Magnetic Attraction 19 (Patreon)

Magnetic Attraction

Arc 2: Brockton Battles
Chapter 19: The Stage

-VB-

Brockton Bay was in a turmoil.

Leviathan’s retreat had done much to improve the group’s standing, but this group in question was all of Brockton Bay not the individuals.

Oh sure, the participants of the battles now knew how to watch out for.

I.e., me.

Not being a villain, I have already received personal visits from some of the big names. Alexandria already visited me after the battle, Dragon came a few days afterwards, and the Elite gave a try, too. The Empire Eighty-Eight remnants wanted me to join them, because they knew that I was Kaiser’s brother. The PRT wanted me to join them, because they could use their considerable power to make my civilian life and wealth far more enjoyable.

I told all of them that I was not interested.

Unfortunately, just because I wanted something didn’t change what other people wanted.

And people in general were unreasonable.

Capes, more so.

-VB-

“Arthur.”

I looked up from the computer where I was managing my assets today.

“Oh, Kayden. What is it?”

It’s been two weeks since she joined me, and every night with her and my other wives have been blissful. Her frown right now was not, however, reflective of that.

“I just got off the phone with Justin,” she replied, not tittering to delay what she was going to say. “He said that the Teeth is in town.”

I nearly slammed my hands as fists into the table in front of me.

As much as I did not like my family, I’ve already had friends and family members die to them in their first iteration. I was not a fan of my family, but I hated the Teeth with enamel breaking clenching fury.

“They’re trying to retake their home city, huh?” I uttered out.

She looked scared.

I quickly schooled myself and smiled, though I knew that it wasn’t coming out as well as I hoped from her continued discomfort.

“I guess I have a special hatred for the Teeth,” I told her truthfully.

“Won’t the Butcher come after you…?”

I grunted in affirmation.

The bastard was now capable of teleportation, too. Though I knew that it was limited to line of sight, finding a way to capture that bastard non-fatally was going to be a problem.

I had no desire to become the Butcher, thank you very much.

“Is Justin the leader of the Remnants?” I asked.

She nodded her head. “Reluctantly.”

Justin, from what I remembered from my sparse conversations with Max, was a follower. Max was very clear on that, too. Unfortunately, Alabaster was not a leader material nor in possession of an impressive enough power to make any bid for it possible, Victor could steal skills but manpower multiplying projections was far more useful, and Othala followed Victor because the poor bitch had been raised to be the ubermensch’s obedient bedwarmer. Those four were the only survivors of the Empire still part of it; the rest were dead or on my side.

“The ABB might be the Butcher’s first target.”

Lung was still alive, and the man knew nothing about just how devious the Butcher was. In fact, I expected the Butcher to go and suicide on either him or Oni Lee.

Personally, if the Butcher gained Oni Lee’s power, then there was a high chance the theorized ego-killing effects of Oni Lee’s power would end the Butcher.

I suspected that the Butcher might not go for the masked demon, not when the bastard already had a teleportation power.

The Merchants were prime candidates for recruitment.

The Protectorate would keep their members close, maybe even using the Butcher’s presence as an excuse to not leave the immediate area of their most tightly controlled areas in the still damaged Downtown and the Rig.

New Wave…

I still had to get Panacea to check out all of my girls. She was the best, so I wasn’t going to go for anything less.

Unless she left?

“Is New Wave still in town?”

She blinked at me.

“You don’t know?”

I blinked this time. “Know what?”

“Panacea snapped. She made her sister crazy.”

Oh.

Oh… So canon happened even though so much had changed?

Damn. Well, I supposed that I actually haven’t done anything to directly impact her and her world, so maybe this was to be expected.

I sighed.

That left only one group left.

I pulled out my old flip phone and speed dialed.

“Hey, Jessica,” I greeted my secretary, not Jess of Ness and Jess. It’s been some time since we talked. “How are you doing?”

Kayden looked surprised but quickly held any judgement back.

“{I didn’t - ah! - expect you to call me so - ahn~! - so soon!}”

“You’re doing that on purpose.”

“{W-Well, I’m not. Brian here is just - oh~ - good…!}”

I hummed, imagining my twin sister from another world in the body of Arthur Anders’ secretary bouncing away at a big black dick, because there was no way she was on the bottom. That got me a little stiff.

“How are the Undersiders?”

I could hear the smirk from here.

“{They. Are. Mine~!}”

I heard Brian groaning from the other side.

“Sure, sure. Apparently, the Butcher’s in town.”

“{... Way to ruin a good day, Arthur,}” she huffed. “{Now, I’m going to be worried sick what my boys and girls will encounter.}”

“Should I not have told you?”

“{No. Thank you, still. Better to know than not, right Brian?}”

“Alright. Have fun.”

“{You know I am. Come on, Brian. Round five!}”

Chuckling, I ended the call and turned back to Kayden, and looked up and down her from the top to bottom.

I smirked.

She saw my smirk and groaned. “Again? We just did it in the mornin-” she said but got muffled when I rose up and kissed her. In seconds, she was stripped, and a minute later, she was screaming as I plowed into her.

This was life.

Now, if only the world would leave me alone.