Seeing Ronnie laid out because of skills was immensely satisfying. Much like everyone else, the big man had massively underestimated what my enhancements could do. While they did provide a boost to the channeled fire, the main point of both skills was to enhance the melee capabilities of the weapon. The stick was G rank anyway, so it probably wouldn't have broken in one shot, but it definitely wouldn't have survived repeated use as a bludgeon. As it was though, the thing nearly caved in his stupid fuchsia covered skull.

After he finally passed out there was a loud wave of applause. Every Militia member in the bar was whooping and cheering. The other two Jerks hadn't made a move, but given that it was now four G rankers to two, I was figuring they were a bit nervous about what was coming. I left it to Cark to deal with though, this was his show. I expected him to handle it immediately, but to my surprise he pretty much ignored them, turning to address the room with his staff over one shoulder. "Which one of you is Saffron?"

The red haired woman with the pixie cut stepped forward. She grinned broadly at Cark. "Nice to meet you boss. When they told us we were getting a Baron of our own we were expecting great things, but we didn't know even your friends would be so scary..." She eyed me appreciatively. "And cute too." Callie stepped forward, clearing her throat and narrowing her eyes, and the redhead just smiled and turned back to Cark. "So, what can I do for you boss man?"

Cark snorted in amusement, ignoring my now glaring girlfriend in favor of gesturing to Ronnie. "Tie him up and call someone from headquarters to pick him up. Restraining him shouldn't be a problem in that condition, but make sure to wrap him up good. We do have some G ranked restraints around here right?" The red haired woman nodded. "Good, have the other G rankers stand guard with you, and if he looks like hes waking up kick him in the head until he loses consciousness."

If it had been anyone but the absolutely dumpster fire we'd met earlier that would have made me wince, but since it was I decided it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. They hauled him off to one side, and I called over to check once they had him secured so I could be sure to remove the effects of the poison at the right time. Once they had him all locked up Cark turned to the other two. "So, you two planning to avenge your boss or try to take him with you when you leave? Because I can't say that would be wise."

The blue haired one on the right shrugged. "Nah, Ronnie was kind of a dick. No one really liked him much, but M-Jack liked having someone mean around to keep everybody in line. Back in Velan he managed it so it didn't get so bad but..." He trailed off, his face shadowing. "Since we got to Rajak Ronnie got worse. Scary. We ain't gonna complain you took care of him, especially since he started it. You want I should give M-Jack a message for you or something? I figure if you wanted us busted up we would be already."

That was more critical thinking than I expected from a Jerk. I couldn't help but speak up. "Who are you exactly? You're a G ranker, I figure back in Velan I'd have heard of you before." I wouldn't have, I knew like, none of the G rankers in Velan outside the guild, but I figured he'd be more likely to share if he was feeling respected. Most people were like that as far as I had seen.

He snickered. "Ragin Ray. I only got to G rank after I showed up. I was close enough to use elixirs to push me over. They're way easier to get in this town." He snickered. "I don't need to ask about you. Everyone in the Jerks knows Punchin Carl's legendary nemesis Solomon. I half expected you to be ten feet tall. Or one. The story changes day to day, depending on Carl's mood and level of agitation." He turned to Cark. "So you gonna let us go? Or we gonna have to try to fight our way out?"

The big bounty hunter sighed. "You can go. If I wipe you out I'll end up with your boss hunting me down for wiping out his people. This way there's at least a chance you can let him know what happened to beefy over there." He looked covertly at Callie and I, clearly wanting our feedback since we were nominal experts here. I just shrugged and chucked my chin at my girlfriend who nodded subtly. Cark sighed. "Alright. You can go, but if my people see you around here again we won't be as gentle. Your crew aren't welcome in Militia territory. You can tell your boss that."

It was surprising to see how stoic and unafraid our friend was, but to be fair he had been pretty unshakeable during the hunt too. Cark was a cool customer, and he'd been on the streets for a long time. He looked around after they left. "You." He pointed at a random H ranker. "We have questions. Who knows the most about the local political situation?" The mousy brown haired man with the scraggly beard gulped and pointed over to Saffron. Since we didn't want to leave Ronnie before the Militia came to get him, Cark led us over to where she was sitting.

As she saw us coming she raised an eyebrow. "Letting them go huh boss? Well, it's your call, you earned that, but I'm skeptical it'll work out well. So, you wanted some feedback on local politics huh?" Cark nodded and she chuckled. "I can't tell you how nice it is that our new Baron isn't a muscle brained idiot and actually knows how to ask questions. We were a bit worried about it. I'm sure you know how obnoxious it is working around a shitty boss."

I supposed he must have, because his lips quirked up in amusement. "I'll try not to be too big an imposition." His voice was wry and sarcastic, and Saffron gave him a wide grin to let him know she was in on the joke. "Anyway, tell me about whats been going on down here. Someone is attacking, clearly, but it can't just be the...what did you two call them? The Jerks?" I nodded and he turned back to her. "There has to be a faction behind this that's local. They're picking fights with the Cavalcade too. Who benefits from this?"

We had no clue about the political landscape down here, aside from the bits that Cark had heard from Sage. Saffron however lived down here, and she was more than capable of filling us in. "We've been looking into that ourselves actually. Originally the attacks on us were being performed by mercs and third parties. This was the first time these new guys came after us. We heard about them messing with the Cavalcade, but a bit of a shakeup is hardly a new thing. People pick fights down here all the time. It didn't seem like our concern."

That made sense actually. If they planned to take all of G district as an endgame then letting whoever was coming for the Cavalcade bust themselves up and soften up the circus at the same time was a solid plan. Callie made a noise of surprise as something occurred to her and we all turned to look. "The timing here can't be a coincidence. You said you were looking into which faction is trying to push into G district now, maybe you got too close and they sent the Jerks to scare you off. But why would they do all this now?"

I was pretty sure I knew though, and Saffron confirmed it as soon as I had the thought. "Probably because that asshole Aiden is gone. Pretentious dick. He wasn't nearly as cuddly as he liked to pretend, we had a couple of people disappear after interacting with his goons. Of course he played up his defender of the innocent act whenever we tried to pick a fight, but we all knew he was a snake. Still, he WAS powerful, and our respective groups pretty much cancelled each other's influence out down here."

Callie nodded ponderingly. "That...might make sense. I guess it's not crazy for someone to take advantage of a shift in the balance of power if it showed up. But why G district? I can't see how taking a place like this would really give any benefits for anyone with sufficient rank. F district has the most money, and E district has the most power, what the hell does G district have that's worth anything?" There was something going on here that we were missing, there was no reason for any of the things that had been happening as far as I could see, which meant there was a piece of the puzzle missing.

I wracked my brain for anything that they could gain from this, for anything G district would give them access to, and I only really came up with one option. "Bodies." Everyone looked at me blankly. "The only thing that G district has over the other districts. There are more G rankers in the WCP than F or E. There are probably more H rankers than that, but H rankers are barely above mortals at the low level, so if they get G district in line they could exert pressure on the lower rankers too. Hell they might be able to pressure the F rankers by virtue of connections with people down here."

Saffron was stunned for a second, but she began to nod slowly. "That...that might work. Most of the F rankers have multiple friends and family members in G rank, and G rankers are authority figures in the lower districts without being too powerful to handle. Trying to take F district would be...unpleasant. The spectrum of F rank is WIDE, and at the higher ends of it you can do some real damage in a fight. Unifying that large of a contingent of powerful and, lets be honest, strange Ascendants, would be hellish."

Callie made a frustrated sound. "That still doesn't help us. We have no clue who they're working with. We need to try to figure out what's going on down here as soon as possible. It's pretty clear they aren't going to just sit tight and ignore us poking into things. Any chance they'll just send a crowd of F rankers down to crush us?" E rankers we would be safe from, but F rankers would swat us like flies.

Luckily Saffron shook her head. "Doubtful. The reason they're using cats paws has to be to avoid sparking off a huge turf war that would gridlock the whole WCP. If F rankers start showing up down here people would know, and they would know who sent them. F rank is notable on this planet, there are lots of them, but all the ones in the factions have enough reputation to be recognizable, even if they disguise themselves, F rank powers are usually pretty distinct. No, they'll keep this under wraps until the last second."

That made things easier. "Well then, we only have one course of action. We need to head for the Cavalcade again and try to sniff out some answers. Without Ronnie there to run things the Jerks will be their usual scattered ridiculous selves, and the chances of them giving something away is huge." I turned to Callie with a huge grin that she sadly couldn't see under my mask "So what do you say? Want to go back to the circus?" Her own answering grin was easy enough to see. I had figured.