“That’s my concern, not yours,” Blasto said. “If they aren’t here already, then they’re going to kill my giant and leave. You’re fine, it’s chill.”

“It is not ‘chill’,” Accord said. “That phrasing makes me want to kill something.”

“You’re imagining shit,” Blasto said. “Making up hypothetical situations, then treating them like they’re real. Not many new people have showed up, and a lot of people have actually left, since some of the worst elements were weeded out. They haven’t brought out the big guns and none of those nonexistent guns have been pointed at any of you. So chillax.”

Accord made a noise. “I know why they haven’t gone on the offensive. You haven’t acted yet—”

“And I won’t act without cause,” Blasto interrupted.

“—and they have thinkers. You worked the genetic material of people with powers into your giant, to give it the strength to stand despite its own weight. It’s tougher than it would appear.”

Blasto smiled. “Yeah.”

“What do you intend to do with it?” Damsel asked.

“Hm?” Blasto asked. He looked surprised that she’d spoken up. “It’s there as a threat and a symbol. Some of the villains and vigilantes I recruited are going to stick around, others are leaving or they’ll rotate in. They’re all there in case someone comes after us. The territory is on lock. South Boston is ours, with some office space given to some other villains.”

“What if we wanted to challenge that?” Burning Sensation asked. One of the small-timers. Punks.

“If you want to challenge our claim, talk to the giant first,” Rotten Apple said. “You’ll have to deal with him one way or another.”

“Yeah,” Burning Sensation replied. “No thanks.”

“You’re keeping it out of Deathchester?” Damsel asked.

“Sure, why not?” Blasto asked.

“Then I’m not going to take issue with it,” she said. “Carry on.”

“Sure,” Blasto said.

“There will be opposition,” Accord said. “I hope that when it happens, there won’t be too much damage. If it reaches us or makes doing business harder, then we’ll be forced to act.”

“I’m sure a smart pair of guys like you think you have a way to answer this.”

“We do,” Detente said. “But our current plans don’t require it. We’re leaving.”

“You’re leaving Boston?” Taper asked. Another one of the small timers.

“We’re leaving the south-end, south-Boston, Roxbury areas,” Detente said. “This is not the only moot that we’ve been attending. We’ve been talking to other groups and we arranged a compromise.”

“What did you assholes do?” Burning Sensation asked.

“We’ve traded territory. Much as the Four moved to Hyde Park, we will take Charlestown. Our numbers have swelled, and in the interest of building connections and ensuring that we can take Charlestown without any incident, we’ll be loaning out our capes to other factions.”