Seeing Ronnie laid out because of skills was immensely satisfying.  Much like everyone else, the big man had massively underestimated what  my enhancements could do. While they did provide a boost to the  channeled fire, the main point of both skills was to enhance the melee  capabilities of the weapon. The stick was G rank anyway, so it probably  wouldn't have broken in one shot, but it definitely wouldn't have  survived repeated use as a bludgeon. As it was though, the think nearly  caved in his stupid fuchsia covered skull.

After he  finally passed out there was a loud wave of applause. Every Militia  member in the bar was whooping and cheering. The other two Jerks hadn't  made a move, but given that it was now four G rankers to two, I was  figuring they were a bit nervous about what was coming. I left it to  Cark to deal with though, this was his show. I expected him to handle it  immediately, but to my surprise he pretty much ignored them, turning to  address the room with his staff over one shoulder. "Which one of you is  Saffron?"

The red haired woman with the pixie cut stepped  forward. She grinned broadly at Cark. "Nice to meet you boss. When they  told us we were getting a Baron of our own we were expecting great  things, but we didn't know even your friends would be so scary..." She  eyed me appreciatively. "And cute too." Callie stepped forward, clearing  her throat and narrowing her eyes, and the redhead just smiled and  turned back to Cark. "So, what can I do for you boss man?"

Cark  snorted in amusement, ignoring my now glaring girlfriend in favor of  gesturing to Ronnie. "Tie him up and call someone from headquarters to  pick him up. Restraining him shouldn't be a problem in that condition,  but make sure to wrap him up good. We do have some G ranked restraints  around here right?" The red haired woman nodded. "Good, have the other G  rankers stand guard with you, and if he looks like hes waking up kick  him in the head until he loses consciousness."

If it had  been anyone but the absolutely dumpster fire we'd met earlier that would  have made me wince, but since it was I decided it couldn't have  happened to a nicer guy. They hauled him off to one side, and I called  over to check once they had him secured so I could be sure to remove the  effects of the poison at the right time. Once they had him all locked  up Cark turned to the other two. "So, you two planning to avenge your  boss or try to take him with you when you leave? Because I can't say  that would be wise."

The blue haired one on the right  shrugged. "Nah, Ronnie was kind of a dick. No one really liked him much,  but M-Jack liked having someone mean around to keep everybody in line.  Back in Velan he managed it so it didn't get so bad but..." He trailed  off, his face shadowing. "Since we got to Rajak Ronnie got worse. Scary.  We ain't gonna complain you took care of him, especially since he  started it. You want I should give M-Jack a message for you or  something? I figure if you wanted us busted up we would be already."

That  was more critical thinking than I expected from a Jerk. I couldn't help  but speak up. "Who are you exactly? You're a G ranker, I figure back in  Velan I'd have heard of you before." I wouldn't have, I knew like, none  of the G rankers in Velan outside the guild, but I figured he'd be more  likely to share if he was feeling respected. Most people were like that  as far as I had seen.

He snickered. "Ragin Ray. I only  got to G rank after I showed up. I was close enough to use elixirs yo  push me over. They're way easier to get in this town." He snickered. "I  don't need to ask about you. Everyone in the Jerks knows Punchin Carl's  legendary nemesis Solomon. I half expected you to be ten feet tall. Or  one. The story changes day to day, depending on Carl's mood and level of  agitation." He turned to Cark. "So you gonna let us go? Or we gonna  have to try to fight our way out?"

The big bounty hunter  sighed. "You can go. If I wipe you out I'll end up with your boss  hunting me down for wiping out his people. This way there's at least a  chance you can let him know what happened to beefy over there." He  looked covertly at Callie and I, clearly wanting our feedback since we  were nominal experts here. I just shrugged and chucked my chin at my  girlfriend who nodded subtly. Cark sighed. "Alright. You can go, but if  my people see you around here again we won't be as gentle. Your crew  aren't welcome in Militia territory. You can tell your boss that."

It  was surprising to see how stoic and unafraid our friend was, but to be  fair he had been pretty unshakeable during the hunt too. Cark was a cool  customer, and he'd been on the streets for a long time. He looked  around after they left. "You." He pointed at a random H ranker. "We have  questions. Who knows the most about the local political situation?" The  mousy brown haired man with the scraggly beard gulped and pointed over  to Saffron. Since we didn't want to leave Ronnie before the Militia came  to get him, Cark led us over to where she was sitting.

As  she saw us coming she raised an eyebrow. "Letting them go huh boss?  Well, it's your call, you earned that, but I'm skeptical it'll work out  well. So, you wanted some feedback on local politics huh?" Cark nodded  and she chuckled. "I can't tell you how nice it is that our new Baron  isn't a muscle brained idiot and actually knows how to ask questions. We  were a bit worried about it. I'm sure you know how obnoxious it is  working around a shitty boss."

I supposed he must have,  because his lips quirked up in amusement. "I'll try not to be too big an  imposition." His voice was wry and sarcastic, and Saffron gave him a  wide grin to let him know she was in on the joke. "Anyway, tell me about  whats been going on down here. Someone is attacking, clearly, but it  can't just be the...what did you two call them? The Jerks?" I nodded and  he turned back to her. "There has to be a faction behind this that's  local. They're picking fights with the Cavalcade too. Who benefits from  this?"

We had no clue about the political landscape down  here, aside from the bits that Cark had heard from Sage. Saffron however  lived down here, and she was more than capable of filling us in. "We've  been looking into that ourselves actually. Originally the attacks on us  were being performed by mercs and third parties. This was the first  time these new guys came after us. We heard about them messing with the  Cavalcade, but a bit of a shakeup is hardly a new thing. People pick  fights down here all the time. It didn't seem like our concern."

That  made sense actually. If they planned to take all of G district as an  endgame then letting whoever was coming for the Cavalcade bust  themselves up and soften up the circus at the same time was a solid  plan. Callie made a noise of surprise as something occurred to her and  we all turned to look. "The timing here can't be a coincidence. You said  you were looking into which faction is trying to push into G district  now, maybe you got too close and they sent the Jerks to scare you off.  But why would they do all this now?"

I was pretty sure I  knew though, and Saffron confirmed it as soon as I had the thought.  "Probably because that asshole Aiden is gone. Pretentious dick. He  wasn't nearly as cuddly as he liked to pretend, we had a couple of  people disappear after interacting with his goons. Of course he played  up his defender of the innocent act whenever we tried to pick a fight,  but we all knew he was a snake. Still, he WAS powerful, and our  respective groups pretty much cancelled each other's influence out down  here."

Callie nodded ponderingly. "That...might make  sense. I guess it's not crazy for someone to take advantage of a shift  in the balance of power if it showed up. But why G district? I can't see  how taking a place like this would really give any benefits for anyone  with sufficient rank. F district has the most money, and E district has  the most power, what the hell does G  district have that's worth  anything?" There was something going on here that we were missing, there  was no reason for any of the things that had been happening as far as I  could see, which meant there was a piece of the puzzle missing.

I  wracked my brain for anything that they could gain from this, for  anything G district would give them access to, and I only really came up  with one option. "Bodies." Everyone looked at me blankly. "The only  thing that G district has over the other districts. There are more G  rankers in the WCP than F or E. There are probably more H rankers than  that, but H rankers are barely above mortals at the low level, so if  they get G district in line they could exert pressure on the lower  rankers too. Hell they might be able to pressure the F rankers by virtue  of connections with people down here."

Saffron  was stunned for a second, but she began to nod slowly. "That...that  might work. Most of the F rankers have multiple friends and family  members in G rank, and G rankers are authority figures in the lower  districts without being too powerful to handle. Trying to take F  district would be...unpleasant. The spectrum of F rank is WIDE, and at  the higher ends of it you can do some real damage in a fight. Unifying  that large of a contingent of powerful and, lets be honest, strange  Ascendants, would be hellish."

Callie  made a frustrated sound. "That still doesn't help us. We have no clue  who they're working with. We need to try to figure out what's going on  down here as soon as possible. It's pretty clear they aren't going to  just sit tight and ignore us poking into things. Any chance they'll just  send a crowd of F rankers down to crush us?" E rankers we would be safe  from, but F rankers would swat us like flies.

Luckily  Saffron shook her head. "Doubtful. The reason they're using cats paws  has to be to avoid sparking off a huge turf war that would gridlock the  whole WCP. If F rankers start showing up down here people would know,  and they would know who sent them. F rank is notable on this planet,  there are lots of them, but all the ones in the factions have enough  reputation to be recognizable, even if they disguise themselves, F rank  powers are usually pretty distinct. No, they'll keep this under wraps  until the last second."

That  made things easier. "Well then, we only have one course of action. We  need to head for the Cavalcade again and try to sniff out some answers.  Without Ronnie there to run things the Jerks will be their usual  scattered ridiculous selves, and the chances of them giving something  away is huge." I turned to Callie with a huge grin that she sadly  couldn't see under my mask "So what do you say? Want to go back to the  circus?" Her own answering grin was easy enough to see. I had figured.