The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 57: LVII - The City Safehouse

Alex’s foot drummed against the cracked pavement in a restless rhythm—tap, tap, tap-each beat marking another second of waiting. His eyes fixed on the front door of the apartment building, a structure that looked like it was held together more by habit than by any actual structural integrity.

The building sagged against the gray sky like an old man too tired to stand up straight. Whatever color it had been painted decades ago had long since surrendered to the weather, leaving behind a patchwork of peeling chips and water stains that mapped out years of neglect. The brick facade was crumbling at the corners, revealing the cheap concrete underneath, pockmarked and crumbling like stale bread. Rust bled down from the fire escape in orange streaks, as if the building itself was weeping.

Windows dotted the face of the structure like missing teeth in a boxer’s smile. Half of them were covered with warped plywood sheets, some spray-painted with faded graffiti, others bare and splintering. The remaining windows told an even sadder story—jagged shards of glass still clung to their frames like broken promises, while glittering fragments littered the sidewalk below, crunching under Alex’s shifting feet. One window on the second floor had a dirty sheet hanging where glass should have been, fluttering weakly in the breeze.

Near the foundation, rats moved with the confidence of landlords inspecting their property. They weren’t the quick, furtive creatures you’d expect—these rats waddled openly across the sidewalk, their gray bodies fat and unhurried. One paused near an overflowing dumpster to scratch behind its ear with a hind leg, barely glancing at Alex. Another squeezed through a gap in the building’s base, its long tail disappearing into the darkness like a thick piece of rope being pulled through a hole. The scratching of their claws on concrete mixed with the distant sound of traffic, creating a soundtrack of urban decay.

Alex looked down at his wrist, despite no watch being there, "When is he going to get here? It was his idea for us to meet here, and he’s late?"

Nairobi sighed and leaned against the building. She scanned the area, illuminated by pale morning light, and noted several figures watching the, some discreetly and some less so.

"He’ll be here in a second, Alex. Let’s just wait a little longer."

Alex stared at the busted call box near the front door and attempted to press one of the buttons.

He muttered, "Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be here."

Nairobi shot an exasperated look at Alex, "After everything he’s done, you’re still doubting him, Alex? After nearly killing himself fighting GoGo’s Disciples, fighting unranked metahuman after unranked metahuman alone, coming to your aid during the Capitol Attack..."

"Look, that’s all well and good, Nairobi. But you don’t see what I see. He has the same look in his eyes that my master has. Like being a hero is just a means to an end for him. Tell me, why is Ninjaman not a ranked hero? With his level of strength, why is just a contract hero? He could be in the top 100, probably the top 50 today without a problem."

Nairobi opened and closed her mouth several times trying to formulate a response.

Alex shook his head, "Don’t twist yourself into knots trying to defend him. I’m not even necessarily saying he’s a bad guy or some secret villain. But he may have ulterior motives. I know you’ve been vouching for this guy. I’m just saying find out what he really stands for first, before you do."

Nairobi leaned her back against the apartment building wall and bit her lip. She continued to watch the shadowy figures staring at them silently.

After fifteen minutes, Etienne finally arrived, with deep bags under his eyes and a listless expression.

Alex crossed his arms and stared at Etienne with barely concealed frustration, "Look who finally decided to show up. Do you mind telling us what took you so long?"

Etienne sighed and pinched his forehead, "Can we just start investigating already? If we’re going to have to fight a villain here, I’d rather get it over with sooner than later."

Alex huffed and tapped his chest. A video game-like blue menu appeared in thin air. There were six items in the circular menu, simply labeled 1 through 6. itsAlex pressed 1, then clicked a small confirm button below the menu.

The menu disappeared immediately. Futuristic white armor covered all of his joints, along with his head and feet.

Alex punched the door, tearing it off it’s hinges and sending it flying into the apartment.

The three heroes stepped cautiously into the apartment, their footsteps echoing in the hollow silence.

They paused just inside the threshold, letting their eyes adjust to the dim light flickering from old lightbulbs. The inside of the apartment was even more dilapidated than the outside. Peeling wallpaper hung from the walls in long strips. The air hung thick and musty, carrying the smell of mildew and something else something sweet and rotten that made them want to cover their noses.

Dark patches of rot spread across the wood. When Etienne reached out to touch a doorframe, their fingers sank slightly into the soft, spongy surface. Alex barely stopped himself from throwing up.

Beneath their feet, the floorboards groaned and whined with every step, protesting loudly as if the apartment itself was crying out in pain

The three heroes began to split up. As Nairobi walked up the stairs, she called back, "If you see anybody, don’t hesitate to yell! We should assume they’re watching us now!"

Etienne rolled his eyes and walked up to one of the rotted doors. The metal numbers, barely hanging on by a thread, read "201".

He pushed the door open and walked in. He thought to himself, "Team Wet and the Black Company must be loaded. How can they afford to rent or buy all of these safehouses and furnish them? Are there really that many assassinations going on?"

Etienne entered the apartment and was met with more of the same scene. Desktops, hard drives and USB drives were laid out on the ground in rows and smashed to bits. The tool used to smash them, a small steel mallet, laid next to the destroyed hardware.

Etienne walked over to the desktops and kneeled down in front of them.

"I think I understand their plan now," Etienne thought to himself, "The people we captured were instructed to give up these four houses to appear cooperative. The villains rushed to these safe houses and used their abilities to destroy any sensitive info, then destroy the warehouses themselves. And as a bonus, even though it’s not their objective, they get to have a go at us."

Etienne kicked one of the destroyed desktops and continued to walk through the apartment.

Etienne peeked into the largely untouched kitchen, "Step one is done, the data is destroyed. So next is destroying this place. We need to find the villain that’s here and stop them before they can."

He walked into one of the bedrooms and spotted the outlets ripped out of the wall.

"The computers in the Seaside safe house were blown up, thanks to Dirty Bomb’s ability. According to Nairobi, everything in the Wilsonville warehouse was scorched, probably with the ’Anti-Blizzard’ ability she told us about. That’s not the case here, so it may not be them. But then who?"

"Guys!" Nairobi’s voice called out in the distance.

Etienne exited the apartment and ran up the stairs at full speed. Alex followed behind him, flying with his jet propelled boots. They darted into one of the open apartment doors and found Nairobi holding her large nail, standing in front of a pale, dissolved young man with shaggy brown hair.

The young man’s hands flew up instantly.

"D-don’t hurt me!" The man yelled in shrill voice, "I’m a hacker, I’m not a fighter!"

Alex squinted in bewilderment, "...You can’t be serious..."

The man stuttered, "No, no I’m serious. M-my is Code Talker. I’m not some blood thirsty battle freak like my cohorts, I just manage the computers."

"Yeah right," Nairobi scoffed.

She reached her hand in her pocket and pull out two long rectangular silver metal strips. She walked over to Code Talker and slapped it on his wrist. It snapped around snuggly.

"Put your hands behind your back, ’Code Talker’. If that’s even who you are. Code Talker is some kind of amazing tech genius who’s been elusive for years, for all I know you’re some kind of fall guy."

She slapped the second bracelet on his other wrist. She pushed the two bracelets together and they snapped tightly, restraining Code Talker.

Etienne stared at the strange cuffs, "What do you call those, Hardware? I’ve never seen any handcuffs like that before."

Nairobi beamed proudly, "They’re called Slap Cuffs. My own personal design. It makes restraining criminals easier, and they’re hard to remove if you don’t know the technique."

Alex pulled out his phone and typed in some numbers.

"I’m going to request an exfil for this guy immediately. And I’m going to request we get some forensic investigators here immediately. You guys should stay vigilant though. GoGo and Ms. Friendly were at the other one, right? There could be two here as well."

As the heroes began to move, the whole room was swallowed in an overwhelming, oppressive darkness.

"The boss is here," Code Talker muttered.