The Rise of Marquis 4: The Powers that Be... (Patreon)

This is a bit of a world building heavy chapter from the perspective of Armsmaster

-VB-

The Rise of Marquis
Chapter 4: The Powers that Be...

-VB-

Colin knew that the situation in Brockton Bay was an off-balanced tilt, always tilting in favor of the villains who ruled the city.

To be a hero in Brockton Bay was to fight against the inevitable. To fight a losing fight against the giants. He may be Armsmaster, the premier Tinker of the Protectorate and on, but in Brockton Bay, he was barely counted as one of the top five most powerful capes in the roster of capes made by the Protectorate itself.

The most powerful cape in Brockton Bay: Marquis of the March. Capable of generating, manipulating, and growing bones from any surface within his line of sight, he used to be weaker and incapable of such feats. Once, he had been a Manton limited cape only capable of manipulating exposed bones or his own, but the disastrous Marquis Home Invasion had led to the confirmation of the rumored Second Trigger… and it happened to a villain. What was once a powerful but manageable villain became a near untouchable juggernaut. The PRT’s threat rating marked him at Shaker 8 (Brute 6/Striker 4).

The second most powerful was none other than the March’s second cape, Countess (who was rumored to be Marquis’s daughter). As her cape name suggested, she was the second in command of the March despite her young age, and allegedly was being trained to take over the organization in case any unforeseen events removed Marquis from the cape scene for any prolonged period of time. A powerful bio-kinetic in her own right, the Countess relied on a myriad of biological weapons to carry the day when her own enhanced body could not defeat her opponent in one-go. Everything from fast acting paralyzing poison dripping from her nails, skeletal structure stronger than steel, and lean musculature that could lift pickup trucks with ease, Countess was a force to be reckoned with. Together with Marquis, they dominated any battlefield they set foot on. Because of this, she was classified as Brute/Changer 6, Tinker 6.

The third most powerful cape was Lung of the Azn Bad Boyz. The only reason he wasn’t higher up on the list was because both the Countess and Marquis could take him out before, during, and after Lung’s Changer transformation made the man into a dragon. Despite having wrestled with Leviathan to the point of sinking Kyushu, he was ineffective against both of the March’s leading capes, and thus - again, despite being marked as a Brute 9, Blaster 6 at his largest transformation - Lung was only the third most powerful cape of Brockton Bay.

The fourth most powerful cape was Labyrinth, a member of mercenary Faultline’s Crew. She was the only Shaker 12 to exist in all of the East Coast, and yet, her inability to properly utilize that power was why she was the fourth and not the first.

And himself, Armsmaster of Protectorate ENE. Heralded as the best Tinker in the Protectorate’s employ, he was right to be proud of himself. No Tinkertech analyzed by him could not be - in some form - be replicated. His partnership with an even better Tinkertech analyst and fellow Tinker, Dragon (titled as the best Tinker in the world) made him even a greater asset to both the Protectorate and the United States of America as a whole. Unfortunately, he was only one man, and the rest of the Protectorate ENE was … lackluster.

Under his command were Miss Militia, one of longest serving members of the Protectorate and powerful - if restrained for good reason - cape in her own right; Assault, a Brute/Striker cape capable of withstanding any kind of kinetic impact and returning it in any shape he can dish it out; Battery, a Breaker/Brute whose highest charged state could, theoretically, even take on Lung for a brief amount of time; Dauntless, the rising star of the Protectorate ENE threatening to shadow Colin with a power that allowed near unending improvements; Velocity, the fastest cape; Triumph, a respectably strong recent graduate of the Ward program; and finally, the only other Tinker Protectorate member in ENE, Challenger, whose “Impact” specialty allowed for powerful weapons that dished out damage in multiples of energy given.

Unfortunately, this was all they had in a city with twenty-three villains and vigilantes.

The Azn Bad Boyz was bad enough with Lung, but they also had Oni Lee, a clone making teleporter with a penchant for suicide bombing and high casualties. Backed by a community sick and tired of xenophobic tendencies of the local denizens, the ABB was a gang sitting on top of a tight knit community unwilling to spill any secrets.

The Archer’s Bridge Merchants were new and the most disgusting of the cape villain organizations. With names like Skidmark, Mush, and Squealer, they lived and made their living by subsisting from the dregs of the society and dragging the denizens into the pits of depravity and addiction. It was only thanks to Skidmark’s Direction Alteration and Squealer’s Tinkertech vehicles that they were able to get away from any engagement.

The Faultline’s Crew existed as a neutral mercenary organization that kept itself away from the cape scene of the city, seeking instead jobs in the region. Faultline was a powerful Striker capable of single point and line of destruction, who led the team of her namesake, Gregor the Snail was the source of many illicit if mostly harmless psychedelics, and Newter was a mystery as to where he laid in use. Aforementioned Labyrinth was part of the team, but her alleged episodes of lack of lucidity more often than not kept her from going out with the team for the jobs.

The Undersiders was a team of thieves which tended to prefer hitting villain assets. With a name like Tattletale, she had to be the Thinker. Hellhound was a murderer, but he’d seen her file before, and if she was capable of interacting more politely, then he wasn’t above cleaning her record for the sake of recruiting her. Spitfire was the most powerful of the group with her ability to spew literal napalm; only Lung, Labyrinth, Marquis, and he was capable of withstanding her blasts, but her inability to take a hit made her a “glass cannon.” He had a counter for her, but it required foreknowledge in her appearance to properly prepare. Aside from, you know, knocking her out with a tranq. The last of the Undersiders was the relatively unknown Fiend. The only reason anyone knew about her was because she left

And lastly, among the largest of the cape groups, there was the March, led by Marquis and Countess, had Jenkins, a near immortal Breaker who supplied the March with near endless body to the meat grinder that was the gang attrition warfare; Baroness, a flying cape who was also the strongest Blaster in all of New England; De Soma, a Tinker who never left his workshop, preferring not only to use his remote controlled drones to backup his boss but building up any hidden bases with fortifications that almost rivalled the Rig; and lastly, there was the unverified cape, Scholar. Supposedly a woman and the primary “planner” for the March, no one had seen her or even know what she looked like. All they knew was an off-hand remark Marquis threw out. ‘Just as Scholar planned.’ As this statement was recorded upon the March’s completion of their domination over the Docks, Scholar was given a Thinker* rating.

Against this array of enemies, Colin knew that the best thing he could do was hold the line.

But more often than not, he and the rest of the Protectorate and PRT ENE always lost ground.

“{Armsmaster, come in.}”

He stopped his maintenance and touched his earbud. “This is Armsmaster, console. What is the issue?”

“{Marquis attacked Challenger and Battery on their patrol. They are requesting backup.}”

Fuck!

“Heading out now. Location?”

“{Elms Street and 19th.}”

“That’s right in Downtown…”

“{I think he might be mad about our latest raid, boss.}”

Colin - now Armsmaster - grunted before he picked up his armor and halberd.

Time to face the giant of the bay.