Reload, Tóxica, and I walked through the industrial district of South Rain City. I’d spent most of the morning pouring over every piece of information on Surge that I could find. I already had a decent understanding of what each super in South Rain could do, but it never hurt to be prepared.

  With Surge’s straightforward powerset, it was easy enough to figure out ways to counter him. But no matter what tricks we used, we would be at a disadvantage in the fight. His base would not only be a perfect fighting ground for him, it would also be swarming with armed henchmen.

  While we walked, I noticed a frown on Tóxica’s face. That wasn’t unusual for her, but the nervous shifting of her eyes was. I wanted to ask about it, but I already had a guess about what was bothering her. The Super Arena. Even if we weren’t near it, the rows of gray buildings were near indistinguishable from the surroundings of the arena.

  Reload was as excited as ever, a large smile plastered onto his face. When I mentioned that we could end up fighting Surge, he was overjoyed at the idea. I had to make sure he remembered to wait for my signal a few too many times for comfort. Tóxica was gruesome in combat, but she could control herself, while Reload tended to act unpredictably.

  My only hope was that we could end this meeting better off than we started. I was worried that this would be an ambush, whether it was Surge working alone or a set up by the Disciples. But the fighting between the two gangs didn’t seem to slow down, gunshots occasionally ringing through the sky. So at the very least, they weren’t working together.

  Frank had asked to join the meeting, but I ordered him to stay back. While we were out, he’d be buying some much needed supplies, such as spare outfits and spare cars, alongside watching over the motel. If this was, for some reason, a plan to take the motel back, then Frank would text me. Though, it was mostly to distract him from the drawings on his face. He was not happy to discover it was done in permanent marker.

  When we reached the power plant, we didn’t find anyone waiting for us outside. After a few minutes, I made the call for us to just go inside. And, conveniently, the main entrance was left unlocked, letting us freely walk in.

  While I wasn’t an expert when it came to power plants, this place was exactly what I assumed one would look like. There were a few people walking around, but none of them fit the appearance of Surge Gang members. They wore button up shirts, slacks, and occasionally carried clipboards. People who looked like they had their life together could never be part of Surge Gang.

  After standing around long enough to be noticed, an employee walked up to us. Right as I was about to wave him off, I noticed something odd about his outfit. He was wearing a bright yellow tie, so ugly that it couldn’t help but stand out. When I looked back at the employees milling about, I noticed there were a handful with the same bright yellow tie.

  “Hello, valued visitors,” greeted the employee. “I see you three are here for the V.I.P. tour. If you would please follow me, I will happily lead you to your destination!”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I just went along with it. A part of me had expected to see Surge sat on a metal throne with wires hanging around, not whatever was happening here. We ended up following the employee, going through the motions of the half-assed tour.

  After nearly twenty minutes of being led around the building, we’d reached the basement of the power plant. After a dozen dank and musty hallways, all seemingly abandoned, we saw a sudden break in the darkness. We walked onto a balcony that overlooked a giant metallic room.

  Looking below, I could see dozens of Surge Gang henchmen working in their makeshift sweatshop. Their members were packing boxes with drugs, inspecting guns, and talking about their plans. I tried to listen in, but our tour guide would not shut up.

  We walked across a thin metal catwalk, which led to an office that overlooked the entire room, jutting out from the wall. There was a shining gold placard that just read “Surge” hanging over the door. The tour guide opened the door and ushered us inside. Once all of us were in, the door was shut behind us.

  Finally, we were face to face with Surge. The supervillain was sitting at a desk, smoking a cigar as thick as my wrist. At least my earlier guess was somewhat on the mark, considering the fact that there were loose wires hanging around him.

  “Good morning, Taker. Please, take a seat,” the supervillain greeted me. He gestured to the only other chair in the room, placed in front of his desk.

  I sat down, my two lieutenants standing behind me. “It’s good to meet you, Surge, I’ve heard a lot about you. My condolences for Mr. Ammer.”

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  “In this business, you’ll lose good people. Jack was one of those people. That’s just a fact of life. But even if you were the reason he died, I think we can move past that.”

  My muscles tensed, preparing to dodge the second he pointed an electrified finger at me. It only made sense that he realized I started the war. Still, I tried my best to keep a poker face, refusing to let him get under my skin.

  “I wasn’t the one who sent him into that fight, and I definitely wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. So don’t put his death on me, Surge.”

  He reached up, my legs moving to throw me to the side. Instead, he took off his sunglasses, placing them on the desk. His bright yellow eyes seemed to dance with electricity as he narrowed his gaze. “I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here. I’ve been hearing a lot about you lately. From forcing the Disciples into a war, surviving a fight in the Super Arena, and even attacking a Disciple safehouse directly.”

  “I can’t take too much credit, I wouldn’t be anywhere without my team. But you didn’t call us here just to be nice. What’re we here for?”

  His mouth twitched into a smile for just a second. “It’s good that you have a team you can trust. But you’re all a bunch of upstarts, supers who don’t have experience in the field. I’ve been in the game since before Agony took control of South Rain.”

  “So what? You want a job?” It was a ballsy thing to ask, but I could see where this was going. I could feel Tóxica and Reload shift, preparing to act as a crackle of electricity came from Surge’s closed fist.

  “Not quite. I want you three to join Surge Gang, as my new lieutenants. Not only will I forgive the motel and shooting incident, but I’ll give you that entire street and more. If we worked together, we could run this city. Even Agony wouldn’t be able to stop us.”

  Surge wasn’t wrong, we would be a lot stronger if we joined forces. Surge had been the longest lasting Supervillain in South Rain, most dying or leaving in a couple of years. He had more experience, contacts, and money than we could dream of. But there was no way in hell I would work for another super again.

  “You know, Surge. If you came to me with that offer a week ago, I would’ve said yes. But I don’t have any interest in working for you, and neither do my lieutenants. So here’s my counter offer; We’re taking the motel, and you’ll stay out of our way.”

  “Now why would I just let you stake a claim in my territory?”

  “Because we killed Squirm. If there was any member of Disciples you had a reason to hate, it was him. Think of the motel as a token of your appreciation for us doing something you couldn’t.”

  I could hear the crackle of energy underneath his skin. I noticed that he placed his left hand underneath his desk, likely drawing in more power. “I invite you here, give you a generous offer, and you think you can talk to me like that?”

  I could feel his anger in the air, like barbs of electricity dancing on my skin. “I don’t think I can talk to you like that, I know that I can talk to you like that. You need us more than we need you, Surge. Right now, the Disciples are desperate to prove why they’re the strongest gang in South Rain. If they weren’t focused on us, they’d tear through you in a week.”

  His eyes were near unrecognizable, his yellow pupils bursting with electricity. I stood up from my chair, walking to the door. “If you know what’s good for you, Surge, you’ll leave us alone. Just be happy that we’re only taking the motel.”

  I didn’t wait to hear whatever his response was. Reload and Tóxica followed me out to the catwalk, where our tour guide was waiting for us. Before he could say anything, the sound of violent crashing and electricity shot out from the office.

  “We’re done with the tour, now get us out of here,” I told him.

  The tour guide received an order through his earpiece and began rushing us out. Instead of taking us through the route we entered, he led us to a side path that was filled with uniformed Surge Gang members. It ended in a small service elevator that brought us out of the building, into a shed nearly a block away from the power plant.

  It was obvious that Surge had ordered for us to be removed as soon as possible. But that temper of his had forced us through a secret passage, which gave us another way into his base. While I didn’t have any use for the knowledge now, it was worth keeping a note of.

  “So, are we enemies with Surge gang?” Reload asked. “He looked like he was about to rip your throat out.”

  “No, we’re not enemies. Even if he hates us, there isn’t anything he can do about it,” I answered. “He’s too busy fighting the Disciples to risk a fight with us. And there’s no way they’d let him end things with just a truce. We shouldn’t try to piss him off anymore, though. A guy like that could always end up doing something stupid.”

  “What’s our next move? Because that meeting sucked, and I had to wake up at five am to get ready for it,” complained Reload. “So we better be doing something else.”

  “Why the hell did you get up at five am?” I asked.

  He waved his gold jewelry in my face, something he wasn’t wearing yesterday. “Had to run down to the pawn shop and buy some heat. Someone melted my old fit, so I needed to top up.”

  “I can’t be blamed for your weakness,” Tóxica remarked.

  “I wasn’t a fan of having half my face melted off, and I’m certain that Tóxica didn’t like me caving in the back of her skull. We all were just doing what we had to, no need to stay stuck on it.”

  As they begrudgingly accepted what I said, my attention was already focused on something else. Reload had a point, it would be a waste to not do anything productive today. The small injuries that we sustained in the raid on Club Thirst were already healed, and we already spent a day relaxing.

  “Alright, we can’t spend another day doing nothing. We’re going to gather up at the motel and prepare to make our next move.”