Broker-Chapter 260

Sonya yawned as she stepped out of the car. “That’s what I get for agreeing to a binge with Marta in the middle of the night. That show was like one long trip,” she mumbled before turning around and resting her hand on the top of the vehicle. The window rolled down and the zombie looked up at her. “Thanks for the ride.”

The zombie shrugged and Charon’s voice echoed out from within. “You’re the boss. Shouldn’t you be getting more sleep in the middle of a big plan, though?”

Sonya laughed. “I slept plenty, You think I can’t handle something like this?”

Charon snorted. “Hardly. I’ll see you back on the ship.”

She patted the top of the taxi and stepped away as he drove off. Sonya reached into her coat and pulled out her sunglasses, slipping them on over her eyes. She whistled to herself while she walked down the alley, hands in her pockets. She sensed the CCTV cameras around her and shut them down one at a time, reaching into their connected hardware and gutting the systems. Her smile widened when she felt movement around her.

It was broad daylight.

That just made it more fun.

“Not a smart place to get dropped off, Chernovna,” a voice rumbled out. “That taxi looked pretty sketchy too.”

Sonya brightened. “Oh, I love this trope!” She tittered out a laugh and turned around, hands in her pockets. Five men stepped into the alley behind her, blocking her exit. “You boys following little old me?”

“We saw you get into that taxi and figured we’d tail you,” one of the men said with a shrug. He was a burly guy, and the eyepatch was a nice touch. He followed up by pulling a gun out. “Nobody knows you’re here, I’m guessing. Not even your pet meat grinder, Handmaiden.”

Sonya’s eyebrows rose and she pursed her lips, looking like a curious feline. “Does the same happen to go for you? Are you the boss here?”

He scowled, clearly confused. “...And if I said yes?”

She clapped her hands. “Then that makes things easy for me! You were planning to break into the secure storage beneath the arena, right?” she asked.

He stiffened. “How did you…”

One of the men glanced his way. “I think this is a trap, boss.”

The boss rounded on him. “No shit it’s a trap, you-”

SPLOK!

Blood splattered against the boss’ face. He froze and turned slowly to look at the obliterated body of the man that had been standing at his left. He trembled and looked around. Sonya watched the wheels turn in his head as he tried to figure out where the attack had come from before finally looking at her. One of the guys was still looking around. “You said she was alone!”

“She is alone!” the leader barked and pointed his gun at Sonya.

Sonya smiled at him and jerked her chin, drawing Magnus’ power from her warehouse. The guns leaped from their hands and dissolved into blue motes of light when they touched her palm. One of the men turned to run, while the leader held out his hand, a sphere of light forming in front of it. It shot towards her as she switched abilities out from her warehouse, a disk of metal appearing between her and her attacker while she released a sharp blast of Imperious on the fleeing goon, sending him to the ground in a lifeless heap, the killing intent enough to stop his heart.

The bolt bounced back, and the leader could only blink in confusion at his missing hand. He dropped to the ground as she slowly approached. A pair of knives appeared between her fingers, and she threw them with a flick of her wrist, putting down the remaining two. She stopped over the trembling leader as he gasped and heaved, but no sound came from his lips. Her eyes glowed as she came to a stop over him and smiled. “Nobody ruins my fun. Why don’t you tell me which guild hired you, and I’ll make this quick.”

A minute later, she walked out of the alley with an illusory appearance wrapped around her. She went for her past timeline look, black hair and blue eyes. It felt a little odd wearing it. Not that it triggered her; in fact, it was the opposite. She didn’t feel bad seeing that face in a mirror anymore. She scanned the area. “Hmm… That was a good playtest, but I still have an hour to kill. What to do… hello.”

She cracked a grin and made her way towards a pretty pair standing in front of a nearby shop.

–

Sonya slipped into her seat in the viewer’s box as the energy in the stadium intensified. Each moment seemed like another step closer to an explosion. The top sixteen had been found from the two thousand plus that had come for the chance at greatness. She crossed her legs and looked down upon the arena with a smile as the bracket appeared in her HUD. She flicked a few names around and repositioned them. This should be interesting… Let's see how you do.

She was, of course, thinking about the bold little hero whose actions had changed the entire atmosphere of her competition. Originally, she had only been planning to accept local heroes and a few outliers. Nietz had opened the floodgates. Her Night Society spies and club agents were reporting that the other nations on her list of scheduled visits were frantically getting ready for a far more significant deluge of visitors than the Australia competition.

This had also created more work for her, so she would have to come up with more interesting ways to narrow down the list of participants for the subsequent rounds. The result? She really, really, wanted to bully Nietz. If he wants to be an international hero so bad, let him prove it, she thought coolly. He’s already gotten into the top portion of the competition, so I’ll keep my word about letting him try again. Her lips curled up into a wicked smile. But that’s as far as you go here, young man.

“You’re doing that creepy grin again,” Amos said next to her.

She glanced towards him with a pout. “It’s not creepy, it’s villainous,” she corrected him.

He rolled his eyes. “Uhuh, sure, sure.” He tapped his neck. “You got a little something…”

She chuckled and wiped the lipstick off with a handkerchief before dematerializing it. She exchanged a wry look with Amos before gesturing at the screen. The rearranged bracket was sent into the system Amos had designed. He sat up a little bit and looked her way with raised eyebrows. She shrugged and he shook his head. “I take it back, that was a villainous grin.”

“Told you so,” she said smugly and leaned back in her seat. “Also, I want to hire an announcer for this. It was fun hosting it the first time, but I want to join the others for a dungeon run on one of these trips,” she said. “When I’m not doing that…” she trailed off, “just watching will be nice.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Sitting in luxury while the world spins in your palm?” he asked.

“Bingo.”

“Well,” he said with a shrug as his eyes refocused and got back on topic. “You’d be interested to know that the remainder of the two hundred that didn’t make it to the finals have sponsorships already lined up from other companies.”

“A positive side-effect,” Sonya said with a nod.

He turned to her with a grin. “Pleased with your haul?”

She snickered and held up her hand, a ball of sunlight forming over her palm that she crushed shortly afterward to disperse it. She slipped Heart of Sol back into her warehouse and crossed her legs smugly. “I’ve already more or less recovered everything I lost from creating my new Regalia ability, around two hundred new powers to give and take as I please,” she chuckled as she glanced down towards the stands. “They were only too happy to shake my hand after the preliminaries, though I still couldn’t get Nietz’s ability.”

“You said he’s immune somehow? Do you want to have the people he fought interviewed?” he asked. “I could pull up the records of the fight and figure out who came in contact with him. Someone might have noticed something.”

She tapped the arm of her chair with a manicured finger. “I might have you do that,” she said thoughtfully. “I tried to connect to the Pandora records, but his file was sealed, and I don’t have clearance. Their security is far better than before, and I can’t just go ask Carla every time I want details on a hero,” she said with a sigh. “Especially with the Committee on high alert.” She laughed. “Carla’s taking my mischief surprisingly well.”

He rubbed his chin. “I’ll make the arrangements for interviews then. You really think his ability will give you a clue about Otis?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Otis is the only other person who I know of who is immune to Analyze. I didn’t try to make a deal with Nietz, so I don’t know if he’s completely immune to Broker or not.”

“Speaking of making deals,” he said, looking up at the ceiling and trying to look innocent. “Beside’s Sol’s power, did you get anything worthwhile out of this batch?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’ve owed you a present for a while Amos, I haven’t forgotten,” she said before reclining as well. “It’s hard to pick something worthy of you though.”

“I don’t know whether to be sad or honored you said that,” he said.

“Relish the praise,” she teased.

He threw up his hands as if in prayer. “Oh glorious Ishtar! Thank you for your never ending rain of affirmations! They will surely get me to the end of my journey!” He held his hands to his heart. “Oh, if only I had a way to repay you for-”

“Which one do you want?” she asked with a roll of her eyes.

He scratched his nose a little and flushed. “You think I could get a couple?” he asked, looking away.

“I need to hold onto the good ones so I have options to give the winners of the competition, Amos,” she said, crossing her arms and fixing him with a stare.

“Boo!”

“Did you just boo me?”

“Boo! Hiss!”

She stared at him, and he turned over to stare right back at her. They held one another’s gaze. Neither of them blinked for over a minute before they both burst into a fit of laughter. Sonya glanced down at the bracket. “How about War Chest to start you off?”

He looked at it as well and pursed his lips. “War Chest?” he asked.

“Armory’s ability,” she said. She didn’t bother pulling it out of her warehouse since it was essentially an inventory power that needed to be cultivated. As soon as she put it back in, it would reset to its undeveloped state. She knew enough from the initial use of the ability and its instincts to understand the basics. “Heroic,” she elaborated “It can integrate schematics of weaponry both real and fictional and create usable versions of them temporarily.”

He whistled. “That’s how she had those oldies-style ray guns, right?”

Sonya nodded. “Why don’t we watch how she does here, hmm?”

“Good idea,” he said and checked the clock on the dashboard. “How far ahead do you have this thing planned?”

“I’ve already decided on the victors and their places,” Sonya said with a shrug. She’d set things up based on her personal observations during the previous day’s fights. The rest of the world would see an exciting competition, but as far as she was concerned, she had already decided on the three she wanted to win and where they’d end up in the rankings. The trick was arranging it so it looked good.

He squinted a little before glancing her way. “That’s an interesting pair-up in the semi-finals. You think that kind of trick will work though?”

Sonya rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I guess we’ll see. Either way, I get two solid people to sponsor, and create a powerful hero out of it.”

“There’s a word for that,” Amos commented as the timer ticked down. “Xanatos Gambit?”

She grinned. “A man after my own heart.”

–

Leiandra sat in the stands and checked her phone. The new bracket was starting to load up. Chernovna seemed to have it in her head that it was more entertaining to broadcast the final line-up at the very last minute. She glanced around herself and saw almost the entirety of the crowd animatedly pointing at their phones and talking amongst themselves. I keep getting the feeling that this is all one big stage play to her. I don’t like it. What is she up to?

She glanced back down at her phone and saw the bracket finally load up. She flipped through it idly before pausing and flipping through it again. Her eyes narrowed. Wait a minute.

She looked up at the arena as two faces appeared in the air.

“The top sixteen have been decided!” Sonya’s voice came over the speakers. “It’s time to see who will stand above the rest and earn the grand prize! First up, Hero Nietz versus Hero Sol!”

Leiandra’s mouth fell open. You have to be shitting me. Is she that petty?

The two heroes stepped out onto the arena to the roar of the crowd. Most of those present were stomping their feet and chanting Sol’s name. The Mythic hero raised a hand to wave at those cheering for him before approaching Nietz. The two shook hands briefly and spoke for a few heartbeats. Nietz actually laughed and clapped Sol on the shoulder before taking a few steps back and getting to his ready position.

“Such good sportsmanship between our competitors, friendship born through competition!” Sonya’s voice carried out. “There can be only one winner, though!”

We all know who it’s going to be. Quit showboating. Leiandra crossed her arms and leaned back as the countdown from ten began. The buzzer rang out, and there was a flash of brilliant sunlight from the field. Leiandra closed her eyes and shook her head as Sonya shouted something ridiculous about ‘going all in from the start.’ That was when a gasp ran through the crowd, and Leiandra opened her eyes. Nietz was still standing, he’d moved out of the way, though he was holding his side and smoke was rising off of him.

Leiandra blinked. Impressive.

Nietz held up a hand and the buzzer rang out. The crowd roared.

“Hero Nietz surrenders! Sol advances to the next round!”

He has enough sense to know when he’s beaten, at least, Leiandra thought as the medical dolls hurried out to help him off the stage. Sol followed them, talking with Nietz the rest of the way out. Leiandra couldn’t help but smile a little. It was examples like that, acts of true bonds between heroes, that would bring the rest of the hero community together. The rivalries were strong amongst many guilds, but she could see that it could be turned into something positive.

She glanced up at the announcer box and the white-haired imp barely visible within. Is that your angle? She turned her attention to the floating screens as the next matchup was chosen from the pairs on the bracket.

“Next up! Pillar versus Armory!”

The brutish-looking Pillar marched out to a roar of his fans, one fist raised over his head. The giant hunk of stone he used as a weapon was already conjured up and slung over his shoulder. The petite Armory was completely unarmed, but that was part of her skillset. She used her unassuming appearance and storage-like ability to her advantage against villains and more intelligent monsters. A true talent and another obvious victor. She glowered at the announcer box again and got to her feet as the countdown started.

You’re being a little too heavy-handed, Chernovna. I think we need to have another talk, she growled inwardly as the buzzer rang, and the sounds of a dozen tiny rockets launching was overwhelmed by the cheers of the audience. The explosions that followed signalled the end of Pillar’s bid for the gold.

“Armory advances!”