. He's been wanting to use it all day."
"Yeah," Light added, "are you really gonna risk the city for a single sentence? I probably would, but I'm irresponsible."
"We've also been drinking all day," Uber mentioned, "Don't ask us to make rational decisions."
"Ditto," Rush commented. "Half of us are also high as fuck, how else do you think we can screw around like this?"
Leet looked over to Spitfire. She had the fake bomb in her hands while nervously eyeing at them. There was no way out of this, all he could do was give the signal to activate the bomb and then retreat.
Before he could give the signal, the sound of crawling grew around them. Cockroaches converged hastily as they amassed from the cracks in the ground. The bugs climbed on top of each other, forming a giant bulge of a person next to Armsmaster.
Customers threw their drinks to the ground as bugs passed by the dining tables. As the glass shattered they ran out in screaming panic towards every window and open exit they could find. The bug-constructed creature formed a humanoid arm and hissed out, "staaaahp."
The music stopped. The Losers watched with their mouths gaped open in shock as the creature spoke. "Leet," Uber said, "please tell me you made a new minion."
Leet shook his head slowly. Taylor got the idea of using a doppelganger from watching the Losers use their holograms for deceit and manipulation. A few of the major things she learned from their videos; take control of the situation, choose your own battles, never let all your tricks be known immediately, and always use psychological warfare against your enemies.
And instead of mockery, Taylor decided to use fear.
"Oh my God," Rush yelled, "Armsmaster just summoned Satan!"
Armsmaster looked at the insectoid creature with pure intrigue. Loud hostile buzzing filled the air over the Loser's heads.
"Run!" Light said, "just run, fuck it, spawnchild is gonna kill us!"
"It's a trick guys," Spitfire said while insects hissed at their ears, "those bugs aren't even biting us."
A cockroach crawled across Uber's hand, "nope, this is getting too gross and weird. Respawn to base!"
Uber disappeared. A horde of flies flew in Leet's direction, "no no no, respawn to base!"
Leet disappeared. Rush almost stayed behind, but then beetles crawled inside her shoes. "Abort mission! Respawn to base!"
"Oh God," Light swapped at moths flying around his head, "the touching! They're touching me!"
"Light," Spitfire said as ants crawled up her legs. A small swarm of bumble bees hissed around her mask as she spoke, "they're not even biting, it's ok-"
"Nope," Light yelled, "nope nope nope nope nope. Fuck it, respawn to fucking base!"
Spitfire covered her face in shame, "am I the only one here who isn't afraid of bugs? Spitfire respawn to base."
XXX
"Oh God, they're still crawling in my boots!" Aryana pulled off her boots and threw them out the window. She grabbed a sweater to start swatting insects off the apartment floors.
"Cockroaches in my pants, I'm taking them off." Robert pulled off his leggings. Aryana wanted to watch him strip, but the freed bugs instantly made her lose interest.
"The moths…" Light shivered as he walked forward while hugging himself, "so… freakishly… furry."
Spitfire looked down at the beetles that were caught on her costume. She poked a few that fell off her feet. "Guys, they're not intelligent anymore. There's nothing to be freaked out about anymore."
"Ugh," the sink filled with the smell of Edwin's puke. A fly twitched in his vomit. "I swallowed a damn horsefly, that's not natural."
Vivan scrubbbed at his arms, "I don't believe in god, but what the unholy fuck was that hellfire demon spawn creature from Satan?"
"Maybe it was a Tinker invention?" Emily said, trying to stay calm for everyone else's sake.
"I'll call Toy Box and see if they know anything," Robert suggested.
Aryana looked at all the bugs that were scurrying around the apartment, seemingly normal compared to where they just came from. She said, "can we all agree to just run like hell if bugs show up again?"
"Agreed," the rest of them said together.