Heroes kill.

Actually, heroes tend to go for the kill more than one might think. This was just a fact. When fighting a villain, if it was possible to take that villain in, then a hero would; however, due to the nature of combat and the threat many Supers face to their surroundings and the people, heroes tended to not hold back when fighting.

A city could always be cleaned up and fixed, but a human life couldn't be replaced. Because of this, many heroes had no qualms with simply killing the bad guy they were faced with. Typically, the teenage heroes still held onto some sense of morality, though. One in particular, though, stood out.

When it came to the concept of killing, Boy Genius would do everything in his power to prevent the death of any Super. That was why he created the realm known as Nightshade. A place where villains that survived combat, either because they were taken down by a teenage hero or simply hard to kill, could be stored. But did Boy Genius create this place out of the goodness of his heart because he wanted to prevent death?

No.

There was a different reason he created Nightshade...

"Welcome back, Boy Genius."

Boy Genius took a seat at his desk and twisted a bit, causing the chair he was in to rotate and turn. "It's good to be back! I haven't gotten to be in my favorite place in quite some time. All because Ocean Empress needed my help."

After days of being out of his lab, he finally returned to Nightshade. Currently, Boy Genious found himself in his main office. It was a large white room that had dozens of bright lights above. Several TVs hung up on the wall, and the best gaming consoles that were currently invented were all hooked up to the monitors. A desk was at one corner of the room, which he set behind a large PC hooked up around it with another monitor. He had a game about mining blocks booted up and was ready to get back to playing when his screen flashed.

"Boy Genius," A mechanical voice came out of the walls, and the room seemed to hum. "Would you like a report on the current events?"

"Nah. I'll pass." Boy Genius tapped his desk, and part of it opened up, a can of soda rising out of it. It already had a straw in it, and he wrapped his lips around it as he mined for diamonds in his video game. His screen froze, and something forcefully turned his game off. "Hey! I was enjoying that! What gives Beta!"

"I have to insist." The mechanical voice hummed. "Please sit down and ready yourself for the report."

Boy Genius slumped forward and sighed. He rested his head on his elbow and shrugged. "Alright. Just get it over with, please."

"Currently, Oleander, Lillian, and Daisy have managed to recover after a series of attacks. Several villains have been captured, most notably, however, being Intake." One of the monitors on the wall lit up showing a picture of Intake. The dark-skinned boy frowned as he stared at the villain. "He is a monster who the Oleander heroes managed to capture once already, however he somehow managed to get free before he made it to Nightshade. Currently, he is in Block A, awaiting his test."

Boy Genius nodded and tapped his finger down on the table. "I see. He's such a pain like all monsters." The hero sighed and shook his head. There was a reason his prison was so useful. Supers were hard to kill already. They could shrug off things that simply didn't seem possible. Monsters were even more stubborn. Sometimes, even slicing a monster's head clean off wasn't enough, depending on who it was. God only knows the things he did to Fairy Queen in an effort to kill her. Some monsters were just too stubborn to die, and that was one of the reasons he created his prison. "How's the test going?"

"It has yet to start." Beta explained. "There are several villains that were captured though. Would you like me to bring it up on the monitor."

Boy Genius gave a faint smile. "Yeah. Go ahead."

The wall shimmered as a massive screen appeared on it, and it lit up, showing the image of a large white room. Within the room, several villains were slowly waking up. Among them, one stood out.

Intake groaned, and he opened his eyes. It was bright. That was the first thing he noticed. Lights seemed to shimmer all around him in various directions. Slowly, he managed to sit up and rubbed at his head, wincing. He hadn't been able to escape. Not this time. Green Wolf hadn't come to his rescue, and so after the battle with that Cinder bitch, he had been knocked out and thrown in a Hero Branch truck. From there, he had been taken onto a boat, and then a plane, and then-

Well, it then all went dark. Some sort of gas or something had knocked him out. He remembered being trapped in one of those iron maidens again, his powers dampened. He had been so angry and pissed, but now he managed to keep his cool as he looked around. The room he was in was massive, about the size of a football field. It stretched out and was made out of a pure white metal. The room they were in was shaped almost like a box with walls and a roof made out of the same metal, each just as big. The roof was lined with dozens of lights that shined down on the room.

He wasn't alone either. That was the first thing Intake noticed. In the room with him were several other villains. A few he recognized. Red Panda, a member of Zoo, as well as Black Crow. He also recognized Ghost. Those were the only ones from the team that he personally knew, which meant either the others all died or ran away. There were a few other villains as well which he knew in passing, though didn't personally know.

Red Lily was one of them, a young-looking woman with messy blonde hair who was looking around in fear. Woody was another one, some villain that looked like a tree come to life with twisting arms and jagged branches. The last one he knew was Jet, a rather handsome-looking man who had pipes poking out of his legs and arms. There were dozens of other villains, some monsters, some men, some women. He didn't know all of them, but he knew enough to know that they were all just as screwed as he was.

All of them were dressed in grayish jumpsuits, and whatever costume they normally wore was gone. Ghost was the one exception, the man still being dressed in his full-body white jumpsuit that covered him from head to toe since that was actually his skin.

"D- Damn it." Red Lucy cried out and balled herself up away from the others. "I- I can't believe those heroes actually captured me!"

"Intake. You're in here as well?" Black Crow snickered. The man had a long and crooked nose and a glint in his eye as he stood next to Red Panda. "Guess you didn't do so well, huh?"

Intake growled and stood up but stopped when Ghost stepped out in front of him. The other monster just shook his head. Woody let out a snort and stood up, his body creaking a bit. "I'm a little shocked to see so many of us here. I was caught recently by the hero Wyvern. What about the rest of you?"

Jet casually waved his hand and chuckled. "Eh, I got caught by some guy dressed up in a horse costume. I had been hiding inside this big castle villain, but Fable went and blew him up, so I guess I'm here now!"

Intake shook his head and turned away from the other villains. "It doesn't matter. All we need to focus on now is getting out of here."

"Don't be stupid." Red Panda rubbed his stomach. He was still burned and bruised after his battle with Max Lightning. "Villains don't break out of here. Not this place."

"That's right." Jet chuckled. "The only thing we need to do now is focus on getting to a good cell block. The last thing any of us want is to end up in 'that' place with 'him'..."

Intake just grunted and didn't bother responding. There was many prisons that existed all over the world in the different cities. Most were for normal criminals. A few, however, would be used to hold a Super. Typically, a Super was placed into a normal prison where they would be monitored and kept until it was decided what to do with them. Some Supers were given a second chance and were allowed to rebrand and become a hero working directly for the Hero Branch. This was usually an offer given to minor criminal Supers who hadn't actually caused any harm. If the villain in question was bad enough though they'd instead be held until it was time for them to be transferred to Nightshade.

It was possible to break out of a normal prison, but the only person who was ever able to escape from Nightshade was Lucifer and his band of Immortals. Once you arrived in Nightshade, that was basically it. Your story was simply over. You'd be held there for the rest of your life, and depending on how you did on your test would determine how good your life was in Nightshade.

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A loud rumble echoed through the room, and all of them took several steps back as the floor began to split open. Small sections of it rose up, creating dozens of desks and chairs that several large stacks of paperwork placed on it.

"Greetings!" Boy Genius's voice echoed around the room. "I thought I'd pop in and explain a few things to you all!" The child declared. "See, I built this place so I could learn. I like learning. You all have a choice to make. You're not in the official walls of Nightshade yet. It's a large prison with many different sections. Twenty-Six in fact. So I'm going to make you all a deal. Take this test and answer honestly and I'll make sure the rest of your stay here will be nice. Don't, though, and... Well, a certain villain will be getting some new toys, I think. Go ahead! The choice is yours."

No one moved for several moments. They all just stood there, unable to get the courage to actually act. Intake grunted, and he was the first to step forward. He had a feeling he knew what this was. He was proven right when he reached on of the desks and looked down at the stack of paper.

Nightshade hadn't been built to hold villains. That was one of its main purposes but its true reason for its existence was something that ran deeper. Nightshade existed as a means to hold the villains that were next to impossible to kill, people like Fairy Queen or any of the Immortals, but it took in normal villains as well, and when it came to normal bad guys, they were given a simple choice. They could help out Boy Genius and be sent to a part of Nightshade that was safe, or they could rebel and face a fate worse than death.

Nightshade wasn't Boy Genius being nice and trying to prevent the death of Supers. Nightshade is Boy Genius' cruel way of using the villains to further the hero's goals.

The test in question was made up of several pages and asked dozens of different questions. Some were simple like 'What is your real name?' 'What are your powers?' or 'How much can you lift?' Others however went deeper. 'What are the real names of all your teammates?' 'What is the address of all your bases?' 'What is the address of any close family, of the people in your group?' 'Do any of your teammates have weakness? If so what?'

So on and so on.

All you had to do was sell out all your teammates. Give up all information you knew of them and any hidden detail you could think of. The better the information, the more people you screw over, the better your stay at Nightshade would be. Because once you were in the prison you weren't going anywhere, so you might as well enjoy your stay. Right? And, by giving up valuable information on other villains, you'd improve the hero's chances of taking them down.

It was an evil solution to dealing with evil. Boy Genius was a hero, but a hero could still be cruel.

Anything for the greater good, after all.

Several other villains all stepped forward, and many began to take a seat. Some grabbed some pens that were on the desks and began to fill out the sheet. Others used the offered pens as weapons and tried to attack the closest people next to them out of a fit of rage. Others didn't even bother to head for the desk and instead took a seat, having already given up.

Intake turned away, not bothering to fill out the sheet. Instead, he made his way over to the wall and placed his hand against it. He could feel his body trying to shift and change. He still had his powers and some level of super strength, but part of it was being blocked off. This entire place was created by Boy Genius and gave off a faint radiation that disrupted powers. He'd still be able to change if he really pushed his powers, but it'd be long and difficult gathering the energy, and the moment the kid knew what he was doing he'd likely be taken out. Still though, it was better then nothing-

Intake felt a sudden wave of pain hit him and blood dripped down his body as a pen found its way lodged into right shoulder. He twisted his body and spun around, rage in his eyes as he stared at the two people who had dared to attack him. Black Crow and Red Panda stood directly behind him. Black Crow had a sneer on his face and was twirling around a second pen. Intake shot a look to the other villains but they didn't know him all that well and weren't about to come to his rescue. Ghost didn't even bother and instead was at one of the desks writing up a storm and giving up everything he knew about Polaron. Intake was on his own.

"I really hated working with you guys." Black Crow growled. "I thought it'd be fun, but now I think Green Wolf went mental. Actually bothering to help you all out. Screw you Bad Timer freaks, Oleander belongs to Zoo!"

"Do you really want to do this? Now of all times?" Intake growled and loomed over the other man.

"Sure. Why not." Black Crow twisted the pen. "I just gotta tell that child freak about Avalon. Information like that is worth its weight in gold. I do that and I'm set. I bet he won't even mind if I go ahead and kill you-"

Intake grabbed Black Crow by the front of his jumpsuit. He twisted his body and raised the other man up, and slammed him head-first into the wall as hard as he could, nearly cracking the other man's skull. He dropped the unconscious Black Crow and twisted his body to the side, raising both his arms as Red Panda threw out a powerful punch aimed directly at him. His arms shook and ached as he blocked the strike, and stood his ground. They didn't have their full power, but both of them did have their enhanced strength.

Red Panda stomped forward, throwing his massive weight around and unleashing punches that could tear a man in two, but Intake was far from a man. Each strike shook Intake's bones and rattled the villain, but in that moment all he could think about was just how badly he had been beaten. It enraged him. That Cinder girl had utterly destroyed him, and the memories of the fight only fueled him. With a roar, he twisted his way out of Red Panda's striking range and stabbed his hand out. His strength proved to be stronger than Red Panda's durability, and he rammed his hand through the man's gut, going directly for the spot Max Lightning had attacked.

Red Panda let out a pained grunt and dropped to his knees, spitting up a wave of blood. By now the other villains were watching the fight, a few cheering even. Intake moved behind Red Panda and wrapped his arms around the large man's neck. "Looks like you don't have to worry about what cell you're going to end up at." Intake smirked and then twisted his body as hard as he could, and in an instant, he snapped Red Panda's neck, killing the villain.

Red Panda's corpse crashed down to the floor next to the knocked-out Black Crow, and Intake let out a loud roar and raised his blood-soaked hand to the sky. He knew he likely just pissed Boy Genius off for not bothering with the test, but he didn't care. It didn't matter where he ended up. Not anymore. If this place was going to be his life, then so be it. Intake lifted his foot up and was about to bring it down on Black Crow's head but stopped when the room began to rumble once more.

The desks started to sink into the floor, and Boy Genius's voice came back. "Well, good luck, everyone! The test is over, so hopefully, you enjoy the spot I'll be sending you, too! Not that I care, though! Have fun!"

A green gas began to fill the room suddenly, and Intake felt his strength start to fade. He grunted and then collapsed forward. Then suddenly, just as quickly as he was knocked out, he felt himself suddenly waking up. Something was different, though... He could tell that instantly. He was somewhere else.

Intake's eyes slowly opened, and he stared up at the roof above. It was the same as the last one he had been in but slightly different. Instead of white walls, everything was red. Not painted, though. Instead, it was rust or a sickly wet liquid that covered the many walls. The ground beneath him was sticky and wet, and the smell of blood was heavy in the air.

There was something most villains tended to fear. The reason many of them fought so hard to not go to prison was because part of them all secretly wanted to be killed in battle by the heroes, not out of some noble cause or anything like that. Instead, it was fear. Fear of the rumor that was Nightshade. The thing that made so many villains sell each other out when they were caught.

Within Nightshade, it was said a member of the Immortals resided. Unlucky villains were sent to the same area of the prison as him...

"Hey, you're finally awake. I was getting worried." Intake's eyes opened slowly, and he tried to speak, but it didn't come out for some reason. He tried to move, but he couldn't feel his arms and legs. His eyes slowly focused on someone that was hovering above him. It was a very beautiful-looking man. One dressed in long white robes that were perfectly clean. The man had flowing blonde hair and a smile on his face as he stared down at Intake. "I hope you don't mind, but I decided to have some fun. You're a monster, so your stuff grows back, right?"

Intake tried to say something but realized too late that his mouth was bound. Something had been jammed down his throat. He lifted his arm to strike at the other man, but it wouldn't go up. Then he looked and saw why. Both his arms were gone. As were both his legs. Something was dripping onto his body. Some sort of acid-like substance began to burn into his flesh. He tried to scream as the pain hit him all at once.

The blonde man chuckled. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it! Oh, I guess I should introduce myself! I'm Uriel! I'm a member of the Immortals!" Uriel reached into his cloak and pulled out a long, jagged saw. "And you. You're going to be my new pet. Fun right!"

Villains that didn't obey, villains that Boy Genius despised were sent to the same block as Uriel. The only member of the Immortals that was currently held in the prison. An immortal man who couldn't die. The sacrifice of the villains was one of the few ways to keep him happy and ensured he wouldn't try to escape.

That was Nightshade's true purpose. That is the reason Boy Genius created it. A fact, Intake was about to learn the hard way.

Outside of the prison, back in his room, Boy Genius leaned back and looked down at the paperwork that had been delivered to him. Most of it was useless, but one did stand out. "What do you know? Guess I was right about him."

"Right about what?" Beta asked, letting out a hum.

"This is the test some guy named Ghost took." Boy Genius explained, waving the paper around. "It says here that a certain Harrison Avalon was behind the attacks."

"Really? Do you believe that?"

"Why not." Boy Genius crumbled the paper and tossed it into a trashcan. "If Avalon goes, I'll likely get his company. Between his and mine, I'd basically be a global superpower, so it actually helps me out a lot if he really is secretly evil."

"So you're going to do something about it?" Beta asked.

"Of course I will. Just not know." Boy Genius propped his feet up on the desk and chuckled. "I don't want Avalon to be beaten because of something like that. I'd much rather crush the other guy myself with my own hard work. After all, I'm the best Mental-based Super on this planet. Not him."

Beta hummed. "Sir, you're getting a request to head to Rose."

Boy Genius nodded and stood up. "Prep my jet. Let's go pay the Victorian a visit."