Within the Apple Ch11C

*****

Xander loved the freedom that superhero worlds offered, the ability to fly in the open without obliviators and the Pride or some idiot Aurors chasing him down was liberatingin a way very few could ever truly understand. Even among Wizards, those upstanding pillars of the world back home, the truth was that freedom was a rare and multifaceted beast… with facets sharp enough to lop off fingers, hands, and limbs if you stuck something in too close.

In fact, he’d say that it was worse for Wizards than for muggles.

Muggles didn’t have a clue what they were missing, for the most part.

Doing everything secretly, furtively flitting about in the shadows, erasing their presence from anyone who saw them… Xander honestly wasn’t surprised that so many Wizards went dark.

Act like thief in the night long enough, pretty soon you start thinking like one.

It was different in open worlds, such as this one. From what Xander had seen, this world had its own issues which caused people to be desperate… and desperation inevitably resulted in criminals of varying stripes, but the call of the hero? That was here, and it was loud.

It might even be louder here than it was in the DC and Marvel worlds he’d visited, albeit with an equal and opposite wail of despair countering it.

It was almost as though the despair was intentional, though, like something… or someone… was trying to break this world.

If so, Xander wished them all the luck of the universe, if only to make a good show of things. Despair broke people, yes, but it fueled hope and determination as well.

If this world hasn’t found its hero yet, it’s only because they’ve not been born.

In the meantime, well Xander would take some time to evaluate things. With a cute little apprentice in the works, it wouldn’t do to go stumbling around getting into fights blindly.

A gunshot in the distance caught his attention, and Xander couldn’t help but grin.

With eyes wide open, of course, well that was a different matter.

*****

Empire 88 Dogfighting Ring

“Get that Bitch!”

The aforementioned Bitch just snarled as one of the gang members charged for her, a crowbar or something similar in his hand. She ducked under the swing and plowed into his midsection with as much force as her stocky form could manage, blowing the air from his lungs as she drove him to the ground and all the combined weight of their two bodies and her own powerful lunge.

Her dogs, mutated now into powerful raging beasts as far as anyone might be able to tell, swept aside the other members of the gang with ease as the pair of them worked their way forward in time with Bitch’s advance. Behind her there were two more… one dead, and one badly wounded from the fighting pit already. She could feel the plaintive look of the wounded animal, even at her back.

Ahead, Bitch could heard the howling of more dogs, locked in cages, wounded in many cases…waiting for the end.

The ones she could save, at least.

Another kind of howling was in the air too, the vicious sort that just wanted to inflict pain because that was all they knew.

Those dogs, even Bitch knew she couldn’t save.

“You got ballson ya, girl!”

Speaking of dogs that couldn’t be saved.

The man in the steel wolf mask strode out of the building she was trying to get to, and Bitch knew that she was in real trouble. Hookwolf might be a broken mad dog, all but literally foaming at the mouth, but he was also a dangerous enemy to be fighting.

She whistled her Dogs back, and the instantly pivoted and withdrew back to her side, where the three of them formed a line to meet the enemy as needed. She snarled, bearing teeth in a clear threat that didn’t even slightly seem to affect the target.

“Coming to myring? Yeah, you’ve got balls,” Hookwolf said with an easy grin as he tore off the remains of his shirt and tossed it aside. “but you don’t get to come in here and stir up shit without consequence. You want to tuck tail, good luck, bitch… but I tell you what, I’ll give you a fighting chance in the ring. Me and you, you can keep the Dogs. You come out on top, you can have what you came for. What do you say?”

She growled low in her throat, but it had even less impact than her snarl had. A glance behind her was enough to confirm that the injured dog wouldn’t be able to run. She grimaced, but set her self firmly.

“Fine.”

“Alright, then,” Hookwolf grinned, looking around. “Someone get a camera running, we’ve got a Cape fight to stream tonight!”

The roar was deafening but Rachel Lindt, who went by the name Bitch, ignored them as she got ready for the fight of her life.

*****

What in the ever loving…

Xander paused as he arrived over the scene of… whatever the hell was going on.

Some kind of fight club bullshit? He wondered, cocking his head to one side as he saw a hell of a large group of people circling a pair of people who were clearly facing off. One man against a… girl, he thought, but she was pretty buff… and a couple mutant beasts he didn’t know what the hell.

Doesn’t seem fair, but he doesn’t seem to be complaining… Ah, That would explain it,Xander noted as the man sprouted metal blades from varying parts of his anatomy, letting them whirl around him menacingly.

So… Parahuman fight club?

Without properly knowing what was going on, Xander opted to watch for a bit as he scanned the crowd.

Lots of guns, how shocking… they all seemed to be such upstanding members of the community too.

Honestly, though, it was more the state of the guns that would have tipped Xander off to the nature of the people he was observing. Only a handful were in well kept condition, and a significant chunk were what he’d term potentially dangerous to use. Criminals rarely bothered to care for their gear, in his experience…

That was one of the things that separated the thugs from the Super Villain types, of course… well, the ones that used guns.

*****

“Brutus, Kill!”

Hookwolf laughed as the tank of a beast lunged at him, easily evading the attack while opening up wounds along the mutant animal’s flank with his blades.

“Right to the point? Good, I like that,” He announced extending his arms to either side magnanimously. “We should always fight like we mean it. Allow me to reciprocate…”

In an instant, his blades tore through his skin and were whirling about his body with enough force and speed to rend the air. Ignoring the dogs, Hookwolf lunged for their Master, easily cutting through the armored hide of the beasts when they tried to stop him.

Bitch backpedaled, whistling and giving commands in a rush, but it was to no avail as her enhanced dogs couldn’t do more than slow the Nazi murder blender down. She tensed as he lunged at her, his intent to kill apparent, and threw herself aside at the last moment.

Even then, she felt a hot pain along her thigh as his blades scored a hit, and sent her tumbling to the ground.

Bitch merely hissed at the pain, though, and quickly clambered back to her feet as she squared off again.

“Guts you have, Bitch,” Hookwolf said a moment later, pausing briefly before using her name, “but you and those beasts aren’t a match for me. Too bad, I was hoping for a good fight.”

Bitch tensed, getting ready to whistle for the retreat as she calculated whether or not she’d be able to grab the injured dog as they ran.

She had to try.

Hookwolf leaned in to lunge forward again, and she pursed her lips to give the command to run…

And then Hookwolf threw himself back as a blast of orange light came out of the sky and tore a hole in the ground where he’d been.

Everyone looked up as a flash of movement came down, and in an instant there was a young man standing in a crouch within the shallow crater, one hand easily on the ground for a moment before he rose to his feet.

“Tell me the truth,” He said, looking around at everyone, “The superhero landing… too much?”

“Who the fuck are you?” Hookwolf demanded.

*****