Wretched Joy 3 (Patreon)

Wretched Joy

Chapter 3

-VB-

Drama happened in the bay.

Cricket's death at my hands sent ripples throughout the bay. Obviously, the Empire Eighty-Eight shrieked about the injustice and crime, and they puffed and huffed to make themselves look bigger.

Well, most of them. Hookwolf and Stormtiger just went on a brief rampage in ABB territory because they were an acceptable target. Of course, Lung took it personally and kicked them both out after beating them blue and purple.

The PRT, of course, got involved and did jackshit. Now that I wasn't one of them, PRT really did look like shitters.

As for me, I spent the three days during which the city descended into chaos to make a new enchanted item.

Introducing: Criminal Asshole Compass! It took me all nine charges I gained during those three days, but it was well worth it. It was a regular compass with two settings: find the nearest criminal and find a specific criminal. For the latter, I needed the name of the criminal at least.

Speaking of names, I wondered if I should choose one.

On one hand, if I don't chose one, someone will.

On the other hand, this was a campaign of revenge, not the public cops-and-robber Glen Chambers liked to spout about the cape scene. Taking a fancy name was … it didn't suit my taste.

But I would rather not be called "Motorcycle Head." Or "White Head," "Bat Bum," "Metal Bat," or other variations of white (my costume's most prevalent color).

I guessed… I would have to swallow my distaste and name myself.

Thankfully, no one knew about me yet so I had time.

'In the meantime, I better plan out some enchantments that make it easier for me to react at a turn of the dime.'

---

Dauntless held his position firmly as he held his shield up and leveled his spear against the newest villain to grace the city.

Observing the cape dressed from head to toe mostly in white, he couldn’t help but feel something wrong with the situation.

“Ah, Dauntless. How nice of you to show up…” the villain drawled as he pulled his bat out from the completely caved in ribcage of an unpowered member of the Empire Eighty-Eight.

“You are under arrest. Lay down your arms and put your hands behind your head.”

The villain regarded him carefully before he sighed.

“Tell me … Shawn.”

Dauntless froze.

This cape knew his name.

His identity was in danger.

He opened his mouth to -.

To what?

To deny? To ignore? To demand? Any action was worthy of confirmation and -.

“Now, now, don’t worry,” the man added casually as he slowly began to circle him in the wide alley. “I already know the other heroes are coming, and I don’t want to kill you or them. I don’t even care about who you are under the masks. I just said your name because I wanted to get your attention. But then again, I might end up killing you in the future, so maybe-”

“You? Kill us? What makes you think you can kill us? Or for that matter, kill us and think you can get away with it?”

The villain pulled out a pebble from his pocket and tossed it over his shoulder. It traveled far from the force of the throw and then-.

Dauntless froze as the mouth of the alley exploded into a conflagration of smoke and fire.

“I have a lot of those, and I don’t think you can survive a direct hit, shield or not. I also don’t need to wear a mask, and I’m a pretty good tosser.” A pause. “That came out worse than it did in my head.”

Shawn had to agree on all points.

“Besides, there’s only two of us here in the alley. It doesn’t matter if I say your name or not. After all, it’s not like capes give more shit about civilians and regular people than they do their fellow capes. It’s not like you will use lethal force on other capes who are known serial murderers if it meant saving regular people, right?”

“What are you-?”

“I actually have a bone to pick with the PRT and the Protectorate, you know. I lost someone very dear to me because you refused to use lethal force on the likes of Hookwolf.”

Dauntless realized right there and then that he was facing someone that the PRT and the Protectorate would find hard to recruit to their side. This new villain was someone on a path of revenge and blamed them for inaction.

“You know what happened to Boston!”

“Yeah, and I don’t give a shit,” he drawled. “My name’s Joe. It’s my cape name,” he mock-bowed. Sirens drew closer. “I want to end this quickly, so will you hold yourself for a moment?”

Dauntless charged forwar-.

CLONK!

‘When did he-?!’ Shawn thought in shock as he crumpled to the floor as “Joe” disappeared from his view and somehow had teleported above him.

“You’re a good guy, Shawn. My friend told me that. Certainly looked out for the people more than Armsmaster, Assault, or Battery,” “Joe” continued as he crouched down next to him. “But Shawn, I want you to remember this. Every day, some poor schmuck gets killed by a parahuman cape because they decided that therapy was not something they wanted, and the system does not care. When I fight you, I want you to know that I am not your average villain. I am merely the face of the faceless masses who died because you and your ilk were unwilling to take the next step. And don’t give me the Endbringer Truce as an excuse. If you do, then I will kill you.”

He stood up. “Well, cheerio.”

Shawn only had enough strength to flip himself over to his back, and that’s how Miss Militia found him a minute later.

-VB-

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Today is March 19, 2010.

■

♦Topic: Hello, I am Joe

In: Boards ► East Coast ► Brockton Bay ► Cape Introductions

RegularJoeBB (Verified Cape)(Temp Banned)
Posted on March 16, 2010:

Hello, world! My name is Joe (not real name). Now, am I a real cape? Yes~ I am! Here is a video to prove it and myself in costume. I have so far fought Cricket and Dauntless, and killed the former and defeated the latter.

Yes, I am a villain. No, I don’t give a shit about the Unwritten Rules. See, Cricket killed my friend. Kind of why I Triggered in the first place.

Right now, I have one goal and one goal only: the complete death of all of the capes of the Empire Eighty-Eight and their minions.

Enjoy your life before I get to you~.

Moderator: Do not threaten people. Get an infraction for this post. We will be looking into your claims.
Edit: He is a verified cape now.

Joe12345
Posted on March 16, 2010:

Bruh. What the fuck. You’re going to get people killed.

Brocktonite3
Posted on March 16, 2010:

I think that’s the point? Besides, at least now the E88 will focus on this guy instead of going on a rampage.

SpecificProtagonist
Posted on March 16, 2010:

What about his powers? He took out Cricket!

Bagrat (Guy in the Know)(Veteran Member)
Posted on March 16, 2010:

This is the autopsy report written by PRT’s coroners. I will spare you the details if you don’t want it, but the basic conclusion of the coroners was that her attacker, Joe, must be a Brute.

Also, Dauntless lost to Joe and lost because of a surprise attack

PureAndTrue
Posted on March 16, 2010:

… Kaiser will find you. That’s all I’ll say. This is still within the rules of the forum.

IronChancellor (Verified Cape)
Posted on March 16, 2010:

You will rue your actions.

Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Posted on March 16, 2010:

Bagrat, we would really like to talk to you about your inside sources. Getting your hands on the coroner’s report is a little serious.

RegularJoeBB (Verified Cape)(Temp Banned)
Posted on March 16, 2010:

Believe me, I won’t. I don’t even live inside the city, so you guys can’t even kill me in my sleep like you did to Fleur.

Also, yes, I am a Brute and a Mover.

Moderator: Take a temp ban for a day. You are obviously intent on riling up your enemies, which we will not have in this forum.

RealFat69
Posted on March 16, 2010:

Hot damn, is that a record ban speed for a cape? Were you speedrunning being banned?

As for powers, we just got a clue; the guy doesn’t live in the city. Someone who actually does live outside won’t announce that fact (if true) unless they had a way to get in and out of the city easily and unnoticed. I wouldn’t say Stranger but possibly a Mover involved in there. Guess we can’t have more answers for some time since the guy’s been banned.

UglyBastardFromTheFuture
Posted on March 17, 2010:

Wait, does this mean that the E88 is at war?

SpecificProtagonist
Posted on March 17, 2010:

He’s going to be one of those anti-villain heroes, isn’t he?

JoeXPurity?!

Brocktonite3
Posted on March 17, 2010:

Are you serious? No, you are always serious when it comes to pairings. Please take it to the pairings, not here.

As for what he is doing, I’m not sure if Joe can be tracked down. I mean, everyone kind of knows that the E88 does a lot of shitty things (kidnapping, drug dealing, murder, racism, tagging, etc etc). A shit ton of people suffered because of them. On top of that, Joe supposedly doesn’t even stay in the bay, and everyone also knows that E88 failed the last nine times they tried to expand outside the city.

Let’s face it, unless they succeed in luring Joe into a trap and ambushing him, all they can do is take it from the new vigilante.

Joe12345
Posted on March 17, 2010:

Is everyone just going to ignore the fact that he is using a common name as his cape name?

Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Posted on March 17, 2010:

@Joe12345 it isn’t that we are ignoring the fact that he is using a common name as his cape name but more that we can’t force him to use a name he doesn’t recognize as his.

PRT does not condone @RegularJoeBB’s decision, but there have been cases in the past where capes have gone ballistic over their name being forcefully changed.

That said, the PRT currently has “Joe” listed as Metal Bat-Joe in our files.

PapEye
Posted on March 17, 2010:

So it is confirmed that he is the cape who put down Cricket? Where do I donate? That bitch killed my friend a year ago.

Space_Zombie
Posted on March 17, 2010:

Brraaaiinnnsss…!!! Braa

Joe12345
Posted on March 17, 2010:
@Space_Zombie this ain’t a Tinker or sci-fi thread, mate. Also, you also cut off there? 

Bagrat (Guy in the Know)(Veteran Member)
Posted on March 17, 2010:

Obviously @EverydayJoeBB is after the E88 and already killed one of their capes. The question then becomes “who’s next”?

Personally, I think Kaiser will not be next. If he dies, then there is a good chance that the Empire will break apart from its internal factions (for those who don’t know, please refer to this thread). With Kaiser eliminated as the next target, this leaves most of the “faces” of the E88, the capes who operate in the frontlines: Hookwolf, Stormtiger, Crusader, Purity, and Victor.

In my personal opinion, Victor is the most likely next target.

Moderator: have an infraction for speculating on the deaths of other people.

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