A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay 30 (Patreon)

A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 30

-VB-

My fist blurred from up and down and left to right. Across from me, a desperate gunman screamed as he unloaded his entire clip yet no one died with bullet holes on their bodies. Civilians behind me screamed in fear as the thundering staccato of gunfire echoed ear-piercingly in the room.

And then the gun clicked dry.

The gunman froze as I breathed out a long stream of air before opening my hand.

Like tinkles of coins, the flattened bullets landed heavily and somewhat mutely on the carpeted floor of the colorful classroom filled with children and a single brave teacher who’d just tried to shield the kids with his body.

“W-Why is a hero here?!” the gunman screamed as he reached for another clip.

But then he blinked and I was within arm's reach of him.

He started to scream again, this time in shock and surprise.

I narrowed my eyes in disgust before striking thrice: one each to his neck, gun-holding wrist, and solar plexus.

For a moment, everyone remained still as the gunman’s wrist snapped, stomach caved in, and his own neck cracked. Still breathing, he collapsed to the floor, dropping the empty gun on the way down.

The children started crying.

I laughed nervously as the teacher started crying while hugging the kids.

-VB-

“THANK YOU SO MUCH!”

I smiled for the crowd, but I didn’t quite feel up to it as I shook the hands of the thankful parents and staff. I watched the gunman get taken away by the police roughly and couldn’t help but wonder why he would choose to try and kill children at an elementary school of all places.

Or why he was merely the latest in this week’s sudden rise in crime here in Brockton Bay.

I waved the people goodbye and joined Vicky who’d been waiting for me.

She looked happy for me.

“You know, at this rate, you’ll become even more famous than I am, and you’re not even half as pretty as I am!” she giggled at her own joke.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry, princess. It must hurt to have me infringe upon your fame.”

“Well duh~! I’m supposed to be the Brute of the team but you took that over!” she huffed playfully before she took off and flew up.

I jumped up… and stayed up.

It was only yesterday that I got the hang of “kicking the air,” and Vicky stared at me for a moment before looking at me in exasperation.

“Seriously? You fly now, too?!” she complained.

I laughed and laughed harder when she playfully hit me in the shoulder. I dropped a foot when I lost focus but I regained that after focusing on “kicking the air.”

She huffed as we made our way towards the Brockton General Hospital. After fifteen minutes of flying, we landed softly on the rooftop of the hospital. While Vicky ran off to find Amy, I stopped because something niggled at the edge of my vision.

Walking over to the edge of the rooftop and leaning against the guard railing, I looked down.

And frowned.

Were there supposed to be four black vans there?

Then I saw armed men stomp out.

“What the fu-?!” I hissed before vaulting over the railing.

What the fuck was going on this week?!

I slammed down right in front of the first gunmen, shattering the concrete sidewalk. None of these guys had the PRT or police badges on them.

Good enough for me.

I lashed out without warning with my fists.

The first one went down even before he had a chance to recognize the change in his situation. He flipped thrice mid-air before crashing into the ground unconscious, and he was soon joined by the second that saw but couldn’t react fast enough to dodge my uppercut, sending him flying six feet off the ground and then crashing back into the ground.

“OPEN FIRE!” someone shouted from their back.

But bullets pinged off of my skin and I ploughed through them. One of them tried to get back into the van, but I tore the gun from the nearest gunman, bent it, and threw it like a boomerang. The improvised boomerang flew and then struck through the hood of the van through sheer force.

I turned to the rest, who’d all run out of bullets from their clip nearly simultaneously in their panic to put me down quickly.

“Surrender and you’ll have less bones broken,” I growled. I was not in the mood for this shit right now.

The gunmen looked at each other before slowly dropping their guns and putting their hands behind their heads.

-VB-

“What the fuck is happening?!” I snapped angrily.

Right now, I was in a meeting with all of New Wave, local PRT leadership, Wards, and the Protectorate. The sheer number of crimes being committed was through the roof, and I only managed to stop what I did because I was fast and patrolled for hours on end.

“Most of the criminals all of us caught have direct or indirect contract with the Elite,” Director Piggot sighed as she looked over the compiled summary of the arrests. “There is a high chance that a new cell of the Elite wants to ‘break’ into the city, and they are putting us off-balance with these attacks so that they can sneak in before we can stop them.”

Brandish frowned. “I find the entire situation to be absurd. What exactly makes them think that this is all necessary?” she asked. “It makes them more of a target to remove, not any less.”

Piggot turned and stared at me.

“... Me?” I asked incredulously.

“According to one mercenary who we have verified to be in the Elite’s retinue, the Elite are deathly afraid of you.”

“What the fuck did I do to them?”

“Not what you did but what you have done,” Lady Photon sighed. “I am honestly happy to have you in the team, Alan, but you do know that your arrest records are … very spotty.”

“Huh?”

“You break bones at a minimum and threaten to kill them if your enemies don’t surrender. Like how you arrested the Merchants.”

It was about two weeks ago. A week after Amy and I had a serious talk about bringing Vicky to our bed, I did end up finding and then fighting the Merchants who were on the move. Skidmark was among them, and I demanded that he surrender. He refused and in the ensuing fight, I ended up killing Skidmark. Part of that may have been because I wanted to fulfill my Kill Contract (source of my power) and didn’t want to lose my powers again.

Because that’s what happened with the armor and my Roleplay Excellence. I failed to kill Kaiser, so I lost them.

So I made it look like an accident when I killed Skidmark.

Still, that one death painted me in a rather harsh light compared to the rest of the heroes.

“Skidmark fucking deserved it and all of you know it.”

What fueled my need to kill Skidmark may have also been because I found him raping a drugged out teen girl who looked too much like Amy.

“Regardless, the Elite runs each of their branches autonomously. As such, we won’t know what they want unless we get in contact with this particular branch. And considering how skittish they appear to be, we might not get a chance to talk with them before we have to put them down.”

Right, because talking to the Elite wasn’t a big deal for the PRT; it was a regular occurrence across the nation where the branches were willing to play ball. This new branch didn’t seem like they were going to be playing ball.

“Then don’t pin their actions on me like that Piggot,” I snapped at the obese director. “If their fucking branch head acts like a douche, dick, and dipshit, then it ain’t my fault. If you think talking tough with your allies makes them easier to work with, then you’re dead fucking wrong.”

Lady Photon and Assault facepalmed.

“You speak as if you are above reproach, Rabbit,” she snapped back with equal fervor. “Do you know how much destruction you leave behind with each attack?”

“You can fix concrete. You can’t fix dead,” I retorted. “And your troopers’ ineffectiveness against the new trigger capes leaves more dead, Piggot. Fix your own shit before you start the blame game.”

Did I mention that Piggot and I hated each other?

Her PR department’s attempt to deflect their ENE’s recent failures towards me, for my brutal takedowns and bloody results, and then her willingness to pull them back started this little feud.

“Whatever,” I grunted before standing up.”

“Alan, where are you going?!” Lady Photon asked.

“Away from the pig and her circus!” I replied.

It wasn’t like I was going to be hero’ing while I was stuck in a meeting room.

… I should find these Elite and give them a piece of my mind.