Our guide was clearly caught off guard, his tour being far easier to see through than the one we received last time. He looped us through the same areas multiple times, trying to throw off our sense of direction in the building. By the time we reached the last hallway to the basement, I already had a rough idea on how to reach it from the entrance.
The last time I was there, the basement was crawling with henchmen. But there had to be less than twenty of them now, and most of them were just sitting around and talking. I couldn’t hear what they were discussing over the hum of electricity that came from the power plant above.
Frank stayed close behind me as we approached Surge’s office. Surge and I weren’t close, but I was betting on the fact that he wouldn’t try to kill me just for barging in uninvited. And coming without my backup should hopefully get him to feel a bit more trusting of me.
Our tour guide opened the door and ushered us in. Surge was sitting behind his desk, his sunglasses so shiny that I could see my own reflection in them. There were stacks of folders and papers on top of his desk, neatly placed into piles.
“Good afternoon, Taker.” Surge stood up, extending his hand out towards me.
I shook his hand before sitting down in one of the office chairs. It seemed that he put another one out for Frank, and I would have thought it was a kind gesture, if it wasn’t for the fact that Frank let out a high-pitched cry the second their hands made contact.
Before I could pull my gun out, Surge took a step back and raised his hands above his head. Frank cursed underneath his breath, holding his hand which now had bright pink streaks running down it.
“Sorry,” Surge chuckled. “Just wanted to see if your friend was one of us.”
I slowly sat back down, my hand remaining near my hip. “His name’s Frank, and he is one of us. He doesn’t need powers to be a villain. Don’t try that shit again, unless you want to deal with more problems.”
“Why don’t you calm down, son. You’re the one who came to my house uninvited. Just because we’ve helped each other doesn’t mean we’re close.”
“You’re right, we’re not close. So why don’t we change that?”
Surge raised a blonde eyebrow. “Oh? You trying to take me up on my offer? Because I wouldn’t mind hiring you, alongside any friends that you want to bring along.”
“I appreciate the offer, but no thank you,” I rejected him. “But I do need your help to get rid of our shared headache.”
“What type of help are we talking about?”
“We’re winning the war against the Disciples, and we’re going to keep winning it. Just this morning, we took out most of their safehouses and killed two villains. Right now, they’re struggling to keep everything together. We can finish them off before they have a chance to regain control.”
“Yeah, I know about the bombs going off last night. Hell, everyone in South Rain knows about it. And that includes the heroes, who are currently keeping everybody pinned down.”
“They’re focused on the Disciples, not us. While they’re here, we can prepare our attack for the second they leave. But the Disciples won’t be able to move an inch without someone seeing.”
“What if the Disciples pay off the heroes?”
“Surge, I spent the past five years working for them. They have about fifty cops and one hero on their payroll. But there are just too many people for them to pay off. Especially since Spotlight is getting involved.”
“Alright, get to it. What do you want from me?”
“I just need you to make a distraction. While me and my group go after the Disciples, you’ll attack The Super Arena. Contract and his supers are a big part of their new fighting force, I just need you to hold them off and we can take care of the rest.”
“Even with his champion fighter gone, he’s got about seven supers working for him,” Surge leaned forward in his seat. “That’s a big favor to ask.”
“We just need enough time to kill Agony, then you and your henchmen can leave. Still, you’re right that this is a big favor that I’m asking from you, and I know that you won’t do something like this for free.”
I took a short pause, feeling another buzz go through my brain. Either Reload or Tóxica had been messaging me throughout this meeting. Reload would sometimes send me stupid shit that he thought about, so I was planning on dealing with it later.
But the latest barrage was annoying enough to force me into checking.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Shit. I had almost forgotten about Plaything. He wasn’t a super that fought his own battles, he instead summoned his own sentient toy army to fight for him. And while his toys weren’t weak, they were something we should normally be able to handle.
But right now, they were a serious threat. If the fighting got out of hand, it could draw in a horde of cops and Superheroes that have been itching to do something. And the only supers at the scene would be my own people.
“So, what are you offering?” Surge asked, filling the empty space in conversation.
I was still running through my thoughts, trying to figure out how to get out of here quickly without revealing this to Surge. He needed to believe we were strong, and running off in the middle of the conversation really wouldn’t help with that.
I snapped out of it, forcing myself to focus on the conversation. “If we beat the Disciples of Agony, someone is going to take their place. So we were hoping that you could help us out with that.”
“And what would that mean for me?” Surge asked.
“There’s going to be more than just bodies left behind after the fight, there'll be a large chunk of territory without anyone to control it. We'd be happy to give you a fair share in return for your help.”
“Now that does sound nice, but just how much will Surge Gang be getting? Because I’m not going to risk the lives of me and my men for a few blocks.”
“I’ll give you twenty-five percent of Disciple territory, expanding out from your current borders. That’s a lot more space for you, and a lot more money coming in. I don’t want to waste time haggling, so that’s as much as I’m willing to give up.”
“Hm, that’s not going to be enough.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Surge. That’s hundreds of thousands to your bottom line every year, not even considering what this is going to do for your reputation.”
“You’re too smart to be acting this dumb,” he chuckled. “We both know that you couldn’t hold onto that land anyways, you don’t have the manpower. But the territory isn’t the problem, I just want something more than that.”
“Then what do you want?” I asked.
For the first time at this meeting, Surge smiled at me. “You’re a shooting star, kid. Everything I hear about you just makes me more interested in what you’ll do next. And I doubt you plan to stop at killing Agony.
“Once you get rid of the Disciples, there’ll only be three major gangs left. Now, The Performers should be next, since they’re the second largest of us all. But unless my math is wrong, once I get my cut of territory, I’ll be the largest target in this city.”
Surge opened a drawer on his desk, and he pulled out three cigars. “What I’m getting at is that I don’t want to be the next name on your list, yet I also have no plans to be one of your lieutenants. So why don’t we just share a cigar and make this more than an alliance, but rather, the start of a friendship?”
To be honest, Surge had a point. I wouldn’t have been against killing him if I needed to, but I was just as open to a possible friendship. What I wasn’t open to was smoking a cigar with him. I needed to get back to the others, and cigars took a long time to smoke.
“I’d be more than happy for us to have a good relationship,” I gave him a smile as I stood up. “You run an operation that I can respect, and I’m not in the business of making enemies without reason. However, Frank and I have to get going.”
“Oh?” Surge raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have the time for just a quick smoke?”
“When you’re fighting the Disciples, you need to always be moving. But I’ll be in touch with more details.” I grabbed a pen and notepad from his desk, quickly scribbling down my phone number. “And next time, we’ll have a smoke on the top floor of the Tower of Agony.”
“Alright, I’ll hold you to that.”
I ripped off the sheet of paper and handed it to him. Frank seemed confused, but he didn’t hesitate when it came to getting out of there. When we left the room, our tour guide was waiting to lead us out of the building.
On the way out, he tried to lead us through the complicated maze of hallways and tunnels. I just ignored him and took the fastest path out of there, dragging Frank along. After a bit, he gave up and just helped us get out of there.
As we walked out, I looked around to make sure no Surge Gang members were nearby. “Reload and Tóxica need our help, they’re currently being chased in the camaro.”
“What? What’s happening?” Frank asked, rushing to our parked car.
“They’re being attacked by Plaything, and they can’t fight off his toys without drawing too much attention. But considering Tóxica’s driving, they’re going to be noticed sooner or later.”
I climbed into the passenger seat, realizing I was still carrying the notepad and pen with me. Hopefully Surge wouldn’t mind an accidental theft. By the time I stuffed them in my pocket, we were already headed in the direction of the others.
“Just head towards the food truck for now, I’ll contact Reload to try and meet up somewhere,” I said.
“Okay,” Frank replied. “I do have a question though.”
“What is it?”
“So, I wasn’t going to ask him, since I was terrified. But why was he doing paperwork? Do gangs have paperwork? Or does he actually work at the power plant?” He asked, his voice sounding distraught.
“That... That’s a good question.”