The Rise of Marquis 5: In Love and War (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I do not own any pictures or characters. Any original character will be stated as such, but this chapter has none.

The Rise of Marquis
Chapter 5: In Love and War

-VB-

It was, at this point, a routine to punish the Protectorate members for the actions of their peers and their coworkers in the PRT.

When Challenger came for a swing with her hammer, Marquis contemptuously brushed the attack aside with a spike bone attack from below that intercepted Challenger’s hammer and sent it flying up instead of hitting him. When her body turned along with her hammer, he tripped her and sent her rolling.

Now, he would normally leave the Protectorate members bruised and battered, but he still had standards, and these two lovely ladies hadn’t actually done anything personally offensive to him.

So here he was, having expected to vent some frustration, but only managed to laugh and dance with the ladies.

He supposed that dancing was a venting activity on its own, but he just wasn’t one for any kind of dancing.

Battery came charging in from his back with her signature blue electricity running across her suit, but all it took was a simple bone growth at her knee (from her suit, actually rather than her body) that made her mis-step and send her skidding down the road.

“Are you alright?” Marquis asked. “I just meant to make you roll, because that had to have hurt.”

“I’m fine…” Battery grumbled as she got up.

As humiliating as this was for the two ladies in their inability to take down a villain, this was not the first nor the last time that he ran into them.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he ran into these two all of the time he came over to punish the Protectorate for their offenses. Could it be that the bureaucrats among them were actually smart enough to see that these two were the only ones he hadn’t hurt severely?

Hmm… That was a problem, even if it was pretty insignificant.

“Don’t take your eyes off of -!”

And he made circles with his backward whirl with himself at the edge. He deftly avoided Challenger’s overhead strike, caught her in his arms, and sent her rolling away. She came to a stop right next to Battery, who just got up on her two feet.

“How long have we been at this, ladies? Five minutes? Ten minutes?” he asked conversationally, because ever since he’s had his Second Trigger (he acknowledged this, because there was no point not acknowledging it), no cape-on-cape fight was truly worth his full attention or effort.

Now, if only he could do his paperwork and empire management with the same efficiency that he took down other capes…

Really, if it wasn’t for his Meru, then he might be sifting cash by the thousands a day!

Not that it would dent his coffers.

“Five minutes,” Challenger grumbled as she too got up. “Are we done?”

“Yes, I suppose that this is as long as this would go. I wouldn’t want to stay here for too long to have a repeat of last June, hmm?”

Battery and Challenger both flinched at the reminder of their Protectorate’s latest big defeat. Just as Lung had defeated the entire Protectorate ENE roster in his debut, Marquis had defeated them when they ambushed him while he was toying with the two women.

Unlike Lung, who caused enough collateral damage that the state and the city told the Protectorate ENE to please don’t engage without imminent cause, Marquis had defeated them with overwhelming power from the get-go that didn’t cause collateral damage (aside from the occasional car that had been just too close to the fight).

His getaway car, a black Porsche 718 Cayman, came skidding around the corner and stopped right behind him. Its assistant seat door flung open.

Marquis made sure to bow. “Thank you for this dance, ladies, but I’m not interested in being held up for a fight today.” He slid into the seat without any sense of urgency and closed the door. He waved from within as his driver drove them away.

He very much enjoyed Challenger’s roar of frustration and Battery’s resigned defeat.

-VB-

When he exited the car, Marquis found himself at one of his March’s Tinker workshops.

Samuel would normally get himself a shower before he came over to Meru’s base, but he just wanted to check up on her today.

He didn’t even need to enter the facility within the warehouse that hid said place before he was greeted.

“Hello, sweetheart~!”

He looked up and saw a three armed drone hovering about. Shaped like a peace sign, these drones were anything but peaceful or constructive. Considering that Armsmaster considered these drones to be a B-rank threat to local Protectorate members - which put the drones on the same level of danger as Oni Lee - and that even

“Morning, De Soma,” he greeted his Tinker. “You seem peppy today.”

“Well, my most favorite person just came to see me, how can I not be?”

“Well, I’m coming in, then.”

The facility in question was a cyberpunk-esque container that took up the middle third of the warehouse. Within it, his very own Tinker made her wonders.

He stepped around the box to its side, where a vault door was. There was a hiss as it opened, and he stepped through.

If the outside of De Soma’s workshop was the definition of Tinkertech appearance with its futuristic glamour, then the inside of the workshop was the very opposite of that: a warm log cabin complete with a fireplace.

And there was his Tinker, sitting sideways without a single article of clothes on her (he never understood why everyone, known to her friends and his inner circles by her chosen name of Meru, thought De Soma was a man; it was probably the name).

Her brick red skin glistened lightly from the illumination of the fireplace. Her shoulders, waist, and ass made for three distinct curves, and he thought she looked sexy.

It was also not the first time he saw her in this state with that sultry “come hither” look, and so, he didn’t feel anything significant about it.

“Hello, Meru,” he hummed. “I didn’t know this is how a lady greets a gentleman.”

“Fortunately, you are my man, though,” she cooed. “And it isn’t anything you haven’t seen, right?”

Marquis took off his bone mask and quirked an eyebrow.

“Well, I suppose that I am willing to tumble in the sheets for you.”

Meru giggled as he gestured for him to come to her.