Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 382 WHY

“There is definitely something going on here,” Brimstone said as she walked into the large suite. Augustus had set us up in one of the largest rooms. A communal area between some bedrooms I had doubted we needed it, but it was a good spot to plan our next move. 

“What was your first clue?” I asked.

“First of all, no one has given me a second glance,” Brimstone said, her tail whipping this way and that in annoyance. 

“You like to be noticed,” I said, giving her a smirk. 

“No, but I’m used to it. Not one person did a double take when Giga and I walked here,” she said. 

“That is odd,” I said. “Giga, notice anything?”

“I know many of these people,” she admitted. “I have been in the city a long time. Many of these were heroes I have fought or saved at one point.” I nodded, presuming as much. “Where is Hancock?” 

“With her family,” I said. “I told her to pretend everything is normal.”

“Which it isn’t,” Last Heroine said. 

“Which it isn’t,” I reiterated. “My best guess, there is some psychic hold on these people. I’m not sure by who though. Even that Augustus guy was connected to whatever is controlling them all.” 

“And why aren’t we breaking the building apart to find the cause?” Brimstone asked, ready for some action. 

“Because we haven’t voted on it,” I said, leaning back in the sofa. I was ready at any time to finish my quest and get back to Marvel, but the intrigue was getting to me for once. This was my first super powered villain. I thought it might be best to enjoy it. 

“Who is up for breaking down some doors and going in guns blazing?” I asked. Brimstone and Giga raised their hands. “Who wants to take it slow?” Last Heroine and Justice raised their hands. “Why you?” I asked, Last Heroine. 

“I fought a powerful psychic once,” she admitted. “They had control of a group of people. I killed the psychic and the link to the bystanders caused them to have seizures. Most were fine, but a few were damaged afterward.”

“Didn’t think of that,” I admitted. “Not sure if it’s psychic control or not. Either way, it would be best to proceed with caution. I haven’t noticed any of these older heroes acting too strange, but they could turn on us if we confront whatever is going on here. Let’s lay low for now. Plan to break down some doors tonight. After these oldies have gone to sleep.” 

“Until then?” Julie asked, perking up. 

“Buddy system,” I said. “You can go out, but try not to be alone.”

“Fine with me,” Brimstone said, perking up. “Giga, let’s go play tennis.” 

“I don’t know tennis,” Giga said with a frown. 

“Then let’s go learn,” Brimstone said, grabbing the much taller woman’s hand. “It’s kind of nice to not be stared at everywhere I go.” The duo walked outside and Last Heroine locked eyes with me, then turned to Justice. 

“You and I,” LH said. 

“Us?” Julie asked with a frown. 

“I think we need some girl talk,” Heroine said, surprising me. The scarred up woman was mostly badass in my eyes. I didn’t think I’d ever hear her say girl talk. “Leave the man to be alone.” 

Justice frowned but nodded. Justice in her blue spandex everything jiggled as she got up, making me frown. I was horny again. Last Heroine was in her normal leather biker gear, futuristic weapon at her side as she led the way out the door. She waved goodbye and I let out a sigh. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing. My first real mission, this was more intriguing than most I had been on with the Sentries. 

With the heroes of New Castle it was more of a Powerpuff girls situation. Call on the red phone and the mayor screaming that Mojo Jojo was attacking the post office again. This was changing from a simple disappearance to a full on community being controlled. 

Stepping out onto the balcony to jump out and begin my own investigation I was surprised to see someone duck into the trees straight ahead. I grumbled, annoyed by the distraction. 

“Get the fuck over here,” I ordered in a hoarse whisper. They didn’t move. “Amanda, get the fuck over here or I swear to god I’ll start revealing your identity to everyone I know.” 

Lady Day’s head popped up over the trees with the threat. Though 200 feet away, she still heard me. Proving yet again how over powered her abilities were. The blonde haired woman chewed her lip as she studied me. 

“I said get over here. Now,” I ordered, annunciating each word. She rolled her eyes and flew over to me. Hovering 20 feet in the air no one noticed her as I walked back into the suite. When she landed, I could feel her Haki. There was a lot of shame bundled up inside of her. “Get in here,” I barked. She yelped and stepped in. My old self’s feelings came to the forefront. 

I had rejected those feelings immediately after coming to this world. I saw it for what it was. An infatuation. Despite all she had done to reject my advances. Despite all she had done to prove she wasn’t worthy of my worship. Old me loved this girl. But current me could take her or leave her. 

As I studied her those feelings that I used to have for her began to bubble back to the surface. After Lady Day’s interaction with Mindmatter where he took control of her, she had changed. Colder almost. All about the work as she tried to make up for killing so many. Old me ached to see this side of her again. Unsure, shy, and more of her secret identity than the superhero people looked up to. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked, annoyance clear in my voice. “Following me now?” 

“I just…I was checking on why the hell you felt the need to break into Sentry Tower,” she said, anger in her voice. Lady Day was a gorgeous woman. About 5 foot 10 inches in her heels she wore tight white clothes with suns emblazoned on it. A white mask covering her eyes, she had shining blonde hair. Amazing ass, perfect rack, she was the ideal beauty. 

“To do hero work,” I said, looking away as I walked to the bar. Making myself a drink I studied her Haki, trying to get the sense of what she was really doing. It was all a mess. I doubted even she knew what she was doing there. Since we were waiting till nightfall I decided to let whatever was about to play out, happen. 

“Why are you really here?” I asked, sipping the whiskey. Lady Day frowned, chewing her lip in a very un-superhero manner. 

“How long have you known?” She asked. “Who I really am?” I could tell that was a piece of the puzzle that was Lady Day, but not the whole story of why she followed me. I decided to play along. 

“A while,” I said. “Back when we fought Gloriosa. I said her name was confusing since she had nothing to do with Glory. You said that another name for Gloriosa was Fire Lily. Which turns out was a plant that I had never heard of. I did some digging. New Castle is big, but there aren’t too many horticulturists. I thought I could find Gloriosa’s identity that way. But turns out I found yours.”

“That was…3 years ago,” Lady Day said. Nervous by the fact that I knew so much about her. 

“It was,” I said. “Why do you think I let my identity slip? A way to even the playing field in some stupid chivalrous act.” I shook my head, upset at misguided old Weston. “Your secret is safe with me Lady Day, you know that. So what are you really doing here?” 

Anger welling in her she clenched her fists, gathering the courage to say it. Instead she yelled, “What is wrong with you?! Why are you acting this way? For years we have been a team. Why couldn’t you be happy just-”

“Letting things stay as they were?” I asked walking up to her, the glass in my hand about to burst with my anger. I stopped less than a pace away, our faces mirroring one another. Nostrils flared, muscles bulging, ready to punch it out once more because that was the only way us heroes knew how to have a conversation. 

“Stay as some sideshow assistant? No, Amanda. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of pretending that all was right with the Sentries. It is a festering wound in the city. All the bad parts of boy bands mashed together for all to see. Rapes, murders, lies, deceit, that’s all they know. There is no accountability, and you…the best of them. You were no better.” 

“What did I do?!” She yelled, her finger in my face as her face contorted in rage. “What did I do that I could have stopped?! The sun poisoning? I was out of the city in the matter of an hour. How was I to help those people? Mindmatter? I had no control! I couldn’t have fought it if I wanted.” 

“No,” I said with a sigh, pushing my own anger away as her’s grew. “But you let it happen. Nightwalker, Truthsuitor, the police chief? You stopped none of it. I even brought my evidence to you. Months ago. You were supposed to be above it all. The Chief and his hit squad. Who got killed when they got a little too trigger happy? That kid and his sister. Walking home from school. Caught in the crosshairs. That rape case? Swept under the rug. Don’t even get me started on Damascus.” 

“I forced him out,” she mumbled, her chin twisted as she fought tears. 

“Yes, and he is still doing it,” I said. “Still walking free while his ex-husband is in a coma. He will do it again. That wasn’t the first boyfriend he beat. It won’t be the last. Why is it that you think Sentries get a pass when others don’t?”

“So I deserve my fate as well?” She asked, unable to fight the tears in her eyes. 

“Yes, you deserve whatever they throw at you. The Sentries deserve to be held accountable. But no you people stay in the Tower. If we could push all of these bad people out then we could get some new blood in. People that want to do some good in the city.”

“We all go in wanting to do good!” She yelled. “Do you think I wanted to do those-” 

“No!” I said, my voice like a whip. “I know you didn’t mean to do it, Amanda. But you did. I am so sick and tired of the fact that your crimes, intentional or not, pale in comparison to the crimes of the others. Why were none of them kicked out of the Sentries?” She didn’t have an answer for that. Holding onto her anger as she stared at me. 

“Because of the police,” I said. “Who are just as bad as we are. I’ve looked into it, Amanda. The Sentries were started a long time ago. No one was part of the group for more than a few years. This was by design. When you are in the group long enough, it changes you. You see the bad part of humanity. You find yourself doing things you didn’t expect to. Taking the job a little too seriously. Killing the villains. Taking a little for yourself when a few bags of money are recovered. So the old timers had the grace to retire before it changed them too much. Over time people like you, and Nightwalker, and Feral Feline came in. Staying in the Sentries far longer than they should have. They would make a mistake, but instead of the police holding us accountable they would let it pass. Because they want the same courtesy.” 

She began to see where I was going. “The Sentries are there to fight the super powered villains. Assisting the police. The police handle the day to day. Assisting us. But we were also supposed to be keeping one another in line. Somewhere along the way we forgot that. People in the Sentries liked the status and the benefits too much. The police? Being an officer is supposed to be their career. Kind of hard to do that when police are just as likely to be arrested. So we turned a blind eye to one another’s misdeeds. Creating the endless cycle. In the history of New Castle there used to be a turnover rate of a Police Chief every 3 years. Because someone in the Sentries would find something bad either they or their underlings were doing. The Chief would retire, and someone else would come up. Since the police stopped calling out the Sentries and the Sentries stopped keeping an eye out on the police, we have had the same Police Chief for 10 years. All of us ignoring the sins of the other.” 

“And you’re above all this?” She asked, bringing her anger back. 

“Fuck no,” I said, my own anger back as I moved my face a few inches from hers. “But I’m a damn sight better than most all of you. In a perfect fucking world we wouldn’t need the Sentries. We don’t live in that world. Villains attack daily. Hell I’m sure some drama is going on in New Castle that you are missing out on. So get the hell out of here and go back to your city.” I turned, making myself another drink. But she didn’t leave. 

Her Haki had stabilized slightly as she stared at me. And to my surprise her anger had only grown. 

“You forget you’re a villain now,” Lady Day said. Her Haki had a distinct killing intent. Something I didn’t think she had in her. I had thought the conversation was going well, but no. She flew toward me the 2 yards, her fist out, ready to hit me in the face. 

Tossing my whiskey into her face it splashed across her, making her flinch. My own anger growing I did it again, giving her an O-punch in the stomach. Her nerves came alight throughout her body as my electricity hit her. She dropped to the ground, fighting it so I moved over top of her. 

Wiping the alcohol from her face she didn’t see the electricity crackling in the palm of my hand. She was the strongest woman in the city, probably the strongest person. And a part of me still loved her. Despite her blindness to the plights of the city. So I had to defeat her in the simplest way possible. 

Her eyes opening she watched in fear and lust as I slammed my palm into her stomach. She let out a high pitched cry. As I covered her mouth I sent more electricity into her, instead of making it all pleasure I added a lot of pain too. Like my own sporadic symphony I controlled each bolt of lightning as it touched this or that cluster of nerves. Weak though they were, she felt every bit of it. Her legs and arms kicking this way and that. Voice cracking as she didn’t know whether to cry out in pleasure or scream in pain. 

The tapestry I was making as my Spark talked to her body was a twisted conglomeration of everything I had learned since I got this new Power. Her pussy poured out juice. A puddle on the floor between her legs as she kept cumming. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, the pleasure and pain driving her beyond the edge. Tongue sticking out of her mouth she had a true ahegao face as I kept it up for over a minute long. 

When I felt she had enough I released the power. Letting the last of her pleasure shoot throughout her body. Making her convulse and spasm for long seconds. 

There was a twisted pleasure I got from seeing her like this. In all honesty it was a bittersweet goodbye. Picking her up in a princess carry I walked over to the balcony. Lady Day was quite serene sleeping in my arms. Her body still twitching in pleasure and pain, I gave her a wry smile and tossed her off the balcony. 

I had to admit there was more than a little joy involved in watching her fall and hit the bushes down below. As if I was saying goodbye to my past or something. I had seen her fall a lot farther before so I knew she would be fine. But I was done with Lady Day. I said my peace and she wasn’t hearing me, so words wouldn’t suffice any longer.

After throwing out the trash I decided to go check on the others. A skip in my step I was pretty sure I did the right thing, but only time would tell.