The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 92: XCII - The DJ (Part 4)

Etienne stopped shortly into his hallway sprint in front of a young woman in a grungy band shirt, biker shorts and high top sneakers. The young woman tapped her feet and nodded her head, her curly hair bouncing with every movement.

"Inez I’m assuming," Etienne said aloud.

She frowned at him, her expression tinged with something like disgust. She stared at him silently.

"Not the talkative type, huh? Good, neither am I," Etienne muttered. He unsheathed his katana and swung the blunt side at Inez.

She dodged with a swift back step and closed the distance just as quickly. She bumped Etienne with her hip, and swept him off his feet with dramatic flair.

Etienne scrambled up and held his sword out in front of him.

"Matriarch of Motion, huh?" Etienne thought to himself, "I wonder how long she’s been dancing to be at this level."

Etienne sheathed his sword and dropped into a fighting stance.

"This hallway is way too narrow for me to swing my sword at full strength. I just need to subdue her for a few seconds."

Inez kicked his knee in and delivered a swift kick to his chin before he could fully recover.

Etienne dodged her next punch, and attempted to counterattack, which she easily dodged.

"What is she dancing to?" Etienne questioned.

Etienne examined her closely as he dodged her increasingly quick strikes. Inside of her long curly hair was a skinny pair of wired headphones.

Inez continued to launch punches and kicks in rhythm, and Etienne barely dodged the attacks.

After a few more seconds, Etienne lunged toward Inez. She dodged back with a quick step, but Etienne reached his target. He grazed the wire of her headphones and snatched them out.

Inez looked down at the cord in anger, "M-my headphones..." She muttered.

Etienne took the opportunity to unsheathe his sword and strike Inez in the stomach with the hilt of the sword, sending her flying backwards. Etienne crashed through a flimsy door at the end of the wall.

Inez sat up and brought her knees up to her chest. She nodded her head slowly, for a few seconds and looked over at Ninjaman.

"You’re that guy the boss told us about, huh?" Her voice was soft, with a thick accent, "You are scary, just like he said. But we’re scary too, once we get going."

Inez got up and sprinted through the doorway behind her, stepping over the splintered door.

Etienne growled and ran after her, sheathing his sword once again.

"I’m tired of you all running away!" Etienne yelled out.

Etienne ran up a long, winding set of stairs, submerged in darkness.

"I thought the Rose Center would be kept up better than this," Etienne thought, "It almost seems like this place is in disrepair."

Etienne ran up the dark staircase for what felt like minutes, until he finally saw a light at the top. At the same time that he spotted the light, he heard a loud, screech like sound.

"No! That better not be the target screaming!" Etienne thought to himself.

He sped up further until he finally reached the top.

To his surprise, once he reached the top he was met by a sea of adoring fans cheering and stretching their hands toward the stage. Glow sticks sparsely lit up the dimly lit audience. The sound was deafening, and Etienne struggled to hear his own thoughts.

Across the stage, Inez stood next to Derrick, who held a microphone and faced away from the crowd. Derrick pointed to a group of people, lifting and moving items across the stage.

"Move those speakers immediately! Make sure they’re completely out of sight. I don’t need Ninjaman trying to slash them," Derrick spoke into the mic and his voice echoed across the entire stadium, "Turn all your lapel microphones off! I don’t want to hear you speak, I don’t need your instructions. And someone, please bring my turntable out here!"

Inez entertained the crowd with acrobatic flips and dance moves. She pointed out to them and shouted, "Are you all ready?"

The crowd screamed out, the deafening sound somehow becoming even louder.

Someone in the crowd shouted out, "We love you, DJ Digit!"

Inez turned in the direction of the voice, "I love you too baby!"

The crowds cheered even harder, their voices distorted the air and made the stage Etienne stood on shake. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Derrick finally turned toward the crowd, and they instantly rose to a fever pitch.

"Thanks for being patient everyone. To celebrate my 15th year as a DJ, I wanted to do something special," Derrick motioned to Etienne, "So I invited my personal friend Ninjaman up to the stage, to perform a little choreographed routine with us. Is anyone here a fan of the ninja hero?"

The crowd got loud, although not nearly as loud as they did for Derrick or Inez.

Inez grabbed the mic and chimed in, still nodding her head "Our performances have always been known to get...physical. They say we’ve reinvented the idea of a musical performance. This time, we want to go even farther!"

Derrick grabbed the mic from her and shouted, "We want to use this set to release a little violence! A little rage! Are you all angry about what’s going on in your city? Do you have a little rage you want to unleash?"

The crowd let out a thunderous cheer, "Yeah!" In unison.

Derrick pumped his arm in the air, "Good. Then welcome to the Kill Box."

Derrick turned to Etienne with a grin on his face, "Welcome to the Kill Box, Ninjaman."

Etienne unsheathed his sword and rushed toward Derrick. Inez got between the two of them, stopping Etienne with a mic stand. A complex electronic turntable turned rolled onto the stage from just out of view. Derrick stepped behind it.

"To celebrate 15 years, I want to tell you about myself! Everybody’s been speculating since the beginning of my career what my metahuman ability is. Back when we were all on forums."

The crowd laughed aloud.

"I finally feel comfortable revealing it. My power is Turntablism," Derrick stated aloud. The whole arena went from deafening noise to deafening silence in an instant.

Etienne continued to clash against Inez, who was now starting to push him back. As Etienne slowly slid across the ground, he noticed a watch on Inez’s arm, facing inside.

Etienne glanced at the watch and it read 26:04.

"Is that how long she’s been in motion for?" Etienne thought. He didn’t have time to ponder as Inez picked up the mic stand and struck him in the stomach, forcing him to a knee.

Derrick continued, "As some of you guessed, my physical properties changed depending on the tempo of a song and the genre. If a song samples multiple genres, I get the benefits of all of those genres. That’s why my setlist always consist of electronic, drum and bass, and their sub-genres. That type of music thrives on sampling, so I can take advantage of the benefits of multiple genres."

Etienne shouted out, "Why do you metahumans love talking out loud about your powers? Is it vanity? Or is there some hidden benefit I don’t understand?"

Derrick sighed and set the mic down on the turntable, his disappointment evident even among the loud music, "Ninjaman, I think you do get it. If your opponent knows everything you can do and you can still beat them, you are stronger than them. Though I understand if that conflicts with your ninja code or whatever."

The three of them stood and faced each other as the crowd roared and cheered. Derrick stood behind his turntable, looking at Etienne motionlessly. Inez glanced down at her electronic watch then frowned at Etienne, nodding his head and tapping his foot the entire time.

Inez flung the heavy mic stand in her hands at Etienne.

He dodged and thought to himself, "This is going nowhere. I need to shut the music off and find a way to subdue Inez before her power gets out of hand."

Etienne took the opportunity and ran towards Derrick once again. Inez grabbed the back of Etienne’s outfit and flung him away from Derrick.

"Inez," Derrick hollered out, his voice cutting through the aggressive techno music.

Inez’s head snapped back toward Derrick, "What’s up?"

Derrick pointed to the turntable, " Come over here and man the turntable.

I’m going to soften Ninjaman up for you a bit before you finish him off."

Inez gave him a mocking salute and walked over to the turntable, grabbing the microphone off of the turntable, "Aye, aye captain."

Etienne took his time standing up, propping himself on his sword, "You ready to play with me now, Derrick? You feel more confident with Inez behind you, huh?"

Derrick clenched his jaw, "What are you trying to say?"

Etienne placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and a mysterious smirk spread across his face, "You told me and all of your adoring fans what you can do. Now let’s see if you can beat me."