Within The Apple Ch12B

*****

PRT HQ

“Colin, you might want to see this.”

“Dragon?” Armsmaster shifted, “What is it?”

“Hookwolf is streaming a Capefight,” Dragon told him, her face appearing on the monitor directly across from him.

“Hmm,” He hummed, “There isn’t on the schedule. Have you been able to locate the source of the stream?”

“Not yet,” She admitted. “As is usual, they’re bouncing the signal through several servers in… unfriendly nations. I’ve requested permission to hack the signal, but until it’s granted…”

“Yes, of course,” Colin sighed. “Who’s fighting?”

“It seems that Hookwolf caught Hellhound trying to save some of his dogs,” Dragon said, earning a quiet curse from the Tinker.

“Damn it,” Armsmaster swore, shaking his head, “How is she holding up?”

“She was taken down almost immediately, even her dogs weren’t a match for Hookwolf when she was caught by surprise,” Dragon said. “However, Magus interrupted before things could get too… out of hand.”

Colin stiffened in alarm, “Magus… is he?”

“Alive, well, and seemingly mocking Hookwolf,” Dragon told him with some amusement, “That young man has a twisted sense of humor and a true level of disregard for Nazis it appears.”

Colin sighed, but in relief this time. He hated the idea of another Tinker being cut down by that beast, particularly a talented one. Additionally, he was hoping to collaborate with the young tinker to see if he could duplicate some of the rather impressive inventions he’d seen.

Dragon was smiling knowingly at him, “Relieved that you might not be losing access to the young man’s technology?”

“It is of inestimable value,” Armsmaster defended himself brusquely. “Can we locate the fight from the video?”

Dragon frowned, “I’ve been trying, but the feed is angled to show very little beyond the remains of an old factory from the looks of things.”

“Something we have far too many of,” Armsmaster grumbled.

“Precisely.”

He got to his feet, “I’ll put out the word to all patrols and get out there myself. While I abhor the inefficiency, we may be able to get lucky.”

“I’ll monitor the feed and let you know if anything changes.”

“thank you.”

*****

Lisa Wilbourne answered the phone on the first ring, not even needing her power to tell her who it was.

“Hey boss, I assume you’re watching this too?”

“What is your read on Magus?”

Lisa shrugged without taking her eyes off the fight she had running on one monitor while she had PHO open on another.

“Not enough real information yet,” She admitted. “I can tell you that he believes what he’s saying, and he’s not even slightly intimidated by Hookwolf. Best read I have on him right now is that he’s seen worse… much, much¸ worse.”

“Powers?” Coil asked in a clipped tone.

“No idea,” Lisa admitted. “One moment he reads like a basic brute mover, next I’m getting Tinker vibes, then flashes of Blaster… If I had to guess right now, I’d call him a Trump.”

There was a long silence from the other end of the line.

“That’s not good enough.”

“That’s what I have,” Lisa snapped, reaching for a bottle painkillers. “This is the first eyes on I’ve had with Magus, and the details just keep changing. Trump is the best I can do for now,and that’s not even my powers speaking, that’s just logic. Whatever he is, it screws with my powers.”

She swallowed a couple of the extra strength tablets as Coil grumbled over the line.

“I’m on it for now, hopefully with more data I’ll be able to filter out the noise, but that’s where I’m at.”

“Fine,” Coil snapped after a long silence. “I want a report once the fight is over.”

“You’ll get it,” She said, though the phone connection went dead halfway through her words.

Lisa sighed, dropping her phone back down beside the keyboard as she looked over to the video again.

*****

E88 Fighting Pit

Xander rolled away from the attack that was intended to turn him to mulch, easily coming back to his feet with no effort. He was working Hookwolf around the fighting area with ease, keeping the Nazi focused on him while he obfuscated their positions as much as he could.

“Hold still you little shit!”

Xander laughed, but stood his ground and extended his arms to either side, “Ok lapdog, I won’t move. Take your shot.”

Hookwolf shot him a glare and squared off, seething now at the mockery he could feel being directed at him. Even the cheering of his own people had dropped, more of a low murmur of worry now.

He loosed his power fully, blades whipping around like a blender designed by Escher. With a lean into it, he let his power bite into the concrete below him, and surged forward with vicious acceleration. Spinning blades outstretched, he reached out for blood, seemingly surprised when his target really didn’t move.

Xander watched the murder blender come straight at him, waiting for the last possible moment, and then focused his intent and let his power loose.

With a crack of displaced air and a whisp of black… something… he vanished from where he was and appeared right behind Hookwolf, letting a mule kick into the back of the Nazi’s head from behind, and sending him crashing forward into the cement pylon Xander had positioned himself in front of.

Hookwolf’s blades chewed through the cement with disturbing ease, shredding the base and bringing down the rest on his head, driving him to the ground.

Xander landed easily and turned to watch with interest as chunks of the roof, barely held up as it was, slammed into the Nazi in succession, hammering him into the cement floor. Dust covered him for a moment, and silence filtered out aside from the occasional chunk of something else falling.

Finally a metal on cement scrape could be heard as the dust settled and Hookwolf appeared again, covered in cement dust as he picked himself up and stalked slowly out of the mess.

“You said you weren’t gonna move,” Hookwolf snarled.

“I didn’t,” Xander said with a grin. “Technically I folded space. I didn’t move, the universe did.”

Hookwolf stared blankly for a long moment before shaking his head, “A smart ass answer to everything, is that it?”

“Well, better than a dumbass one,” Xander responded. “I mean, not all of us are so intent on dragging down the average IQ by flying Nazi colors in America, you know.”

Hookwolf’s blades spun furiously, hiding his body… if there was any of it left that hadn’t been converted to steel.

“You talk a lot of shit for someone who’s just been running away.” The voice that came from the mass of spinning blades sounded like a grating of steel on steel.

Xander just grinned, “Just would have felt bad if I didn’t give you a chance to show off for your little friends here. I know how tough it can be being a bully, all that posturing and everything.”

“If I catch you, I’m going to scatter your remains across this whole fucking city,” Hookwolf promised.

Xander flexed his hand, his wand appearing in his grip a moment later as he lost his smile.

“If.”

*****