"...and the last thing he did before falling down dead was give me a quick nod" Brute says and almost looks like he's daydreaming, as he sits on the 'indestructible couch' as we call it, mainly because it is a couch he can sit on without breaking it.
"The last thing he did was give his killer a nod? That's odd" Freakshow asks him as he joins the conversation and sits down.
"Odd? What would you do? I beated Behemoth, and he respected me for it."
"Even though it resulted in his death?"
"That's the whole point of it. If he had beaten me and then not killed me, I would have been fucking pissed!"
"Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight" Zach says and after a few second pause, he adds "you would rather die in a fight than live after being defeated?"
"Hell yeah! Getting killed by someone tough enough to kill me? That's why he nodded I'm telling ya."
"Well, I guess dying doing what you love most isn't such a bad way to go" Freakshow says, clearly still trying to understand Brute's manner of thought.
"Well, what about you tentacleface? What's the toughest battle you've had?"
"Well, Eve kicked my ass pretty good when I was working for Thorne."
"Got your ass kicked by a girl?"
"A Homo Perfectus girl" Freakshow adds.
"Hmpf. Fair enough. There's no point in asking you, little guy. We all know I'm the toughest fight you've ever had" Brute says and looks at Zach.
"You? Please. Scratching my ass is more difficult than fighting you."
"Must be one itchy ass then."
"Or maybe you're just a lowsy fighter."
"Me a lowsy fighter? I'm the best friggin fighter there is!"
"Mmm... especially when you break your jaw fighting a teenage boy."
"You tell'im Eve! Everyone having their strings pulled by Thorne became worse at fighting."
"That's true. The trained policemen were more inaccurate than an untrained shooter."
"That's because they actually had some fighting skill to loose. Brute has no skill. He just punches the bad guys until they stop moving."
"You wouldn't stand a chance against me while I'm still in control of my mind!"
"You're in control of your mind? Huh. I always figured there were these little guys inside your head that pulled words out of hats and made you do whatever action the words formed. That would explain alot, wouldn't it?"
"That's it little guy! Me and you, outside. Now!" Brute says and stands up.
"Sit down Brute. You're not fighting him" I say and Brute sits back down.
He then looks at me and asks "what about you? What's the toughest fight you've gotten into?"
"Good question. I've had several tough fights in my lifetime."
"Baryon? I mean, he's sort of a god, right?"
"No. She...well...we defeated Baryon. It's probably Meckard. It's Meckard right? I mean, he knocked you out, didn't he? That's a fight you actually lost."
"No. Neither one of them is the toughest fight I've had. The toughest fight I've had was when I fought Adam."
"Adam? You fought Adam?"
"Yes. Meckard had me convinced that project Eden was the right thing to do."
"Ah. So you were like Baryon? Being manipulated by the bad guy?"
"Hmm...kind of, I guess."
"So the immortal guy and the god guy were not tougher than someone as powerful as you?"
"Well, Adam had advantages, but the main difficult thing was that I didn't want to fight him. That's what made that fight so tough. Not because he was physically superior to all those other enemies."
"But it made it equally tough for him, didn't it?"
"Yes. I suppose it did."
"Did the two of you ever stop caring about one another? I mean, you were raised together, but after becoming opponents in a fight I would have imagined you would..."
"It's not just that we were raised together. Adam and I were created to detect each other in a unique way."
"Detect one another? How so?"
"Well...you know how people have pheromones, which attracts one gender to the other? We are only attracted to each other's."
"That explains why you haven't tried to find another guy after his death."
"And that also explains how you could resist my charms" Brute says and grins.
"Your ugly bald face goes along way in that retrospect I imagine."
Brute looks at Zach, but says nothing. He then looks around and asks "hey. Where's fish-face?"
"Brute. How often have I talked to you about calling him 'fish-face'."
"Well. It's not my fault he has a name that's gibberish."
"Amphibian is not gibberish. It means 'lifeform that can breathe underwater', which is as fitting for him as Brute is for you."
"Well. Where is fish...Amphibian, I mean. Where is he? He's not on patrol, is he?"
"No. The new guys are on patrol. Amphibian isn't sent on patrols."
"Why? Why doesn't he have to fight loosers like us?"
"Did you just call yourself a looser?"
"What? No...I meant...just tell me why he doesn't have to patrol?"
"His mutation doesn't make him a very potent fighter. He wouldn't be able to take out a single armed man."
"He wouldn't? Then he's useless. What good does he do?"
"Useless? Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot you could breathe underwater."
"Oh...right."
"But that is a good question. Where is Amphibian?" Freakshow asks, but as on que, Amphibian enters the room.
"Ah. We were just talking about you?"
"Nothing bad I hope" he says and approaches.
"Not at all. We were just wondering where you were."
"Swimming."
"Huh. And no one could figure that out?" Zach says and smiles.
"Grove and Hyper are patrolling?" Amphibian asks and turns towards me.
I nod, and then say "their first time."
"You trust Hyper with innocent lives?"
"I trust Grove with innocent lives. Hyper is just there to protect him."
"Funny that a hero has a bodyguard. I mean, doesn't that take the whole 'hero' part away?"
"Grove's father hired Hyper, not Grove."
"But still. He's a mercenery, right?"
"Yes."
"With a superarmor that has tens of thousands of weapons attached to it, right?"
"Overlooking your exagurration, yes."
"And no one has a problem with that?"
"He was hired to protect Grove, and occasionally, that means helping us take down a threat. He's not the most dependable person, but at least he's useful."
"And if the bad guys offered more money for him to backstab us? Maybe even more money than Frederick can afford?"
"Hyper's not stupid. He knows he can't take us all down. He wouldn't sign up for a suicide mission."
"But have you considered that maybe the guy with hundreds of guns on his body kills the criminals instead of just bringing the regular amount of justice upon them?"
Freakshow looks at me and says "maybe you should check up on them. Both because it is Grove's first time on patrol, and also to make sure Hyper is in line."
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