Broker
Chapter 295

A few minutes ago…

It was more than a little overwhelming with so many light-touched in one place. Not just light-touched, trained heroes. Some were from the very first generation who hadn’t signed on as heroes right away. Others were from the first wave of camps, while others were from the second. There were still more that had signed on at some point in between, catching the bug for one reason or another. Usually money, glory, or just the sheer excitement of becoming a hero. It was an adventure for most of them, a chance to spill blood and fight after living a life in a world that frowned on both.

Nietz leaned forward on the bench, watching some of them come and go while he turned his phone over in his hand. They were gathering to make teams and to talk over details and plans. Those of them that were taking this seriously, anyway. He watched one of them, a young man about his age with a shock of reddish hair on top of shaved black sides. The guy was darting about, talking to one group after another and walking away disappointed.

“I’m back!” Hammond said, hustling to his side.

Nietz looked up and smiled at him. “Hey, man. You got what we need?”

The big guy slid to a stop and leaned on his knees, panting. “Phew, yeah. They were almost s-s-sold out though.”

“Your stutter’s sounding better,” Nietz said. “Is it the crowd?”

Hammond straightened up and grinned at him. “E-easy to not feel like I stand out with so many.”

Nietz reached over and clapped his friend’s wrist in a strong grip. “Thanks for joining me.”

“Any time, brother,” Hammond said with a nod and sat down. “Did you talk to Locke?”

Nietz looked down at his phone, and his shoulders fell. “What do I say?”

“Just tell her,” Hammond said. “Don’t leave th-things unsaid wh-when you’re going into a p-place like that.”

Nietz leaned forward and rested his head against the phone. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before pulling away and hitting the call button. It rang and clicked immediately. He knew Locke was on the other end, but she didn’t say anything. He smirked and looked up, panning his gaze over the crowd. “Locke, I’m going to win. Just you watch. After that, we need to talk.”

“I wouldn’t expect any less,” Locke said. “Kick ass. I’ll be watching.”

He opened his mouth and then closed it, chuckling a little to himself. “See you on the other side.”

“See you.”

He hung up, and Hammond clapped a big hand on his shoulder. “You better win, bud.”

Nietz burst into laughter. “Yeah, or she’s gonna kill me.”

The two of them burst into uproarious laughter, leaning back on the bench while heroes passing by stared at them. They didn’t care. He let out a relaxed breath and reached into his coat, plucking out a protein bar and biting into it. It was nasty, but it would do its job. He already missed the exotic food on the Idol. “I wonder how Miss Chernovna’s doing. Something looked like it was bothering her.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell. Seems like nothing bothers her from my perspective,” Hammond grunted.

Nietz shrugged. “Maybe it's just me. Your pack-rat got everything stored?”

“He’s not a pack-rat, but yes,” Hammond corrected him.

“Hey, kid.” A new voice joined the conversation, and Nietz looked up to see a familiar figure hidden behind a hoodie, hat, sunglasses, and medical mask. He didn’t need to see First Wind's face to recognize him. The smell was pretty distinct. “You ready?”

Nietz got to his feet. “Yeah. Thanks for everything.”

“Just remember what I told you,” First Wind said. “You play nice too often.” He jerked his thumb towards the wall. “The monsters don’t give a shit about playing nice. Villains won’t either. So you fuck ‘em over however you need to. People won’t care what you did to get there as long as you saved their asses.”

Nietz clenched his fists. “I got it.”

First Wind lowered his sunglasses and looked Nietz in the eyes for several seconds before speaking again. “I mean this sincerely, brat. You got some talent. You’re just not using it. Give ‘em hell.”

With that, he blasted off into the sky like a rocket and changed course towards the observation building. Nietz watched him go with a frown as everyone stared. “...What was the point of the mask if you were going to do that?” he asked irritably.

“Woah-ho! That was crazy!” another newcomer said, laughing heartily. 

Nietz blinked and frowned. Can’t I prepare in peace? he wondered before looking down to see the red-and-black-haired young man who was bothering people all over. He was lanky, with a lithe athletic build and a remarkably sharp-witted look in his eyes. He grinned a toothy, almost vicious grin and shot his hand out to shake. “Hi, I’m Kong! What’s your name?”

“Uh… Nietz,” he said, awkwardly accepting the bombastic man’s hand.

“Nietz, like Nietzsche?” He squinted at Nietz’s face. “Huh… Bet it’s some kinda power to do with struggle or something.”

Nietz pulled his hand away, a little startled. “Wh- what?”

Kong barked out a laugh and stood up straight, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry! Sorry! I do that. I can’t help myself sometimes. Abilities are so interesting! There’s all kinds, and they do so many different things. They’ve got rules and-” He caught himself. “There I go again!”

Hammond was at Nietz’s side and side-eyeing him. “You good?”

“Oh! Is this your teammate? Hi! I’m Kong!” Kong said again, shooting out a hand before hesitating. “Ah, sorry. I’ve been trying to find a team to join up with.”

“No luck?” Nietz asked. Can’t imagine why.

Kong slumped. “No luck. Every time they hear where I’m from or my only stipulation, they turn me down. It sucks, but it is what it is.”

Nietz frowned. “Where are you from?”

“Here,” Kong said with a lackadaisical shrug. “I’m a survivor of Dharan.”

The two Pandora heroes blinked and looked at one another. “And they don’t want you to join up? Why?” Nietz asked.

“S-seems a bit silly. Is it because Nepal is a small country?” Hammond asked.

Kong gave a sad smile and nodded to Hammond. “We’ve been kicked around by circumstances since the flash, and China’s headhunted most of our best heroes. Word is getting around that we don’t have anyone good left.”

Nietz crossed his arms. “Are you good?”

Kong snickered and cracked a wild grin. “One of the best. I’ll make the top four.”

“That’s a claim. Can you back it up?”

“I guarantee it.”

Nietz shot a sidelong look at Hammond, who stared at him before smiling and patting his shoulder. He walked off to grab his bag while Nietz turned back to Kong. “I’m guessing your stipulation is your ability’s details. You analyzed mine right away,” Nietz said. “You probably did the same for the others and then gave your stipulation, which pissed them off.”

Kong blinked, then looked over his shoulder, then back at Nietz. “Oh. Now that you put it that way, I was rather rude.”

Nietz laughed. This guy had no idea. He shrugged. “Can you at least say what position you are?”

“Frontliner,” Kong said. “I can do a little crowd control too.”

Nietz thumbed in the direction of Hammond. “Can you help me keep the big guy alive? His ability doesn’t make him very tough on his own.”

Kong glanced towards Hammond and shrugged. “We’re a team, right? Why wouldn’t I?”

Good attitude. I like this guy.

“We’re set,” Hammond said as he returned to Nietz’s side. “I’ve got heals and support. Don’t worry about that. F-focus on fighting.”

“You heard him,” Nietz said before looking up at the wall. He narrowed his eyes. “Crusader’s watching. I wonder if she holds a grudge.”

“I’m more interested in Black Lotus,” Kong chortled. “You got bad blood with America’s knight?”

Nietz looked at Kong. “America’s Knight?”

Kong shrugged. “S’what a lot of us call her. We’ve all seen the footage from Japan and the Liberty War. What else would you call her? A rare Growth-type on the fast track to International with the World’s best as her mentor. Of course we all know who she is.”

Nietz pressed his lips together and kept them shut. The last thing he wanted to do was hint at his own Growth-type ability. Kong seemed trustworthy, but he wasn’t ready to share that much just yet. The three men stood together in silence for a few more heartbeats before a chime rang out overhead.

“Heroes! Pencils down!”

The three men exchanged looks before turning to the walls and the gates set into them.

“It’s time to make history!”

Nietz clenched his fists and turned fully towards the gates. Hammond adjusted his bag on his shoulder and puffed his chest out, tapping his foot nervously. Kong swayed a bit where he stood before cupping his hands behind his head. Three young heroes aspiring for greatness stared down the gates of the most dangerous place on Earth amidst a sea of rivals. 

“Charge right in?” Nietz asked.

Kong laughed. “I knew we’d get along.”

Hammond sighed. “I knew it.”

BRAAK BRAAK BRAAAK!

A siren sounded, and heroes up at the front started to pull back by a few steps. Lights flashed above the gates, and the doors parted a little at a time. Beyond, even from where Nietz stood, he could see the trees and foliage that were twisted by the environment within. He swallowed hard and clenched his fists even tighter. He felt the tension in his muscles build. 

Every day since his deal with Ishtar, he had trained his body. He had been right about a regenerative power. His ability to evolve and adapt, paired with a healing factor, had accelerated his muscle growth to monstrous levels. His resistances had grown at a pace that dwarfed his original progress. It had taken him the entirety of his stay in camp to build up enough resilience to protect himself from average bullets. Now? Now not even modern post-Pandora munitions were enough to pierce his skin.

More importantly…

He crouched. “Kong, think you can jump it?”

Kong looked down at him in confusion before looking back up at the gate and the crowd of people pouring through, shouting and whooping. He threw his head back and laughed even louder. “Oh, man! You were the right guy to join up with. Yeah, I can jump it.”

Nietz grinned as well and felt the functions of his ability rise to the surface - the guidebook of his instincts. He concentrated on the feature he’d discovered while under constant pressure from First Wind and Hammond’s help. “Hammond, grab on.”

A hand clapped onto his shoulder, and Neitz evolved. He pushed his body rapidly through a temporary evolution, accelerating his genome and altering everything. His physicality expanded, his muscles grew, his bone structure changed, and his height increased. In an instant, he was twice the size of the youthful man he’d been just a moment before. His lips pressed together in a grim expression as the pressure of the change acted on his body. His regeneration kicked in, responding and reducing the strain.

“GO!”

Nietz jumped.

There was a flicker of momentum, and he was in the air, soaring higher than he had honestly anticipated. He didn’t think too hard about the small crater he left behind in his wake, more focused on the wall that he was passing over. He’d only intended to hop the crowd, but he’d underestimated just how much progress he’d made. I just kept turning up the dial on those weird weights. I didn’t think about how much I was lifting. Oops.

“Nietz! We’re too high!” Hammond shouted over the wind. “Can you land safely?”

“I have no idea!” Nietz shouted back as they arched downward towards the trees below.

“You are a crazy person! I love it!” Kong laughed next to them. They both looked up to see him with a hand extended. He was laying on a fucking cloud as he sped along with them. “Grab on!”

Nietz snapped his hand out and grabbed his new ally’s wrist. There wasn’t enough room on the cloud, but that didn’t matter, it seemed. Kong held him with no problem as they shot towards the city in the distance. He threw his fist up in the air and whooped. “Dharan! Here we come!”

–

Representative Ma Yuanzhi was a man who preferred quiet dignity over bluster. There were, however, times to make aggressive action so long as the long-term result was a net benefit. He had been given the suggestion to proceed with his current course of action and, at first, had found it less than palatable. Yet the more he looked into the strategy, the more he appreciated the nuance that came with it. He was a little disgusted with himself over his little acting performance at The Hague, but it was ultimately necessary.

Hurting a child still doesn’t sit right with me. It’s beneath my caliber. We shouldn’t have jumped on Liberty’s death like that as an excuse. There were better options. Giving the others a driving role in this was a mistake. He pressed his lips together. All to drive a wedge between Chernovna and the Pandora Committee, though. It served its purpose well enough.

He crossed his legs and looked up at the hovering illusory screens that had drifted into place just a few moments before. The mass of heroes waiting at the gate were already on the move, and a few outliers were already making themselves known. Hero Nietz was a Pandora Committee member rather than a national hero of his homeland, Poland. He was also one of the patsies in the first stage of the ASTA-Pandora schism plan.

He’s grown. It’s a shame he renounced his nationality and ability to join a national team in favor of direct service. Altruists, he scoffed inwardly and glanced towards the man carrying him atop a cloud. Kong. He’s a Nepalese Hero. Why haven’t I heard of him? I would have poached him sooner. That ability has certain… connotations that I don’t like. At least our present heroes are superior and more patient.

“No commentary?” Polina grunted from his left.

He turned to the Russian representative and restrained his disgust. Her reasoning for joining in on the scheme was pure hostility. She was willing to debase herself if it meant bringing down someone who had, in her eyes, abandoned her homeland. Not only that, but the Russian government was concerned about Chernovna’s childhood history, apparently. Ma still hadn’t gotten it out of the damn woman what that meant.

“Just enjoy the show, Polina, and stop whining. This is a long term mission not a fighting tournament. The judges will chime in when they have to,” Dubois hissed.

Ma shot a look towards Dubois. He was… strange. He had not been in any way interested in playing along with the scheme at first. Then he abruptly took a leave just before the Liberty War, and when he came back, he was all ears for what Ma had in mind. It was suspicious and clearly motivated by something he’d been told back home, but Dubois was tight-lipped. The only thing he was afraid of most of the time was pain.

Shady bastard, I can’t get a read on him today either. His aura is slightly different - modulated -  and he’s calmer than usual. I don’t like it.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. That green woman better be right about this. We humiliated ourselves with that stupid injunction on Chernovna - Dubois’ idea. Of course she was going to react like that! The President is furious with me over losing all that tourism money. He clicked his tongue and leaned back in his seat as the view changed to the city proper and monsters began to pour out of the buildings like a living sea.

“It’s starting.”