Lucy was standing in a crowd of people. None of them knew her except the one that had invited her, and none of them particularly cared. The people that made up the crowd were more unscrupulous than the phantoms that surrounded Lucy when she fantasised about moments like this, but she didn’t care.

She was standing in a crowd of people.

There was an energy in the air. People were standing around with beers in hand, and none of them cared that half of those people were underage. Laughing groups of boys, huddled cliques of girls, and mixed clusters chatted away all around. The only thing missing were indiscreet couples making out further away from the main crowd.

Lucy even felt she was fitting in with the people who had drinks in their hands, because she too had a drink in her hand. It wasn’t alcoholic, Gracia had been very firm about neither of them getting drunk. But that was fine. Lucy didn’t really want to do that anyway.

Baby steps. Just being here felt like a giant baby step for her. She was content with her lemonade.

Two boys had brought speakers, and after each competed to overpower the other with the loudness of their music it had come down to what Lucy had thought would be a fight for dominance. Her nervousness had been unwarranted, it turned out. Those two must have known one another because when they fronted on each other, chests puffed out and everyone egging them on, they had suddenly and dramatically played rock-paper-scissors.

The winner of the two played his music victoriously. Until someone parked their car near the crowd and rolled down their windows, revealing an even louder sound system inside

That had been half an hour ago when Lucy and Gracia had first arrived. The gathering had been small then, somewhere between twenty and thirty people. Now it had to be over a hundred people. Maybe two hundred.

“I’m glad I invited you.” Gracia commented, breaking a silence between them that had been going on for a while. The last time they’d spoken was when the girl had Lucy agree to move away from the speakers to where they could hear themselves think. “This is the happiest I think I’ve seen you.”

Lucy frowned and shot an angry glance her way. You don’t have to say that like you’re proud of your dog.

“I can’t want friends too?” Gracia posed, making Lucy round on her.

“You can. I just don’t want you as mine.”

“Then it’s decided.” Gracia put a hand on Lucy’s elbow and pulled her closer, meeting her halfway. “You are my friend.”

Lucy’s flickering anger was washed away by the words flowing through her mind. Then it returned with fervor. “I just told you why that can’t happen.” She pulled her arm away, nearly spilling her soda in the process. “Friendship, Real friendship, needs to be reciprocated.”

“Mmm.” Gracia hummed. “But honey, I think of you as a friend. What you think isn’t going to change that.”

“Wh-what! Stop speaking stu- nonsense. It’s non- It’s totally nonsense!”

“Darling, I’m hurt.” Gracia laughed, sounding completely fine. “Should we try to mingle?”

“The atmosphere enjoy is thing trying bitch do.” Lucy rambled, still not thinking straight. “Liar.” It was getting later as well, which didn’t help. Her face burned more and more as she failed to string together a proper sentence

“Oh dear. Let’s hold off on that then.” Gracia said, and Lucy was more than happy to.

The flustered girl almost had her metaphorical ducks in a row when the double doors of the seemingly abandoned building the crowd had gathered around swung inward and four people stepped out. Three of them were large men with black vests and short sleeves to show off how muscley they were, and were visibly carrying. Those men made beelines for people in the crowd while the fourth man, the obviously dressed villain, spread his arms wide with showmanship and addressed the quieting crowd.

“Welcome! Welcome!” The villain in the minimalistic costume announced. He seemed to have dyed a bulletproof vest a vibrant blue, and the mask of the same colour didn’t even cover his mouth or forehead. Under that he just wore clothes. “Only three out of one hundred and sixty four tonight! It seems the pigs are finally laying off the kennels of the Bad Dogs!”

The more drunk people in the crowd started woofing and howling as Lucy watched one of the security guys accost a brown haired woman. Lucy had noticed her before, since she had the same awkward hair about her, and they had shared a moment of unity from afar. She just hadn’t realised the woman was apparently a cop.

“Some ground rules!” The villain projected, bringing the attention back from the three who were being escorted out. “No videos inside, or recording of any kind. There are cameras set up already for that, and I Will know if you whip your phone out, even with the intention of texting, and I’ll know what that text is too. Second! Don’t touch the cage. Just don’t. Third! We have a guest of honour tonight. Don’t embarrass the alpha!”

“Now.” The villain stepped aside and gestured behind him. “Go on in and sit the fuck down. Fights start in twenty.”

The crowd buzzed as the volume rose, but not to the level it had been at before. Gracia didn’t move, which was just as well because Lucy was in shock when she realised who the villain was. As well as that third point he raised. If Lucy was remembering the online rabbit holes she’d gone down correctly...

“I didn’t think he’d figure it out.” Gracia said, confirming Lucy’s fears.

She rounded on the other girl and hissed, “You didn’t tell me Pistolwhip would be here!”

Pistolwhip was a famous villain, and was maybe the second most well known among the Bad Dogs. His career started long before the Bad Dogs rose to power, or were even formed. He had a particularly vexing power that didn’t look flashy, but let him go toe to toe with some of the deadlier heroes and villains of his time, which had gone through a few generations since his debut.

Lucy was pretty sure the villain’s power was classified as white, meaning it revolved around gathering and using information. How that let him fist fight rock monsters, nobody but Pistolwhip really knew. His reputation was so big that he hadn’t even been able to rename himself to something dog themed. In part because he didn’t put any effort into changing his costume, and mostly because he kept using the butt of his pistol to knock his opponents unconscious.

“I wanted to surprise you, honey.” Gracia confessed. She seemed honest. “But it seems the old guy turned it around and surprised me.”

It clicked. “He knows I’m the-” Lucy couldn’t bring herself to say it. “He knows that I’m- You know.”

“I would guess so, darling. Your video made the rounds around these parts.” The girl raised her drink to greet someone that had just called her name. “He’s probably heard everything you just said as well.”

Lucy looked at the villain before she could stop herself. In that same moment, Pistolwhip turned his head and made eye contact. It only lasted a moment before the villain inclined his head and looked away again, pointing people through the door. Brief as it was, Lucy was still left shaken.

“Oh… dear…” Something clicked in Lucy’s head and she looked back to Gracia. “Wait, you know him? Like, know him know him? Have you talked to him?”

“Yes. I like to think so. And obviously.” Gracia answered, leaving Lucy even more confused. “I was going to introduce you to him as someone on the better side of halfway reliable. But if I understand his power right, I just did.”

“I’ve done One job with you.” Lucy hissed.

“And you got away from a hero doing it. From what I hear, we still managed to do what we wanted to that night, so it was technically a success. But I’m just a mook that isn’t allowed to know things, doll.” Gracia shrugged at Lucy. “I’m working on changing that, but it’s a steep climb with a harsh fall.”

The complete forthrightness of Gracia’s answer caught Lucy off guard.

“I’ll bet you’re wondering why I’m telling you all that. If I’m being honest, I’m kind of wondering the same. Maybe you’re manipulating me just as much as I’m doing to you. Just in a much less honest and open way.”

Lucy bit her lip. What am I supposed to say to that?

“So do you wanna go watch some people fight? The first rounds I’m fine missing, but when the villains enter the ring I want to be there.” Gracia took a sip of her cola and a thought occurred to her. “Do you want to sit at the front or the back?”

“Front.” Lucy answered easily. She always sat at the front. That was where people directed their attention.

Gracia smiled. “Dangerous, I like it.”

Lucy didn’t get it, and the other girl didn’t explain. Soon the crowd outside the abandoned building had thinned out enough that the two could walk unimpeded to the front door. Pistolwhip was still lingering there, though thankfully he hadn’t given Lucy and Gracia any more attention. Still, Lucy didn’t want to go anywhere near the villain.

“Do you want to follow the people, darling?” Gracia asked.

No. Was the first thought through Lucy’s head. But when she looked around at the people who were staying outside, it became clear that Gracia had only left that as an option because it would convince Lucy to do the opposite. They were the more obviously rough types, with crop tops and short shorts, and faded jeans and wifebeaters. Surprisingly there were a few more gaggles of women dressed rather scantily, meaning they outnumbered the men. That didn’t change the fact that this couldn’t be further from Lucy’s kind of crowd.

Not that she really had a kind of crowd to begin with. Lucy leveled a stare at Gracia, who looked back with a confident smile. There was a thought, or more of a realisation, that Lucy could just leave now and she wouldn’t feel all that bad about it. For nearly four hours she’d been having mostly relaxed company with another person, and the whole thing had felt great. If she stayed here, it was just more of a good thing. If she left, the good times would end.

Lucy chewed her lip as she came to the inevitable conclusion. “Okay.”

Her arm was swiftly entangled with Gracia’s. Lucy gave the other girl a questioning glance. “So we don’t get separated. It was fine at the mall because, you know, mall security. But here the security are also the bad guys.”

“Oh… Okay...” Lucy tried to think about how common physical contact like this normally was. It was hard to think when she could feel Gracia’s every movement as the other girl tugged her along.

“Hey P,” Gracia said when they were passing the supervillain. “How many rounds are we doing tonight?”

Lucy couldn’t help but stare at the other girl. You call him P?

“We have four purely martial combatants.” Pistolwhip sounded different to when he was talking to the crowd. Now he sounded almost bored. “Then the main attraction.”

“So three. Small night tonight. Does the main attraction have names?”

“Yes.” Now the villain sounded amused. “Land Squid and Big Man.”

Lucy looked back, wondering why it sounded like the villain was keeping pace with them, only to find that he actually was. His head shifted when she looked back, making eye contact again. She whipped her head forward again, heart beating fast.

Gracia was laughing. “Alright stud, who do I see about bets?”

“He’ll be coming up on your right.”

“And, as a friend, who would you be hedging your bets on?”

“Certainly not the big man.” A moment passed. “Turn right now.”

Lucy was pulled along as Gracia turned right and came to a stop in front of a door. Moments later the door opened, revealing a scruffy man that halted upon seeing them.

The moment stretched on until Gracia reached out a hand. “Twenty on the Land Squid, thanks.”

The man took the money uncertainly. He glanced at Pistolwhip. “I’ll… pass it on.”

“Thanks.” Gracia smiled brightly, and they continued on.

Lucy had been distracted by the fact that there was a villain keeping pace, but the abandoned store they had entered was clearly anything but. The inside floor was polished white and blue tiles, and they had gone down a staircase that didn’t look like it was part of the original building. Now they were walking down an unnervingly long hallway that seriously reminded Lucy of the lairs of cartoon villains.

She wanted to ask Gracia about it, but Pistolwhip was still hovering behind them. It was hard to even send a look asking for help to Gracia, who was swept up with talking to the villain behind her. It took three attempts for Gracia to notice Lucy’s state.

“Pistolwhip, it’s not that I don't love you, but can you please shove off.” Gracia requested. “You’re scaring my friend. Don’t you need to prepare for a show?”

“The twenty minutes is for the audience, not for me.” Pistolwhip responded, back to sounding bored. “You wanted to introduce her to me, and you did. I wanted to introduce myself to her.”

Why is he so interested? Lucy made certain to not look at the villain again.

Gracia looked over her shoulder, lips thin. She flicked her eyes to Lucy briefly before opening her mouth. “I didn’t think we were that interesting, mister. But by all means.”

A moment passed. Gracia nudged Lucy, but she didn’t move. She was too scared.

“Unless you also have a perception power, I’ll feel bad introducing myself to your back.” Pistolwhip said.

“Sorry!” Lucy spun, inadvertently freeing herself from Gracia at the same time. She tried looking at Pistolwhip’s mask, but her nerves kept flicking her eyes away.

A hand was offered, so Lucy looked at that instead. “Hello. I am Pistolwhip. Announcer for these events sometimes. Slower than in my youth, but I’m the type that actually needs sleep. Are we going to shake?”

“H-hi.” Lucy gripped the hand tight. Too tight. She relaxed her hand. Too much. She tried to go for the firm handshake her dad had taught her, but it was difficult focusing when having a handshake with an infamous villain. “Ah- I- You- You… know who I am?”

When Lucy was finally done adjusting her strength, not that the villain seemed to mind at all, he shook it once and leaned in close. “I can feel distress.”

Lucy’s heart immediately leapt to her throat. She was dimly aware of the villain patting her shoulder- not the one that Jumpspark touched, thankfully. After several seconds, Lucy staggered away, returning to Gracia and blindly gripping for her arm. The lemonade had been dropped at some point. She didn’t say anything more, lest that provoke the villain.

“Knows to de escalate.” Pistolwhip commented. “And she kept control of herself, kind of. Panicked minimally. That’s approval from me.”

“Honey.” Gracia caught Lucy’s attention after a moment. “He’s gone.”

Lucy glanced fearfully in the direction of the supervillain, only to find that he was indeed gone. The only thing stopping her from staggering back out the front door was the fact that Pistolwhip was probably still keeping an eye on them. It wasn’t clear just how much time Lucy had spent panicking, so she just nodded and followed Gracia to where the fights were going to happen.

The cage was hexagonal, and there was a trench surrounding it where cameras were set up while leaving space for the eventual fighters to walk through. It stood in the centre of the room, and towered there, reminding Lucy very much of the clips of MMA fights that appeared on her feed every now and then.

About three quarters of the people outside had come in so far, and were mostly gathering close to the cage. Gracia started leading the way there, but Lucy hesitated and looked to an empty spot far away instead. Thankfully, Gracia didn’t make an argument, and that was where they ended up.

“-t’s all made by one of the Bad Dogs.” Gracia was saying. She hadn’t actually stopped talking since Pistolwhip went away. That, coupled with the general energy in the air, helped Lucy find her way back to somewhere she could speak and pay attention. “One of the only ones that doesn’t do fights, so nobody knows what she does. Not really. Just that she goes to places and makes things like these. Instant underground fighting rings.” She flashed a grin at Lucy. “Perks of the Bad Dogs.”

“Who?” Lucy asked, grateful for the interaction.

“Finally back, sweetie? Huskie is her name.”

“Please…” Lucy trailed off. “He’s still listening?”

“Never stopped.”

“I don’t know if I want to say anything at all.”

“Hmm. Then I have some advice for you: Don’t lie. He’ll know when you lie.”

“Hey! It’s Gracie!” A tall boy about Lucy’s age sat down on the opposite side of Gracia. His appearance happened to cut off what Lucy was about to say. “Thought you ditched us. Who’s the new girl?”

“Wally.” Gracia’s smile dripped acid. “It’s Graci-a. And you wonder why I spend time with other people.”

“Sure, sure. Who’s the new girl?”

“I’m-” Lucy started.

“Issey.” Graica cut in. “Don’t just do whatever because someone asked you to.”

Lucy looked at the other girl in bewilderment as Wally glanced at her up and down. “Eh.” He focused back on Gracia. “The boys and I have drinks tonight, gonna hit the town. You got your id? Wanna join in?”

Gracia made a sound of disappointment. “Oh, Wally I’m really sorry. I must’ve left it in my purse at home. Maybe next time.”

“Shame.” Wally rose to his feet, but lingered. “Was hoping for some girls to tag along. Smell you round.”

“And that, dear apprentice,” Gracia said as soon as he was out of earshot, “is why you don’t grapple at every potential friend that comes your way.”

Lucy didn’t really understand. All she got from that conversation was that Gracia hadn’t been able to accept an invitation. Then it hit her. “You didn’t leave your purse at home. It’s in your bag.”

Gracia arched an eyebrow meaningfully.

“And my name’s not Issey.”

“It’s a teachable moment, honey. Most of the people in here are scum, but they’re still cleaner than the likes of Wally.” She said the name with cold disdain. “You’re going to get burned if you latch onto someone like him.”

“Right.” Lucy adjusted how she sat and looked at the cage. Nobody was in it yet. “Because you clearly never interacted with him before, and I haven’t been burned already.”

“Everybody hurts you eventually. But there are three different degrees of getting burnt. Only two of which leave scars.”

“Sure.” Lucy said shortly. She would’ve kept talking for conversation’s sake, but Pistolwhip had just entered the cage in the middle of the room.

The villain welcomed everyone to the Saturday Night Fights, and quickly moved on to the events of the evening. “Now. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got three rounds of fighters ready to come out and throw down. Tonight’s gonna be a build to a climax. First up are two first timers, you’ll be meeting them soon. Be sure to boo if the fight’s not bloody enough for you.”

A few drunk people were making howling sounds at what they likely thought were appropriate times. They made noise for a few seconds before Pistolwhip continued, his voice echoing through a sound system set up in the room. “Then we have some return fighters. And, once they’re done… The Main Event!” He spread his arms as the crowd cheered. Lucy thought the cheers were probably lackluster compared to what the supervillain was aiming for.

He kept talking, outlining specific things and introducing the fighters. Lucy paid attention, but was distracted by how people were gravitating towards the cage. Then the villain was done and the energy in the room reached new heights as the first fighter walked through one of the two main trenches and into the cage. It was difficult to see from back where she was, and the elevation of the seating was quite steep.

Lucy half wanted to get closer, but she caught a glimpse of Pistolwhip again and second guessed herself. When the fight started, however, she soaked in the cheers and howls that echoed through the stone chamber with every blow struck by the fighters.

It was the bloodiest fight that Lucy had ever seen, and Gracia didn’t even seem that impressed by it. The cage reminding Lucy of MMA turned out to be more than just aesthetic, as the fighters were having bouts according to those rules. Gracia added that Pistolwhip was doing the judging as well, which made sense. He wasn’t the commentator though, a man with a much deeper voice took over commenting on the fight. He was big and black, and Lucy enjoyed watching him race around the cage, maintaining a good spot to see what was happening.

As for Pistolwhip, he slowly walked around in the cage, never getting in the way, and looked bored.

Lucy let herself forget about that as she got swept up in the energy, eventually standing and cheering along with the rest of them. When the first fight was over, Gracia pulled her gently back to her seat and Lucy talked at her relentlessly, not really paying attention to what she was saying. The second fight was bloodier than the first, which shocked Lucy briefly before the wave of energy swept her away again.

Then it was time for the main attraction.

“He’s a man of the ocean, and a man of the underground,” the announcer said as the lights that had come up after the end of the last fight dimmed. “He’s fought almost every powered fighter in the Bad Dogs, and he’s proved his mettle. With nine losses to his thirteen wins, we shall see if he makes it past his unlucky number, or if he’ll finally lose his tenth! It’s Land Squid!”

The super fighter walked in through the trench to Lucy’s left, waving at the crowd, and looking both confident and relaxed. His costume had smooth plates of orange covering his shoulders and arms, and his helmet was made of the same material.

“And challenging him, we have a man whose size makes you wonder where he’s been all this time. Debuting for his first fight in the Streamrock Underground, he hopes to enter the scene with a bang and a big win! He doesn’t say much, but what he says, you know he means. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up, for Big Man!”

The man that strode in through the trench on Lucy’s right deserved to be called big. He was dressed in a hoodie bigger than anything Lucy had ever seen in a store. Big Man must have been at least seven feet tall. He pushed his hood back, revealing a bald and unmasked face as he walked past the announcer and ripped the microphone from his hands.

Big man leveled a finger at Land Squid as he entered the cage. “I’m gonna kill you.”

The crowd hushed as Land Squid flashed a cocky grin and his reply rang out through the quieted room. “You can try.”

A storm thundered over Big Man’s face as his body abruptly bulked up, bringing him to nearly eight feet tall and tearing his hoodie apart. Lucy covered her eyes with splayed fingers as rippling muscle was revealed, just in case his pants ripped too. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Big Man tossed the microphone over his shoulder and lunged as the crowd whistled and cheered.