They walked out of the main area, past the remains of a steel door and into a hallway. Jennifer could see further signs the battle. The walls were scarred by numerous bullet holes and laser blasts. The Night Bats must had tried to use the hallway as a chokepoint.

The hallway connects to several rooms and her father entered one of the them. Jennifer and Candice followed, and they were in a room that housed a few vats. The vats were in different sizes and the biggest had to be over twenty meters tall. Some tables with shattered test tubes were scattered throughout the room, and Jennifer guessed they were in the research area of the lair. She could see that her father was less than impressive. Candice quickly guided them to another room.

The next room was slightly better. It was a huge room with giant pulleys on the ceiling. Jennifer guessed it was an armory of some sort as there were numerous empty weapon racks on one side of the room. Unlike the research room, this room was picked clean.

“Are the rest of the lair like this?” Her father asked. Candice nodded and he shook his head in disgust. “H.A.V.E had no luck handling it off to anyone right? What makes you think I will say yes?”

Candice was clearly prepared for the question and answered immediately. “Good location near your daughter’s diner for one. I know it’s not much to look at, but it is a good working lair. Reinforced walls, four exits, and located beneath a civilian population so the heroes won’t be able to just smash down to it. You will need to clean it up, but there’s no need to dig further unless you intend to expand the lair. It’s a good place for a startup organization.”

“Fair enough.” Victor nodded. “Where do the other entrances lead to?”

“One of them lead to the city, and another end at a burn-out barn just outside the city limits.”

“That’s just two, three if you add the entrance we came from. There should be one more.”

“The last one goes down to the Depths.”

“What?” Jennifer shouted. Her fear was palpable, but she didn’t care. “There’s a way to the Depths from here?”

“A small entrance big enough only for one man to go through. Don’t worry, no kaiju is coming up from there.”

“That’s not reassuring. Giant kaijus are not the only monsters down there. What about the humanoid monsters, the flying kaijus, the underground races?”

Candice just shrugged. “We had no reports of any monster coming up from the entrance before, but if you are so worried, you can blow up the entrance.”

“Why haven’t anyone done that already?” Jennifer asked. “It leads to the Depths!”

Her father moved to cut off the argument. “Something to think about if we decide to rent the place. I assume H.A.V.E won’t be using that entrance if I decide to rent the place.”

“We have other ways to go down there.”

“Good. Now, let’s talk about the rent.”

As Victor and Candice engaged in negotiation, Jennifer’s eyes lit up in surprise. She had to ask herself an uneasy question.

“Why would anyone want to go into the Depths?”

***

The Bang Bang Gym was a well-known location along King’s Hill. It was the only gym in the King’s. However, if you do not know where the gym is located, you could miss it. Located just before the start of King’s Street, it looked almost like a warehouse, and the only thing that would have stuck out was the fact that it was only building in good condition along that stretch of road.

Jennifer led her father to the building and knocked against the door. A small opening at eye level slid open, and a man opened the door. Jennifer and her father entered the gym and the smell of dried sweat hit her. The gym was big. There were two big boxing rings with several chairs placed around them. On the far side, there were several exercise machines and to Jennifer’s left was where the punching bags and boxing speedbags were located. There was an open space to her right with a long exercise mirror along the wall. The doorman was huge, yet he bowed respectfully to Victor. He gestured with a hand for them to follow.

“Master Sweet Fist, this way please.”

Jennifer was still getting used to that. Ever since news spread about her father being a mystical martial artist, people had begun calling him ‘Master Sweet Fist’. Some martial artists had even began paying their respects to him via video. Some of them were even registered heroes!

The doorman led them down a dim hallway, and Jennifer saw a sign that read ‘No camera; No trouble’. The irony of the sign was not lost on her. They emerged into a huge rectangular room. A big hexagon-shaped cage was in the middle of the room and two men were currently inside the cage, beating the crap of each other. Along the walls were benches arranged on a slope and the crowd was screaming for blood. Jennifer chuckled darkly. Before today, she never knew that Anthony was running an illegal fight club.

The doorman led them to one side of the room and the three of them went up some stairs. They entered a small room that had a good view of the match below. Anthony and Bradley Brown were waiting for them with two other men. Anthony smiled at their arrival.

“Master Sweet Fist, welcome to the Bang Bang Boxing Gymnasium.”

“You are Anthony Brown? I heard your son tried to attack my daughter.”

“An unfortunate error, Master. One that I hope to make right.”

Anthony nodded at one of his men who went into a side room. When he returned, he was trying a briefcase. He opened it, and Jennifer had to stop her eyes from widening at the money inside. Her father just nodded.

“Let bygones be bygones.”

At the villain’s acceptance, the man closed the briefcase and handed it over to Jennifer. Jennifer took it and quickly went back to her place behind her father. Her father tossed his head at the cage and asked Anthony.

“These fighters are yours?”

“Fuck no. I’m just the proprietor of this place. They can come and go when they pleased. I don’t order them around.”

“What about your son and his gang? I heard they were looking to join me.”

“No, I’m not.”