Apprentice 2.10

ABB had been mostly left alone when the other two gangs had been at arms against one another, and they had built up strength and scouted ahead in that time, seizing some properties and areas from their rivals in the aftermath while they were busy licking their wounds. As it stood, Lung and Oni Lee had been sighted at several fights albeit only briefly, as the Empire and the Merchants had not been too eager to confront Lung when they were not at their full strength.

Nevertheless, that had lead to Blackjack's current little run of troublemaking. He had already struck at several ABB hideouts blasting fireballs into rooms through doorways leaving scorched figures laying on the floor, destroying drug stockpiles and weapon caches alike, and once he learned of their location after a few short interrogations, thanks to a simple 'charm person' along with 'suggestion' he had got his hands on a fair bit of information.

He had called in the BBPD at a couple of safehouses in particular before, but calling them in to arrest the thugs running an ABB brothel was way more satisfying. Watching from the rooftop the way police rounded up the burnt bastards and escorted shaken girls and women to waiting transports to take them to a more secure location and to receive proper medical care made him only feel angrier at the ABB's activities.

Some of the girls in question were definitely below the age of consent so he was of the opinion that Oni Lee and Lung would not be taken in alive if he had a say about it. The fact the Protectorate and PRT had already attacked him once didn't make him too keen on contacting them again, especially with one of the hunters in their rows, but he would much rather avoid drawing their wrath upon himself with a proven cause.

Even if the criminals broke the unwritten rules, they tended to throw a hissy fit if a hero acted in a similar manner. No killing was one rule that most tried to at least maintain an appearance of respecting, but some like Hookwolf certainly stretched the limits to a point where it could be said they were either breaking the rule or stretching it to a point where it was as good as broken anyway.

Still, staring at the scene quietly he paused on hearing some noise behind him, and turned in time to see Vista and Gallant arrive. He frowned slightly under his mask and turned to face them.

"Blackjack, right? I'm Gallant, and this is Vista. We're from the Brockton Bay Wards, and I was hoping to catch you when we got the message from the console about the arrest here." Gallant began to explain this while Vista was looking between the two of them somewhat warily, seeming quite alert. Smart girl.

"Yes, I'm Blackjack. I am also not a big fan of Protectorate or the PRT right now, not after Armsmaster's cowardly strike when I was unarmed and watching after a criminal cape I had helped subdue earlier." He spoke in an irritated tone of voice but watched the two. He saw Gallant wince slightly while Vista seemed a bit annoyed in turn.

"I am afraid that was a case of some bad intel being acted upon in a hurry, before a confirmation could have revealed that part of it was wrong. I was told to inform you that Protectorate and the PRT are not on the lookout for you or hostile towards you, and would instead hope for a more cordial relationship to be established. I was also asked to request that you would show up at the tower for possible conversation and to offer a chance for power testing." Gallant finished his spiel while Vista kept watching him like a hawk. Blackjack wasn't sure but he had a feeling that the hunter in their rows was already raising their hostility towards him, though Gallant was at least trying to be professional.

"I have no real interest in the power testing, especially as I am still learning of my own powers. I believe that knowledge is power, so hide it well." He paused briefly before adding a bit more in an amused tone. "Besides, PRT and Protectorate information is leaking like a sieve and I prefer to not leak my secrets."

He could see that particular comment made Gallant grimace. It was common knowledge already that the Empire had struck the prisoner transport earlier that February with a massive force, crippling several guards if not for Miracle's abilities, killing two, and freeing all the caught Empire capes and returning them back to the city rather than the prison they had been headed towards.

It was also known that they had come prepared for Assault and Battery who were escorting the prisoner transports, countering them and taking their own team mates back without having risked their own safety overtly, having prepared to take down the Protectorate support efficiently and swiftly.

"The Protectorate and PRT are going through a harsh review of all members and closing off leaks, and Dragon has been personally helping to increase data security recently, so I can assure you no such leaks will happen in the future. They don't like getting their noses bloodied any more than you would." Gallant stated this seriously and with conviction, making him wonder if that would actually help.

Armsmaster did have lie-detector tech in the workings after all, and Dragon could likely detach some spy nets from the Protectorate and PRT databases, but that would depend on how much trust and access she would have. She was a member of the Guild after all, despite how Protectorate trusted her otherwise. Then again, when they trusted her with Birdcage security, they obviously trusted her with a lot more as well.

"I'm going to decline regardless. I am glad to hear that Armsmaster isn't just permitted to try and subdue me as crudely as he did last time, but I am not going to be willing to work with the man anytime soon." His remark was met with a scoff from Vista.

"You really do sound like an arrogant ass." That comment was unexpected. It was not really how he'd envisioned Vista acting. Then again, if she was listening to Miracle then maybe it wasn't too strange to hear something like that.

"I am acting against the criminal groups where I can while Protectorate and PRT are bound down by their bureaucracy. I recognize the usefulness of their presence in deterring the worst behavior but they are not enough to stomp down the criminal elements in the city, not with the way Protectorate is denying resources to BB section, and the PRT ENE is getting a lot less support than many other cities as well. The fact remains that Brockton Bay is getting shafted by the superiors for whatever reason, and if I signed my name in any Protectorate files I can imagine that I'd be transferred out of this city in a hurry." He rolled his eyes. "Despite any assurances they might make initially, I doubt they'd be willing to let me stay, or at the very least they'd try and neuter my power usage."

"You have caused some serious burns over several criminals in the past weeks though." Gallant stepped up closer. "You can't deny the fact that your method of subduing them necessitates a stay in the hospital if not for parahuman treatment, correct?"

"Do bruises and broken bones not require treatment as well? Do burst eardrums not require tending to? I believe Protectorate and PRT have had their own fights cause some serious harm to criminals being caught, and it is seen as part of the business, people who surrender don't suffer excessively, but someone resisting arrest is going to get injured if that is what it takes to take them down and nullify the threat." Blackjack spoke back in a serious manner, while Gallant frowned at him.

"Either way, I would strongly suggest you accept the offered olive branch and follow us to the PRT HQ for a proper talk at least. The higher ups, as you called them, would rest more easily if they were given some evidence you are not a vengeful psycho on a power-kick." Gallant's last remark made him blink and wonder where exactly they had got that impression from.

"I decline. I am willing to maintain a cordial relationship with PRT and Protectorate, but I am not planning to just walk in after Armsmaster's unprovoked attack on my person earlier. I am not averse to meeting somewhere in public though, but I would recommend choosing someone other than Armsmaster for such a meeting or it may be a rather short one." He knew he was coming off as unreasonable, but at the same time he had sufficient cause to be suspicious.

"I will deliver that message, though I am not sure if they will accept it." He sounded a bit annoyed at this, while Blackjack shrugged.

"Understood. I am not expecting much given my previous encounter with Protectorate hero, but I am willing to trust that you Wards are on the level." He nodded slightly and smiled under his own mask, before pausing and reaching to his pocket, pulling out a paper with the list of addresses he had gained from interrogating the ABB thugs earlier.

"Here. I have cultivated a couple of snitches at high levels in the gangs through a bit of mix of intimidation and enlightened self-interest. That resulted in a rather useful list of targets to strike against. I have already given Lung and Oni Lee some reason to hate me, as a gesture of good will I am handing the rest of the list to your hands." He held out the paper towards Gallant, who reached out and took it from his glove-covered hand, looking it over.

"Thank you. I'll make sure it gets to the right hands." Gallant seemed to at least know better than to ask him for the details about the source, given his general unwillingness to share some information at the time.

"That's it? We're not taking him in? You know what-" Vista raised her voice but quieted down at a quick look from Gallant, though looking annoyed and more than a little angry.

"I don't suppose you have a phone number you are willing to share?" Gallant asked jokingly.

"Not right now, though if you want to contact me I have an account on PHO, under the name 'Cardgames.' I am mostly a lurker on the forums, but made an account in case it was necessary to share a few private messages later on there. Anything more private is best shared in person." He stated this somewhat bluntly but saw Gallant blink before nodding.

Then, without warning, a fiery skull appeared in the air, enshrouded in flame with eyes glowing bright. Its jaw opened and moved as it spoke, an echoing voice in the air.

"Greetings, Mortal. Are you ready to die?"

Blackjack's eyes had already widened beneath the hood as a ray of flame burst out of the air further off, causing a section of the roof to burn and boil as the rooftop material was melting on the spot from the heat, the ray having just barely missed him due to Blackjack moving just in time.

"Legion!" He shouted in alarm, mostly to warn the others of who exactly it was, as if they hadn't already guessed.

"The Burning Legion needs you to die, so stand still and this will be quick!" The figure flying in the air had appeared after the fiery ray had emerged, the spell concealing him having faded. Blackjack grimaced realizing that Legion was playing with the same spells he had. Invisibility combined with flight.

"Legion! You are under arrest!" Vista shouted loudly, only for a flash of light in the air to show a fiery pentagram shine in the ground before a giant spider appeared there and its jaws clicked loudly before it charged right for her.

Gallant's first blast at the giant spider had little effect beyond staggering it for a second, but Vista acted swiftly as she made the distance between the spider and the roof edge shrink down to near nothing as she quickly slipped aside, causing the charging beast to move from its charge on the rooftop to already over the edge. Not able to grab onto the wall it fell down with a smack into the street too far from the wall to stop its fall.

With the summoned beast out of the way, Blackjack concentrated a bit of power in a spell of his own, a gesture by hand flaring a group of four magical missiles to form, silvery blades glistening with power launching with the velocity of a bullet shot off a handgun, and striking against the flying figure. Only to flare against the shield spell, bursting apart against it in a lightshow but without doing any real damage.

"You honestly thought you could catch me with something as simple as that?" Legion said in a mocking fashion before throwing a gesture towards him and the others, a fireball flying forth swiftly.

Before it could hit, the air rippled and the fireball's path altered to direct it back at the sky, where it exploded harmlessly, even as a new crimson circle of flame flared to life creating what seemed like a blood-dripping skeleton on the rooftop, clacking its teeth together before it rushed towards the three.

Gallant's new blast was concentrated, not as much to inflict emotion as the impact, and slammer the skeleton back and onto the ground in one go, even as Vista suddenly shifted through her own power to another section of the roof, causing another figure to yell at being caught by surprise by Vista at close range. Before he managed to do much more however Vista had a small baton in her hand enlargened by her power and smacked it clean across the face of the apparent summoner.

Blackjack raised his own hand to blast a fireball of his own into the air and had it detonate close to Legion, who had used his aerial mobility to reposition and prepare to cast again. Gallant struck down the skeletal figure, causing it to vanish, even as the scorched figure of Legion uttered a few words and made a gesture, causing a green arrow to suddenly rush forth and accelerate.

Blackjack saw it but couldn't dodge in time this time around, feeling the green arrow impact his left leg. The hissing of acid splashing all over his leg made him shout briefly before collapsing and cursing, holding his leg even as Legion laughed in the air.

"See? You're weak! You deserve to die! You all deserve to die!" He raised his hands to prepare a new fireball, only to be hit in the face by Gallant's blast even as Vista was beating down on the figure that had actually been pushed to retreat.

Legion's first clone was caught by surprise of just how Vista could use her power. He had expected distance warping, but she had actually turned a small baton in her hands into a damned heavy club, and swung it with ease and speed that made it crack bones with impact. He was enhanced by his experiences before but the beating he was receiving was making it hard to cast, and the mage armor he had in use protected him against only a few strikes in the many.

The shield was even more worthless, as Vista shifted around him faster than he could keep up, and the shield was directional, more often than not pointed in the exact wrong direction.

It didn't help that one of Vista's recent strikes had been an upward strike from down low, catching him in the groin. Cup or not, that bloody hurt, and that kind of viciousness was unexpected from what he had thought to be a weakling.

The original Legion meanwhile was enjoying the game of striking against the primary target. This was supposed to be a simple test of ability, he wanted to play longer after all, but if the boy was too weak to play then making sure he won was more important than having fun.

"Die!" The blast from Legion had dissipated from Gallant's interruption, but that didn't stop him from casting again while flying to the side and jerking in the air enough to dodge Gallant's blast. It made casting a little harder, but his intellect was sharp enough to pull it off without a real problem. A new green arrow flew right towards Blackjack's chest, and the acid was still burning in the man's leg leaving him an open target.

However, at that same moment another spell collided with Legion's chest, and he found to his surprise his own magic fizzling and leaving him falling with a scream, slamming face first into the concrete before he could stop it. Cracking his skull with the impact, and vanishing in flames.

The mage armor and shield together weren't enough to stop the acid arrow. It was a touch spell, it cared not for protections like that, and hitting into his chest its acid burnt his flesh as Blackjack grit his teeth together and shook his head seeing Gallant step towards him.

"Help Vista!" He shouted, and saw the man seemed to agree seeing as Vista was still fighting a foe, even if she was managing to actually hold him somewhat in check with her rapid movement.

As Gallant moved away Blackjack muttered a healing spell a hand on his wound, shuddering with relief as he felt the healing magic course through his body. His wounds ached lightly, but his hit points had taken the beating from those two acid arrows better than a regular body would have reacted to having acid in the chest.

He shuddered and groaned, before recasting another 'dispel magic' at the second figure on the roof, and smirked hearing the bone breaking snap of Vista's latest swing. The second figure, the 'summoner' stumbled as he tried to turn to Vista only to have the distance between his foot and the roof suddenly grow making him stumble and fall again, even as Vista brought the baton down hard on the man's head. Gallant was over in a moment and a few hard blasts actually had the figure lay still, even before Vista moved back so Gallant could toss down a small can that rapidly expanded to a modest sized ball of containment foam partially trapping the downed figure in place.

Blackjack rose to his feet, gritting his teeth together. His boot was ruined, his leg red and sore, his chest partly exposed and showing the burns on it, from minor damage left in his hit points from the earlier spell. He would heal it up all the way later.

"Right. That was interesting. Now I really want to know why that prick decided to try and attack me like that." Blackjack noticed Gallant looking at him warily at that point however.

"Are you a Trump in addition to everything else? I swear it seemed like you took away a fair bit of their power earlier with whatever it was you did." Damn it, he had not meant to draw attention to that. "Not to mention your powers bear some similarities, fire being a large part of it."

"I would like to note I have been taking down criminals with my powers and struck mainly non-lethally, I imagine with bad situation I might accidentally cause someone harm if I was pushed into a situation of take them down or be killed, but I still prefer to preserve life. I don't believe he has any such qualms. I believe it also shows in our power usage. We are different people, with different powers." He stated bluntly, though he had a feeling Gallant was not entirely convinced.

"I have a lot of question I need answers for." Gallant's comment was met with a glare from Blackjack.

"You're not the only one with questions, but I don't think I have the answers you are looking for. Either way, I am going to leave now, and get some rest. I commend you and Vista for taking down whoever that was, helping out Legion like that." He nod towards the second figure, earning a brief nod from the two, though they still looked at him warily.

Thomas turned and cast the invisibility spell on himself, followed by flight, leaving the rooftop behind in a short order. Getting some distance between himself and them, he then quickly dimension doored himself further off, and repeated this a couple of times to get some distance in a hurry.

Emerging from shadows in a nearby alleyway, Legion frowned slightly while brushing his hands down his shirt and his pants as if to clear off dirt that wasn't really there, but feeling like it was, given how he had ended that last encounter.

"Enjoy your brief victory this time, fool, I'll get you soon enough. You've only proven yourself reliant on others support and winning by luck alone. Leaving you alone with the others would be foolish, so Legion will have to take care of you personally, and next time it won't be just playing around with kids gloves on."

Author's Note: Again, somewhat delayed from original post schedule, enjoyed a bit of free time with friends yesterday so no reply then, posting this today and then getting to work on the next part. Additionally, before it gets much comments on it, Legion was playing around with the MC at the time and while he took an attempt at the man's life, he was not using every possible resource at his disposal to do so. As for Vista catching Legion's clone off guard, the first clone didn't expect Vista to be quite as vicious as she was in this case. Her young age means she can get overlooked and underestimated, and she's still an older member of the Wards, given her time with them. So I believe she would be someone able to strike viciously enough, and with her abilities aware of her surroundings.

Nonetheless, I am expecting there may be some displeased reactions to the fight scene here, but again, Legion wasn't taking things entirely seriously, and Blackjack wasn't really expecting to be attacked by Legion at the time either, nor too keen to show off exactly what all he can do. As for the Dispel Magic trick, truth is that was the luck of the dice, it could have just stripped away a shield, mage armor, or none of the spells active on Legion's person, but instead it slammed through and took down the flight leading to a short trip down. And again, the Original is more talented as a caster rather than a durable fighter who's already died several times. Legion's deaths are being kept track of separately, and different clones and the original proceed at different pace. Which has its own importance, especially if Legion decides to bring the group together and use the more combat-active, already hardened clones to launch attacks around Brockton Bay.[/hr][/hr][/hr][/hr][/hr]