The Rise of Marquis 11: What Do You Mean? (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

-VB-

The Rise of Marquis
Chapter 11: What Do You Mean?

-VB-

“Annette.”

“Samuel.”

They met as they always did: in a regular cafe in Downtown with a cup of earl grey tea each.

“How’s Taylor and Danny doing these days?” he asked genially.

Annette sighed with a smile. “As happy as they can be. Taylor is having a bit of trouble at school.”

“Not academically? She’s too smart for that.”

His compliment only made the woman across from him beam with pride. “She would have enrolled in Arcadia if it wasn’t for her own stubbornness,” she grumbled.

“You mean like you?”

She snorted. “I am only stubborn as I need to be.”

Samuel hummed as he sipped his tea. Getting into Arcadia while being outside of its zone meant that Taylor was well on her way to being scouted by colleges once she graduated high school. Of course, being her godfather, he would be backing her studies up whatever she sought to do.

But if she didn’t go to Arcadia, it meant that she was in Winslow.

“Bullies?”

Annette sighed. “She’s as stubborn as her parents. She refuses to get help to deal with them. I only found out because Emma told me.”

He hummed again. “And who might be the perpetrators?”

“The names of the bullies are John Kotemkin, Sophia Hess, and Minsey Lee.”

He would be sure to remember those names. Anyone who touched his men - and women - were his enemies.

Then he frowned.

Hess?

He knew that name.

“Sophia Hess?” he asked her with a raised eyebrow. “Black, athletic, teenage girl?”

It was Annette’s turn to be confused. “Yes.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “You’re not trying to recruit her, are you?”

“Oh no. I just knew of her before this. I didn’t think that she would be a bully… but considering who she is…”

She stared at him for a few moments, but he saw her eyes staring blankly. This was what he saw when she was so focused on puzzling things out. Her “blanking out” moments as it were.

“Sophia Hess is Shadow Stalker.”

Okay, ho damn. She puzzled that out rather quickly.

“What makes you say that?” he asked her nonchalantly.

“An aggressive black girl in a school that is still dominated by racists? She shouldn’t have lasted as long as she did, especially as a bully. As sad as it is, it doesn’t take much for a perceived bully from a minority to get punished heavily when they get reported. The racists in that school have no reason not to report her, even with the stupid ‘no tattling’ culture that is so common everywhere.”

“We’re part of that culture, Anne.”

“I know! It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

He chuckled good naturedly. “So what do you intend to do about her?” he asked.

Annette frowned, once again deep in her thoughts for a moment.

“I shouldn’t release her civilian identity. That would be going too far in the extreme, even if it is Taylor she’s bullying.”

‘Never one to lose her cool,’ Samuel thought as he took another sip. It was getting lukewarm now. ‘It’s even more admirable that she can deal with the situation as coldly as she is, especially considering that she’s even more hotheaded than her husband.’

“Then?”

“... It’ll cause more panic within ENE if we send a warning that one of their capes are breaking the Unwritten Rules against one of ours.”

It was vague enough that it could be anyone harming anyone. Of course, they would be quick to eliminate most of the Protectorate, leaving only the Wards. Wards would also get eliminated quickly until it was just Sophia Hess. Samuel was keenly aware of the fact that despite their antagonistic relationship, the PRT ENE and the Protectorate ENE were filled mostly with individuals who were truly good (or at least trying to do good).

The only two bad eggs were Assault and Shadow Stalker, but the former was too whipped with his wife to do anything that would seriously toe the line.

“Should I do it?” he asked.

She nodded.

“What will you be doing on your end?”

“I’ll be pressuring the school,” she replied easily.

“You know that it will make finding out your identity easier for the PRT if you do that.”

“I know, but all I do is plan for you.”

“Fair. The PRT won’t care about that.”

She smiled.

“If they come after me and my family, you’ll be there to break your lieutenant out, right?”

“I’ll be breaking my friend out, yes, should that come to pass. It’ll also be Marquis merely telling the PRT that he will not stand for their tyranny.”

She chuckled. “That’s funny, you know that, right?”

He shrugged. “Hey, at least I’m a popular tyrant.” He wasn’t the second hottest villain on PHO for no reason.

-VB-

“Duke.”

“Marquis.”

Only a few hours after meeting with Annette, Samuel was out in the Trainyards meeting with the Duke, the villain in charge of Maine.

The man was a heavily built fighter. In fact, he looked more like a professional wrestler than a villain. The only ducal attire he wore was a furred cape around his bulging shoulders and a scepter.

This imitator couldn’t even bother to imitate properly. ‘I suppose I should give him some credit for trying to be more original when he didn’t have to be,’ Samuel thought.

Behind each of them were three of their lieutenants and a plus one on his side, the prisoner.

He had thought about recruiting the girl, but he wasn’t so cruel as to pit her against her comrades.

So all he’d done was to ensure that she understood what would happen next time she came back to Brockton Bay.

The Duke spared the girl a glance before sighing.

“You didn’t even bother to fight me when I came around.”

Samuel just smiled. “Why would I? I had bigger concerns.”

The Duke gritted his teeth. “Right. Well, hand Orchid over.”

He stepped out of the way, and clones of Jenkins, his lieutenant whose power was to create short-lived clones of himself, released the girl. The witch doctor-like dressed white girl rubbed her arms where they’d held her and demurely walked back to the Duke’s side.

“As agreed, I will not intrude on you and your business for six months.”

Samuel merely nodded. Taking time out of his day to deal with the upstart here was annoying, and he knew that if he opened his mouth, then he would be insulting the man as politely as he can.

So he didn’t open his mouth.

“... Marquis, I have a question.”

He was about to turn around, but the tone the Duke just spoke to him caught him by surprise. It wasn’t the usual haughty and proud tone the Duke spoke with (on PHO, youtube, and elsewhere).

“If the question merits a good response, then it will have an answer.”

The Duke huffed. “Am I so weak that you don’t even consider me to be your equal?” he asked. “I, who have more territories? I, who have more men? I, who have gained more than you have gained in a quarter of the time?”

Samuel barked out a laugh.

“I suppose that is a good question. No, I do not consider you my equal, merely an imitator. I am like Emperor Aurelian while you are like Genghis Khan. I lead a kingdom that will last after me while yours will fall with you. And as for strength…”

He turned towards the side where neither parties were, and gestured casually, almost swinging his hand up without a care.

In response to his gesture, a towering bone spike shot out of the ground with earthquake-like tremors that shook the entire area. The rib-like bone tower rose four stories into the air and sat there.

“When you can survive an attack of that magnitude or produce an attack of that magnitude, come back and call yourself my equal.”

And then he left.

-VB-

Piggot glared down at the missive in front of her.

Her headache just evolved into a migraine.

She needed to solve this problem right now. 

She picked up her office phone and called Armsmaster. He was in the charge of the Wards, so he was going to solve this issue.

“GET ME SHADOW STALKER!” ... "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?!"