Quirky Row Chapter 55: The Plot Thickens (Patreon)

Chapter 55: The Plot Thickens

(Thursday, April 12th, 2124)

It’d been a week since Dex had been assassinated by Julius, and things had gotten quiet in Stilwater. Eerily, so, in Playa’s opinion.

The heroes had backed off, and the cops circled like vultures but didn’t try to do anything. There were no more mercenaries or bounty hunters trying to stab them, and the criminals in the city had become docile, and no newcomers tried very hard to carve out a niche for themselves.

Most of Playa’s attention was focused on the Third Street Saints’ prison, however. The mercs on Dex’s payroll who tried to gank the Saints had been ransomed back to their respective PMCs… or handed over to the police. Yet that left a certain problem on their hands.

“And she hasn’t done anything at all?” Playa asked, peering through the tiny little window that looked into the modified cell where the supposed clone of Lin was staying. She stared blankly at the wall, dead to the world around her.

“Nope. She’s entirely still unless ordered to do something,” the Saint replied. She was a nurse from the hospital who worked for the Saints, providing medical attention to the gangsters, and had been tasked with taking care of the Nomu.

“Does she eat, at least?” Playa wondered.

“Not without orders,” the nurse stated. “We had to jury-rig a device that plays an AI generated copy of Dex’s voice on the intercom that tells her to eat, drink, and use the bathroom.”

“So she just stares at the wall?” Playa asked, feeling a pang in his chest.

“She’s low maintenance, at least,” the nurse shrugged.

“I suppose,” the leader of the Saints grunted. “What about… everything else?”

“Well, we don’t exactly have a lot of the tech to do in-depth analyses of her, so a lot of what we’ve been able to find out is skin-deep, so to speak,” the nurse informed him.

“Anything is better than nothing.”

“Fair enough,” the nurse said. “The, ‘Nomu,’ was it? I can’t confirm if she’s a clone or not, we’re waiting on some blood work to find out if it really is Lin, but I can tell you that the skin is made of highly condensed cells where the melanin has been spliced with some sort of biological preservative. Without it, I have a feeling the body would start to break down.”

“Okay, that explains the black skin… what about the exposed brain?” Playa asked.

“Whatever was done to her to grant her multiple Quirks is responsible,” the nurse claimed. “A single Quirk can be handled by one brain, though many people have mutations within their lobes to allow them to control said Quirk. You, for instance, probably have some alterations to your hypothalamus, which is the part that controls sweat glands. However, whatever was done to Lin to give her a second Quirk really fucked with her mind. Not to mention whatever sort of mental conditioning was applied to her.”

The nurse shook her head. “Simply put, the exposed brain is necessary for air-cooling. Otherwise, it would overheat from all the different bits stuffed inside of it and the Nomu would die.”

“Shit,” he muttered.

“You said it,” the nurse agreed. “This whole thing is completely inhuman. And if this was done to a normal person? They’d also effectively end up brain-dead. If there was anything of Lin left in there… it’s buried deep beneath layers of trauma and brainwashing.”

“I see,” Playa sighed, before sliding the hatch closed. He couldn’t bear to look at what his ex had become.

He then turned to the nurse and gave her a grateful nod. “Thank you for your work,” he said.

“It’s my job,” she replied. He just nodded and walked away, leaving the cell behind and heading to his office.

It probably wasn’t the safest idea to keep Nomu-Lin within the Mission, but Playa couldn’t trust anywhere else to safely house her.

‘What if Dex’s Syndicate friends come after her? What if she has some sort of failsafe built into her that tries to kill her? What if All for One has spies inside the hospital or any other place within the city?’

These thoughts and more filled his head, leaving Playa paranoid and unwilling to have Nomu-Lin out of his sight. Better that she remain close to him and the Saints who could subdue her in case something happened.

Nomu-Lin was still alive, but he wasn’t sure if that was actually a good thing.

‘Whatever happens next, I won’t let anybody hurt Lin again,’ Playa vowed as he entered his office before getting to work.

“Hey, boss,” Shaundi called out a few hours of paperwork later. “You’re two o’clock appointment is here.”

“Ah, right,” Playa hummed, glancing up from his desk. He’d completely forgotten the meeting. “Send her in, then.”

Shaundi nodded and closed the door, before opening it back up a minute later. A woman walked in, with a wary expression, some tension leaving her upon spotting Playa.

“Have a seat,” he offered, and she sat down in the chair he’d gestured towards.

Playa looked at the woman sitting across from him. She was beautiful, with olive skin and ebony hair, and had silvery eyes that were a result of her Quirk. With a white crop top and a very mini skirt, if he hadn’t known better, he’d have assumed she was a supermodel or actress, not a microbiologist.

“Tera Patrick, was it?” he inquired, and she nodded nervously.

“That’s right, Mr. Playa,” she replied. “Or do you prefer Skunk?”

“I’m not in costume right now, so ‘Playa,’ is fine, if you don’t mind,” the leader of the Saints replied. “Now, I’m quite curious as to why you went through so many hoops to speak with me.”

It had been a surprise to hear that the scientist had requested a meeting with him. Normally, that wouldn’t be too outlandish, but Tera had done so in a roundabout way, contacting several strippers in Tee’N’Ay who then passed the message along to Shaundi, who was helping re-organize the pimps and prostitutes into something less blatantly illegal.

“Is the room secure?” Tera asked instead, and now his interest was truly piqued.

He pressed a button, activating the EMP scramblers and white-noise machines, and nodded at Tera, who sagged in relief.

“I-I just can’t keep doing it, anymore,” Tera admitted, shaking a little in her seat. “I can’t keep ignoring everything and looking the other way!”

“What is this about, Miss Patrick?” Playa inquired.

“I work at Ultor. Specifically, in their Research and Development team within the Pyramid,” Tera said.

“I know, I had my guys look into you when you requested a private meeting,” Playa informed her.

“Well, I doubt your ‘guys’ have any knowledge about what goes on in there,” she said, and he nodded reluctantly.

“Damn place is sealed up tighter than a freaking bank vault,” Playa admitted. “Nobody knows a damn thing about it or the projects that go in there. But apparently, you do. And want to discuss them. Why?”

“Because Ultor has gone too far!” Tera said angrily. “I joined because I wanted to put my knowledge to use! And at first, things were going well, but now…”

“What is Ultor doing that’s scared you so much?” Playa asked softly, recognizing the emotion dancing within her eyes as fear covered up by righteous anger. It was a look he knew well. He’d seen it in the mirror quite a few times, after all.

“Monsters,” Tera whispered. “They’re making monsters!”

She began to shake. “They’re taking people and splicing them together, like god-damned Frankensteins! They’re studying and manipulating genetics on a micro and macro scale, all to improve and combine the Quirks of their test subjects!”

“Monsters? With multiple Quirks?” Playa uttered, a sneaking suspicion creeping into his mind. “Miss Patrick, these monsters… would they happen to be black-skinned with exposed brains?”

“Yes! Yes, how did you know?!” she gasped.

“We fought some,” Playa revealed grimly. “One was in the possession of the Brotherhood, courtesy of the Thule Society.”

“What? But that… that was only a few months ago,” she muttered, eyes going wide. “But that means… there’s more out there?”

“Miss Patrick, tell me what’s going on,” Playa urged.

“For the past five years, Ultor has been creating these monsters by fusing people and Quirks together,” Tera explained. “At first, I thought this was something exclusively being done by Ultor, but now, it seems, that there’s more than one facility manufacturing these things. At least one of which is overseas.”

“Five years? That’s when Ultor went from a modestly sized clothing manufacturing and retail company to a damned international, multi-billion-dollar corporation,” Playa said, connecting the dots. “Do you think…?”

“That in exchange for the loan that let them grow and expand to their current size, Ultor had to start researching these monsters? Yes, the timeline seems to fit,” Tera nodded. “I’ve only been working on the project for two years, but the things I’ve seen are horrific.”

“Who’s running this?” Playa asked, a sinking feeling in his gut.

“The man in charge of the project is a man known as Rasheed Guptamara,” Tera said. “He’s an internationally wanted war criminal from India who experimented on people. Ultor has been sheltering him the whole time. However, the higher-ups in Ultor who know about the experiments are few in number. I’ve only ever seen Dane Vogel and Eric Gryphon visiting the Pyramid, though from the gossip I’ve heard, the president and CEO, as well as one or two other board members, might also be aware of the project, and are possibly the ones who green-lit it.”

“I see,” Playa said with a scowl. “These monsters, do they have a name?”

“They’re called ‘Nomu.’”

That cinched it for Playa. Kidnapped people being experimented on for their Quirks, along with a name that was Japanese sounding? This had All for One’s dirty fingerprints all over it.

‘So, Ultor is working with that rat bastard, huh?’ Playa thought to himself with an angry feeling. ‘Not good. Not at all.’

He took a deep breath to calm himself, before fixing the scientist with a sharp look. “What exactly was your job in the Pyramid?”

“As your men no doubt told you, I’m a microbiologist,” Tera said. “My area of expertise is cells, specifically their growth and structures. I mostly work on studying the effects of Quirks on cellular decay as well as how they influence the way the cells in the body work. It’s quite fascinating, actually. People with Quirks that grow metal and other inorganic substances inside their bodies have to mesh with the rest of the body, lest the non-human parts be rejected. Same with the way Emitter type Quirks allow the body to withstand powerful forces…”

She trailed off with a blush, realizing she was rambling.

“A-anyways,” she coughed. “Back to the Nomu.”

“Yes, back to them,” Playa nodded. “Or rather, tell me, why are you here? Why come to me with this information?”

“Because I want your help to take Ultor down!” Tera declared, hands clenching into fists. “I can’t just ignore it, I can’t just sit by and continue to experiment on people!”

“Why haven’t you gone to the media or police about this? Blown the whistle on Ultor?” Playa asked.

“You think people haven’t tried?” Tera scoffed. “Everyone who does ends up dead. All because of ‘accidents.’ And Ultor has a bunch of heroes in their pockets. Including the Number One.”

“I’m sorry, are you saying that Silver Swan is complicit with the murder of whistle-blowers?” Playa demanded, leaning forward.

“If you take a look at the police reports regarding the deaths of the people who tried to squeal, Silver Swan pops up more than any other hero’s name,” Tera said grimly. “She’s always the first one on the scene, but always arrived ‘too late to stop it.’ And, well, I knew one of the whistle-blowers who didn’t make it. They said they were going to try and tell Silver Swan about the Pyramid. When they died and Silver Swan filed the report about stumbling across their ‘suicide,’ well, I put two and two together.”

“Shit,” Playa muttered. Johnny was not going to be happy about his sister-in-law being in bed with Ultor like this.

“That’s why I came here, to you. The Saints are the only people who can oppose Ultor,” Tera said weakly.

Playa folded his hands on top of his desk with a frown. It sounded like Ultor was in bed with All for One, and that was a bad thing for Stilwater and the Saints.

“I suppose it was only a matter of time before this happened,” Playa sighed.

He’d long suspected Dane Vogel would try to do something to the Saints in order to eliminate them. The man was buying up huge swathes of Shivington and other parts of the city that’d long been abandoned to the gangs. The plan to gentrify Stilwater was obvious, looking at what Ultor had done to Saint’s Row. And the Third Street Saints were an obstacle to his plans.

‘Not to mention I know too much about what Dex was doing,’ Playa thought to himself.

Yes, Vogel had upheld his end of the deal and given Playa some shares in Ultor’s stock in exchange for eliminating the bastard, but that didn’t really matter if the businessman ordered his mercenaries to take the Saints out.

“You’ll help, then?” Tera asked hopefully.

“It doesn’t seem like we can allow them to keep doing this,” Playa replied. He then raised a finger to forestall any comments. “However! We can’t just rush into this.”

“Of course,” Tera said with a nod. “What do you need?”

“We need a way to access the Pyramid and steal the secrets within it,” Playa said.

“That won’t be easy. Any sort of access I give you would easily be traced back to me,” Tera muttered in worry.

“What about back entrances? Or for deliveries?”

“They are very selective about who gets in or out. And for the super-secret projects, like the Nomu, they have a teleporter bring them any supplies they need,” Tera replied.

“A teleporter, huh?” Playa hummed. He’d suspected All for One had a Quirk like that at his disposal. Made sense, really. But it would make things harder.

Then, a rancid idea hit him. “Tera, is there a sewage system?”

“Yes, but… wait, are you thinking about going into the Pyramid that way?!” she gasped.

“It’s something they wouldn’t expect,” Playa replied.

“Hmm. Maybe…” Tera mused. “Huh… yeah, that might work.”

“Really?” Playa asked, surprised his off-the-cuff plan might actually succeed.

“The old water ways,” she muttered. “I heard a rumor that the cave systems underneath the city connect all over the place. Some of the sewage systems link up with them, and when the Pyramid was built, they supposedly used those caves as a foundation.”

“Makes sense, the facility is underground, and where better to build than a place like the caves?” Playa said thoughtfully.

“Alright. So, the sewers and the cave tunnels are how the Saints will enter the Pyramid,” Tera said slowly. “What next?”

“Wreck shit and steal data to use as evidence,” Playa replied. “Livestream the whole thing if necessary, too.”

“It’ll take some planning. I’ll see what I can do on my end, but don’t expect much. If I’m caught, I’m dead. Or worse.” Tera replied.

“That’s fine. We’ll plot a method of entry ourselves. Just give us a general idea of the Pyramid’s layout so we don’t get lost when we break in,” the supervillain requested.

“I can do that,” the scientist agreed. Playa offered her some paper and a pen, and Tera began to scratch out a crude blueprint of the Pyramid, at least what she knew of it.

As she worked, Playa watched as the pen sketched out their infiltration method, but his mind was thinking on a different matter.

‘Attacking one of the country’s biggest corporations will get the heroes down on our heads, though,’ he mused. ‘The only chance we have is to get evidence of Ultor’s dealings with All for One and send them to Star and Stripe. Hopefully, she will hold off on our execution if we do so.’

A second idea then popped into his head. ‘And maybe if we do this in the right way, it’ll serve as advertisement for our skills as mercenaries the government can use against All for One!’

“Here,” Tera said, drawing his attention back to her as she passed over the drawing she’d made.

The Pyramid was aptly named, it seemed, as it resembled an upside-down pyramid stuck below Stilwater. There was only a single entry point, the front doors, so to speak. A large freight elevator led down into the pyramid from a surface level Ultor-owned parking lot. The parking lot was surrounded by walls and had a checkpoint for entry.

But that was just the start. The freight elevator had infra-red and x-ray scanners, weight sensors, and could pump a mix of knock-out gas or deadly neurotoxins into it to disable any intruders. Every staircase required a keycard, and the lower you went, the higher the level of security and authority. Power was supplied by in-house generators, and the both the water and A/C was a closed system, with numerous filters to prevent any leaks or build-ups of dangerous gases.

The one exception to the tightly guarded Pyramid was the waste disposal system, but even that looked heavily protected.

‘Yup, definitely going to have to check everything ourselves,’ Playa decided, before looking up at Tera.

“For now, you should act like nothing has changed. Do not let Ultor get tipped off about our meeting.”

“I know,” she replied curtly. “And… here.”

She placed a few photocopied files onto his desk. “It’s not much, but I made copies of the evidence I found regarding the heroes on Ultor’s payroll.”

Playa frowned but took it. From a cursory glance it seemed rather convincing, but he’d make his own inquiries.

“Good luck, Miss. Hopefully, we’ll see each other again,” he said, giving Tera a nod.

She smiled weakly before getting up and leaving the office, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

‘Fuck. Johnny is not gonna be happy,’ Playa sighed.