AS I FINALLY ESCAPED THE BUILDING, I THOUGHT. RIGHT… A LOT HAPPENED. I FOUND SAVANT, AGAIN, WHICH… LEFT AN ODDLY BITTER TASTE IN MY MOUTH. I WALKED ALONG THE DARKENED SIDEWALKS, NOT-QUITE DARK ENOUGH TO REALLY MAKE ME THINK OF IT AS NIGHT, EVEN THOUGH LOOKING UP SHOWED ME THE SKY WAS DARK. A COOL BREEZE PASSED, AND I CLOSED MY EYES FOR A MOMENT, STOPPING ON THE EMPTY-ISH STREET AS I EXHALE DEEPLY. SUCH A BITTER TASTE.
Opening my eyes, I continue on my way, thinking about my day. A moment later and I frowned, pulling up the writing app on my phone. I’d start on the transcripts for the complaints towards Boreas as soon as I could.
No powered individual, hero, villain, or otherwise shouldn’t find the base of their powers. What the very, very basics are. If you have a fire power, is it heat based? Combustion based? If you have wind, is it air based? Movement based? Something else? If you have a mind-power, what is it actually? Is it boosted mental prowess? Is it partial control over others? Is it more? Less?
Every powered individual should know these things.
Walking without paying attention, it’s no wonder I don’t notice a slightly-darker-than-usual shadow appear in my path.
I find it wholly my fault that I don’t see the surroundings change from bright to dark. That I don’t feel the giant gust of wind, or the feeling of falling. It was certainly my fault when I ran directly into a villain’s chest, fingers still typing at my phone as I try going around.
“Quantify,” A deep, hissing, rasping voice said. Glancing behind me, I saw a figure coated in shadow. Blinking when I see what was certainly not a street, I glanced around.
In a small circle, in the darkened but empty building we seemed to be in, was a bunch of recognizable villains. Some were from New York, and others weren’t. I was surprised when I saw the villain I thought was my online friend, and I waved at him in particular before looking around.
I was much more surprised that I saw a woman than I rightfully should have been. Mainly because women were mainly neutra or heroes, or just flat-out didn’t use their powers in any meaningful way.
In front of me, after I’d fully turned, was Blood Shadow, a man who killed from the shadows, leaving nothing of the bodies except blood. And, in his debut and a few kills after it, a small little engraved card with his villain name on it. As I really thought on it, I realized that, yeah.
Villains totally understood that they needed to choose their own names or they’d be given lame monikers.
To the right of Blood Shadow was Poison, a man wearing mainly shimmering and shining purples and greens, standing out amongst the others in his bedazzled uniform. His hair was dyed a very nice shade of purple that matched his outfit, and his eyes were covered by a domino mask with lenses over it to cover the color, as a lot of villains had.
To the left of Blood Shadow was Persephone, a pink and lime-colored villainess that I immediately liked. Logically knowing I only liked her due to her emotional control, which she had, I still couldn’t help the way my eyes trailed her form. She really was pretty. With her growth and “life-giving” powers that no one really could explain as any specific term, she really had to try to be a villain, but she managed it, with the nickname Succubus given to her in spite of the perfectly fine spring-related goddess name. Anyway.
There were about eight villains total. One directly behind me, two to my sides, one directly in front of me with two to their sides, and two on the sides, filling out the circle around me.
From my left all the way to my right, there was Flashfire, a light-related villain in a red outfit, Seraphim, a flying winged villain in a white and gold outfit, Persephone, the pink villainess, Blood Shadow, presumably the one who took me here with his shadow powers, Poison, a dangerous villain that used his powers to, you guessed it, fight the spread of disease by killing Karen’s, antivaxxers, and other such people. After Poison, there was the British villain that was totally WearAndTear77, and directly to my right was Law-Rend, to my great surprise, holding a briefcase and in his fitted suit.
That just left whoever was behind me.
“Why is my name written several times on your phone?” Boreas asked, a hand being set on my shoulder as he looked over it, seeing ‘Boreas is an idiot who’ still unfinished on the screen, “… That’s not a fair assumption, princess. You didn’t give me time to even think before you left.”
My expression must have shown my disgust, because the British villain chuckled. I think his villain name was Warren? Warden?
“Only idiots don’t know what their powers are,” I argued, stepping away from Boreas as I turned to him with a frown, “How can’t you know whether your powers are water, temperature, or cold based? Do you even know if there are multiple bases to work with? If you can even create a single snowflake? Come on, you chased after me, made me get drugged up in a van, and you didn’t even give me anything to work with!”
Boreas gave me a blank, taken aback look, before frowning, “How am I supposed to know any of that?”
I gave him a flat look, crossing my arms, derision dripping from my every drawled word, “You don’t know if you, an ice-powered individual, can make a snowflake.”
“Quantify,” The deep, hissing rasp once again said, and I turned, ignoring the angry flush of Boreas’ cheeks.
It was colder, suddenly, and I rolled my shoulders, turning off the screen of my phone and putting it away so I can cross my arms.
“Yeah?” I asked, glancing around. Would I survive this?
“Are you a hero?” Persephone asked, voice sultry, “You can tell me.”
I don’t look at her, observing Poison’s outfit. He looked amazing. Damn. His hair was styled. He really looked put together.
“No,” I said without much thought, “I’m a civilian. Uh… With a threat of being an accomplice, apparently, though I don’t know to who. Did you get that custom-made?”
Poison’s lips twisted, curling up, before he grinned, “I did.”
“It looks amazing.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it.”
“Yeah, no problem, you really deserve the compliment. I didn’t realize I was missing out on your attacks, like I bet that looks amazing in the sunlight.”
“It does,” He gushed, gesturing towards the purple parts of his costume, “These are a specially made material. In the sunlight it’s matte, so it accentuates the dark green shine perfectly, but in the dark it looks just as polished as the green.”
“That’s matte?” I asked, impressed.
I was about to take a step forward, to look closer, but then I realized no one survived seeing Poison, and I stayed at my distance with no small amount of effort.
“If you two girls would stop?” A deep, amused drawl came from behind me, and I glanced over to see Seraphim crossing his arms, golden skin and rippling muscles almost as big as Boreas’.
When he realized he had my attention, and just before I could turn and step back to really compare his muscles to Boreas’ pale ones, he spoke again, “Quantify, you may be curious as to why you were brought here.”
That was as far as he got before I compared his biceps with Boreas’. Yeah, he was close, but Boreas had bigger ones. It wasn’t all that impressive, Boreas wasn’t a bodybuilder or anything, but it was just strong enough to be very, very nice to look at. Seraphim was simply not buff enough to appease the eyes, in the in-between of being fit and being strong.
“I, I…” Seraphim stuttered, as I carelessly pushed at his bicep. It didn’t squish pleasantly, unlike Boreas’, which were flexible and strong, “Are you ignoring me? To, to…? What are you doing?”
My attention was snapped to the goddess—I mean to Succubus as she laughed loudly. Beautifully. Before I realized it, I was standing, dazed, in front of her. She grinned seductively at me.
“Hello,” She said slowly, words rolling off her tongue with such grace.
“Hey,” I breathed. I wasn’t gay. I wasn’t gay.
Her lips were plump, and the feeling of her fingers trailing up my body was erotic. With soft, amazing looking skin, and glorious flowing pink hair that went to her shoulders, my eyes reached up, and met her light yellow ones that I was sure would be a brilliant green when her powers faded.
I needed her.
I’d always needed her, and it was such a glorious feeling to realize that as I found her. I’d finally be able to fill the empty hole inside of me. She would make everything perfect.
She was perfect.
“If you kiss her,” The rasping voice said, “We’ll kill you.”
At first, I thought Blood Shadow was talking to me, and I didn’t care. Until Persephone frowned, and suddenly my feelings stopped being as warm. Actually, it was frozen, and looking down, I saw ice coating the ground as my breath escaped my lips in a fog. Stumbling back from the villainess, I frowned.
My heart was hammering, and for the first time in a long time, I felt fear. My mind hadn’t been my own, for those few moments. That was horrible.
“What do you guys want?” I asked after a moment, attempting to keep my mind on the situation. As someone who typically spent all of their time avoiding doing exactly that, it was hard.
The cold made it easier, though, biting into my flesh as I ended up once more in the circle of villainy.
“Did you sign anything, yet?” Law-Rend spoke up, giving me a charming, but focused, look. His neat gray hair was combed back, much like Boreas kept his when he had time to focus on it, actually old instead of just covering his hair in frost.
I observed him for a moment. It was just his natural charisma, I deduced, after carefully staring at his charismatic focus. The taste of dust entered my mouth as I inhaled deeply.
“No, not yet,” I answered with a frown, presuming they were talking about the HA’s offer, “Why?”
“Because we have a better one to make,” Law-Rend explained, shoulders relaxing. Actually, now that I looked, I saw that all of them had been looking tense, before.
“I doubt it,” I muttered, eyes glazing over. I thought of the good deal, salivating.
Money. Powers to study and figure out. No limits on my theorizing, only giving me an excuse to make more money off of it, if anyone bothered to pay. Which, I mean, I doubted, but something was better than nothing.
“Whatever they offered you, times ten,” Law-Rend said simply, interrupting my thoughts.
I blinked a few times, trying to remain in reality for a moment as I looked around again. All of their eyes were focused on me. My eyes focused on Seraphim a moment, unable to help flicking my eyes from Boreas back to him, only Boreas smirking at the fact, before my eyes returned to Law-Rend with confusion.
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“Uh…” I thought, “I mean, if you can even manage that, it would be an instant deal, but I doubt you can.”
“Trust us, princess, we can get whatever you were offered,” Boreas said, smirk still on his face as he gave Seraphim a look.
I hummed, thinking. I was offered… Well.
“The entire Hero Association’s knowledge of all villains, heroes, neutras and more’s powers and all they know of it, times ten… plus… well, one hundred thousand a month—no, wait, one twenty thousand… I don’t think you guys really can get that information.”
Law-Rend shook his head, sighing, “You’re right. We can offer so much more. What do you want, in return for continuing to do theories on villains and heroes alike?”
I blinked. Oh. Was that it? I could make so much more from this, then.
“Hm. I would love to know every detail about all of your powers, and more villains, if you can get it. Of course, if the powers are supposed to remain hidden I’d happily sign an NDA, but I’d also love to have more content for my channel...” I shrugged, “What do you guys have to offer?”
“Any man or woman your heart desires,” Persephone offered.
“An entire castle of ice on the ocean,” Boreas added.
“A neat little disease that increases your strength and focus. You’d have to eat more, though,” Poison offered.
“Free travel through the shadows,” Blood Shadow rasped.
“Gold. Money.” Seraphim shrugged when I looked at him. “A flight above New York as well, if you want.”
“To change the color of anything you want, on or off of you,” Flashfire said after a moment, rubbing the back of his head.
“Free legal services from yours truly,” Law-Rend offered. My back straightened at the first actually good offer.
“Not killing you?” A young voice with a heavy London accent asked.
My, as well as every other villain’s, eyes turned to Warden. He shrugged at the looks.
“What? If she doesn’t agree we aren’t exactly going to let the hostage leave here alive,” Warden said honestly, raising his hands before crossing them again.
“Wow, low blow,” I deadpanned, now absolutely sure he was WearAndTear77, “And here I thought we were friends,” I frowned, “Actually, why didn’t you tell me you were visiting?”
Warden frowned, “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, sorry, I just thought you were someone I knew from online. WearAndTear,” I said with an easygoing shrug.
Warden froze, easygoing expression slowly morphing into shock, then surprise, then disbelief, “How?”
I frowned, “Easy. We met on a hero vs villain site, and I realized as we spoke that you spoke weird, you know? Familiar. Everyone knows that heroes and villains go online to argue about how stupid their most hated enemy is, because it’s not like you guys are subtle. I know for a fact Savant’s username is just a synonym of his actual name, as well as the age he was when he gained the moniker.”
At his still disbelieving stare, I shrugged again and continued.
“When you said you were British when I asked why you spoke weird, I just looked through all of the videos I’d seen with British heroes and villains until I found one that sounded like you. Then pushing some of our conversations towards certain things, I saw you had the same motives, morals, and verbal habits as your villain self. Asking, you sounded horribly against online role-play, and so I continued altering our conversations until I got to eighty percent certainty,” I shrugged, “Then you spoke with such blunt, careless words, matching your online personality to an exact point. It was really, really obvious. You shouldn’t be so transparent.”
“I talk to several people online, and none of them have even the slightest idea who I am,” Warden informed me, disbelieving, “That’s not normal. Are you sure you don’t have a, an information gathering power, or something?”
I frowned, before shrugging, “Yes. I mean it’s weird that you think someone obsessed with powers and specifically the villains, heroes, and neutras that have them wouldn’t recognize you online. I also wasn’t at all secret with the fact I had a YouTube channel, but presuming by the fact that you looked more surprised than would typically be required, I have to say you probably didn’t check it out. Asshole.”
Warden gaped, before giving me a defensive look, “I thought it was going to be a shitty argument page! You made it sound like it was solely there for you to win arguments!”
“It is,” I complained, walking towards him to look up at him in complaint, “But I put a lot of work into it! I can’t believe you never even clicked the link I gave you!”
“I- well, obviously it was good enough that I made it to the channel,” Warden said.
“The only reason you did was because Boreas is stalking me,” I argued, gesturing towards Boreas. I ignore the sputtering of said villain, continuing, “And I made a channel because of my propensity towards ending up around him when he attacks, which people clicked through, finding my channel through that. What if Boreas decided to stalk some other person?”
“I don’t—I’m not—”
“Well I don’t know,” Warden blustered, “Why didn’t you ever look at the YouTube videos I sent you?”
“I clicked the links,” I said, “It wasn’t my fault they all looked like trash! My videos looked professional.”
“Do you argue with everyone?” Blood Shadow interrupted, suddenly standing between Warden and I. His gaze was focused on me, I think. Maybe. When he spoke, my suspicions were confirmed, “I saw you arguing with Savant as you two got taken in by the HA.”
I frowned, “Savant used to be my friend,” My voice sounds depressed, I note, making an effort to make it sound happier, “And Wear is my friend. Even though he’s a bad one.”
“Oh like you’re a good friend! You disliked one of my videos, and you always argue against me being a good villain!”
“Dude don’t even, you’re a neutra at best.”
“I kill people!”
“Civilians kill people too. You’re the powered equivalent of a vigilante and you know it.”
Arms wrapped around me, pulling me away from Warden. Warden was currently struggling with three different villains, and glancing at the arms around me, I saw that Boreas was the one who grabbed me even as Warden’s powers cracked the ground. Steel rose, but unlike Wire, a supervillain who had total control of his metal, Warden’s was just spiking through the ground, towards me.
Ice sent Boreas and I several feet above the floor, away from Warden’s range.
“I’m not stalking you,” Boreas claimed, after I stopped struggling. That wasn’t really the point I was trying to make, ice guy, but okay. You do you.
“I believe you wholeheartedly,” I lied, eyes glued to Warden, who was now fighting—badly—with the other villains.
I watched as Persephone seduced him, allowing for Seraphim to stab through his heart. His last cry echoed throughout the building, shaking my heart. As my heart pounded faster, I watched as blood spurted and pulsed out of him in a vigorous spray. Some of his skin was stuck to the golden tip of Seraphim’s sword, a piece of shattered bone falling to the suddenly quiet warehouse with a loud, clicking splat. I heard the sound, the slosh, as the blood dripped, adding to the puddle.
My eyes were glued to the scene as the sword was pulled out, blood dripping from the lowered edge as Warden’s slumped corpse fell to the ground. The sound of cloth shifting, of meaty impact, was the last thing I heard before my ears started ringing.
My breath stuttered, and I took a deep breath, throat clogging as tears burned at my eyes. Releasing my breath in a shaky sigh, I lean my head against Boreas, like he was a wall. He was acting like one, albeit one that was surprisingly warm and comfortable. Comforting.
My breath sounded loud to my own ears, and I forced it to even out, to calm down, even as the sound of my heart pounding, of blood rushing through my veins, filled my auditory senses.
My eyes glazed over as I thought.
Warden had been my only friend, online and off. And he was gone. Because of a repeating petty argument that we’d had, my only friend died.
Swallowing thickly, I drop my head, trying to move out of Boreas’ grasp. His arms tighten, and I watch as the ice shifts until we’re once more on the ground. Even though we were grounded, though, his arms remained wrapped around me.
My eyes remained on Warden’s body for a moment. A hollow feeling entered my heart. Coldness spread within me, even as Boreas chilled the air around me, and I blinked away tears as I struggled out of Boreas’ grip.
Clearing my throat, I swallow heavily, eyes just staring at the dead friend. Dead villain.
“You traumatized her,” Poison hissed, and I frowned.
“You killed my friend,” I said, meeting Seraphim’s eyes. Soon, my gaze went back to the body. Or, rather, the puddle of blood, a dark shadow taking the body elsewhere.
I closed my eyes and sighed out shakily. Opening them, I turned to Law-Rend. Right. Let’s get this over with.
“I refused to sign an exclusivity contract,” I said.
“You won’t have to,” Seraphim answered.
I gave him an annoyed look, Law-Rend’s annoyance also clear. Seraphim had interrupted Law-Rend before he could speak. I shivered in the cold, dark of the warehouse, wondering if I should move to Los Angeles.
It would be warmer, there.
“She’s saying she already did refuse. The Hero Association didn’t offer her one, or offered her something similar and she said no.”
“Ish,” I agreed, “I get a better deal than they do, really. They want me to ask a bunch of their heroes a bunch of questions, and I get a lot of money for that. If you want, I can offer you guys the same thing, where I personally go over my ideas of powers with you, and in return you tell me all about them.”
Law-Rend gave me a calculating look, “You’re playing both sides?”
“I don’t have powers,” I explained with a shrug, “Until I get them, I’m not going to cut off any future allies, whether I choose to be a hero or villain.”
“From what I’ve heard, you were already a hero,” Blood Shadow rasped, voice seemingly coming from behind me even though I knew he was fifteen feet away, “Punt. A small time local hero.”
I shrugged, “I was sent to therapy because of my violent tendencies. I guess ‘liking to hit people with a baseball bat’ doesn’t really count as a heroic reason for going out and stopping people.”
“You’re Punt?” Persephone said, disgust coating her voice suddenly.
I grinned, perking up as I remembered something. Persephone wasn’t always called Persephone. She was called Vine, or something. She’d worn all green, and man did she look good covered in blood. She hadn’t realized the seductive aspect of her powers, back then.
“Hello! I just remembered, you’re Vine, right?” My grin turned cruel, “You look much more beautiful in green and red.”
Persephone snarled, glaring at me, but I noted she didn’t get closer, my grin only widening.
Poison frowned, “Vine’s outfit was all green. Where’d the red come from?”
“Me,” I said, unable to keep the absolute elation and joy out of my suddenly rough tone as I grinned, staring her in the eyes, “Long time no see. Still attempting to rob and kill poor old ladies?”
Persephone shivered, glare still up even as I noticed her get a few shades lighter, “You don’t have any powers or your bat. You can’t even get close without wanting me.”
“Oh I want you, alright,” I threatened, taking a step forward, watching as she shakily, almost without thought, took one back, “You killed my grandma. You’re lucky Savant is a hero, or you’d have joined her in the afterlife.”
The blood-lust raised, before a feeling of cold washed over me. I flinched back from an imaginary fist, and I scowled. Stupid therapists and their stupid fucking quack ways. Shaking my head, I sighed, relaxing.
“I’m better, now, though. If you hadn’t noticed, Punt all but disappeared. Ahem, anyway, until I gain my own powers and take over the world through vaguely heroic ways, I’d love to understand yours. I don’t really need… A castle, or a, uh, loving trip in the arms of a pseudo-angel, nor do I want to gain my crushes through, um, force, but free legal service to look over the contracts the HA is trying to make with me and maybe some shadow travel would be nice.”
After a moment, Flashfire asked a question into the silent, cold night air, “Was Punt even a hero?”
I blinked, “That’s a weird way of asking if I’d attacked and killed civilians. No. Punt was a vigilante. No attacking civilians, no attacking heroes, not unless they attacked me first. Criminals and villains who got on my bad side only. Murder was uncommon, but I’d only ever tried killing villains, in my childhood stunt, so it’s expected. You guys only care about the questions I can ask, and the ideas I have, though, right?”
The villains all glanced at each other, only Persephone keeping her eyes on me even as she looked sick.
“Yes. I believe if you’d like to personally speak to villain, neutra, and hero alike, I should probably help you set up a business for it, instead of simply suggesting that villains stop by,” Law-Rend said after a moment, “Unless anyone else has any experience running a business and would like to help?”
“I do,” Boreas said with a shrug, “So does Flashfire and Poison.”
“I’m not going to help,” Flashfire said after a moment, frowning, “I don’t think I’ll be all that useful.”
“I mean… Your powers are pretty useful, if that’s what you’re talking about,” I said. He gave me a weak smile, and I continued, “You could blind anyone, though you knew that. You can kill plant-life, destroy all life on this planet, uh, I can’t think of anything you could do that wouldn’t be mass-effect aside from blinding people, but if you wanted to fuck with people, you could go to Georgia and make a few KKK members a solid chocolate shade. Maybe cause mass panic by freaking out racist policemen and getting a few randos killed.”
“How would I destroy all life on the planet?” Flashfire asked, confused.
“Mmph,” I tried explaining. My mouth was covered by a solid, strong, pale hand.
“Save it for when he pays, Bloodlust.”
“Hhts Uh Ggd Vnn nm,” I managed, repeating when he removed his hand, “That’s a good villain name. Wonder why no one’s taken it, before. Anyway, I have enough monikers. My therapist will kill me if he hears that one, so I’ll stick to Punt, Quantify, and all those nice unbiased nicknames.”
“Right,” Law-Rend said, running a manicured hand through his perfectly styled hair, managing not to muss it, “In any case, here’s my number. Call me around eight in the morning tomorrow using the golden number, and I’ll set up a meeting place and time for us to go over the business plan. You can text the silver number whenever you’re pulled into the HA to sign the contract they’d written up. Blood Shadow?”
Before I could speak, or shift, or even agree or disagree, I was standing outside of my apartment building, a business card in my hand that wasn’t there before.
Huh.
Opening my phone, I go back to writing the transcript for the complaint about the lack of heroes and villains that effectively use their powers. Neutras typically have a better grasp on their powers, which is why I didn’t lump them into the group of idiots that don’t fully understand their powers.