If Only He Could Walk Away
2 Years Ago
Desolator looked through a broken window to behold the sky of St. Louis. The black sky rumbled with the promise of a furious storm. The weather suited him. He was angry too. Angry at his brother for voting against him. Angry at himself for not being able to persuade him. The Five had just voted to proceed with an imbecilic plan to kill Miracle and all Desolator could do now was try to make it work.
“Sam?”
Desolator looked behind him. There stood the youngest member of the Five. The onyx-skinned giantess named Maddox. She was the only other person who had voted to abandon the job and the second strongest member of the Five’s current iteration.
“Did Bicorn leave?” Desolator questioned. It’d be Bicorn’s job to kidnap the mayor’s son.
Maddox nodded. She stepped beside Desolator. Both were lost in apprehension of the battle to come. They knew tomorrow’d be a shitshow. They could feel it. They’d lived long enough to sense when things would go wrong. The storm roiled with rage. Maddox broke the silence.
“This job reminds me of Nigeria.”
Desolator quirked an eyebrow. She was referring to her last mission with her old group. Desolator couldn’t recall the name of that group, he didn’t care to, Maddox had been the only one with potential.
“Did I ever tell you about it?”
“No,” Desolator knew the broad strokes. They happened upon a sleeping bear.
“The Captain got suckered in by the payday,” Maddox explained. “We were gonna be set for life… like that matters.” She chuckled bitterly. Desolator knew what she meant. People like them didn’t get out of the life.
Maddox realized she’d started where she was now, at the end of the story. She circled back to the beginning. “The indigenous tribe was sabotaging equipment for some… infrastructure project I guess. The Igbo elders paid us under the table to clear them out. It sounded routine. We didn’t bother to check after him. We thought the payday was just a combination of not knowing what this work was worth and our discretion. I mean, really, who’s scared of tribals? We didn’t know that that tribe was led by fucking Anansi.”
Desolator nodded at that name. It was an old, fabled name—a name that was made alongside Jabberwocky and Desolator at Tuscon. It was the name of a man Desolator would never take a job on.
“…” Maddox was silent as her mind relived the ordeal. Desolator didn’t know what happened in that ancient mangrove swamp, where her team died, but he knew enough. He knew her team got trapped in the spider’s web and, in two nightmarish weeks, were killed by a man.
Maddox tried to say more. Her mouth worked like a fish out of water. She never found the words. Maybe there were no words to describe what she’d been through. She gave up.
“I escaped,” Maddox concluded simply. Desolator didn’t pry. He’d seen Anansi fight.
Maddox desperately changed the topic. “But… I’m just being dramatic I guess. Miracle couldn’t be as bad as Anansi.”
“…”
“Right?”
“… I don’t know.” Desolator confessed. “I never fought her.” What information he had, didn’t paint a pretty picture. Supposedly, she hadn’t struggled in a battle since she’d been Sun Man’s sidekick.
Sun Man…
Desolator’d only come into conflict with Sun Man once during Miracle’s stint as his sidekick. In that battle, Lifelight, Sun Man’s partner, ordered Miracle not to engage Desolator. That… bothered him.
Desolator was dangerous, but he’d never kill one of Sun Man’s sidekicks. Lifelight would have no reason to be cautious of him compared to the other villains they fought. At the time, he’d dismissed the incident as Lifelight being overprotective.
Now… on the eve of battle, Desolator was uncertain. What if Lifelight hadn’t been afraid Desolator would kill Miracle, but of the opposite?
“She doesn’t have a nemesis,” Desolator concluded. “That’s never a good sign.”
Maddox shifted uncomfortably. Desolator was right. If a villain had given it a good fight, if they’d come close to winning, they’d come back for round two. Miracle didn’t have that problem. Everyone she beat seemed to gravitate towards other cities.
Maddox sighed in defeat. “I wish Slaughter had brought the job to a vote like he should’ve.”
Desolator couldn’t help but agree. If the Five’s reputation hadn’t been at stake, he probably could’ve talked Jabberwocky into rejecting this job. The fact that electronic communications wouldn’t work in Miracle’s presence should’ve been enough.
“Money makes fools of us all.” The payout offered for this job was significant. All five of them could retire with the proceeds. But… that didn’t matter. Even if tomorrow went off without a hitch, none of them would retire. They all knew it.
Maddox voiced her agreement, by letting the topic die. She changed the conversation to tactics. “Should we get some wax to plug our ears up?”
“Hrm,” It wasn’t a bad idea. Without electronic communications, none of them would know when Jabberwocky would use his quirk. However, their coordination would be even worse. The choice was between Jabberwocky being able to use his quirk with impunity, or the ability to coordinate verbally… it was a tough call.
“Bicorn’s immune to Jabberwocky’s quirk anyway. Perhaps we can…”
The pair of villains found themselves in an unfortunately familiar situation. They were forced into a bad job. Now, they had to make it work. That was fine. They always made it work.
Desolator entered the warehouse that served as the Five’s headquarters. Maddox, Mercury, Nox, Tether, and Marrow were seated at a plain wooden table. Maddox’s face was grim. Mercury was anxious. Nox and Tether displayed practiced disinterest. Marrow stared at his hands.
Mercury caught Desolator’s eye. “Boss!”
Desolator glanced at Maddox. With a nod, she communicated a sentence. She’d already told the team about the red light on Cain.
Tether frowned. “Maybe you can explain why it’s so important that a red light’s been issued on that brat?”
Maddox grumbled. She’d clearly tried. Desolator smiled. He took his seat at the head of the table.
Nox interjected. “It opens the possibility for war between the Dai-Ichi and Shie Hassaikai. We have to choose sides.”
“Well, that’s easy, who’s paying us?” Tether asked as if that was the most important question in the world.
“Both are.”
Tether turned towards Desolator, his brow furrowed, but Mercury was the one to ask the question.
“The fuck? How? I thought we were on the Dai-Ichi’s payroll.”
“I’m being paid to watch out for threats against Eri. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, personal contracts always take a backseat to the Five’s contract.” Desolator looked at Marrow. “But...”
“He paid me to help out once.” Marrow mumbled. “I needed the money.”
Nox closed her eyes. “Shit.”
“That’s not a problem right?” Mercury asked. “He’s not actually a member of the Five. No offense kid.”
“Unfortunately,” Maddox corrected. “He has a contract with me that lists him as my agent until the end of the year.”
“… so paying him is like paying you.” Mercury put two and two together. “Shit.”
If two members of the Five were involved in a contract, by rule, it was a Five contract. As far as their organization was concerned, both contracts were on equal footing. Precedence didn’t matter according to their bylaws, only one thing did–
“Who’s paying more?” Tether asked.
“Complex question,” Desolator answered. “On a month-by-month basis, the Dai-Ichi pay 4 times what the Shie Hassakai do.”
“Complex? That sounds like easy math.”
“But…” Desolator gestured at himself. At the body that was, just a few months ago, a crippled barely functional shell. Now restored to the prime of its life by the Shie Hassakai heiress. “What would you value restored vitality at?”
“…” None of them could answer that. It may not have been intended as compensation. However, the Five’s bylaws required they recognize ‘services rendered in the pursuit of contract’ as compensation. The problem was, that Eri’s quirk was unprecedented. Only she could restore a man to his youth. There was no established rate for her service, nor was there a similar service offered anywhere in the world. That left the value of her service… subjective. Therefore, the issue of contract priority was opaque. Which meant the matter had to be put to a vote.
“So, we just need to decide what we’re doing if they go to war?” Nox asked.
“We’ll put it to a vote when one’s called for.” Desolator nodded.
“… will it even come to a war?” Marrow asked. “I mean, there’s no way killing a kid’s important enough for a mob war right?”
“Not if we were talking about perfectly rational actors,” Desolator confirmed. “However, Sato is a proud man. He is new to power. He may see this red light as a personal insult. That may… drive him to rash action.”
“Fuck, man.” Mercury put a hand on his forehead. He was overwhelmed. The idea that they were going to be involved in the middle of a mob war wasn’t as distressing as the idea of being put in a position where he had to break a contract. “Who the Hell even issues a red light like that?”
Maddox and Marrow glanced at Desolator. “It wasn’t Myoga,” Desolator confirmed.
“Then who the fuck was it?!” Mercury nearly yelled.
“…”
“… sorry, boss.”
Desolator sighed. “Don’t apologize.” He shared Mercury’s frustration. It was a stupid needless risk, driven by the mind of someone whose instincts were akin to a toddler’s. When he’d first heard of the red light, there’d been only two suspects in Desolator’s mind. If it wasn’t Myoga, it could only be one man.
“It was Saraki.”
The room went cold. Nox swallowed bile. Tether blinked in surprise. Mercury looked at Nox. Maddox sighed. Only Marrow seemed to be left in the dark.
“Who?”
“Quirk scientist,” Maddox answered. “On paper, he’s just a lab head for the Quirk Registration Service, but, really, he runs the agency.”
“There’s a fucking agency dedicated to quirk registration?” Marrow was appalled.
“Is that really so surprising son?” Desolator smiled. “Every country has had something like it since the Warlords died. Granted… most have gentler masters than Saraki.”
Marrow hesitated. The tone of Desolator’s voice seemed to imply a deeper corruption than even he’d expect. He didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t used to his cynicism being outmatched by reality.
“Is he the one that got me out of jail?” Tether asked. “The one that had us kill Satori?”
Desolator nodded.
“I didn’t even know he was real,” Tether admitted. “Is he as bad as the rumors say?”
“He’s a monster.”
All eyes turned on Nox. She shuddered as if salt was rubbed in an open wound. Desolator wasn’t surprised by Nox’s implicit confession. A quirk like hers, growing up in Japan, it was no surprise it caught Saraki’s eye.
Mercury came to her rescue. “Why would he care about Cain?”
“His quirk,” Nox answered. “It must be interesting.”
“So the red light’s a ‘hands off my toy?’” Maddox asked.
Nox nodded. “It has to be.”
“I’m confused,” Tether confessed. “Were the Dai-Ichi more invested in killing the kid than I thought?”
“It was a back burner issue,” Desolator answered. “They wanted us to take the job. I said no. That set back their timetable considerably. To my knowledge, they were still shopping it around.”
“Then doesn’t the red light just make Cain top of mind?”
“It does.”
“… isn’t Saraki supposed to be smart?”
Nox began to answer, but Desolator saved her from having to relive yet more memories. “It is a mistake to overestimate Saraki.”
“Overestimate?”
“As intelligent as Saraki is, he is not a rational actor. He may trap you in an insidious scheme. But he is just as likely to lash out blindly because things aren’t going his way. I suspect the moment he heard Cain was on a kill list, his instinct was to slap the hand reaching for his new toy.”
Silence descended over the table. Saraki wasn’t that well-known a figure, not really. But if you lived in the underworld long enough, you’d meet some of his patients. Knowing the sadistic doctor with a quirk of command was not only real but irrational was… concerning.
“… do we put the matter to a vote?” Maddox asked.
“Seconded,” Tether said reflexively.
“I’ll start then. I don’t like working with Saraki, but I’m not killing a kid. I say we honor the Shie Hassakai’s contract.”
“Since two equal contracts would be conflict…” Mercury looked at Nox. She wasn’t saying anything. Her eyes were downcast. “Couldn’t we just say they’re nullified and fuck off?”
“I second that,” Nox added immediately.
Tether grumbled. “It’s not like the Shie Hasakai can take back the boss’s rejuvenation. I say we stick with the Dai-Ichi.” Unspoken was his eagerness to test himself against a boogeyman like Saraki. It wouldn’t be an interesting contest.
Desolator listened as his team divided themselves. The Five weren’t as united as they used to be when he and Jabberwocky were in charge. That wasn’t ideal.
Tether held 19% ownership of the Five, inherited from Slaughter. Which made his position of siding with the Dai-Ichi a 19% minority. Nox and Mercury together held 21% ownership. That made their position 21% in favor of abandoning both contracts. Maddox, a senior partner, held 27% ownership. That made her position a 27% minority in favor of siding with the Shie Hassakai.
That left Desolator’s 33% ownership of the Five outstanding. All eyes were on him.
“I abstain.”
“…”
If a matter didn’t reach a majority, it went back to discussion. “Before we return the matter to a vote.” Desolator smiled. “Let me outline a plan to honor both contracts.”