Wretched Joy 37 (Patreon)

Commissioned by southmonk

Wretched Joy

Chapter 37

-VB-

Armsmaster’s back flared with phantom pain every time he looked at the map of Brockton Bay in his office and the prominently displayed growth of the Nightmare Circles on it. 

The first Nightmare Circle in the Docks had encompassed the entire area. It was now a crime-free zone but also a drug free zone. Because apparently possession of hard narcotics was a crime in Joe’s eyes. Was it Joe’s megalomania showing through? 

The second Nightmare Circle now hung over Trainyard. It was another crime-free zone, but also the site of horrible deaths. There were half a dozen Merchants who had failed to leave the circle in time when it first came up and had died in fear and dehydration. 

The third Nightmare Circle had appeared over the rich western suburbs. It was astounding how many middle income and high income earners had enough skeletons in the closet for them to be outed by the circle.

Because parahuman powers were involved, all of those individuals were investigated to the fullest extent of PRT ENE’s capabilities. The irate director very much wanted some kind of a win, even if it meant they had to pick up the scraps left by Everyday Joe’s passive impacts. 

Because that’s what they determined after months of having the circles around. 

Those circles … were passive. They required no maintenance or usage of power from Joe. Despite the fact that the circles grew to the point that they had overlapped each other and had become a giant wall splitting a third of the city away while a fourth of it was fully within said circles, Joe didn’t need to even think about them.

That was what WATCHDOG had determined. 

And if that was truly the case, then Brockton Bay was lost. 

Not lost to violent gangs and villains who wanted the city for their nefarious desires but a pissed off and hyperviolent vigilante. 

But there was hope. 

Vista. 

Joe refused to harm her. 

There were rumors that Joe might like little girls, but the Protectorate heroes themselves squashed those rumors with prejudice. Vista wasn’t attacked by Joe not because he was sexually interested in her but because she was the only one who acted as a hero should. 

Armsmaster… no, Colin knew that. 

After being forced to suffer as he had and left with phantom pains that should have spurred him onward to defeat Joe, he questioned it all. 

Wasn’t he just a commissioned officer of the federal government at this rate? 

Was he a hero? 

… Those questions didn’t stop him from working toward containing Joe but every time he so much as thought about the fight that shattered his back temporarily, he felt only pain. 

And the pain drove him forward. 

Because Joe was right. 

Colin wasn’t a hero, not really. He now saw what he was as he was; he was a fame seeker. A glory hound. Had that always been the case or had he become one as he aged and fame he initially had shifted toward younger heroes and heroines? 

It didn’t matter. 

What mattered was that he wanted to punch Joe in the face. Punch him hard enough to spill blood. 

That’s all he wanted. Even if Joe broke his legs and arms. Even if he broke his spine again. 

Colin just wanted a single chance to truly knock out the vigilante. If he could do that, then all of the pain and other suffering he’d suffered so far would be worth it. 

-VB-

Emily was in the middle of her paperwork when something about her office changed. 

And when she looked up, her heart stuttered when she saw Everyday Joe just standing in front of her desk.

“Joe-!” she hissed.

He raised a hand. “I’m not here to hurt you or any of PRT and Protectorate ENE’s people if they don’t come to fight me,” he said through gritted teeth.

“... Are you here to make another stupid demand?” she sneered at him even as her fingers held down on the intruder button underneath the desk. 

“No. I just need you to send a message to Alexandria. One of her friends fucked me over after I killed the Slaughterhouse Nine,” he said.

It took for a second for his words to register.

“You what?”

He pulled his arms up and set them down. 

A single broken camera. One that had a hole in it. 

“Because of how I took care of them, there’s no evidence of what I did. So of course, I took a video of it, but one of Alexandria’s pet Thinkers appeared out of nowhere and shot my camera. So this is a message, Piggot. Alexandria knows I killed the Slaughterhouse Nine. Her pet Thinker knows I did them in. So they can hold up the Truce and reward attached to the Nine or I can go after her and her people specifically for their crimes, alright?” 

“You think Alexandria will negotiate with you?” she asked incredulously. 

“You mean after the absolute asskicking I gave her last time?” he asked with a snarl. “Maybe. Maybe not. Because it’s not a negotiation but a statement of intent. If her group decides to fuck with me again over something like the S-class threats, then I will kill them for the threat they are.” Then he stepped back and took a deep breath in. “Just be the gopher that you are, alright? Unless she wants me to start putting my circles in the Triumvirate’s backyard before I’m done with New England.”

Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak but he teleported out before she could respond. 

She sat there, trying to process what he said. 

He attacked the Slaughterhouse Nine. He claimed to have killed them all. 

But then Alexandria’s group, which he didn’t say was the Protectorate or the PRT, interfered and ruined the video evidence of his work. 

Joe… didn’t lie. He didn’t need to. He was a hyperviolent asshole with delusions of grandeur about how society would be great if just the criminals and assholes were killed, not caring that he was one of those assholes. 

So if what Joe said was true…

Emily sighed. 

Why did she have to deal with all of these headaches? 

-VB-

A/N:
Or how Colin didn't quite break like how Joe wanted him to, and Emily is just tired.