“Jumpspark?” Lucy asked, uncertain. “Or should I call you Liam? Or William?” She felt a bit stupid talking to her room when she was the only human there. “Or Hellmoore? That’s a cool last name, by the way.”

Seconds passed.

Lucy felt even more embarrassed, but at least nobody had been there to see her.

“jumpspark is fine” The voice came again. “not that i- woah” “this is weird”

Now that Lucy no longer had cause to feel stupid, she calmed down somewhat.

“thanks, by the way, for the compliment” “do you happen to know what’s going on”

She still didn’t know of any reaction that was appropriate for this kind of situation. Having a hero turn into a crossbow and then having that be the first boy she took home was one thing. Having that hero sourced crossbow start talking to her was another thing entirely.

So Lucy did the reasonable thing and acted like it was normal. “I… manifested. A power. You were there for- do you remember that?”

“i remember”

“Oh, that’s good. That you remember, not that you’re… like this. I think it was my power that did that to you, but I don’t know anything about that stuff. And I had a crazy few days so this is, like…” She exhaled. “Woah.”

“okay” The crossbow seemed to sink into thought. “i need you to listen to me” “you need to take me to the sentinel tower”

Lucy felt something sinking in her stomach. She looked at the crossbow and thought about how Jumpspark had tried to help her when she was at her lowest. After realising she was manifesting a power, that was. The memory pushed the girl’s eyebrows together as she thought about her interactions with the hero again.

“I’m not going to do that.” Lucy said.

The words sunk in. Lucy was in no hurry to keep talking, a pause was good to give credence to her statement, and the crossbow seemed to be deep in thought again. “can you tell me why” His voice completely lacked the inclination associated with questions. It made Lucy need to think about what she heard to make sure she was interpreting it right. The pace at which Jumpspark ‘spoke’ was more expressive than the way he said things, and that question came slowly and carefully.

“I-” Lucy took a breath to steady herself. To that end she pulled out her chair from her desk and sat down, dumping the bag and crowbar by her feet. “I’ve done some fucked up stuff.” She immediately realised how overblown a statement that was. “I mean I’ve really fucked up. Heaps. Not stepping on babies or anything, but I smashed that store and I attacked another hero. Then I attacked you, and did… that.” She gestured helplessly. “Nobody is going to let me be if I come forward with the power to do that, and the story leading up to me getting a power isn’t a nice one.”

“the only good stories about manifesting powers are the ones from drinking vials”

“I almost had that.” Lucy smiled down at the floor. “Almost.”

The crossbow was the one to break the silence. “well my impression is that you are overthinking this” “assault, especially a first offence, won’t net you much punishment” “especially if i don’t push for it as the victim” “you’ll get fines or community service for the store you busted” “months of juvie at worst for what you’ve done to me” “or probation from somewhere they can watch you” “like on the team”

“What if I can’t turn you back?” Lucy asked. She received no response. “That’s why I’m not going to tell. I- don’t know how to use my power, and this is the kind of stuff that gets people disappeared.”

“you disappeared me” The crossbow rapidly pointed out. “people are looking for me”

“I didn’t mean to.” Lucy whispered. “That’s not what I meant.”

The crossbow broke another silence. “so you have an enigmatic power” “we’ll figure it out until you can turn me back, then work it out from there”

Lucy was suddenly unsure if she wanted that.

Decide your intent.

Impress your will on your tools.

“I’m all for working out my power.” Lucy said. “But as soon as you turn back, you’re running to the Sentry, aren’t you? I can’t let that happen. You won’t.”

“look, this is essentially kidn-”

“You. Won’t.” Lucy stressed. “Please.”

The crossbow did not speak.

“I was going to go test my powers before you started talking, anyway.” Lucy continued, blinking away tears that had snuck up on her. “And maybe get some planning done. You’ll be glad to hear that I’ve both played with fire and got burnt, so I’ve changed my ways. I’m not working with any more criminals. I’m going to be fighting them.”

“to what extent”

Lucy frowned, not having thought that far ahead. “As far as it takes.”

“look-” “i still don’t know what to call-”

“Lucy. My name is Lucy.” She knew his real name was Liam, so it only seemed fair.

“lucy, that’s dangerous” “real dangerous” “i was only allowed onto the street after passing a self defence course” “it wasn’t an easy one either and it took a month” “you still don’t even know anything about your power” “you aren’t ready”

“I think I’m stronger.” Lucy said thoughtfully, remembering the encounter after school.

“how much stronger” The crossbow asked.

Lucy glanced down at the crowbar by her feet. She picked it up and held it with one hand on both ends. After taking a breath in, Lucy tried her hardest to bend the half inch thick steel in half. She pushed herself for five seconds before stopping and checking her progress. The piece of steel wasn’t even curved.

“I can’t bend this.” Lucy admitted, resting the crowbar on her lap. “But I think I lifted someone by the neck earlier.” There was admittedly a rather large gap between those two feats, so that didn’t reveal much.

“i thought you said you changed your ways”

“I did.” For the worse. Lucy thought to herself as she gazed at the shifting energy in the string of the crossbow. An idea occurred to her. “Have you been trying to use your power at all?”

“yes”

“... Has it worked?”

“obviously” There was still no variation in Jumpspark’s speech, but he still managed to convey sarcasm with his tone.

“I’m going to do something.” Lucy decided, picking up the crossbow.

“what are you-” “something changed”

Lucy paused. “What changed?” She had been moments away from pulling the string back to activate the lightning in the sight.

“hard to say” “it’s not like i have fingers that move anymore” “i’m not even sure how i’m even seeing you or the screen, and you’re both in different directions” “it’s not like i have a head to move”

“So I guess we’ll both be doing power testing.” Lucy said slowly, reveling in having an activity to do with someone else. Someone that was talking to her and it wasn’t Gracia blatantly manipulating her.

Suddenly Lucy’s skin vanished, revealing snapping white energy underneath. It wasn’t painful. Instead, it simply felt like moving, the feeling just extended along her entire body rather than lingering at her elbows and knees. Faced with abruptly existing as a mass of white energy, Lucy felt two barriers to move against. She pressed to her left and it was as though she was suddenly driving a car down the highway at twice the speed limit.

The girl vanished, and a crowbar clattered to the chair and then the floor. As quickly as that happened, the reverse did too. Only Lucy hit her head on the underside of her desk as she reappeared, one hand on the crowbar and one hand on the crossbow, which had vanished along with her.

“Ow.” Lucy rubbed her faintly aching head as she realised where she was and started backing out of the tight space. “What was that?” Her voice was faintly panicked.

“that was…” The voice of the crossbow in her grip was louder now that she was in physical contact with it, but the sibilant whisper remained otherwise unchanged. “that was my power” “you stole my power” The anger that Lucy imagined Jumpspark expressing failed to come across.

“But I didn’t-” Lucy halted, then started again. She moved to the relative centre of her room, or as close as she could get with her double bed in the way. “That something that changed. That was you pressing on it, wasn’t it?”

The crossbow was silent for several seconds. “yes”

“Can you do it again?” Lucy asked, excited.

No response came through, but Lucy felt her skin tear itself apart moments later. This time she tried to pay more attention, but it was exceedingly difficult to remain still in that state. She was tugged into, or rather conducted into the metal crossbow for a split second before it started feeling like she had just run a two hundred metre sprint and was pushing into a second pass. That next moment, Lucy reappeared sitting on her floor, one hand laying flat against the stock.

“That’s really cool.” Lucy grinned.

“it’s the only thing that made me special” The crossbow rebuked. “i don’t know how to feel about this”

“That’s not true!” The girl quickly said, sensing her companion drifting away. “You’re a hero too, and a pretty decent looking guy. I’m sure that picture didn’t do you justice.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“don’t” Jumpspark said. “this whole thing you’ve trapped me in is shitty enough” “you won’t take me back to people i know” “the least you could do is be an appropriately shitty jailer”

His words stunned Lucy for several moments. “Well... I was going to show you this…” She pulled on the stirrup, locking the wire bowstring into its ready position and activating the jacob’s ladder. “Does that feel any different?.”

“i feel cocked and ready to go” The crossbow responded. “why” “is something different”

“That’s what I just did. Can you not feel the electricity arcing right now?”

“of course i can’t” “it’s not like i’m having trouble feeling out my body now that it’s changed” “likely forever”

Lucy squinted her eyes until she decided that that had been genuine sarcasm. She pulled the trigger since she didn’t want the weapon tensioned like that and put it down. “Can you try pushing again?”

“i won’t”

“Please.”

“i’m not your puppy, lucy” “i’m a human being” “or i’m supposed to be”

“Well I’m not cruel.” Lucy insisted. “I’m going to try finding some Bad Dogs to test my power against. You were going to come with me. That is- before I realised you could talk.”

“are you seriously asking permission after admitting to taking me prisoner”

“I’m- I just-” Lucy’s face heated up. “You were sitting there on my desk All Day. Aren’t you bored, just sitting there? And if you are, don’t you want to move around, even if you don’t control the ride? Plus, if I do get into trouble, you can push on your power to help me!”

The crossbow didn’t answer, so Lucy grew impatient and just found her bag and shoved it in. Its frame barely fit within the bag, but it did fit, and without making it look funny either. Her crowbar went in after. Lucy felt bad about potentially blinding him, but the conversation had left her red in the face, her thoughts light, and she really just wanted to go.

“did you lock the door” Jumpspark hissed as Lucy’s feet fell on the sidewalk.

She glanced back, realising that she hadn’t.

At least that told Lucy that Jumpspark somehow wasn’t blind in her bag.

~~~

Huskie was playing again.

A normal wall had paint or wallpaper covering a layer of gib. That layer of gib was affixed to wooden or metal posts, which were kept in line by nogs. In between the rectangles marked out by that crosshatch was where the insulation went. If it was a fire wall, it went all the way up past the ceiling to the actual roof, whether that was a corrugated iron slant, or just another slab of concrete. Some walls did not need to be built that high, and only penetrated an inch or two above the ceiling. If the wall was lucky, it got braced.

Of course, changing out all those materials for other things was possible. Log cabins just put trees on the side and stacked them. Bunkers, which had become common in the past decades, used concrete. The Humming Griffon was normally built to code using more familiar materials. Wood, gib, paint, and such.

Normally. Huskie was playing.

Pistolwhip fidgeted with his unloaded pistol, taking comfort in how it likely made him the strongest within his demesne as he stepped out of the calm, solid world and into one in flux. He frowned as the tile he’d been about to step in the exact centre of smoothed out and transmuted perfectly into a hardwood floor, with every plank measured to a different length. The arc of his foot’s descent shifted and landed in the middle of one plank.

Unfortunately, it was not the true centre. He landed in the centre from left to right, but not when taking the longer ends into account. The supervillain relaxed his frown, but left his eyes squinted ever so slightly.

He passed a table shifting from an aluminium surface to a cheap wooden one and tapped his pistol on it in a rapid pattern, rolling the firearm along in a seemingly careless motion. From that point on, individual tiles formed perfectly placed to receive his footsteps. It was relieving that Huskie wouldn’t begrudge his unwillingness to play today. Business had to come before pleasure.

The man sitting at the constantly shifting bar and enjoying a drink- one of the few things in the bar that wasn’t in flux- was not wearing his mask. Pistolwhip would not extend him the same courtesy.

“Tyr.” Pistolwhip said, voice giving nothing away.

“Ah, Pistolwhip.” The tyrant of Streamrock turned and grinned. He knew that facing Pistolwhip was not necessary, but did it anyway. Tyr did so purposefully because it forced the other supervillain to perceive the lopsided smirk on his irritatingly perfect jaw with his eyes as well. “What suits you today?”

Pistolwhip played along and looked up at the menu, which spread out and solidified into something he’d expect at a cocktail bar. Only the drinks had child friendly names like Walk on the Beach, and The Birds and the Bees. “I’ll take the Twisting Sky.” He said before turning his eyes back to the supervillain having a drink.

“Heard about that, did you?” Tyr asked, unsurprised. Pistolwhip had worked around the man long enough for the other villain to realise that he knew more things than most. It had resulted in an assumption for Tyr that Pistolwhip knew everything he needed to and a healthy amount of stuff that he didn’t. Tyr’s actions the night before had been done with the full awareness that he was overstepping bounds.

He would not be given the irritation he was searching for. “Difficult for me not to. I received anonymous complaints.”

Tyr laughed at a joke he’d heard in Pistolwhips deadpan. “So, before things get crazy,” blue lines of power started outlining a vest on the supervillain, “how far are we going today?”

Pistolwhip brandished his gun and watched as Tyr’s power continued as it had been. Then he loaded the gun and observed the other villain’s power accelerate tremendously the instant the bullet was in the chamber.

A thin blue barrier sprung into existence between the two, and was followed by three more crashing down from above, all positioned to deflect incoming projectiles. Thick but form fitted armour dissolved into being already worn by Tyr, pushing him up two inches from the seat he was resting on and leaving few places open for movement. Not that they could really be called open, the material was only marginally thinner than the exotic stuff elsewhere.

Tapping his foot and affecting consideration, Pistolwhip moved his pistol into many positions, including one where firing the weapon would cause the bullet to ricochet against weak points in the various barriers of Tyr’s power inwards rather than outwards before shattering, piercing the armour’s thinner spots in three different places, and open four important arteries, one of which would be Tyr’s left carotid.

He didn’t pull the trigger, but he did start twirling the gun. Tyr’s power relaxed slightly, continuing to build defences at a slower pace. The man himself was quite immobilised. Blinded, too.

“About this crazy.” Pistolwhip decided.

Tyr’s power was purely reactive, and activated whenever someone focused on him with aggression. It was how he’d come to stand at the top of such a cutthroat profession. Perceived aggression worked too, which was how the villain had started his power without Pistolwhip even considering pinching the man’s ear. It had come from a rare purple vial, the coveted Purple Space Corridor, and gave him the tools needed to most effectively fight his opponents.

Against normal people it generally provided armour, with the effectiveness of the armour increasing dramatically when weapons were in the picture. Things became interesting when powers were involved. Most often the boon bestowed to Tyr would trump the power that gave it.

It worked against multiple people at the same time, too. Speed against brutes. Range against speed. There had been some truly deadly combinations over the years. That, coupled with the ailment cleanse and physical reinforcement that every enhanced seemed to receive, as well as an already driven personality, had transformed the man into a force to be reckoned with.

Against Pistolwhip it turned the man into an unmoving bunker, and was by far the most defensive reaction of Tyr’s power that he had ever seen. If Pistolwhip had taken the shot, Tyr wouldn’t have even died right away. Few were capable of limiting him so.

That Tyr was now locked in his current position would have to be adequate solace for him.

“I’ve made you angry.” Tyr said, affecting confidence. Yet, the faint beads of sweat, still too small for the naked eye now perspiring on the small of the man’s back gave away hints of nervousness. The barriers did not interfere with sound, so they could still hear each other clearly.

“You have meddled with my people.” Pistolwhip told him. “You may be my boss, but the deal was for you to manage. Not to micromanage.”

“I stepped in where I thought was necessary.” Tyr claimed. “We leveled our entire force against one man last night, but we still turned up empty handed. But the package also never showed up with the heroes. That’s when I realised my best man was taking the night off, but had still gone places. Of course I had you followed.”

Pistolwhip tapped his finger against the trigger guard in consideration. “I will be taking a tooth from Hellhound to dissuade attempts at repeat offences.”

Tyr let out a sigh. “Don’t hurt a guy for doing what he was told.”

“You trying to look into my private affairs is acceptable and expected.” Pistolwhip said. “Others enabling it is something I frown upon. This much is only fair.”

“But that’s just it. You said it yourself, even. I’m your boss. The people who call you boss answer to me as well. Before even thinking about answering to you if they understand the clear hierarchy.”

“And I was having time off.” Pistolwhip repeated Tyr’s point back at him. “Be careful Tyr. I’ve seen tyrants come and go. The ones that stayed for longer than six months picked their hills to die on, and the rest died of the stupidest of mounds. This hill is not small, but the graves across it are many.”

“I’m well aware.” Now that Tyr was confident that Pistolwhip was not about to kill him, his arrogance was back in full force. “I still will not apologise.”

“Of course not. What kind of supervillain apologises to people?” Pistolwhip agreed a touch sardonically. “I didn’t come here to complain, or to threaten. My real threats come after I have already arranged your destruction. No, what I came here to do was to inform you of the coming chaos.”

Tyr smirked. “Is this you finally admitting to the UVCBL?”

“The five that I picked for that job last night all had their own disparate motivations.” Pistolwhip explained, leaning on the counter and marvelling at how the barriers Tyr’s power manifested moved to interpose themselves. He could still get two arteries at this angle, and paralyze a leg in consolation. “You went there personally to inform them of their new status as heeling dogs. I am here to tell you why that will backfire.”

Tyr’s eyes rolled, but no interruption was forthcoming so Pistolwhip continued.

“The one who’s vial you destroyed was desperate to be included. You denied her access to your club, and now she is spurned. What solace you tried to grant was salt on the wound, but not to her. Another was the one that actually invited her there, and is dithering about loyalty now after your actions. Another still seeked out power explicitly to settle a score with one of your own lieutenants.

“Which leaves two remaining. One that might be loyal, and another that has already left town with their new power to seek out a future elsewhere. So to summarise, you have found yourself one new loyal dog, one traitor, another who was never yours to begin with, a deserter, and a normal girl who will hate you for life.”

Pistolwhip paused, letting it sink in before adding the cherry on top. “I understand that is nothing new to you, but you should be more careful about the hate towards yourself that you foster.”

“I am careful.” Tyr grunted. “And I’m constantly made aware.”

“Well in that case,” Pistolwhip stopped actively looking for ways to shoot the other villain, who was released from his power made armour to fall back into his chair with a thump. He made no movements to indicate the change, not that Tyr had even been able to see him in the first place. “Have a nice day.”

“Stop.” Tyr said. Pistolwhip did not until the closed doors shimmering into existence left him nowhere else to go. “You have warned me of traitors, and told me nothing of their names. You will tell me.”

The pistol toting villain let the demand hang in the air before turning, a pixie like smile decorating his mouth. “The name of one of the five I mentioned…” He drew it out, enjoying the attention directed on him. “It isn’t Issey.”

Tyr’s eyes squinted at the villain.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t even learn their names.”

“It is of no matter.” Tyr dismissed. “My hound already has their scents. They will be watched, and every punishment visited upon them for acting out will also be visited upon you.”

Pistolwhips smile widened. Tyr was normally like this, pulling and pushing with all the subtlety of an automatic shotgun to get what he wanted when others failed to deliver as he asked. It was just so fortunate that Pistolwhip was one of the few that only delivered to the other villain when he chose to.

“What’s that about?” Tyr demanded.

“Your hound is going to be in hospital.” Pistolwhip reminded him. He had declared that Hellhound was losing a tooth and would deliver before the sun rose.

“For how long?”

“That will depend on how much he struggles.”

Pistolwhip took enjoyment from the way Tyr forced himself to accept the words given to him. He was one of the few that was able to make the tyrant villain listen to him, and exercising that privilege was not something he allowed himself to do often. The only reason he was doing it now was because Tyr had blatantly stepped over the lines they had both agreed upon when he was first approached by the man.

At least when the door unlocked itself and Pistolwhip stepped outside, Tyr didn’t insult him by asking for Hellhound’s life to be spared. He did still need the last word, however.

“You’re on thin ice.” Pistolwhip heard through his power after leaving traditional earshot.

It was one of the disadvantages of having a perception power, making it easy for others to say things and making it hard for him to respond. It didn’t matter though, Pistolwhip was more interested in watching the shifting walls of the Humming Griffon return to their normal state as a staircase leading down underneath it formed in the parking lot.

The woman that came up the stairs and was using her power to close the passage behind herself was someone that Pistolwhip liked a great deal more than the tyrant in the bar. She dressed modestly to cover her tall frame, but with her wide build and more than twice Pistolwhip’s physical strength, it was difficult to hide everything. Her brain sung with diminishing activity as Huskie left the field of her power and her apparent mind returned to the container in which it was normally held. Finally returning to the levels of a normal human when the last of the staircase replaced itself with tarmac.

She gave Pistolwhip a sympathetic smile, having listened to the entire exchange, before her body language shifted to become what the villain was more familiar with. “Isn’t it movie night tonight?” The giant woman asked shyly.

Huskie was worried because Pistolwhip had promised to hurt Hellhound. He nodded his head to her question and returned a shadow of the smile as he directed the fob on his keychain to unlock his car across the lot. “It is movie night tonight.” Pistolwhip said. “We just need to make a short stop along the way.”