Chapter 11
"So, who were those two guys?" I said before taking a sip from my cup, eggnog made from Jobberknoll eggs.
"The guy in the red tights was Snowflame, the heavy hitter of the Merchants and one of the stronger capes in Brockton Bay." Monica said as she took a sip from her cup of eggnog, looking far better compared to when she was emptying her gut.
"He is a low tier brute that also has pyrokinetic abilities. But he can enhance his powers through inhaling drugs. Which means that while he is with the Merchants, he has almost infinite ammo."
"What about the little goblin in the trash bag?"
"That was Mush, he can cover himself in garbage and turn it into armor. Nothing to actually worry about unless you fight him in a literal dump." She said with a shrug.
"They saw us take Squealer away, the Merchants will be looking for us. What is your plan for that bimbo anyway, and where did you put her?"
"I have some plans for her, don't worry about it much. And she is in the basement, I turned it into a dungeon." I said without much care, it was the truth after all.
"Of course you did. And what exactly are those plans?" Monica asked with a deadpan, I was starting to think dear Monica didn't appreciate my genius anymore.
"Now now, just finish your eggnog and you will see." I said with a smile, no wonder Dumbledore always talked so mysteriously. It was fun!
"Ok. Ok, then do we have any plans to deal with the Merchants? Or at least some way for us to hide our identities?"
"Not sure yet. I just know we won't be wearing skull masks. Only British Nazis wear skull masks." I said with a grunt.
"I am not even going to ask." Monica sighed as she rubbed her temples, looking stressed.
"Relax Monica. We got time and it's not like we'll have to deal with more than Merchants for now. And I believe that I might have some good ideas on how to deal with them." I said with a chuckle before taking another sip from my eggnog, still delicious.
"They did what?!" Emily Piggot, the director of the Brockton branch of PRT, yelled as she hit her desk with her fist.
"Merchants have rampaged around their territory. We are not completely sure about the full scope of the damages but it is estimated to be above a million dollars along with dozens dead." Armsmaster said with a sigh, not happy with the situation either.
"Why?! They have been acting like their usual drug addled moronic selves for weeks! What made them go berserk?!" The director of PRT yelled, very much not happy with the current situation.
Merchants were the weakest of the gangs that controlled the city and never seemed to have any big plans so the PRT had more or less left them alone as long as they were in their own territory, they had far more pressing problems with ABB and the Empire. But the fact that Merchants were almost constantly in a haze due to their drug intake meant that when they rampaged, they caused far too much property damage, even compared to the other gangs.
Something seemed to have poked their nest and cause them to run rampant and Piggot wanted know what or who was responsible!
"From what we managed to gather, a duo of unknown capes have kidnapped Squealer. One male and one female with at least one of them being able to teleport which would make them a blink mover, if this isn't merely a case of drugs making them hallucinate." Miss Militia said with her arms crossed over her chest, her American flag themed scarf around her neck rather than covering the lower half of her face like in patrols.
"Oh great, so there is probably some moronic vigilante trying to fight the Merchants without thinking about the consequences. Just great." The overweight woman said gruffly, just as angry as she was in the start of the conversation.
"Umm, ma'am." Armsmaster said, a rather awkward expression on his face.
"Oh for gods sake, what now?" Piggot snapped, not happy that there might be more bad news.
"It's just... there is a chance that whoever kidnapped Squealer might not have been a vigilante but... a new player in the villain side trying to deal with the Merchants." Miss Militia said and Armsmaster nodded his head. To that Piggot had only one reply.
"FUCK!"
"Somebody kidnapped Squealer?" Max Anders, aka Kaiser the leader of the Empire Eighty Eight, asked to the fellow believer, cough grunt cough, who just came in with the news.
"Yes sir. The Merchants have been rampaging in their territory while yelling about some teleporter kidnapping their bimbo." The low level member of the Empire reported to his leader.
"I see. Good job bringing these news to me. You can take the rest of the day off."
"Thank you sir." And then he left, leaving only two occupants in the room. Kaiser and one of his trusted lieutenants in her red skin like mask, Skadi.
"A teleporter, do you think it's Oni Lee?" Skadi asked her leader.
"No. That bastard would never do anything without Lung's orders and that overgrown gecko wouldn't try to move against the Merchants while he still has us to deal with. Not to mention she was kidnapped, Oni Lee would have just killed her and left." Kaiser said before bringing out two glasses and filling them with a bottle from his personal collection and offered one to Skadi.
"So it's a new vigilante? Trying to 'clean' the streets?" Skadi asked with a mocking snort before accepting the glass.
"Possible, though it might also be a new gang trying to destroy the Merchants so that they can take its place." Kaiser said before taking a sip from his glass.
"You think that some newbie would try to do that in Brockton Bay, with us and Lung here?" Skadi asked, her tone skeptical.
"There are those who would try simply because Lung and our Empire are in this city, seeing it as a challenge. Not to mention we don't know if somebody actually is trying or if they are actually a newbie." Kaiser said with a tired tone. Maybe it was the mysterious boss of those Undersiders brats, and he knew they had a boss because no way they could have survived this long without someone actually controlling them and their so called leader Grue wasn't the one.
"What should we do then?" Skadi asked before taking a sip from her glass.
"Just tell the men to keep their eyes open, and have your valkyries ready. I don't think we'll need to deploy them but better safe than sorry." Kaiser told her, many plans already formulating inside his mind.
"To the Empire Eighty Eight then." Skadi said as she raised her glass and Kaiser did the same with a smile, clinking their glasses.
"To the Empire Eighty Eight, my dear Sinthea."