The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 90: XC - The DJ (Part 2)

Gabe read off of his phone screen, "Derrick ’The DJ’ Shamet. 33 years old. He’s been DJing professionally for seventeen years. He’s known for having a unique and eclectic ear for music. He is almost never spotted without his protege and best friend, Inez Agreha."

Gabe showed him the phone, "See? All of that was on the first page."

Etienne glanced at the screen and saw the exact paragraph Gabe just read aloud.

Gabe continued to read, "Speaking of Inez. She’s 27 years old, and a natural prodigy of a DJ. She was discovered by Derrick at a kid’s DJing competition he volunteered to be the judge of. She owns every record and achievement for a Mexican-American DJ, she’s incredibly esteemed." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Etienne shook his head, "That’s enough of a history lesson. I get it, they’re both prodigies. Give me something I can use, Gabe. Tell me about their powers."

Gabe scrolled on his phone, "Right, right. Inez’s ability is the simpler one. It’s called Matriarch of Motion. The longer she dances, the faster and stronger she gets. She’d be an unranked if it wasn’t for her meta deficiency."

Etienne crossed his arms, "Meta deficency? There’s always a new term I’ve never heard of with meta humans."

Gabe nodded his head, "I’m not surprised, it hasn’t really been a factor up to this point. They’re rare, but some meta human abilities come with built-in drawbacks or side effects. They’re completely random, they have nothing to do with strength or type of ability."

Gabe put his feet on top of the box on the floor, "Inez gets stronger and faster the longer she moves, yes, but the opposite is also true. That’s the deficiency. She gets significantly weaker if she stops moving. To the point where, if she stops moving for two hours, at least according to this article, she’ll be unable to walk."

"How does she sleep?" Etienne thought to himself.

"Got it," Etienne says aloud, "So I just need to restrict her movement and she’ll no longer be a threat. What about Derrick? I remember him being strong and fast too..."

Gabe scratched his head as he stared at his phone, "That’s the catch. Despite being a celebrity and a known metahuman, it’s unclear at best what he can actually do. The only thing that is concretely known is that his powers are affected by the specific song he’s listening to. It’s been all but confirmed that the fast the song’s tempo, the faster he can move."

Gabe scrolled on his phone for a while, "It’s been theorized that different music genres, the bass and the treble of a song all affect his abilities or give him completely new ones. Nobody is really sure."

Etienne groaned, "Of course, they’re not. It doesn’t matter. I got the gist of his abilities when I fought him. I won’t give him a chance to pull out any tricks. Do you think the other members of the Black Company will be there?"

Gabe shook his head, still looking down at his phone, "There’s no way to be sure, but honestly? I don’t think so. The letter said something about a kill list. I’ve seen that in movies, essentially assassins are provided a group of targets they’re supposed to eliminate. It stands to reason that the member of Team Wet would all have different assignments."

Etienne nodded his head.

"Besides, if we’re going to trust the letter to this degree, then we might as well trust their assessment of who will be there. If there were other members confirmed to be there, Alex would’ve wrote that, right?"

Etienne yawned, "You still have that letter right? Where is this concert being held?"

Gabe put his phone away, "You know the place. It’s the Rose Center, that huge stadium in downtown Portland. I remember your parents used to go there from time to time and watch the Trailblazers. When the stadium showed their faces on the Jumbotron, the crowd always went crazy."

Etienne nodded his head, "Right. The Rose Center. I always liked that place, they have good pizza."

"I never got that impression when we used to go there," Gabe snickered, "You used to treat it like the greatest punishment known to man. We had to drag you there kicking and screaming."

Etienne rolled his eyes. He pointed at the box that Gabe had his feet on top of, "I’ve been meaning to ask this since you brought that in there, but what is that? Please don’t tell me it’s another mysterious package."

Gabe shook his head, "No, this was in the PO Box," He picked up the box and shook it, "It’s not very heavy. And it came from Meticula."

"Jacquet-Droz’s shop. So he sent that gift already?" Etienne thought to himself.

Etienne grabbed the box from under Gabe’s feet and glared at him, "Where are your gentleman’s manners, Gabe?"

Gabe sighed and stood up, "My apologies, Master Etienne. Shall I get a box cutter for you sir?"

Etienne rolled his eyes at the obvious sarcasm, "That’d be great Gabriel, thank you."

Gabe exited the room and returned seconds later with a sleek orange box cutter in hand.

Etienne sat the box on the bed and grabbed the box cutter. He extended the blade of it and ran the box cutter along the line of tape sealing the box closed.

"It’s funny, that first night I came back and fought the spike metahuman, I was looking for this. I was going to take the box cutter, not a kitchen knife."

Gabe shook his head, "That’s not very funny Etienne."

Etienne finished cutting across the tape and opened the box up. Inside, was a mass of white fabric, folded neatly and laid across the bottom.

Etienne pulled the clothing out and laid it across the bed. Gabe and Etienne stared at it silently for a while.

"A...dress?" Gabe stated hesitantly.

Etienne grabbed a note out of the box, "A battle dress. Jacquet Droz said he has a gift for Ninjaman, so I suppose this Is my new outfit."

On the bed was a full body dress in black fabric with a distinctive textured pattern across the chest and sleeves. The garment has a double-breasted front with decorative buttons and a fitted waist emphasized by a coffee brown belt. The dress had wide, flowing sleeves for the arms and the bottom half was the same way, two long flowing pants legs.

"Look at the waist. This looks like something for women, doesn’t it?" Gabe questioned as he tugged on the belt.

Etienne rubbed the fabric of it, "Sturdy. And breathable. I think I see the vision for this. Fighting as a ninja relies on misdirection and subterfuge. These sleeves are meant to obscure my movements, make it less obvious whether I’m going for an attack or reaching for tools."

Gabe rubbed his chin, "I suppose that’s true. I’m more interested in why it has to be a dress though..."

Etienne stripped his clothes off, "It’s fine. As long as it protects me, I don’t care if it’s a dress or a blouse or a bralette."

Gabe glanced at Etienne’s chest as he took his clothes off. Gabe thought to himself, "The black circle on his chest is a lot smaller than when he first came back to Astoria. I wonder if that means anything."

Gabe chuckled, "Battle bralette. I would love to see that on you."

Etienne frowned as he pulled the outfit on, "I know the concert is at the Rose Center today, but what time does it start?"

Gabe pulled the envelope out of back pocket and opened the letter.

Gabe scanned the note, "Hmm...according to this, it starts at 9PM."

Etienne grabbed his sword and scabbard from the side of the bed and pushed them through his belt, holding them in place, "How am I even going to get in? It’s a major event at a stadium, I’m sure it’ll be locked up like a fortress."

Gabe shrugged, "Is that really a problem for you? Unless there are top ranked meta humans there, would they be able to stop you?"

Etienne shook my head, "Probably not. But the more people there are between me and Derrick, the easier he’ll be able to escape or rush his plan and assassinate the target."

Gabe scratched his chin, "Good point. Maybe we can just, buy a ticket at the door, then you can sneak in and find them from there."

Etienne paced around the room, testing his new outfit, "Do they even let you do that anymore? Everything is digital now, I thought you had to buy it ahead of time."

Gabe scoffed, "I don’t hear you coming up with any better plans. You’re supposed to be the ninja, the sneaking expert. How do you think you should get in?"

Etienne smoothed down his battle dress, and sat down on the bed once again. He gripped his chin, closed his eyes and exhaled loudly.

"We’re buying tickets I guess," Etienne muttered.