71 Why do I force myself to make so many OC's? It's hard

So!

Destabilise the area.

How does one go about destabilising an area so that a gang of 'businessmen' can come in and seamlessly take over the drug trade as well as propping up their corporate heroes?

Well, with chaos and death I would assume.

I'm sure there are more subtle ways to go about it, with plots and schemes and misdirection and subverting public opinion or whatever, but I'm young and that's boring.

I'm sure when I'm older and the amount of time such plots will take seems like less, comparatively speaking, I'll be willing to try out that kind of thing.

I'm sure some would say 'patience is a virtue', but to them I counter, so is chastity, that doesn't mean it isn't boring, and I want to have fun

So chaos and death is the way to go baby!

However that doesn't simply mean I should go and start killing people immediately, some measure of planning is still necessary.

After all, the Elite is looking for chaos that they can take advantage of, and if I just go around killing leaders or something, then they will just be replaced and little would change.

Well, eventually there wouldn't be any capes left, but that would kind of run counter to the Elite's interests, and I fully intend on doing as good a job as I can for them so that they may spread the good name of us Clowns.

Which means I need to keep the fatalities down. By my standards that means that I will do my best to avoid killing any more than a quarter of the capes in the city.

It just means I'm going to have to make the kills count.

Sun Tzu says that supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting, but it would be boring to just not fight at all.

Instead, I will do as Epic told me and change my interpretation of the quote to mean that supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without killing all of them.

Seems reasonable enough, I'm sure this is exactly what he had in mind when he said that.

With all of that in mind, what I need to do now is to gather information, both on the enemy and the climate between them.

That way I can come up with a plan that will actually lead to destabilisation, rather than just less capes.

It also doesn't help that if I simply do the same with the villains as I do with the Protectorate and kill a bunch of them, that will just result in harsh retaliation on their part.

That would be rather antithesis to my whole purpose here, so it would be best if no heroes die.

Ok, maybe one would be ok, but no more and not unless I really really want to.

But all of that once more leads me to the most critical part of my job right now. Information.

You'd think I'd have some Elite contact waiting for me here with a debrief that has all the information I'll need, but that's not happening due to a certain.. 𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 in my dealing with Uppercrust.

Besides, this is all just a proving grounds for my Clowns as we are still new to the scene, so the more that is accomplished without outside help the better.

I'm already planning on having Fool look through peoples phones and whatever he can find online, but he needs to actually know who to look for and where first, so that will wait for now.

Well, except for the Protectorate, they're all public so he's already working on that for me.

Ah well, thoughts for tomorrow. I'm tired from the drive and plan to start in earnest after a good nights sleep. Then, in the morning I can find someone who knows their stuff and discreetly ask them some questions.

As for why they'll answer my questions for me? Well.

I'll ask nicely.

"P-puhlease.. I told you.. ev-rything. Phease. Y-you said you'd let me go."

Ignoring the whimpering man who's blood decorates the floor and wall around him I ponder on the information I received.

Not too many capes, a bit more than a couple dozen. Much less than Columbus that's for sure, but I guess it kind of makes sense when LA is just a half days drive from here and capes do like going there thinking they'll strike it big.

At least that's what I've heard. Never been myself and I am still only a few months into this cape life, but I'm pretty sure I've adapted well enough to be considered in the know by now.

More importantly, the leaders of both gangs in this city are each one of those same LA rejects that thought they could use their Thinker powers to strike it rich.

Only to realise that the casinos aren't dumb and have Thinkers of their own to look out for shit like that. In fact, I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that like, a third of all Thinkers in America end up in or somehow invested with Vegas.

No idea how true that is, but it's a fun number to throw around.

Either way, the important part is that both of the gangs, are lead by Thinkers, which means it will be more interesting to do my job.

Because not only do I have to effect an entire cities political climate, but I have to do so while competing against not just one but two Thinkers in a battle of wits.

Ahhh~ I can't wait to get started!~

But rushing in in this case would be stupid. I need a plan of action.

First off, the gangs.

One of the gangs is Latino based, called Street Lords while the other gang is not so racially exclusive. They call themselves the Xiao Long family, presumably based on the name of their leader, who 𝘪𝘴 apparently some Asian dude, so that checks out.

My source couldn't tell me the specifics of their powers unfortunately enough, but that's fine. He gave me plenty on the rest of them.

Such as the Xiao Long, who have five known parahumans. The boss, who's a Thinker. A Tinker who makes robot animals, mostly dogs but probably some birds for surveillance too.

Then there's a decently strong Blaster and a pair of Brutes. So not too strong really.

The other guys are more annoying, just considering their combat power as they are notably less disciplined.

The Lords don't have any Tinkers, but they do have a Stranger which could be annoying, depending on how well my senses match up against their power fuckery trying to hide them.

They have a Breaker who can ghost through walls and shit by literally turning into a ghost. In other words they also have a Stranger rating. Lovely.

Lastly is a Mover and Three Blasters, so that's a lot of firepower right there. Not something that I'd like to get pinned down by.

Obviously there are also some rogues, but they don't really matter for my job, so unless I happen across them, I'm just going to ignore them.

The heroes also aren't too much of a problem in a fight. Well, except for one that is.

Extinction. Named such most likely as a result of a severe case of being edgy.

A couple months before I triggered myself there was news about a small country town disappearing.

I say disappearing, but really it would probably be more accurate to say that the town got fucking evaporated. Annihilated. Wiped off the face of the earth like an angry God had a grudge to settle with it.

Seriously, I've seen pictures of it, the place wasn't big by any means. Just a small village with a population that didn't even surpass a thousand, but now it is just a molten crater.

Granted it's not molten anymore, but you get my meaning.

That was him triggering, so the story goes.

He has some kind of energy manipulation. Not totally unheard of, but the level of power displayed is certainly not average.

He ended up being 'taken in' by the PRT and staying with them for a bit before he was discreetly moved to start his hero career under a new name and identity.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't kill everyone from home as some vengeful woman tracked him down and released all this information to the public, hence why I know so much about him.

That got him moved again to a smaller city, Denver. Where he now resides as a simple member of the Protectorate, hoping to find redemption for his sins in his work helping people.

So I am pretty confident that he came up with his name out of edginess.

Still, the guy has so many fucking issues that I 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 want to meet him. I mean, just think about it. How many words would it take to break a man like that? To make him go fucking feral.

If I get the chance, I'll be counting them down.

So what does this all mean for me?

It means that I have a pretty easy way to cause some stability issues for the PRT. Just need to set off Mister Edgelord in a public setting, maybe get him to cause a few casualties.

That'll set the media on the PRT like moths to a flame, possibly even leading to the local director having to 'retire'. After that it's just a matter of fucking with their morale so that they don't organise themselves again, lest they start actually doing their jobs and keeping the city orderly.

For the gangs it's another story all together.

I know I said I shouldn't just go around killing them, but the two leaders do need to die.

The trick is making sure that the gangs themselves actually fracture without their bosses, rather than just gaining new leadership.

Holy fuck.

An amazing idea has just germinated in my mind.

I feel a wide smile take over my face as pieces start coming together on the board in my mind. It's like I'm playing three games of chess all at the same time and I am just starting to set things up, three checkmates already visible to me.

You know? I think I was right.

I 𝘢𝘮 going to have fun here.

Well. No time like the present to get started.

Idly, I turn back to the PRT trooper I borrowed to answer some of my curiosities. I somehow get the feeling he didn't appreciate me asking nicely. Maybe he's just into insult play or something?

I'm not one to judge kinks.

Ah well, I was feeling peckish anyway.

Once I am done with him, I head for the door, a single thought on my mind.

Time for step one of operation Circus 2 Electric Boogaloo, the sequel.

I know, my naming sense is amazing.

And for the first step!

Amusement suffuses my entire being at the following thought.

I need to go get raped.

....

Elsewhere, in a clinical, if spartan room with white walls, white floor and a white ceiling. The only furniture present being a simple desk littered with paperwork and a laptop but nothing to indicate a family or personal effects.

As well as a pair of chairs, both occupied, on either side of the desk.

Behind the desk is a middle aged black woman in a lab coat with her hair cut short and practical. She doesn't look up from her work even when a third woman walks in the room, her face not even twitching from it's constant bland, emotionless stature.

In the other seat is another woman. Younger, but not by much. She is attractive in a stern sort of way, with long brown hair and a smart suit that somehow seems inhumanly immaculate, even with the person wearing it slumping back in her chair and putting her feet up on the desk.

No words are spoken even after the third woman arrives, who herself somehow contrasts the other two, her posture being much more rigid. Lacking the casual dismissal of the other two. She is visibly Hispanic, tall but not overly so but muscled enough that she cuts an imposing figure regardless.

Her face, locked into a rictus of annoyance, is the kind that could be forty but looks like she could be in her twenties.

She marches up to the desk and stands, staring at the younger woman expectantly, even when she doesn't deign her so much as a glance in response.

Eventually, she stops staring and asks the question that has been bothering her so.

"You said I should leave them alone. Why?" She doesn't shout, but her tone is of one that is used to people obeying her.

The other two don't much seem to care.

Still without looking up from her papers, the 'Doctor' responds. Her voice as bland and unchanging as her expression.

"You were going to go deal with them personally yes? Well don't." The words, spoken so casually and uncaringly seem to annoy the rigid woman as if they were a personal insult.

"But 𝘸𝘩𝘺? In what little time they've been active nearly ten heroes and over a dozen other parahumans have died. They are a problem. They got rid of 𝘛𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵 for fucks sake!"

Despite her explosion, she manages to calm herself almost immediately and chooses to refocus her efforts and seeing that the good Doctor isn't being cooperative she turns to the other woman.

"Did the path reveal something that I should know? A reason to spare them?" Her words have a hint of resignation, as if she expects the answer to be a certainty that cannot be questioned, no matter her personal feelings.

However the response she received is not one she expected.

"No." The woman in the suit answers simply, not moving or showing any intention to as she does so.

Yet her answer only raises more questions in the irate woman's mind.

"No? Then path them!" She demands, but once again, she is left shocked by the smaller, but much scarier woman's response.

"That's the thing Alexandria." The smaller woman finally turns to look Alexandria directly in the eyes, her own containing complicated emotions and her words holding meaning that very few people alive could ever properly understand.

"I can't Path her."

=================

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I felt like the "gotta go get raped" line was a pretty good chapter ending but still had like, 200 words to go before I hit my 2k minimum so I decided to use the opportunity to finally put in a little bit of mystery with an exposition.

Though, it's only really a mystery for those that haven't read worm, also I might change it, depending on what my second opinion says about some specifics. There is a whole lot to be considered for that last line to make canonical sense, but I don't think there are any flaws in my logic, but hey, that's what second opinions are for in the first place right?

late chap cuz I forgor

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