#anyways I’m still voting Tuesday I’ll sit on the floor while I wait in line if I have to

[raeathnos]

Welp, as is typical for it being close to Election Day and being in a swing state, I got myself so stressed out that I got sick.

Went to the walk in thinking it was gonna be like a sinus infection or maybe bronchitis.

I have pneumonia 🫠

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia: Chapter 19

My on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fan-fic!   Chapter 19, presented raw and unedited and featuring Shota Shinso! Chapters 0-18 (plus an interlude) can be found here

“Yow!  Look out and shout, listeners!  This is Present Mic and the time is 0630 on this beautiful Tuesday morning!  If you’ve got work today in Hosu City, better give yourself extra time, because there’s a Villain attack downtown that has everything all tied up!  Fortunately, new outlets on the scene are reporting that Ingenium and his sidekicks are on the case!  We’ll keep you updated when we know more.  But for now, here’s the latest hit from Jiro and the Jamming Wheys!”

Shota’s sleepy fingers prodded at his alarm clock until he found the volume button, lowering it to something less likely to jolt him out of bed.  He’d stayed up too late (again), reading through the various Hero News sites and watching videos of Heroes in action.  He always paid for it the next morning, but he always considered it worth it.

He threw back the covers and put both feet on the floor, blinking his eyes for a few moments as he adjusted to being awake.   Pro-Heroes stared back at him from every corner of the room, from the posters along every wall, to the statues and action figures that covered nearly every other available surface.  It had been a real challenge deciding what to bring to U.A. with him, but he’d somehow managed.  But maybe he’d trade a few things out the first time he went home.

As he set his phone to voice response mode as he started to get dressed.  “What’s the current Top Ten Hero Rankings?” he asked it, one of his pre-programmed searches.  While the Official Billboard rankings only came out biannually, there were plenty of other Hero-fans and communities out there using similar algorithms to track on a more regular basis.

A hologram popped up of the results:

1)     Deku

2)     Lemillion

3)     Shoto

4)     Ground Zero

5)     Nejire-chan and Suneater

6)     Ingenium

7)     Rodeo

8)     Gale Force

9)     Froppy

10) Red Riot and Real Steel

Most of those weren’t surprising.  Deku and Lemillion traded off spots fairly frequently and both had been working overtime in the advent of the Quirk Virus outbreak.  Shoto had pretty consistently held the Number Three spot for a number of years, though Ground Zero occasionally rose to the Number Three or Two spot for about a day or two before dropping down.  Ingenium had been pretty solidly Number Six for even longer.  

Neijire-chan and Suneater both worked at the same agency they’d founded with Lemillion after he’d gotten his Quirk back, and typically worked together still, even when his duties drew him apart from them.  Even without him, they’d racked up a number of impressive victories, rescues, and captures to their name.  Hero couples usually did.  His parents frequently worked together too and had similar results, her Quirk complimenting his quite nicely.  Even if they were largely Underground Heroes, operating below most people’s radar.

The only real surprise on the list was Rodeo, Mika Mineta’s mother.  After he fixed his tie and slipped on his jacket, Shota opened the article associated with the most recent list for more information.   She’d previously been hovering in the low to mid-teens, but it looked like a victory against the Villain group known as the Rustlers, she’d been propelled up several notches. It looked like the Villains had taken a bullet train hostage and she’d pulled off the rescue single handedly.

Unfortunately, there weren’t very many video clips of the rescue, just a couple of hastily taken and shaky cell phone videos.  There were more when the train had pulled in the station and she’d walked out with them all tied up, but those weren’t nearly as exciting.

On the other hand, a linked article showed that a newer Pro-Hero, Wreck-It, was rapidly rising in the ranks following his fight with Fullmetal last week, having hit Number Twenty-Seven already.  Most people were speculating he’d crack the teens by the end of the year.   Looking at the time, Shota saved a video of Wreck-It fighting Cy-Bug for later.  If he wanted breakfast, he’d have to go down now.

There was never enough time for the important stuff!

***

Shota came out of his room at the same time that Isamu Haimawari was coming out of his.  Tall and skinny, Haimawari had a good six inches or more on him. Shota gave him a wave.  “Morning, Haimawari!”

“Oh, morning, Shinso,” he said.  “You, ah, you look tired.”

Shota shrugged. “Stayed up too late again watching Hero videos.  I’d watch one, and then it just kept suggesting more!”

Haimawari laughed. “You do know that’s just what it does, right?  For the clicks and ads?”

“Yeah, well… they shouldn’t have so much cool stuff if they’re gonna do that!”

He laughed again as they headed for the stairs.  “If you say so, little dude.  Just don’t let Aizawa catch you napping.  I don’t think it’s be pretty.  He’s really scary.”  He held open the door to the stairwell for Shota.

“Oh, I don’t worry too much about that.   Uncle Shota’s not nearly as scary as he seems.”

Haimawari missed a step and began skidding down the stairs, only stopping himself by throwing out his hands and using his Quirk to brake himself.   He got uneasily back to his feet.  “’Uncle Shota’?” he asked, sounding as if he didn’t really believe what he was saying.  “How do you two have the same name?”

It took Shota a minute to remember that Haimawari hadn’t grown up with the rest of them.  It had only been a week, but he’d already gotten completely used to having him around.  “I’m named after him,” he explained.  “He’s my godfather.  He was my dad’s mentor, back in the day.  Helped get him into the Hero Course and everything.”

Haimawari tilted his head. “That’s a thing?”

“Oh yeah!” Shota said. “Lots of Pro-Heroes started off in the General Education Department but got to transfer to the Heroics Course after they made their mark in the Sports’ Festival!  It’s pretty much a U.A. tradition!  There’s the Negotiator, and the Safari Samurai, and Iron Blood, and Life Sewer, and…”

“Wow,” Haimawari said. “Too bad more schools don’t do something like that.  Dad applied to a Hero school too… but missed the exam.  He might have made it up after.  Course, if he did that, he probably never would have met Mom, so…” He shrugged.  “Guess things work out.”

“Your dad was gonna be a Hero?” he asked.  “Awww, man! You said he’s got the same Quirk as you, right?  Your Quirk is so cool!  I bet he could have made an awesome one!”

That got a smile out of Haimawari as they reached the bottom of the stairs and headed into the Common Room. “Yeah… well, guess it’s up to me then.”

“You’ll do great,” Shota said.  “I know it!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, dude,” Haimawari said.  

The Common Room was abuzz with activity, with most either eating breakfast, fixing their breakfast, or otherwise engaged.  Shota saw Toshi sitting with Takuma Sero and the Iida Twins on one of the sofas.  Sora Iida was sitting very close to Toshi, practically in his lap, while Takuma and Tensei Iida were sitting close, but not as close, though both looked rather relaxed with each other.  Everybody had already known about Sero and Tensei Iida, of course, since Kimiko Ojiro had blasted it to the farthest corners of the internet, but Toshi and Sora Iida was new.  Good for them, though.

“Haimawari!”  Chihiro Kaminari’s voice cut across the room, from where she was sitting with Mika Mineta.  “Your mom’s a music reporter, right?”

Haimawari looked over in their direction, maybe looking a little pale from the attention.  “Ah, yeah?” he said.

“Then get over here! You’ve got to have the inside scoop on these Double*Pop girls!” Kaminari said.

“Bunch of wannabes,” Haimawari said, looking disgusted for the first time since Shota had known him. “Hang on, let me get a Pop-Tart and I’ll give you the real gossip.”  

He gave Shota an apologetic grin.  “Sorry, I’ve gotta get in on this.  Just… come check on me in about fifteen to make sure they haven’t kidnapped me to have their way with me,”

“Oookay?” Shota said. He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but he’d still check up on him anyway.  He’d grab some cereal and then go join Asuka, Izumi, and Kirishima-Bakugo for some quick breakfast before class.

Hopefully the morning wouldn’t drag on too long.  He couldn’t wait to get back to the USJ!

***

“Go, Shinso!” Akaya Koda directed, pointing with one massive hand.  “My trees have grown strong, but they will not hold back rubble’s collapse for long!”

Back the USJ, they were continuing their Urban Rescue Training.  Yesterday, they’d been training with Doc Clock (she wasn’t very high in the Hero Rankings, but Aunt Eri was definitely one of the top Heroes in his book), and today they were working with All Might himself!  The former Number One Hero in Japan and the world! The Symbol of Peace!  And he was still teaching after all these years!   It was the coolest thing in the universe!

He was working with Akaya Koda, Takiyo Aoyama, Takuma Sero, and Izumi Todoroki.  The cityscape around them was in ruins, with numerous small fires and many of the buildings in states of significant collapse.  They’d already cleared three buildings and were on to a fourth.  Koda had used her Quirk to fast grow trees from seeds (decades of growth in seconds!), shaping their growth enough to reinforce a collapsed section of a building. But they wouldn’t hold forever. So they had to know how many people were inside to be rescued.

Shota took a deep breath and concentrated on his Quirk, sending out as high a pitch as he could manage, almost past the range of human hearing.  Invisible waves of sound penetrated the building, bouncing all around it, until they bounced back to him, painting a perfect picture in his mind. He could see every nook, cranny, door, pipe, light fixture, and “person” inside.

“Five people inside,” he said.  “Two on the ground floor, three on the third.”

He had spent a lot of time with Quirk Specialists and Quirk Counselors over the years.  His was a true, rare, once in a family line mutation, completely different from anything anyone else on either side of his family had.  They were still figuring out everything he could do.  He just knew he could make a lot of things happen with different sounds.  And every time he found something new, it meant it was a new way he could help people. But sonar was really useful here. Not that it didn’t have its drawbacks. There was the time he’d used it when Kimiko Ojiro was around…

“I can take Todoroki up,” Sero said, pointing to the third floor.  “I can get there, but I can’t get past the fires.  You up for that?”

Izumi nodded.  She looked a little tired; she’d been making lots of ice to fight the fires, only occasionally and carefully letting out little puffs of her own flames to balance herself out.  The silver pieces on her costume were flashing yellow. Shota knew they did something to help regulate her temperatures, but he didn’t know what the flashing meant.  He hoped she was okay.

“I can manage,” Izumi said. “Just get me close enough.”

“Guess that leaves us on the ground floor!” Shota said to Aoyama.

Aoyama shrugged, his glow bright and partially obscuring his features.  “I suppose they shall be grateful for the rescue,” he said.  

“Best hurry,” Koda said. “I shall do what I can to reinforce what I have already grown, but I fear providence shall not be with us for long.”

They moved.  With Todoroki on his back, Sero fired a strand of his Acid Tape upward, pulling them towards the third floor.  Shota sprinted inside, Aoyama hot on his heels and soon passing him.

He probably could have navigated with his Sonar—though the picture it had given him was fading fast from his mind—but Shota was grateful for Aoyama’s light.  With the power out in the ruined building, it cast a soft glow over everything.  

“You said there were deux,” Aoyama said.  “Where?”   He held up a hand and concentrated, focusing his light through the reflective armband he wore as part of his Support gear.  The armband focused the light into a powerful spotlight beam, which he traced over the dark corners of the room.

Shota pointed a little to the left of where Aoyama’s spotlight had fallen.  “One there… one further in the back.”

The ground began to shake and pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling.  Aoyama let out a frightened yelp and jumped to the side as one nearly fell on him.  “Then let us get them and get out as soon as possible,” he said.

Swiftly, they checked the first of the animatronics.  There was a fallen filing cabinet pinning its legs and the vital signs meters displaying on its chest told a story of a great many injuries.  Shota grabbed onto the cabinet and tried to lift it, grunting and straining with all his might, but it was too heavy.

Aoyama let out a sigh. “Allow me to show you how it is done.”   He pointed a hand at the filing cabinet and made some adjustment to his arm band.  A beam of light as wide as his fist shot out, striking the cabinet and slicing through it, splitting it into the portion that was over the animatronic’s legs and the portion that wasn’t.  The beam continued on and went into the wall behind it, leaving a smoking hole and red hot edges on the cabinet.

The lights on the animatronic lit up like a Christmas tree before shutting off completely.  Shota reached a hand towards it and pulled it back. The animatronic and the air around it was still hot from Aoyama’s laser beam.  No wonder it had…  died? Was that the right word for what had happened?

He knew Aoyama was powerful, but he also knew he mostly relied on his Support gear to control his Quirk.  Shota’s eyes went wide as he looked at his classmate.

“Non…” Aoyama said.  “I did not mean…   We… we must have been too late already!”  He gave his cape a flick.  “Let us see about the other one, Shinso.”

Shota was very sure that they hadn’t been too late and that it had been Aoyama’s fault.  But after seeing the horrified look on his French classmate’s face, he wasn’t going to push it.  Maybe he’d be a little nicer after that.

As they headed to the back room, the ground shook again and more of the ceiling began to fall.  A big piece of the ceiling fell near Aoyama, causing him to shriek and Shota to flinch at the noise of the crash.  More started to fall, but when Aoyama tried to move, he couldn’t!   His cape had been caught under the rubble that had nearly hit him.  And more was falling…

Shota screamed.  The air around the rippled with the sonic energy he had unleashed, forming a protective dome around both of them. Several more pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling, but they bounced off the dome.  Finally, it stopped and Shota could breathe again, coughing until his throat felt right again.  That had been longer than he typically used his Quirk for.  He was best in short bursts and could only keep it up as long as he could draw in enough air to make sound.

Aoyama looked at him with wide eyes.  “You saved me,” he said, his voice soft and quiet.  “Merci.”

“You’d have done the same!” Shota told him, even if part of him wondered if that wasn’t true.  “And they wouldn’t let us really get hurt, not during training!”

“Still…” Aoyama frowned and tugged at his cape, until it came away from the rubble with a long riiiiiip.  “A pity. My poor cape.”

Shota was going to tell him that he shouldn’t wear it, that very few Heroes wore them these days, exactly because of what had happened.  He even remembered reading about an American Support Gear and costume designer who had campaigned very hard for the international Hero community to outlaw capes in their entirety, though she had not been successful in that. Too many people thought they were too iconic to give up.  But Shota could quote a lot of statistics on why they were a bad idea…

“Aoyama!  Shinso!”  Koda’s voice rang out.  “The structure is becoming unstable!  You need to get out!”

Both turned and ran for the door.  Shota hated leaving the exercise incomplete…but it looked like they had no choice.

The second they hit daylight, the building finished collapsing, taking Koda’s trees with it. “Thank you for your sacrifice, my woody friends,” she said quietly.  “Rest well knowing the lessons I have learned here will mean it was not in vain.”  Her rocky features were tired and a little sad. Shota knew she took it hard whenever her plants were hurt, even in training.

“You two okay?” Sero asked. “You were in there a long time.” Soot covered his costume and he held his helmet in the crook of his arm, scrubbing at the faceplate with a cloth.

“And your cape is torn, Aoyama,” Izumi said.  She was letting flames dance over her fingertips, the blinking lights on the silver pieces of her costume fading from yellow to green.

“We just ran into un petit bit of trouble,” Aoyama said, putting on a proud grin.  But he only held it for a minute, Shota bet he was remembering that they’d all be reviewing the video later. “But… Shinso was quite good at getting us out of it.  Even if we did not complete the rescue.”

“An unfortunate truism of being a Hero,” All Might said, as he left the safe zone he’d been monitoring them from.  Shota had seen plenty of videos of him in his prime, but there was something captivating about the man he’d mostly known as Toshi’s grandfather.  He’d been a Hero longer than almost anyone; and Shota knew he was lucky to learn whatever he could from him.

“Sometimes,” All Might continued, “you cannot save everyone.  Sometimes… you will be pushed to your limits and it will still not be enough. We hold tremendous power and responsibility in our hands.  Our profession is an unforgiving one, one which demands perfection of us, when the slightest misstep or wrong choice can cost lives. But if you train your minds, bodies, and Quirks…  You can at least ensure those moments are as few and far between as possible.

“I think you all know where you can begin to improve, but that being said…  You are all showing great progress!  We will discuss the specifics later, but the other groups should be finishing up and Water Spout and Doc Clock will be wanting to continue your first aid lessons.  But know that I am very proud of all of you!  You are truly showing you know what it means to Go Beyond… Plus Ultra!”

Shota was pretty sure he’d never felt happier.  All Might believed in him!

***

“Remember, kids, playing by the rules is super manly!  If you see someone cheating, let them know that’s not fair!  And that’s what Red Riot Sayz!”

Shota turned down the volume on his computer while the ad between videos loaded.  Someone had uploaded a bunch of Public Service Announcements that Red Riot had done more than a decade ago and he just had to watch them all!  He wouldn’t be up too late if he did that…

“Shota, go to bed.”

He looked up from his computer to find Asuka, Izumi, Toshi, and Haimiwari in his room.  He must have been watching so intently he didn’t even hear them!

“Go to bed,” Asuka repeated.

“Sorry, dude,” Haimiwari said, an apologetic smile on his face.  “But you looked really tired this morning.  I had to call in the heavy artillery.”

“I’m only gonna watch a couple more,” Shota said.  And he was! Probably.  Sometimes they were just too tempting!

“Those’ll probably get taken down anyway,” Toshi said.  “That’s not an official video channel.”

They might?  Then he had to watch them all tonight!  He started to turn back towards his computer.

“Maybe not the best thing to say, Toshi, *chirp*” Asuka said.

“…Ooops?”

“Shota,” Izumi said.  “It is only Tuesday and you’ve already been tired both mornings this week.  This is not healthy for you or your future as a Hero.”

“Dad doesn’t sleep that much,” he tried.  

“But you are not your father,” Izumi continued.  “And besides… your godfather would tell you to rest whenever you are able.  We must insist you go to bed.”

Shota became uncomfortably aware of the four sets of eyes on him.  And of the fact that despite her soft voice, there was a firmness to Izumi’s words that meant he wasn’t going to win this argument.

“Okay,” he said, dejectedly, getting out of his chair.

“Turn the computer off,” Asuka said.

“And no using your phone either,” Izumi added.

They’d really thought of everything!  He was definitely trapped.  Well… one day without too many videos probably wouldn’t kill him.

He’d just have to watch even more tomorrow!

[theprobabilityengine-blog]

013% - Part: 3

Returning to the Fiero manor on Tuesday, Hayter was shown into a room on the third floor. It appeared to be a meeting room. The way it was set up reminded him of the room he had been taken to after his fight with Lucius. A large desk dominated half the room, a chair set behind it, in front of the desk were a couple of armchairs and a sofa with a squat table between them. Rather than sitting in one of the softer chairs around the table, Lucius, the room’s sole occupant sat on a hard-wooden chair off to one side.

“Just you?” Hayter asked skipping pleasantries.

“Good evening,” Lucius said first before replying sarcastically, “I thought that would be apparent.” Hayter shot him a dirty look and Lucius laughed pleasantly. “Apologies. I’m afraid that our boss is running a little late. If you’d care to have a seat I can send for refreshments while we wait.”

“I’ll pass on the refreshments.”

Hayter sat down on the sofa. He had to, to face Lucius who was sitting on the other side of the room. There was a mirror in one of corner of the room and Hayter surreptitiously checked his appearance in it. He had tided himself up some since his last visit to the manor, despite the fact he was wearing the same suit. He’d gotten a haircut; his hair now shoulder length hung freely around him he had shaved as well but there was already stubble forming along his jaw line. He looked older without his beard. The wrinkles around his mouth seemed more pronounced and the scars on his face stood out in sharp contrast to his sun kissed skin.

“While I admit your previous look was rather dashing, I assure you there is nothing wrong with your current appearance,” Lucius said suddenly. Hayter turned to face the front, an annoyed look on his face when he realised he’d been caught. Lucius smirked and asked, “May I ask why the change? If you did it for us then I’m afraid the effort was wasted.”

Hayter shrugged. “I’d been planning to tidy myself up a bit for a while now. Just seemed like a good time.”

The conversation died off there, the two men sat in silence for a while. Lucius smiling pleasantly while Hayter ignored him choosing instead to gaze out the window at the slowly darkening sky. About five minutes after Hayter arrived, there was a sharp beeping noise. Fishing his phone out of his pocket Lucius took a brief look at the cell before saying, “It looks like they’ve arrived. I imagine the boss will be along-”

He was cut off by the door flying open and a shape ran across the room. Hayter snapped into action his hand automatically going for his sidearm but clasping nothing but air. Lucius barely reacted as the shape leapt onto him and started rubbing against him.

“Lucy! Did you miss me? I missed you! But the sharp ache of our parting has made this reunion so much sweeter!” cried out the girl snuggling against the older man.

“Wah!?” Hayter gasped unintelligibly. The girl, now attempting to kiss Lucius who was stubbornly dodging the attack was young. Really young. She had to be about twelve or something. Whatever her age she was certainly younger than Kat.

The girl turned to look at him noticing his presence for the first time. “Don’t you know it’s rude to watch the passionate greetings of two lovers,” the girl told him imperiously.

Hayter looked between the man in his early twenties and the pre-teen girl and said more intelligibly this time, “What!?”

The girl was wearing a winter coat, her legs, clad in thick stocking emerged from underneath the coat. She had blonde hair tied up in pigtails the hung on either side of her head and she had deep blue eyes. She was cute, but in the way a small animal was. The idea anyone old enough to drink alcohol could hold romantic feelings for this creature was absurd, not to mention completely illegal.

“Who is this anyway?” the girl asked turning back to Lucius.

The man who until this point had been stoically weathering the affectionate storm that had suddenly attacked him let out a sigh. “I believe I mentioned that we would be hosting a party interested in doing business with the Family. Some professionalism is required here so if you would be so kind as to stop this embarrassing display…”

The girl pouted but she leapt down from Lucius’s lap and headed towards the door. “Fine. Whatever.” However, when she reached the door she did turn around and give Lucius a provocative wink. “I’ll see you soon!” she called before exiting.

After the door had clicked close behind the girl Hayter all but collapsed onto the sofa, suddenly exhausted. “I feel like I should be calling the police,” he muttered.

Lucius let out a disapproving sniff. “I assure you, no matter what feelings the young miss holds for me are entirely one sided.” Then he added, “Besides I’m not interested in women.”

‘That wasn’t exactly a woman,’ Hayter thought. Still, he understood what Lucius meant and he wasn’t here to discuss the other man’s private life anyway. So long as it didn’t come to affect the Royal Bleeders, Hayter could not give a damn.

After another minute or so there was a sharp knock at the door. Before it could be answered the door was swung open as the leader of the Fiero Family strolled in. Lucius stood up and said, “Allow me to introduce the boss of our Family…”

A small figure strode across the room and sat down in one of the chairs facing Hayter. Her long hair was done up in a ponytail, she was wearing a white blouse under a black vest, a pair of heavy boots went about halfway up her shins, from their thick stockings covered the rest of her legs meeting a pair of short shorts.

“Ceres Fiero,” the young girl who had just exited the room finished for Lucius, putting her feet up on the table and giving a dry smirk.

 For a few seconds Hayter was so dumbfounded that his brain seemed to grind to a halt. When it started up again his first thought was, “Is this actually the same girl?”

Compared to the demanding little princess that had stormed through before the girl there now was cool and confident, if a little self-important. However, from the shape of her face, the length of her blonde hair and the colour of her eyes this was clearly the same person.

Then he wondered if this was a joke, but for once Lucius didn’t have his ever-present smile. Hayter wasn’t going to just blindly accept this nonsense, whatever the case.

“Is this… really your leader?” he asked Lucius, glancing suspiciously at the girl.

“Whattaya mean ‘this?’” the young girl cried indignantly.

Stifling a laugh behind a cough, his smile returning Lucius replied, “I assure you, the young lady is our leader.” Hayter looked back at the girl still trying to wrap his mind around this. “An explanation is in order I think.” Turning to the girl, Ceres, he asked, “May I?”

“Fine, just hurry it up,” she said sullenly drooping lazily in the chair she occupied.

Lucius shrugged, apparently unconcerned by his leader’s apathy and began speaking.

“I believe I mentioned before that our family finds itself in some unique circumstances,” he began. “Well having the young lady as our leader could be considered the culmination of these circumstances. Tell me, how much do you know about the criminal society in the New York area?”

“Not much. I know it’s mostly controlled either directly or indirectly by the Five Families. I know that you aren’t aligned with any of the families but that’s about it.”

“That makes things easier.”

Lucius closed his eyes and gathered his thought before he began telling his story, “While our family has always been small, at one point in the past we had amassed enough power that we could rival any one of the Five Families. The Five Families did not appreciate a bunch of young upstarts having this sort of power and they began interfering. It was small things at first, we had police badgering us more often, a dealer might suddenly start selling us goods that were of a poorer quality than usual, things like that.”

“Our boss at the time, the young lady’s father, wasn’t going to take this lying down and began acquiring power more aggressively.” Lucius sighed, “At the time it seemed the natural thing to do but that was probably the tipping point. Before we knew it things had escalated into a full scale war.”

“It didn’t last long fortunately, but unfortunately it was not because we were able to cow the Families. A little over five years ago, our boss and his wife were gunned down along with most of the executives. The family was thrown into chaos and the Five Families began to dismantle our operations, taking them over or outright destroying them.”

“Only a few of the older executives and some young up-and-comers were left alive, I was one of them… We tried to rebuild our organisation, however no one could agree on who should be the next head of the family. I won’t bore you with the details but eventually in a majority vote a new leader was chosen. This leader was stuck in the old ways, he was unimaginative and did things by the book which only helped the Five Families to tear us apart further.”

“That was when Miss Ceres stepped forward, she was only eight years old then but she’d been watching her father work for her whole life. She was one of the candidates to become the next leader but due to her young age she had been unable to secure the votes to take the role. However, she quickly turned things around with her ideas, we were still barely standing but we were no longer losing assets. In a unanimous decision, everyone decided to turn leadership over to her.”

“At this point many of us thought the young lady would help us regain what we’d lost and strike back at the Families. Instead she decided that since our illegitimate business was being stymied we had to become legitimate. The young lady hadn’t just grown up watching her father. The late Missus Fiero was often called the Boardroom Devil and Miss Ceres had inherited her business savvy.”

“She knew some people who were looking to try to open a business creating and selling custom programs for Macintosh computers, they just needed capital. She invested in them and… well her mother wasn’t called the Boardroom Devil because she was nice. Miss Ceres bought out the company and since then she has been carefully raising it into the technological empire it is today.”

Lucius kept talking about some of the accomplishments and advances Ceres Fiero’s company had made since she took over it as CEO but Hayter had stopped listening. He was irritated. The Royal Bleeders, no, Brenton’s dream didn’t need some tech companies support, they needed to foster relationships in the underbelly of society. They needed to descend further into the wastes of polite society if they were to overturn it. In short, this was a complete… “…waste of time…” he growled.

Ceres sat up straight, an angry expression on her face. The young girl had apparently heard Hayter murmuring to himself. She pointed an accusatory finger at him and cried, “Hey, you, ummm…” She looked at Lucius for help.

“Hayter,” the man informed his charge.

“Hater,” for some reason Hayter felt she’d said his name wrong. “Don’t go getting the wrong idea here,” she said sharply. “We may have gone legitimate for the most part but if you think I’m gonna let those bastards who killed Mama and Papa get away with it you’re dead wrong. So long as I live and breathe the Fiero Family ain’t dead and you better not go disrespecting us, got it?”

“Ah, I apologise. My explanation was lacking,” Lucius bowed to Ceres.

“Nah, your explanation was perfect, Lucy. Just this guy is too impatient to actually listen.” She leaped onto the tea table even with the added height she was only half a head taller than the seated Hayter. “The Fiero Family is down but it ain’t out. We’re using my company to make capital. We’ll get enough power to rival a nation and then we’ll take back our turf. Then we’ll crush every single one of the Five Families so completely that they will never be able to recoup their losses and before long my family will rule not just New York but the whole Eastern Sea Board!” Ceres declared.

Hayter studied the girl. She was completely different from Brenton, not just physically but their goals were pretty much diametrically opposed. Brenton wanted a world without crime while this girl wanted to rule the criminal world. However, they were the same in that they were convinced they would succeed. Their belief in their convictions was dazzling.

Hayter smiled as he remembered the impassioned speech Brenton gave him in the hospital when they were just getting to know each other. If he’d met this girl then, instead of the English man, he might be standing beside her now… But that was just a what if and didn’t change the fact that he would help build his Boss’s ideal world. A world where this girls dream had no place.

“Alright. I’m sorry for writing you off,” Hayter apologised. Ceres accepted the apology and jumped down off the tea table and returned to her seat. Lucius came forward with a dust cloth pulled seemingly from thin air and wiped the table down as Hayter continued talking. “Now if you don’t mind I’d like to get down to business. I’m no good at negotiating so I’ll get straight to the point… We want you to sponsor us.”

“Sponsor?” Ceres asked glancing at Lucius. Lucius having finished wiping the table was returning to his seat, he shook his head indicating he didn’t know what Hayter meant.

Hayter felt himself getting flustered, had he said the wrong thing? ‘Seriously, why did Brenton send me to negotiate…?’ he thought sadly.

“M-Maybe sponsor was the wrong word. Umm…” he scratched at his neck. “Maybe… mentor? No that doesn’t seem right either…”

Seeing the former soldier working himself up Lucius decided to provide some aid. “Perhaps it would be easier if you outlined what your people are expecting to gain?” he suggested.

“Right,” Hayter took a breath, holding it he ran over everything Boss had told him before he exhaled and began speaking again. “The Royal Bleeders are currently trying to expand the range of our operations however we lack the knowledge, or rather the connections, to make that happen. We would need a regular flow of goods, drugs, firearms and the like, things we are unable to acquire readily by ourselves.”

“And we’re supposed to provide that?” Lucius asked.

Ceres let out a sigh, “You did hear the bit about us going legitimate, right? Even if it is temporary…”

“You shouldn’t have to step back into the underworld; I don’t think so at least,” neither member of the Fierro Family looked that convinced by Hayter’s hesitant statement. He rushed to continue speaking though, “I am sure you still have connections to people willing to sell to you, right? Introduce the Bleeders as an intermediary or a foreign partner or something, once we have a steady supply line set up you can step back and distance yourself from us.”

Lucius was rubbing his jaw thoughtfully but Ceres was looking disgusted. “Dude, you suck at negotiations. What are we supposed to get out of this little arrangement, huh? Sounds like your sticking us with a whole lot of nada.”

Hayter swallowed, this was where he had to be careful. He had been told the absolute maximum that the Royal Bleeders could offer but Brenton had essentially left it up to Hayter’s own discretion on how much of that maximum to use.

“We will help support you financially…”

“Oh?” Ceres leaned forward steepling her fingers.

“We can offer a twenty-five thousand dollar down payment plus thirty percent of profits from selling any goods acquired through your connections… for an amount of time.”

Ceres leaned back in her chair thinking and turned to Lucius. “What do you think?”

Lucius considered the question for a moment and then shook his head. “No.”

“Why?”

“There is no guarantee that they will provide the thirty percent. If we do as Hayter suggests and step back from things after setting up a supply line then they can send us whatever percentage they please, if at all. We would have no way of monitoring and verifying-”

“We wouldn’t do that,” Hayter growled.

“Your words are meaningless in this situation. From our perspective, everything you say could just be empty platitudes. Additionally, the carry on ‘for an amount of time’ is worrying. What is that supposed to mean exactly?”

“Until we feel that we have established ourselves firmly and are able to make it on our own.”

“You could decide you have ‘established’ yourselves after the first payment,” Lucius replied blithely. Returning his gaze to Ceres who was looking on amused, he finished, “I can’t recommend it, Miss.”

“If we agree, benefits are basically all financial and not in amounts we can’t easily make through the business…” Ceres thought out loud. She closed her eyes and hummed as she thought.

“Wh-What if you we set up some kind of contract!? Then if we don’t meet our end you could-”

Hayter was cut off by the little girl exploding into laughter. “Hahahahaha! Are you kidding me? You don’t really think we could seek legal recourse for illegal activities do you? Hahahaha!”

Hayter gritted his teeth. Getting mocked by a pre-teen girl was starting to annoy him but he had been told numerous times by not only Boss, but also Bluebird, James, Hare and a dozen others that he could not lose his temper. No matter what, flaring up was right out. Swallowing his anger, he tried to think.

At the moment the main problem was getting the Fiero Family to at least consider their offer. Everything else could come after that. Their complaint seemed to be mostly around a lack of trust.

“So… You want some kind of guarantee?” he asked darkly.

The girl just smiled impishly while her right-hand-man gave a shrug. Hayter felt a vein start pulsing in his forehead. He had to remind himself over and over like a mantra, ‘Do not lose your temper.’

Alright… maybe it wasn’t an issue of trust then… What else had they said? His eyes snapped open as he hit upon the answer. “If financial incentives aren’t enough what else could you want? It’s not resources…” Something else then. Something they could use now… He frowned as he reached a disconcerting conclusion, “Technology? You want me?”

“He’s smarter then he looks…” Ceres smirked.

“To be exact we don’t want you, we want your arms,” Lucius correct. “Those prosthetics are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. If I hadn’t seen the proof that they were fake I would never have believed they weren’t real.”

“These,” Hayter gestured to his arms, “don’t technically belong to me. I signed so many non-disclosure agreements when they were attached that I got cramps in my non-existent wrists.” Plus, if he understood even half the doctor had been talking about when he explained how they worked, the prosthetics were basically plugged into his nervous system so he couldn’t exactly hand them over.

The girl smiled, a dangerous light in her eyes, “You really think some N.D.A.’s would stop us?”

“No. But I don’t break my promises and that’s all N.D.A’s are in the end,” Hayter growled.

An unhealthy amount of bloodlust was filling the room but before it could reach breaking point Lucius clapped loudly and dispelled the tension by saying, “Alright, enough. Miss, if Hayter is against it so much I doubt there is much we can do to change his mind at this point.”

Ceres sighed, “Fine, whatever. Not like I really care.” She did pout and sink lower in her seat though.

“I guess negotiations fell through,” Hayter muttered.

“Not at all. Both parties have agreed that their opening offers are now off the table, so we must work to come to a compromise. That is the essence of negotiations,” Lucius told him with a wry smile.

It was Hayter’s turn to let out a sigh, “This seems like a hassle. Why did they have to send me?”

“I agree, you are far too honest to be a good negotiator,” Lucius nodded.

“Hey, hey! What about me?” Ceres asked Lucius.

“You are a born negotiator, Miss. I doubt there is any better at the art of the deal then you.”

Ceres looked proud and smug for a few seconds before she let out a strangled gasp. “Wait! Doesn’t that mean you think I’m dishonest!”

 They continued for a few hours going back and forth until Ceres had gotten fed up with going nowhere and declared she was for the night. Apologising over the abrupt end to events Lucius had called Hayter a taxi and then saw him off. They had exchanged contact information before Hayter left, Lucius saying, “Miss will be busy for the next few weeks, if we get an unexpected opening in her schedule, someone from the family will call you on this number with a time and place.”

Hayter then travelled back to his hotel and almost immediately collapsed into his bed as soon as he entered his room. “Feels like my brain is shorting out…” he complained. He thought about contacting Brenton to inform him of developments but then he remembered Boss’s phone had been smashed.

“Would he be at the office?” he tried to calculate the time difference but he couldn’t remember what it was.

Deciding to forget it for now he went to bed. Boss would call him Thursday morning when it was time for their regular check-in anyway. With that thought he lay down and drifted off to sleep.

 The next morning, Hayter was sipping a cup of coffee planning what he was going to do that day when the phone rang. If only he’d known what was coming he might have hesitated to answer.

“Hmm?” Reaching across the table he grabbed the phone and checked the caller ID. It was from the number he’d entered just last night. Did they have an opening already? Hayter had thought he would have to wait a couple of days. Still getting things down sooner rather than later was good for him so he hit answer. “Hello.”

“I won’t keep you long. I imagine you have a lot to do,” said Lucius from the other end of the line. He sounded off… something about his tone sounded strained or pressured. “I am afraid we won’t be doing business with you.”

Hayter shot to his feet, his cup fell to the floor smashing, the coffee spilling out and staining the carpet. “What!? I thought we were still negotiating!”

There was silence from the other end of the line for a while. Eventually a Lucius asked hesitantly, “Don’t tell me… you don’t know?”

“Know what?!” Hayter growled.

“Is there a TV near you right now?”

Hayter glanced at the flat screen, occupying a large portion of wall of his hotel room. He hadn’t used it once since arriving, televisions were distracting. He didn’t know what a television had to do with this though. “Yeah.”

“Check CNN.”

“What channel?” Hayter asked as he walked across the room, grabbed the remote and turned the television on.

“It should be two-oh-two.”

Changing to the correct channel Hayter stared at the screen. For a few seconds he was unable to comprehend what he was looking at, but then the phone and the remote slipped from his hands and clattered to the ground. He couldn’t accept it… but the longer he stared blankly at the screen uncomprehending the more the reality of the situation was cemented in his mind.

The lower-third graphic read, “TERROR ATTACK AVERTED IN UK.”

Standing front and centre was a woman with dyed blonde hair, and behind her was the wreck of a building. Hayter knew just from looking it had been blown up from the inside, the explosion originating from the second floor. He also knew the building well, even if it was half collapsed.

“…in part to intelligence acquired by the SIS, last night an anti-terror squad was mobilized to take down what we now know to be an insurgent group with ties to Al Qaeda. Things went badly when rather than being taken alive the group calling themselves ‘the Royal Bleeders’ chose to detonate the explosive stockpile they were planning to use in their upcoming terror attack. The death toll is still unconfirmed…”

“N-No…” Hayter’s legs gave out and he dropped to his knees. There was a ringing in his ears, his arms were aching. Looking around he found himself back in Afghanistan on that terrible day. Except this time instead of his squad mates he was looking at the corpses of his friends in the Royal Bleeders. “No!” With his cry the illusion shattered but he found himself drowning in darkness. He clawed at his throat or tried to but his arms weren’t moving. No, these weren’t his arms…

With a sad groan his thoughts ground to a halt, his heart stopped beating and Hayter sat like a marionette with its strings cut. Then he twitched, his heart beat and his mind woke up filled with just one thought. ‘…Kill.’

Looking up and glaring at the television his eyes filled with murderous rage he gripped the phone he’d dropped. He knew. It was them. Mars Company… They would pay. Every single one of them would die screaming. He wasn’t making the same mistake as he had when he went to Afghanistan. He wouldn’t find his morals tested. This time his enemy was evil. Truly evil. And he would kill them. The angel would become a blood-soaked devil.

Putting the phone to his ear he said into the receiver in an oddly emotionless voice, “I need a favour.”