Dragon's Progeny: Chapter 61

Two dark figures slipped into an alley in the early hours of the morning. Fog and mist surrounded them, clouds brought down from the sky to rest upon the earth and obscure them further as they ambled up to the thick, brick wall of the warehouse.

The taller of the two rested a hand upon the wall, feeling the rough stone underneath his fingers. He nodded, turning to his companion, “It won’t take long but it’ll make a lot of noise. We’ll need to hurry once we’re inside.”

The shorter nodded, adjusting the duffel bag strapped around her shoulders, “We should be fine. There was a riot on the other side of their territory so they’re probably all dealing with that right now. By the time they notice what happened, we’ll be long gone.”

“Still, we need to be careful.” The first insisted, and the second punched him lightly in the shoulder.

“Come on Alex, we’ve already done this tons of times. They won’t miss a little off the top and besides, we need this more anyway.” The girl held out a hand, wiggling her fingers, “Now give me some juice, bro. If we wanna do this quietly, we’ll need all the power we can get.”

The other teen stared at her for a moment, before slowly reaching out to place his hand in hers, “I’d like to have it on record that I think this is a bad idea. Almost as bad as not wearing masks and using our real names while we’re doing this sort of stuff.”

Ava rolled her eyes as her brother’s fingers laced with her own. Power surged through her body at the contact, leaving her tingling with potential, “All this cape stuff is for pussies. We’re doing this shit to survive, not to LARP as comic book characters. Besides, it’s not like we really have anything to lose if they know our identities.”

“Except each other.” Alex muttered quietly and Ava paused for a moment, glancing up at her brother for a brief moment, before looking away.

“Well that’s not gonna happen as long as we stay on top of things, right?” Ava lifted a hand and her brother did the same, bands of iridescent light swirling around their limbs, “So let’s make this quick so we can go home.”

Alex nodded and the twins let their powers loose. White hot beams of light burst from their fingertips, reaching the wall and slicing through feet of stone like a hot knife through butter. They angled their hands, cutting a large, makeshift doorway out of the side of the building. As their beams met, they cut off, and the twins let go of one another to step back, watching as the chunk of wall they had cut out wobbled and then collapsed entirely, sending dust up into the air as it crumbled.

“That was loud.” Alex said through his coughs and Ava nodded, stepping through the doorway.

“Yeah it was. We better make this a quick one.”

They exchanged nods and filled into the warehouse, finding that the entire building was well stocked. White crates emblazoned with various company logos were stacked to the ceiling, each and every single one of them filled with the supplies that one would need to survive the new conditions in Brockton Bay.

Since Leviathan’s death, word had spread worldwide about the city and more importantly, the capes responsible for the Endbringer’s demise. People and companies all around the world wanted to make the city a monument to human perseverance, to raise it up from the ground and put it on a pedestal for all to come and gawk at. 

Even though he had met his end here however, Leviathan had done more than enough damage to make that idea a pipe dream. Brockton Bay would take years, decades even, to recover from the destruction that the Endbringer had brought upon it. Entire sections of the city were in ruins, flooded and crumbling to dust at the slightest touch. Power was down pretty much everywhere, if water wasn’t in bottles it was contaminated, and the roads in and out of the city were destroyed. All that combined made it kind of hard to do anything but write the city off and condemn it entirely.

Seeing a lost cause for what it was, the companies and interested parties pivoted to providing relief in the form of rations, generators, gas, those sorts of things. It was a bandaid on a much larger problem, but nobody would complain. And people like Ava and Alex weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to set themselves ahead of the pack. That was how they had survived so far.

The twins made quick work of the containers, finding the ones they liked best and busting the open with bursts of light and concussive force. Their contents came spilling out, and they shoved them into the duffel bags they carried with them, filling them to the brim.

“Make sure to grab the small ones so we can carry more.” Ava called across the warehouse. 

She could almost hear her brother roll his eyes, “I know. It’s not like we haven’t done this three times already.”

“Yeah, you have. So what made you think we wouldn’t start keeping an eye on these shipments?”

Ava’s smirk fell to the ground as a third voice rang throughout the warehouse, and her gaze shot upwards as someone floated down from the rafters above. She was wearing a bright red coat with black and silver trimmings, with a similarly colored scarf covering her face. Her hands rested on her hips as she stared down at Ava, and nearly a dozen black orbs orbited her body, floating through the air unaided as she confronted the two intruders, “In the future, if you want to be sneaky and not tip off the people you’re stealing from, maybe don’t blow a hole in the side of every warehouse you break in to. Just some advice.”

“We don’t need your advice.” Ava said, raising a hand and sending a streaking rocket of violet light at the girl without any preamble. She ducked out of the way as the light slammed into the ceiling, rattling the lights and making them flicker.

The woman swooped low on her longboard, skimming the tops of the stacked crates as Ava followed her with her hand, trying to get a bead on her, “You’re stealing from our people, kid. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that the ABB takes care of our own?” 

Ava growled as she sent another streak of light, this one bright blue, soaring at the woman. She dodged again and the light burst into sparks as it landed on the far wall, “So do we. You won’t miss a couple rations anyway.”

As she followed up her shot with another, Ava grit her teeth. Where the hell was Alex? Her shots weren’t nearly as powerful as they should be right now.

“We won’t but the people in our territory definitely will.” The woman banked left, slipping past a yellow bolt and making Ava curse. The woman smirked at her frustration, “You’d give up now if you knew what was good for you. Yosei doesn’t like thieves and I’m not gonna hold back on some rogue cape stealing from our gang. In times like this, we can’t afford to be lenient with anyone. We’re all that’s holding this shitty city together.”

One of the black orbs came flying towards Ava and she ran from it, heading back towards where she last heard her brother. As she ran, she turned and kept firing behind her, sending bolts of colored light towards the flying woman. Not a single one of them hit her, and as she ducked behind a crate to catch her breath, she looked down at her brightly glowing hand with frustration.

“You really are a rookie, aren’t you?” The woman’s voice sounded from somewhere above her, “You’ve never been in a cape fight before, I can tell. You suck at leading your shots.”

Ava grit her teeth, bursting out of cover and moving towards her brother, using the stacks of crates to keep cover between herself and the woman. If she could just get to Alex, they could beat this chick and get out of here. Where was he!?

She could hear the woman’s mocking voice following her as she ran, but she didn’t pay any attention to it as she rounded the corner, skidding to a stop where she had last heard her brother’s voice.

“Alex, come on dude, we need to get out of here!” She said, looking behind her for any sign of the woman she had been running from. There was no response, and Ava turned forward, freezing as she caught sigh of her brother. He was sprawled out on the floor, duffle bag lying nearby on its side, spilling its contents all over the ground. 

He was still breathing. That was the first thing her mind latched onto as she saw the shuddering rise and fall of his chest, before she noticed that he wasn’t alone. There was an orange-skinned teen leaning against a nearby crate, fingers tapping away at his phone as he used a long tail to scratch his head. He looked up at her, seemingly also noticing her for the first time as well, “Oh. Hey, what’s up? I set your partner down for a little nap. He looked like he needed it.”

“You-!” Ava’s jaw clenched and she took a step forward, bands of multicolored light flowing over her limbs and up to her shoulders, “Get away from him!” She thrust her hands in front of her and that light coalesced in her palms as she prepared to blast this guy away from her brother.

Just before she set it loose however, something hard and heavy slammed into the back of her knee, making her fall on her knees. Her beam went wide, shooting past the lizard boy and into a nearby wall where it burst outwards, sending bricks and other debris in every direction, all of which missed her intended target.

The thing that hit Ava’s knee slowly rolled in front of her, revealing itself to be one of the black orbs that had been floating around the flying woman. It unfolded with a click and white smoke began to pour out of it straight into Ava’s face. She reeled back, holding a hand to her mouth as her eyes stung like someone had poured fire into them. She tried to get to her feet, but they gave out from under her as a wave of drowsiness spread through her body, sending her to the ground again.

A pair of shoes walked into her flagging vision and Ava slowly looked up to see the blonde woman staring down at her, “You two have been a real pain in the ass for us lately, you know that? Go ahead and take a nice, long nap. Yosei’s gonna have some questions for you when you wake up.”

Ava’s vision blurred and then began to fade. The girl painstakingly turned her gaze towards her brother, passed out nearby, before her eyes rolled into her head and she faded away as well.

~~~

Tammi tossed her scarf on the coffee table as she slumped onto the couch with a heavy sigh, “Today was the best day so far, and I'm still freaking exhausted. Will it ever end?”

Her words were met with the constant pitter-patter of fingers on a keyboard, before her girlfriend's smooth voice came from beside her, “You signed up for this, Tammi. I told you what being my Lieutenant entailed. Especially now of all times.”

“I guess I love you more than I hate work.”  Tammi sighed, “Still sucks though. At least I have someone to complain to.”

“Part of my job description just happens to be listening to other people's complaints. So I suppose that I can find the time to listen to yours as well.” Yuko chuckled lightly, still typing away on her laptop. Tammi turned to watch her work, squinting at the spreadsheet on the screen.

She shifted closer, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend, “Hey, we agreed no working when we're together like this. We barely get any time to relax and there's no way I'm letting you waste it on a spreadsheet.”

“Just putting the finishing touches on it, dear. Give me a moment.” Yuko's fingers blurred over the keyboard, putting the last numbers in place, before she softly closed her laptop, “There. I'm all yours.”

Tammi grinned, “Good.”

Using the arm wrapped around her waist, she pulled her girlfriend into her, reveling in the closeness of the woman she cared for the most.

Since Leviathan visited Brockton Bay and subsequently met his end, things had been very busy for the ABB. With the death of Kaiser and the fracturing of the Empire, their territory had been scooped up by the ABB. Combined with what they took from the Merchants, the gang now held dominion over a little over half the city, and that was growing every day.

They were the only ones left that were anywhere near full strength. Though Oni Lee had been lost to Bakuda’s stasis bomb, the rest of the gang had been completely saved from Leviathan's attack by Yuko's intervention. That meant that once the battle was over and the city was in ruins, all they had to do was being them back and they had a fighting force ready to go.

Yuko, being Yuko, claimed each and every person in their increased territory as part of the ABB and thus, her responsibility. Since the heroes were basically useless after so many of them were killed or injured by Leviathan, their strength and their presence had greatly diminished in the city. That meant that it was up to the ABB to keep the peace and restore some semblance of order to Brockton Bay.

Which also means an absolute shit-load of work for all of them. It had been less than two weeks since Leviathan things had improved minutely but there was still a lot to do, and so far there wasn't any end in sight for them.

That's why Tammi made it a point to monopolize at least an hour of Yuko's time every day, just between the two of them. Otherwise, she was sure she'd literally never see her through all the hustle and bustle going on around here.

She snuggled closer, getting comfortable next to her girlfriend as the woman pushed the laptop away. Yuko curled into her side, her smaller body slotting comfortably into her own.

“So what was it you were working on?” Tammi asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

“Just a document detailing the most efficient way to allocate all of the rations we're receiving.” Yuko responded, “Since we don't get them directly from the companies themselves, we don't get an exact number on the amount we have. That means we have to count it all ourselves and then I need to make sure it's put to use in the right places.”

“I'm guessing our little thief problem doesn't make things easier, huh?”

Yuko shook her head, looking up at Tammi with a small grin, “No it does not, but from what I've heard, you already managed to take care of the biggest issue. I also hear they didn't give you much trouble, all things considered.”

“Newter was a pretty big help. He took one of them down before we even started fighting.” Tammi yawned, “If you could even call that fighting. That girl was a total amateur. She was just slinging shit at me and didn't lead her shots once. Doesn't make sense since they've been around for at least a few months. It's like they haven't had any practice actually fighting someone.”

Yuko hummed, “Maybe they haven't. They seemed to be primarily focused on petty thievery and they didn't spring any of the traps we set for them so they are clearly cautious.”

Tammi nodded, remembering the stories Yuko told about them. Those thieves had been doing their thing in ABB territory since before she had even joined, stealing from businesses and warehouses seemingly at random.

“I guess they got cocky then. Hitting three ration stores in a row is just stupid.”

“I guess that makes sense. The amount of shit they stole is way more than what just two people would need. Maybe they have family or something they're trying to care for.”

“It's a possibility.” Yuko nodded, “Whatever the case, we'll figure it out soon enough. Hopefully they'll talk without the need for aggressive tactics.”

Tammi shrugged, “Nana says they've been pretty compliant. They haven't even tried breaking out yet. The only thing they've asked for is to see each other.”

“Perhaps they can be reasoned with then.” Yuko said, “Faultline’s crew has been a great help but they aren't doing it out of kindness and I know the woman has plans to leave the city. We could use more capes with Lee…”

She trailed off and Tammi rubbed her shoulder sympathetically. Oni Lee’s loss had hurt Yuko quite a bit, and not just because the man was an effective right-hand man. She had visited the bubble of stopped time several times already, trying to find some monster that would be able to pull him out, but any solution she came up with would require just as much power as fighting Leviathan had, or would probably kill him instantly. Until she could find a solution that would actually work, he would have to stay there, frozen in time and hopefully not conscious of it.

Searching for a happier topic to raise the dour mood, Tammi glanced towards her scarf, “You think Leviathan got Agnes? She hasn’t reappeared since I got away from her. It’d be pretty awesome if she drowned trying to get out of the city or something, even though I kind of wanted to kill her myself.”

“You might still get the chance some day. She doesn’t strike me as the type of person to die in that way. She probably just went back to where she came from. Hopefully she brought her pet monsters with her.” Yuko glanced at her and there was a sharp anger in those grey eyes, “If she does come back, then I’ll be more than happy to let you do the honors of ridding this world of her. After I get my licks in, of course."

Tammi grinned widely, “Parricide as a second date? You sure know how to show a girl a good time, babe.”

Yuko giggled, leaning up towards Tammi and connecting their lips briefly, “Only the best for you, Tammi.”

“D’aww! Isn’t that sweet?” The mood was thoroughly ruined by another presence barging into the room. A blonde in purple spandex walked around the couch, clutching her own laptop sporting a mile-wide grin underneath her domino mask as she looked at the two girls tangled in each other on the living-room couch, “Should I come back later, or can you guys control your raging hormones for long enough to hear some good news.”

Yuko gave the girl an irritated look, “Good evening to you as well, Tattletale. Who let you into my house?”

“One of your little manservants. I just acted like I belonged here and he let me in easy-peasy.” The Thinker plopped down on the couch, heedless of the glares the two young women already sitting there were sending her, “One of the biggest aspects of social engineering is acting like you belong somewhere you don’t. And a cheat code embedded in your brain that tells you the other guy’s biggest insecurities, of course.”

Yuko’s eyes narrowed as she reluctantly pulled away from Tammi, “Be careful you don’t overstep your bounds, Tattletale. We may be allies for the time being, but do not mistake the meaning of that or that alliance will come to a swift and brutal end.”

Tattletale’s grin became a little forced at the threat, “Message received. Now do you want to hear the good news or should I really come back later.”

“You’re already here. Might as well tell us what the hell you want.” Tammi grunted, thoroughly unhappy that her time with her girlfriend had been interrupted.

Tattletale’s smile returned in full force, “Great! Well for starters, you need some new security because I may have lied a bit about how I got in here and Genjiro is probably not gonna be coming back anytime soon.”

Yuko’s gaze became sharper and Tattletale raised a hand, “Yeah I know, sorry for scaring your buddy but this really couldn’t wait. I finally got a bead on where Coil decided to bury his head in the sand. On top of that, I might have found where your employee of the month might have gotten off to.”

“Kon?” Tammi sat up straighter, looking at the other blonde in surprise, “You found him?”

Tattletale tilted her hand, “Maybe? There’s not a lot of people that can just up and disappear someone from PRT custody without being noticed, even during an Endbringer attack. That takes some top level security clearance. I’m talking six figure salary type of clearance.”

After Leviathan’s defeat and the ABB’s subsequent rise to power, Yuko had attempted to negotiate Kon’s release back into her service. She actually made some good headway, thanks in no small part due to the people rallying around her after her integral part in Leviathan’s defeat. But just as soon as talks started, they abruptly ended for one glaring reason. Kon had completely disappeared right from under the heroes’ noses.

He hadn’t escaped himself; that much was clear due to the fact that he hadn’t come back to the ABB. He had no other ties, nobody else in the world that he would prefer to go to other than the gang he called a family, so foul play was absolutely suspected. Unfortunately, whoever was responsible didn’t leave a trace of evidence as to where he might now be, leaving Yuko and Tammi confused and supremely frustrated.

“Where is he?” Yuko demanded and Tattletale winced as she sat her laptop on the coffee table.

“Yeah see, that's the part you're not gonna like.”