Fluff

Chapter Seventeen - Homie and the Try Hards

“Homie?” Emily asked.

She didn’t mean for it to sound so surprised, but the word was just not one she’d associate with such a straight-laced looking person as Handshake. He looked more likely to complain about anyone using the name than anything else.

The information broker nodded. “Yes. You might want to take a seat, I have a lot of information to deliver.”

“You, um,” Emily said with a look around. “You won’t charge for it?”

“After what he did to me? No. The fact that he inadvertently put you at risk also means that he basically waived away any decent thoughts I might have had about him.” Handshake rubbed at his stubble-covered cheeks with his uninjured hand. “It might make him want to come back at me if he learns, but I figure we’re antagonistic enough at this point.”

“Okay?” Emily tried. She scooted over to one of the wooden benches lining the edge of the gazebo and sat down. A moment later, Teddy hopped backwards and plopped herself down next to her.

“Right,” Handshake said. “Melanie, want to sit down too?” he asked.

The now-named Melanie shot him a glare, but stomped over to a bench halfway across from Emily’s own, a spot that forced Handshake to turn ninety degrees to be able to face both of them.

“Thanks. So, Homie. Twenty-seven years old, male. Drop out from the local college. Gained his powers on power day last year while in his last year in the engineering program. Went from a nobody to... honestly, he’s still a nobody. It’s a minor miracle that he hasn’t been locked up yet, but his rap sheet is pretty pathetic.”

“He’s a villain?” Emily asked.

“He started with Dealer as a morality. Technically grey, but as dark as grey gets,” Handshake said. “He’s still around there now. His gang, the Try Hards are a joke, on purpose.”

“What do you mean, on purpose?” Teddy asked the question in the back of Emily’s mind.

“They recruit from disillusioned college students, mostly well-off sorts that came in with a lot of mommy and daddy’s money and no idea how to take care of themselves. They want to feel and look tough, and the Try Hards give them an opportunity to do that.”

Melanie scoffed. “Their worst crimes on most days are things like painting shitty graffiti on walls and loitering. Sometimes there are noise complaints when they listen to music too loud. To be fair, it’s shit music.”

“They deal drugs too,” Handshake said.

Melanie’s brows bunched together. “Hard?”

He shook his head in denial. “No. soft stuff. Weed and a few party drugs. Legally grey stuff.”

Emily wondered what that meant. She knew that drugs like alcohol and marihuana were pretty dangerous but not illegal, and she knew there were worse drugs out there that were. If they weren’t selling the really illegal stuff, then were they really doing something grey?

“They’re directionless kids following some jumped up idiot with powers,” Melanie said.

“You’d think that,” Handshake said, “but there’s a method to their madness. This is the part that most people don’t know. The Try Hard gang, if you even want to call it that, is part of a bigger organization. One led by a Criminal who goes by the name Cement.”

Melanie’s face scrunched up in distaste. “That guy? I thought he did white-collar shit? The occasional protection racket.”

“Homie is his top lieutenant,” Handshake went on to explain. “The Try Hards are basically a kind of cover. They’re also an arm of Cement’s... organization. I don’t like using the term though, it’s too strong. Cement has three or four knee breakers that work for him, but most of his income comes from non-physical crimes. Blackmail, extortion, a bit of information selling. The kind of thing that the average hero can’t punch.”

The woman sitting across from Emily shifted and glared harder, but she didn’t say anything to that.

“That’s, um, the man responsible for your...” Emily gestured at Handshake.

“That’s probably it, yeah,” he said. “I was snooping into his group. One of Homie’s little pets got a power last week and Cement seems to have moved a few things to hide someone, possibly another new mask. He might have clued in that I was snooping on him. Or he just decided to take a bigger slice of the information selling pie. Or maybe Homie’s too big for his britches. I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter, does it,” Melanie said.

“No, not really. Homie has a drive with a fair bit of information on it that I think both of you would rather not get out into the public. And now you know.”

“What... what are you doing about it?” Emily asked.

He shrugged his good shoulder. “Well for one, I’m telling you two. You’re the only masks in the immediate area who are impacted the most.”

“Dammit,” Melanie growled. After hearing Teddy’s growling it didn’t sound as scary as Emily would have thought. “Before anything else, give me the low down on their powers.”

“Homie’s powers are the stranger of the two. They’re kind of hard to describe and can be rather esoteric. Also, he’s been a mask for over a year now, and even if he’s level one he’s been cultivating his power for a while.”

“I know how it works,” Melanie said.

He pointed to Emily and Teddy. “They don’t.”

The woman crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. “Fair. Go on.”

“So, Homie’s power allows him to... permeate a room. The more time he spends in an area the more he gets to know it. The location of items, where people and things are in relation to each other and so on. It sounds weak, but then most powers that sound weak have a kick to them. His big advantage is that he learns how to use things in a room he’s in. Spend time in a class and he’ll learn from the books within, spend time in a garage and he’ll know how to... I don’t know, change your oil? I don’t think the effects are permanent.”

“That’s kind of impressive,” Emily said.

“It gets worse,” Handshake said. “If he stays in one place long enough his control of the things there improves. He can set off lights, move things a little, operate machines and so on. He has a few boltholes set up across the city for his use that he visits regularly to reinforce.”

Melanie nodded. “Kind of esoteric, but I can see it being a pain in the ass to deal with. Is that all?”

“For him, yeah. His boss is a bit harder to pin down.”

“Cement?” Melanie asked. “He controls cement. It’s pretty simple.”

Handshake shook his head. “He’s level two. Cement control was his second power.”

“Um,” Emily said and immediately regretted it when their attention turned her way. “Sorry, but level two?”

“Each level a person gets unlocks an entirely new power,” Melanie said. “But there’s only one way to get a level, and that’s by winning an Endgame.”

Emily shuddered. ‘Oh. Right.”

“Cement’s first power isn’t known. I can’t even pin down which Endgame he was at. I can tell you that he only started moving in full after he got his cement control abilities. He tends to use them to cover himself in a foot or so of the stuff. It moves slow, but it’s heavy, and his power lets it stay liquid.”

“He’s a bruiser. Able to take a beating and dish one out, but not able to move fast,” Melanie said.

“Unless his first power was a movement ability, in which case your assumption could be dangerous,” Handshake pointed out. “I suspect that his primary power is some sort of intelligence gathering one. He’s found blackmail material on some people who are incredibly secure about things. Or so I’ve heard.”

“Something like your own power?” Melanie asked.

Handshake shook his head. “Mine’s more about social interactions. Anyway. His name tells us a lot of nothing, his real identity is properly hidden, and his activities keep him in the dark too. He’s a proper Criminal, the sort that are kind of rare in this city.”

“Criminals are rare?” Emily asked.

“They are here, love,” Melanie said. “Us hero types outnumber the bad guys three to one. It’s not the place with the best ratio, especially not so soon after Power Day, but we’re still far ahead of the curve.”

“Oh, right.” Emily felt a cold sweat breaking out on her back. Melanie was a hero then. A proper bonafide hero would break Emily apart the moment she learned what Emily’s morality was set at.

“You okay?” Melanie asked.

Handshake sighed. “I was hoping to get you two working together,” he said. “It would make you a whole lot more efficient out in the field.”

“Ah, I’ll... I’ll see,” Emily said. “What... what kind of things did you have about me on your... hard drive.”

“Just about everything I could learn about you,” he said.