130 Curious

Huy, Belgium, July 6th, 17:30.

Looking down from her drone's camera at the desolate wasteland below, Dragon mentally lets out a sigh.

Without already knowing it, when looking at this sight, one would never guess that this used to be a thriving city, full of life.

Instead, it is little more than a ruin, interspaced with craters of varying sizes, and absolutely drowning in radiation.

Yesterday was one of the best fights they'd ever put up against Behemoth, but even then, he got what he wanted in the end.

The drone's camera pans slightly, allowing Dragon the sight of where the Tihange Nuclear Power Station used to stand, where it would provide Belgium with around 15% of it's total energy.

That's not even accounting for the extra reactor that was built to support France, after Behemoth did much the same to them on multiple occasions.

But now?

Now it has been declared a nuclear disaster exclusion zone, with no one being allowed to live anywhere within ten kilometres of the location.

The only upside, if it can even truly be called as such, is that thanks to innovations made by various Tinkers, and then modified to be mass produced by Dragon, only the nearest town needed to be evacuated, allowing the nearby cities of Namur and Liège to avoid the fallout.

...They still have to deal with not having any electricity however.

Mentally sighing again, Dragon continues to maneuverer her drone, helping to coordinate the relief efforts, until a ping notifies her of an incoming call request.

Seeing the ID, Dragon smiles in her mind and answers, happy to be brought away from such a depressing sight.

"Colin! What can I do for you?" She happily exclaims, as she takes in the familiar sight of his workshop, seeing him bent over a halberd that has been reduced to pieces, soldering away at the electronics.

Hardly looking up from his work, Colin answers her, his tone solid and unwavering, almost machine-like. "Are you busy? I hit a snag with my recent project, I was hoping you could help?"

Remembering the project he is talking about, Dragon glances between the workshop and the ruins in momentary indecision, before her creative curiosity wins out.

𝘔𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

Turning away from the ruins, she cuts the feed and focuses on Colin instead, pulling up the schematics of what he's working on on the side as she does so.

"Of course! What's the issue?"

======

New York, New York, July 7th, 21:00.

Inside of a modest yet luxurious office, an old man sits behind a large mahogany desk, sipping from a glass of whiskey as he leans back into his comfortable chair.

Turning to the screen on his desk, he takes in the sight of a pair of Monsters as they ascend Death; an enormous beam of red lightning reaching down to greet them.

Endbringer fights are never shown on the news, and videos of the fights are kept hidden away from the public as much as possible. After all, panic would surely ensue if the public truly knew how outclassed they were, but for anyone already in the know, it is not difficult to find some bodycam footage from one of the many capes present.

"Hmm, it seems you really will be keeping your end of the bargain then, Tear."

With his muttered words, the old man lets out a calculating smile, his mind awhirl with thoughts as he seeks the path of most profit.

Raising his glass to the air, as if giving a toast to the empty room, the old man gives one last smile, speaking a few hushed words before downing the rest of the glass.

"I look forward to working with you."

=======

Cleveland, Ohio, July 8th, 19:54.

Smacking the side of the TV, Jinx lets out a sigh as he hears something snap. Leaning back, he sees that the TV is now only showing black.

"Great, that's another one down," he mutters, before suddenly raising his voice to a yell, "all I wanted to do was change the fucking channel!"

With a sigh, he moves away from the living room and heads to the kitchen, where he has a laptop sitting on the island counter.

Opening it, he powers it up, only for a low whirring sound to come from it's base, right before it abruptly shuts itself off, a thin whisp of smoke rising from the side of the device.

He says nothing for a moment, simply standing there, leaning on the counter with both of his hands without moving a muscle.

Only after letting out a deep, shaky breath, does he move, reaching down to pick up a different laptop and replacing the broken one, that he unceremoniously throws at a wall.

"I swear to motherfucking god, you had better fucking work or I am going to make napalm specifically to fuck you the fuck up you stupid piece of shit technology."

As he mutters to himself, he powers up the new laptop without issue, causing Jinx to sag in relief.

"𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺."

A short while later, and Jinx is watching bodycam footage of the latest Endbringer fight, though he skips ahead until Eidolon appears, knowing that it signifies Tear's arrival.

He lets out a laugh when he sees Tear getting ragdolled by the Behemoth, but it's only when she returns to the fight that his hands unclench.

Enraptured in the fight as he is, Jinx finds himself subconsciously leaning forward as he watches the events unfold, until Tear and Crawler are both climbing the Behemoth together, with a blindingly bright beam of red lightning above them.

The pillar of red energy crashes down on the two, and then...

...The screen goes black and the laptop short circuits.

A beat passes in silence, Jinx's face twitching in anger until he erupts, jumping to his feet and pulling out his handgun.

"FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCKING FUCK!!" He screams out as he repeatedly pulls the trigger, only to realise that there are no gunshots ringing out.

He doesn't even have to check to know that his gun has jammed, so instead he simply rears back and throws it as hard as he can at the offending laptop, crushing it's screen with ease; only for the gun to bounce off the counter and the wall behind it, all to land right in the middle of his forehead, knocking him on his ass.

Without saying a word or changing facial expression, Jinx reaches into his pocket and pulls out a phone with a sticker of a clown's face on the back of it, and he raises it to his ear after dialling in a certain number.

It rings twice before being picked up.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end asks, curiosity evident in their tone.

"Hello Ruben, how quickly could you get some napalm delivered to Cleveland?"

========

Las Vegas, Nevada, July 9th, 14:56.

"-In a shocking turn of events, the Villain known as Tear entered the Los Angeles' PRT headquarters by her lonesome, carrying the dismembered heads of three of the now defunct Slaughterhouse Nine in one hand, and a bouquet of flowers in the other, both of which she offered to Alexandria upon her arrival.

"It seems, that Tear staged some sort of coup d'état against the infamous Jack Slash, killing not just him in the process, but Shatterbird and the Siberian too. How she managed to defeat the Siberian when the Triumvirate could not, we do not know; but what we can tell you, is that she has traded the Siberian and Shatterbird's kill orders to revoke the kill orders of one Mimi Clarke, formerly Burnscar, and one Lucy Darwick, formerly Crusher, and Carrot before that.

"However, she has decided to cash in on Jack Slash's 79 million dollar bounty, rather than trading for a pardon for herself. Now, while I am certain that everyone one seeing this is happy to know that the Slaughterhouse Nine is finally gone, even going so far as to be celebrating in the streets, it is important to keep in mind, that one good deed does not out do the bad, and that Tear is still an incredibly dangerous Villain, a cannibal at that. If you see her, you are advised to-"

Ignoring the rest of what the broadcaster has to say, Lucy turns away from the many screens showing the same news broadcast, and returns to walking down the street as she was before she got distracted.

It's a strange thing to see yourself being talked about on the news; even stranger when you properly realise how you have been on both sides of the 'game.'

But now, now she is free.

Truly, truly free.

She holds no obligations to the Clowns, and due to the nature of kill orders, having hers revoked was equivalent to a full pardon, meaning that the law has nothing on her either.

Lucy no longer has a single thin tying her down, and she is 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 it.

She's decided to tour the country, maybe even to travel abroad too.

Thanks to Tear taking part in the latest Endbringer fight alongside Crawler, or, more importantly; thanks to Tear and Crawler actually making an 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 in the latest Endbringer fight, combined with the knowledge that String Theory was broken out of her transport.

Well, people aren't so eager to make enemies of any Clowns, and with her identity being basically common knowledge at this point, Lucy hasn't bothered trying to hide the fact that her new cape identity is Nutcracker, a travelling rogue.

She even has the costume in her bag, custom ordered by Tear, who somehow got her measurements perfectly.

It's all just so strange.

Not even a week ago, she couldn't go anywhere without people wanting to kill her, and now?

Now she can walk down the streets without being bothered in the slightest, free to do whatever she wants.

People notice her, sure. Sometimes they point, or take pictures, but it doesn't matter.

Thanks to her stint with the Nine, no matter how brief, it is incredibly rare for anyone to actually have the balls to bother her, and so long as they keep their distance, she's fine with the stares.

Another upside is that she can go anywhere she wants, like casinos or nightclubs, and no one will make a fuss about her still being a minor.

Not that it would really matter anyway. A kill order means that you are legally dead and that nothing done to you would be a crime, so when such a thing gets revoked, it leaves you in a weird sort of grey area.

In simple terms, her and Mimi's legal status is basically the same as a diplomatic envoy, leaving a lot of 'wiggle room' when it comes to obeying laws.

Nothing extreme of course, but if she's just trespassing, driving without a licence, not paying taxes or something, then who really cares? Is it worth making her a Villain again just to punish her for pointless crimes?

Whatever the case, Lucy is just happy to be free.

=======

???, ???, July 10th, 13:22.

Hidden away from the world, in the most famous prison, best described as 'the hole where they throw away the hole,' hundreds of the most dangerous and bloodthirsty Villains mill about, resting, reading, smoking, fucking or watching TV.

Some cell blocks are loud and boisterous, especially on the men's side, as the inmates to their best to remain entertained, knowing that there is no hope of escape. Some cell blocks are quieter, the only sounds being that of quiet conversation and reserved chuckles.

All but one.

Cell block C is always among the quiet few, as the leader of this particular block does not like needless racket, and no one would dare to defy her.

The only exception, being when she decides to leave her cell.

Now is such a time, when only silence can be heard.

The wall mounted televisions are all playing on mute, with the subtitles taking place of audio, and not a single one of the women present is even thinking about making a noise, doing their best to play the part of a statue.

The only sound being that of the occasional flip of a page, or sip of tea.

Eventually, even that stops, leaving the room in an oppressive silence as the leader of the block stares at the wall of televisions with interest.

A moment passes, and one of the braver women turns back to look at their leader, only to notice the small smile on her face and immediately turn back, heart pounding and fearing for her life.

But nothing happens.

Instead, Glaistig Uaine, the Faerie Queen, simply raises her cup back to her lips, her smile not fading as she speaks a single word, layered and echoing, like a dozen overlapping voices speaking at once.

And despite the softness of her tone, the other women present can't help the simultaneous shudder that travels down their spines as her voice washes over them.

"Curious."

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

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I think I have a serious problem. I just love overpowered assholes with a billion and one powers that they can throw around, fuckign up everyone and anyone.

Eidolon is already more powerful than he should be (iirc, I could be wrong, but I don't think I am) but now I'm probably going to make the Faerie Queen stronker too, because she's cool... I'll prolly also make legend stronger too, and just about everyone else....

I've got to write that fucking DxD fic. I need me some godly overpowered bullshit people. Maybe I'll just do another Naruto one? I have a cool idea that one of you losers got stuck in my head

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash or check the description)

Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses