Worth the Price Ch. 34 (Worm AU) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Calling in Dragon. She has the best ideas~

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For a moment Lucas just pauses, half-expecting the authorities to show up on their own. They’d still be late, but at least they’d be here. And yet… nothing. They’re standing out here in broad daylight and there’s not a hint of the police, the PRT, or the Protectorate anywhere to be seen.

Shaking his head, Lucas sighs.

“Let me place a call.”

Faultline raises a brow at that but ultimately just shrugs and returns to watching over everyone that they’ve captured with the rest of their crew. Labyrinth’s gaze lingers on him for a moment longer before she follows after the older woman.

Lucas, meanwhile, takes out his phone and calls Dragon. It’s probably a little overkill, and yet…

“Yes?”

There’s a note of excitement in Dragon’s voice when she picks up, like she was pretty much waiting for Lucas to call her. He can’t help but feel a little bad over that… this probably wasn’t what she was waiting for.

“Dragon, I need your help with something down in Brockton Bay. I’ve taken down a few parahumans and dozens of their accomplices and need to hand them over to someone with… authority.”

There’s a pause at that and when Dragon speaks again, she sounds a lot less excited.

“Why wouldn’t you just call the PRT directly then? Brockton Bay is a little bit outside of my jurisdiction…”

Lucas looks around, still wondering if anyone is actually going to show up at any point… but there’s still nothing.

“Because we started this operation over an hour ago and haven’t seen anything that would give us the slightest inclination that the authorities are on their way. And frankly… I’d rather see you again than have to deal with them anyways, Dragon.”

Does he know what he’s doing by appending that last sentence on? Yes, yes he does. Lucas can’t help but grin as Dragon’s response comes through after only a handful more seconds.

“I’m on my way.”

Heh. Honestly he’d half-expected her to try and use up one of the six favors she owes him for this. But in the end, she hadn’t even suggested it.

The call comes to an end and they loiter around outside of the Merchants’ main base for another fifteen minutes before Dragon arrives. As she lands in one of her famous Dragon Suits, Lucas can’t help but admire the sleek lines… this one looks like a new model, possibly built after her recent… change in life circumstances.

“Pact. Good to see you again. I told the PRT why I was here when I entered the city’s airspace, so they should hopefully send some people themselves relatively soon.”

And just like that, as if summoned by her words, Lucas finally hears sirens off in the distance. Meanwhile, Dragon takes in their surroundings, wordlessly noting the presence of Faultline and her crew, and then everyone they’ve taken out.

“… While the complete and utter lack of a response time is unacceptable, I see now why nobody came running… the authorities have all but given up on the city. Not even the Protectorate bothers patrolling this area anymore.”

Lucas… can’t really blame them. It wasn’t just a bad part of town; it was the trashiest part of town as far as he could tell. The Merchants weren’t even that big of a gang, they just skated by on being uncontested due to none of the city’s stronger criminal elements wanting anything to do with this area.

Tilting her suit’s head to the side, Dragon hums.

“I must admit, I’m a little surprised that you aren’t making deals left and right here, Pact. It seems like a waste for you to just… turn everyone here over to the authorities, no?”

Huffing, Lucas shakes his head. He’d be lying if he hadn’t thought about it obviously, but he’d also discarded the idea as quickly as it had come up. He didn’t want his entire organization to be former criminals with rap sheets that the authorities would use to label him as a villain for associating with them over.

Faultline’s Crew was a grey area like that, which was why he’d recruited them. But a bunch of drug addicts… sure, Lucas’ power could allow him to recruit them and make them shape up a bit, but at the same time, they all came with way too much baggage.

“I’m not looking to recruit the scum of the city. I want my organization to be more… discerning than that. They’ve all made their choices, in the end.”

Dragon just tilts the head of her suit the other direction, even as the sirens get closer still.

“Hm… but do you even have to recruit them to join you directly? Wouldn’t even offering them a one-time deal be worth it for you?”

Furrowing his brow, Lucas crosses his arms over his chest.

“… What do you mean?”

Dragon glances over to the captured Merchants.

“Well… you could offer to take away their drug addictions in exchange for a promise to get their lives back on track and for them to stay on the straight and narrow, right?”

Lucas opens his mouth… and then closes it, his expression becoming thoughtful. On the one hand, it wouldn’t exactly give him control over any of them… and there was a part of him that didn’t like that. Then again, he’d made deals before that didn’t result in him being in control. Like with Uppercrust and his daughter.

He didn’t need to dominate everyone he ever made a deal with… that would just cause more problems than it would solve. And Dragon was right that offering such deals would almost certainly gain him new energy. Though…

“You should know that they won’t feel compelled or be forced to follow their end of any deals I make with them. They can break them… it would just result in their addictions coming back, in some cases even stronger.”

But what else might happen if they broke their arrangements with him? Lucas realizes in that moment that he doesn’t know… and it might be worth finding out in a relatively low stakes situation like this one. There was just one problem with that, of course…

“The authorities are almost here. It’s a bit too late for that, even if I should have certainly thought of it before now.”

But Dragon just shakes her head.

“I can stall for you and talk to the PRT and the Protectorate while you see what you can do.”

Lucas throws her a sharp look at that. She was seriously willing to do that for him?

“It’ll cost you one of the favors though~”

Hah, and there it was. The catch. Though Dragon says it so teasingly it’s almost like it’s not meant to be taken seriously. Except Lucas can feel that his power is taking it very seriously. And yet, the energy he stands to gain…

“Deal.”

One out of six favors gone, with Dragon going still for a moment before nodding sharply and turning to approach the oncoming law enforcement vehicles. At their head is Armsmaster himself on his tinkertech motorcycle, but Lucas can’t ogle that right now, he has to focus on this.

Moving over to the assembled criminals, many of whom are still out of it thanks to Newter, Lucas focuses on the ones who are slowly coming through.

“Hey. All of you are about to be taken into custody by the authorities. Most of you are almost certainly going to prison.”

“FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING CUM GUZZLING COCKSUCKER!”

Skidmark is awake. Annoying, but Lucas just ignores him, sweeping his gaze back and forth and meeting all of the currently focused eyes that he can.

“There are no drugs in prison. It’s going to suck for all of you. Unless…”

“I’LL KILL YOU, YOU YELLOW-EYED BASTARD! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

Again, Lucas just ignores Skidmark and instead pushes with his power to send out multiple disparate deals at once to multiple people. It’s the first time he’s ever done so on this large of a scale. Faultline and her crew had mostly been the same deal for all of them combined, after all.

“One time offer. I take away your drug addictions and in exchange you swear with all your hearts to try and get clean and stay clean from here on out.”

He feels the connections being made across over a dozen people. The rest either reject his offer outright, like Skidmark, or are still to out of it to even hear his words let alone consider his deal. And then there are a couple who actually can’t make the deal with him… like Mush, apparently. The unfortunate parahuman isn’t a drug addict in the first place. Who would have guessed?

But someone who is a drug addict… is Squealer. And even as Skidmark is ranting and raving, Lucas feels himself connect to Squealer just like the others. He feels how she yearns to take his offer… and he makes eye contact with her in particular, offering her a slight smile and a short nod.

Squealer’s eyes widen as she realizes… she can take his offer silently and without saying a single word. Some of the others figure this out as well. Still more call out, saying they’ll take the offer, even as Skidmark cusses them all out.

A sizable amount of energy flows into Lucas as he feels each deal crystallize. Their addictions are wiped away, their bodies shuddering a bit in the process… and in exchange, all they have to do is keep it that way.

“What are you doing?”

Just as Lucas is reveling in the power high, a stern, angry voice cuts through and forces him to turn around. Dragon had done what she could and fulfilled the conditions of the favor… but she couldn’t hold back Armsmaster and the rest forever.

The man, the myth, the legend… Halbeard himself. He stands there with his visible jaw set in a heavy frown and his tinkertech halberd held in his grasp, though not quite pointed in Lucas’ direction. Dragon, meanwhile, stands beside him, her new suit actually pretty small given it’s only a head’s span taller than Armsmaster in his armor.

“Armsmaster, I already explained to you that Pact had a way to help some of these unfortunate souls with their addictions.”

The Head of Brockton Bay’s Protectorate Team glances at Dragon and then over to Lucas, still frowning.

“What exactly did you do?”

Obviously he’d known this meeting was inevitable… just as he knew the decisions he’d made had been what led to this meeting taking place like this, rather than any other circumstances. To be fair, it could be better, it could be worse. Things could certainly be more adversarial than this.

“My power allows me to make deals with anyone… deals that can do incredible, impossible things. In this case, some of these people have chosen to make a deal with me that takes away their drug addictions in exchange for their solemn oaths that they will not fall back into criminal activities or ever take drugs again.”

Sensing Armsmaster’s objections, Lucas holds up a hand to keep them at bay and answer them before they can even be vocalized.

“I am not a Master, to be clear. My deals are only as strong as both parties’ willingness to follow them. In this case they can break their arrangements with me at any time… with the consequence that they will lose the clarity of mind and fresh health I’ve given them.”

And of course…

“As well, I do not expect them to go free just because they took a deal with me. They are still criminals one and all and I trust you will treat them as such and deal with them as you see fit.”

From the way Armsmaster’s face twists into a grimace, Lucas knows that he’s effectively neutered the other man’s biggest concerns. Not that that stops the Protectorate Leader from gripping his halberd a bit tighter as he steps forward.

“You and your… comrades should come with us to Headquarters and submit yourself for questioning.”

Lucas smiles slightly as Sveta, Emily, and Faultline’s Crew all tense up in response to Armsmaster’s words.

“We will not be doing that.”

Before Armsmaster can make an issue of it, Dragon steps in with a metal hand on the man’s shoulder.

“They were operating under the Guild’s direction and aegis, Armsmaster. I’ll gladly follow you to Headquarters to answer any questions in their stead.”

Lucas doesn’t quite raise an eyebrow at that, but it’s a very near thing. Is Dragon treating this all as part of the favor he’s using up with her here? Because she’s not asking for another favor to be spent, not even wordlessly. She’s just… helping him of her own free will.

But then to be fair, she did come out here in the first place in a similar fashion…

“… Very well. Though even if its as Guild Affiliates, you three should all come in for power testing. And you four… I don’t know why you’re here, but you should all know you’re on thin ice.”

And here the internet said Armsmaster was unreasonable to a fault. Instead, it seems like Dragon has him well in hand despite his pointed statements, first to Lucas and his girls and then to Faultline and her crew. The latter of whom all tense up for a moment... but when they realize Armsmaster is being frankly gentle with them, they relax.

With that, Lucas and everyone else are just... allowed to go. The PRT and some police officers start rounding up the Merchant Parahumans and all of their mundane thugs for processing. Lucas and the others make their way out of the area, and ultimately Lucas has them all head for his compound rather than the Palanquin for the debrief.

But frankly… they’d done amazing. The debrief was a foregone conclusion that was effectively “we did good”. What really mattered was what they would do next as word of their actions today spread through the city and reached the ears of the movers and shakers of Brockton Bay…

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A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IUVPZAhBBfZeUNqeNOmgMnl5ucpLXJZZRc6Y8qVsb1k/edit?tab=t.0