Chapter 32: Say No to Drugs!
(Thursday, November 18th, 2123)
"The Sons are not letting up at all," Playa said, frustration bleeding out into his voice.
Nearly a week after Shaundi had been kidnapped, and the situation in Stilwater hadn't settled down. If anything, the death of Veteran Child at the club had caused an explosion of violence to tear through the city.
The Sons of Samedi were brutal and utterly vicious in their reprisals, targeting the Saints' street dealers to the exclusion of all else, going out of their way to do so. Worse, they were even attacking people who bought drugs from the Saints, not just the peddlers of Nirvana, the Third Street Saints' knock-off Loa Dust.
Several people had died already, and the Saints had been forced to have their dealers protected by round the clock protection details of at least two men. This left their stores of manpower depleted, something the other gangs had capitalized on by poking and prodding at the Saints' borders.
"Sorry, boss," Shaundi said apologetically, head bowed as Playa fumed.
"Don't be sorry! If you have the time to apologize, spend it coming up with some solutions!" her boss ordered grumpily.
"Our dealers aren't safe anywhere," Johnny replied grimly, being the only other person in the office at the moment. "After open season was declared on us by the Sons, the Ronin decided to get in on the action."
"What?" Playa demanded darkly.
"Yeah, those yellow-jacketed Kill Bill wannabes don't peddle drugs except for a few designer ones, but still. Free drugs and money if they gank one of our dealers? Even the lesser gangs would try and take that action if it means hurting us."
"We cannot allow them to get away with this!" Playa hissed furiously.
"Agreed," Shaundi nodded. "Which is why I've got some feelers out for a way to put the hurt on the Sons."
"How do you plan to do that?" Playa asked.
"According to my sources, the General has consolidated his gang's drug production into four major sites," Shaundi revealed. "Not sure where, exactly, I should hear from my contacts soon. Though it might take a while. My abduction and Reggie's death spooked the few guys I have in the Sons and they're laying low."
"Hmm. Very well. Make sure they pass on any information as soon as they can," Playa ordered. "Now, is there anything else on the docket today?"
"Well, there's the new budget Pierce wants to run by you. Plus the updated tax forms. And we really need to talk about medical insurance because the old one we've been using for the Saints has raised their premium for every gunshot wound they have to treat," Johnny said, flipping through some reports.
"Whoever said running a gang was an easy thing was a lying idiot," Playa groaned, forehead thumping against the desk.
"Perks are nice, though," Shaundi commented. Before anybody else could respond to that, her phone began ringing, and she hastily picked up. "Hey, Laura! Can you call back? I'm in a meeting with Playa… wait, really?"
The lieutenant frowned and glanced at her boss.
"Uh, it's Laura," Shaundi informed him, lowering the phone. "She says she has something important to tell you. But, um, not over the phone. Too sensitive."
"That so?" Playa hummed, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting. Tell her to get over here, ASAP."
Shaundi nodded and repeated the instructions to their head dealer. "She'll be here in ten minutes," the green-haired woman informed Playa.
"Boss! Big news!" Laura said, hurrying into the office, after exactly ten minutes on the dot.
"What is it?" Playa asked.
"Some of my dealers trailed some Sons back to one of their bases after being jumped. They were planning on getting revenge, but it turns out they discovered something interesting," Laura stated. "According to them, they found one of the Son's drug labs."
"Finally, some good news!" Playa exhaled. "Where're this drug lab being hidden?"
"Shivington," Laura replied.
"Ugh. Seriously, of all places… Shivington?" Playa repeated with a grimace.
"Yeah. Sons of Samedi central. That place is the Sons' most heavily populated and guarded territory. Half the people who live there are Sons themselves or related to one, and the other half, even they aren't in the gang, feed the lieutenants info about any snitches and spies, as well as covering for 'em when the heroes come around. It's a shithole, but the General has control over it."
"Fuck, getting really tired of having to bust into heavily controlled places," Playa huffed.
"I actually have a plan for that," Laura admitted. "One that means we don't have to get involved."
"Explain," Playa said, intrigued, and the middle-aged woman grinned conspiratorially.
"I got word from one of my knitting circle friends who works in the mayor's office that the heroes are gonna do a major drug bust soon, either this weekend or middle of next week," Laura informed them. "Apparently, there's a bunch of heroes who are trying to look like they aren't a waste of taxpayer dollars by being proactive, and are aiming to go after both the Sons and Saints drug operations."
"And their brilliant plan is to attack us and the Sons at the same time?" Playa asked incredulously. "Who the hell is leading this operation?"
"Amber and Stampede are spearheading it from what I've managed to dig up," Laura said. "Although it appears that Silver Swan is the real mastermind behind it all."
"Hmm. I see," Playa muttered. "This could be an opportunity for us, if we play our cards right."
"How so?" Shaundi asked.
"We let them hit a few of our own smaller stashes, but make it look like they disrupted our operations way more than they actually did. Meanwhile, we discreetly pass on a bit of info regarding where the Sons have relocated their labs. Let the heroes bust it up," Playa suggested.
"You know, that could work," Laura admitted. "We'd have to be careful, but this way the heroes will think they actually managed to get a win against us, while also damaging the Sons. We can even sell it by having you guard one of these fake stashes."
"Good idea," Playa said. "Shaundi, Laura, work together to set up a couple decoys warehouses. Johnny, organize the defenses. Make it seem guarded, but not too heavily. Meanwhile, I'll spread the rumors about the locations of both our labs as well as those of the Sons' to the heroes."
"How'll you do that?" Shaundi wondered.
"I have an 'in' with that Number One," Playa replied with a smirk. Johnny's sister-in-law was about to get a tipoff in the near future.
Both Shaundi and Laura looked intrigued. The way Johnny was trying not to laugh only made them more curious.
111 &&&&& 111
(Tuesday, November 23rd, 2123)
Today was the day, Silver Swan thought to herself as she waited patiently next to several undercover police vehicles at the outskirts of Shivington. She'd spent a lot of time organizing this, and it was about to pay off.
For a few days now, the young Number One heroine had been working to set up a series of drug busts against the Third Street Saints and the Sons of Samedi. Thankfully, the mayor had agreed with her that Stilwater's heroes needed a win to lord over the city's gangs, and this was the best way to do it.
Silver Swan had prepared for this well. Her informants her brought her info on where three of the Samedi's drug labs were, and two heroes with grudges against the two gangs had been quite eager to work with her.
And thanks to Johnny passing word along to her about the Saints' plan, she knew that the Saints knew about her raid ahead of time, and had offered a compromise to keep her from looking like a fool.
It was bit frustrating having to dance to somebody else's tune, but the benefits of doing so were great enough to make her swallowing her distaste and pride and agree to it.
'And if things play out well, I might just be able to capture Skunk himself,' she thought to herself eagerly. Sure, she'd agreed with her brother-in-law to let the leader of the Saints get away, but if the opportunity presented itself… well, who was she to deny the chance given to her?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the radio in the nearby police cruiser crackling a bit as a DJ announced what their next song was going to be.
"And coming up next, it's the hit song by Aisha which just went platinum, Purple Blaze~!"
"Do you mind turning that off?" Silver Swan requested politely as her sister's voice belted out over the speakers.
"Huh? Oh, sure," one of the cops in the vehicle muttered, quickly switching off the radio.
"Thank you. We're trying to get the drop on the Saints, and having the radio on would give us away," Silver Swan said, as if that was the real reason she didn't want to be forced to listen to that racket.
"Right, right, yeah, good point," another policeman said. "And I guess you wouldn't want to have to be reminded of your sister, either."
The cop then winced at what he'd said, realizing he'd put his foot in his mouth, and shrank a bit in his seat as the other cops with him gave unimpressed glares.
Thinking about Aisha really did bring a scowl to Silver Swan's face, which she quickly smothered, but it wasn't due to being sad about her sister's death. Especially not with the fact she knew Aisha was still alive.
'Can't believe another one of her songs went platinum!' Silver Swan growled to herself. 'Fuck's sake, the bitch is supposed to be dead to the public, why is she more popular than ever?!'
The truth of the matter was far simpler and pettier than the heroine would ever admit. Silver Swan, or rather, Maya Brown, was jealous.
'Straight A student… cheerleader… Valedictorian… fucking Ivy League grad to boot… not to mention I'm a Goddamn hero, and the youngest to ever reach the top rankings this fast! But no! Everyone just has to love that Quirkless piece of trash instead!' she thought mentally, gritting her teeth.
No matter what she did, or how well she did it, nothing she did ever seemed to be enough to get out of her sister's shadow. And Aisha had cast a big fucking shadow.
When it was time for the mission to start, she activated her jetpack and soared into the sky, fists clenched.
'At least I can blow off some steam by breaking some faces,' she thought to herself with grim satisfaction.
As that crossed her mind, a beep from her utility belt drew her out of her head, and Silver Swan grinned, having recognized that sound as the alarm she'd set to notify her when it was time to start the mission.
"It's time," she told the police, who nodded and shot off into the streets of Shivington. She followed suit, activating her jetpack (which were shaped like beautiful silver swan wings). She was sent soaring into the air, giving her a bird's eye view of the area.
Like many places in Stilwater, Shivington was a craphole. Trash on the sidewalks, prostitutes and druggies in the alleys, graffiti on the walls and gangbangers roaming the roads openly wearing their affiliation on their clothes. It was sickening, and Silver Swan flew down towards a building with a large green skull on the side.
There were six targets to take down today. Four Sons of Samedi drug labs (which were also doubling as drug dens) and two drug caches where the Third Street Saints were storing the Loa Dust they'd stolen from the Sons.
Five other heroes were with her today, assisting in the stings, each one assigned to a different site. Amber and Stampede were the only ones in the Top 10 who'd agreed to work with her on this. The other three were minor heroes, one of which was going to be promoted to the position of Number 10 thanks to Taggit being dumped from the rankings and everyone else below him moving up a rank. What was her name again? Reversa?
Whatever it was, it didn't really matter. So long as she did her job and followed Silver Swan's plan, everything would be good.
'First things first,' she thought to herself as she burst in through one of the windows on the second floor right as the police pulled up to the doors and began to blockade the building.
Silver Swan's eyes darted around, the visor integrated into her helmet quickly scanning the area and pointing out every weapon, as well as giving a quick profile of any Sons lieutenants – at least the ones the police had files on.
The Sons were caught by surprise by Silver Swan's dynamic entry, but they recovered quickly, and raised an assortment of guns.
But the heroine was one step ahead of them, and she reached out with her empathic power, and twisted.
Many green gangsters slumped, weeping inconsolably, as Silver Swan bombarded their minds with overwhelming sorrow, depression and most importantly, guilt. Weapons were dropped, and the Sons were soon lining up to be cuffed by her.
She brought out plastic zip-ties and bound the hands of the Sons while also making sure their guns weren't in grabbing distance. Just because she was manipulating their emotions by hitting them with waves of negative emotions didn't mean that one of them could resist, or was crazy enough to try and kill her – or themselves.
"I've subdued the Sons on the second floor," Silver Swan informed the police through her communicator. "Used zip-ties to bind them. Will move on to disable the drug lab."
"Roger that, Silver Swan," a police officer replied. Then, after a short pause. "Resistance encountered on the ground floor."
She could hear the gunshots ringing out from the floor below, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that before responding. "Understood, will deal with them as soon as I wrap things up on this floor."
"Thanks," the cop grunted, before the line went dead.
Undeterred, Silver Swan walked through the filthy den of depravity over to a room where her visor had detected large quantities of narcotics.
"That's a lot of drugs," she muttered, before taking a few steps back. She then took out an aerosol can and sprayed it over the workbenches and chemistry sets, coating it in a thick layer of foam that rapidly hardened after coming into contact with the air.
The special foam would keep the materials from exploding if handled improperly, and could be dissolved by a substance the police had.
Having neutralized the drug lab, Silver Swan went through the rest of the building, shoving negativity into every person she came across. She didn't care if they were wearing green or not, the building was owned by the Sons and full of desperate druggies. If she wasn't carefully, someone might try and escape. Or kill her. So, best to disable them all.
Several more drug production rooms were discovered, and they were all foamed. Then, once she was finished, she moved to assist the cops who were still trying to handle the Sons of Samedi on the ground floor.
There were dozens of them, all armed with more weapons than Silver Swan had thought possible for filthy drug peddlers to get their hands on, and she wondered if they'd been from stolen Brotherhood caches.
'Eh, doesn't matter,' she shrugged after a moment, and sent mental spikes of anguish into every criminal nearby. They cried out and collapsed, though one of them had just pulled the pin on a grenade when she began her attack.
Silver Swan winced and ducked behind a pillar as it went off, and sighed in annoyance as the screaming began.
'Damn it, that's going to be so much paperwork to clear up!' she complained. Not to mention a bribe or two in order to ensure the media didn't catch wind of this, or spin it into a hit piece on her.
"Thanks for the save, Silver Swan," a cop sighed, entering the lobby with several other policemen to cuff the perps.
"Sorry about the mess," she apologized, doing her best to sound sincerely remorseful as she glanced at the spot where the grenade had shredded several Sons of Samedi. All those acting lessons she'd taken seemed to pay off, as the man shrugged.
"Eh, accidents always happen," he assured her, and she nodded, pretending to seem contrite.
"Still, I shall have to make a donation to whatever hospital they end up at," she told the police officer.
"Kind of you," he replied.
"Just doing my duty as a hero," she told him. "Now, speaking of heroics, I need to make sure the rest of the teams are doing well."
Saying that, she strode away, tapping the side of her visor as she placed a call. "All teams, report! This is Silver Swan! Objective Point One has been seized. How are things going on your ends?"
"Amber here," the Number Six heroine replied after a moment. "Sons were heavily armed at Objective Point Three. But they lacked any villains with Quirks able to get past my shields. I'm moving in to crush the last of their resistance."
"Reversa here," the Number Eleven heroine spoke up. "Objective Point Four is being wrapped up as I speak. Lots of casualties, though. Idiots thought they could shoot at me with a rocket. Redirected it right back at 'em."
Silver stifled a snort as she listened to the rest of the reports. The other heroes all chimed in, reporting decent success as well, save for two.
"We got a problem," some peon informed her, and Silver Swan frowned.
"What is it?"
"Resistance at Objective Point Six is, uh, greater than expected," the minor hero replied.
"Damn it, that's one of the Third Street Saints' drug depots. I'll be there soon. In the meantime, where is Stampede?" Silver Swan demanded. "What's the status of Objective Point Two?"
"Don't know, he's on the other side of Shivington from me," the lower ranked hero muttered. "I do seem smoke coming from his part of town, though."
"Knowing him, he's probably set the whole place on fire when he charged in blindly," Silver Swan groaned. "Does he not know the meaning of restraint?"
"This is Stampede you're talking about," Amber scoffed. "He's… well, you know how he gets."
"Unfortunately, I do," Silver Swan huffed. "Fine. He's a big boy, he can handle himself. I'll be heading over to Objective Point Six."
Stilwater's Number One heroine went outside and activated her jetpack, shooting off before using GPS to navigate to the standoff between cops and villains.
"What is going on here?" she demanded as she landed outside a warehouse in the docks. "Why isn't anyone going in?"
"Because they can't," a man – a hero, if his colorful white and blue costume was any hint – informed her. "Skunk is in there, and nobody brought gas masks."
Her visor flashed, and it helpfully provided the name and rank of the hero in front of her.
'Mancatcher. Rank 20. Quirk: Pouch. Can store objects inside the body without ill effect. Can only store non-organic materials. Quirk grants immunity to bullets.'
'Hmm. No wonder he's so useless here,' Silver Swan thought to herself. His Quirk was good for handling ordinary thugs with guns, but not so much for unconventional projectiles or area of effect Quirks.
She didn't allow any of the disdain she felt to show, however, and she stepped towards the entrance. Once she got closer, she wrinkled her nose, able to smell traces of Skunk's signature Quirk lingering in the doorway.
"Then I will go," she said calmly. "Unlike some, I didn't forget to bring face protection."
She removed a collapsible rebreather from her utility belt and raised it to her helmet. It magnetically clamped onto it, covering and protecting her mouth and nose. Silver Swan wasn't fond of it, since it covered her face, but at least it didn't clash with the rest of her costume's aesthetic.
'Thank God his Quirk's effects don't cling to people or objects for very long,' she thought to herself with a bit of relief as she entered the warehouse. She'd still need a lot of air freshener and perfume sprayed onto her afterwards, though.
Inside the dimly lit building, Silver Swan was able to see dozens of shipping pallets full of drugs stacked almost to the ceiling, and couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle.
"I had no ideas the Sons had this much stock!" she muttered, eyeing the crates of stolen Loa Dust.
"Yeah, I was surprised, too," a voice rang out, and Silver Swan went still, eyes darting around, glaring into each and every shadow. She soon spotted the source. Sitting atop one of the pallets was Skunk. Just as they'd said.
"Hey, Silver," Skunk said flippantly in greeting.
"It's Silver Swan," the heroine replied testily. "Please get it right."
"Of course, of course," Skunk replied. "Now, let me guess… you're here to arrest me?"
"Obviously," she retorted.
Neither hero nor villain wanted to reveal that they knew each other, just in case somebody was listening. It was a polite fiction in the end, though. Maya and Playa knew who was under each other's costume, but today they were playing their respective roles.
Skunk hopped down from his seat, landing in front of Silver Swan. "I'm not going to go down without a fight."
"And you'll find I'm more than ready for it," she said with a smirk.
The two stared at each other for a bit, then burst into action, colliding with each other. Fists, feet, elbows and knees flew towards each other. It began a violent dance, of punching, kicking, and everything in between. Even headbutts!
"Not going to shoot me?" Silver Swan asked curiously as they broke apart for a moment to catch their breathes, noticing that he hadn't drawn his revolver. And it looked new, too. "Without your Quirk, you're not nearly as dangerous."
"Nah," Skunk replied. "Don't need to. And I can't help but notice you're also not using your Quirk on me."
"Don't need it," she shot back, grinning to herself under her mask. Skunk laughed, and they returned to the fight, clashing against each other.
"Muay Thai?" Skunk noted as he blocked a knee to the gut.
"That's right," Silver Swan confirmed as she blocked a throat chop.
"Rather brutal for a hero," Skunk mused.
"I think it works just fine. Some villains refuse to go down without a fight, after all," she replied. "And you're no saint either. I see elements of Krav Maga in your own combat style."
"Heh. 'Saint,'" Skunk giggled childishly as he tried to punch her in the face.
"Yes, yes, I realized the pun as soon as I said it," Silver Swan groaned and refocused on the clash with the super villain in front of her.
Martial arts were a staple of heroics and villainy alike, and had experienced a revival of sorts in the wake of Quirks. Having a hero kill was frowned upon, save in extreme situations, and there were plenty of Quirks that worked best the closer one was to another person. Not to mention Heteromorphs with odd forms brought a whole new element, which several new schools of combat revolving around atypical body types.
"Stop resisting arrest, Skunk!" Silver Swan demanded.
"Never!" the leader of the Saints laughed.
"Fine! I'll just have to beat you down!" she snarled, and jumped back, then kicked a random brick at the gang boss's head.
"Whoa!" Skunk cried out, ducking. The kicked brick sailed over his head, and struck the wall, before bouncing off of it and it slammed into the ceiling, breaking one of the few overhead lights still working in the warehouse.
The lightbulbs exploded, sparks falling into the warehouse like glittering, burning rain. A thousand thoughts ran through both their minds as they watched in horror the tiny embers latch onto the stacks of drugs.
It happened incredibly fast. Starting small, fires sprang up. But then they got bigger as the bone-dry wooden pallets turned out to be excellent tinder.
"No!" Skunk cried out, staring in shock as the flames greedily spread, greedily devouring the massive stockpile of drugs.
Silver Swan grinned to herself. This hadn't been what she'd set out to do, but destroying the Loa Dust would make for a much more poignant headline.
Of course, before she could celebrate, she had to get out before the warehouse went up in smoke. She had no plans of dying today, and shot off into the air, breaking through the skylight and escaping the spreading fire.
It seemed Skunk was of a similar opinion, and she could see him already making his out of the warehouse.
'He won't get far,' Silver Swan thought. 'He'll run smack into the cops and other hero standing watch outside!'
From above, she watched as Skunk burst out of the warehouse and reached the back alley, trying to escape the cordon.
"There he is!" she shouted out, her voice amplified. "Stop him!"
Mancatcher ran after Skunk, only to recoil as the villain unleashed a cloud of stench that had everyone not wearing a face protection coughing and hacking.
"Idiots!" she groaned, resisting the urge to facepalm.
And then, to add insult to injury, a purple van drove up, ramming a police car out of the way to get to Skunk. The back doors then flew open, revealing Johnny Gat armed with a grenade launcher. Before the police or Mancatcher could react, he fired several rounds which exploded into smoke, blinding everyone, and when it vanished, Skunk was gone and the van was burning rubber to get out the area.
"I guess that's that," Silver Swan muttered, annoyed at the fact Skunk had been right therebut still managed to slip away.
Everything else had gone according to plan, more or less. Skunk had escaped, but tons of drugs had been seized and destroyed all over the city. And from the news coming in from other raid sites, the Sons had also suffered some major setbacks.
'So why does it feel like I lost?' Silver Swan wondered to herself, clenching her fists in frustration. 'I suppose I'll find out if something went wrong when Stampede finally reports back in…'
111 &&&&& 111
"What do you see?" the General asked his old friend, the two of them standing on a roof as they watched one of their drug labs go up in flames. It wasn't even due to a hero, either! Whose brilliant idea was it to have a person with a fire-based Quirk working around volatile chemicals, anyways?!
"Something beautiful," Mr. Sunshine said, voice emotionless, though his eyes shone with childish delight as he watched the building burn to the ground as police and firefighters encircled it, arresting the Sons of Samedi who'd been there during the raid, their flashing red and blue lights washing over his face.
The General ignored his companion's eccentricities. Mr. Sunshine had always been loyal, even back in the days of the Voodoo Boys. The General's second-in-command had escape being taken out during the raid by All Might only due to the fact he'd been having an appendectomy that day, and had thus not been at the base at the time.
When the General had fled to his homeland of Haiti, Mr. Sunshine had followed, and they'd spent the next few years on that island recovering and rebuilding, turning what was left of the Voodoo Boys into the Sons of Samedi.
They had been together a long time, and he was the only man the General truly trusted. There had been another soul who'd had that unique distinction long ago, but sadly, fate had been cruel and twisted him against the General.
A pained groan interrupted the contemplative silence between the two men, and the leader of the green-clad thugs looked down in disgust at the fool pinned beneath his lieutenant's foot.
Stampede, the recently promoted Number 9 hero, had though he could go after the head of the snake and decapitate the drug dealing gang in one fell swoop, ditching the drug lab raid when he'd caught sight of the General's limo passing by.
Not a terrible idea, and one the General was thinking he should steal in order to deal with the Saints. However, the hero's plan had failed due to overconfidence and lack of good intel, and now he lay on the gravel strewn rooftop, beaten and bloody.
Mr. Sunshine gave the fallen hero a look of annoyance, and ground the heel of his boot into his spine, aggravating the numerous cuts and burns that littered his body.
"I believe he's suffered enough," The General told Mr. Sunshine. "Put him out of his misery."
Mr. Sunshine nodded, and pointed a hand down at the back of Stampede's head. The supervillain wore a pair of gauntlets that had a series of circular glass lens on the palms.
Pure sunlight began to shine forth from the skin on his hand, getting channeling through the refracting lens on the palm of the gauntlet before being focused into a deadly laser beam.
The enhanced Quirk ray punched through the hero's bovine skull, charbroiling his brain and killing him instantly.
Nodding at the quick work, the General turned and left, exiting the roof, his loyal soldier at his back.
The Saints had suffered a setback as well, from what his spies had told him. Now was the perfect time to strike and teach that naïve fool leading those purple rejects that crime and supervillainy was not a game you could win by playing nice.
111 &&& 111
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! If you'd like to read three chapters early, check out Akashicrecordstrue over at Patty-ron, or if you just wanna support the writing process! Every dollar helps!