A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay Interlude: Brockton Bay 1 (Patreon)

A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Interlude: Brockton Bay 1

-VB-

Kaiser (Max Anders)

The current situation differed from the past incident. The murder of Fleur inside of her own home could be waved away as an outlier. Fluer and her New Wave were unmasked, which made their civilian lives a part of their cape lives, too. 

They could argue otherwise, but didn’t it take them less than the drop of a hat to go from civilian to hero? 

It was in that same vein of thought that made the murder of Fleur in her own home(one of the bases of New Wave) a perfectly acceptable act to some.

What happened a week ago?

None of that mattered.

Fleur was a single cape doing what a single cape in a team do: fight, live, and die.

Panacea was a single cape who performed one of the rarest services: (mostly) free healing. She had already volunteered thousands of hours, healing normals and capes alike who came to the hospitals she volunteered. Medical tourism was not only a thing in Brockton Bay but one of the main sources of attention the city received despite being an utter dump and failure of a city.

From this act alone, Panacea would have over a hundred capes willing to fight and bleed for her. 

And then there was the Endbringer Battles. Panacea, despite being a teenager who hasn’t graduated college, was a veteran of thirteen Endbringer Battles. 

In terms of participation, this put her in the top one percentile of most respected capes.

But she didn’t fight in those battles, she healed. She healed, in each battle, dozens of powerful capes - regardless of their affiliation as a hero, villain, and rogue - and hundreds if not thousands of civilians in the aftermath of the battle.

If Max had to name capes more influential than her, then he would have to start naming the Triumvirate, the CUI leadership, the Elite’s western leadership, and no more.

“Is New Wave on the offensive now?” he asked Krieg. Sitting in the meeting room underneath Medhall Tower, they were doing their best to plan out their defenses before the inevitable tidal wave of capes crashed down on top of them.

Even the Gesellshaft was considering cutting ties with them.

“No, they are completely on the defensive,” Krieg denied with a dissatisfied grunt. “They are holding their ‘territory’ down, and move very close to each other.”

“And their new member? This Alan Marris? What is his rating and power?”

“A middle tier Brute package.” Which meant that he had to be at least a Brute 3. “And Mover. According to reports our spies looked at, Marris was able to cross ten kilometers in under two minutes. This would make him Mover 3 at the very least. If he can exert his Brute strength while moving at that strength, then he would be considered Brute 5, Mover 3.”

“So nothing Hookwolf can’t handle.”

“Yes.”

“And Panacea is with him right now?”

“Yes.”

“Leave them alone for now then. Our hands will be full even without the sedentary and defensive New Wave adding to the pile. What is the enemy composition like?”

Krieg grimaced. “We know of at least fifteen capes who are in the city right now, and are forming a group to fight against us for the short term.”

“Average rating?” While such a concept would not help anyone in a fight, it would help Kaiser formulate his response teams. 

“With the exception of Stranger and Master, it’s 4 across the board.”

“The strongest?”

“Vacaneer.”

Kaiser winced.

Vacaneer was a New York state cape, and the closest thing to an American government sanctioned warlord on American soil. He was a cape capable of lifting a spear, throwing it accurately at a moving target over a kilometer away, and striking a kill. On top of that, his attacks were known to bypass most physical defenses with only certain projections, tinkertech, and Shaker effects able to keep his long ranged attacks at bay. 

Up close, he was a ferocious close quarter combat master who’d gone toe-to-toe with Alexandria. Alexandria couldn’t hit him, but he couldn’t defeat her because his attacks were meaningless against Alexandria. 

Oh, everyone else died in a hit or two but not Alexandria.

Max still remembered the hushed up rumors of Vacaneer and Alexandria fighting so furiously that some mountains no longer existed in the Appalachians. 

The only reason people didn’t care about him was the fact that he struck a deal with the Triumvirate: in exchange for being able to set the policing policies of his hometown of Albany and keep villains out of the town to the best of his ability, he would work as an independent contractor for the Protectorate.

This contract was the reason why he joined the Endbringer Battles.

This contract was the reason why despite being strong enough to kill Lung - he killed people stronger than Lung - and rule over a chunk of North American if he really wished, he stayed put and played house.

And now, he was here. 

The man who rivaled Alexandria was here to fuck Max and his Empire.

Fuck.

“Okay. We still have this,” he breathed out. “They don’t know our identities. They don’t know our holdings as well as Lung does.”

Krieg grimaced. “About that…”

“... What?”

“Lung volunteered all information he had on us in exchange for all capes fighting against us publicly swearing to not take territory in Brockton Bay.”

BOOM, Max’s fist slammed down on to the table in rage. “FUCK!”

-VB-

Sarah Pellam (Lady Photon)

Sarah glared at her sister.

Carol didn’t look at her, glaring off to the side and crossing her arms. 

Their husbands sat to the side. While Mark was out of it due to his depression, Neil looked alert at the topic of discussion. 

“Why aren’t you by Amy’s side?” she had asked pointedly. 

“Because she will be fine. I don't need to be there when he is."

"You're her mother." 

Carol finally met her eyes. "Against my will." It was a sentence spoken with such sincerity that Sarah felt her throat close for a second. “I didn’t need her or want her. No one knew of her identity, and she would have been fine in foster care-”

Sarah felt aghast at her sister’s words. 

Nothing was fine with foster care in this nation or anywhere else. There was a reason that children who came out of foster care found themselves entangled in crime one way or another. 

“ - and she’s his child, not mine!” she finished vehemently. “I’m already doing more than what I need to do by housing and feeding her!” 

Sarah didn’t recognize the woman across from her. How could she say such callous things? Their responsibility, the core idea of their team, meant that regardless of their individual feelings on the matter, they completed their mission to the best of their abilities. For Carol, it meant being a real mother to Amy.

She was wondering if Carol even gave the poor girl a chance. 

Then a spark of enlightenment hit her like a lightning strike during a cloudy day. Expected but somehow dismissed as being not an issue until it was there. 

Sarah felt like a man who just had their house hit by such a lightning bolt without a lightning rod to keep his house safe. 

She felt devastated.

“You didn’t meet any psychologist like you said,” she stated. “You promised us all that you would. You lied to us about taking care of yourself.”

It was a promise made when they had formed Brockton Brigade. They considered themselves upright and just people, but being parahumans - as they learned little by little over time - meant that they weren’t stable people. So, after voting as a team, they agreed for each of them to meet with a psychiatrist. 

Carol had voted no at the time.

Carol looked away again.

“... Carol, I’m putting you on suspension.”

Her sister snapped back to her, and Sarah couldn’t help but see only an irrational woman in front of her. 

“Don’t go out as a hero until you’ve had those psychiatrist sessions-”

“You can’t do that-!”

“ - BECAUSE YOU LIED TO THE TEAM!” Sarah roared out, jumping out of her seat.

Carol flinched back.

“If I ever see you dress up after this,” Sarah snarled, having reached her patience’s breaking point. “Then I will oust you from the team!”