With his recent levelup, Lucian's travel speed had risen dramatically. With One for All now boosting him by 70% of his base physical attributes, it felt like unlocking a new movement upgrade in a Metroidvania game—one that allowed his character to traverse 'difficult terrain' without being slowed down at all.
The feeling reminded him of Samus Aran's 'Gravity Suit' upgrade in Metroid, which let her move underwater uninhibited.
Nearing the location of his usual prizefighting ring, he switched from his Manticore gear to his Phantom getup.
Perching over the corner of a building's rooftop, Lucian scanned the 'pit' below.
Hundreds of people have gathered again, all crammed together in the relatively tight space. Their cheers and jeers rattled the air, and the image of them moving around with so little space... it made them look like a small basin of fuzzy little marbles, jiggling and brushing against each other atop a speaker that blasted heavy bass.
There was Rita at her station as usual, though her twin, Gina, was surprisingly sat next to her.
Deciding to get the fees out of the way first and satisfy his curiosity at the same time, Lucian hopped down to make his way over.
"Oh, shit!"
"Ayo, look! He's back!"
As soon as Lucian landed, a portion of the crowd swarmed around him like flies to shit, leaving just enough space to keep moving forward.
"Are you fighting again tonight??"
"Gomez said you had some shit to take care of yesterday. What was it? Some beef with someone you beat before?"
All sorts of questions were slung at him, but Lucian didn't have the time. He only confirmed that he was indeed fighting again that night, and asked them for some space. Much to his surprise, the crowd was quick to accommodate his request. It seemed like he was growing quite the reputation among them as a celebrity of sorts.
"Rita." Lucian casually called out the receptionist's name as he approached, cash already in hand.
"That's... six rounds? Making up for lost time, kid?"
"I have to," he answered. "Lost more income than I woulda liked because I got a little busy."
"I was honestly starting to think you wouldn't show," Rita admitted, a wry smile on her face.
She was skeptical of the Phantom at first, but the more he fought, the less unsure she felt about letting him fight in the ring. She would always be happy if he stepped away from this life, of course—but at least she was certain now that he wouldn't be in any particular trouble while fighting.
Lucian shrugged. "Some of my private business carried over, but I managed to deal with it in time."
"Nngh...?"
Next to Rita, Gina stirred, who had been sleeping with her head in her arms. She had noticeable bags under her grey eyes, and her usually silky-smooth hair looked disheveled.
"Oh, hey... it's you. Hi, hot stuff~" After getting out that greeting, Gina went right back to slumping over the desk.
The Phantom cocked his head, and Rita took over for her twin. "She's a little fucked up right now... all I can say is that she's been stressed this whole time and finally broke earlier. Drank too much and shit."
"Mmm... I hope she gets well soon. If you'll excuse me, I'll go over to the waiting area now."
One final exchange of pleasantries, and Lucian was on his way to the back where 'Stick and Gomez usually hung out.
◎ ◉ ◎
After resting most of the day away, Max and Tammy started to feel better. They had yet to fully recover from their bugs, but it was good progress. Tammy regained a bit of energy, and Maxie's head felt a lot lighter than it had been throughout the day.
While lazing around in Tammy's bedroom, Maxie's phone rang.
cavewoman: 'Max, brodes and i found a place'
spicy twig: 'where? how's the people there?'
cavewoman: 'Call?'
spicy twig: 'kk'
Tammy heard Maxine's call ringtone. She paused the game on her little handheld console— something called Rune Factory 3 —and turned around.
"Who's calling?"
"It's just Bailey. Looks like they found a place to stay."
Tammy smiled a little, though her eyes flickered in odd directions before returning to her game. Maxie didn't notice and picked up her phone.
"So, where's the place?" she asked, speaking into her phone's mic
"It's close to Robinson Park, a little bit southwest by the river. Someone offered us a place, but we're not exactly renting..."
"So like... for free?? Is it gonna be squatting? The place at least has no living owners, right??"
"Pretty much, yeah. We were sent to go talk to this guy called Lucian. He's ac—"
"Hold on, hold on!" Maxie cut off her sister. "Lucian?? Do you know his last name??"
"No, I don't. Why, do you know him?"
"I might... can you tell me what he looked like?"
Maxie heard her sister sigh through the phone. "Alright... about as tall as me, kinda jacked. He's on the slimmer side, but you can tell he's tough. Looked like a fighter, too. Messy black hair, dressed kinda like a hobo."
"Hey! Don't call him a hobo...!"
"Max...? Wait. No fucking way."
...
Meanwhile, in the Squatter Zone, whose current population was Lucian, Bailey, and Brodie...
Bailey had a look of disbelief on her face. Her phone was on loudspeaker, and Brodie had been listening in while slurping up some spicy noodles. Between them was an electric lamp— a tiny one, just enough to illuminate the 'table' they cobbled together using cinderblocks and plywood.
"No way. He's the guy you've been seeing??"
"Well... yeah...? But we're not seeing seeing each other! It was one date!"
"Still, that's so weird! You met him at work, right??"
"Yeah. We both started working there this month."
"Has he always been squatting?"
"I mean, no...? He used to stay at the restaurant. I guess he moved there recently?"
"Weird... his spot here looks kinda well-cared for, but I guess if he's pretty close with that guy..."
"'That guy??' Bailey, who??"
"Oh, right— you don't know. Ever heard of this 'Manticore' dude?"
"Yeah, he was all over the news this morning."
...
Bailey explained the situation to Maxine— in detail now.
She first elaborated on the sequence of events leading up to the fire; how their mother Adelaine had a particularly terrible customer, leading to her seeking out Connor's peddling stash. That in turn caused a fight, which ended up literally in flames.
She then told Maxie about the Manticore landing on the scene, rescuing Adelaine from the blaze and how she's now recovering in the hospital. He also contributed to their father's arrest, which was another good thing.
Currently, their mother was recovering in the hospital after Wayne Enterprise made a donation to them. It was outwardly anonymous, but the situation was made clear to the Steele family. Their mother would be well-cared for, but Bailey intended to return to the hospital regardless before the night dragged on for too long.
Circling back to the Manticore, Bailey told Maxine about asking to meet again. She left out the details of her wanting the vigilante to assassinate Connor for them. Instead, she skipped to the part where she asked him if he could help them find shelter, which led to the current situation.
By the time that had happened, Tammy drifted back into sleep.
...
"So... yeah. That's about it," said Bailey over the phone.
"That's a lot to take in..." Maxie now lay flat and motionless on her side of Tammy's bed. Well, with the exception of her feet, which restlessly swayed left and right, tapping against each other in a steady rhythm.
"I know... but yeah. Your crush is close friends with a vigilante, I guess."
"That's so weird, but I guess...? We better keep quiet about this though, right?"
"We definitely should," Bailey agreed.
"Damn... guess a vigilante's friend is hitting on me..." There was a lull, then Maxie spoke again. "Hey sis, can we end the call here? That was... kind of a lot."
"Yeah... think we'd be safe over here, though?"
"You should be," Maxie nodded. "Is Lucian there right now?"
"He left a little bit ago, actually."
"He did? Well, he did say that he went on some gigs at night for extra cash."
"Heh, imagine if Lucian was actually the Manticore, though," Bailey joked.
"That's... not entirely unreasonable, actually," said Maxie, sitting up from her position in Tammy's bed.
"... you being for real right now, sis?"
"Well, not for real for real, but like, it's not impossible??"
There was a pause, then Bailey sighed. "All this thinking hurts..."
"Heh, yeah," Maxie chuckled. "I think that's a good place to call it."
"Yeah... goodbye for now, Max."
For a moment, there was silence. Neither sister hung up.
"Hey..."
"Yeah?"
"I love you guys..."
"... we love you too, baby sis."
Click!
◎ ◉ ◎
'Okay, this is giving me a hell of a workout!'
Lucian had wrapped up five matches already. It's been long past midnight by this point, but the crowd was still going strong.
His current opponent could only be described as an actual Goliath— damn near seven feet tall, rippling with layers upon layers of muscle. He had this green glow in his eyes, and the bulging veins visible on any exposed skin carried the same sort of luminescence. He was also covered in stretch marks, evidence of rapid growth. Possibly too rapid. On his wrists and ankles were decorative metal cuffs, and he had various other metallic accessories as well.
Going back to the fight itself, this was Lucian's longest yet. Despite his own base strength being on a superhuman level, his opponent was still a problem— he was doped up on either the Venom serum itself or a version of it, since he looked more like a lesser version of Bane.
[ Be careful. Switch up your fighting style. Slink around him, evade, and target his joints. You can't overwhelm him, so just chip away at his endurance. He's bound to fall at some point. ]
Heeding Penny's advice, Lucian slid under another haymaker from the hulked-up motherfucker that he was matched up against. The crowd went wild when the attack whiffed completely, and Lucian went in for a low spin kick just above the knee. His opponent cried out and let out a blind, whirling backswing. Since he staggered from the pain, the attack missed its mark by a wide margin.
'I'm really tempted to use more than 2% of One for All here... this cunt damn near took my mask off at the start of the fight.'
...
From the back area where they usually hung out, Matchstick fidgeted—he snapped his fingers incessantly, producing little plumes of flame each time. "Shit ain't lookin' so good for our boy here, huh?"
"If this is about the fight, he's gonna win," rumbled Gomez, whose arms were crossed. His fingertips were tensed, digging ever so slightly deeper into his black leather jacket than usual. "But... yeah. Does seem like trouble for him."
Gomez couldn't see them, but he could feel the firearms in the crowd. He wasn't sure how Matchstick could tell, but he'd been a hitman before. He had to know his stuff. There were much more guns in the 'pit' than usual, and all had been the same model from the weight and 'texture.' It looked like someone had beef with the Phantom and these people came here to jump him.
'There's a good chance this juiced-up guy's supposed to weaken him, too.'
In the end, Gomez wasn't too worried. The Phantom was their golden goose, and it would stay that way for the foreseeable future if Paulie could help it. That meant that Gomez had implicit permission to subtly use his metal manipulation to help the Phantom fight off these crooks. If that wasn't possible, he could at least help the masked fighter escape.