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A Colorful Month

Part 1

For Taiko

By Draconicon

Usually, a welcome party for a new hero in Novus Ager was something pretty far down Nor's to-do list. There were plenty of other heroes that were more into the socializing aspect of the job, and they were always more than willing to bring someone into the fold. They liked the parties. Nor more...tolerated them. At least, most of the time.

However, this had been something of an exception, and the mule was still grinning giddily, almost foolishly, as he left the party behind. The new guy - a powerfully-built orca that went by the super-name of 'Shore Guardian' - had been active for nearly two weeks before someone had managed to get him an invitation to a meet and greet. Usually, when someone avoided invitations for that long, they ended up being something of a villain, or anti-social at best, but this guy...

Nor rubbed his cheek, aware of how much he was smiling. It kinda stung his face as a matter of fact, but the happy feelings just didn't want to go away. There was something about the orca that had made him feel just...happy to be there. The new guy was amiable, friendly, fine with showing off and yet not being an ass about it. He had the smile of a Super-Man boy-scout hero, but just under that was the smirk of a man that knew his own needs.

And he seemed...familiar, somehow. Familiar in a way that made Nor all kinds of open with him in a way that he seldom was with anyone outside Choin, his boyfriend. It didn't make much sense, but it made him happy that he had gone to the party.

Under the rising moon, he gradually left the music and pulsing beat of the nightclub and party behind, making his way through the streets of Novus Ager back to his place. He'd deliberately taken the night off for the party, since he'd known that it would be going late and into his shirt. Perhaps he'd get the chance to get home and get more sleep than usual. Maybe see Choin off to bed, as well, since the panda was usually fast asleep by the time he got home. It was a thought, at least.

He rounded the corner and kissed that idea goodbye when a white-masked, red-suited figure crossed his vision. The mouse looked up at him, tapping a red boot on the sidewalk with his arms crossed, and Nor sighed, the red and blue mule rubbing his forehead.

"Not you again..."

"Oh, I'm afraid it's much more than me, this time."

"Don't do this to me. It's a day off. I'm finally getting the chance to relax, and I'm feeling good right now."

"Do you think I like making someone's life harder?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"No, more like an ill-considered one. Retracted. Do you think I like doing this to you as a general rule?"

"You're a criminal. I'm pretty sure that you like stealing happiness as much as you like stealing anything else."

"Well, you'd be wrong there. Besides, I'm here to do you a favor."

Doubting that and finding it impossible to disbelieve at the same time, the mule sighed. So much for a peaceful night going home.

"You know, the last time that you 'did me a favor', I ended up with an alternate version of myself sharing my programming and getting run by you. How much worse is this favor?"

"In this case, it's a genuine one. There are others coming."

"Others?"

"Like me and LiL."

"...Oh, you have got to be kidding me..."

"Afraid I'm not. I'll do what I can to filter them, distract them -"

"You? What's that going to cost me?"

"Three dates with Olag and four anal sessions with my crew."

"Trust you to have a price figured out already."

"I'm a businessman as well as a criminal. I know what my services cost, and I know what I need right at the moment."

Nor rolled his eyes. All things considered, they were encounters that would probably happen anyway, but it was still a little irksome to be called out like a prostitute like that. At least his villains worked for it rather than just buying it off him. Before he could protest, the mouse spun a jeweled cane around, tapping the narrow point to the ground a couple of times.

"I'm not here to negotiate, Nor. I'm just here to warn you. This is going to happen. Things are moving in the Colorful Council."

"And why do I have to worry about that?"

"Because of what happened between you, me, and LiL. That little encounter had after-effects. Always does, really, just depends on how far the ripples spread. Unfortunately for both of us, LiL kept throwing rocks in the pond and kept the ripples spreading, and now...well, we both have something to deal with."

"That was your fault. Not mine."

"You worked with me, Nor. Like it or not, guilty by association. Not to mention LiL has a hate-boner for you that's never going away."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

"Great..." He grumbled under his breath, pinching the bridge of his muzzle just between the eyes. He was already getting a headache thinking of the Dane, and everything that had happened in that other world.

The Colorful Council was the organization that Salla, LiL, and some unknown number of other criminals called themselves. While he didn't know any of the others, and none of them operated in Novus Ager - as far as he knew - they were dangerous. The supervillains of the city were powerful enough, but the Colorful Council were the sort that were more than capable of ripping apart reality and instating their own interpretation of it. Salla alone had a way of messing with the rules of reality, creating miniature loopholes that let him do stupid things that should never have been possible.

Hell, he imagined that the reason the mouse had appeared so suddenly in his path was a loophole over friction or the conservation of momentum affecting movement or something. That seemed to be how Salla's powers worked.

"So, what am I supposed to do about this?"

"Keep an eye out, and try not to get too tangled up in the ones that come calling. I'll do what I can to sort out the more...trigger-happy ones, but you'll have to deal with the rest. I have to pick my battles here."

"So, what, I'm being hung out to dry?"

"Nor, if you were being hung out to dry, I wouldn't be here. You'd be a sitting duck, I'd be off in my ship somewhere on the ass-end of the galaxy waiting for the best opportunity to take my own shots in return, and Novus Ager would probably already be floating off the coast rather than on it. So, let's not start with that, shall we?"

"...You're right. That was unfair. I'm sorry."

"Accepted. Now, I need to get back to my ship. You do...whatever it was you were doing, and I'll check in on you."

"Any other suggestions?"

"Yes. One of them is already here. He's probably going to find you either tonight or tomorrow morning. He's...not that bad when you get to know him, but he's going to knock your confidence for a loop. Try not to let it get to you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see."

Before Nor could ask another question, Salla tapped his cane again. The red-garbed mouse suddenly slid along a frictionless sidewalk, pulled at high speed through a shifting city towards the port. Nor blinked, wondering how the hell that had worked. The best guess that he had - and that was a guess that came nearly a minute after the fact - was that Salla had shifted where gravity was pulling him, loopholing it so that gravity was only pulling at him from his ship. It certainly yanked him away quickly.

That mouse is scary...

But at least he had a little warning, and something that would let him keep from causing problems for Choin. If this first guy was going to show up tonight, it probably would be better not to be in the panda's apartment. Which meant another night going solo. The mule shook his head, reaching into his pants - such as they were - for his phone.

Choin picked up after the first three rings. The panda sounded rather happy, too, in a good mood.

"Hello there, Nor. Been a little while."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about the busy week."

"That's alright. I imagine that you have plenty of stories to tell."

"You wouldn't believe half of them."

"That's part of the fun of hearing them, heh. So, are you still coming over tonight? You said you might after the party, if there's time."

"Yeah, that's what I'm calling you about."

"...Oh."

"Trust me, I'd like to."

"Did you get another shift?"

"This time, no. I did, however, get a warning. One of those prescient warnings that you really don't want to ignore."

"How bad?"

"The kind that makes me think that you probably wouldn't have an apartment in the morning if I come over."

"Ah, gotcha. Going to lay low?"

"There's a place in the park I've been setting up for times like this. I'll just stay there for the night, just in case."

"Okay. But soon, right? I managed a good, uh, job today, and I want to treat you to something."

"Very soon, Choin. Very soon."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Heh, I hope you do. Love you."

"Love you too. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Despite the understanding on the other end, he still felt bad about hanging up. He and Choin had an understanding with their relationship, something that most of the heroes and villains in Novus Ager were at least somewhat aware of. The various customs and traditions kept Choin from being targeted as the hero's significant other - that was something of a rule among the various supers in the city, something that they kept to quite rigorously - but they were quite aware of the open relationship that the mule and the panda had. There was little shame in what happened when Nor got caught, and there was no real feeling of cuckolding there. It was just something that happened.

Still, he would have liked to have this night, but apparently that was going to have to wait. The Shore Guardian had been a good appetizer to the night's social time, but he'd have to be the full meal, to mangle a metaphor.

Off to the park he walked. He had a tent and a few other bits of goods and gear there, stashed away for those nights when he was too exhausted to make it to his apartment again. It worked out that way sometimes, and he had gotten rather sick of sleeping under a bench or bumming it in someone's abandoned building.

#

The mule had just laid out his sleeping back and snacked on some self-heating soup when he heard someone making their way down the park path. Considering that he was tucked into a small clearing that was sheltered on three sides by tall bushes and on the fourth by tall trees, Nor doubted that they would see him unless they deliberately pulled the bushes aside to find him. He shook his head, tipping the soup can back and enjoying the peppery, creamy broth inside.

He had half-finished the can when a trashcan came flying through the shrubbery just in front of him. The mule threw himself backwards, doing a back-bend that would have gotten full marks in a gymnastics event, and stared at the cartoonish hole that the can left in the tree behind him.

The hell?

"Oy, sorry about that. Wasn't paying attention to where the can was," a gruff, surprisingly genial voice called out. "Any survivors?"

"Yeah," he said, surprised his voice hadn't gone high and squeaky in surprise. "Who's out there?"

"Heh, nobody special."

"The hole in the tree begs to differ."

"Eh, shit happens. Hey, got room in there for one more?"

The guy almost sounded like one of those happy-go-lucky homeless performers that one sometimes saw on the corner of the street, doing some gig or another to try and drum up the cash for the rest of the day. Nor doubted that some super had fallen on such hard luck that he'd have lost his home, but that's what he imagined. He slowly sat up as the speaker finally made his way to the bushes and peered in.

It was a boar, surprisingly enough, though one that was groomed quite well. His tusks curled in a way that was almost like a mustache, pulled up and around the front of his snout. His bristly fur had a well-oiled sheen, slicked back and pulled out of the way, with the hardened look of someone that held it back with some product or other. And more than that, he was dressed entirely - and Nor couldn't believe just how entirely - in purple, wearing a suit that was less 'mob boss' and more 'mob muscle', the sort of suit that a thug going to send a message would have worn.

The full purple look, combined with the fact that the boar had just sent a trash can - and a heavy one at that - through a tree and then out across the street hundreds of yards behind him, told him who this had to be. The way that the boar looked down on him told Nor that he'd been made, too.

"Heh, so you're the guy that's got LiL so pissed off, huh?" the boar asked. "Shoulda guessed that you'd be waiting out here."

"What do you mean?"

"Come ooooon, you know what I mean," the purple-dressed pig said, stepping into the small clearing as he stretched his arms over his head, cracking his knuckles. "Guys like you, you wanna keep things safe, right? Who told ya that we were coming?"

"I think that's my business."

"Heh, it was either LiL or MiR, right?"

"..."

"Yeah, could be either of 'em, really. LiL's a petty little bitch about all this shit. Always wants to get a one-up on everyone else without trying, and MiR? He's always at the bottom of the heap, always looking for ways to stir the pot. But me? I'm just here to see what you're like."

"What are you talking about?" Nor asked, slowly getting to his hooves. "What are you here for? Really?"

"Really? Well, guess it's to see just how little old you managed to piss off one of the Council so much."

"..."

The boar was not what he expected. At all. For all that he was irritated beyond the common lot of mortals with both Salla - the Man in Red, or MiR - and the Lord in Lavender, he knew that they were both rather civilized. They were very respectable in their way of working with other people most of the time, very much businessmen that had a specific aim and specific rules in how they were going to work towards it. This boar was...different. Cruder, crasser, and without the sort of civilized air that he was used to seeing.

In some ways, he felt more normal. In other ways, he felt more...weird.

"So, what'd you do, Nor?"

"I just did what I could."

"Well, what can ya do? You strong? Smart? Fast?"

"...I guess a bit of all of those things."

"Show me."

"What?"

"Yeah, come on. Show me." The boar patted his chest, pulling his tie loose and tucking it into his pocket. "Give it a shot. Lemme feel what you can do."

"You want me to hurt you?"

"Heh, I wanna see if you can. Come on."

...What is this guy, a masochist? Nor might not have been one of the super-strength heroes of the city, but his current form had more muscles than the average person by some way. He cocked his head to the side, slowly lifting a fist.

"You sure?"

"Sure I'm sure."

"...Just remember you asked for it, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, just -"

THUMP!

Nor punched the boar as hard as he could right in the stomach. He'd intentionally aimed for a place that would allow the impact to knock the air out of the porcine stranger's lungs, but where the hard blow wouldn't actually do long-term damage. Even with some of the stronger baddies that he'd fought in the past - even Parlour, when the horse had absorbed some of the stronger heroes of Novus Ager - he had managed to get a grunt or an oof or something out of them.

The purple boar just stopped talking, looking down with an eyebrow raised. He cocked his head to the side.

"That it?"

"Um..."

"Come on, kid, there's gotta be more to ya than that."

"This is usually the part when people slump forward, honestly."

"What? Nah, nah, you don't do it like that. Ya want that, you do it like this."

The boar moved like a fight instructor, moving with his arm at a slower motion to catch the technique. But when those fingers hit his gut -

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Nor followed the trash can through the tree, bounced off the grassy length of the park, skidded the top of a pond, and finally came to a halt in a car park a hundred feet away. He groaned, thankful that he was already starting to regenerate from the road rash that came from the hard hit, and forced his hands back under him.

What...the hell...was that?

That wasn't just a punch. He'd taken super-strength punches before, and he'd rolled with them. Hell, he'd been punched across half a city block before, and he'd just gotten back up and made himself get back to it. This time, however, there was a residual ache and burn in his guts, something that had never happened before. It was like something had actually been broken for a bit before the regeneration got to work.

He coughed as he pulled himself back to his feet, shaking his head as the boar stepped through the snapped and shattered tree in the distance. The mule watched as the boar touched the trunk, and it just shattered under his touch.

What...the...hell...

"Hey, kid. You still standing?"

"Mmmph...yeah..."

"Not bad, kid, not bad." The boar chuckled. "First time someone's gotten back up in a while. Looks like you might be something special, after all."

Something special to kick around, I guess. Fuck...

With his Hard Memory pulling out what his body was supposed to be like, the damage was being repaired, but that light touch shouldn't have been nearly so damaging as it was. It was as if someone had gone into him and actively damaged things in addition to the sheer force of the blow. It was weird. Strange. Wrong.

He stumbled backwards as he fought to keep his balance, and he knew better than to try and run. Right now, he had the boar's interest, and that was better than letting it go somewhere else. Besides, he doubted that he'd be able to run for long. Not with that hit.

The boar reached the parking lot about the time the regeneration finished. The boar snorted, shaking his head.

"Yeah, you're something special. Ain't hurting so much anymore, are you?"

"Who are you?" Nor panted. "You aren't normal yourself."

"Told ya already. I'm part of the Council, like them."

"Yeah, but who are you?"

"Baron in Purple. Nice to meet ya." The boar offered his hand, but Nor shook his head. "Heh, ain't gonna bite on a handshake, kid. That's not how it works."

"Your powers, or the way that this fight works?"

"Eh, I gotta be distracted or in a mood for it to happen without me paying attention. Kinda hip-checked that can by accident."

"...That was a hip-check?"

"Yeah. Battery's a powerful thing."

Battery? As in Assault?

He didn't really know what to think, but he almost mechanically took the boar's hand. One shake, two, and then he let go before some trick could be pulled. The boar looked around.

"So, what the hell is this place? Kinda hopped in without looking 'round that much."

"This is my - why am I answering you right now?"

"Probably 'cause you don't want another gut punch, heh. First one tends to linger."

"I'm better now."

"Yeah, I noticed. How's that work, anyway?"

"Trade secrets."

"Oh, secrets, huh?" The Baron chuckled. "Mind if I try to get 'em outta ya?"

"You can try."

He regretted that the second the words left his mouth. Even as he raised his arms to block, the boar gave him a stiff-fingered poke that sent him flying backwards. He lifted more than twenty feet off the ground, went flying over the road, and would have gone straight through a building if it hadn't disappeared the second that he came near it. The shifting city kept him from blowing a hole through it, and stayed out of the way as the boar followed.

Thankfully, the Baron was slower than he was strong, so Nor had the chance to get back to his feet. He groaned as he stumbled from hoof to hoof, holding a hand against his chest as he shook his head. That hurt. That hurt more than a little bit.

"Ow...ow..."

"Hey, you're still standing. Good for you."

"Nnngh...Are you...even taking this seriously?"

"Not really. Ain't had reason to."

"Well...let me give you one."

Once his rib cage didn't feel like it was going to collapse, Nor leaped into action. The mule leaped off a car nearby, throwing himself forward with a hard punch. The boar took it on the cheek as Nor went by, and the mule kicked backwards, slamming his hoof into the boar's ass, and then whipped around to punch his attacker in the neck.

Not one blow seemed to have any effect. The boar barely stumbled at the last of the hits, and slowly turned around as Nor did his best not to nurse his aching wrists and ankle.

"Ya got that reason or not?" he asked.

"How are you just..."

"Oh, that? I've got the power of Battery. Hurting things, ya know?"

"How does that make you so..."

"Eh, I 'hurt' your punches while they're coming in."

"That's - how does that even work?"

"No fucking clue. But it does. Just like the rest of it does. By the way, was I seeing things, or did that building just yeet itself down the block?"

"..."

"Was I seeing things?"

"You noticed?"

"Thank fuck, I wasn't. Was about to go check myself in for therapy or something. Does it do that all the time?"

"I -"

"Wait, I can just find out."

It was barely a forehead flick, but suddenly Nor was pinballing backwards. He watched as a raised monorail leaped over him, a building squatted under him, and a store suddenly had a walk-through lane that he just went flying through. He eventually came to a halt in a fountain, floating in the water and staring up at the falling water droplets.

I feel like I'm in a cartoon right now...

"Well, fuck me sideways. The city moves?"

And the boar was right there again. He didn't know what was going on, but it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to fight this guy. Nor stood up, rubbing his forehead as a migraine of a headache slowly started to clear.

"Don't do that again," he muttered.

"Heh, kid, I don't plan on it. Least, not tonight," the boar said, slowly turning in place. "Fucking hell, that's hilarious."

"What, punching me into a fountain?"

"Nah, nah, the city. Heh. Heheh. Hehehehheh..."

The boar kept laughing until he had to lean against the fountain, all but howling with laughter as he rolled onto the ground, rolling left to right to left again, his eyes watering and his fists beating into the ground. Each blow left a crater behind, and Nor stumbled from the aftershocks. Despite the danger, he grabbed the boar, shaking him hard.

"Stop it. Stop it!"

"Heh...hehehehe...sorry, kid, gimme - hehe - gimme a second."

It took the boar a full ten seconds to completely calm down after that, even though a few stray giggles still worked their way free. He pushed himself to his feet, shaking his head as he wiped his eyes.

"Oh, fuck, I haven't seen something that funny in a long time."

"Funny? Funny? Kicking me around was funny?"

"Nah, kid, you ain't that funny. Good guy, maybe, but not that funny. Nah, it's the city. Cares more about its people than the people in it do."

"...How's that funny?"

"Because they usually take care of themselves. Here? It's like there's just one giant dad sweeping 'em out of the way anytime something's gonna wreck things too bad. Oh, fuck, the construction companies - no, the demolition companies. Swinging a wrecking ball and - oh shit, no more building! HAHAHAHAH!"

And just like that, the boar was lost to laughing himself silly again. Nor just stared, unable to believe what he was seeing.

This...this is a Council member?

He could believe it from the sheer power that he was seeing, but after seeing Salla and LiL, he'd formed a mental image of what a Council member was supposed to be, and this just wasn't it. They were supposed to be suave in their own way, reasonable deal-makers, looking at things with a serious gaze and seeing what they wanted and taking it. And yet, here was the Baron in Purple - a Baron, which was probably higher than Salla was - laughing at what Novus Ager did on a daily basis, and just as happy doing that as he had been swatting the mule around for the night.

When the Baron in Purple finally managed to stop laughing, wiping his eyes clean, Nor braced himself for another swat. When the boar looked at him, though, the burly man shook his head.

"Nah, kid, nah. I'm done with that. I wanna see what the rest of the city is like. This place jump all over the place all the time?"

"...Kind of. You're not...going to break things, are you?"

"Not that ya could stop me, but nah. Ain't something I try to do, mostly. I just wanna see how ridiculous this place gets."

"..."

"Besides, I came here 'cause of you, and after seeing all this stuff, I gotta take some time to think. Plan." The boar chuckled. "Ain't a strong suit of mine, but I got a few ideas bubbling up in my brain."

Nor didn't know if he liked that idea, but he also knew that there was very, very little that he could do to stop the Baron if he really wanted to push the issue. The power difference between the two of them was just too vast.

So, he just nodded, and the boar walked off, whistling to himself as he did. The city seemed to give him a wide berth, the alleys widening by a good ten feet whenever he walked through them, and the streets curving in a vaguely arching pattern as if in an attempt to isolate him from the rest of the suddenly-fragile buildings. The boar laughed more than ever at that, almost as if he found it too hilarious for words.

The mule shook his head, groaning as he pressed a hand to his head. His migraine was almost gone, the regeneration almost complete. At least that was something. He reached for his phone, and he sighed as he saw the screen was broken. One of the blows must have screwed it over, and the dunk in the fountain probably hadn't helped, either.

"Well, that's another phone to get..."

But at least he seemed to have survived the night. Remembering what Salla said about not letting his ego get too bruised up, he shook his head. He was just thankful that the Baron wasn't too much of an asshole, all things considered. With that kind of power, he could have done some serious harm to both Nor and the city at large, and he didn't know if there was a regular super-hero that would have had the strength to easily take the boar down. Maybe some of the mentalists, but not much of the physical heroes.

But there was one positive. Now that this was done, he could head over to Choin for a while. The boar didn't seem like one of the smarter guys out there, so he probably had at least the morning to himself and the panda. Might as well make use of it.

Rubbing his head a few times, he walked down the street and towards the end of the block. He'd need to catch a taxi. Normally, he would have run all the way to the apartment, but after that? He was going to treat himself. He was too stiff and sore after being knocked around with that much ease, and he needed a bit of an ego boost, too. There wasn't a cabby in Novus Ager that wouldn't shower a hero with praise, if they took a cab. Hell, some of the heroes used that as free therapy.

The End

Summary: Nor is about to go through some shit as the Colorful Council start descending on Novus Ager, one by one. And if any of you ever had curiosity what Olag's boss, Salla, is like...well, you're going to see what kind of people he hangs out with.

Tags: No sex, Mule, Boar, Superheroes, Novus Ager, Series, Colorful Council, Fight, Fighting, Laughter, Criminal,