Downtown Savagery was referred to as The Underside. And in a city full of crime and filth, that was saying something. The eastern half of the district was easily the least attractive area in the city. Old, rundown factories that somehow still functioned despite not being well-maintained or upgraded in decades lined the coast of the Watson River. Each tainted the water with every form of pollution known to man. And some that few could ever identify. On the western half of the district stood twelve skyscrapers that ran the industrial factories that neighbored them and they were known as the pantheon.

Those who ran the businesses in The Underside were not officially criminals like the ones who openly flashed their status at The Amelia Hotel and Casino, but to anyone with half a brain, these men and women were as guilty of crime as anyone in the city. The difference was that they were backed by government officials and dirty cops while most ordinary criminals had no such luxuries. Something that was ensured by the pantheon of gods in The Underside with large payments to the necessary powers. For anyone fighting crime in Savagery to have any success against the men and women in The Underside, one would have to get quite creative. Luckily for Yang Liu, that was his forte.

The relatively new crimefighter sat atop one of the twelve skyscrapers, Panuchi Plastics, with his feet dangling over the side of the parapet-style wall that surrounded the perimeter of the roof. His sidekick and younger brother, Yang Bo, sat beside him, unwrapping a sandwich he had picked up at Bobby’s Grinders. One of the few street vendors that were courageous enough to work The Underside at night. The brothers had chosen Panuchi Plastics as the place for their stakeout because of its perfect view of the neighboring factories. One in particular was their focus though. Inside Xenemax’s two-story factory two rival gangs were meeting to discuss what to do about a man that was back on the streets just days after being imprisoned at Barico Island Penitentiary. Yang Lui had no interest in that information though. He knew what had to be done with man. What he didn’t know was how to find him.

“Damn that worthless Bobby. I said no tomatoes.” Yang Bo laid his grinder on his lap, the wrapper flapping in the breeze that lived this high in the sky, and picked through his sandwich for the tomatoes. Each fell through the night sky toward the sidewalk below as the young man carelessly tossed them. Hindsight chuckled.

“He foils you again.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s like he doesn’t know my name.” Yang Bo was referring to his crime fighting name, Karma. A name he had settled on very quickly, claiming that he would be the one to give every criminal what they deserved for their actions. In turn, Yang Liu had chosen Hindsight as his crime fighting name. There was just enough of a link between the two words that the brothers felt they made sense for a crime fighting duo.

“Oh, leave Bobby alone. He’s hardly the worst man in this city. Tomatoes or not.”

Yang Bo lifted his sandwich to his mouth and took a healthy chunk out of it. His next words were indecipherable yet he still expected his brother to understand him. Yang Liu nodded in false agreement.

Just then the windows in Xenemax’s factory flashed bright. Just once at first. Then many times, and in rapid succession. The muffled sounds of gunshots echoed through the night. The people on the streets were anything but alarmed. Each gave the standard amount of respect to the sound of gunfire then went on about their business.

Yang Bo shoved as much of his sandwich into his mouth as he could and began to wrap-up what was left. Yang Liu put his hand across the younger man’s torso.

“Take your time.”

“But… They’re killing each other.”

“Precisely. Less work for us.” Yang Bo stared for a moment. Then shrugged. Then turned his focus back to his delicious-looking sandwich. Yang Liu couldn’t resist his urge for a bite any longer. If he did there would be nothing left soon. Yang Bo’s fast eating habits were something well-known about the young man. “Gimme a bite,” said Yang Liu.

“No.”

“Please.” Gunshots continued to ring in the distance behind their familiar banter.

“You always do this. I suggest food, you act tough and focused and say we’re on a mission. Then when I’m eating you want some of mine. Not this time, big bull.” Yang Liu smiled at the use of his nickname.

“Please. Just one bite.” Yang Liu put on his most begging eyes, knowing they always worked.

Karma sighed and handed over what was left of his turkey grinder. Yang Liu intended to only take a single bite, but the first made too good of an impression to not take a second. And a third. He dodged his brother’s furious attempt to snatch the sandwich away from him, nearly knocking both men off the side of the building.

“You said one bite, you ass!” Yang Bo sounded like a whining child.

Yang Liu spoke with his mouth full. “I paid for it.”

The Underside fell silent but for the normal sounds in the district. They both stopped their squabbling and looked at the factory. It was still and quiet.

Hindsight was on his feet instantly. “Time to go.”

The wrapper from Karma’s grinder floated whimsically with the breeze as he let it fall from his lap. He took his place beside his brother some twenty feet from the edge of the building.

On Hindsight’s belt were two identical items called pot stickers. Created and affectionately named by his grandmother. Yang Daiyu had been a crime fighter herself in her day. And a damn good one. She went by Black Jade, a name that still haunted the streets of Savagery. Partly because most criminals had no idea if the infamous slayer was still prowling the rooftops or not. But Yang Liu knew very well that the old woman spent her days tucked away in her underground apartment now, working on new inventions to make Hindsight’s and Karma’s lives easier. She often claimed her inventions were necessary if her grandsons were ever going to live up to her expectations. Not one to admit something so demoralizing, Yang Liu often insisted his name would far outshine his grandmother’s when he was old and gray, but that was all a ruse. In truth, he wondered if any criminal had even heard of him or his brother.

The pot stickers in Hindsight’s hands looked much like lightweight dumbbells once they were stretched to their full length. At each end of the dumbbell-like gadget was a hexagonal shape that could be activated and deactivated with a push of a button to create an adhesive force that would stick to any surface. He tapped a button on his belt and the same adhesive force formed around the toes of his boots. He turned them off once he was satisfied that they were working.

“Ready?” asked Yang Liu. Yang Bo was still fiddling with his pot stickers. “Remember, turn on your boots in mid-air.” Yang Liu took off sprinting toward the parapet before Yang Bo could say anything. His foot stuck the launch perfectly and in an instant he was flying through the air across the gap between Panuchi Plastics and a neighboring skyscraper. For a few seconds he was weightless. It was an intoxicating adrenaline rush. Exactly what he lived for. He felt himself smiling as he pressed the bottom on his belt.

The adhesive sides of the pot stickers and his boots latched onto the glass windows of the rapidly approaching skyscraper. He controlled his momentous landing smoothly and looked at his dark reflection in the glass window. He still hadn’t decided if the forest green spandex suit had been a good choice. No time for that debate now though. He turned his head. Yang Bo still had not made his jump. He began to think something may be wrong with the man’s gadgets. Suddenly, the crime fighting hero named Karma finally appeared at the edge of the previous building. Then he was sailing through the air, his arms flailing, his legs kicking wildly. His gold spandex suit looked black in the night. He hit the glass windows below Yang Liu with a less than graceful thud.

“You alright?” asked Yang Liu. His younger brother gave him a wave that meant he wanted Yang Liu to shut his mouth while he composed himself.

Eventually, he said, “Must we do that? Can’t we find an easier way to get from place to place?”

Yang Liu checked to make sure his earpiece was off. “And let grandmother know you’re not using her gadgets? Not a chance.”

Both men carefully activated and deactivated the adhesive forces on their pot stickers and boots as they slid down the glass wall of the building. When they finally reached the streets Yang Liu chuckled at his brother who was cursing under his breath about how pointlessly dangerous the task had been.

“Come on. We have to get there before they leave.” Yang Liu knew very well the surviving gang members had no intention of leaving before they met with him, but his brother had no idea. And for tonight’s plan to work, Yang Bo needed to think they were on a real mission.

They moved through the mostly empty streets of The Underside with caution and stealth until they exited a dark alley that connected the two sides of the district. Xenemax’s factory was silent. It appeared ominous given the fact that a massacre had just occurred inside its dirty brick walls. Windows were shattered, most before tonight’s events. Two letters on the Xenemax sign atop the building were burned out while one flickered. In most cities, the fact that the gate to the barbed wire fence around the factory was open would likely be a red flag to passersby. But in Savagery, civilians knew better to get involved with anything that looked suspicious.

Yang Bo grabbed Yang Liu’s wrist when he began to walk straight toward the open gate. “We’re not just walking right in. Are you insane?”

“And they’re not just walking out the front entrance. This is probably the safest way in.”

“Probably!” Karma whispered sharply. “That’s not good enough. Let’s climb the wall and look through the windows.”

“That’s a waste of time.”

“To hell if it is. Nothing that keeps us alive is a waste of time.” Yang Bo was all for becoming crime fighters but his motivation was revenge. He wanted to find the people that killed his friend, Chen Sho. Yang Liu appreciated his brother’s motives, but his own were far more important to him. Ever since he was a child he had heard the stories of Black Jade and how criminals cowered at the mention of her name. How she had earned her place atop the long list of crime fighters that had patrolled the streets of Savagery over the years. Yang Liu had every intention of surpassing his grandmother. And tonight was an incredible opportunity to get started on that path much earlier in his career than he expected. He wriggled his wrist out of his brother’s grasp and began walking toward the front entrance of the factory again.

“Get back here! Liu, please! Stop.”

In Yang Liu’s mind he had already changed into Hindsight. And Hindsight had a tendency to ignore his brother, despite knowing how desperate the young man must feel to have used his real name on a mission. A moment later there were clumsy footsteps in the gravel behind him.

“Ridiculous.” Yang Bo was not happy. Not happy at all.

As expected, the entrance was unlocked. Yang Bo remained out of sight, his back pressed to the wall beside the door, while Hindsight opened the door carefully. It swung open heavily and slowly. Hindsight stepped in, Yang Bo following closely. The first floor of the factory was full of conveyor belts and industrial machines. The second floor was dedicated to offices that lined the walls of the building. A metal catwalk surrounded the second floor and provided an aerial view of the factory floor below. All other details were lost quickly as Hindsight spotted the corpses of what he assumed used to be members of the Black Angels. At least he hoped they belonged to the Black Angels. If these dead men and women were part of the Iron Crew, then he and his brother were in considerable trouble.

A voice came from the shadows. “Glad to see you could make it.” A man in a suit emerged into the light on the catwalk above. He was holding a bloody wound on his right shoulder but managed to hide any pain he was feeling. His hair was buzzed short, almost to the point of being bald. He had the look of a man who had seen more than his fair share of dead bodies. Adrian Rokanovic was his name and he was the leader of the gang known as the Iron Crew. He spent an unprecedented amount of time atop the gang too. Over a decade.

“Glad to see you survived,” said Hindsight. He used his crime fighting voice. The one his grandmother so often mocked. Yang Bo did too when his older brother wasn’t around. The younger man had no idea that his grandmother had long ago sold him out. It was something Yang Liu was waiting to spring on his brother at just the right moment. Now was not that time.

Two more men appeared behind Rokanovic. Their attire hardly matched that of their leader. Black hoodies and pants, hoods up, faces hidden. They each held one arm of a woman with a bag over her head. She was dressed just as professionally as the man in the suit. She didn’t struggle to escape at all.

Days before, Hindsight had met with Rokanovic to discuss the terms of an agreement. The negotiations had been tense but fair. There was certainly no love lost between them, but both knew the other man could obtain information they needed. Thus, an agreement was reached. Rokanovic was to find out where the criminal that had escaped the penitentiary had been taken and Hindsight was to obtain the security codes to Xenamax’s headquarters on the other side of the district. What Rokanovic intended to do with the codes was unknown, but it didn’t matter much to Yang Liu. In his eyes, the men and women at Xenamax deserved whatever was coming for them.

“Did you get the codes?” asked Rokanovic.

“Yes. Did you get the location?” Rokanovic didn’t respond, but something in his body language made it clear he had.

Hindsight began to feel uncomfortable. Obtaining information for one another and giving trading it fairly was one thing but Rokanovic had not been willing to simply trust the word of a crime fighter. To solidify the deal Hindsight had had to come up with a way to ensure his word could be trusted. He glanced at his brother. He could not see his face under the gold spandex suit that covered his entire body, but he knew Yang Bo was biting his bottom lip nervously.

“On with it then,” demanded Rokanovic. He gestured for his men to take the woman downstairs.

Hindsight turned to his brother and put his hand on his shoulder. Yang Bo turned. “You have to trust me little dragon.”

“What?”

“Everything will be okay.”

“What do you mean?” Yang Bo tried to shake off his brother’s grip but Hindsight only squeezed tighter and took the younger man by both shoulders. “Liu, stop. What is this?” Yang Bo was whispering nervously.

“It’s what has to be done.” Hindsight released a jolt of energy through the small Onu Tech eels he had placed on his fingertips while walking into the factory. His grandmother had called them non-lethal, but this was the first time he had ever used them. He hoped for the best. Yang Bo dropped to the ground, convulsing for a moment before falling still.

The two men approached, the woman still restrained. One man removed the bag over her head before they shoved her toward Hindsight and began to gather up his brother. The woman was every bit as stern and fierce as Rokanovic. A match made in heaven. Or hell.

One of the men pulled at Yang Bo’s mask roughly. The young man was slowly coming to after having lost consciousness. His face was drenched in sweat and when he realized what was happening a thick layer of fear appeared.

“It’s him,” said one of the hooded lackeys to Rokanovic.

The gang leader spoke from the catwalk. “If the security codes are wrong, he dies.”

“Understood,” said Hindsight. “And if they’re correct?”

“Then we will meet back here in two weeks' time. To return borrowed goods… or perhaps, to continue this new relationship.” There was just enough light in the factory to show Rokanovic was not kidding about the prospect of continued collaboration.

Yang Bo looked at his brother with eyes full of betrayal right up until the bag was pulled over his face. Yang Liu closed his eyes just long enough to take a deep breath. Then he grabbed Rokanovic’s wife and held her in front of himself like a human shield.

“First the location,” he said to Rokanovic.

“Bloodbath is being held in a house on Shienna Street. The only navy blue house on the street. Can’t miss it. Horribly hideous. He has a few of his men with him. Blitz and Ace to name a couple. Can’t say I’d go fucking around with those two. But… if you must, just know your brother will be in good hands.” He smirked at Yang Liu.

“Now the codes.”

Yang Liu handed a folded piece of paper to one of Rokanovic’s hooded men. The man opened the note, examined it, then gave his boss an approving nod. And just like that, the worst meeting of Yang Liu’s life was over. The Iron Crew members dragged Yang Bo toward the back of the factory, leaving Yang Liu alone with Rokanovic’s wife. She glared at him with resentment and hatred but didn’t speak.

“You better get going before I decide you’re not worth the hassle,” said Rokanovic. “And if you mistreat her, I’ll cut your brother’s heart out and deliver it to you myself.”

Yang Liu elected not to reply. He simply guide Mrs. Rokanovic toward the exit as politely as he could.