“Welcome back curious folk, Query here! Eroteme’s…taking a breather, hahah, you know how he can get over some of the Questions. Sometimes too much passion is too much passion. Anyway, it’s time for the question of the day, I’m sure you’re all eager to hear and rack the forums for answers but let’s take it easy this time. Here it goes; Some thirty years ago Vertigo and his gang ruled the streets of Xoxia nigh unimpeded, his right hand man, Letharguy contributed to this terror especially but what’s changed? Letharguy and Vertigo have gone their separate ways as evident of their once in a blue moon clashes and Vertigo seems to have retained a majority of the original gang with figures like TV sticking around, loyal to the end. What made what used to be considered the strongest pairing of Metahumans Xoxia has ever seen split up?”

***

Vertigo leans from his stool, fat digits wave in Erich’s face for a moment as he shivers before snatching his nose between his thumb and index. Erich doesn’t move, bearing the swelling pain of blood constricted in his broken nose as Vertigo whips it to the side for a horrid crack that reverberates throughout his head, jaw and mouth.

“There ya go.” Vertigo lets go of his nose and whips the blood pouring out on Erich’s head of hair. He leans back, legs spread out wide and picks a bottle of beer from the cooler beside him, “Looking more like yourself now, Erich.”

Agonizing as it was, Erich is grateful to have his nose back in place. The scent of blood stained his every breath but at least he could breathe properly now. He moulded a clump of snot and blood in his mouth and spat, heaving vapours in the frosted midnight air of Xoxia. Pressed to his knees in nothing but boxers and the strips of meta suppressants still on his bound arms, Erich stares up at Vertigo through a swelling eye as snow piles on his shoulders and head. Austin and TV stood behind Vertigo, enjoying the warmth of being fully clothed and knowing Austin that black leather jacket and trousers each had their own inline heating.

He wouldn’t complain though, or rather he couldn’t. They’d brought him before Vertigo for a reason— kept him in the dark and well unconscious in the boot of the car before he arrived though, but Erich would find out now.

Vertigo watched Erich watch him, the man was built like a cabbage. Round, nearly obese and ever reeking of piss poor beer even though he could well afford more than that. He downed the entire bottle, tossing it over his shoulder and into the freezing lake he made a half of his fortune from.

“You’ve always been a good boy…an annoying child with no understanding yes, but a good boy.” Vertigo starts, belching gas with his words. He nods to his left where Austin stands, “My boy asked me to take you, he asked me to take…many of you. That girl Cynthia, the delinquent Neil…so many my boy asked to bring into my docks, into my business.”

He stays quiet for a moment, hand lingering over the cooler as he gathered his thoughts and leaned further into the poor wooden chair he sits on. Taking his sweet time, he savours Erich’s cold suffering and picks out another beer. He takes a ginger sip and stares at the bottle in grateful awe, “Can’t get this sort of hop anymore, ya know? Hmm, yes, where was I?”

Austin looks like he wants to remind his father for a flash of a second before his face rows back to stoic indifference, a contrast to TV’s eager grin, “Lynx.”

The single word from TV is enough to sour Vertigo’s mood and indeed remind him where he was headed with his drawl. Vertigo sneers down at Erich, near growling as he says, “Lynx…boy, I let you into my business as my son asked, brilliant investment that bitch was, a good one Neil was too, but you, you seemed to have it in your head that you’re too good for us, too good for anything that would make you family like the Bitch and Neil. Was it those powers of yours? Has that been what you’ve been hiding? Tell me how you did it, tell me and I may well forgive you.”

That’s a lie. Erich knew better than to trust Vertigo’s word on anything now. Austin had warned him years ago that his father was something else, a villain not to be trusted, not to be crossed and certainly never to be relied on. Erich looks away, stares at the snow stained with his snot and blood.

“I never hid them. I told you about them from the start and I said—”

“You said you couldn’t control it, that it was useless and likely to kill you before you used it to kill anyone…and yet, here we are. You’ve wroth a mess so massive its drawn me out in the open. The docks were attacked yesterday by those Beastards. You gave the M.C.U Lynx and I’m sure you gave them Frost Bitch as well.”

“What? No, I don’t know where Cynthia is.”

“You don’t deny giving them Lynx ey? How long have you been in contact with them?”

“No I just…ask Neil! He fucking ran off whe—” A smack across the face puts Erich to silence. His cheek begins to swell almost immediately as Vertigo takes a deep breath in and sighs.

“Don’t raise your voice at me, child. You have no right here.” The chair strains against his weight as he leans forward, breath rancid through the frostbitten air, “Neil is blameless and powerless, he stood no chance from the start. Lynx? What is fodder like him supposed to do? But you…you have power, power to save lives, to kill the Beastard himself but you failed me even then.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Erich wants to point out that Lynx was never part of the mission plan and if he was he wouldn’t have been there, but he holds his tongue, pushing against his swelling, bleeding cheek with it as he knelt in the cold.

Vertigo snatches his arm, twisting it so the suppressant strips face him, “They put this on you and they put this on Lynx and every other meta-human for a reason. But Frost Bitch is gone, Lynx is gone and you’re here, basking in the aftermath of your callous actions like its none of your problem. Well, let me tell you something.” He pinches an end and as Erich’s eyes bulge he rips the suppressants off, spilling blood and fluid, “You’re going to use the same power that put me in this mess to get us out of it. TV alone won’t be enough to hold them back so you will!”

He rips off the other strip and tosses to two aside, watching Erich grit down the agony of their crude removal. Erich turns his head up at him, shivering against the icicles forming on his skin and the frozen trails of tears from his welled eyes, “I keep telling you, my powers aren’t strong enough, I’ll be dead before I kill anyone with them.”

Vertigo balls his fists, clearly restraining himself from sending it across Erich’s already swollen face, “Then you will die trying or by Austin’s bullet.”

Erich found Austin’s eyes and in them there was nothing to be discussed anymore. They’d made up their minds since, this was never up for debate.

Vertigo snaps his fingers at one of the many spectators gathered to watch behind and in a few snow crunching steps, Neil appears humble and ready to serve, “Get me a syringe.”

Erich snaps his head up at that, turns his gaze to Austin whose stoic is finally broken by the command. Neil stutters, “With Vie? I mean, yes, of course.” He runs off lest Vertigo’s eyes linger on him too long while Austin shifts in his place, sparing conflicted glances at Erich.

Vertigo reaches behind his chair for a nylon bag. It clatters with all Erich had on him when he was caught; his watch, BlastKnuckles, knife and most importantly—

“This is a wonderful picture. Your mother is certainly my type of woman.” Vertigo says, plucking the polaroid out of the bag and letting the rest drop. He flaps it back and forth, fanning himself a bit and then taking a deep, long disgusting sniff along it. “I can almost smell her. Hahah, don’t give me that look, Erich, I’m basically your father after all I’ve done for you. But she’s the one you’re looking for yes? The one you’ll fight for.”

The cold feeding into Erich’s many wounds bound his jaw shut as he trembled at Vertigo’s feet. A glare is all he can manage as Neil returns with a syringe full of Vie, the purple venom. Vertigo waves Neil away and plays with the syringe like a pen between his fingers, “A beautiful woman indeed, worth fighting for but not worth dying for is she? She left you behind and saved herself, just how many years ago was that now, Erich? How long will you chase? Haha, no matter, if you wish to leave Xoxia, run after this woman, then I will grant you your wish.”

Looking over his shoulder he nods at Austin and the burly man moves from his spot, hesitant as he squats by Erich and presses him to lie in the snow. Taking the chance Erich whispers in his ear for help but they’re deaf to him and his shivers. Vertigo taps the needle, squirting out a bit of Vie before handing it over to his son, “But Erich, you’re not family…even if you were you must suffer and you must serve before finding reward.”

“No, please, I don’t take Vie I—argh!” Austin doesn’t hesitate once the syringe is passed to him sinking and pushing the foul drug down Erich’s jugular, watching as it turns veins from cold blue to eerie purple. It burns through him and at first the warmth is welcome and then it’s immediately hell, “Fuck you!”

***

Some forty years ago Vie came onto the streets of Xoxia and so few humans could resist its promise of power to rival meta-humans— even though they already stood above. Vie, like any other rapid spreading, addictive substance proved to be lethal, though that barely did much to discourage its use that became a citywide epidemic once the Questions revealed it worked the same on meta-humans, Vie does not discriminate XCredits but it certainly kills more humans than metas.

Meta or not, Erich refused to poison himself for fleeting strength. He has to find her, it’s all that keeps him going; the search for the mother that left, who slammed the door in his wailing face and never looked back as she sprinted down the steps. But that all stops sounding so important when Vie runs through his veins, blending his mind with his body in a way Erich has never felt before.

Eyes stretched wide open Erich feels strength in every fibre of his being, his mind hummed in place as he stared pointedly at the opposite wall, blurring the set of Vertigo’s men rounded over a table and chattering about a map. His eyes burn with tears unfallen and his tongue tastes like batteries. Erich itches to say the word, to blink and find the world around him frozen and quickly go about his day, truly ignoring Vertigo and his demands.

Instead he grinds his teeth and focusses his sight on the group huddled over the map on the table, bearing through the whining in his ears to hear Austin go over the plan once more—

“TV and Neil’s crew will block the roads as we come in, nothing should get through. Neil, myself and Erich over there will sneak in through our man on the inside. The factory will be well guarded but with TV wreaking havoc on their vehicles it won’t be long till they pour out and we can search the building for her.”

Her.

“Erich, you listening?” Austin snaps his fingers at Erich’s face till he focuses on him, “The factory is large, we’ll have to split up the moment we’re in and keep away from any of her roaming beasts. Alert us with your watch when you spot her, we’ll do the same and then meet up to complete the mission.”

Erich drawls, “Kill her…you mean.”

Austin takes a breath, looks around the room once then at Erich, “Yes, kill her. She’s keeping us from advancing our grounds and—”

“I should kill you all.” Erich says, his head rolling round his shoulders like a pinball, “I can. You feed me Vie and think…think I won’t!”

The humans in the room take cautious step back, inching at the door. Austin balls a fist and is about to speak when TV brushes past him in his walk over to Erich. TV squats in front of Erich who’s tied to a chair with a towel hung over his head. He inhales then speaks, “Your power lets you stop people somehow, I don’t care how. It doesn’t beat out mine, all it takes is a look from me and it’s over. Might be a year, might be that very second, but you will die and I’ll be responsible.”

He grins and adjusts his glasses. Drugged up Erich mirrors his grin with one of his own as he chortles loudly, swinging back and forth in his seat as he cackles, “Hahahah! Kill me then! Hahahah!”