(Frankenstein POV)

I had only known Lady Doom for barely half a year.

In all this time, I’d never seen her as mad as she was now; screaming and smashing her hand through her glass desk, shattering it and making everything on it drop to the ground. I tensed at the motion. Rosita wasn’t here with us, so I found myself tensing at every single one of her motions.

We were sitting in a dark, almost decrepit, with rotting wallpaper and the symbol of the Houses engraved on the floor. I was standing with my back to the door. Nubia–the short, dark skinned woman that helped free us was standing in front of me, silent as well.

I met her gold eyes for a brief moment, trying to see if she had any idea what was happening herself.

“What’s wrong, my Lady?” she asked. She sounded like she was speaking to a wounded dog or a toddler that was liable to throw a tantrum.

“Damn Atlantis students,” said Lady Doom.

“In Crisis’ office? What were they doing there?”

“How am I supposed to know? All I know is that two-two students were there before me, holding the phone in their hands! One of them–one of them almost got me! Me! His fingers brushed against me, I could feel his energy of destruction tough me.”

My whole body tensed even more than it was before. ‘Power of destruction?’A memory stirred. Paragon and Alpha Surge. An accursed moment, where I had to work with heroes in order to stop the greater threat.

But a boy was among those heroes. A student of Atlantis that I’d seen bring Paragon to his knees. A part of me wanted to keep this a secret, but I had nothing to gain from doing so.

“I know one of the students.”

Two sets of eyes were locked with mine.

“That’s why we called you here.” Nubia was the first to speak. “Thought you might be useful for once.”

“One of them was a boy,” I continued, not even bothering to speak to her, “with the ability to destroy things with a single touch.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“You’ve met him?”

“I worked with him. A man by the name of Paragon wanted to upend the world. Place it under his rule–it’s a long story. He was able to make Alpha Surge bleed with his sheer might. That boy, he was able to bring that man to his knees with a single strike.”

“So what? He defeated some dude and now we’re terrified of kids? Come on!”

“They weren’t that much younger than me. Are you saying I’m not a threat?” Lady Doom looked at Nubia and the woman shrunk instantly. “Besides, I’ve heard of Paragon’s name before. Whispered among the higher ups of the Houses. The old fools fear him, and they aren’t afraid of anything.”

“He’s no longer a threat. What about the other student? When I last saw him, he was flanked by a girl with ice powers.”

“This one was telekinetic. Similar to me, but with seemingly no upper limit. What did you say the guy’s name was?”

“Moros. That’s what Paragon called him.”

I wouldn’t forget anything about that day. Every piece of it was engraved in my memory. I could almost feel the Godmaker in my hands, the power to rival all heroes in my hands, only to be taken away by those fools.

Still, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a little bit of satisfaction in seeing Lady Doom so rattled Nubia sweating, unsure of what to say to her. For once I wasn’t cowering before a girl ten years younger than me and her overpowered bodyguard.

Unfortunately, that didn’t mean I had any solutions to our problems. We couldn’t get to Atlantis, not so soon after our last attempt anyways.

“We’re going to have to use the mole.”

Mole? I looked at Nubia. What did she mean? Dammit, just when I thought I was finally on the same page as them–literally–they sprung this on me. Still, I didn’t show any surprise.

“Not yet,” said Lady Doom. “Get us a couple of apartments in the Isle of Heroes. We won’t be able to act but we’ll be close. That’s when we’ll make our move.”

Nubia nodded, rushing off immediately. A mole, eh? I looked at Lady Doom, breathing heavily. Her arm was twitching, like she was forcing it to stay still. She didn’t want to show any weakness. It wasn’t noticeable, not if you weren’t used to scanning people like I was. Admirable, but foolish.

“Do you need anything else from me?”

She walked toward me. I was barely a hair taller than her, and I could feel her warm breath tickling against my lips. I stood straighter. Her eyes were scanning mine, like she was combing my whole being with her mind.

“We share a dream, Frankenstein. Make the Houses of Doom as feared as they were during their golden age. You want that? Help me get rid of Crisis and whoever killed Alpha Surge”

“What makes you think it wasn’t Crisis that killed Alpha Surge?”

“Touché.”

“So?”

“So, don’t betray me. Or else I’ll make sure you regret it.”

“Of course not.”

But I would catch up to her. If she thought I’d be her little lap dog, doing whatever you wanted like Nubia and Mimas, she was mistaken. Because I’d be damned if I was crushed under the weight of my own dreams.

Especially now, when I was so close.