“... if you have someone that can fight the knight in a duel, that’s an option too.” Humility admits. “I mean, in case of an outbreak of hostility. They do the whole ‘hit and run’ tactic because they are outnumbered and thus it is valid. If offered a one on one, in an environment that doesn’t read off as a trap, the knight might show up to engage in a duel.”
They were still talking about the knight, even two hours later. Some additional counsel, it was always useful. It’s just the two of them now.
“Oh, that's an additional point for psychological warfare.” Revenant admits. He’s increasingly impressed by the idea. “The enemy sends a champion of their own, and all that comes back is just their severed head. Really terrifying.”
Who could they send? He really fails to see someone who was a guaranteed win.
Black Knight was his strongest melee combatant, although Lady Murder was pretty much at the same level. But… the knight knew how they fought. They didn’t know even nearly as much about the other side.
Pain in the ass.
“Well, we’re going to have to pretend we’re nice at least in public.” Revenant replies. “Because, to be honest, the knight feels like a way too big of a problem to provoke him.”
It’s time to deal with something else, though.
“How much time left until Demiurge?” Revenant asks before Humility has the time to respond.
“Three hours.” Humility replies. “You asked me that for the second time. Are you worried about something?”
“Kind of.” Revenant evades the subject through a major understatement. “We didn’t part on particularly good terms. Complicated past is putting it lightly. But we need her. Anyways, how are you and Clockmaker doing?” He hadn't seen Clockmaker in a while.
“Quite fine, thank you.” Humility replies. “She has a bit of a bad moment, really looks forward to seeing the Uragan-B bomb tested in practice. Spends most of the time in her workshop, working on things. Occasionally goes on a bit of a downward spiral, probably over the bomb.”
“Yeah, I know about this thing.” Revenant replies. It was one of the major reasons for Clockmaker going supervillain, after all. The whole ‘I gotta see my creations used or I’ll be anxious etc. eternally’. “How do you deal with those spirals?”
“Positive outlets.” Humility replies. Revenant blinks at it. “We have sex. A lot of it.”
…
Well, he is happy for them. But he also doesn’t want to know the details.
“What’s your plan for the next three hours?” Humility asks back. Yeah, and that’s a… complicated question to answer.
“I’m going to go on a date.” Revenant replies.
“You’re really doing your best to make Onslaught happy, aren’t you?” Humility replies. The AI isn’t wrong about it, except it also missed the truth a little.
“Yes, but I’m actually going with Hypothermia.” Revenant replies dryly. Humility’s head tilts a little. “Don’t ask.”
***
Hypothermia is a beautiful woman. It’s not a matter of Revenant being somewhat unfaithful to Onslaught, if only because Oni was literally trying to set them up together. It’s just a matter of working eyes.
Right now she wasn’t just beautiful. She was also wearing a very nice black dress, one more spoil of their fight with the pirates. Revenant is fairly sure that Onslaught made her wear it, and probably involved someone else (Destro, perhaps) in choosing those.
Hypothermia herself was utterly incapable of choosing pretty clothes for herself. She would either pick the simplest one or come in ice clothes made by her individuality. The sort of thing that her parents’ little cult supported. The sort of things that she didn’t have to ask anyone for back then.
She’d, instead, choose the cutest and most colorful clothes while in private, with only a small handful of people she allowed close to her when that happened. Revenant relates to finding vulnerability uncomfortable.
The only question Revenant has is who did the make-up. It was nice, minimalistic but made Hypothermia look even more beautiful. Seeing her like this really wasn’t easy for his heart (the one still pretty much dead set on Onslaught).
He ends up discovering later that it was Decay’s work of all people. His dragon saw a small girl getting a make-up from her mother before a school party in some film on TV and decided that since his wife is his most favorite person ever and his daughter is her wife’s smaller version, so he wants to be a part of it in the future - and hence, he learned that skill.
Revenant has no idea what to do with that information.
Hypothermia stands there, holding her hands together in front of her, her fingers wrestling each other a little. She is nervous. To be honest, Revenant is a bit nervous himself, although it’s more like… ‘unsure’. Unsure of what to do next.
On one hand, she saved his life. He likes her. Not necessarily in that way, but she was one of the few people in the VAA leadership that he was himself in front of. That he has allowed to interact with Chronoshift without him being around (they actually seemed to like each other). That he wasn’t afraid of showing any sort of vulnerability to.
But… to be honest, he doesn’t want to disappoint Onslaught by half-assing it. Which is a problem when you realize that never in his life did he date someone. Anyone. He and Onslaught went straight to the proposal point while skipping dating altogether.
He has been pushed out of his supervillainous comfort zone and forced to deal with something like this. A part of him suspects that it was Oni’s idea of helping him become slightly more normal.
They actually just… stand there for almost a whole minute. Hypothermia wrestling her fingers and looking away from him. Revenant actually looked at her and… partially admiring how beautiful she actually looked and partially trying to figure out what to do right now.
With a hint of being internally confused at Onslaught’s belief that he could date another girl (even if it was Hypothermia) while completely ignoring Oni’s existence. That was… he had no idea how it was supposed to work.
It started going past the meaning of the term ‘awkward’ when Revenant eventually made a decision.
“I-I think that we should sit down.” Revenant says, immediately cursing himself for his voice failing him a little at the beginning. Hypothermia nods faintly, still not looking in his direction.
They are technically in the officer’s dinner room. Slightly fancier mess hall. They were allowed to occupy it for the next hour or two.
How exactly did Onslaught get her hands on a few candles to decorate one of the tables? No one knows. Did she ask Humility to connect to the network to put the lighting down a little, just to force them to light the candles up and produce what Revenant suspected to be a ‘romantic atmosphere’? Perhaps.
He isn’t sure if it’s due to that, but… there is something in the dim light of lit candles that somehow makes Hypothermia look… prettier. Not by far. Is it because this mechanism mostly works by concealing minor flaws and she barely has any?
Hypothermia freezes for a moment before sitting down. This place wasn’t exactly made for dates in mind, the table has enough space for two people on both sides. She isn’t sure if she should sit beside him or on the other side of the table.
Revenant gestures at the place right next to him. Hypothermia looks fairly anxious about it, but… she does sit there. Still clearly tensed over proximity and over the fact that she was, technically, on a date with him.
Revenant decides that his lips are way too dry, so he grabs a glass of water (the table is properly equipped) and sips it a little. His eyes drift down, from Hypothermia’s face to… her legs, actually. Then come back up.
Those are some very well shaped legs, even if he can only see the thighs and half of those are still covered with a dress.
Alright. The sexual attraction is most certainly there. Hypothermia is a beautiful woman, and he sees no reason in denying it. That’s a ‘plus’ sign right next to the idea, just not a particularly big one. It's relatively low on the list of priorities.
What now?
They ate some of the snacks, drinking water and fizzy drinks mostly. They are silent, the atmosphere rather awkward. No one’s sure about what to do. Hypothermia, most certainly, isn’t the person that he should expect to make a move. He’ll have to do it, right?
“So…” He opens his mouth, Hypothermia freezing (pun intended) in a heartbeat, looking at him with her characteristic expressionlessness. “... I think that we need to talk about… all of that.”
He gets a ‘mm-hmm’ as a response. That’s progress.
“You’re in love with me, right?” Revenant asks. He could as well get right to the point. Hypothermia stays quiet for a moment, clearly deciding on how to proceed with this question.
“Yes.” Hypothermia eventually admits. “Yes, I am.” Revenant knew that, but… her admitting that aloud was important. “Do you love me?”
And that’s… a complicated question. He really had it coming, didn't he? How to answer that? Lying or dishonesty in general isn’t a good choice. He refuses to lie to her and… not being honest would just make things worse for her in the long-term.
“I’m… not sure.” Revenant replies, Hypothermia glancing at him with a look that he finds hard to decipher. “I was… obsessed with Oni back then, I have no issues admitting that. She was my best friend, then my girlfriend, then my fiance. I was barely out of the Villain Academy and, well, she was the light that shone at me when my life was at its darkest. So, I hyperfixated on her. I was… oblivious to other people and their feelings. And when she died, I broke.”
Hypothermia’s hands found their way to his right hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was… reassuring. She had that effect on people. In the meantime, she lets her speak.
“I knew that you were there.” Revenant continues. “I knew that you were in love with me at this point. You saved my life, twice, the second time at the cost of your own life. And despite all of that, my… fixation was still there. I never even responded to your feelings, despite knowing they were there. In a twisted way, I let you stay in love like that with me just as I let Kitsune be in love with me, because it made sure that you were going to stay loyal to me. And for this, I can’t apologize enough.”
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“You don’t have to.” Hypothermia replies immediately. “You weren’t in the right mind back then. It doesn’t count. I knew you were like this and I still…” She glances to the side, suddenly visibly nervous. “... I still loved you. Despite all of that.”
“I’ll stop feeling guilty over this…” Revenant replies. “... once you stop looking down on yourself. How does that sound?” It’s… not exactly voluntary on both sides. It just happens.
When she doesn’t answer (she understands why he said it), he has his other hand join the jumble of hands between them, stroking the top of her hand with his fingers. Just as she uses that hand to do the same to his right hand, which she holds from the other side with her right hand.
It’s funny, somewhat. Childish, a little. But she looks at the hands down and smiles faintly. And that, honestly, makes it worth it.
He wants her to be happy. He has a long list of people that he feels like he failed, that he feels like he pulled into his own tragedy and made suffer its aftermath. He wants to make amends.
Well, Analyst does. Revenant has a more pragmatic, calculative approach to things. Survival is paramount to him. Of himself, of the smallest circle of people around him. The rest could as well go and die. They were all expendable. Again.
“I don’t know if I love you.” He says after a dozen or two seconds of quiet physical contact. “But I know that I want you to be happy. And I want you to start loving yourself as you should.”
“I want you to be happy too.” Hypothermia replies. “I want Onslaught to be happy too. I… I don’t think that I can live without you. Without her. You’re the closest people to me, my family and… I guess I’m a family woman.” She smiles slightly. A joke? Revenant replies with a smile of his own. “Oni thinks that this could help you. And I think you need help.”
She looks him in the eyes now. Her eyes are pretty too. Lively, too. Thought it might be the candle light at work.
“You know that you shouldn’t go into a relationship with that sort of thing in mind?” Revenant asks. She says nothing, just keeps looking into his eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, helping each other is important for a relationship to work, at least guessing from how me and Onslaught work as a pair. But… this sounds as if you didn’t care about yourself, and were into it because you wanted me to be better.”
He isn’t sure if the first (maybe last) date should be composed of this sort of relationship/psychological counseling, but… let’s be real. That’s just his life nowadays. He isn’t sure how to process that.
“I want you to be happy.” Hypothermia nods. “I want Onslaught to be happy. If you’ll be happy, so will I. It’s not a self-esteem issue. I love you, if in a different way. You’re my family. Family helps each other.”
He couldn’t disagree with that. That’s how it was supposed to be. His own experience was… different, and if everything went right, he was going to confront his own issues. But… Hypothermia’s experience was way worse than his own. And yet she was ready to still believe in it, just with her new family. The one that was worth it.
“Hypothermia, I…”
“Could you give me a nickname?” She says and… it’s rare. Hypothermia being assertive in a talk.
“I assume that you want a different one than Thermy, right?” He asks. Hypothermia nods with a serious look on her face. It’s… almost hilarious really. “Alright. How does Mia sound? The last three letters of your villain name.”
Hypothermia nods with a loud huff. Someone’s clearly satisfied with it.
“Alright, Mia.” Revenant says. She… well, she does a Hypothermia-equivalent of beaming at someone. “I get the feeling that you’ll be a part of my life from now on whether I want it or not, right?” He says, with a wry smile. Just enough to make it clear that he isn’t complaining about it.
“Mm-hmm.” Hypothermia nods. “I… I know that I'm repeating myself for the third time, but I love you. You’re my family. You know me, the whole me. You understand me. And…” She sighs. “I don’t like opening up to people. I feel… it comes back to me, the cult time. But you and Onslaught already know me and you’ve accepted me with all my issues. So I don’t feel like trying again, unless you kick me out of your life.”
He couldn’t do that. Not even because Onslaught would absolutely refuse. Hypothermia literally died for him. She was always there for him, no matter how much he ignored her. No matter how much he treated her love as a guarantee of loyalty.
She was… well, probably the closest thing that Chronoshift had to a mother figure, even if Kitsune was there too (she loved children) and they often needed to involve Decay’s wife because, to be honest, none of the mother figures in question were particularly… skillful and knowledgeable about motherhood, despite trying their best.
What is he supposed to do with all of that? He isn’t sure of his own feelings right now. This is one of the many things that he never did in his life, that he never expected to do. What to do?
Their lips meet, Hypothermia’s eyes briefly shooting wide in shock, before she gets along with it. It’s a surprisingly chaste kiss, but a kiss nonetheless. It lasts for a moment, before pulling back a little.
Her eyes are gleaming. The look on her face is… complex. He broke her ice queen facade, that’s for sure. But even then, disbelief might just be the most common emotion that he sees in front of himself.
“I… can’t be sure that this will work.” Revenant decides to be honest. “I’ll try to do my best for it to work. I’m sure that Oni will do her best for it to work. I’m fairly sure that I shouldn’t be doing this while I have no idea what I feel towards you.” Hypothermia says nothing, instead keeps looking quietly. “But I’ll try. Because I want you to be happy, and… honestly, you’re a part of the family for me too.” He says, before sighing and giving her a wry smile. “Just don’t quote that part anywhere near Decay or he’ll make incest jokes. You know, being so close to a family member that you start dating.”
Hypothermia smiles. She has a pretty smile, it’s sad that she shows it to people so rarely. Maybe she’ll do it more often now?
“But expect me to take it slowly, okay?” Revenant continues speaking. “I … don't have a lot of experience with that.”
“It’s alright.” Hypothermia replies, before leaning forward to give him a hug. “I don’t have a lot of experience with that either.”
***
“I’m getting the feeling…” Humility says a longer while later. “... that you’re not telling me something.”
Demiurge is about to be resurrected. Revenant’s preparations for their first meeting (well, first meeting in the afterlife) include getting several of his praetorians in full gear and with gas masks, Overhaul in their standard attire (somehow still a femboy, it’s rare for them to stay in one shape so long) and Virtue. With another gasmask and her combat armor.
“We had a complicated past.” Revenant comments. He makes sure that his own gas mask is a good fit. He would prefer a HAZMAT suit, but… he isn’t showing fear to Demiurge. There is a difference between caution and fear, after all.
Overhaul is there. They can fix the damages to their own body, and resurrect the others.
“Everyone is ready?” Revenant asks loudly. He gets a chorus of ‘yes’. “Humility, release her.”
The woman that steps out of the tube in confusion is beautiful. Feminine body-build similar to Hypothermia. Gorgeous looks in general. The clothes that they got out of the magical wardrobe was a generously cut black dress showing quite a large part of her cleavage and a black thigh-high boots with heels.
Blonde hair, typically styled by a professional stylist. She put a lot of focus in her looks. Gave her the ‘femme fatale’ vibes, the sort of BBEG second in command that tried to seduce the protagonist before defaulting to murdering him when it didn’t work, without batting an eye.
Quite young for that role, though. Exactly Revenant’s age, in fact. One more of his past classmates that went the bad way.
For now, she is naked. And deadly, regardless of that.
Her face morphs from one of confusion to one of nigh-limitless hatred when she sees Revenant standing there. Something glows around her body, but that’s when one of the praetorians that were standing to the sides of the tube slams the stock of his gun into the back of her head.
She falls to her knees, the glow dissipating in a heartbeat. The disaster was averted. Without Virtue having to skewer her with a spear and Overhaul patching her back.
“Hello there, Demiurge.” Revenant says calmly, the woman still on her knees (her head bobbing slightly to the sides, the blow she receives leaving behind some lingering damage). “Missed me?”
“I’m going to fucking murder you.” Demiurge hisses back. Yeah, it won’t work. The praetorians are all having their guns pointed at her. Revenant glances at the ones behind her.
Another blow. Demiurge is immediately pinned to the floor, one of his bodyguards cuffing her just in case. Naked, beautiful woman wearing cuffs right in front of him? Hmm, add the aftermath of his date with Hypothermia, and suddenly he’s really looking forward to his night with Oni.
“That’s much better.” Revenant says. Demiurge had a meter-wide killzone around her, where she could kill people instantly with her individuality. But… Virtue and Overhaul were outside of that range. And they made sure that the room was well-lit. She knew she would die. And yet, he is almost certain that she would kill him if he got in range. “I really thought that staying dead for a while would make you cool down, but I guess I was wrong.”
Demiurge glares at him with murderous hatred. Way to prove his suspicions.
“What did you do to her?” Humility decides to ask. Yeah, it’s a good question to ask.
“She disappointed me.” Revenant replies dryly. “She worked for me, as a part of the VAA ever since Halworth Industries was destroyed by the heroes. And yet she thought that it was a good idea to gas Denver without authorization. Five hundred thousand people dead in the largest terrorist attack in the history of the United States, despite me not ordering it and not even knowing that it was going to happen. Done by a member of my organization.”
Demiurge’s glare grows more hateful, but his praetorians are pinning her to the ground - including her head. She can’t open her jaw. Then again, he isn’t exactly interested in listening to her right now.
“I assume that you killed her for that.” Humility replies. Revenant shakes his head.
“Regretfully, her individuality was crucial to our war effort.” Revenant admits. Yeah, the concessions they all had to make to win the war. “It’s similarly crucial to our present situation. A living, breathing goddess of logistics capable of creating matter at will, even with certain limits.”
Humility tilts its head towards him. Yeah. That was a … massive benefit. A massive asset. And a massive violation of the laws of physics. Revenant himself is curious how it works now. But, in the meantime…
“Of course, punishment for what she did was in order.” Revenant pauses for a moment, before smiling faintly at Demiurge. “So, I had Amplitude, her lover, the one person she ever loved and cared for, turned into a paraplegic. And I made her watch.”
She is more of a villainous mastermind. Not much of a melee fighter - and even there, she preferred speed to strength. Her body convulses, the woman trying to lift herself up, probably to lunge at him, but… even with the superhuman strength of a metahuman, she lacks strength. His bodyguards pin her down again.
“And then I locked her in a basement of Overlook, and had her produce goods for me. Promised her that Amplitude would be healed if she behaved.” Revenant continues observing Demiurge’s struggles without emotions on his face. “I lied. I had Black Knight kill her in her sleep the night before the final battle, when I knew that I no longer needed her. Amplitude died in battle, thinking that she was sacrificing himself to get her already dead lover out of my basement.”
Somehow, just somehow, the glare gets even more hateful. He knows that if she could kill him at this distance, he would already be dead. But then, Overhaul would have fixed him up.
“And all of that…” Revenant continues. “... because someone lost her walking vibrator. Was Songbird worth all of that, Demiurge? Was she? For you to lash out like that when the heroes killed her?” He gestures at the praetorians holding her down. They lift her a little. Enough to speak.
“IT WASN’T THE HEROES!” She yells at him. “YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER TO…”
“Yes.” Revenant cuts it down, the bodyguards slamming her into the floor again. “Yes, I did. You were a wild card. You began to threaten my position as a president of the Villain Alliance. You were the biggest threat on the inside. You almost got Eclipse and Mastermind into your faction. I planned to kill you, as a plan B. For a plan A I decided to erase Songbird from the picture, your best bodyguard, in a way that pointed to the heroes. I wanted you to be angry at them, as that would make manipulating you easier. Regretfully, I miscalculated. I tried to kill your ‘bodyguard with benefits’ person, instead… I killed your Singularity.”
And one more of their old classmates. None of them had a good ending, Thorn getting closest to it. This is what happens when a crowd of mice are caught into a battle between titans, the war between Invincible and Archvile involving them all way too early. Before they were ready for it.
The Cursed Class of ‘52. Not yet in full attendance, but they were getting there. One by one. Amplitude was a classmate too. Revenant remembers sharing notes after classes with her, way before both of them became mass murderers.
“So, you lost it.” Revenant continues. “I… admit responsibility. Denver was my fault. I shouldn’t have bothered with manipulating you like that. You were useful, but not that useful.”
By the end of the war, after losing Kitsune and Hypothermia, after Decay and Thorn left, he was… he had issues. It didn’t matter, it was too late either way, their victory all but certain. But there were hiccups on the way there. That was the biggest one.
He should have had them all arrested there, blackmail Demiurge with the well-being of the others in exchange for work. Mistakes. He isn’t free of those. He wasn’t free of them during the war either.
“But rejoice, Demiurge.” Revenant continues, ignoring the murderous glare. “It’s not too late for me to fix my mistake. Things… got complicated.” He tilts his head, smiling at her. “Are you going to let it go if I bring back both Amplitude, the Arch-Arsonist, and Songbird, the Musical Killer?”
It doesn’t matter what she does. Every potential outcome of this situation benefits him, not her. Such is Demiurge’s fate. Tool thinking she is the owner. But for now, the talk continues.
***
Demiurge. AI picked a bit different drawing style for once, huh.
Obraz [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1029465796570783838/1099453209707298886/Untitled.png?width=465&height=651]