I winced as the whole car shook.

Another bump on the road.

Frankenstein. I had really been an idiot.

Here I was, after years’ worth of work, of plotting and planning. Of grand declarations and even grander plans. I got so close. I looked over at rosita, who was sitting opposite to me among a couple of other so-called villains. We were all shackled at the back of a prisoner transport van, making our way to a hell I’d never experienced.

We’d gathered an army. Invaded Atlantis. We had gotten so close to what we wanted, the Godmaker. The device that would grant me enough power to take down Order–or Paragon as he was apparently called–and shake this hero infested world to its core.

Then I would find the Houses of Doom and give the world to them. A world that they’d mould and shape into a utopia of villainy. It would have been beautiful. But it wasn’t to be.

It had been a few months since our failure. We were now out of the Isle of Heroes and being transported to some sort of prison. To be honest I didn’t pay a lot of attention. As much as I’d hated to admit it, I’d spent most of my time wallowing in self pity.

I let out a breath. A breath filled with regret and the mistakes of the past.

“Don’t tell me you’ve actually given up,” said Rosita. I looked up at her.

“We were at Atlantis’ doorstep,” I said, unable to keep the bitterness out of my voice. “I always tried to keep an ace up my sleeve. To be at the top of any situation, to outwit and outsmart any potential allies and opponents. And now, I have nothing. We have nothing.”

“For all we know, my cousin could still be out there. Waiting for the right moment to free us.” She smirked. “But, in case he’s too much of an idiot to do so, we’ve been in worse situations before.”

“Really now?”

“I’ve been in prison before,” she said with a shrug. “We’ll break out and start over. Build from the ground up.”

“And take our revenge on Crisis,” I said with a smile. “I swear to you Rosita, that if a miracle like that happens, I won’t waste our second chance. The world will truly bend to our will.”

As if on cue, the whole van shook to a stop. For a brief moment, it was all eerily quiet.

Then a few screams. Followed by gunshots, bursts of flame, and the distinct sound of a head being punched into the road. Another moment of silence, followed by the sound of laboured breathing.

A single, ghostly black tentacle broke through the steel backdoor. And then three more and the door was ripped from its hinges. Moonlight shone in. The only source of light other than the car, since we were already far out from the city.

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Three people stood there. At least that was what I assumed. One of them barely looked like a person–it was like a massive, green fat man. The ghostly tentacles retreated to his back. His whole face was covered up in a plague doctor mask, breathing sounds echoing from it. His eyes, small and bloodshot, were barely visible through the mask.

A short, dark skinned woman stood opposite to him. She was dressed in a white tank top with white pants. Her hair was short cropped, and her eyes a golden colour, with triangles tattooed under them. If I had to guess, based on how she was dressed, she was the source of the flames.

And then there was the leader. It was clear from the way she stood, to how the other two’s eyes flicked over to her every so often, to

A blue-eyed woman with long blonde hair. Almost picturesque in her looks. She had her arms crossed behind her back. She wore a black coat, with three golden bars over her heart.

And the logo of a cartoonish hawk, with its wings open and a capital V in front of it, inscribed within a double circle that had six stars on its perimeter on each shoulder.

It took only a fraction of a second for me to remember where I’d seen it before. My eyes widened.

She raised her arms high. Her hands were covered by white gloves. She turned them slightly. As she did, I felt the shackles on my arms and lighter. They unlocked with a click. I looked over at Rosita. She got up, free as well.

I stood too and we both walked forward tentatively.

“You are from the Houses of Doom?” I asked, trying my best to keep any awe and reverence from my voice.

The woman smirked. “Your efforts did not go unnoticed, Frankenstein.”

“What do you want?” Rosita sounded more sceptical, less starstruck than I was. “You wouldn’t have freed us if you didn’t want something in return.”

“You went within breathing distance of Atlantis,” she said simply, walking past us and closer to the car. “We have watched through most steps of your journey. From our old headquarters, to Paragon, Crisis and Iron Jaw. From Atlantis to here.”

“I’ve been looking for you for almost four years.” I clenched my fists at my side. “Why show yourself now?”

“Alpha Surge,” she said bitterly. “His little Project: Tomorrow has been active for barely three months and it has already come dangerously close to unearthing us. But it has also fractured the hero world. Put simply, this is an era of change. And I believe we can’t survive if we continue as we did.”

“Which is where we come in,” I said with a smile worming its way in my face. “You want us to help you. You want us to join the Houses of Doom.”

“Indeed. You can call me Lady Doom.” She turned to the woman. “Trueburn, you know what to do.”

“You bet I do,” said the woman. Lady Doom stepped back, and Trueburn took a deep breath. Before she let it all out, and the whole back of the van was eaten by a torrent of fire.

“Mimas.” The giant grunted. “Make sure it disappears.”

I resisted the urge to clench my fists once more. Power. In its purest form. I thought back to my interactions with Crisis and Iron Jaw. It’d be no different here. I would still need to be careful, and always carry my cards close to my chest, always try to be one step ahead. Read my opponents and exploit all their weaknesses.

“So,” said Lady Doom. “What do you say?”

It wasn’t a choice.

Not really.

But even if I could say no, I would be a fool to say it. Even with all the danger, and the wide gap in power and experience.

I couldn’t keep the damn smile off my face.

This was just the beginning.