"T... Tobias," Vine Voodoo whispered, brown-gloved hand clamping over her pale lips.

"Toby?" Mr. Might breathed, his jaw slack and his eyes blank.

Confusion blew over their faces, twisting and turning over twitching brows and cheeks until it crystallized into something else.

Tobias slammed his hands against the rail and snarled with frustration.

Why were they happy to see him? Why were the tears in their eyes not of fright but of love and relief? Why did their caution and fear melt so easily into concern—not for themselves, but for him? Concerned for him? He didn't need their concern!

He refused to feel sympathy for the pitiful, pitiful looks on their pitiful, pitiful faces... His face reddened at their underwhelming reactions.

Pity. Pity. Pity.

If it weren't bolted so tightly to the floor, he would have torn the rail up in his wild aggravation.

Poppy Tris approached the ladder, regarding him with a religious awe, as if he were an angel. "Tobias, you're alive?"

"No thanks to you!" Tobias spat. He cringed and cradled his head, stumbling away from the edge of the platform with a gasp. His knees thudded heavily on the floor and he swayed, uncomprehending. Prickling stings, like the jabs of needles, danced a jig over his scalp. He touched where he had felt the blow, but found no blood. The pain receded as if imagined, for the third time.

He continued to stare at his trembling, bloodless glove, doubled vision restoring its clarity. What is this? What is happening?

"Toby, we thought you were dead!" Benjamin Jones cried, tearing him from his searching of the future. "Everyone thought you were dead."

Tobias's fingers clenched to fists and he leapt to his feet. "I was this close!" He staggered and caught himself on the control desk, ablaze eyes beating down at the man below as he indicated the chances of his survival with his fingers. A narrow gap between his thumb and index, small enough that they wouldn't even see it at their distance. "No thanks to your cowardice, I survived! Yes. I survived! By myself. Weak, ridiculed, underappreciated, always-teased 'Pajama Boy' survived. And what did I find? I found you on the television, lying through your pretty teeth: 'If there was anything I could have done to save him...'" Tobias laughed harshly. "What a joke!"

Benjamin's face slackened. Light glinted off a tear that had escaped his uniform goggles. His tan skin was paler than Tobias had ever seen, as washed-out as birch. "But, you're alive. You didn't need my help. I—"

"I never needed you more, Benjamin Jones!" Tobias screamed. He gritted his teeth and removed his glasses to tear the half-mask from his hideous face. Team Defiance gasped, both recoiling; Benjamin onto his hands and Poppy a long stride backwards. If the immediate bulging of their eyes and physical repulsion weren't enough, cruel emotions of mistrust and reproach mingled with the shock on their cautious faces. Heroes didn't have scars... remember?

"You abandoned me, Benjamin," Tobias continued dryly, "and you still came out of it a hero. The number one hero in all of Benediction... couldn't even save his so-called 'best friend', from a situation you caused, yourself!"

"The explosion was an accident, Tobias!" Poppy Tris pleaded. "He didn't know it would trap you."

The ground quaked, sending the thickest fall of dust yet. The heroes below covered their heads as rubble rained. One stream of dried lava crumbled and a leak of fresh liquid began to trickle down a basalt spire like molasses. Tobias ducked and covered his head with his arms, rubble like gravel skittered down from the ceiling, exposing pipes and sparking wires.

"If he had listened to my advice," Tobias continued, after the tremor quieted, "everything would have been fine, and he knows it! But he never listens! I told him first; accept the replacement for you—you weren't suited for the mission! You are powerless here, Poppy! He refused to replace you and put all of us at risk for it. Then I told him to be careful at the entrance, and he barreled through the rocks like a madman and caused my entrapment. To top it all off, when he had the opportunity to save me, he could not bring himself to listen to my instructions and chose to run instead, without looking back." Tobias watched the lava slither towards the floor and felt the excitement of his inner impulse. The future was changing. He ran his tongue across his teeth, inhaling deeply as he peered ahead of time. The eruption was bound to happen soon. "He didn't look back."

"I made mistakes, Toby!" Benjamin wailed. "I didn't—"

"My name is not Toby!" Tobias howled. Power vibrated in his muscles, warm and lucid. "My name is not Pajama Boy, or PJ! My name is Tobias, you ignorant swine, and I am your villain now—no longer your friend."

Tobias smacked the voice control button and began to feverishly limp back and forth across the platform, out of their immediate eye-line.

"Activate video and audio." He saw himself towering over the back wall and bared his teeth. He pushed up his glasses and carried on. He liked the way his cloak flowed with each step, no matter how haggard. His cane boomed against the black tiles, echoing in the chamber. "After you left me to die on this godforsaken island, I made the most of my chances. Even with a good helping of cunning, it came down to luck. I was helpless and afraid, but when I heard the rescue aide, I said nothing. Because I realized... I realized I hate you, Benjamin Jones. I've hated you for years. I hated how I always had to clean up your messes. I hated how you took all the credit for our team and acted as leader when you had no respect for the wellbeing of others. I hated how you teased me all those years. I hated being in your shadow." Tobias paused to eyeball them. He shook his head wondrously. "But look at what I have done. I've beaten you both, without any fight at all. I, the most ridiculed hero in all of Benediction, single-handedly took out the most highly regarded superheroes in the entire nation. I did this. Harmless little 'Pajama Boy' did this."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"My powers?" Benjamin breathed.

"YES! YES, JONES!" Tobias crowed delightedly, leaping onto the railing like an ecstatic child at a zoo exhibit. He leaned down to grin at them, aglow with pride, a shine to his brown eyes. The lava danced in his irises. "I took your powers. I decided that when I left the two of you in this collapsing trap, I wanted you to feel as powerless as I did. I want you to know exactly what it was like. I want you to suffer like I did."

"What have you done to me?" The not-so-mighty Mr. Might tore off his goggles and threw them weakly a few feet from himself. He sat far enough forward that his face hid from his captor. "What have you done?"

"Ohh, it was quite simple, really." Tobias sniffed and pretended to study his fingernails. "I didn't have time to do the same for Poppy, but the location saves me the trouble. You are both powerless, here. Allow me to explain—"

"I have a son, Toby! You've taken both his parents. What are you going to do? You can't kill us! You aren't supposed to be so... so despicable."

"That's a big word for you, Benjamin. Unscripted, too?" Tobias sneered and looked to Mrs. Jones. "You presume to know me, but you don't. You don't know what I will or won't do and you certainly don't know what I can and cannot do. I can, for instance, tell you how likely it is that you'll survive, though I can't kill you myself. When you left me, I had a 20% chance at best to survive and I managed. I've been generous. Your chances are at 70%. Your missus' chances, on the other hand..."

The woman began to thrash so violently against the bindings that the ancient chain threatened to snap, flooding frightening outcomes into Tobias's mind of a long fall to a hard landing. Deaf to her gagged screams and even the wails of those who he wanted to hear the wails of, Tobias reacted instinctively. He dropped his cane and threw his arms around the lawyer, visions blurred as his focus scattered in action. Despite her continued efforts, Tobias was stronger and larger and managed to dissuade her motions. He stayed there, arms tight around her thighs, as he recollected himself.

"Get your slimy hands off of her!" Benjamin Jones howled.

Tobias opened one eye to see the man with his hands on the ladder rungs once again. Tobias's heart fluttered. Oh? A smile quivered on his lips and one hand reached curiously upwards to touch the captive woman's face, feeling her cheeks straining with her muffled cries. Benjamin roared, and Tobias moved to brush hair behind the woman's ear. It was invigorating.

"Let her go, you sack of lard!" Benjamin shouted, only increasing Tobias's giddiness. The man sprang up the ladder.

Poppy Tris protested at Benjamin, anxiously spotting the man as he began his anger-fueled climb. Two rungs at a time. Tobias bit his lip and moved his hand away from the woman's face and down... Inhuman fire raged in his old friend's eyes, challenging him.

One part... The Doctor wanted so badly to touch a more intimate location out of spite, just to rile him, but he could not bring himself to do so. Instead, his violently shaking hand shook itself away.

Tobias shivered, swinging the woman on her chain with him as he backed away, stumbling.

Wrong.

He shook his head and recoiled both hands to grab at his hair. "Wrong. Wrong."

With a long whine, his fingers dragged free and Tobias resignedly shook fallen dark curls over the platform's edge. He held his trembling gloves before himself. Slimy hands. They were slimy hands. Ill, he slumped away from the woman to push his hands onto the control desk and let it take his weight. An eye remained hungrily on Benjamin Jones, but its former shine was dulled with wariness.

Jones would never make it to the top in his state, no, but Poppy Tris might. In any case, it hardly mattered. Toying with the heroes from above was losing its convenience. Words could only cause so much damage. Laying his hands on a woman would never sit well. Perhaps, he thought, it is time to leave them to fate.

With the intention of determining when the volcano was most likely to erupt, Tobias closed his eyes to search the future. Lava would soon reach the floor of the lair and inspire the heroes below to climb onto basalt boulders. The next tremor could break the lawyer's chain... Tobias pulled the lever to move her a meter back from the edge, then continued his search.

Black. Why was there such a high chance of black in his future?

He felt his pulse with two fingers to his wrist and frowned. If his stamina was holding up fine and his heart rate was steady and normal, he didn't understand what...

In the visions, just before black, there was a flash of white, indicating pain. Placing his fingertips on his scalp, he felt where the unexplained, imagined blow had hit most recently. Something was to hit him on the head, he realized.

He tilted his head back to scan the ceiling. Nothing looked like it was going to fall.

The elevator door was soon to open, apparently empty in every possible future. Except for...

Someone was going to hit him on the head.

Tobias ground his teeth and limped towards the elevator doors. He smacked his watch to bring up his shield and lodged it in the doorframe, then pinched his lips.

No, that wouldn't work. It only brought the black sooner, putting him right in harm's way. He stood back and tried to think, but only had the time to consider what angle to throw his elbow behind himself.

He slammed Poppy Tris in the ribs before she could tackle him and pressed her against the wall with his shield. "You can't fight me without powers, Poppy."

Her tired eyes met his coolly, fingers slipping over the shield. "It was worth a shot, man."

Tobias frowned. Man. He drew a sharp breath and drove two fingers into a pressure point on her neck. "A poor distraction."

Poppy Tris slumped and Tobias lowered her to the floor with his shield. "I'm sorry you were hurt," she murmured.

Tobias's lips thinned. He prodded her until she lay on her side against the wall and turned away without a response to face the elevator doors.

If he stepped in, he wouldn't have a chance at all.

He picked up his cane and held his shield between himself and the doors just as they slid open. They screeched on their rollers and dragged open with much resistance, warped with heat. Tobias saw no one and heard no one, but his heart started to race, thumping in his ears like sonar, detecting her.

In moments, he found himself sweating, temperature rising as he backed against the control desk with his cane held like a sword and his shield shivering before himself. From behind it, through its translucent hexagonal patterns, he read his backwards motto and shuddered.

Saepe ne utile quidem est scire quid futurum sit.

"Viola Mae?"