Chapter 44

“Is this guy really a grey market tech broker?” Candice hissed into Tiff’s ear. Haxus led them into his workshop, which was just as messy as Tiff remembered. “He looks more like a….”

“Nerd?” Tiff supplied helpfully.

Haxus paused mid-swipe of pushing everything to the side of his desk, turning to give Tiff an unimpressed stare. He pushed his glasses up his nose, which didn’t help his cause, and the pens in his chest pocket next to the retractable badge reading “Robert” weren’t lending much street cred either.

Tiff grimaced slightly, realizing she just insulted the man to his face, while Candice grinned.

“You said it, not me.”

“Yes,” Tiff sighed, trying to say face, “But that doesn’t make it less true. One can be a nerd and deal tech to undesirables. Those aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“Hey,” Haxus frowned. “Did you come here to help me or insult me?”

“Sorry,” Tiff apologized with a cough. “But why did you want to see me?”

Haxus, or Robert as his name apparently was, glanced over at the door. It was fully shut and there was no hope of anybody listening in.

“Just to make sure,” he began, leaning forward and lowering his voice, “You’re her, right? The Dark Queen?”

Tiff thought about answering him directly, but because she was supposed to be in character, she didn’t. Tiff raised a single eyebrow, crossed her arms over her chest, and inclined her head.

“Oh good,” Haxus breathed a sigh of relief. “I wasn’t sure since your bodyguard isn’t wearing the armor and you were covering more of your face.”

“How did you manage to track me down, Mr. Haxus?” Tiff asked. “My operations are not public.”

“It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that,” the man frowned. “But I think you’re underestimating the speed at which rumors travel in the underworld. The news of a brand new boss in the LA area? It spread. Fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if people are talking about you all over the city.”

“Wonderful,” Tiff sighed, rubbing her temple. “Yet another thing to track.”

“Don’t worry, ah, my Queen,” Candice said eagerly (and with a slight cringe), “We can monitor this. We can manage it.”

Haxus turned to the cheerleader, almost surprised to see her. If that was the case, perhaps his vision was worse than Tiff thought. Candice was “louder” than Tiff in every sense of the word: she made more noise, her clothing and attitude were more vibrant, and her personality was quite large. Not to mention she was physically bigger than Tiff and she couldn’t hide behind her if she tried.

“Can we trust her?” Haxus asked, glancing at Tiff. “And you are…?”

“I’m the [Vizier],” Candice said grandly, placing a hand haughtily over her chest. “The Dark Queen’s minister. I handle all matters of the court, including finances and schedules. If you wish to solicit the Queen’s time, I must be informed.”

Beside her, Tiff nodded. The man looked regretful, but he understood.

“Fine,” he said. “I need help. You might not know, but as a Neutral body on the Greyscale, I’m hands-off. I don’t take sides, or rather, I play both sides. Heroes, Villains, in-between? I take ‘em all, so long as their money’s good.”

He sighed, fidgeted with some of the things on the desk he was leaning against, and continued.

“What I’m sayin’ is I’m independent. I’m my own man, you know? But I don’t know how much longer that can last. Word on the streets is that somethin’s comin’. Might be a shake-up of all the usual suspects; might be because a ‘big new player’ is enterin’ the game.”

Haxus paused.

“You. I’m talking about you.”

“I see,” Tiff remarked drolly.

“Ah,” Haxus chuckled weakly. “Right. Well, my boys- you met my boys last time you were here, right? Right. My boys, they’re good boys, strong boys, not bright boys, you get the picture. They do a great job of keeping me safe…against the small fry that usually hang around the neighborhood.”

Haxus took a deep breath.

“Neighborhood’s changin’. Some new [Enforcers] are roamin’ around, shakin’ things up. I don’t like the cut of their jib. Everybody ‘round here…we’re cool. We’re chill. We are who we are and we know what we know. Everybody’s got their place and, so long as nobody steps outta line, we ain’t got no beef. These [Enforcers]...they don’t care whose toes they step on. Roughed up my guy pretty good, and I don’t pay them well enough to keep up with Metas. Truth is, I never wanted to get involved that deep in the first place; all I wanted was to find a little corner of the dark web to call my own, tell it how it is, and maybe make a little money on the side. Now…I’m afraid of stayin’ late at night, ‘cuz I’m down a man, and all my real business happens after dark, you get me?”

Tiff blinked at the man.

Those were words; she was sure of it.

The real trouble with Haxus, as far as Tiff was concerned, was that the man could talk a mile a minute if he wanted to, and the moment he built up a head of steam, he was off like a locomotive.

…that didn’t track. Tiff had gone to Knott’s Berry Farm many times, and they had a real, working steam engine train. That thing didn’t accelerate fast at all.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and reset her mindset.

Haxus was scared. There were new, potentially powerful thugs wandering the streets. Possibly due to Tiff’s emergence. They beat up one of his bodyguards, and now he was worried he might have to close shop.

Great? How did this involve her?

“So what exactly are you asking me to do?” Tiff finally asked. Haxus took a deep breath and scrunched his eyes, as if he’d just ingested something sour.

“I need protection,” he said plainly. “I can read the signs. If I’m not allowed to run my own business and make my own rules, at least I want to go out on my own terms. Choose who I work for, you dig? From what I hear, you seem like a reasonable chick. Ah, Queen. No offense.”

If Tiff said she wasn’t slightly offended, she’d be lying. But it didn’t really bother her, so she nodded.

“Done,” she said.

Haxus looked slightly shocked, or at the very least, alarmed at her finality.

“What, that’s it?” He muttered. “I don’t have to do anything? You don’t want to negotiate? I got terms, you know? Don’t I gotta sign paperwork or, I don’t know, swear fealty?”

“I am a simple woman, Mr. Haxus,” Tiff said. “And I take what is owed to me. You’ve submitted yourself to me, so now you fall under my protection. No other pact is necessary.”

Indeed, Tiff was already shooing away a few notifications about a New Controlled Area.

“Unless,” she smirked, “You wanted it in the form of a Quest?”

Haxus opened his mouth to protest, but at that moment, a notification did pop up. His eyes went wide as his jaw fell fully slack, but no words came out.

​

[Into the Fold]

​

Bring Neutral parties into your Area of Influence.

Phish n Chips: Acquired

Reward: +25 Infamy

​

Tiff assumed Haxus had a similar screen, and after several seconds (and many groans from the man), her Quest completed. Haxus buried his face in his hands, likely wondering if he’d made a terrible mistake.

“Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?” He groaned.

“Mr. Haxus, don’t worry,” Tiff said grandly. “I think you’ll find I’m a benevolent overlord. There will be dues, mind you, but I’ll only take a percentage. Now, tell me in better detail what exactly troubles you…,” Tiff glanced at Candice, who had a much better brain for this sort of thing than she did, “...so my [Vizier] can understand.”

​

The short of it was exactly how it sounded. A group of [Enforcers], little more than a small band of thugs without a name, was going around threatening people for money. Tiff didn’t think that was a real tactic outside Hollywood, but she supposed old movies had to get it from somewhere. In the area around Phish n Chips, several small businesses had already been attacked. Some only had their windows smashed or walls covered in graffiti, but that alone could cost a pretty penny if the owners wanted it removed or they didn’t have insurance to cover repairs. As it turned out, this had been going on for about 2 weeks, and most people hoped it was just a fad and that it’d pass…but as soon as the first owner stuck up for himself (and subsequently landed himself in a comfy bed in the hospital), people got spooked. The cops made a token attempt at dealing with the troublemakers, but no arrests had been made and it was surprisingly hard to track down assailants who weren’t sticking around to actually rob people. Some owners petitioned the DMA to send a Super to help, but their request was deemed “low priority.” The response told them they’d get an investigation team within 4-6 weeks.

Nobody was willing to wait that long.

One old owner of a burger shop decided to retire. He was in his 60s and he had enough hip problems without running afoul of menacing thugs. Other owners, unable to fight back, banded together to pay the thugs to leave them alone. Haxus wouldn’t- or perhaps couldn't, given his secondary career -join them. As such, he used his resources to reach out to Tiff.

And now Tiff, Amy, Candice, and Victoria were walking down Eisner Boulevard, on their way to interrogate some of the other owners. Tiff had already scheduled a building upgrade for Haxus’ shop, so at the very least, he shouldn’t need to worry about broken windows (even if his choice in window clings left much to be desired).

So far, they’d hit up 3 stops- a hardware joint, a florist, and a Michoacana. The ice cream was tempting, but Tiff was loyal to her soft serve, even if the fruit popsicles nearly won her over.

Sadly, information wasn’t forthcoming. Not all the owners were in, and not all employees were willing to discuss “shady business” with a bunch of teenagers. The hardware shop straight up showed them the door as soon as Victoria asked about [Enforcers], and the people in the florist couldn’t seem to get a story straight.

There were two workers. How hard could it be?

And yet, at first, they hadn’t seen anybody. Until they had seen somebody, but the number of people varied. Was it 2? 4? 6? Were those the guys with the suave haircuts? Were they handsome? They were the big, burly type with strong shoulders and well-defined traps, which seemed to interest Candice greatly as she began taking notes. Amy had to drag her away, all while Candice declared loudly that she’d be back for more details.

“That was a waste of time,” Victoria grumbled. “Tiff, I hate to say it, but I think this is a bust. It’s- what, 4:30? Close enough. We should probably get Candice back before her parents start to worry, and Dad’s gonna be pissed if we aren’t home for dinner.”

“Aww,” Amy pouted. She was having the most fun out of any of them. “Do we have to?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll collaborate again,” Candice consoled her…before turning to look back down the street from where they came. “We still need more information about those men….”

Tiff rolled her eyes as Amy started heckling, but Victoria was right. It was possible they wouldn’t find anything tonight, and all she could do for Haxus was reinforce his walls, make his glass bulletproof, and protect the whole thing against earthquakes. He’d have to settle for that, for now. All they had to do was walk back to the Camry-

Crrrrrrssssshhhh!

The sound of breaking glass made everybody freeze. Except for Victoria, who put herself between the smaller girls and the noise instinctively before looking around frantically, trying to figure out what was going on.

It didn’t take much to find the source, not with a shower of safety glass spraying onto the sidewalk and a large, black shape hurtling through the open air.

“Ohmygod!” Candice had the awareness to say, gripping onto Amy tightly. Tiff’s little sister squawked, and for a brief moment, Tiff had a brief case of Schadenfreude, amused that tables had finally turned. But it was short-lived, as all four girls zeroed in on the object writhing on the ground, and their sympathy quickly evaporated.

“Is that…?” Amy gasped.

“Our target,” Victoria said grimly. She quickly suited up, told the girls to stay put (in an impressively stern voice), and rushed over to the scene.

Obviously, nobody obeyed.

Tiff, Amy, and Candice all jogged after her, just in time to see Victoria stand over a groaning man with her hands on her hips.

“That ain’t the door, bozo,” she said in her deep, ominous voice. “Try again.”

She bent down, placed one hand on the back of the man’s armored vest, while the other firmly gripped his belt. She stood up, holding the shocked man like a battering ram…and yeeted him back through the window.

Tiff, Amy, and Candice nearly tripped over each other.

Victoria dusted off her hands, paused, and her shoulders slumped.

“I told you to wait over there,” she said in a resigned tone without turning her head.

“Yes,” Amy reasoned, “But it’s more fun over here.”

“Whatever,” Victoria said tiredly. “Stay out here. Don’t make me tell Dad.”

The girls remained rooted on the spot as Victoria cracked her neck and stepped through the shattered window. The broken display crunched beneath her boots as she strode confidently forward.

“Hey,” Tiff heard as Victoria made her way inside. “Don’t you know littering is illegal? Don’t throw trash out the window.”

“Choo think you are?” Challenged a rough, unknown voice. “You wanna piece of me?! You wanna go?! Bitch, I’ll- oh god!”

The girls all crumpled together in a tight ball and inched their way toward the window. The dude Victoria chucked back inside was sprawled across the floor, living the Yamcha pose dream. There seemed to be another man, in the same black cargo pants and tactical vest, presumably the KO’d guy’s partner…getting private lessons from Victoria. She was putting on a clinic on effective punching, and the guy was doing a wonderful job as a demonstration target.

“Hey,” Tiff said in a thoughtful voice. “You know how the TAS shows dialogue bubbles if you’re not close enough to hear things and you’re watching people talk?”

“Yeah?” Amy asked curiously.

“What do you think happens for fights? Like, do you think it adds sound effects? Like pow, biff, bam?”

“Maybe we should check?” Candice offered helpfully. “Do you have your tablet?”

“No,” Tiff groaned. “It’s in the car.” She looked inside the window, and the guy gave up, slumped against a counter with his hand raised weakly in surrender.

Victoria was a beast, but she wasn’t mindless. She knew exactly when to stop…especially in the presence of witnesses. Unlike at the 24-Heaven when they got into an altercation, this place was relatively busy. There were at least a dozen customers, but instead of browsing the shelves, they were all hunkered down in a corner. Tiff could see the hesitation in her sister’s movements, now that the action was over and everybody was staring at her.

Tiff sighed and decided it was time to get to work.

She pulled the other girls toward the door (since they were still glomped together in a ball and couldn’t step over the windowsill) and steadied her nerves. She took a breath, calmed herself…and forced out all of her aura. She wanted obedience- no, demanded it -and she was going to get answers. Candice and Amy both went rigid, releasing her, but they followed meekly as Tiff strode into the building.

All eyes were on her, even Victoria’s, who’d stood rigidly straight. Yamcha-man was still out cold, and even if he wasn’t, Tiff was certain he was smart enough to play dead and not move. The other guy in the tactical outfit let his arms fall at his sides and stared at her, open-mouthed in shock. Tiff took stock of the room.

She had no idea what sort of business this place was. It looked like the worst garage she’d ever seen where some weekend warrior decided they were going to start a new hobby every month and never stick to it for longer than a week. There were tools, assorted kitchen gadgets, some appliances, and a washing machine. There was one of those vegetable dealy-bobs that you were supposed to use to rinse them out in a sink. A colander? It wasn’t important…though now that Tiff looked at it, she saw it was connected to an antenna, and maybe she needed to retract that statement. What sort of reception did veggies get?

Not the time.

She walked into the middle of the room and counted all the bodies.

No deaths, 1 Yamcha, 1 prisoner, 5 cowering men, 7 terrified women, and 3 frightened employees.

The room was deathly quiet. Tiff surveyed everybody regally for several seconds while her mind whirled.

“You,” she eventually said, pointing at a clerk who looked like he was about to faint from getting singled out. “Call the cops. You,” she pointed to the next guy, “Get all these people outside, somewhere safe. And you,” she added, narrowing her eyes at the final man, “You stay. I have questions, and you will answer.”

The man gulped and nodded rapidly while the others hurried to obey her commands.

“Orderly!” Victoria barked, having the sense to add to Tiff’s instructions as the group was about to stampede toward the exit. “In an orderly fashion!”

Within moments, the room was clear except for the girls, the bad dudes, and the clerk.

“Mr. Shopguy,” Tiff said, jutting her chin at the man behind the counter. The man flinched and nodded. A tiny part of Tiff wondered what people felt when she aura-blasted them, but not enough to want to ever find out. “These men. Did they attack you?”

“Yes! Er, no. Ma’am! No ma’am.”

Tiff tilted her head curiously.

“Then why did that one,” she pointed to the KO’d guy, “Go flying through the window?”

Tiff was about to feel very bad if she had Victoria beat up two innocent dudes. Two innocent dudes…in armored clothing. Inside a shop full of cowering people. The evidence might be circumstantial, but it didn’t look good.

“Er, that is, well,” the man stammered. Tiff waited patiently for him to collect himself. “They would have. Things would have gone bad real quick. We already paid, but this time they weren’t after cash. They wanted gear. So, Steven- my coworker -blasted him back. It was self-defense, I swear!”

“I don’t care,” Tiff shrugged. “I’m not the police. But they should be here soon, if Mr. Shopguytwo followed my instructions.”

“Mr. Shop Guy 2?” Candice muttered. Amy tsked and shook her head.

“You get used to it.”

“If you’re not the cops…who are you?” The clerk asked nervously. “You’re Meta, I can see that, but….”

“But?” Tiff asked, giving the man her full attention.

“But nothing!” The man retracted instantly. “I didn’t see nothing! I don’t know nothing!”

He held his hands up in surrender, slowly inching back towards the wall. As soon as he hit it, though…he scooted his body in such a way that the door swung open; he fell backward inside, and slammed the door shut. Tiff heard the lock click.

“Well, that was useless,” Tiff sighed, focusing on calming herself and shutting off the menacing flow. It would be so nice if there were an on / off switch for aura. Or maybe a tap. Ooh, would it work like a sink faucet? With hot and cold? Only instead of temperature, would it be good and evil? Hmm. Perhaps that wouldn’t work. If the System had its way, Tiff’s metaphorical water heater would be busted.

“Hey, uh, where’s Tom?”

Tiff turned around, and the guy who she’d told to call the cops was working his way back toward the counter.

“Ah,” Tiff nodded. “Mr. Shopguyone decided to…flee. Would you be able to answer some questions?”

The man looked at her strangely, slightly alarmed, but now that she wasn’t oozing evil, he didn’t seem as afraid.

“Sure?” He said, clearly unsure. Tiff nodded anyway.

“Your coworker said, ah, they blasted one of these men through the glass? Can you explain that? Forgive my ignorance, but are you Metas?”

“No,” the man chuckled. He reached below the counter and hefted up a large item. He set it down with a heavy thunk, and Tiff stared at it in disbelief.

For all intents and purposes, it was a cartoon blunderbuss. One of those things she sometimes saw in video games with old-timey pirates, large enough to launch cannonballs. But it wasn’t a very good blunderbuss, as the handle looked like somebody carved it from some driftwood and the brass barrel might have legitimately been the bell of a tuba.

It also looked cracked, and no matter what it really was, it probably wasn’t anymore.

“It’s a Repellenator,” the man said proudly, patting it gently as one does to “one of these bad boys.”

“Apt,” Tiff nodded. She didn’t need the specifics to guess that it repelled.

“She’s just a prototype,” the man sighed wistfully. “Still in testing. Well, suppose we got the human trials out of the way,” he chuckled…before clamming up. He looked tearfully at Tiff and Victoria…mostly Victoria.

“Eh, did the job,” Victoria said. “Good work.”

“Why…do you have that?” Candice asked, creeping forward. The man looked at her like she was depraved.

“This is a [Gadget] shop,” he explained. “Finest trinkets this side of the DMA.”

For some reason, Tiff really doubted that. But at least it explained the collection of junk…and why some armored thugs would want to rob it for more than money.”

“Is that so?” She asked, crouching down. She flared her anger toward the thug very briefly, just enough to make him squirm.

“Was that the plan?” She hissed. “You use your muscle, rough up the neighborhood, and then steal enough tech to make yourself a player? Do you even know the game? Do you know whose turf this is…?”

The man whimpered, but he didn’t get a chance to answer. At that moment, an incredibly loud, boisterous voice cried out from the entrance.

“Stop! Thief! Citizen’s Arrest!!!”

Tiff closed her eyes, selected her choicest swear word, and slowly stood up.

Poo.

It…wasn’t the most forceful swear word, but to Tiff, it counted.

Thinking the voice was speaking to her, she stuffed all of her aura deep inside a box and locked it up tight. She thought about raising her hands in surrender, but it occurred to her…she’d done nothing wrong. She wasn’t the baddie here, not by a long shot. So she turned around, ready to be defiant, and froze.

There, standing at the entrance of the shop, was somebody diametrically opposed on the Greyscale.

It was a woman, a young lady, if Tiff was correct, only a few years older than herself. Maybe Victoria’s age, maybe a little younger. It was hard to tell because Victoria was the spitting image of peak “in shape,” while the woman was…a shape. Okay, that was uncharitable, but the girl was a bit chubby. Plush, really, maybe the freshman 15 turned into the freshman 30.

But she was also wearing a bubblegum-pink supersuit with white accents running along her lines that made her look a tiny bit rounder, a giant white belt with many useful pockets, and a huge pair of orange-tinted goggles that covered nearly her entire face. She wore white boots and gloves, but from what little wasn’t covered, Tiff could see golden-brown skin. The woman wore an immense smile with pearly white teeth, and she had her long brown hair set into a flowing ponytail.

It was…a lot to take in, and as Tiff spent a moment harboring jealousy at the girl’s curves, she had an idle thought. Could hips have a Quirk? If so, this woman’s certainly shared one in common with Tiff….

The girl strode confidently into the shop, ignored Tiff entirely, and stood before Victoria.

“Good work, partner! Looks like you’ve got everything here wrapped up! That’s impressive, since I was only a block away! I haven’t seen you before; are you new to the area? That’s great! The world could always use more heroes!”

Unlike when she called out from the entrance, this time, as the girl spoke, her words ramped up in speed and pitch. If Tiff thought Haxus was a fast talker, he was downright slow compared to this chick. It started off normal, but Tiff lost her halfway through her speech…and by the look of things, Victoria did, too.

Tiff’s big sister stared at the newcomer for several seconds before speaking what was on everybody’s mind.

“The hell? Slow down, I didn’t catch a word of that.”

“Ahaha,” the girl chuckled meekly. This time her words were slow and measured. “Oh, where’s my manners? I’m Sugar Rush, Sidekick, and this is my area! Thanks for the assist!”

Victoria, again, gave life to Tiff’s thoughts. She stared at the girl, but this time she sighed in a defeated sort of way as her shoulders barely slumped.

“Damn.”

Yes, today just got a whole lot more complicated.

¹

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