Bar immediately said. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, but don’t insult me. No one gained mystical martial arts just from push-ups and sit-ups.”

“I was getting to that. I had a lot of time to think, and that’s what I did. I thought about all the great martial warriors of our world, and why we no longer produced them. In the past, we had great warriors. Mystical martial artists were never common, but we did produce them. Martial artists like Poison Mist, mystical warriors like Paladin of Sun. Guys like them dotted our history, but no more. I may be the only mystical … anything in the world right now. Why?”

Bar kept silent, as if he was afraid to break Victor’s flow of words. Victor pretended to take another sip of his vodka before continuing.

“I couldn’t think of an answer.” Bar’s eyes widened. He wasn’t expecting that, and Victor gave him a dry laugh. “Like you said, I am not much of a thinker. However, I didn’t give up. I thought about them. Paladin, Mountain Tiger, Blood Rider; the great mystics of old. I thought of them, and not always about their legends. I thought about how these great men and women managed to ‘breakthrough’ their limits. That’s my term for it anyway. They were normal humans who managed to become more than mere humans. With their moves, their techniques, and their skills, they became legends. I wonder how to become like them. For sixteen years, that’s all I did. I exercised, I thought of them, and I wondered how to become like them.”

“Wait,” Bar finally interrupted. “Sixteen years? You were inside-”

“Four years ago, I felt it. A power that was all around Nexus. Don’t give me that look, I know how it sounds, but I felt it. A power that was all around us. I felt it, and I tapped into it.”

“Mana? You became a mage?”

“No. It was not Mana. Scholars has already proven that Mana is just a form of cosmic energy that came from the outer space. Mages tapped into that power for their spells. This was not it.”

“What is it then?”

“I called it ‘Qi’.”

In his mind, Victor had imagined this to be a big revelation, something that would shock the world. Bar just gave him a raised eyebrow.

“That’s it. Qi? You had four years and that’s the best name you could come up with? Not Great Qi, Sweet Qi, or even-”

“Hey, I discovered it. I can name it whatever I want.”

Bar gave his old friend a non-committed shrug and waved him to continue. Unfortunately, Victor didn’t have much more to give him. Victor didn’t want to go so far into the lies that he had no way to take them back.

“That’s it.”

“That’s bull. You are telling me you had this power for the past four years, and just stayed inside? I know you Fist. You would have broken out the moment you got the power.”

Victor saw Bar’s skeptical look, and knew he wasn’t buying the story. At least not entirely. Victor had to give him a little more.

“I didn’t know how to use it at first. I could feel the Qi, but I had no way to use it. For a period, I even thought I was imagining it. I wouldn’t be the first person to go crazy in prison, but I worked on it and discovered a method.”

“What?”

“Bar, we have always been friendly with each other, but you don’t really think I am going to tell you that, do you?”

“So, you intend to hoard the knowledge to yourself?”

“I’m not even sure if others can learn it, but I intend to spread it to ‘trustworthy and loyal’ associates first. If they can successfully learn how to harness and access their Qi, I may consider teaching others.”

Bar’s eyes brightened, as if he finally understood something. “So, that is your pitch. I was wondering how you intend to get your organization off the ground. This is it. You are only willing to pass on the knowledge to people who are in your organization.”

Victor shrugged noncommittally. He only just came up with the idea, and he had to admit it was a good one. Victor took a sip of his vodka to hide his thoughts.

Bar thought for a moment, before continuing. “It is a good idea. Even if you are unable to teach this Qi thing, people will be knocking down your door just for the chance to learn this stuff. You are going to have the cream of the crop in villain support to pick from.”

“Villain support,” Victor said in disgust. “What is that? Since when did people start calling them ‘villain support’? It sounds so wrong.”

Bar just laughed. “It does take some getting used to, but it fits. Henchmen are there to support villains after all. Not that there are many of those in Velocity City.”

“You support … wait, what do you mean there’s not many villains in Velocity City? I saw a bunch of them in H.A.V.E.”

“Must be celebrity villains. You know about celebrity heroes? Well, celebrity villains are like the counterparts to them. They are big flashy villains more interested in staging fights than committing crimes.”

“How does that work?”

“Camera drones. They go everywhere with them, though the ones H.A.V.E use are a lot smaller than what the hero companies are using. It streamed all their villainous activities online, with a time delay of an hour or two. Most of the celebrity villains will make some loud proclamations before starting their crime. Remember Loudmouth? The villain who liked to make loud overdramatic monologues. Something like that.”

“That’s so stupid. Loudmouth got caught like five times while in the middle of his speech. And these guys are taking that idiot as a role model?”

“Viewers lapped it up. Like I said, there hadn’t been a proper villain in the city for ages.”

“What about Red Maddy? Wasn’t he in charge of the Kings before the heroes kick him out? Wasn’t he a proper villain?”

“I would have considered him to be one before he sold out.”

“What do you mean?”

“That fight was staged.”

“What?”

“This information would usually cost you, but considering what you had already told me, I am giving it to you for free. Red Maddy sold out the Kings.”

“I don’t understand. The Kings was his territory, why would he do that?”

“There is a plan to expand the city, and the Kings was being earmarked for redevelopment. However, buying everyone out will be costly so some of the corporations got together and came up with a plan. Red Maddy was the guy in charge so they threw him a bunch of money to buy him out. They wanted him to stage a big fight and cause a lot of property damage. Maddy accepted. Last I heard, he was living the good life down in Sunlight City.”

“That scumbag sold his territory?” Victor’s voice was loud, but it couldn’t be helped. What Bar told him was incredible. However, Bar seem to sympathize with the sell-out.

“Red Maddy was always in it for the money. Coming so late into his power, he was almost forced into The Game as a villain. It was understandable why he wanted out.”

“So, you retired. You walk away. You disappear. You give everyone a golden handshake and break up your organization. You don’t sell out to the heroes. Hold on, the heroes were in on this? All that property damage was deliberate?”

“Oh, not all the heroes were in on it. Most of them knew nothing about the deal.”