"So yeah, Yosei is still doing damage control on everything Bakuda managed to do during her little three-day stint as leader. Because it's all tinkertech, we're probably going to have to call in outside help. With everything else going on though, it's going to take a while." Kon wrapped up as they pulled onto the street the warehouse was on.

Tammi processed his story she had just been told, "All of that, combined with what happened to Lung… She's really got her hands full, doesn't she?" she asked quietly.

Kon nodded, a slightly solemn look on his face, "She does, but she's handling it much better than I think anyone else would have. Despite everything that's happened, it's like that fire under her is only burning hotter and she hasn't slowed down at all since she took over."

Tammi thought back to how stressed Yuko had been even before she took over the ABB and frowned, "Hopefully she doesn't burn herself out taking on too much."

"Well that's why she's got us." Kon replied, "Yosei's workload honestly probably hasn't even increased that much from what it was before, but the emotional stress from everything that's been happening recently is probably taking a toll on her. She needs friends now more than ever."

He glanced over at her, grinning, "And her girlfriend, of course. You just being around is definitely helping her stay on top of things so keep doing what you're doing, yeah?"

Tammi smiled at the man's words, "That's the plan."

"Good to hear." Kon nodded as they turned onto an empty street surrounded by warehouses on all sides, "You know, I wasn't too sure about Yosei letting you of all people into the gang so easily, especially after we nearly went to war with the Empire, but I'm glad she did."

"Me too." Tammi nodded, before her expression became slightly thoughtful, "You know, it's funny, if you told me a year ago that the ABB and the Empire might have gone to war, I would have put my money on the Empire with no hesitation. Now though, even though Lung's gone, I'm not so sure."

"Yeah, we took a hit when he got shipped away, but since you joined up basically right after, it sort of evened out, didn't it?"

Tammi laughed out loud at his words, "You telling me I'm worth the same as Lung? That's fucking funny, dude. I know what my strengths are, and they definitely aren't on par with a man who can turn into a giant, fuck-off dragon with four arms."

"Eh, we'll see." Kon shrugged, "Your power might not be that strong, but it's all about how you use it. I'm sure you could be pretty strong if you put your mind to it."

Maybe. Tammi hadn't really had a chance to really use her powers when she was Rune. She was their only form of transport so too close to a fight was normally something she was told to avoid. Maybe now that she didn't have to worry about that, she could use her power to its full potential.

Whether or not that potential was anywhere near Lung, she doubted it. She could probably manage Glory Girl or Triumph though.

"And besides, depending on how this mission goes, we might manage to get another member of our little group." Kon continued, looking over at her, "Nice costume, by the way. Way better than your old one even if it's not as complex."

Tammi grinned, adjusting the bright red scarf wrapped around her face, "Thanks. I'm working on an actual costume but it's gonna take a while to finish so for now, this is me."

Tammi's 'costume' wasn't anywhere near what she had as Rune, being what basically amounted to a hoodie and a scarf to conceal her face. Yuko had found her some other bits and bobs as well, like a pair of fingerless gloves and a bulletproof vest to make the costume more practical, but it was still a far cry from what she was used to.

Tammi had never been an indie cape before joining the Empire. She had come into her scene with a professional costume made by Empire tailors and a name that she had picked out herself. That meant that this was the first time she had cobbled together a passable costume herself and she had to admit, it was somewhat satisfying. The whole costume had a sort of rustic feel to it and she kind of liked it. Especially the scarf. She couldn't wait to see how cool it looked when she was flying.

As for weapons, Yuko had told her to try not to advertise her former identity if she could help it, which meant she'd have to mix things up a bit and not just chuck whatever heavy shit she could find lying around. She had a few dozen ball bearings on her that she could use with her power, as well as a handgun that was sitting a bit uneasily in a holster on her hip.

Tammi was a bit unsure about the gun. She knew how to use one, having received basic firearms training from Victor, but she'd never actually had to use one on someone else and hopefully it would stay that way. Fighting with her power felt normal, using a gun felt… oddly personal.

Kon gave her an appraising look, "Well it looks good for a placeholder. Have you thought of a name yet?"

Tammi shook her head, "I've got a few but haven't really decided on one in particular. Got any suggestions?

"Hmm…" Kon made a thinking face, before a shit-eating grin spread across his lips, "How about Sabrina?"

Tammi's smile was immediately replaced by an angry scowl at her hated nickname, "No. And if I find out who came up with that name, I'm going to drop them from so high up, the splatter will reach the top of the Medhall building."

Kon snorted as the van came to a stop, "Good luck with that. That nickname has been around for years at this point, you'll never find who came up with it."

"Oh I'll find them. Trust me on that. And when I do, I'll make sure what I do to them gets on the trending page of PHO." Tammi said darkly as she got out of the van. They were surrounded by warehouses on all sides, but the one they pulled up in front looked especially run down, as if it hadn't been maintained in months if not years.

Tammi put her hands on her hips, looking around, "So this is the place?"

"Looks like it. Feels like it too." Kon said as he got out of the van as well.

Tammi stared at the warehouse with a small frown on her face. It looked completely normal, like any other rundown building that you could find in this part of the city, and if she didn't know any better, she would say that they had the wrong place.

There was something off though, a tingling in the back of her mind that told her that something wasn't quite right, unsettling her. That must've been the Master effect at work.

"So how should we do this?" She asked Kon as he walked up to her. "Do we just like, walk in? The effect is supposed to get worse the closer you get, right?"

Kon shrugged, not really sure himself, "I guess? It's not like we're going to be able to do much from here unless we want to just yell at whoever's causing this to try to get them to come out." He eyed the building for a moment, "Really should have brought a megaphone or something cause, gonna be honest, I'm not really looking forward to getting closer. Just standing here is enough to heebie my jeebies."

Tammi rolled her eyes, eying the building "That was so lame, dude. Don't ever say that again."

Kon grinned unrepentantly, "I just call it how I feel it."

"Well your feelings suck. Do better." Tammi said, "Now let's go see what's causing all of this. Ten bucks says it's actually a Tinker or something and our guesses were way off base."

"I'll take that bet."

Together, they began making their way towards the dilapidated building. As they approached the warehouse, the tingling in the back of Tammi's mind gradually increased, creeping from a general discomfort to actual fear that she couldn't quite place the origin of. It grew and grew, until it was actually a struggle to not simply turn around and head back towards the van instead of facing whatever might have been inside of that warehouse.

She wasn't going to turn back though. She had asked for this assignment and she'd be damned if she turned tail and ran before even stepping foot inside.

'It's just some stupid power fucking with my head. There's nothing to be scared of.' She told herself, rationalizing the feelings that she was feeling in hopes that it might help her get over them.

It did, though not much. She took a deep breath as they reached the door to the warehouse, her hands literally shaking from the fear that she was feeling. Kon looked over to her as he grabbed the handle, "You alright? Gonna be able to handle this?"

Despite his words, Tammi could tell that the fear was hitting him just as hard as it was hitting her. Sure was doing a good job of acting like he wasn't affected, but she could tell that he was just as scared as she was.

Still, the act did wonders in helping Tammi's own fear, and the blond nodded slowly despite the thumping of her heart ringing in her ears, "Yeah, let's do this."

Kon gave her a serious nod before throwing open the door in one quick motion. The inside of the warehouse was dark, the lights inside either just not functioning or turned off as the entire building was bathed in dark shadows, the only illumination coming from the windows high above the floor. Tammi shared a look with Kon, before hesitantly stepping inside, the man half a step behind her.

The moment that they cleared the threshold of the entrance, Tammi was struck by a fresh wave of terror, this one much, much stronger than anything she had felt previously. It caused her to freeze in place as her eyes went wide, her mind almost overcome by the emotion forcefully shoved into her brain as she trembled, rooted in place.

Beside her, Kon was clearly experiencing similar effects, his jaw clenched tightly around the wooden stick of his sucker to the point that he was in danger of snapping it in half. Somehow, managed to shrug it off much faster than Tammi did e and began moving again, jerkily taking another step inside as he looked around at the warehouse's interior.

Tammi was slower to follow his lead, having trouble moving past the fear that was keeping her stuck. She closed her eyes, reminding herself that this was just some messed up power and that there wasn't anything to be afraid of, and managed to follow her friend inside.

With some difficulty, both of them moved past the instinct to turn around and run in the opposite direction, pushing through the fear that they were feeling to continue into the warehouse, albeit much less confidently than before. The effect didn't seem to grow any more powerful than it already was as they moved, but that was a small mercy given the sheer potency that the effect already had.

Tammi shoved her hands in her pockets, placing her fingers against several of the ball bearings held inside of her jacket and tagging them as they slowly made their way inside of the dark warehouse. Her eyes darted every which way, scanning the darkness for any hint of movement that might be the one responsible for what was going on.

She couldn't see anyone yet, but there were signs that someone had definitely been there, and somewhat recently. Empty food boxes, chairs and a small table sitting in a corner surrounded by what looked like sleeping bags and blankets. It was clear that someone had made this place their home, and judging by the needles and discarded dime bags littering the ground alongside the rest of the garbage, it was clear who. Merchants.

Hopefully they weren't still here. Though given how hard it was for Tammi herself to keep from literally quivering in fear, she doubted any of the druggies were still around.

"Hello?" Tammi flinched as Kon called out into the darkness from right beside her. She shot him a glare for doing that without any warning, and he gave her an apologetic smile before yelling out again, "Hello? Is anyone there? We aren't here to fight! We're just here to find out what's going on with this warehouse!"

There wasn't a response, or at least not at first, but then suddenly a loud noise reverberated from out of the darkness. A bang, like someone knocking something over, followed by even more silence that left them more shaken than the noise had.

Tammi's jaw clenched with tension. The ball bearings came sliding out of her pockets, beginning to orbit her body in a tight ring as both she and Kon turned their attention towards where the noise had come from. Tammi couldn't see past the thick veil of shadows that practically covered the entire warehouse, but she could tell something was there. Some part of her could tell that she was being watched and she didn't like it one bit.

As Tammi mentally prepared herself for a fight, Kon managed to push past his fear and call out to the shadows where the noise had come from, "Hello? Please come out! We aren't here to fight you, we just want to talk! I swear!"

There was no answer and Tammi tensed even further, the orbit around her tightening with her anxiety, before suddenly, the fear that they had been feeling all but vanished as whatever power had been affecting them stopped doing that. The tension was still there, but the underlying terror that had followed them every step of their journey suddenly ceased to be, allowing them to breathe much more easily.

Before they could react to this sudden change in atmosphere, there was movement. Both Tammi and Kon's eyes snapped to the side as something shifted in the darkness to their left, before a massive figure slowly shambled out of the black, seemingly fading into being straight out of the shadows as it approached them.

Tammi could feel her eyes widen and her jaw go slack as more and more of the figure was revealed. Monstrous was the only way she could describe him. His skin was so pale that she could almost mistake him for Alabaster, and his face was so gaunt he looked starved. Jet black hair hung limply around his face and obscured his eyes and the majority of his nose underneath the tangled and poorly managed strands.

He wasn't wearing anything except for a pair of sweatpants that were at least two sizes too small for him, though that was understandable considering his size. He was easily over seven feet tall, even slumped over, and his arms practically dragged on the floor below him as he moved forward, long, clawed fingers gliding mere centimeters above the concrete. The slump was clearly natural as Tammi could see a hump on the man's back, like that one guy from that spartan movie Brad made her watch that one time.

To tie the image together, a massive tattoo in the shape of an upside down omega symbol was scrawled on his chest, the arms of the arch following the curve of his chest towards his protruding ribs, ending just below the first two, indicating what was obvious at a glance. This guy was a Case-53.

The moments that her eyes caught on him, the fear was back, though not quite as strong as before. The best that Tammi could equate it to was the feeling that she had felt back near the van, a feeling that something wasn't quite right, and her ball bearings began orbiting her just a bit faster as she eyed the man in front of them.

"Stop looking at me." Tammi flinched, jumping slightly the voice reverberated through the warehouse. The cape turned his head towards her, looking at her through his curtain of shaggy hair.

"Don't look directly at me." He repeated, his voice incredibly soft and extremely at odds with his appearance, "It only exacerbates the fear you're feeling. Keep your eyes off of me."

With some difficulty, Tammi followed his instructions, shifting her gaze over his right shoulder while making sure to keep sight of him in her peripherals. Almost immediately, the unease went away, disappearing just like it had when Kon had called out to him, and she sighed in silent relief.

While Tammi recovered from the experience, Kon managed to plaster a friendly smile on his face and speak, "Hello there. You must be the one responsible for all of this." He gestured around at the warehouse though Tammi noticed that just like her, he also didn't look fully away from the cape, "You've been scaring basically everyone who walks by this building, you know?"

The monster cape tilted his head slowly, "Is that so? I didn't realize that my power reached that far. It's an effect I'm not capable of turning off. I can only direct it or hold it back as I am doing now. I'm sorry if I caused any issues."

Tammi found her face twisting at his words. She couldn't imagine looking like that while also having a power that made people around you constantly on the verge of wetting themselves with fear. "Geez, I bet that fucking blows." She said quietly.

Kon was much more understanding of the man's plight, "I'm sorry to hear that." He said sincerely, "Thank you for dialing it down for us. Do you have a name?"

"Not one that I remember." He said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I just woke up one day and everything in my head was gone. I don't even remember what I looked like before." He tilted his head, as if thinking, "If you want to, you can call me Spook. It feels fitting."

Spook. He was right, that was extremely fitting. Tammi eyed the man warily or well, as best as she could without looking directly at him. She hadn't had much experience with Case-53's outside of the occasional run in with Faultline's crew, so she wasn't really sure how to handle this situation.

Kon noticed this and was more than happy to take the helm so to speak, "Alright then, Spook it is." He said happily, dispelling some of the tension that was present, "Now Spook, would you mind telling us what you're doing here? I haven't seen you around the Bay before. Are you from out of town?"

Spook shrugged, the gesture somewhat awkward with his long limbs, "Your guess is as good as mine. I only remember things as far back as a week and a half ago when I woke up."

"A week?" Tammi was slightly skeptical, "And you're telling me nobody's noticed you yet? That fear thing you're doing extends pretty damn far. Anyone walking on the other side of the street would have noticed it. How haven't the heroes paid you a visit yet?"

"This warehouse is pretty out of the way and in a pretty bad area besides that." Kon said before Spook could answer, "Nobody comes down here unless they have a reason to, so it's likely that he just hasn't been noticed. Have you been out of the warehouse much, Spook?"

Spook shook his head, "No. Not for long at least. The sun burns my skin like acid, and even moonlight is enough to make me itch. I haven't been able to go outside for more than a few minutes at most."

"So you've just been cooped up here for that long?" Tammi asked, wincing at the thought, "How haven't you gone nuts yet? Hell, what have you even been eating? All those food boxes look older than that." She nodded towards the pile of trash in the corner.

"I don't need to eat or sleep, or at least I haven't so far, so that isn't a concern. And as for boredom, I've been using this as a way to keep myself entertained and learn a little bit about things outside." Spook pulled a phone out of his pocket, showing it to them, "Apparently a rather large group of people were already inhabiting this warehouse before I arrived. I didn't know how to control my powers yet and they weren't as brave as you were. They ran away and haven't returned."

Tammi looked around at the warehouse, taking in the remnants of drug paraphernalia that were collecting dust all over the floor. "Were they Merchants?" She asked the obvious question.

Spook tilted his head, "Merchants? I've heard the term before but the context escapes me."

"They're a gang. Or well, were." Kon said, crossing his arms, "A pretty large group of mostly drug pushers and drug addicts. They liked to hide out in warehouses like this in groups before our leader defeated their's and sent them packing. What's left of them have been spreading around the area like rats but we've mostly cleared them out. We think."

"Your leader?" Spook asked, "You are a part of an organization?"

Tammi and Kon shared a look. 'Should we tell him?' Kon's mouthed to her, the words a bit hard to make out in the dark.

Tammi thought for a moment. This guy seemed friendly so far, but whether or not he would stay that way once he learned that they were a part of a gang as well was completely unknown.

'Up to you.' She mouthed back, before glancing towards Spook who was waiting patiently, 'I'll back you up if this goes wrong.'

Kon nodded, before turning his attention back to the Case-53 who was watching them curiously, "Yeah, we're both part of the ABB, another gang that holds territory over this part of the city. That's actually why we came here originally. When we took care of Skidmark and Squealer, we also took the territory that the Merchants held. This warehouse is part of that and your power was disrupting operations in the area so Yosei sent us to investigate."

"Yosei." Spook said the word like he was tasting it, "She's your leader?" Kon nodded, "I see. May I meet with her?"

Kon was shocked by the sudden question, but Tammi was immediately suspicious, "Why?" She asked.

Spook gave her a glance, and even though she wasn't looking directly at him, she could tell he had an amused grin on his face, "So that I can ask to join your organization, of course."

Both Kon and Tammi were completely shocked by Spook's words, and Tammi actually turned to stare directly at Spook, completely forgetting about the effects of his power in her shock. Spook was amused by their reactions, a small grin on his face that revealed a row of extremely sharp teeth.

Kon managed to recover first as Tammi hurriedly looked away again, "You do realize that we're not heroes, right? The ABB might be better than the Merchants and maybe even the Empire in some regards, but most of us aren't good people. We aren't going to force you to join, so why would you want to?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't really have much interest in being a hero in the first place." Spook said matter-of-factly, "Maybe I was a selfish person before… this, I'm not sure, but the idea of helping people I don't even know doesn't exactly appeal to me."

"And as for being bad people," Spook hummed thoughtfully, "I very much doubt most people in the world are purely good. You may be part of a gang, but you have neither attacked me, nor threatened me despite having nearly every right to do so given the circumstances. Instead, you spoke to me as if I were just another person and tried to resolve things peacefully. That alone tells me that you are likely not bad people. I'll reserve my judgment of your leader for when I meet her. If you'll allow it, of course."

Tammi and Kon exchanged another look, a silent conversation occurring between them. Eventually, Kon grinned and Tammi shrugged, turning back to Spook, "Sure, why not. We were supposed to let her know what was happening anyway."

It may have been a trap, sure, but it wasn't like Yuko wouldn't be able to defend herself if things came to that. Her power was basically a built-in danger sense and she had them as well. There wasn't really much this guy could do against her even if he wanted to.

"We'll contact her and see if she'd be willing to meet us here. Do you mind waiting a little while for her to get here?" Kon asked as Tammi's ball bearings began sliding back into her pockets.

"I'm not going anywhere." Spook replied, a small amount of amusement in his voice.

Kon smiled happily, bringing a hand up to his vest, "Great. Now just give me a second to get a hold of… her…"

Tammi raised an eyebrow as Kon suddenly frowned, patting down his vest as if he was looking for something and couldn't find it. His hands moved down to his pants, patting his front pockets, then the back, before he cursed, "Ah, dammit. I forgot my phone in the van."

Tammi snorted, causing him to give her an annoyed look, "Sloppy, dude. You really shouldn't forget shit like that. It sets a bad example for the rest of us. You need to be a better role model for our potential recruit here." She nodded towards Spook.

"Yeah? Well I guess it's a good thing you remembered yours, then." Kon said happily, "Go ahead and call Yosei so we can tell her what we've got."

Tammi nodded, reaching down to grab her own phone which was… not strapped to her thigh where it should have been because she wasn't wearing her old costume. Shit.

"Shit." She said aloud, not bothering to look inside of her empty pants pockets for something that she knew wouldn't be there.

"You forgot yours too, didn't you?" Kon asked, smiling at her wryly. Tammi scowled.

"Shut up. I normally have it strapped to me because I fly so much but I left that with my costume. I must have left it in the van too because of that."

"Excuses, excuses. You know, Tammi, you should really be a better role model for our possible recruit here." Kon threw her words right back at her, causing her to flip him off. He grinned at the gesture, before turning back to Spook who was watching the whole exchange with amusement, "We'll be back in just a minute. Hang tight, alright?"

"I'm not going anywhere." Spook repeated, walking back into the shadows and disappearing from sight once again. Tammi looked around, trying to spot a single hint of that alabaster skin in the darkness and shivered when she couldn't.

"That's so fucking scary, dude." She said as she and Kon began making their way out of the warehouse and back to the van, "Someone that big shouldn't be able to just disappear because there are a few shadows around."

"No, they shouldn't." Kon agreed easily, "And someone shouldn't be able to control objects with their mind just because they touched them for a few seconds or turn into a giant wolf literally made of lightning just because some guy wrote about it and it got popular over a thousand years ago."

Tammi cracked a smile at his words, "True. I guess all powers vary in degree of bullshitery, huh?"

Kon nodded, "That's what the PRT's scale is actually for, I bet. To tell whoever's fighting a cape how much bullshit they should have to expect to put up with so they can be prepared."

"You might be onto something there." Tammi chuckled before a thought suddenly crossed her mind as they made it outside, "Huh. You know, I just realized something?"

Kon gave her a curious look, "Yeah? What's that?"

"This is probably the interaction with another cape that didn't end with me throwing a dumpster or something heavy at someone. I was fully expecting some sort of fight today."

Kon chuckled as they reached the van, "Yeah well, don't jinx it. There's still more than enough time for that. I don't know about you, but any exchange with a cape that doesn't end in a fight is a win in my book. Actually getting a new member from it? That's just the cherry on top."

"Heh, true enough, I guess."

This hadn't turned out how she had expected but it definitely cured her boredom. If this was how things were going to go normally in the ABB, then she could definitely get used to it.

Next six chapters are available to Patrons!