Fury threatened to overtake Maxie, seeing that notification on Tammy's phone.
'That fucking Aleck guy...'
Maxie didn't know what Tammy even saw in him. He was a stuck-up rich kid prick that just kept rubbing her the wrong way whenever she had to interact with him. He always stared at her with this... desire in his eyes, even when he already had Tammy. Sure, a lot of other people did the same, but his was just... it was on a whole other level, in the worst way. It was like he was eyeing something that he believed already belonged to him.
On top of that, he didn't even really treat Tammy like his girlfriend— more like a booty call, if anything. He had three other girls when Tammy first got 'committed' with him, and last she checked, he had five. Maxie had tried everything to convince her friend to just leave him, but to no avail, and she had her suspicions as to why.
Those suspicions are what led her to wake up Tammy anyway, despite seriously considering just letting her friend sleep through it. She felt it was better to be safe than risk anything stupid.
"Tams?" Maxie shook her sleeping friend gently. "It's Aleck."
Tammy stirred briefly, shivering as she stretched. "Mmngh... say what...?"
"Aleck texted you, Tammy," Maxie sighed.
Those words seemed to pull Tammy back into consciousness, and she sluggishly sat up from being curled up in her friend's embrace. She hurriedly grabbed the phone, nearly dropping it when it slipped from her unstable grip.
Maxie laid back down, watching with a small frown while Tammy scrambled to communicate with her 'boyfriend.' Minutes later, she laid back down, resting her purple-and-pink phone on her chest.
"What's going on now?" Maxie asked once the ordeal finally seemed to have ended.
"I told him I was sick," Tammy began to explain, her voice weak and a little raspy. "He told me to get well and rest up... said we could meet up some other day."
Maxie wanted to click her tongue, but didn't. Tammy put her phone back on the bedside drawer, but not on the phone rack. It was just laying there now, a tiny part of it dangling precariously off the edge.
"C'mere," said Maxie, and she pulled Tammy over to her while simultaneously scooting closer herself. She just held Tammy's head to her chest, stroking her hair and just coddling her in general. She found her friend's limbs wrapping around her weakly, and they both eventually drifted off.
They would spend the rest of their time in a peaceful slumber.
◎ ◉ ◎
Bailey felt uneasy, and Brodie even more so. After all, they had both just agreed to follow some masked vigilante into a "place where his friend lived," whatever that meant.
The three of them had to walk the entire way, so it had actually taken some time. At some point, Brodie got pretty tired, so the Manticore offered to carry him while Bailey handled his crutches.
Despite his discomfort, that offer was rejected.
Towards the middle of the journey, on one of their breaks, the Manticore went off on his own to tackle an incident happening a few blocks away. The siblings assumed he must have a police radio feeding into an earpiece or something along those lines.
While the Manticore was away, Bailey took out her phone to text Maxie.
cavewoman: 'Max, i'm going out with brodes to look for a new place to stay. Sit tight, alright?'
spicy twig: 'alright... be careful out there'
The entire trip to the location that the Manticore had in mind took some two hours or so with a few stops, but at least they'd finally made it.
The area that the Manticore's friend squatted at was this abandoned compound near Finger River. It wasn't clear why, how, or when the area had been deserted, but it seemed like a decent option once the siblings had finally seen it for themselves.
"So, where's this friend of yours live...?" asked Bailey.
"Up on the third floor in that building over there," the Manticore answered, pointing up at an apartment building close to the center of the deserted zone.
It was half-broken, Bailey noted. As a construction worker, she had to wonder if it had collapsed on its own due to subpar materials or methods. It would explain why the place was abandoned... but a closer look told her that the collapse was likely a demolition crew's doing, so she bit her tongue about her doubts in regards to the building's safety.
"My guy's name's Lucian," the Manticore told the siblings, adding, "I can't stay for long, but just go up there. He should be sleeping, but if you say that I sent you and give him this, he should let you in."
He gave Bailey a tiny slip of paper with a drawing of his cowl on it, as well as some sort of ciphered message on the back.
"Can't you stick around to tell him yourself?"
The Manticore shook his head. "We kinda got some beef right now... some personal shit. He's not the kinda guy to let that affect other things though, so trust me on this one."
Sighing, the siblings relented, and the Manticore took off back into Gotham City.
"Gimme the paper, Bailey," Brodie told his sister once Manticore was finally gone. "Better me than you. I'mma text you if it's safe, and I'll peek out so you can be sure."
◎ ◉ ◎
Lucian rushed out into Gotham—at least, he made it look that way. Once he was sure that he'd gotten out of sight, he made a sharp turn and looked for a good vantage point: one where he'd both be able to keep an eye on his 'guests,' as well as be close enough to slip into his hideout without being noticed.
That task only took seconds in real time. Once he was in position, he crouched low so as to minimize his presence, even while already blending into the dark.
The siblings made their way to the entrance of the building that his hideout apartment was in.
'Good...'
Bailey stayed behind, while Brodie made his way up the steps, struggling with his crutches.
'Did he volunteer to do that...? If so, he's got guts.'
Lucian stealthily rushed to his apartment while the presumed Steele siblings were blind to the location. Hop a gap here, climb a bit there—all of this, he did noiselessly while keeping to the shadows, One for All inactive. Once there, he carefully pushed the door open, shutting it behind him in much the same way. He switched back to his civilian gear, flopped down onto his bedding, and got on his phone.
By the time he reached this point, Brodie had only gotten halfway up to the second floor.
...
Around a minute or so later, someone finally knocked at Lucian's door.
There had fortunately been a functioning doorknob, a barrel bolt, as well as a chain lock when he appropriated the place, so he didn't need to install any of it himself.
Unlocking only the doorknob and barrel bolt, he opened the door just a crack and put on a mean face. Peering out the door seam as far as he could, he saw Brodie flinch back a little, his crutches almost slipping.
'Was my mean face really that intimidating?' he wondered.
"H-hey, uh... you're 'Lucian,' right...?"
Lucian narrowed his eyes further, actually getting a kick out of scaring someone as just himself. "Who's asking?"
"M-my... actually, here..." Brodie fumbled a little bit and handed him the paper slip he'd been given earlier. "The Manticore said you were a friend, and told us you could help..."
'This guy's carrying himself pretty well despite the obvious nerves,' Lucian mused.
He took the slip from Brodie and pretended to look it over. The 'ciphered message' was actually just some lyrics to a song he likes written in Tolkien Elvish script, so there was no real message to be read.
"So you need a place to stay?" asked Lucian, and Brodie nodded.
"Yeah.. me and my sisters. Some shit went down and we've got no place to stay."
Lucian noted the plural. He pretended to think things over before telling Brodie to back up. Once there was decent distance, he shut the door and unlatched the chain lock, fully opening it afterward to step outside.
...
Brodie damn near shit himself when the door opened up for him. The entire place was quiet—even the supposedly nearby river was barely audible, and the faint breeze couldn't even whistle in his ears. When the door opened with a loud clack! it took everything he had to keep himself from backing away. After that, he was greeted to the most intense glower from this 'Lucian' guy. Sharp, dark eyes met him, their brows creased at a dangerous angle. The dim lighting didn't help him look any friendlier, and the glint that he had in his look... it was the kind that Brodie's suppliers had. They didn't only deal weed, after all.
Gulping, he initiated anyway. The conversation went about as well as he could have hoped, and he felt a wave of relief then Lucian finally stepped out unarmed.
He'd actually had his thumb hovering over the 'send' button on his messaging app, telling Bailey to run in case he was silenced. Thankful that the worst didn't come to pass, he allowed the tension in his shoulders to leave.
Lucian was wearing a fitted white tank top when he exited the door—a little stained, but otherwise clean. The piece of upper body wear hugged his form tightly. Now, he wasn't a 'mountain of muscle, rippling with power,' but he did look like he could lay out most people easily if he wanted to. He had on these baggy cargo shorts as well, which let his impressive calves show, and was wearing sandals on his feet instead of shoes.
Observing Lucian's build some more brought Brodie's mind back to his sisters. Firstly, for comparison as to why he was scared shitless of Lucian earlier: Brodie was a bit of a twig when put next to him.
Bailey on the other hand, carried sheer mass and power—she could definitely stand up to Lucian if she had to.
Meanwhile, Maxie was more on the lean and athletic side. Not enough to stand up to Lucian, but she could definitely flip Brodie over like a skateboard.
All in all, Lucian seemed to him like a mix of his sisters in terms of physique, taking only the best of both worlds.
"So, where's the others? They should be nearby, right?"
Lucian's voice snapped Brodie out of his momentary stupor. "Ah- oh yeah, right. One of them's staying at a friend... the other's just downstairs, though. Lemme call her up."
Lucian nodded, crossed his arms, and leaned back against his door.
...
'I can see where Max gets her guts from,' Lucian mused after observing how Brodie carried himself.
He was definitely scared, but he handled the situation great—like a runt standing up to its bigger, meaner siblings. Bailey was also the quickest to adapt among the crowd at the fire, especially considering it was her mother bleeding out on the ground. It reminded Lucian a bit of livestock guardian dogs.
'Looks like my crush on her wasn't superficial. I knew my guts told me she was something special,' he thought with satisfaction.
Less than a minute after being called in, Bailey finally made it to his floor.
"Sorry for the trouble," she said once they were properly introduced. "We just really need a place to stay..."
"Eh, it ain't no big," replied Lucian. "I get it. People like us gotta stick up for each other. You can move in two doors down from me, if you want."
"Two?" Bailey parroted.
"Yeah. I mean, we ain't that close, right? The proximity's enough for security in numbers, but I wouldn't want you sniffing around my place and stuff, even if you never meant to."
At that point, Bailey finally noticed the metal bars protecting Lucian's windows, noting that they were absent from every other window in this particular building.
'He must've invested a lot of time and effort into securing the place,' she thought.
"Alright, sure," she said, then added, "We really don't have anything left, so... mind if we just, I dunno, move in now?"
Lucian shrugged. "Fine by me. Though you might wanna clean up the place first. I'll lend you some of my supplies; just some things I used to clean up my own place."
Thanks were given and accepted, and supplies changed hands. A broom, a mop, towels, dust pans—the works.
Locking up his own place, Lucian left the siblings to their own devices, making up some excuse about a night gig to make money.
Neither sibling questioned it, so his 'escape' succeeded without so much as a hitch...
...
[ Notice. Sheltering people in your territory has granted you 200 EXP. ]
[ Lending them your own resources has granted you 100 EXP. ]
[ Spying activity: moving efficiently to go unnoticed earlier has given you 100 EXP. ]
[ Spying activity: you have successfully deceived these two individuals. You have been granted 100 EXP. ]
[ Total EXP granted: 500 ]
[ Congratulations! Your level has risen to 13! ]
[ EXP to next level: 1651 ]
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Host: Lucian Albrecht
Matrix: Quirk User: One for All
Level: 13
Classes: [Brawler - Level 3] ; [Acrobat - Level 5] ; [Criminal - Level 5]
-[ Attributes ]-
Power: 37 [67]
Vitality: 37 [67]
Agility: 37 [67]
Intellect: 25
Mentality: 26
Spirit: 26
Luck: 0
Free Attribute Points: 0
New class ability unlocked!
Criminal:
[5] Mini Mastermind: You have developed cunning far beyond what should be normal for you. Planning a heist, plotting an assassination, setting up a business, etc. etc.—you now have a knack for setting yourself up for success. Are you infallible? No. But you're damn sure better than most.
New non-class abilities unlocked!
[Intellect 25]: Keen Mind: Your memory has improved significantly, and you now absorb information like the dry, cracked earth drinks in the pouring rain. Easily memorize information and retain it reliably.
[Mentality 25]: Sharp Instincts: You have developed a sort of sixth-sense. You are keenly aware of your surroundings even while not actively observing. You can push your mind to comprehend phenomena before you more intimately as well, trumping even most individuals with years of training. Multitasking is now easier as well.
[Spirit 25]: Sheer Will: Indomitable fighting spirit; pure concentration; unshakeable resolve. Refer to these things, and you know what you have: balls of pure fucking steel. Things that typically cause fear, distress, fury, panic, etc. now have a reduced effect on you. Yes, that includes horni; unless you willfully give in.
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