A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay 31 (Patreon)

A Lewd Cultivator in Brockton Bay
Chapter 31

-VB-

Knock knock.

I paused in my computer work. I may now be a “full-time” hero, but I still liked to work with programming for fun. It was now a little hobby that I barely got to do, but it was something I still did.

I rose up from the chair and walked over to the front door. Then I peered through the peephole… and nearly choked when I found a deer skull masked man in a business suit. This guy was definitely a cape, but I had no idea who this was. For all I knew, he could be a Master.

Well, it wasn’t like I could be mastered. No, what I was worried about was whether or not Amy would be mastered because she was in the house as well.

I quickly opened the door, stepped outside, and then closed it behind me. Drawing myself to full height, I looked at the man who invited himself onto my porch.

He was as tall as I was, cleanly dressed, and smelled of fir and oil.

“How can I help you?” I asked politely. A cape was still a person, and it would be rude to be on the offensive just because a man wore a mask. What I also “sensed,” however, was that there were more waiting with him.

Even if I had a hunch about who this was.

And if my hunch was right, I should be punching the shit out of him.

To my surprise, the deer skull masked man bowed. “You are Rabbit, yes?”

“Yes.”

The man nodded. “I am here on behalf of the Elite’s leadership to apologize for the inconvenience caused by those claiming to be a part of our prestigious organization.”

‘The fuck?’

I blinked and tried to get his words through my head. “Wait, are you telling me that the Elite that’s been wrecking havoc on the bay…”

“Is not part of the Elite, yes,” the man said as he straightened his back. “We came to you because you were the one most involved in fighting them.”

“Not the Protectorate?”

“As great as an institution and ideal the Protectorate and the PRT upholds, we find them lacking in too many ways. They promised so much, delivered too little, and oppress those who only sought to thrive,” he harrumphed. It sounded a bit personal to me. “And the rest of your team are not so friendly with the Elite, even when we did have a branch here.”

“I see-.”

“And these fakes will not bother you anymore.”

I blinked.

“Come again?”

The man looked just a bit more sinister. “The Elite takes care of its problems, and imitators are one of those. Rest assured that your city will no longer suffer from them. After that, we will leave.”

I was half-tempted to pick a fight with him right now. “Takes care of problems” for underground organizations usually meant executions and disposal where necessary and distribution of seized assets, and parahumans fell into too many organizations’ definition of seized asset.

However, what was I going to get out of this if I picked a fight?

The Elite, however, could provide an alternative to the current problem in the bay: power vacuum.

“I have no problem with the Elite as long as it is managed and operated by those like Uppercrust,” I replied. “I do not see Uppercrust as a criminal, merely someone who associates with criminals like Bastard Son.”

The man looked surprised by my admission.

“In fact, I give the Elite permission to stay and open a new branch in Brockton Bay should the cell here be led by those like Uppercrust.”

“...On what grounds would you be ‘granting’ us this permission?”

I hummed. “What’s your name? Cape name, that is.”

“Hannover of Chicago.”

An odd name, but I was called Rabbit, so I couldn’t point fingers.

“Hannover, I declare it so because I am the strongest parahuman in the bay, and I have yet to reach my ceiling.”

Two things happened at the same time as my declaration.

Hannover backpedaled and then two identically dressed and armed almost ninja-like capes dropped out of nowhere and placed themselves in front of Hannover.

“...What?” I asked, completely unbothered by the two of them. “Did something happen?”

---

John “Hannover” Merrills steadied his trembling hands and body to the best of his abilities as his power crooned over what he was seeing. His mind felt like someone just punched his brain. Everything was only held together because his power refused to let him collapse while it bathed in the unexplainable downpour of oppressive aura that had come and disappeared just as quickly.

When Rabbit made that declaration, the world seemed to quake but he knew that it wasn’t the physical world but something deeper. It was instinctive.

He stood before his better when his better made that declaration.

“N-No,” he replied quickly, unwilling to annoy the man in any measure. “No, I think I misstepped.”

The man eyed him critically for a moment before shrugging and turning around. “Well, you got the message.” Then he paused and turned back around. “You said you got them already, yes?”

“Yes…?”

“How did you?”

John smirked behind his mask. “Many branches of the Elite holds Thinkers on retinue, if not as a member of the cell. Those Thinkers were merely put to use.”

“Hmm. What were the names of the imposters?”

“Coil.”

The man blinked. “That bitch was still alive?” Again, he paused. “Is he still alive?”

“No. We made sure to kill him and his body double.”

“Oh good,” Rabbit chuckled. “I knew that the bastard was always skulking around, but man, I really thought he died during Leviathan’s attack. Whatever. Good job. For that alone, I might give you a bit more leeway later. Cheers.”

And then he closed the door softly behind him after going back into his home.

John wasted no time. He gestured for Ni and Mi to follow him back to his limousine.

It was only once he got in that he broke down as his literal supernatural control of his body broke down. He broke down between the two Finnish twins, and bawled like a baby as they held him, their own hands trembling from whatever it was that all three of them had been subjected to.

It felt like he almost died. If Rabbit wished it, then he and his women would be dead.

When his crisis ended, it left not just him but all three of them drained in the safety of their tinkertech armored and armed limo.

“T-That wasn’t what any of our Thinker said he was…” Ni whimpered. He wrapped his arms around her and Mi as their own control broke down.

No, it wasn’t. They said Rabbit was one of the strongest. They said this was an easy job to appease perhaps someone who may yet reach Triumvirate level.

They didn’t fucking mention that he was a reality warper.

His power - he named it “Sherlock’s Eyes” - gave him deep insights into those he saw activate their power. He wasn’t a cell leader, but he sure also wasn’t a low level street thug for the Elite. He had worked with others on Brockton Bay after reports of the fake Elite came in.

He came here to appease one of the factions, but instead, he crawled away with his life from the jaws of a sleeping bear.

“Fuck, there goes my mind being flowery with description and events,” he moaned. It was a quirk he developed after he got his power.

“H-How bad was it, John?” Mi, his Evaline, asked.

His power categorized individuals and their powers in combination. It could be as low as “negligible” to as high as “king.”

“Count right now-,” he mumbled.

He only ever encountered a king once, and that was Alexandria. Legend was considered Duke, which was only one step above Count.

But there was an additional qualifier to his ratings.

“And?” Ni asked hoarsely even though she should know what it was already from the three of them felt.

“Tyrant.”

A title that he had only gotten from the Endbringers for the potential that they could do.

“He’s a fucking Tyrant…” he muttered as his eyes began to close from the stress (he was always such a wimp. God, it sucked to need two women to take care of him…)

And then he fainted.

-VB-

A/N: this came out far edgier than I expected it to be...