The Rise of Marquis 1: Second Trigger (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

-VB-

The Rise of Marquis
Chapter 1: Second Trigger

-VB-

In the second before his brief blackout, he was watching one of Flashbang’s attack heading for the wardrobe where Amelia was.

In the second after, he had creating bones out of nothing from surfaces that didn’t have bones in them. Large ribs fit for elephants thrust out of the ground in front of the wardrobe and protected Amelia from the attack.

“So there was something important in there!” Brandish shouted triumphantly.

Marquis felt his eyes narrow before he gestured with his hand and wrist. A simple “up” move that came instinctually to him. It took only a second before the ground underneath Brandish tore apart and a femur burst forth. The proximal end of the femur - the ball and joint end - uppercutted Brandish’s chin, tossing her head up from the blow. There was a pause in the room before she fell backward, completely unconscious.

They looked up in shock. He’d never directly struck a woman, regardless of what they were doing.

“You attack me in my home,” he growled as, without gesture, bones began to grow out of all available flat space in his bedroom. “And you expect me to sit by and handle you with kiddie gloves like I usually do?”

As one, all of the bones shot out, some like arrows and others like spikes growing out of the ground, and struck the rest of the members of the Brockton Brigade.

Flashbang took hits to his right temple, left shoulder, lower right back, back of left knee, left rib, sternum, and right pelvis. Lady Photon took four hits, two to the backs of her knees, one to her solar plexus, and the last to her forehead. Manpower took seven hits, four to his chests at varying locations, one to each of his temples, and the last to his lower back.

It happened instantly, and the sounds of bones striking all three members rang in the small bedroom with meaty thwacks. When the bones pulled back, the rest of the Brigade collapsed, leaving only Flashbang conscious.

Marquis slowly stepped up and stood over the man.

“This is the only mercy you’ll get from me tonight,” he growled at the man who almost killed Amelia. “Leave and never come back.”

Then he quickly made his way to the wardrobe, knowing fully well that Flashbang was still looking at him behind his back. He lowered the ribs guarding the furniture, opened the door, and retrieved his shaking and sobbing daughter.

When he turned around and met Flashbang’s eyes, the man looked at him with wide eyes and soon looked down in shame.

“...Okay,” the “hero” accepted and moved his bruised and pained body to collect his teammates.

Marquis watched Flashbang carry out his teammates. “And next time your wife pulls this shit, I’m not sparing her. The safety of my daughter comes above the Rule I’ve set.”

“... Got it.”

And when Flashabng left through the wall that the Brigade made when they invaded his house, he gave Amelia his full attention.

“Are you okay, honey?”

Amelia hiccuped but nodded while holding onto his neck.

He rocked her small form craddled in his arms, and sighed in exhaustion.

‘Well, there’s no way the rest of the city won’t find out about this,’ he thought in exasperation. He wasn’t afraid of them, but he was going to have to fight more just because a few of them would think incorrectly that he was vulnerable.

Perhaps it was time for him to start recruiting a few capes to better establish his rule over the city.

“We’ll find somewhere else to sleep tonight. Just hold on for a bit longer, honey.”

But before that, he had some work to do…

He made purposeful strides to his office, and from there, he accessed his TV. Underneath the TV was a set of videocasette recorder players, and pressed the EJECT button on the third VCR player.

There was a whirl of gears before a black VCR was ejected with the words “Bedroom” written on the front.

“Time to get this to Brockton Gazette.”

He stopped, reached for his office landline phone, and dialed his second most called number.

A few beats later, a baritone voice answered. “This is Sam and Samson’s Pizzeria. How can I help you?”

“This is Marquis.”

There was an immediate shift in the tone. “Boss, what are your orders?”

“Prepare safehouse seven for me and my daughter’s use.”

“.... Did something happen, boss?”

“The Brigade broke into my home and nearly killed my daughter.”

“... Should we hire the cleaners?”

“No. I’m not interested in retaliation, not after what they did for me.”

“Boss?”

“They made me stronger than before, Sam. In trying to defeat me at my most vulnerable, they made me stronger.”

“That’s a scary thought, boss.”

Marquis chuckled. “The fools never learn, so let them suffer for their stupidity. Besides, I have a rather curious evidence of a supposed hero team breaking into someone’s home… I wonder how the media will find it.”

He could almost picture Sam’s savage grin. “Oh, I think my cousin will like such a juicy bit. Need me to hand whatever it is over to her?”

“Of course along with the words that should she be successful in helping the disbanding of the Brigade with her stories and opinions, then the Marquis will look favorably upon her.”

“I’ll get right onto it, boss. I’ll let the boys know to prep the safe seven.”

“Good. See you tomorrow, Sam.”

-VB-

The news broke next morning.

TV stations not just in Brockton Bay but in the region were repeating the same message over and over again.

A hero team broke into someone’s house and nearly killed a child.

The horror and irresponsibility of such an act threw the entire city into an uproar.

Marquis may be a villain, but he was a respected peacekeeper. Nothing went out of hand when he was around, and someone nearly killed his daughter. Businesses even remotely benefiting from Marquis’ protection refused to service any heroes until the Brigade had been punished for their crime.

It wasn’t long before the Brockton Brigade was forced to disband from public pressure. No one considered home invaders heroes, after all.

The PRT swooped in and took half of the Brigade into their ranks, while Brandish and Flashbang retired from public eyes.

Marquis considered it a good job.

With that thorn in his side gone, he could really get down to asserting his control over the bay, and since the Teeth had been kicked out by the Empire, there was only really one target left for him.