Chapter 13 - Markus IV

I was proud of what I had accomplished since getting my power. It finally felt like I was making progress towards something instead of just spinning my wheels and watching the world pass me by. Over the last thirty years I had been tempted very often to change something, to inject myself into situations I knew would happen, places I could be to become someone influential. I had always resisted because I knew without powers I would just be a passenger on another person's ship.

But I was the captain now.

I felt gleeful as I hovered over the building Heartbreaker and his group had taken over. It was in the middle of a quaint little town, a single winding street of shops with a couple of townhouses surrounding it. Thankfully it wasn't in Quebec, being in Canada was bad enough.

A thought was enough to slowly descend, the brown stone of the three story house vibrant due to a recent winter rain shower. I didn't bother with the stairs, just landed directly in front of the door and used my power to press the doorbell. Even small uses like that gave me joy.

It rang for almost a minute before a small but very beautiful woman answered. I knew she wasn't the owner of the house, having watched the older couple go to work just ten minutes earlier.

"Y-yes?" She asked with a quiver in her voice, looking up at me. I saw no recognition in her blue eyes, just the fear of standing in front of an unknown cape. How did Heartbreaker decide which of his girls to send out first? She wasn't even one with a power, if I really wanted to smash right through, she would barely be a speed bump.

"I'm Markus Leon. Tell Nikos I want to talk to him." I told her while already stepping forward, causing her to try and close the door in my face. I didn't let it move of course, making her stumble backwards as I stepped into the entrance hall.

One side of the room was filled with suitcases, stacked almost three high lengthwise. A mess of shoes occupied the other side, mostly child sizes, and coats and jackets occupied every flat surface away from the floor. There was a sort of organized chaos to it, like everyone would be able to find their stuff if it came down to it. No idea how they would collect this stuff if they were going to be raided by police though. Probably just buy everything new, I doubted money was ever a problem for them.

The woman recovered quickly, pulling out a gun from behind her back, pointing it directly at me. Her eyes were narrowed, suddenly very hostile and looking ready to shoot me should I make another wrong movement. I almost rolled my eyes.

"I will wait here." And let him set up his theatrics, I didn't say. He probably already knew I was here. If I remembered correctly, one of his kids could see through the eyes of anyone he had touched. Or maybe that kid was already out hunting that one girl that joined the Slaughterhouse Nine. I wasn't too clear on the timeline of such unimportant details.

"Go." I shooed her away and she went backwards, keeping me in her iron sights as the door fell closed behind me. On some level I was already regretting going slow, if I had peeled the building like an orange I could already be out of here. But it wasn't about speed anymore, I could slow down a little.

The revelation had come after I had taken out the E88 as while I felt proud of destroying a cape gang, it was over almost too soon. Why did I do it so quickly? Why didn't I play around a bit? Why didn't I enjoy the moment a bit more?

The answer I came to was that I was still caught up in the thinking of someone who was dying from cancer, someone who had to do something, anything to gain power now or they would die. I had always prided myself on my patience since arriving but these last two years had eroded it quite well. In the end I didn't even bother planning anything, just roaming the streets like a wild beast looking for anything to challenge myself.

Until I attacked a drug den while Oni Lee and Lung were present.

No, it wasn't about speed anymore.

"Mister Leon, Master Nikos will see you now." His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a man in a costume, blue and white, the colors of a hero. He was lean, but in a way that implied good health rather than starving and wore a mask covering the upper half of his face.

Ah, I had wondered when I would meet one of the powered slaves. Had Heartbreaker taken one of his family members and he had searched him out for revenge or was he just a hero on duty at the wrong time? But most importantly: Did I care to find out?

I followed the former hero through the house, past a modern kitchen, cluttered with groceries and the remnants of a meal cooked for many people, and up the stairs into the living room. The leather three seater couch was rearranged to look at the stairs instead of at the TV, the morning sun illuminating the scene from the large windows behind them, throwing the faces of about a dozen adults into shadow.

The man who had led me here slotted in to my left, joining a group of four people, two men and two women, in well designed costumes, and definitely former Heroes. They didn't seem particularly impressive to me though otherwise they wouldn't have been caught.

The other people in the room were all women and dressed very skimpily, showing off their fit bodies. It was like something out of an 80s action flick with how they were all armed with at least one rifle. It seemed like I was taken at least a little bit seriously.

Then my eyes fell on Heartbreaker, Nikos Vasil, sitting with one leg crossed over the other and his arms over the back of the couch. He tried to affect a relaxed demeanor but the tightness in his eyes and jaw betrayed him quite easily.

Or maybe that was just the sign that he was trying to use his power on me. I wouldn't know.

"Are you not going to offer me a chair, Nikos?" I asked, amusement in my tone as the whole room stiffened at my words. The effect I had on people now was something I enjoyed immensely, almost nobody else on the planet could say that they received such a reaction. Eidolon, Jack Slash and me, what an eclectic group.

"Marie, get our guest a chair." Heartbreaker snapped his finger and one of his slaves sprang to it. He had a light greek accent and I was impressed that his voice sounded steady. Maybe he was under the impression that his power had worked. I didn't know the exact mechanics and had no idea if he even got any feedback if it had taken or not. I couldn't imagine finding out that my abilities didn't work on someone and not be at least a little worried.

He stared at me as we waited. I was instead watching how a couple little faces stared out of the doorway behind and to the left of the Master. I wondered which of them would have eventually triggered with a stronger power and killed him. Heartbreaker's eventual fate wasn't something I remembered so it couldn't have been particularly impactful or interesting but having one of his abused children kill him made some amount of narrative sense.

I didn't acknowledge the slave as she placed the chair in front of me and I sat down.

"Now that you are situated, can I…" The other man started talking but I interrupted before he could finish. I enjoyed the rage in his eyes.

"I talked with your son Jean-Paul and he told me quite a bit about you." I lied, never even bothered trading a single word with the teen but still interested in his reaction. He didn't disappoint.

"That boy sent you then? Does he think you can stop me from bringing him back?" The man scoffed, leaning forward with a wild look in his eyes. "Maybe I should go down to America and pay him a personal..."

"But maybe he was wrong about you." I interrupted again, seeing him take a sharp intake of air at being stopped at the start of a rant. "He told me you are arrogant, cruel, unambitious, boring, pathetic, stupid and lazy."

The whole room was shocked into silence. The kids listening in were staring at me with an open mouth.

"But maybe you aren't lazy after all." I finished with a laugh, mocking him to his face. Nikos had probably never experienced something like that, especially after he had gained his powers. What was he going to do now? Laugh it off and try to get out of here as fast as possible? Or…

"Destroy him!" He hissed, his head turning red from rage, blood rushing to his pale face.

His slaves opened fire without hesitation, their guns barking loudly as they tried to fill me with bullets. The four capes used their own powers, a drill made of water and laser eyes added to the rain of ammunition while the other two changed into a tiger with horns and a small strange creature with wings which started throwing black balls of sludge.

I sat there until the guns clicked empty, the ground littered with shells. The chair had long since crumbled away from under me but I just willed my body to hold the same position as before. The tiger pounced and bounced off.

The silence was deafening as I acted like I was yawning. Only the giggle of a small boy pierced through it before the door was pulled shut by an older child and the pitter patter of little feet faded in the background.

Heartbreaker looked over his shoulder so fast that he must have gotten whiplash.

I moved and laid my hands on his shoulders, squeezing gently.

He looked up at me, pure terror on his face, his wide eyes bouncing around at his slaves for help but when they tried to physically touch us, they were repelled back, an invisible bubble around me and their Master.

"What are you going to do now Nikos?" I asked, amusement audibly in my voice.

Heartbreaker licked his lips. "I, I can give you some of my girls…"

I was shaking my head. "Bargaining? Boring. Don't you have anything else in your playbook?" I asked, looking down at the villain in expectation. "Go on."

"G, girls…" He swallowed, his brows quivering as he tried to force my hands to move from his shoulders. "...kill yourselves if he doesn't let me go."

As one, the slaves stopped trying to reach us and threw their rifles on the ground. They pulled out their backup pistols and pressed them against their heads one and all, their tearful eyes full of fear but bitter resolve. Only the two male parahumans remained, the water drill and tiger creature still trying to break through my gravity barrier.

"Interesting. And they would really do it too." I marvelled at all their determined faces. "Emotion control really is something…"

"Are, are you going to let me go?" Nikos asked, his face white as my grip tightened a bit at his interruption of my thoughts. A slight application of my power had the air sucking out of his lungs. He was gritting his teeth, his eyes going bloodshot as he started hitting my arms with all the strength he had left.

I didn't feel it.

Finally he slumped, his head rolling forward.

"He passed out, are you still going to follow his orders?" I asked the room after a moment, receiving only grim silence. "Even if I told you your sacrifice wouldn't make any difference and that you would just deprive your master of resources?"

"E, Even then, we all love Nikos with all our hearts." An older brunette woman answered, the gun at her temple shaking. "We will follow his commands until our last dying breath."

What a strong power, it would be a lot more useful in the hands of someone else. I already knew that Alice couldn't wait to open up his brain and figure out what made it tick.

I left the house, Nikos Vasil floating behind me.

Ten gunshots followed.

AN: Damn, worst house guest ever. I did warn you about the edge, didn't I?