Chapter 11

“Just a moment… Alright! Here you are! Three gallons, that will be $300 dollars or 30 ounces of food. If you are trading other things then Mary over there will handle your transaction. Thank you!” Charity said to an older gentleman as another customer came up to her.
It was almost dark out as the customers kept coming to the Caster Trading Company. The name had more or less been decided by Mary and Charity the night before. Even though they no longer resided within Caster Park they wanted to keep it in the name as they felt it would respect where they had all met and formed as a company. And so, one week after the Invasion, The Caster Trading Company officially formed.
They had begun to light candles wherever they could to light the large lobby but it was still incredibly dim inside. Darius and Todd were outside and knew they would have to cut the line off soon. People were still lined up around the corner. Despite them working since about 1:00 PM, there were still so many people wanting to trade for food and water. Darius turned to Todd and looked at him in the eye. He balled his fist and held it up, Todd did the same.
“Okay…1…2…3…Go!” Darius said as he laid his hand out flat.
Todd kept his fist balled.
“Shit!” Todd yelled.
“Get to it!” Darius said with a laugh.
“Dammit….” He said with a sigh.
Todd reluctantly walked up to the line right outside the door and cleared his throat.
“Okay…Okay… Attention! Can I have your attention, please… “ Todd said his voice slightly breaking with a bit of nervousness.
He wished Charity was out here doing this instead, she had a way with crowds and it seemed so natural for her to talk to other people. He sighed and looked back at Darius who was giving him a thumbs up.
“Don’t give me that you asshole…” Todd mumbled to himself and turned back to the crowd.
“I-It is now getting too dark to see…So… Everyone behind this point… I’m sorry but you will just have to come back tomorrow.” Todd said out as loud as he could.
“What! You use to stay open till 9:00 at the park!” Someone shouted and the rest of the crowd followed with a loud agreement.
Todd looked back at Darius. The look in his eyes telling him telling him that he can’t deal with this shit. Darius sighed and walked up beside him and patted him on the shoulder.
"Fine, I got this." Darius told him and then faced the crowd.
“That’s true that we closed at 9, and it still is! But back there we could build multiple fires for light. I know this is frustrating for you all but for everyone’s safety, it’s best to start heading back home while there is still some light out. In the following days, we are going to try to get some more light so we can stay open later and to illuminate the street. If you couldn’t get anything today, please go home, get some sleep, and trying again in the morning. We will be open as soon as it’s dawn.” Darius said out.
Todd looked at him. He knew that Darius knew that he has problems with public speaking. He wished he had just spoken from the start instead of playing rock, paper, scissors for it. Todd watched as the crowd of people begrudgingly broke up and began walking away.
“Why don’t you just talk to the crowds from now on?” Todd asked him.
“Cause you always pick rock.” Darius said back and began to walk into the building.
“Excuse me!” They both heard out from behind them.
Darius and Todd looked back at the familiar sounding voice. The crowd had dissipated and the only thing left was the single man standing in the road. Darius’ mouth formed into a sneer as he saw the man in his suite and pencil stylized mustache.
“You son of a bitch!” Darius yelled out as he walked past Todd and took a swing at the Dapper Man.
The man dodged with ease and then palmed Darius in the face in one smooth and fluid motion, causing him to falter back. Todd caught him, preventing him from falling over and helped him back up straight.
“Whoa now! I’m not here to fight! I’m here to congratulate you all one your grand opening!” The Man said.
“Fuck you and your congratulations! Get the hell out of here now!” Darius said as he wiped away blood from his mouth.
“Hey now! That’s no way to treat a potential customer! Come on, we’re both businessmen. So let’s sit down and talk business!” He said to Darius and he clapped his hands together.
At this point, everyone that was still in the building was staring out the windows at the situation. Sir and Trevor came walking out and stood beside Darius.
“Look, We got off on the wrong foot… Hold on! I told you that yesterday right before I kicked you in the face! But never mind that! Look, I know your source. I was wondering why you were so damned tight-lipped about where you get your water. Then it hit me! You are the source!” The Man said smiling.
“So what? You want me to come with you? Tough luck!” Darius said.
“Why no! I already know that you would never do that so how about this? We will pay you to stop…” He said.
Darius looked at the man, then to the rest of his friends. They all had the same confused look as Darius.
“What? You’re going to pay us to stop making water?” He asked.
“Boy, you’re a sharp one! But yes! How about 100,000?” He asked.
“100,000 what? Dollars?” Sir asked.
“No, Sardines! Yes, I’m talking money here!” The man said sarcastically.
“No…” Darius said.
“Come again?” The man asked.
“No? We make way more than that.” Darius said to him.
“I see… Then how about I don’t let out your other secret then?” The man asked.
“What are you talking-” Darius said before the Man cut in.
“Why I’m talking about your ability to take others!” He said loudly.
The group went silent. Darius looked over to them and then looked at the people still in the building as they seemed to be talking to each other.
“Oops! Looks like the cats out of the bag! Hahaha” He laughed.
“How did you know?” Darius asked.
“Well, I began to suspect that something was afoot the moment my sweet, sweet Tony couldn’t make any more of his walls.” He said.
“So now what? You want me to give his power back?” Darius asked.
“You can give them back?! Well now, I wish I didn’t let him go. We don’t have much use for a wall maker that can’t make walls. Poor Tony, but at the time I just had to let him go.” He said shaking his head.
“You fired him just cause he couldn’t use his ability?” Darius asked.
“Oh no! I shot him in the face! Sorry if my choice of words confused you. Poor Tony.” He said shaking his head.
They all stared at him. He literally just admitted to murder right in front of them. Darius already knew the man was insane, but the complete lack of emotion said it chilled Darius to the bone. He knew that the other man wasn’t a boy scout but still.
“So now what? I refuse your offer…” Darius said to him.
“Yes, truly a shame… Well, guess it can’t be helped! Have a nice night!” The Man said, did a quick bow and turned to leave.
They all just watched as he walked away and then turned the corner. They all waited for some sort of attack. They looked around at the other empty buildings but nothing seemed to happen. A full ten minutes went by, and the people that had stayed inside during the confrontation had all left while the leaving was good.
“The hell? Did he really go?” Todd asked.
“I… I guess so…” Darius said.
They all turned and walked inside, occasionally looking over their shoulders. Mary and Charity were waiting by the windows and went up to them as they entered.
“I contacted Elizabeth while you guys were talking.” Mary said holding the walkie-talkie.
“What did she say?” Darius asked.
“She said that she would try to get in contact with anyone else in the area to come to us.” Mary said.
“Did they say when they would be here?” He asked.
“No… just soon.” She said.
“Well, he’s already gone. I’m not sure what good they can do now.” Darius said.
“God! I wanted to punch him in his punchable face!” Charity said with a notable hint of anger in her voice.
“We all do… Why the hell does he talk like that?” Trevor asked.
“Like what? A 1930’s gangster? He’s freaking crazy!” Todd said.
“He is a Meta for sure… Don’t know what his ability is though.” Darius said.
“How are you sure? It didn’t look like he did anything.” Mary said.
“It’s weird. When I tried to punch him-” Darius said.
“It’s like your aim was off?” Sir asked.
“Yeah! Like I knew I should have hit him! He didn’t move his head fast enough to dodge but… It’s like I misguessed about how far away he was. But I could have sworn I should have hit him!” Darius said.
“Yeah, the same thing happened with me and Trevor when we fought him yesterday. It was almost like we were drunk and couldn’t tell distance with him.” Sir said.
“What the hell kind of power is that? Does he alter depth perception?” Charity asked.
“I don’t know… Look, let’s just close up eat and wait for whoever was supposed co-” Darius said just as a knock came at the door.
Darius swirled around and looked at the door. The dim lighting on the candles made it near impossible to see out the glass but he could tell it wasn’t The Man. Darius walked to the door and opened it. A woman in her late thirties walked in. She was wearing a purple vest and a long dress with a slip.
“I got a call that someone needed help?” The woman said.
“Yeah, That was us… The person we called about left though. He wore a suit, had a thin mustache and looks like he stepped out of the 1930’s” Darius said.
“Oh… Okay, I’ll keep an eye out for him. I was told by HQ to keep patrolling around this area. They also told me that you guys had one of our radios? Is that right?” She asked.
“Yes, The Association gave us one.” Mary said taking a step towards her.
“Okay. My frequency is 109.37. My name is Amethyst Heart.” She said.
“109.37… Got it!” Mary said to her.
“Alright then, If you have any more problems just radio me directly.” She said with a nod and walked out.
“Thank you! Sorry for the inconvenience.” Darius said out to her as she turned and nodded.
She suddenly began to glow a faint purple and began to float up into the air. With a final wave, she shot up into the sky with incredible speed.
“Jesus…” Darius said as he watched her take off.
“Cool!” Charity said watching as well.
“Do you know her?” Darius asked.
“No, I think she is a newer member of the UHA. I don’t know much about her.” Charity said.
“Well. Let’s all eat and get ready for bed then!” Mary said.
“Oh! I guess I didn’t get around to telling any of you but I refilled the water tower earlier. If you girls want, You can go up to the top floor. There is an apartment up there. After a little clean up you can take a quick, cold shower.” Darius said.
“Seriously? We can take a shower?” Mary asked.
“A cold shower but yeah… Just let the water run for a bit to clean out the pipes.” Darius said.
“Oh and let Trevor change the flavor of the water first… But yeah, Have fun!” Darius said.
“Okay! Let’s eat!” Charity said excitedly at the prospect of being fully clean.
As they all pulled from their food profits, they sat down or stood around one of the tables. As they ate they constantly looked over at the windows or front entrance. After a few minutes of watching this, Sir finally spoke up.
“I think we should start hiring more people.” He said to the group.
“Why? I thought we were handling everything alright.” Charity said as one of her ate some tuna on a cracker.
“Sure, as long as no one goes on a break, then we can almost keep up.” He said to her.
“So we hire a few more people, how do we pay them?” Darius asked.
“Same way we are paying ourselves. All the water you can drink, the security of having food and a place to sleep. Once money is back in use, then that. But I wasn’t just talking about extra help for business.” Sir said.
“You’re talking about security?” Trevor asked.
“I am.” Sir said to him.
“You want us to hire some muscle?” Darius asked.
“But we have the radio.” Mary said to him.
“And that didn’t help just a while ago, we need people here 24 hours a day to handle things. I like some of those UHA guys as much as you all, but we can’t rely on them every time.” Sir said.
“You’re right… No one here really has any fighting experience.” Darius said.
“Well I do, but I’m not as young as I use to be.” Sir said.
“I know how to fight.” Charity said before she took a drink of water.
“Really?” Mary asked.
“Come to think of it you were really squirrelly during the fight with that tall lady.” Darius said.
“Don’t call me squirrely!” She said staring at him.
“Where did you learn to fight?” Mary asked.
“Well, I had a bad experience in college. After that, I enrolled in a self-defense class. Learned the basics and started some Judo classes. Then I graduated and moved here after finding a job.” She said.
“Huh, That explains you tackling and punching the shit out of the woman.” Darius said.
“Okay, So other than you two we have no experience. And if we get into any trouble with a Meta the only person that may be able to handle that would be Darius and well…” Trevor said looking at Darius with a half-cocked smile.
“Yeah, I know… I can’t fight for shit.” Darius said with a sigh.
“Sorry man.” Trevor said to him.
“So how many people are we looking to hire?” Todd asked.
“Maybe three or four? Two to help in the store, Two to keep the place guarded.” Sir said.
“Okay, I guess we can make an announcement in the morning. Mary, do you think you can start cleaning the other floors tomorrow? Uh, Charity and Todd can you handle the trading? Trevor, Sir and I will interview people.” Darius said.
“Sure that won’t be a problem!” Mary said.
“Why just her? That’s a lot of work for one person.” Todd said.
“Well, she’s good at cleaning and we can try and hire someone to help her.” Darius said.
“I’ll be fine!” Mary said slapping the table with her hands.
Everyone looked over at Mary. They could see the annoyed look in her eyes.
“I can handle cleaning by myself!” She said and sat back down.
“Okay then… Everyone good on the plan then?” Darius asked.
“Yes!” Mary said out before everyone else.
“O-Okay then!” Darius said and began eating again.
After everyone ate in relative silence Darius and Trevor walked up to the roof so Trevor could flavor the water in the tower. Trevor climbed up top, followed by Darius. They had brought a candle for light, but the moon and starlight seemed more than enough luckily as a strong breeze blew the flame out before long.
“So, Mary…” Trevor said as he opened the tower hatch and placed his hand over it.
“Yeah, got a bit awkward there for a moment.” Darius replied as he looked out over the rooftops.
“Todd is a bit too overprotective of her.” He added.
“You think?” Trevor asked with a small laugh.
“What do you think Charity meant by when she said she had a ‘bad experience’?” Darius asked.
“Don’t know, why not just ask her?” Trevor said taking his hand out of the tower and began to close the hatch.
“What if it’s a touchy subject for her?” Darius asked.
“Then she’ll tell you to drop it… and then you drop it.” He said.
“… I guess.” Darius said.
“You like her?” Trevor asked sitting down looking out over the buildings.
“Uh… Yeah, I mean what not to like? She’s smart, beautiful…” Darius said.
“There are two of her.” Trevor added chuckling, Darius laughed as well.
“Yeah, that’s a plus!”Darius said laughing.
“But, I don’t see that happening… I think she only sees me as a friend.” Darius said to him.
“Just keep at it man, eventually she will get old and see you as her only option.” Trevor said and started laughing.
“You’re not that funny.” He said to him.
Trevor kept laughing for a few more moments.
“You done yet?” Darius asked.
“Aha, oh… My sides hurt.” Trevor said wiping a tear from his eye.
Darius sighed and looked up at the stars.
“This is all crazy right? A week ago I was a bus driver…” Darius said.
“Yeah… Yeah, it is.” Trevor said back to him.
They both could hear a bubbling in the water tank. They looked back at the hatch, then back forward.
“The girls are probably taking a shower now.” Darius said.
“Yeah.” Trevor said.
“You should get some sleep.” Darius said as he slowly stood up and walked to the ladder.
“What about you?” Trevor asked.
“I’ll take first shift watch in the lobby. I’ll wake someone up in a few hours and let them take over.” Darius said to him.
“Okay, see you later then!” Trevor said back.
Darius looked back over his shoulder at Trevor. He was still sitting on the water tower looking up at the sky. Darius entered the stairwell and carefully made his way down. He didn’t have a way to relight the candle and had to stumble his way in the dark to the second floor. As he finally walked into the second-floor lobby he could see Sir sitting next to a candle reading a book.
“You can get some sleep if you want. I’ll take first watch.” Darius said out to him as he walked up behind him.
“Alright, once I’m done with this chapter.” He said back.
Darius looked over his shoulder, he couldn’t tell what the book was. But it seemed like a cheap pulp fiction novel that someone had traded. Books like that actually had no value of trade. They just took them in if people were trading in a bunch of other stuff. Since they never gave people individual trade values they could get away with it. Darius read a few lines and then straightened his back and walked over to the windows.
He bent his head out and looked both ways. He then looked up and could see a faint purple orb streak through the sky. He knew that that was Amethyst Heart but he couldn’t think how flying at such a high speed and so far up could allow her to patrol. He took a step back from the windows and snapped his fingers. A brown translucent wall raised from the floor in front of the window and stopped just shy of the windows top. Darius walked up to it and inspected it closer. There was about a two-inch gap between it and the wall. He seemed pleased with it.
“You getting the hang of that?” Sir asked.
“Yeah! It’s actually super easy to use. At least when compared to my water ability.” Darius said.
“How so?” Sir asked.
“Well, I guess it’s because there is no sliding scale of strength with it. My water power can be a dribble or I can shoot it out like a fire hydrant. It can be difficult to control because the output is determined by flexing the muscles in my arm. So I got to make sure I only flex enough for the amount I want. But my wall is just focusing on a point and snap my fingers.” Darius said to him as he looked at his hand.
“Hmmm, You know… I used to know a Metahuman back in the Sino-Soviet war.” He said to him.
"Sino-Soviet? Uhhh... That was the one only lasted like half a year right?" Darius asked trying to remember stuff he had heard in histroy class more than a decade ago.
"Yeah, we were sent in to back up China. Was only there for two months but it got pretty intense." Sir said.
“So... what could your friend do?” Darius asked as he pulled up another chair as Sir closed his book with a small piece of paper to mark his place.
“He could actually do two things. He could teleport objects short distances and also he could create a sorta Coldfield around himself” Sir said.
“Coldfield?” Darius asked.
“He could make the air around himself frigid, like -100 degrees cold.” Sir told him.
“Whoa! That’s a weird combination.” Darius said.
“Yeah! That’s what everyone in my unit thought as well. But apparently, that isn’t so rare. He told me a lot of Metas are born with conflicting or unrelated abilities.” Sir said.
“I guess that’s right, flying and super strength aren’t really much alike. But a lot of Meta have that combo.” Darius said.
“It’s not just that, Most Metas that are born with two or more ability are usually much weaker than those born with one. That why it’s harder for them to join the UHA. Metas that have multiple abilities that are still strong are actually the ones that are considered odd in the Meta community.” Sir said.
“Ah, I see. So why are you telling me about your friend?” Darius asked.
“Well, even people with conflicting abilities can often combine and use them at the same time. My friend could teleport his Coldfield into other people. He didn’t like to do it. Said it was too inhumane to freeze from the inside out. But he was forced to do it a number of times. Saved my life more than once.” Sir said.
“Wow, sounded like a great guy.” Darius said.
“He was.” Sir said.
“Was? Did he?” Darius asked.
“About a two before he was supposed to go on leave.” Sir said with a nod.
“Walked into an ambush, before we could even realize what was happening he was on the ground, blood coming from a wound on his side.” Sir said.
“I’m sorry.” Darius said to him.
“It’s fine, I told you about him to illustrate a use of your abilities that you may not have been trying.” Sir said.
“Combining my abilities? I’m not even sure how to go about doing that.” Darius said.
“You should ask that Little Landlord of ours.” He told him.
“Elizabeth? Why?” Darius asked.
“You know she had trained a lot of heroes right?” Sir asked him.
“She has? I thought she just likes to research and drink.” Darius said with a laugh.
“I believe she was the one that scouted Light Star.” Sir told him.
“Light Star? The Light Star? Man…”Darius said thinking about that.
Light Star was the single most popular Hero that has ever graced the UHA. With the powerset of flight, super strength, ultra durability, and near unlimited endurance. He was a force to be reckoned with. But that was not all, He was also seemingly immune to psychic attacks and manipulation. The story had it that he had no interest in becoming a Hero in the beginning, and was studying to be an architect before joining the UHA. Darius had no idea that Elizabeth had been the one to scout him.
“I wonder how she managed that.” Darius said thinking.
“Don’t know, You should ask her that too.” Sir said as he got up from his chair and stretched.
Darius could hear a pop come from Sir’s back and watched as he made his way up to the second floor. He stopped on the stairs and looked down at him.
“Good night, Don’t stay up too late.” He told him and continued up the stairs.
Darius waved back and then sat alone. He looked around the lobby and at everything they had built in such a short time. It still felt a bit unreal, the state the city was in, they people he had met, the powers that now crawled under his skin. If it wasn’t for the fact that he kept getting his ass kicked he might be wondering when he was going to wake up.