Chapter 9: The Feeble Storm

Lisa

"What?!" Brian asked, frozen at Midas's idle statement.

"Roughly three hundred Merchants, along with Skidmark and Whirlygig, are headed in this direction as we speak. They're armed, some with tinkertech rifles, drugged to high heaven, and trying one last desperate push to stop me from winning our little war." Midas said, still unconcerned as he stared at them.

"You have a spy in the Merchants." Lisa stated, making him chuckle.

"Do I? Maybe I'm just a mind reader?" Midas teased, making her lips twitch at her own bullshit being spewed back at her. "Lisa, I want you to take Grue, Regent and Puppeteer. Your job is to capture Whirlygig mostly unharmed. Rachel, you're sitting this one out. You don't have your dogs with you and I wouldn't want to risk them against tinkertech weaponry anyway." Midas continued, making Rachel frown before she smiled ever so slightly and nodded.

"And me?" Brian asked, half glaring at Midas. He was being way too obvious about his upcoming betrayal, she'd have to keep an eye on him and Hitoshi, if they caused Midas trouble it'd come back to bite her.

"You'll be with me, blinding the Merchants as they approach. Can you cover the entire grounds around the warehouse?" Midas asked, making Brian pause before he nodded.

He'd behave until he knew where Aisha was, or he had enough support that he thought he could rescue her.

Yeah, he was definitely going to be a problem and Midas had probably already noticed the same thing.

"Whirlygig is your spy, then?" Lisa asked, making Midas nod with a smirk.

"Skidmark has lost the faith of his men, he had close to six hundred men before all this, but a lot of them are either crippled or have fled to avoid having to fight me. Use the back passageway out of here and sneak around, she'll put up a token resistance at most. One of my men will show you the way." Midas ordered as she nodded, spotting the waiting minion.

Following him, Hitoshi and Alec followed her (with some reluctance to actually get up on Alec's part), and as she was led through a long passageway, she realised something.

This entire base was fake, and with several secret passageways out, the one they took leading to an abandoned building down the street, Midas could have hidden its location.

He wanted to be attacked.

Heading up to the buildings roof, they snuck towards the edge and looked down at the street, hundreds of drug-addled Merchants slowly congregating around the walls, hesitant to actually head inside.

She could spot Skidmark himself standing on the top of one of Squealer's creations, a car made of junk that was far more durable than it looked… and had two mini guns attached to the sides.

Skidmark had them all take new designer drugs, they've suppressed their ability to feel pain, the drugs are untested and will kill one in three of the users. Skidmark knows he's lost, he just wants to hurt/kill Midas before he skips town and tries to start again somewhere new.

Spotting Whirlygig she frowned at the sight of her standing next to Skidmark in the middle of the group. Her frown changed immediately into a smug grin as Whirlygig subtly checked her phone.

She just needed to bide her time, because Whirlygig would put herself in a vulnerable position to take herself out of the fight. She wasn't sure what the deal they'd made was, trying to use her power on anything that involved Midas just resulted in bullshit, but she could work out enough.

As the Merchants were pushed to start moving forwards by Skidmark, a cloud of darkness poured out of the warehouse, freezing them in place as Brian filled the yard with shadows, everything in between the walls and warehouse cloaked in darkness.

They tried to stop pushing forwards, but it was too late, the first asswave of Merchants who had already started to cross the yard, and as they were covered in shadows, the screaming started.

Then the gunshots.

While Skidmark was distracted, Whirlygig made her way to the edge of the group, coincidentally putting herself closer to the building they were hiding themselves in.

"Puppeteer, she's close enough to hear you." Lisa said calmly, ignoring the dirty look Hitoshi gave her as he headed downstairs again.

As gunshots and screams filled the night air, Hitoshi simply opened the front door to their building and shouted Whirlygig's name, not loud enough for it to reach Skidmark as he fired a mini gun at the warehouse blindly, but enough that she turned.

"Are you-"

Freezing in place, Hitoshi gave her a sardonic smirk as he ordered her to follow him and headed back inside.

That was their part done, thank Scion for that. She didn't want to be anywhere near the battle itself.

Jin

Skidmark didn't have a terrible plan, and a horde of drugged up lunatics is a dangerous thing as whatever they had been taking clearly suppressed their self-preservation instincts, charging at the warehouse with reckless abandon.

The problem with this kind of plan is that it falls apart if the person you are attacking has any kind of preparations in place.

"How many more fear gas grenades do we have?" I ask, sitting down without a care as I listen to the screams and gunfire.

"Three, sir." one of my minions reports as I nod, the first barrage caught close to fifty Merchants and took them out of the fray, trapped in an inky black darkness and pumped full of fear gas, they're a bigger threat to themselves and their 'allies' than they are to me and my men.

Mostly because this base is mostly empty, I have a considerable amount of combat minions of course… they just aren't here.

They're in the buildings behind the Merchants.

It's a shame I couldn't steal Skidmarks tinkertech weapons before this started, but from what I've seen they are the bargain bin equivalent of tinkertech, more dangerous than regular automatic rifles but frankly not by much.

The biggest threat is the car, one of Squealer's creations. I've interrogated her on the durability of her creations and if she is to be believed, I'd need far heavier weapons than I have at the moment to destroy it.

Of course, that's not a problem either.

Dr Crane sent me nine gas grenades, three of which I had thrown into the front of the pack, three I held in reserve…

And the other three?

The problem with Merchants is that they are so… varied, aside from bad hygiene and a drug addled stare, they look like regular people. Junkies come from all walks of life, after all.

No gang signs, tattoos, or uniforms, and there's so many of them that they don't see a stranger as suspicious.

Skidmark

Watching his bullets fly into the darkness, he knew he was hitting the building, but he had no idea if he was even hitting anything important.

He hadn't counted on the fucking Undersiders showing up, and he was already considering cutting his losses.

He had two cape- where the fuck was Whirlygig?

Looking around in confusion, he tightened his grip on his weapon and swore, glaring at the warehouse as darkness poured out of the windows.

He had one cape, himself, and even if the Undersiders weren't exactly fighters, Midas obviously knew he was coming and prepared in advance.

It's not like he could make a couple hundred drug-addled men marching down the street subtle.

He was going to kill Midas, but it was looking like it wouldn't be tonight.

"Boss!" a voice shouted, getting his attention to the approaching man, and looking at him he paused for a moment.

Who the fuck was this guy? His stare was far too focused to be one of his men…

"Midas sends his regards." the man said, making his eyes widen as the man pulled his hand out of his pocket, a grenade in it with the pin already pulled.

Turning his gun towards the new threat, he was too slow to stop him from simply tossing the grenade towards him, a thick orange gas spewing from it as it hit him in the chest and fell, bouncing into the car he was standing on top of.

The man fled immediately, running through the crowd as Skidmark froze, the moon turning a dark orange as all his men turned to him, their faces twisting into an unnatural grin as their skin turned to gold, each of them marching towards him as he pulled the trigger, firing into the crowds without hesitation.

Watching the bullets bounce off the golden men, he dropped back into the car, closing the hatch he had been standing out of, and seeing another golden man in the driver's seat he pulled out his pistol and unloaded his entire clip in the man's head.

Kicking the man out of the car, he closed and locked the door, grabbing the wheel and slamming his foot down on the pedal, costing the car in a field as he made his decision.

He had no idea what the fuck was happening, but he knew he was wanted nothing to do with it.

Jin

...he ran away.

Well, not before firing a minigun into a crowd, running over a couple dozen of his own men and turning on the miniguns attached to the car and killing a bunch more.

From the camera feed, I can see two more clouds of fear gas in dense parts of the Merchants forces, and as the fear-crazed men turn on each other, screams shouting and violence filling the night air, I shrug to myself.

I would have liked to kill Skidmark and make sure he doesn't become a problem in the future, but the Merchants end tonight either way.

I wanted to put on a show for Scarecrow, and recruiting Crane is more important than finishing off a D-class villain barely worth the air he breathes.

"All forces open fire on the Merchants." I order over the radio, resting my head on my hand as I watch the camera feeds, my men moving to the rooftops and windows of the buildings we commandeered, firing into the crowds of drug-addled fools.

The realisation that Skidmark had tinkertech weapons made me reconsider my original plan of being more active in the battle. I'll wait until a better time to introduce myself as an actual threat beyond just being a Thinker.

The important part is that I've basically already won, Skidmark was never going to be an actual threat, he was just a pebble in the road to my far stronger enemies.

Lung and the ABB, Kaiser and the Empire, Coil and his mercenaries and of course the PRT themselves.

"Brian, you can stop now." I say idly, watching as the cloud of darkness stops pouring out of my warehouse windows, the dark fog slowly dissipating.

As my view becomes more clear, I raise an eyebrow at just how many bodies are littering my front yard. It's a good thing I'm moving soon because cleaning this is going to be a pain.

"Brian, use the secret passageway and leave, I'll be in touch soon." I order after a moment, I'm definitely not taking him anywhere near the base I have Aisha in. "Oh, that reminds me. Tattletale is the leader of the Undersiders now, treat her words as if they came from my mouth."

"Sir, the Merchants are routing." one of my men reports, making me pause.

Is it wrong that I'm disappointed at how easy this was?

"Let them go, then begin the cleanup. Finish off anyone who is still trying to fight, then start gathering the bodies."

"And the wounded?"

"What wounded?" I ask, I was leaving them alive but crippled before to send a message to the other Merchants, but after tonight there won't be any Archer's Bridge Merchants."

"Understood."

Honestly what comes after this is going to be far harder than this, taking territory is easy, holding it is a far more complicated process.

Later

Standing in the yard, I look around in approval as my workers drag the bodies of the Merchants to one of the massive corpse piles. I'm really glad I can make borderline-magical incinerators to deal with bodies.

How do they work? I haven't got a fucking clue, voided go in and nothing comes out.

They've also been gathering up the weapons and ammo left behind, no point letting it all go to waste after all.

As the revving of a motorbike fills the night, I let out a sigh of annoyance. I have things to do and dealing with this isn't even on my list.

Turning to the direction of the revving, I watch as Armsmaster's bike comes to a stop at the open gates to the warehouse, the blue armoured hero dismounting and approaching me slowly, halberd in hand.

Seriously?

"Is there something I can do for you, hero?" I ask idly, unconcerned at the scowl on his face as he looks over the battlefield, Merchant corpses piled up by my minions. "I'm rather busy, as you can see."

"Midas, I'll give you one chance to surrender quietly." Armsmaster says as his halberd lights up with a blue glow and an impressive hum.

"Odd, I was under the impression that the PRT was being its usual useless self, waiting and seeing how this little war would go." I say idly, still unconcerned as he approaches, I can feel the glare beneath his mask as he stares at me.

"Skidmark was left alone because he was too incompetent to ever pose a real threat to the city, beyond worsening the already worn down parts the Merchants claimed. You are far more of a threat." Armsmaster admits calmly, making me chuckle. "The PRT isn't going to just sit aside and let you get settled in."

"I'm honoured that you hold me in such high esteem, but if you think I'd ever just give up after claiming such a tasty chunk of the city for myself, you're delusional." I counter, making his lips quirk slightly.

"I didn't expect you to be smart enough to take my offer." Armsmaster admits dryly as he brings his weapon to bare, moving faster than I expected with his power suit helping him as he closes the distance, his halberd at my throat as he stares at me coldly. "As I said, you're under arrest. This little war of yours claimed more lives than a dozen other cape fights combined." Armsmaster says as he nods over at the piles of dead Merchants.

"Well, I can hardly be blamed for the poor decisions of drug-addled fools." I deadpan, lifting my hand and calmly pushing his halberd away from my throat.

He's close, too close for comfort, but as he pushes it back against me, I internally smile.

"Tell your men to stand down, there's been enough bloodshed for one night." Armsmaster says calmly, unconcerned by the dozen or so minions still cleaning up, the rest already headed back into the base as I sigh. The funny thing is that they never even stopped the clean up, ignoring his presence as they worked.

Pushing my hand off the pole of his halberd, I press it against his chest, touching his power armour as he goes to step back, but it's too late for that.

This is why you shouldn't pick a fight with a cape when you don't know their capabilities.

Blue becomes gold as he freezes in place, barely able to move as the chest, then arms of his armour turn to solid gold, quickly spreading over his entire suit and helm.

"Honestly, Armsy, what on earth would make you think just walking up and demanding my surrender on the eve of my glorious succession would work? I do hope that armour wasn't expensive, but I have heard Tinkertech is worth its weight in gold." I taunt, watching him try to move with very little success, encased in his own armour.

Gold is somewhat malleable, in its purest form, but I've been experimenting and I've found with a little effort I can change things to the same golden alloy that I turn into.

Which is both worth less, because it's not pure gold, and weighs a considerable amount more. Since it isn't living gold, it's very much immovable, leaving him trapped in place.

"Speaking off…" I deadpan, grabbing the halberd. I've deliberately made his gauntlets into pure gold so I'd be able to move them, and with a yank I rip his halberd from his frozen grasp and smirk as he almost growls at me, the most emotion he's shown so far. "I gratuitously accept your tribute to the new King of Brockton Bay, I'll find a place of honour in my treasury for it." I say, passing it over to a minion.

"Undo this and return my weapon, you don't want to deal with the repercussions of kidnapping a Protectorate hero." Armsmaster warns me, making me laugh in his face as I walk up to him and place a hand on his chest, casually pushing him and watching as he falls backwards, a loud clang echoing as he hits the ground, still frozen in place.

"You're right, I don't. Men, take Armsmaster and throw him out into the street, I'm sure someone will come looking for him sooner or later." I deadpan, ignoring his barked orders as four of my minions pick him up with some difficulty and carry him out of the grounds around the warehouse and into the street, placing him in the middle of it, still frozen in his aggressive stance.

Now then, Skidmark has run for the hills and the Merchants are almost finished, so it's time to secure my claim on this land and make it my own.

Colin Wallis (Armsmaster)

Two hours, roughly.

That's how long he'd been left as a statue in the middle of the road, before a PRT van showed up and picked him up, taking him back to the Rig, still sealed inside a shiny golden power armour. Midas's men had blatantly ignored him and the new crime lord himself had just wandered off, leaving him staring at the street unable to even turn his head.

Their intel had been completely wrong, Midas was far from just a Thinker.

After getting back, they'd had to use his own tools to literally cut him out of his armour, the strange golden alloy making it very difficult thanks to its toughness and how close it was to his body.

"Was I not clear enough when I said that nobody was to engage Midas until we had more information?" Piggot growled, glaring at him with an unhealthy flush on her face.

"You were." Colin admitted, in his civilian clothes.

"Then would you like to explain what the fuck you thought you were doing?!" Emily shouted, spittle leaving her mouth as she glared at him. "Do you understand just how bad this is for us?"

"My orders came from a higher authority. Chief Director Costa Brown gave the order for Midas to be apprehended if he succeeded in defeating Skidmark and the Merchants. I saw an opportunity after Midas sent most of his men and capes away, against a Thinker and his unpowered followers I should have been able to-"

"But you couldn't. Damnit Colin,you're usually smarter than this." Piggot grumbled. "How hard is it going to be to replace your bike, armour and halberd?"

"...he took the Armscycle?" Colin asked as he froze.

"He turned it into gold, had his men carry it into his base, and later posted pictures of it and your halberd in a fucking trophy room on PHO, along with a video of how easily he beat you." Piggot deadpanned, making his face turn an unhealthy, chalky pale, an undercurrent of rage starting to push through his cool exterior.

He'd been working on his bike for years, and his halberd was one of the first things he ever made, constantly upgraded over his years of heroism. He had spare halberds of course, but he liked that one as illogical as it was.

His armour was an expensive loss, but it was replaceable… and while his bike and halberd could be recreated in time, he was far more attached to them both than he was willing to admit.

"With the right resources, I should be able to replace them all within the month. I have a spare halberd." Colin said slowly, making her scoff.

"I've seen your tinkertech budget, you've been exceeding it for years. I'm not increasing it to make up for your stupidity." Piggot said coldly, making him scowl deeply.

"Without my equipment-"

"If you want a raise, go ask Costa-Brown." Piggot said nastily, a mean look in her eyes. "Maybe I'll bring it up when I ask her why she saw fit to bypass the chain of command for an operation in my city. Now get out, start rebuilding your armour, you can use a PRT car for now. Stay away from Midas, I'm giving Dauntless the same order, we can't risk him just turning irreplaceable or expensive gear into gold."

Going to respond, he paused and decided to cut his losses, she wasn't going to be reasonable any time soon anyway.

He'd made an error in judgement, but it was the faulty information he had that led to his defeat, in a rematch he would be able to easily beat Midas as it seemed apparent Midas needed to touch his target to turn things to gold.

...in hindsight, saying he was surprised that a villain named after a mythological figure that could turn things to gold could in fact turn things into gold sounded a lot dumber now.

Piggot was right about one thing, he couldn't risk going near Midas again until he knew the limits of his power, as losing his gear was painful.

Reaching his lab, he paused for a moment before he loaded up PHO and started to read. Less than a minute later he turned it back off, the sheer amount of mockery aimed at him straining his already frayed temper.

"Colin, are you alright?" Dragon's voice called out, making him take a deep breath.

"I take it you already know?" Colin asked, her silence telling him enough. After a long moment of silence, she responded.

"I do. Midas's has made sure your defeat is well known, I'm afraid." Dragon admitted as he sighed. "It's not like you to be so reckless, what happened?"

"The Chief Director asked me to bring Midas in, she asked me personally. You know my career has stalled, I thought this was my chance. My scanner told me that all the fallen Merchants had been killed by small arms, I mistook that to mean that Midas didn't have any combat powers, relying on his men to fight for him." Colin admitted, making her sigh.

"Midas did manage to play that close to his chest, even with such a blatant name. I have to wonder how powerful he actually is. What are you planning to do?" Dragon asked as he started up his nano-forge.

"Rebuild my armour, study Midas, develop a counter so he can't do it again." Colin said simply, Midas moved at very much human speeds, keeping out of arm's reach would be fairly easy, as long as Midas wasn't hiding even more powers.

...which was entirely possible, and this was why you didn't rush to pick a fight with mystery capes, you never knew which power was going to be a hard counter for your own.

Jin - Next Day

The clean up was fairly simple, if you ignore the storeroom of bodies at the old base, slowly being fed into the incinerator.

But now it's time to both secure my territory, and far more importantly… clean it.

My combat minions are patrolling openly now, armed as they provide a show of force and delay the inevitable ABB invasion.

The Empire shares no borders with me, and the ABB is mostly distracted with the Empire but it's only a matter of time before they make an attempt.

My workers are also out in force, but they have a much simpler set of orders.

I want my territory cleaned up, figuratively and literally.

I've had my combat minions patrol my new territory for two reasons, one is to give a show of force and make it clear to the other gangs that we won't be easy to dislodge, and two… to do what the PRT couldn't and lower the crime rate in the former Merchant territory.

If you are caught pickpocketing, we'll break your hands. If you're caught mugging or assaulting people, we'll break a lot more. If you try and rape people in my territory, my men will make sure you don't have the equipment to become a repeat offender. Kill someone and we'll kill you. I intend to be the judge, jury and executioner of my territory.

My workers are out there already, cleaning the streets more literally as they get rid of the garbage that litters the streets (into the magical incinerator it goes, where it stops nobody knows), painting over the graffiti and gang signs, and once that's done they'll start repairing the decrepit buildings, fixing broken windows and making this place a good place to live.

If anyone is dumb enough to graffiti on my freshly repainted walls, I will kill them myself.

I've also had my men start to make banners with my chosen emblem and hang them around my territory, a black background with the image of a golden skull wearing a fancy crown, with an equally golden wreath behind it. God help anyone who defaces one of them.

Welcome to the new and improved Boat Graveyard and Trainyard, where you're perfectly safe as long as you aren't stupid.

This is a costly venture, but it will be worth it in the long run, plus I plan to start collecting protection money from the various businesses that managed to survive in Merchant territory, along with opening a few more.

It's going to be a long and difficult mission but I want the people living on the Boardwalk to look over at my territory with envy.

There's more problems to be solved of course, like the rampant homeless problem, the horde of junkies left behind by Skidmark (who was seen driving out of the city at close to 230mph) and other issues, but I already have a plan to deal with the first two.

You see, my research tree did something very interesting after Amy agreed to work for me to protect her sister, and it certainly got my mind racing.

Amy

It was sad how easily she could leave the house without anyone noticing or even caring. Carol was at work, Vicky had already gone out and Mark was… Mark.

Heading to the location Midas summoned her to, she headed inside and pulled her hoodie down as she spotted one of Midas's men waiting for her.

"Follow me, Miss Dallon." He said calmly, leading her into the basement. She got a glimpse of how widespread Midas's reach was as she was led down a long underground passageway, so long that they had to use a quad bike to get to their destination, but as she reached what could only be Midas's base, entering through a large secure looking door, she sighed as she spotted Midas's smirking face.

She had no idea where in the city she actually was, not after a drive through those twisting passageways, which was probably why he was willing to actually meet her in his base instead of another random apartment.

"What is it this time?" Amy asked, staring up at Midas's smug face.

"I require your assistance with a small matter, follow me and we can talk when we arrive." Midas said calmly, turning and heading deeper into his base.

A part of her was afraid when she realised just how.. active his base actually was, countless men and women bustling around, going about their business (only stopping briefly to salute their leader), she never realised just how large Midas's operation actually was but given stories of him defeating the Merchants she supposed she shouldn't have been so surprised.

Heading into a room with white walls, she paused as she spotted a woman sitting on the edge of a seat, wearing nothing but her thong as her dark skin was left on display.

To the side of the room, there was a strange pod-like bed, and as they entered the woman stood up and approached them (and she was only slightly distracted by the bouncing).

"Panacea, meet Whirlygig. Much like Squealer, she's addicted to more drugs than I knew existed and has more STDs than I care to think about." Midas deadpanned, making Whirlygig shrug slightly as she pulled her thong down.

"And you want me to heal her so you can fuck your new captive without catching something?" Amy said caustically, and with an ever so slight amount of jealousy that she'd deny to her dying day.

"No, on all accounts. She's not a captive, because she switched sides willingly and I don't want you to heal her." Midas said, making her pause.

It didn't escape her notice that he failed to say he wasn't going to fuck her.

"Heh, who knew the perfect lil healer was such a snarky bitch, respect." Whirlygig said with approval. "Also, it's Leah, Leah Mason. It's not like I was usually sober enough to remember to wear a mask." Leah said with a self-deprecating laugh.

"Okay, what do you want me to do then? And why is she naked?" Amy asked, making Midas smirk as he gestured to the pod.

"Meet the healing pod, Amy. You should be proud, if it wasn't for me seeing you use your powers I'd not have been able to make it. If I'm correct, it'll do… exactly what you do, just slower. You're here to make sure it works properly." Midas announced proudly, making her eyes widen in utter shock. "Also, I don't know why she's naked."

"Well, I'm getting a check up right? I've never been to a proper hospital or anything, not got that kinda money, but I've been to a back alley doc a few times and you gotta get naked to get checked over right?" Leah asked as they both paused, staring at each other and then her.

"...no." Amy admitted, making Leah pause before she swore, loudly and repeatedly as she taught her a few new words.

"Fuck. Quick question, would a bullet wound to the leg need the patient to be put to sleep for the operation?" Leah asked, not even needing an answer as Amy stared back. "I should have fucking known something was up when the old bastard gave me a discount." Leah mumbled, muttering death threats and insults at the aforementioned old bastard.

Shaking her head, she focused on the pod with an intense stare.

If Midas was right… he'd just changed the world, and he probably knew it.

"Leah, please get into the bed, we can commit gratuitous acts of violence on him later." Midas said calmly, making Leah stop grumbling as she climbed into the pod, flinching slightly as it lit up with a pale green glow.

Moving to her side, she reached in and placed a hand on Leah's naked shoulder, focused as she examined Leah's disease ridden body.

She actually wasn't as bad as Squealer had been, but it was still pretty bad… and it was getting better.

Her eyes widened as she watched Leah's body slowly correct itself, rotten teeth straightening, her skin healing from the scars and puncture marks, the chemical imbalance caused by years of drug abuse slowly but surely correcting them.

"How-" Amy started, turning back to the increasingly smug Midas.

"That's a trade secret, and one that will remain with me. So, it works?" Midas asked, making her nod dumbly.

Her mind was racing, her heart pounding as she stared at Midas in shock.

This could change everything, even if it couldn't handle more advanced injuries and illnesses, having a few of these at the hospital would cut her work down immensely.

And it was in the hands of a villain.

"It's slow, she'll probably need to spend a few hours in it to be completely healed… but yes, it works." Amy admitted, barely able to believe her own words. "Do you realise how big this is?"

"Oh, absolutely." Midas laughed, making her stare up at him. She'd unknowingly given something game-changing to a villain…

"Leah, stay here and we'll be back to check up on you later." Midas said, making Leah give him an idle thumbs up.

"Stay in the glowing bed, got it." Leah agreed as Midas took her hand and led her out of the room.

Leading her to a very fancy office where everything had golden accents, he took a seat on a black and gold couch and patted the seat next to him, making her sit down.

"You're going to use this to increase your power, aren't you?" Amy asked after a moment, making him chuckle.

"I am, is that so bad? The city was controlled by Neo-Nazi's, a psychopathic dragon and drug addled fools when I arrived… now it's controlled by Neo-Nazi's, a psychopathic dragon and me. That's clearly an improvement." Midas drawled, making her reluctantly nod.

She wouldn't miss the Merchants, and she wouldn't miss the Empire or ABB if Midas beat them as well.

"You could save so many lives…" she continued, making him chuckle as he stroked her cheek.

"And I will, for the right price." Midas agreed, making her sigh. "I promised you a reward for exposing Prophet as the puppet master trying to work against me, didn't I?" Midas said, his hand resting on her leg.

"...you did." Amy agreed, her cheeks flushed slightly.

"It really was invaluable information, you gave me the missing piece to the puzzle, enough for me to work out exactly who Prophet is and why he's so determined to interfere." Midas said, making her eyes widen.

Midas had worked out Prophet's identity... she might have killed a hero out of jealousy.

As Midas burst out laughing, he ruffled her hair.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on killing Prophet. Honestly, my brother's attempts to stop me are almost cute." Midas said as he calmly raised his hand and removed his mask, smirking at her. "Since I don't feel like pretending that you don't know exactly what I look like." Midas chuckled. "Yin Yukimura, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"You- why would you-" Amy stuttered as Midas casually unmasked.

"Because you're smart enough to figure it out eventually, considering that Prophet is my identical twin brother. Jin… he's also currently fucking your sister." Yin deadpanned. "You know, in Chinese Jin means Gold, and Yin means Silver. It's nice to know that my parents picked a favourite so quickly." Yin chuckled, a hint of bitterness underneath it. "But I'm the golden one now, and I can handle my spoiled brat of a brother." Yin drawled.

"So now what?" Amy asked, hesitating as she looked up at his handsome face, blushing as he gave her a crooked grin.

"Well, I don't need Panacea anymore, do I?" Yin asked, making her freeze as her heart dropped.

His healing beds meant he didn't need her anymore, so what did that mean for her? For her family? For Vicky?

"But Panacea was boring anyway, Amelia is so much more fun, and I definitely still want her." Yin teased as he leaned down and kissed her, her eyes widening briefly before she slowly closed them and leaned into the kiss, her mouth opening to allow his tongue access.

As he broke it, she panted slightly as she stared at him.

"You aren't getting away from me that easy, Amy." Yin chuckled, stroking her hair before he grabbed her and pulled her into his lap. "I'm a greedy man." he said, reaching down and grabbing the bottom of her hoodie, pulling it up over her head.

Her t-shirt went next, and she did nothing to stop him as he reached back and unclipped her bra, slowly pulling it off and tossing it aside.

"Heh, Jin can keep his collateral damage barbie doll, I got the better deal here." Yin chuckled as he reached up and gently groped her breast, making her blush. "Although… sisters." he added after a moment.

"Ugh, that's so wrong." Amy said, holding back a moan as he grinned.

"But you'd love it, wouldn't you? Vicky would never return your feelings, but a threesome?" Yin teased as she felt her cheeks growing incredibly warm.

"Shut up…" Amy whispered, kissing him to stop his words from getting to her any more, she could feel him smirking against her lips as his hands moved down her body and undid her jeans, before he slipped his hands under them, groping her ass over her panties.

The worst part is that now she couldn't get the idea out of her head, and Midas could probably arrange it by the end of the week.

Lifting her onto her feet, he slowly pulled her jeans down as she blushed, letting him strip her down to just her panties.

His own shirt went quickly, and as she was pulled back into his lap, she could feel his erection pressing against her, her breasts pressing against his muscled chest.

Grabbing her again, he spun her around and pulled her back against him, her back pressed against his chest as he kissed her neck, one hand slowly moving down her stomach as his other played with her nipple.

As his fingers started to slip under her panties, she spread her legs slightly, giving him more clearance as his finger slowly slid along her shamefully wet slit.

Moaning, she leaned back against his chest and closed her eyes, her mind clouded with pleasure as he slowly pushed his middle finger into her pussy, why did it feel so much better when he was doing it?

He promised her a reward, for the act of selling out a hero and probably dooming them, and here it was… well that and all the pictures she now has of Vicky.

"F-fuck… this is wrong." Amy whined, her body shaking as she pushed her hips forwards and pressed her pussy against his hand, making him chuckle.

"That's what makes it fun." Yin whispered, gently caressing her breast, his fingers pumping into her as she shuddered. "Doing what's right gets boring so very quickly, doesn't it?"

"S-shut it." Amy whimpered, making him laugh.

"Why? Am I wrong? Would you rather be at the hospital, spending every second of your time healing?" Yin asked, speeding up his pumping fingers as she moaned. "You've done what's right for so long, take some time for yourself and just relax."

"I hate you…" Amy lied, her words ringing false as she shuddered again, a low moan escaping her as she clenched her pussy down on his invading fingers as she came.

"Is that so?" Yin chuckled, slowly pulling his hand back, licking her juices clean as she blushed and felt something long and hard pressing against her ass.

Not answering, she looked back at him with flushed cheeks and kissed him again, she liked him better when he couldn't talk.

Hesitating for a moment, she slipped out of his lap and onto her knees between his legs, looking up at him without a word as she undid his belt.

It was fine, she'd been a healer long enough to have seen a lot of penises, and yet… pulling his cock out, she realised it looked quite different when she was on her knees, and it felt different when she was almost naked.

Healing was second nature to her, she was practically apathetic towards it as she ran on autopilot. She'd seen hundreds of naked people, heard every joke and crude offer, but none of them felt as important as this one as she gently wrapped her fingers around his shaft and started to stroke him.

This wasn't healing, it wasn't Panacea and a patient whose name she would forget within the hour, it was Amy and Yin, and it was just about pleasure.

Leaning forwards ever so slowly, she stuck her tongue out and licked the tip of his cock, making it twitch as Yin groaned in pleasure.

Vicky seemed to like it, in the videos she had… and as she looked up at Yin she thought she understood why. She felt… powerful, even on her knees, she felt like she was in control for the first time.

She could feel the pleasure she was causing him, watching his body react accordingly, and it made her feel amazing. She was doing that, her mouth was causing all those changes as she took the tip into her mouth.

Unable to stop herself, she used her power and started to change things, increasing Yin's sensitivity as he moaned in pleasure, unable to control himself as his fingers dug into her hair, pushing her power.

He was loving it… and she was responsible for that.

Was this what he felt when she turned to jelly at his touch?

"F-fuck, Amy…" Yin groaned as she bobbed her head inexpertly, using her powers to cheat as she paid attention to what caused the most pleasure and focused on that.

She liked hearing him like this, when he said her name with such a pleasured groan instead of a smug, knowing tone.

This… felt good, and the feeling of power was almost addictive.

She knew he was going to cum before he even did, and after remembering hearing Vicky complain about the taste to one of her friends, she decided that since she'd already started now, there was no reason to stop as she altered the very semen in his body. She was in uncharted territory and she'd probably get punished later for fucking around with his body like this, but she couldn't bring herself to stop even as the sweet sticky seed started to spurt into her waiting mouth, the taste of strawberries hitting her tastebuds as she smiled around the cock in her mouth. His cock slipped free, and she was still too focused on what she had done to even think about moving as the rest of his load splattered against her face, dripping onto her tits.

This was all so wrong, but damn it felt good to do it anyway.

She'd been made to swear to only use her powers to heal by Carol, but a part of her wanted to just rub it in her face that she'd just used her powers for sex.

"Did you just… make me more sensitive?" Yin asked, panting slightly as she looked up at him hesitantly.

"...sorry?" Amy said, making him laugh.

"For what? That was amazing, Amy." Yin praised, making her face glow red. "...I might need you to undo it though, or Rabbit might just kill me." he added a moment later as she paused before she reached up and tapped his softening length, watching it spring back to full hardness.

"Endurance problems?" Amy snarked, making him laugh. She could think of a dozen ways she could make it so he'd never have to worry about going soft again, but she kept them to herself for now.

"Blushing virgin teens don't get to tease adults." Yin countered, picking her up and tossing her onto the couch.

Her eyes widened as he literally tore her panties off, going to protest. She wasn't ready to actually…

As he dropped to his knees, placing a series of kisses down her chest, to her stomach and then even lower, her protests died in her throat.

She wasn't ready for sex, physically or mentally, but this? This didn't feel bad at all.

A small voice that sounded like Carol pointed out that she could have healed a dozen patients in the time she'd spent with Yin, that Panacea had responsibilities that she was tossing aside to spend time with a villain.

Her moans promptly drowned out that voice, as she came to a simple decision, fuck them.

She was Amy, not Panacea, and she deserved a life outside of healing… even if that life involved supervillains and blackmail but it was a start damnit.

Leah (Whirlygig)

...how long was she supposed to lay here?

They could have at least given her a magazine.

At least Midas smelt better than Skidmark.

Fuck she was bored.

Bonus Scene - Glory Girl

With Midas having beaten the Merchants, things were going to heat up and she knew it. Not only were there hundreds of junkies who had just lost their supplier, but the other gangs would want to test Midas and see if they could just force him into submission and take his hard won territory for themselves. Even if the capes themselves were too busy to attack Midas's territory, she'd already seen ABB thugs lurking around the edge of what used to be the Merchants territory.

That meant more patrols for her, which she didn't mind since it kept her busy and her mind off unpleasant things.

Or at least that was the plan.

"G-glory Girl." Dean said, his voice hesitant as he addressed her, no doubt picking up the anger she was feeling as she glared down at him, well aware that her 'fear me' aura was currently blasting him.

"This is the Girl of Glory?" The girl next to him asked, drawing her attention to the floating woman who was staring at her innocently, tilting her head as a mane of flaming red hair flower down her back, glowing green eyes locked with hers.

She'd never seen anyone who screamed 'cape' as much as this new girl, light orange skin and glowing green eyes weren't exactly subtle after all.

For the first time in a long, long time, she actually felt self-conscious about her looks and figure as she looked over the other girl, the purple mini-skirt doing nothing to hide her long athletic legs, and her tight top exposing her midriff and accentuating her large breasts.

To make it worse, she was truly beautiful, an almost alien ethereal beauty that made her second guess her sexuality for a second before she turned to her ex-boyfriend.

"Who is she?" Vicky asked slowly, trying to keep a hold of her temper.

"This is-"

"Hello, Girl of Glory! My name is Starfire, I hope we can be good friends." the cheerful orange teen said, flying around her in a circle as she left a trail of green energy.

"-Starfire, she's a new hero." Dean finished lamely. "I'm doing a joint patrol with her since she might be joining the wards soon."

"Didn't take you long, did it?" Vicky asked coldly, making Dean sigh.

"It's not like that, Vicky." Dean said cautiously.

"Uhuh." Vicky replied with an icy stare.

"I do not understand, it is not like what?" Starfire asked as she hovered in place, a look of confusion on her face.

"Vicky mistakenly thinks I'm showing you around because I'm attracted to you, because she's being unreasonable as always." Dean said, giving her a dirty look.

"I'm being unreasonable? I'm not the one who dumped you without giving you a chance to explain, you insecure man child." Vicky spat back, Starfire blinking in confusion.

"Damnit Vicky, can we not do this now?" Dean said with a sigh. "The city is on the brink of utter chaos, we can talk about our relationship when things have calmed down."

"You honestly think I'm going to sit around and wait for you to be ready to talk? Fuck that, you dumped me, of you think I'm gonna just politely wait for your insecure ass to realise you fucked up, you're very wrong." Vicky growled.

"I feel like maybe they have forgotten that I'm here?" Starfire said to herself, blinking.

"For fucks sake, Vicky. Just this once, realise that some things are bigger than you." Dean said exasperatedly.

"Oh, I know some things are more important. I've got a new cape friend as well, and he's helped me understand some things I was struggling with." Vicky said as Dean paused, she couldn't see it but she was sure he was feeling her emotions right now, and she didn't even need to fake the arousal at the thought of Jin.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dean asked, his usual knightly tone vanishing. "You're already fucking someone else?"

"Like I said, you fucked up. A new friend helped me through all the shit that's going wrong in my life, that you helped pile on, and you know how… passionate I can get. For the record, he's bigger than you, a better kisser as well.. among other things." Vicky taunted as she went to fly off.

This wasn't the subtle plan Prophet had, but Dean deserved to have his mistake thrown in his face. Still, calming she did believe him about Starfire.

"Impressive, Gallant is a very good kisser, your new friend must be most skilled at the kissing!" Starfire added in, making her pause as she turned back to Dean slowly. He might be wearing a full face helmet, but she could tell he was paling as she glared down at him. "Gallant is rather large as well, your friend must be very big!"

"Okay, it's not-"

Whatever Dean was planning on saying was cut off, a pained grunt leaving him as her fist collided with his armoured stomach, sending him flying back as she flew after him.

"...friends? They've forgotten me again, haven't they?"

Jin

Schemer Upgrade Quest Complete!

What?

Wait, I still needed to get someone to defeat one of my enemies, what the fuck is going on?

Glory Girl defeated Gallant, and as Gallant is a hero he's registered as one of your enemies.

…teenagers.