[REND] B2. 4.3 - Rise of the Queenpin

Queenpin! I asserted in my head. I didn’t even know where the word kingpin came from. Nowadays, it commonly referred to bosses of criminal organizations and such, but I had a feeling that wasn’t its original usage.

The compound had three squat buildings inside that I could make out, illuminated by dim, yellowing lightbulbs stringed up here and there. And there were several vehicles crammed here, ranging from a beat-up jeep to a glitzy sports car. Lots of people, too, hanging out in the darkness. I could spot them by the glowing ends of their cigarettes and bottles of beer reflecting the lightbulbs.

I didn’t know that Overdrive had this many people at his command. I doubted they were just party people since there was no party going on.

There were whisperings as we weaved through the vehicles in the packed parking area and headed to the middle building. I caught a couple of mentions of ‘Red Hood’. A general tone of disbelief and fear.

Was this what being a celebrity felt like? A scary celebrity…

We entered what seemed to be an abandoned, one-story office building, with rooms on either side of the short corridor. Instead of cabinets and tables, they had sofas and TVs and random stuff. The gangsters had turned this place into their living quarters. Obviously, they were surprised when we entered. I even saw some naked guys and girls covering themselves, asking other people if this was a prank.

Good thing I wasn’t in my Blanchette form with a super sense of smell. It smelled awful here, with smoke from cigarettes and blunts and maybe other drugs, mixed in with alcohol and the general stale dustiness of an abandoned place. I didn’t even want to think about the other odors.

Could I order these people to clean up?

“Make way, make way for Red Hood!” announced the guard who let us pass the gates, as if I were a queen.

Queenpin!

People scurried out of our way. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed them peering out the doors and windows of the side rooms to check us. Specifically, me. It became deathly quiet, with only the sounds of the TVs and radios mixing with each other.

“Yeah, that’s right,” the guard told everyone we passed. “Red Hood’s come to help us, just like Boss Overdrive said she would.”

What’s this now? It seemed that a lot of shit happened without my knowledge. Movies shouldn’t off-screen the important events. Best if the main character was there for them; it’d feel like a cheap asspull, otherwise.

Unless… I wasn’t the main character? No way that Overdrive was the star! I was going to assert dominance and take control of this show.

There was a door at the end of the hallway. What was the difference between a hallway and a corridor?

“Chewie, is Overdrive still up?” Tattoo Sleeves asked the guard leading us.

“Should be,” he replied. “Got a big meeting going on with Kelp and Dulce Maria.”

“The PCM drivin’ them out of their territories?”

“Something like that.”

The guard knocked on the door before poking his head inside. If I remembered correctly, this guard was one of the Gorilla Bouncers at Overdrive’s party. Looks like a gorilla with that big head and massive arms. Was he the one who got injured after I wrecked his gun? Probably not because he didn’t seem angry with me.

“Right this way,” Gorilla Bouncer said, opening the door to a small room.

Three people were inside, sitting on foldable chairs around a table. A yellowish fluorescent light shone from above. It looked like those interrogation rooms where the police would play good cop, bad cop to extract important information that’d propel the movie to its next act.

Sitting on the side of the table, directly opposite the door, was the scrawny Overdrive. Wearing a basketball jersey, his augmented arms were on display, with wires attached to ports connecting to a machine behind him. Was it for repairs? Changing fluids like a car?

On the left side of Overdrive was a beefy man with a face covered in gingery facial hair. He looked like a stereotypical lumberjack. Even wore a flannel shirt. He looked really out of place in this sketchy base.

To Overdrive’s right was a woman with bunched-up braids. She looked quite pretty, though it was obvious under the light that she used heavy makeup to hide signs of her age. Sporting a piercing on her lip and a line of gems studding her right brow, she had the air of badassery.

What if I got more piercings? My Rules only prohibited tattoos, but it could be argued that piercings beyond the common ones on the ears might interfere with future faces. Then again, I couldn’t get piercings now because of my regeneration. Curious, though, that the ear piercings I did have didn’t close.

I swaggered into the room, removing my hood and letting my wavy black hair loose. I scanned the room while thinking of a cool line to open the scene. “Hey, Overdrive. Your previous place was way better.”

Not a very good line. Not bad either. I should make a list of lines for various situations.

“Red Hood!” Overdrive struggled to stand, pausing for a moment to glance at Tattoo Sleeves. “Ye-yeah, still need to spruce it up. Interior design isn’t very high on the list right now.” He hobbled around the table, wheeling that weird pumping machine behind him.

“Glad to see you alive,” I said, giving him a nod like a satisfied boss. “Did the guys chasing you stop after I started wrecking stuff at the docks?”

“Ah, no, no. Bastards kept tailing me up to the intersection heading to the coastal road. I got pinned by two ten-wheelers. Had to get out of my car and shoot it out. This is the result.” He gestured at his body as he tried to stand straight in front of me. “Those fuckers did haul ass after some time. Probably got called back to help defend their base.”

“The important thing is you got out of there in one piece,” I said, looking him over. “If it’s any consolation, I probably killed the guys who shot you if they really did return to the docks.”

“So… I passed the test, right?” Overdrive grinned broadly.

“Test?” What the fuck was this guy talking about?

“You were testing my loyalty. And I’ve proven it! Man, I wish it were easier—repairs are hard to come by without the Tea Party’s help—but it’s all worth it since you’re here now. I was waiting for you. Actually, we—” he gestured at the two other people on the table “—were waiting for you to take charge. Getting real tough with the PCM.”

Take charge? Okay, someone handed me the wrong script. But I couldn’t let it show that I was clueless as hell. I had to extract information about the situation without appearing clueless. “Care to introduce your friends?”

“This big guy over here is Kelp.” Overdrive pointed at the lumberjack. “Been a couple of days since he moved in here. Got muscled out of his usual territory by the PCM. Say something about yourself, Kelp.”

Kelp stood up and bowed. “Good evening, Ma’am Adumbrae,” he said in a smooth, deep voice. He could have had a job as a book narrator instead of doing illegal activities. “A humble drug dealer at your service. I’m not sure what more to say… I had ventured into small-time manufacturing of my own, though I was mostly reliant on supplies from Jim Ambrose.”

“Big Marcy’s subordinate,” I said, nodding.

“The one and only metallic asshole in the city,” Kelp replied, chuckling like Santa Claus. “My area of operations ranges from posh suburbs to the bars of the west side. Demographics are mostly rich youngsters. But everything got flipped when word spread that Big Marcy is leaving the city this weekend. Opportunistic PCM low-lifers took over my operations because they’re selling these new… candies.”

“Calling someone a low life?” said the woman. “That’s rich coming from a guy who sells drugs.”

“As if you’re morally upright, yourself,” Kelp shot back with a growl. It was an instantaneous switch from his pleasant demeanor.

“I’m not sure about moral,” she said. “But I’m more upright than you, I could say.”

“This is Dulce Maria,” Overdrive said, nodding at the woman with many piercings. “You can call her Sweet Mary, too. But she’s really not so sweet. She just got here a few hours ago.”  

Dulce Maria remained seated, only waving at me. “Hey there, Red Hood! I didn’t expect you to be so small.”

“Show some respect,” Overdrive snapped. “You know that she’s just using her human form as a disguise. You’ve seen those videos of the giant red beast? That’s her!” He turned to me with a raised brow. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Videos? I shouldn’t be surprised because there were so many people there. Someone was bound to have filmed my awesome appearance and shared it with others. While it was satisfying to learn that my terrifying form was becoming popular—I needed to get a copy of that video—it was also concerning. The BID would have their hands on it at some point and would want to hunt me, a very dangerous Adumbrae who had mysteriously vanished.

I was in much deeper shit than I thought. Other than tensing my cheeks in annoyance, which my mask hid, I didn’t have any other reaction. Part of me was enjoying the compounding problems. Movies needed tension and conflict!

“Yep, that was me,” I said. “I got forced into transforming because the enemies were a bit stronger than expected. I was avoiding it because it takes so much effort to return to my human form.”

“You can switch back to looking like a human…” Dulce Maria slowly said. “Doesn’t that mean you’re a Completed Manifestation? A strong one, both in terms of Threat Tier and mastery of your mind. I’m feeling better about this group.” She sounded like she knew more about Adumbrae than the average person.  

“So, what’s your deal?” I asked Dulce Marie in as innocent a tone as possible. Going for intimidation tactics wouldn’t impress her.

Dulce Maria stood up and gave me a salute. “Just a small-time businesswoman trying to make it big in the city.”

Kelp snorted. “That’s how you introduce yourself?”

“I got a start with random business, like smuggling cheap food,” said Dulce Maria. “I also managed a chop shop with my ex once. I eventually settled on selling off-the-market brands of Suppressors from China.”

“There’s a market for that here?” I asked. “Isn’t this an Adumbrae-free city? I mean, before Adumbrae attacked the trains last month.

Suppression pills were supposed to maintain a person’s link to the Eloyce Field by hindering the negative effects of stress and anxiety. As far as I knew, this wasn’t medically proven. But many people take them, like dubious weight loss pills that go in and out of fad sometimes. Could the pills from the Professor be related to them?

“You’d think that,” Dulce Maria said. “But look at it this way. A city with no Adumbrae, supposedly, and someone starts experiencing changes. They’ll stick out more; they’ll think eyes are on them. Some people who feel that something’s wrong with them, even if it’s not related to becoming an Adumbrae, get deathly afraid that they’re turning into one. They’ll overthink that their fear will make them turn faster.

“That’s where I come in, selling them Suppressors. Can’t get this stuff without a prescription. And no one wants to go to the doctor for this because they’d be logged on a database. No one wants that. The majority of my customers are young professionals who are stressed from their jobs, working like twelve or even fifteen hours daily. Actually, Kelp and I share a lot of customers.”

“Makes sense.” I nodded. “I’m assuming that the PCM pushed you out so they could sell this… candy?” I shot Kelp a questioning look. Why were there so many mysterious pills around?

Kelp patted the front pocket of his shirt. “Got a sample right here. I don’t know what it does, though.”

“And you’ve all banded together for protection?” On second thought, I shouldn’t have asked. Just take charge. I could kill all of them if they wanted to, and they know that.

“Overdrive here went around gathering people,” said Dulce Maria, pointing her thumb at Overdrive. “I went along because either there’s a way to push back or I’ll leave the city. He also promised me that we’d have Red Hood on our side. I thought it was total bull, but it—”

“It turned out that I wasn’t lying,” Overdrive finished. “Told you that I’m under Red Hood’s protection.” He sounded like a kid bragging about their older brother.

“Same story for me,” said Kelp. “I’m seeing if my gang can stay here, too. More than that, to be honest. The PCM killed a couple of my lads. Throw in revenge there as my motivation.”  

“Well, it seems like I’ve joined your meeting right on time,” I said. “We have much to talk about. I have to tell you about what’s going on. The little I know of it, anyway. I’ll also tell you about my intentions here. Then you’ll decide whether you’re going to join me or not.”

I walked to the table and looked around.

“A chair!” Overdrive exclaimed. “Chewie, get a chair for Red Hood. And one for Teflon, too. You’ve come around to joining us?”

“I’ll listen to what Clar—Red Hood has to say,” said Tattoo Sleeves. I probably better call him Teflon since he’d be part of my organization.

“I can’t believe I’m talking to an actual Adumbrae,” Dulce Maria said as she returned to her chair. “You got, you know, some proof that you’re—? Oh shit!”

I stabbed my finger into the metal surface of the table. “An augmented person could do this, too. But it’s best I leave my demonstrations at that.”

“Most definitely,” Kelp said. “I don’t want to get squished under your giant foot.”

I looked around the table with a huge smile on my face, the biggest I ever had. Thankfully, I had a mask, or they’d see how goofy I’d look right now. This is it. I made it in life. I was the star of a movie!

“I’ll get straight to the problem,” I said. “The PCM aim to make a Purple Bloom.”

Gangsters versus (Fake) Purple Bloom. Coming to theaters near you. I was going to bullshit this whole thing.

(Author's Notes: I managed to finish our Friday chapter today! Book 2 is diverging far, far from the plot of the Prior Cycle. I'm just as surprised as you are that we're heading this way. But I feel this'll be fun, and I'm pushing the 'criminal organization' aspect early. We're kind of going with an Overlord vibe of Erind stumbling into being a leader.

I suppose the challenge is that we have a bunch of new characters, plus we're juggling several plot threads. If you find possible plot holes, do point them out. If you have suggestions or ideas for Book 2, don't hesitate to share them. We're in uncharted territory here. As always, a huge thank you for your support!)