So Jay really should have seen Stygian's intervention coming [https://img.wattpad.com/85d5853243f29c26968ffae91fefa0bf3fe7c13e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f37647863307332754370642d55773d3d2d313334313136363036362e313736373433623330373863623738343733343233333035333932372e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

So Jay really should have seen Stygian's intervention coming.

Frigid pauses in her assault to witness the melodramatic villain leap over the heads of citizens. He lands with a clack of roller skates; a purple, blue, and pink flag attached to his back waving heroically in the wind as he skids to a stop through several puddles.

Jay's eyes are glued to Gannet's glammed-up form, mind contemplating the fact that the villain most likely was meticulously changing into this flashy outfit as the heroes were being beaten to a pulp [https://img.wattpad.com/0f2f75715011cde70ede515ba9d2897f0d7f0528/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f49303672384d59354b61733555413d3d2d313334313136363036362e313736396137366566386164363430643134333034323138313436372e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Jay's eyes are glued to Gannet's glammed-up form, mind contemplating the fact that the villain most likely was meticulously changing into this flashy outfit as the heroes were being beaten to a pulp.

"Stygian?! Wha—we were here first! Find a different target!" Frigid growls.

The dark-haired villain cackles, his menace slightly diminished by his flamboyance. "You think I'm here to attack the heroes? No—I'm here to fight you."

Stygian spins gracefully on his roller skates, coming to face Jay with a wide grin. "Hiiii Witty! Let's have a truce today, okay?"

Jay nods dumbly as Brighteyes gapes, hand latched onto Ravenette's wrist. "Uhhhh...."

"Oh, and that goes for the rest of you too, obviously."

"You dare challenge us, sinner?" Hellfire bellows, "We are on a mission from God! Repent!"

Stygian grins, wings manifesting behind him. They arch high in the air, shimmering in the summer sun. "Are you sure? Because as an angel myself, I don't remember her ever putting you in charge."

Hellfire's face contorts with disgust. "Get behind me, Satan!"

The dark-haired man narrows his eyes, smirking. "Wow, you think I'm like God's hottest demon? What high praise."

Unable to take the taunting anymore, the priest conjures a massive blue fireball, launching it at Stygian with a roar.

Stygian dodges the attack deftly, lifting a nearby truck to shield the onlookers. He wastes no time retaliating against the duo, causing them to scramble away in fear as he launches the vehicle at them.

The heroes take the opportunity to remove their injured friend from the battlefield. After dragging Ravenette away to a safe distance, Jay readies himself to rejoin the fight. He turns to his two remaining companions. "Let's go, we need to help!"

Pixamena grimaces, eyes steely. "Heroes don't work with villains—it could be a trap, Quickwit!"

Jay tenses. "I'm using my power, trust me! He wants to help us..."

Brighteyes darts her eyes downward. "Even if we wanted to, the Network wouldn't allow it. Just wait for one of them to go down..."

"Fuck!" he growls, "clear the crowd then, I'll do it myself!"

"Quickwit!" Pixamena calls.

But Jay isn't listening. He grips his staff with white knuckles, running towards the villains. Quickly, he scales a large van, jumping off and landing a blow on Frigid from above. They tumble to the ground, ending with Jay on top as he attempts to pin her down.

Frigid screams with indignation, weakly attempting to kick the sidekick off. The woman tries to retaliate with an icy claw, but her wrist is quickly entrapped by Stygian's dark shadows and yanked from under Jay. The misty black forms pull her along like a ragdoll, flinging her into Hellfire's open arms.

"You abominations!" Frigid bellows, "Laying your hands on a woman!?"

Frigid's eyes glow with malice as she stiffens, summoning a powerful winter wind and knocking both Stygian and Jay to their knees. Jay recovers quickly, standing up with the aid of his staff, but Stygian seems to struggle. His shadows have retreated completely into his body, shivers wracking his frame.

Hellfire attempts to use the opening to land a finishing blow, but his trajectory is redirected by a swift kick to the stomach by Jay. The preacher grunts with pain, falling to the ground as the flames roar through the air. Jay stumbles back, grunting as the searing flames lick at his face.

Luckily, as Frigid's wind peters out, Stygian recovers and immediately pounces on the duo. Before either has a chance to react, the ne'er-do-wells are cocooned in dark shadows.

"Release me you sin—"

Hellfire's mouth is abruptly covered with shadow. Stygian giggles as he lifts Jay to a standing position, shadows gently hoisting the hero up. Seeing the villains have finally been conquered, Jay breathes a sigh of relief as Brighteyes and Pixamena scramble to handcuff the two.

But he's not quite done yet...

"Wow, we make a great team," Stygian purrs, vermillion eyes aglow. "We should work together more often."

Jay tightens his grip on his staff. "I don't think so. Do the right thing, Stygian, turn yourself in."

Stygian laughs, dark shadows spiraling around him. "I do all this and you're still trying to catch me? So dedicated, Quickwit."

Dark wings stretch out wide. "Unfortunately I'll have to decline once again. But ah—"

Stygian pauses, tapping the left side of his face with a glowing claw. "You might wanna cover that up as soon as I get airborne. My range is limited."

"What—?"

Not giving any answers to his cryptic riddles, Stygian launches into the air, deftly dodging Jay as he gives one last lunge in an attempt to grab the villain.

Jay grits his teeth as he watches Stygian escape once again. However, his angsty thoughts are abruptly paused when Pixamena approaches, gasping.

"Quickwit! It's on your face!"

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Jay's heart skips a beat. "What is?!"

The heroine hastily conjures a bedazzled mirror, holding it up. True to her word, half of his face is covered in shadows, the etheric darkness replacing the area of his mask burned away by Hellfire.

Pixamena yelps as the dark shapes begin to dissipate, conjuring a fluffy pink masquerade mask and nearly slapping Jay in the face as she puts it on him. The sidekick gapes, flabbergasted, as the sharp black shapes float into the air.

Did...did Stygian protect Jay's identity?

"This has been the strangest day I've ever had as a hero," Pixamena squeaks, staring at the pink mask. "Never have I witnessed a villain coming to the aid of heroes, much less protecting one's secret identity. Just what is going on in his head?!"

And that is the question, isn't it?

Later, as the crowd dissipates and Jay helps load Ravenette into the ambulance, It rings around his head incessantly. Slowly, he realizes that this whole Stygian situation seems to be...becoming much more than just a matter of Jay defeating a villain of the week.

Today's events get the gears in his head going, inching the hero closer to the truth. He's gone through several theories, but none seem to line up with the reality; a puzzling fact considering Jay is usually pretty good at figuring out a villain's motivations.

The only possible answers the hero can comprehend so far are thus, then;

Possibility one—Gannet is insane.

This explanation would make sense considering the quirks of the villain, and it does seem to be a popular trait amongst his crowd. Maybe Jay can't predict the villain because there is no sense to his patterns?

That was concerning, if true. It would mean the villain had a natural counter to Jay's power—an obstacle he would need to be mindful of.

But the label doesn't quite fit...outside his persona as Stygian, Jay has observed a mostly normal person. Gannet seems to have a few screws loose, obviously, but he does a lot of things you would expect from a normal guy; he collects hero merchandise, baby-talks his cat, and goes to pride with his friends...

Which brings Jay to possibility two—the villain is a secret mastermind.

This is the most likely theory, Jay thinks. Perhaps the reason why he can't comprehend any of his foe's goals or desires is because the man's machinations are far beyond his comprehension.

Jay's power is, after all, pretty mundane. He's good at battle strategy and notices things other people wouldn't, but he can't compare himself to the real great minds of Neo Houston like Professor Zenith or Techtra. So perhaps Stygian is actually some insanely smart supervillain playing 4D chess...

But even though Jay's mind isn't as vastly powerful as some others, he has a hard time believing that Stygian is some kind of savant.

Can you really call yourself a genius if you like to routinely drink toxically sweet coffee, then add more sugar by dipping frosting-coated confections into that 'coffee?' Stygian clearly doesn't understand the natural limits of the human body.

That leads Jay to the most unlikely theory...the theory that he's been contemplating more and more—the theory that Gannet is genuinely Jay's so-called biggest fan.

At best, people ignore Jay. At worst, they think he's a pathetic excuse for a hero...so what reason, really, is there for Gannet to notice him? It makes absolutely zero sense.

But still, Jay can't deny it as a possibility. It would explain why Stygian genuinely seems to listen to his input, why he attempts to aid Jay, and why he always looks so...happy when Jay is around. Happier than even Jay's own partners...

The hero flushes, trying to dismiss the idea. Why was he even contemplating something so nonsensical?

"Hey! Quickwit!"

Jay is abruptly pulled from his thoughts by the sound of his partner's voice. He returns to his surroundings—a very boring-looking hospital waiting room.

Brighteyes quirks an eyebrow. "You don't have to wait here, you know. Ravenette is—she's tough. She's going to be fine."

"Does she have a ride home?"

Brighteyes pauses. "I was going to call her a taxi..."

Jay shakes his head. "She probably shouldn't be alone right after her treatment. I can drop you two off, if you want...?"

The neon-green hero adjusts her hijab, eyes darting away. "Um, thanks."

An awkward silence fills the room, making Jay tap his foot anxiously. He tries to distract himself with a free magazine, but has a hard time caring about "Neo Houston's Hottest Bad-Guys." Stygian is near the top, naturally.

Luckily, it doesn't last long as Brighteyes breaks the silence. "Hey I'm—I'm sorry..."

Jay blinks, surprised. "For what?"

"For...how I've been treating you. And for not listening to you about Stygian."

He sighs. "It's okay. I'm used to it."

Brighteyes twiddles with her nails. "I don't think it's okay...I think I made some incorrect assumptions about you."

Jay raises an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Well, the way you always criticized Pixamena, and some of your behaviors....I thought maybe you had a thing against female heroes..."

"No, of course not! With Pixamena I just—" Jay huffs, "I was just trying to help her. I didn't realize I was being rude. But what do you mean about my behavior...?"

Brighteyes darts her eyes away again. "Well, you kinda have a monotone voice, and you never meet my eyes for very long. So, I thought you just didn't like being around me."

Jay rakes a hand over his face. "I'm sorry I gave you that impression, I'm just...like that."

"Yeah...I can be like that too. We'd probably get along if we became permanent partners but...I really want to work with Ravenette."

"I understand. Can I ask why you want her as a sidekick so bad, though?"

Brighteyes smiles, looking down at her hands. "When we both entered the junior hero program, we were going through a lot. I had just moved to Texas, and Ravenette was re-branding from her former persona, Birdboy. We looked out for each other when nobody else had our back..."

Jay thinks back to the turbulent days of his youth. Jealousy burns bright under his skin; He's never had someone like that in his life. Even now, it's just him against the world...

"That's really nice, Brighteyes. I'm glad you two have each other."

They sit in silence again, waiting for Ravenette's procedures to finish. When the dark-haired hero is finally wheeled out of the hospital a few minutes later, Jay can't help but sigh with relief knowing that his day is almost over.

He drives the women to their quarters, zooming off as soon as he sees they're safely inside. Once at home, he flings the pink mask off, sighing heavily when it knocks over the prescription bottle that he forgot to turn in.

Deciding to make that tomorrow's problem, he strips out of his suit and climbs into bed. As he attempts to drift off though, his phone chirps.

Gannet: you did amazing ttoday, Quickwit! 💜

Jay stares at the text. Moving robotically, he types a reply.

Quickwit: Thanks.

Quickwit: I got lucky Stygian decided to help.

Turning off his phone, Jay closes his eyes.

But sleep doesn't come.

He tosses and turns through the night, mind still whirring incessantly. Even as the moon rises higher and higher in the night sky, he finds no rest. Finally relenting, he gets up, cursing as he turns on the light.

Without shadows to obscure his apartment, he sees the mess he's allowed to take over his living space. Clothes have been thrown haphazardly into his hamper, empty cans of cold brew have been tossed to the trash (and missed), and all over his floor is Razzmatazz's pills.

If he can't sleep, he'll clean, Jay decides.

He decides to start with the pills littering the carpet. It was pretty stupid to leave drugs literally strewn across his floor anyway. But as he starts picking up the pills, he notices something strange...it appears that inside the bottle there were two different types of medications. One that came in a blue and orange capsule, and one that was a small red pill.

Curious, Jay picks up his phone. Using the camera to reverse image search the red pill. The search engine spits out a result; AEBIZIFY - antipsychotic. Common side effects may include thirst, dizziness, fatigue, lack of appetite...

Bored, Jay moves on to the capsule pill, repeating the process. Again, the search engine finds a result instantly; AZZERAL - stimulant. Common side effects may include jitters, anxiety, insomnia, lack of appetite, and dry skin. Warning - high levels of this drug may cause 'stimulant psychosis' which is known to cause delusions and paranoia. Take only as directed.

Jay's heart drops into his stomach. Why is this here? Isn't this exactly the opposite of what Razzmatazz needed?

The sidekick stares blankly into his hand, clenching the pills in his fist.

Maybe Stygian had the right idea, breaking her out...

Maybe Stygian had the right idea, breaking her out [https://img.wattpad.com/b158863e261d3b5e25000cf571f3b5a7378f9f31/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6572354f7a5938715f436d5041673d3d2d313334313136363036362e313736396333363261333364386139333138373330353236383432372e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]