Call Me Collector (WORM)

Eddie Vasquez was a simple man…

He was not a happy man nor was he content with his life, but he was at least alive. Brockton Bay was a shithole and it had been a shithole since ever, but once upon a time, it was a much better place.

But the fucking glory hounds called Brockton Bay Brigade had to go and ruin it for everyone…

Eddie Vasquez had a nice life when he was a member of the Marche, but Brockton Bay could never have anything nice. 

The Brockton Bay Brigade saw to that. They attacked Marquis in his house and defeated him and the Marche disbanded. The members scattered around, going their own way to avoid jail…

Eddie was in a much better spot than most of his colleagues just because he owned a house. However, like he said before Brockton Bay was never a good place.

With the Empire and ABB swooping in, trying to claim the territory of Marche, Eddie had to go into hiding. It was just blind luck that neither of those gangs thought of pushing into the Trainyard.

Or maybe neither of them wanted the Trainyard…

It could be either, Eddie didn't care. He was simply glad he was alive. He once thought about leaving Brockton, but he owned a two-storey house. That was not something he could simply abandon.

He couldn't abandon the house nor he could leave, but he had to pay bills somehow. He tried joining the Dockworkers, but they were out of business themselves and he was not educated enough to find a proper job or join the Protectorate.

He wasn't white enough to join the Empire or Asian enough to join the ABB. When he was finally about to give up and leave, another gang finally showed up in Brockton Bay.

Calling it a gang might be an exaggeration considering they only had one Parahuman leading the group and a few gangoons, but it was still a gang.

They called themselves the Archer's Bridge Merchants and they were a bunch of druggies, but they were not going to kill him on sight, so Eddie joined them.

Being a part of a gang was what he had done his whole life and he was once again in his element. That was why he came up with the brilliant idea of using his house as a makeshift brother since Skidmark, the leader of Merchants wanted to run brothels.

He was one of the first ones to join the gang and that did come with some perks, but not much. There was a reason why Merchants never managed to reach the level of either the Empire or the ABB.

But maybe, it was better this way…

The whole city thought of them as a bunch of druggies and considered them an afterthought. Marche always had to deal with a lot of shit because they were a bigger threat and everyone was looking to take their spot.

Now nobody cared and they were left to their own devices…

Yes, there were a few skirmishes from time to time, but the Merchants were good at running away and lying low, so wherever trouble came calling they would run and hide.

Neither the Empire nor the ABB wanted their territory so running away was the best option to them…

There were obviously quite a few downsides to his current lifestyle. For one, he was a druggie now, just like every other member of the Merchants and all the whores he was hosting in his house were drugged-up addicts.

That was exactly why it had been ages since he had some action… There was no way he was fucking his own hookers. Even he did not know how many diseases they were carrying.

Was Eddie happy with his current life? Hell, no! However, he was alive… The same could not be said for most of his former colleagues…

That was why he felt annoyed when one of his birds called him. He had been sound asleep and it was just 11 am. He usually slept some more since it was almost impossible to sleep at night in here with everyone getting high and partying till the sun came up.

If it was him then he wouldn't have blown so much money every day, but Skidmark was the one who ran the gang, so who was he to say otherwise? Though, he really wanted to shoot the fool and take over the gang.

Skidmark had no sense of business or ambition. Unfortunately, Eddie was not a Parahuman and they needed a Parahuman to hold the reins. Worse yet, both Squelar and Mush were loyal to Skidmark, which meant he wouldn't survive shooting Skidmark in the face.

"Cindy…" He lazily answered the phone.

"Eddie, can you please come to the alley where we drop the garbage?" Cindy requested nervously. 

"Why what happened?" Eddie asked somewhat hurriedly, losing any hint of laziness. Cindy was asking him to come where they dumped the bodies before finally getting rid of them. 

This was not good… Did someone get OD'd or did they kill someone and realized that there were complications?

"I can't tell you on the phone. Just come" Cindy sounded nervous and Eddie was nothing if not careful. 

So he quickly put on a shirt before tucking a gun in his pants and then he was on his way to Cindy. He also decided to grab a couple of boys from outside just in case something was amiss.

He knew he could trust Cindy. She had been in the gang for a couple of years now, but he knew not to take any chances. After all, Capes were a thing…

"*whistle* You two, come with me!" He called two guys standing outside his house. "Did any of you see Cindy?" He asked them before heading into the unknown.

"Uh, yeah. See grabbed an Empire faggot and took him to the alley" One of the boys answered, making him wince. 

Really? Why did he have to deal with these numbskulls? Was it really necessary to kill an Empire flunky in the morning? If the Empire came to learn about this then there would be retribution.

It wasn't like he hadn't killed Empire flunkies, but he had done that at night when nobody could have tracked the murders to his house or his business…

"Follow me" He growled, earning confused looks from the two numbskulls, but they did follow him. It took him just a minute to arrive at the said alley and he stopped in his tracks when he found Cindy standing with a kid.

The kid looked like a poster child of the Empire and he was barely old enough to be legal. From the way the kid looked, Eddie could already tell that the kid was someone important.

Cindy, that stupid bitch should have sucked him off and sent him on his merry way instead of bringing in her. It wasn't like they didn't provide service to Empire members.

However, Eddie had been in this game for a long time. He could feel it when something was wrong… The kid looked way too confident and there were tear tracks on Cindy's face.

In fact, she was still crying like she was about to die, but her body language said otherwise…

"Don't scream, don't run, don't talk, come here and stand by the wall" The kid talked and Eddie felt his body go rigid before his body started to follow the commands.

'A fucking Master? That was exactly what I needed!!' Eddie screamed inside his mind and tried to best to oppose the orders, but he was body was already on autopilot.

He tried to turn his head and he could, so he looked at the two flunkies he brought with him and they were also Mastered. 

"Oh, hand me all of your phones" The boy spoke again and Eddie felt his body move again on its own. All four of them handed him their phones. "Now, go and stand by the wall" The kid ordered again and once again, Eddie found himself standing by the wall.

The kid simply stared at them for a moment and Eddie watched him with bated breath. Eddie was mature enough to know that they were fucked and their lives depended on the whims of a young Master.

Eddie knew Capes had problems and Masters were the ones who were the most fucked in the head, so he was hoping for a quick death.

"Which one of you is Eddie Vasquez? Step forward" Or maybe not. The boy singled him out so he threw Cindy a glare, knowing that the bitch might have slipped the beans.

Cindy remained stoic even though her eyes told him a different story. He was angry, but he knew that it wasn't her fault. After all, she was being controlled by a Master and a strong Master from what it seemed.

Eddie stepped forward, his body moving on its own. "Do you know how many members are there in your gang?" The kid asked. 

The Empire did not have any Master among their ranks, but maybe the kid was a support from overseas? "I don't know" He answered in a trembling voice. Though he was glad that he could be vague with his answers.

"Explain" The kid ordered again.

"Well… I don't know the exact numbers, but most of the members are homeless bums" He answered, once again trying to be vague. 

It wasn't like he was doing it out of loyalty, but he simply did not know the exact number for real…

The kid didn't look annoyed though, which was good in his books. "Do you know where Skidmark is?" The kid asked a moment later.

"Yes" He answered simply.

"How many Capes do you have aside from him?" Moments later, there was another question.

"Two. Squelar and Mush" Eddie answered honestly.

"Are they going to be with him?" The kid asked.

"Not sure" Eddie answered honestly, once again.

"Can you take me to him without raising any suspicions or drawing attention?" The kid asked again and Eddie could already see where the kid was going with this. The kid wanted to Master Skidmark too and in the process take over their gang.

"Yes" Eddie answered, sounding too happy this time. The kid might have Mastered him, but he was still better than Skidmark. The kid must have noticed the change in his tone.

"You are not happy with the gang, are you?" The kid mused to himself, but this time, he felt no urge to answer, which meant the kid hadn't used his power on him. However, Eddie knew an opportunity when he saw one.

So, Eddie started to talk on his own without any urging, earning a grin from the kid…

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