“And once again, I’m victorious!” Phon gave a haughty laugh. “I don’t know why that girl even challenges me. She’s never come close to winning.”

“Do you not feel any shame in continually enabling her competitiveness?” Drim chastised her. “Your Curse is literal teleportation. That advantage is beyond unfair.”

“Hey, I gave her good odds,” Phon disputed. “24 banks to 7.”

A second later, the wall melted and Kada burst through, dragging Xard by the arm behind her. She spotted Phon and began stamping on the ground. “Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! I thought for sure I’d have you this time. How close was I?”

“Oh we’ve been here for ages, what took you so long?” Phon gloated in lies.

“Maybe you should give up, Kada,” Drim tried to sway her. “This competition is good for our pace, sure, but you’ll wear yourself out like this. I mean, just look at Xard”

Xard was keeled over desperately trying to catch his breath. “She dragged me… the whole way…” He panted. “She didn’t stop running the entire time… would just plant the sing while she ran.”

This was the first time in a while that the Fiends had been to a proper city, so Kada was eager to challenge Phon to another competition. Since they wouldn’t stay in the city for very long, it was one of the few ways the two of them could have fun in the limited time. “Yeah, maybe I should give up…” Kada seemed downtrodden but then smirked. “Is what you thought I’d say! Mark my words, Phon Drazah, before this trip is over, I will beat you!”

Phon gave a cheeky grin in response, clearly accepting the challenge. Drim simply sighed as he placed the last sing, ready to move on to the next town. Just then, there was a crash. The wall burst open, spewing bricks in every direction. A heavy object flew past all of their heads and then embedded into the opposite wall. “A bowling ball?” Xard muttered as they all looked at it. Their heads then swung to the gaping hole.

A man was standing a few paces away, his arm was outstretched, and he had a satisfied look on his face. “Found you, and I only had to try six banks! Give it up criminals, The Deterrent is here to stop you!” The bowling ball dislodged itself from the wall, flying past their heads once more, stopping at the man’s hand. He didn’t grasp it however, it just stayed in place, as if defying gravity. The ball flew at the bank again, smacking into the outer wall a couple of feet away from the opening, enlarging it. All of the Fiends managed to dodge, but they could see the man more clearly now.

He looked to be in his thirties, was dressed in a nice business suit, and had a briefcase in his other hand. His olive hair was combed, and his matching goatee had signs of being recently trimmed. The pupils of his turquoise color eyes seemed to shrink as he recalled the bowling ball to his hand once more. “Not evil, definitely a Fiend,” Drim confirmed. “Who looks like he’s on his way to work, I guess? Sorry about the disturbance sir,” Drim called out to the man. “We’ll be out of your town shortly and we haven’t stolen anything, no need to mind us!”

“Do you really think I’m going to just let four of the most wanted criminals go after they’ve come waltzing right into my city? What kind of vigilante would that make me?” the man proclaimed.

“Like you could get any worse! You’re the one who just destroyed the damn bank!” a random passerby jeered at him before moving on with their day.

“Uhh, ignore them,” the man tried to retake control of the situation. “As I said, you’re going nowhere. I know who you are, and you’re my ticket to a better life.” The man set down his briefcase and let the bowling ball drop from his hand, which then promptly fell on his foot. For a second he looked like he wanted to cry as his face puffed up and little squeaks left his mouth. Then, he refocused on the Fiends.

“What the?” Drim blurted suddenly as he was lifted off of his feet. After the man had pointed his left palm towards them, Drim was suddenly being tugged. He was then dragged out the hole in the wall, and started flying at the man with his velocity increasing each second. Just before Drim reached him, the man pulled his right hand back and clenched it into a first. When they were just inches apart, the man threw his punch, decking Drim right in the face and knocking him into the ground, making a small dent in the concrete.

The man knelt down next to Drim’s laid out body. “Nice to meet you, Drim Drazah. I’m Whill Ponde, known around here as The Deterrent... man, am I lucky I heard you were in town.”

Ponde then started mumbling a monologue. “If I turn in even one of you, I’ll be set for months, and I’ll finally start getting some of the respect I deserve. I could actually pay my rent for once, that’ll make the old landlady happy. Oh and I could actually get a decent meal too… hmm… What should I eat…? You’re a traveled man right? Got any suggestions for splurging?”

Before Drim could give any kind of answer, there was a slight disruption. Xard was blasting towards Ponde at full speed. Just before impact, Ponde somehow jumped high in the air, without even bending his legs. Xard went soaring right under him, and Ponde landed a second later as if nothing happened. “Your friend seems to be in a bit of a hurry,” he glanced at Drim. “Let’s give him a hand shall we.” Ponde raised his hand towards Xard.

After realizing he had missed, Xard had let off the gas to slow down, but now he was accelerating again. There were clear signs of Xard trying to stop himself, even letting off energy in reverse, but it didn’t work. He could go up or down, and Ponde adjusted his hand to match, but he couldn’t stop himself from going forward. Xard them slammed into a building, crashing through it. Ponde then finally lowered his hand.

It looked like he had let down his guard, but he then immediately spun around. Kada and Phon had been charging in, trying to take advantage of Xard’s distraction. They were both in mid fling, having launched their yo-yo and anchor respectively at Ponde. Both weapons recoiled, and went flying back at their owner. The girls both narrowly dodged their own weapons, and took a few steps back to assess the situation.

“Nice try, ladies,” Ponde complimented them. “But I’m always looking over my shoulder. Never know when a debt collector will try to sneak up on ya.” He then looked at his watch and grimaced. “Uhh, I hate to ask, but can we wrap this up soon? I’m running late.” Ponde’s watch then shattered, and turquoise blood spurted from his wrist as a gash appeared. Xard came crawling out of the rubble after having fired off a shot. It was rare to see him scratched up, but Ponde’s Curse somehow seemed to render Xard’s energy absorption ineffective when he hit the wall.

“Annoying one, aren’t you?” Ponde groaned. “Guess I’ll have to take care of you first.” Ponde’s body lifted up, and he started flying at Xard in the same manner he had nabbed Drim. He grabbed Xard by the collar, and raised him up so his feet were dangling. “So kind of you to dress for the occasion,” he was referring to Xard’s skin-tight combat outfit. “This just makes it easy for me.”

Ponde positioned his arm so his palm was touching Xard’s chest at a mostly upward angle. Xard then started hovering, and like before, he picked up speed until he was rapidly floating away. Ponde’s body seemed to be straining more the farther Xard got, and he let out a sigh of relief once Xard was completely blown away into the distance.

The two girls gathered around Drim who was now sitting up and rubbing his face. “This guy’s a lot tougher than he looks,” Kada admitted.

“Really? I was thinking the opposite,” Phon disputed. “He’s clever, and good at using his Curse, but he doesn’t seem particularly strong.”

“He does have a decent right-hook,” Drim stated as he continued to rub. “But Phon’s right, the key is figuring out his Curse. Oh, and I shouldn’t have to say this, but no lethal force, or even stuff that would critically wound him. He might be opposing us right now, but I can tell he’s a nice guy. He said he’s a vigilante, and we’re criminals, so it makes sense.”

“Fine then, any guesses on his Curse?” Phon asked. “All I’ve got at the moment is telekinesis. If it really is that, we’re in for a rough fight.”

“I think I have an idea but—” Kada started to speak but was interrupted.

Ponde had flown back to them, stopping a few feet away to maintain distance. “I bet right now you’re all thinking something like, ‘oh I wonder if it’s telekinesis?!’” The Fiends all glared at him, his announcement proving even more troublesome. “Aha, you should see the looks on your faces. I bet you were all like, ‘Oh zjik, mind reading too?! Is he an esper?!’ No, I’m not an esper, and I don’t have telekinesis. I just knew because people ask me that a lot. Unfortunately, I’m not that lucky, but honestly, it’s not too far off.”

Ponde raised his hand, not aiming at any of the Fiends, but rather a point off to the side. He flew a short distance and stopped when he was near Phon. He had positioned himself so that Kada was directly lined up behind her. Ponde pointed his hand at Phon, and she went flying backwards, knocking her into Kada, and sending the two of them flying off towards a building.

Once they were suitably far away, Ponde returned his attention to Drim. Surprisingly, Ponde suddenly flopped to the ground, almost right at Drim’s feet. He pointed upwards towards Drim’s neck, causing his cloak to lift upwards. The cloak took Drim with it, choking him as it rose into the air. Drim managed to get one of his bracers on, and sliced through the cloak with his blade.

After dropping to the ground, Drim sent a flurry of vines at Ponde, trying to capture him. Ponde leapt back up, and held out both hands in front of him. The vines then bent to either side of him, as if they’d hit an invisible wall. Phon teleported right behind Ponde, and attempted to grab him. However, she was instantly blasted away from him, even without him moving his hands.

Since Drim had recalled his thorns, Ponde turned to Phon. “Nice try, Phon Drazah, your teleportation is quite handy, wanna trade? No matter how useful it is, though, it won’t matter if you can’t touch me. See, I’ve read up on all of you, knowing someday your journey would bring you here. I’ve thought of ways to counter each of you. I know you could simply teleport me away or take your friends and run, but you won’t. Once you’ve gotten a mark, the bounty hunter in you won’t stop until you’ve caught them.”

The ground beneath Ponde’s feet started to rumble. He managed to lift himself away just in time. A giant flytrap came snapping out of the ground, just narrowly missing his feet. Ponde’s face seemed to intensify, and he made sure to completely flatten and break the plant before he landed. At the same time a volley of arrows came flying at him, but all of them were stopped.

Ponde stared quite intensely at them until all of them were spun around and pointing at Drim. “You can have these back. If you want to get me a gift, I’d prefer lunch!” The arrows were all rapidly fired at Drim, but using his own Curse, Drim manipulated the shafts of the arrows to bend around him; all but one. One of the arrows was perfectly hidden behind another, and Drim couldn’t react in time. The tips of these arrows were blunted, so they’d normally only leave a nasty bruise and maybe cause a concussion. With Ponde’s added force, however, it was enough to bury deeply into Drim’s leg.

Phon lashed out again in rage, teleporting in front of him this time, hoping her sudden appearance would surprise him. Once again her attack was fruitless, and she was knocked back. “This is getting annoying,” Ponde said groggily as he pointed a finger at her. Phon’s ribbon flew off of her eyes and into his hand, and then he tucked it away into his jacket. “That should hinder you, a bit at least… Oh, it seems someone else wants my attention now.”

Kada, who had been taking her time up until now, appeared and was charging right at him. For some reason Phon could not ascertain, she was yelling, clearly making her presence known. Ponde seemed sympathetic, or some other strange emotion, and took it easy on Kada. He only tripped her with his Curse, and she wasn’t blown far away at all. Kada immediately got back up, and she charged at him again. Once more, she was tripped. This repeated for a while. To Phon, it was like watching a toddler chasing her father with untied shoes; falling over and over as she desperately tried to catch him.

She really couldn’t understand what Kada was thinking, and somehow it was both in and out of character at the same time. Something like this was the kind of thing Kada would do in her spare time just to act foolish, but it was much too immature to do in a fight, even for her. However, it somehow seemed to have results. “Ugh, you’re the worst one of all of them, you know that?!” Ponde fumed at Kada.

Ponde seemed to try and change tactics, and Kada’s vest went flying off her back, but it didn’t stop her at all, so he ended up just tripping her again. Next, he tried using his bowling ball again, but it just flew right through her, melting when it touched her skin. Ponde growled again, seeming to have gotten fed up with the situation, and took out his frustration by tripping Kada again.

Everyone’s eyes widened, even Drim who was still down in pain, when Kada suddenly took off her shoes and swim trunks. Thankfully, she had a bikini bottom underneath. Phon was a little surprised, assuming Kada always went commando, but she was still furious. “Just what the hell are you doing?!” she roared at Kada. “While you were goofing off, Drim got hurt. Take this seriously, will you?!”

“Oh, I’m very serious right now.” Kada was staring strongly at Ponde, not taking her eyes off of him. “I’m sorry I had to act useless, but it was worth it. I’ve figured out his Curse! Don’t worry Drim, we’ve got this. You just take it easy, and you, Phon… Strip!”

“Yup, she’s lost it,” Phon huffed. “I’m sorry Drim, but I think we’re going to have to put Kada down! The dog’s gone rabid!”

Ignoring Phon’s babbling, Kada reported her findings. “His Curse is to move objects closer to or further away from himself. It doesn’t work on people though. He hasn’t been moving us up until now, but our clothes.”

“Wow, not bad Kada Susten.” Ponde started to slowly clap as he looked at her, slightly averting his eyes. “You’re the first one to ever guess my Curse correctly, and here I was lead to believe you were the dumb one of the group. Though, you’re only mostly right. My Curse is to attract or repel any object that isn’t a living creature. However, my Curse works on myself as well. Do you really think I’d risk stretching these clothes? This is my only nice suit.”

“I can pull myself towards or push myself away from anything too. How well I can do it depends how heavy the object is. The lighter an object is, the easier it is to move the object. The heavier it is, the easier it is to move myself. Now… would you please cover up so we can continue this fight like adults! I’ve already missed my first appointment… I think. I’d really hate to miss the second one.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I’ll do no such thing,” Kada declared. “You were only targeting my shoes and my swim trunks. I understand why, now! You wanted to avoid indecently exposing me!”

“Of course! What proper gentleman would purposefully try to strip a lady in public?!” Ponde protested. “I’ve often been told I’m bad with women, but I at least know that much… So, there’s no way you’ll redress then…? I see, since it’s come to this… I give up!” All three Fiends were surprised and confused by his declaration. “The lengths you’re willing to go to is just too much for me. We’ll just call this one a draw for now, but if I see you guys in my city again… something will happen, I’m sure!”

Ponde recalled his briefcase and his bowling ball to his hands and turned as if to leave. “No, I won’t accept that!” Phon cried out. Everyone turned to her, to see her hesitating while holding her skirt zipper. “If that’s what it takes to win… I’ll do it cosdamn it!” Phon rapidly tore off her clothes, only leaving her bra, and the short tights she wore under her skirt. It was similar to what she wore when she jogged, but it was infinitely more embarrassing. Before Phon threw her clothes aside completely, she put in her earpiece. Kada saw, and did the same. “Well, what are you waiting for Kada?” she whispered into it. “Use this distraction to make sure he doesn’t leave.”

Ponde had definitely been captivated by Phon. He had respectively covered his eyes, but there were noticeable gaps. Kada charged at him for the dozenth time, but didn’t yell or try to make herself known. She grabbed the briefcase from the still gawking Ponde and kept running. Ponde immediately noticed, and tried to attract the briefcase back to himself. It stopped Kada in her tracks for a moment, but once she turned it to liquid, he lost control. “Hah, it worked!” Kada shouted. “Follow me Phon, I have a plan!”

◆◆◆

Whill exhaled a massive sigh when Kada Susten vanished from his sight. He turned around, and both Drazahs had vanished too. “Damn it, I need those!” he held out his arm in anguish, crushed by his loss. It had been a very disappointing day so far. He had missed a potentially life changing appointment, let the life changing criminals escape, and they had made off with important documents. The only upside was two lovely ladies had undressed in front of him, even if they were a bit young for his tastes.

“No, I’m not giving up yet! Plus, I’m not sure I can afford replacements!” He ran off in the direction he had last seen Susten, and was bewildered to find that she hadn’t gone far, as if she was waiting for him. The moment she saw him, though, she ran. He chased after her, and tried to attract the liquid that formed his briefcase. It didn’t even budge, however. He’d only had middling success with liquids so far, barely able to get them to move. A liquid being controlled by someone else was just too much, hopeless for him at this stage.

The chase continued into narrow alleys. These conditions weren’t ideal for his Curse, but he wasn’t going to give up. The only thing on her body he could use to stop her was her bikini, but he had enough money trouble. He didn’t need to add being sued for sexual harassment to his troubles. Finally, he managed to find Susten between himself and a wall. He started pulling himself towards the wall, catching up to her with ease. Just before he could grab her, though, she vanished.

“Damn it!” he pounded against a wall. Just about ready to give up, he wandered a bit more and then spotted Phon Drazah. She had his briefcase now for some reason, unable to understand why they’d trade it off. Just like with Susten, he wouldn’t dare tug at her minimal clothing. They had really preyed on his weakness. His briefcase was solid, however, so he could take it from her easily. Unfortunately, as soon as he lifted his hand to pull at it, she vanished.

“I see, they’re toying with me,” Whill grumbled. They already had him soundly beaten, even though he wouldn’t openly admit it. He was also starting to feel the difference between an amateur like himself, and experienced veterans at being Fiends. At this point, they were just messing with a man down on his luck. They’re criminals, what can you expect…? Though they don’t seem that bad honestly. If they were as evil as the rumors, they would have just killed me when I’d given up, not taken something worthless to them. It was degrading, but if it meant a chance at getting his briefcase back, he’d play along.

The two girls continued to lead him on a chase, constantly changing off who carried his briefcase. At this point, he was tired of it, and mostly just wanted to know where they were leading him. Ahh, I want to go home and go back to bed. Oh, but the old lady shut off the air conditioning, and after running around in these heavy clothes I’d just sweat all day. Man, I may not feel hot, but couldn’t the whole Fiend thing turn off sweat too?

Eventually, he found himself in a small park located in the middle of the city. Phon Drazah was standing in front of him, no longer running, and had his briefcase in hand. Whill dropped to his knees, “Please, I’m begging ya. Give this old man a break and return my briefcase. If I lose those, I’ll have to get more, and then I won’t be able to eat!”

“Well, now you’ve piqued my curiosity. What would you care about so much that you’d go through all this effort.” Drazah lifted the briefcase, and started opening it.

Damn it, I don’t want them to see! Whill tried to pull the briefcase away from her, but it was too late. When the briefcase slipped out of her hands, papers scattered all around her.

Drazah picked one up and read it, “Resumes?”

“Yeah, go ahead and laugh it up,” Whill sighed. “This old man is unemployed. I’ve been trying really hard to get a job again, but it’s just so difficult. I have six interviews today alone, but I’ve been to hundreds in the past months and no one will hire me! Now I’m almost out of money, and if I have to pay to print more resumes it’ll use up my entire food budget for a week!” Whill couldn’t hold it back anymore, and a few tears fell onto his hands as he knelt on the ground.

When he looked back to Drazah, she had a disgusted look on her face, “Oh Cosmos, you’re so pathetic. You’re taking all the fun out of it. Now stand up, we’re finishing this. After I’ve proven I can beat you, you can have your damned resumes back. Don’t hold out on me, though. If you do, I'll burn them.” She ran at him at full speed, and readied her yo-yo to swing it.

“Damn it, I don’t want to, but if you’re making me, I’ll give it all I got!” Whill stood up and prepared himself for her attack. Her attacks were fast, much faster than before. Most likely, she wasn’t holding back any longer. They were hard to see, and hard to judge, but he managed to keep them at bay. Each of her throws were different, and it was quite possible he’d slip up and get hit. Then, there was an outlier. One of her strikes was so severely off the mark.

Her yo-yo had flown well above his head, missing him entirely. “Look, I’m giving it my all here,” he complained. “If you’re not even going to try, can we just end this please?” Then, he noticed something wasn’t quite right. “Err, aren’t yo-yo’s supposed to come back.” Something registered in his brain, and he finally realized that with that last attack, the ring on her finger that connected to the yo-yo had turned from yellow to purple.

Whill quickly craned his neck upwards, following the string of the yo-yo. The normally small toy had expanded into a large, flat disk. There was another disk above it, assumedly the other half of the yo-yo, spinning rapidly, and somehow it was keeping it floating in place. “Kada, now!” Drazah yelled.

Whill’s head lurched down when he felt something at his feet. Two tanned hands were sticking out of the ground, and had grabbed his ankles. This was bad, he wouldn’t be able to escape now. His only option was to blast away the yo-yo and prevent whatever Drazah was planning. He looked up to it, but then Drazah appeared, completely upside down, her feet touching the bottom of the yo-yo platform.

Before he could react at all, she had clenched his skull. She pivoted her body down, and wrapped her thighs around his head. In any other situation, this would be a happy moment for him, but he could only feel panic. Drazah twisted her body, and his head went with it. His skull then was driven full force into the ground. It didn’t knock him unconscious, but undoubtedly, he could no longer fight.

It took about a minute for the world to stop spinning enough to allow Whill to sit up properly. When his eyes started working again, he saw the two girls picking the papers back up and stashing them in his briefcase. Once his ears returned to normal, he heard cheering around him. A crowd had gathered, most likely drawn in by the two scantily clad women, and now they were celebrating his defeat. He had come to expect no less from his adoring public.

Susten tried to hand the briefcase back to him, but he put a hand up to stop it midway. “Perhaps one of you two should hold onto it, and you know, use it to cover yourselves for now.” Both seemed confused for a moment, but then grew two wildly different expressions. Susten seemed a little embarrassed yet somehow playfully ditzy about it, due to the fact that she’d forgotten about the situation. Drazah, on the other hand, seemed abhorred, and desperately tried to cover her body.

“Wait just a sec,” Susten spouted. “I’ll go get our clothes, and be back in a jiffy.”

“No no no,” Drazah stopped her. “I’m doing it!” Before there could be any more argument on the subject, she put her hands to her face and vanished.

◆◆◆

“Oh my gosh, this is so good! I forgot how good real food tastes.” About twenty minutes later, Whill was sitting at a buffet restaurant, sharing a booth with the four Fiends for Hire. Once the girls had redressed, they returned to him along with Drim Drazah. They tried to ask him a whole bunch of questions, but as soon as they began, his stomach began growling profusely. Fiends need less food than the average human, so he had been relying on that lately, quite literally living on crumbs.

Eventually, it became too much, and Drim offered to buy him a meal. “You sure your leg is alright, buddy?” Whill barely managed to get out between bites. “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to hit you so hard with it. Honestly, I’m pretty bad about holding back when I get in the heat of things.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Drim replied. “But don’t worry about it. I bandaged it up properly and it’ll be healed by the time we leave.”

“Good to hear,” Whill stuffed his face some more. “Oh and uhh, sorry Xard for sending you… how far again was it?”

“37 lages,” Xard glared at him a bit. Once he figured out where he was, it had taken Xard a bit to get back and had met them at the restaurant only a few minutes ago.

“Hoo, that must be a new record,” Whill was a little impressed with himself. He finally finished off his plate, the fourth so far, and left again for another round. After returning and slamming down another stacked plate, he finally felt well enough to talk. “So, my story then… I’ll tell you guys, but I’m afraid it’s not all that exciting.”

“See, I was an office drone. Been with the same company ever since I graduated college. They made all kinds of promises about fortune and promotions, which of course almost none of it came true. I stuck with it though. It was a steady job and reliable living, but it pretty much consumed my life. Cosmos, there was so much overtime... Of course, I thought of quitting a bunch, but always came up with a reason to stay.”

“The latest reason was my newest boss. To keep it family-friendly… uhh… let’s just say we had a bit of an intimate work-life relationship. Though it wasn’t so much a relationship as we just screwed around a lot. As someone who’s lost basically all friends and family over the years, that kind of connection makes you a little bit… obsessed. Of course, I went and grew feelings. I know, my mistake. She never reciprocated, but she never dumped me either.”

“Then it all went to zjik. Turns out she was stealing money from the company. When the deficit was discovered, she went and blamed it all on me… Damn harpy… So, I ended up in jail for a few days while they investigated, but eventually the cops had to let me go due to lack of evidence. That’s when I hit rock bottom. The first thing I did when I got out was drink myself through an entire liquor store.”

“Of course, as with all the best ideas, I got a great one when I was drunk: to confront my ex. As expected, she was nowhere to be seen. She had been missing from work for the past few days, and I searched everywhere. Then, I remembered a little place we flitted off to once for a passionate weekend. There she was, her bags all packed, ready to flee to another country with all her money.”

“I confronted her, things got heated, and even a bit physical. Before I knew it, I was throwing anything I could get my hands on. Somehow, I ended up with a Supa-Mag in my hand. It’s one of the endless line of stupid products my company made; a high powered magnet meant to be used for science experiments. Mostly, it’s just used by kids in school projects to try and impress their teachers. So, I chucked it at her, and she was standing in the kitchen at the time.”

“Now those Supa-Mags are idiotically finicky. A lot of the time they don’t even work, but when they do, they’re grossly strong. It somehow managed to catch a toaster in its magnetic field, and then the two went flying at each other at high speed. She was in between them, and the magnet ripped a hole right through her stomach to get to that toaster. She was gone before I even made it to her body.”

“Then, I did what any decent person would do: buried her body where no one would find it. No official investigation was opened either. They found records on her machine of the money she’d stolen, along with the tickets she purchased. As far as everyone else is concerned, she vanished with all the money. I did make a stupid mistake and donated all that money to a charity. If I had known I’d still be unemployed months later, I would have made myself that charity.”

“I know a lot of what I did was messed up, so I’ve been doing what I can to make up for it. I love it, you know, being a vigilante and helping people. Nothing makes me happier than helping people and seeing their smile after. I’d love it even more if I could do it full time, but life’s cruel.”

“Being a hero doesn’t exempt you from bills, so I still need to find work, but no one is eager to hire an obvious Fiend who was the center of a corporate investigation. Of course, that’s until this whole popularity thing takes off, then I can just rake in licensing deals! That’s the dream!” Whill finally ended his monologue with his hopes held high.

“You know… Whill…” Drim was acting a little somber, and looked genuinely worried about him. It was a face of pity that he couldn’t stand. “If you wanted, you could—”

“I’ll stop you right there,” Whill interrupted him. “I’m not going to join up with you guys. It’s not cus you’re criminals. After getting to know you and hearing about your bank plan… hell, I support you fully. Honestly, I really appreciate the offer and I’m sure I’d love it, but I need to make it on my own first. So, I’m going to stick around here, at least until I’ve gone as far as I can on my own merits. Who knows, I may look you guys up in the future.”

“Oh Cosmos, please no!” a cry came from the next booth over. “You have to take him! Everywhere he goes, there’s so much destruction and collateral damage. Please get him out of our city!”

“I see one of my lovely fans is a patron of this restaurant as well,” Whill put on a nice smile. “It seems my first step in becoming a beloved vigilante is having better control. People constantly wanting me to pay damages isn’t exactly helping my debt.”

“That’s a good step,” Xard reinforced. “I can speak from personal experience about just how far you go overboard. Also, even if you don’t want to join us, maybe we can at least help you with your brand. ‘The Deterrent’ is… well, it’s just…”

“Hey hey, what are you on about?” Whill scoffed at the notion. “The Deterrent is so cool. Keeping criminals at bay, deterring any threats that would harm this fair city!” He waved his arms as if quoting a tagline.

“To me it just sounds too close to detergent,” Kada claimed. “Oh, but then you could make Deterrent brand detergent! I bet it’d sell well. I’d use it!”

The conversation went on for about another hour, and Whill didn’t waste a minute. Not knowing when he’d get another good meal, he ate nonstop. By the end, he had to readjust his belt by two full notches. He had to admit the company had been nice, talking to people other than his landlady or a passersby yelling at him. When they went to leave, Drim forced a wad of cash on him to help pay his debts.

It pained him to take it, but Whill didn’t know how much longer he could manage if he didn’t. Being able to pay his rent was definitely a burden off of his shoulders for now, but he still had a lot of worries. The first thing he did after the meal was go and buy a new watch. After he put it on and checked the time, he freaked out, realizing he had missed his second interview and the time for the third was approaching rapidly. Whill rushed off, doing his best to keep his motivation going strong.

About a week later, Whill returned from another day of assumedly unsuccessful interviews to find a box waiting at his doorstep. “Please don’t be poop again, please don’t be poop again,” he chanted as he bent down to pick it up. It was definitely addressed to him, but in place of a return address was just a symbol he didn’t recognize: a cog split in two. He picked up the box, only to find it was surprisingly heavy, and now he was bursting with curiosity.

Once inside, he plopped the box down on a table, and tore into it. There was a card on top that read ‘From your friends, may it serve you better than bowling ball.’ “Friends huh, now when did I go getting those?” Whill flipped the card over, and the Fiends For Hire logo was prominently displayed. In the box was a small metal orb that was clearly comprised of several layers, and an instruction manual about twenty pages long.