99 Showoff Part 4

Gum Pov

You know, it's funny how the world works some days, you don't think about it much, but everyone does have their own story. The exact minute an old man could be taking his last breath, a new life could happily be taking its first. Despite all that knowledge, I couldn't help but focus on our tale as the fateful day of the Villain Expo finally came around.

Countless hours of mental maths tensed up muscles, and burning ambition stirred up within my own body as I walked towards breakfast, more silent than I've ever been. Eternus also carried that same type of energy as the entire Burrow felt his negative presence like an ominous cloud while he waded towards the living room.

Port for once had the opposite reaction as she displayed a rather chipper tone in comparison, probably excited over the amount of tech in our grasp. Either way, Fury, like clockwork, intervened the storm of seriousness with her trademark kindness, greeting the 3 of us with an old American classic that had escaped us for long: Pancakes and bacon.

It wasn't precisely the fish and rice I had come to know, but I appreciated the new meal nonetheless, scarfing it down while lighting the mood considerably. Noticing this, Fury decided to chime in.

"Eat up, guys. I made plenty for all of you so please, take all the time you like!" she said enthusiastically with a smile.

Noticing the slightly sad tone in those spare syllables, I decided to reassure her.

"Sorry, Fury, but you know we can't," I said reassuringly.

At that point, Fury's mood instantly shifted as she let her honesty flow first for once. With that, her smile quickly turned into compassionate concern as Fury let out the word she had rightfully earned long ago.

"I know; it's just I'm worried for you guys. Are you sure I can't just-"

"No, you damn well know why I can't let you, Fury," as Eternus aggressively jumped in, "I'm not making the same mistake as before with Damage. If we reveal our full roster and arsenal, or worse yet, you go berserk if things go to shit. Then we can kiss any potential opportunity we have goodbye. Do you want that to happen?"

Like a broken faucet, nothing but domination and paranoia reached out towards Fury, forcing her to shrink back down and finally relent.

"No, of course not," she said in a whimpering tone.

Noticing the razor-sharp edge wading over Eternus, I instantly remarked with my trademark humor.

"Sheesh, Eternus, I know you're stressed, but you're at least a little sweeter on Fury," I said casually.

"Yeah, right now, it feels like you're trying to take my spot as "biggest bitch." Port said at the table while tinkering away at another meaningless invention.

For a brief moment, Eternus' eyes flickered a hint of weakness for a moment. But that disappeared as quickly as it got brought up as Eternus continued his little campaign.

"Nothing is wrong; I just want to get this over with."

From there, all that was left was an ominous foreboding hanging over the air; breakfast finished on a rather sour note. Either way, we were far too busy to let that hang in the air as we set ourselves while gathering the necessary supplies to take this city by storm!

Weeks of careful consideration finally gathered up like boiling pot as everything we did from there was clockwork. Like a surgical squadron, Eternus, Port, and I all managed to march ourselves into the Hovercrap and lifted off towards the infamous Villain Expo. Surprisingly the event itself wasn't as far as it seemed, though I couldn't tell the difference.

Yet despite that fact, tension seemed to slow our descent like we were moving through molasses. It didn't exactly help that I couldn't even distract myself by being behind the wheel, a result of the Expo's numerous precautions. Effectively speaking, the Expo is like a giant internship from the biggest criminals in Krimo towards the thugs and goons in the lower levels.

To that end, the location of the current Expo effectively trickles down the system until those who affiliate with the top players or any solo supervillain with plenty of influence in the community. Said location is effectively given through a machine that administers a complex series of QR codes that automatically vanishes within only 12 hours and can only be revealed under a specific black light frequency.

Once scanned, the location gets funneled through several signals and answers an available ai operator; the place becomes yours with one catch: any lower-level member who knows the place must cover the windows and activate autopilot to ensure even more security.

So with all that in mind, I could look at our proverbial "Yasakani no Magatama." But regardless, the constant rubbernecking did serve as a good thing to pass the time as soon enough we reached our location.

All at once, our sustained flight quickly turned quite turbulent, washing in light blue electricity that soon stopped as suddenly as it began. With that, the final safeguard got completed; a complex cloaking barrier held together supplied a rich variety of high levels of energy barriers and scanners. Soon after, we made a clean descent, finally landing in what might as well have been a different world.