Saving Supervillains 1 Chapter 4 (Patreon)

“Maybe this is where I die.” I said, softly landing at the address where Demon was supposedly staying.

Making sure nobody was watching, I let light bounce off of me again, restoring me back to the visible spectrum.

Dead animals were scattered around the large manor. It looked like some serial killer’s backyard.

From the number of dead animals, it seemed like every bird that had flown over the place, and every squirrel that had come hunting for a nut, had dropped dead in the yard.

It made the otherwise palatial manor before me look like a haunted house.

I scanned the house, noting the little wisps floating in the wind all around it. Each one had a sucker on the end. Nobody else would be able to see it, but I could. And they were one heck of a superpower. I guessed it was Demon’s.

Thankfully, they didn’t affect me, or I’d likely be joining the dead birds and squirrels on the ground.

As I walked up to the manor, I brushed them aside, bundling them up and keeping them from latching onto me. The little things were hungry; they kept trying to break free and touch me.

I hadn’t seen anything like this power before, and I found it fascinating. All powers were fascinating in their own way, but seeing one that was truly unique, like my own, was rare.

Brushing aside more of the little tethers, I tried the door. I wasn’t surprised to find that it was unlocked. It would be difficult for anybody to break into the home; they’d have to make it up the front steps without dying.

But I was different. My power was unique as far as I knew.

I used my control over energy for many things. Kinetic energy allowed me to mimic telekinesis for daily chores, thermal energy allowed me to cook or warm the floor of my apartment. I could even tap into nuclear energy, but that caused more problems than it was worth. There was always some random, overly prepared citizen with a Geiger counter that started screaming the sky was falling.

I had control of all energy. Kinetic, thermal, electromagnetic, even nuclear and gravity. But there was one that people never guessed, one that would make all hell break loose if it got out.

My control over superpowers.

Scientists, mad and sane, have been trying for years to explain how supers can do what they could do. After all, most super powers completely shatter the laws of physics. Scientists theorized that there was some sort of energy that worked alongside superpowers and fit them into the laws of physics that hadn’t been discovered.

And with my ability, I knew they weren’t far off.

It didn’t have a formal name, but I’d always referred to it as Ki. Every super I’d encountered has had this mysterious mystical energy flowing through them, and oftentimes it flowed out of them as they used their abilities.

I flicked away another tendril that reached out as I paused in the doorway to the house. They were comprised of Ki, which gave me some control over them.

But others hadn’t been so lucky. Anyone else who had gotten close to her could not have stopped them from feeding.

Ki was in every living thing, but it differed in quantities, leading to supers of differing levels. Though, not even the maddest of scientists had found a way to see or accurately gauge Ki.

The wisps continued to circle me, and even with my power, I started to get tangled in them. Yet backing out now would be admitting defeat. I pushed into the manor further, determined to get to the bottom of this.

As I stepped inside, the tendrils began multiplying in quantity, and the bundle I was holding to the side was growing to massive proportions.

I put a little trickle of Ki into a ball and floated it out away from me, testing a theory.

The suckers thrashed, trying to get a taste of it. They swarmed it, quickly latching on and draining that small bit of Ki.

I watched for a moment, intrigued. Testing a theory, I isolated myself, pulling in all the Ki that I radiated and locking it tightly in my body. I created a void of Ki between the little suckers and my body, and instantly, they all calmed and stopped, trying to tangle me up.

I smiled, glad that I wouldn’t have to deal with them as I moved through the house. They’d been making me a little claustrophobic.

Pushing through them easily, I continued through the manor, watching for where they seemed to originate from.

I followed the suckers upstairs, and as I got closer, I could hear soft crying coming from one room.

Pushing away any vibrations in the air that my steps made, I opened the door and walked into a rather overdone room. The bedroom had high ceilings that would normally be the statement piece, but the bed demanded all the attention. It was heavy and thick, overpowering the space, matching the gaudy gold decorations on the walls.

Ignoring the decor, I moved towards the sound of the cries.

I quickly found a shriveled up person laying on the bathroom floor. Whatever gender or race they were was completely unidentifiable.

Their skin was gray and dried up, and a pair of black horns rose from its head. I could see why the world would call them ‘Demon’, just based on their appearance.

Demon hadn’t noticed me yet, but my body had gone rigid as I watched their shaking form lift up a gun and point it at their head.

My heart broke seeing Demon in this position. From what I could tell, it wasn’t a villain. Demon was a victim of the superpower that they’d gotten, which Demon clearly didn’t have much control over.

“Maybe wait to do that?” I commented, bringing up a kinetic barrier to block the gun if it went off.

Demon jerked at my voice, letting out a high squeak. I pushed the barrier against the gun, and the shot moved off to the side as it went off.

“Stay away!” The villain screamed with a raspy voice that reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. “I can’t… can’t keep killing everyone. Please. No more. Please.” Their voice trailed off into a pained moan.

“Look at me. I’m not dying right now, and I’m right here.” I crouched down, laying a light hand on Demon’s arm. It flinched at the contact, but then its eyes opened as it realized I was touching it without having my life sucked from me. Pity welled up in me; Demon had clearly been through a lot. “Why don’t we just talk?”

Demon slumped to the side, resting their head against the cabinet.

Honestly, even naked, it was hard to tell, but I thought it might be a woman.

Demon looked over at me. “I’ve been alone for so long. I’m not sure I remember how to have a conversation.”

Sitting down cross-legged outside the bathroom, I felt the need to help her. Few had powers as impactful as ours, and hers had kept her so isolated. I wanted to help give her hope.

“So far, so good.” I encouraged her.

“How are you not dead?” She eyed me a little warily.

I grabbed one of the suckers. “I can keep these things from latching onto me.”

Demon frowned. “What things? You can see something?”

“Mmhmm.” I nodded. “I just have to avoid them. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re really okay? You aren’t feeling woozy? I really think you should scoot further away.” Demon’s voice had a tinge of excitement, but then her face fell once more. “I’ve already done so much. Killed so many.”

Demon dragged herself from where she was leaning on the cabinet and mirrored me, sitting cross-legged. “I’m a terrible person.”

“No.” I said it forcefully enough that Demon jumped. “Just because your power got out of control doesn’t make you evil.”

I’d told myself the same things countless times before.

“But…”

“Let me guess. This power arrived suddenly. When it did, people died. You fled, but people kept coming near you and dying?”

Demon nodded. “Yeah. I was in college when my power popped. It was okay for a few weeks. Then… then my power changed, and everyone started dying. My classmates, then the cops, then the hospital where I tried to go for help…” Demon began crying again.

I winced at her story, imagining the horror for her and those around her. Those she loved.

But what made little sense was that her powers had changed. They don’t change. They can be trained, like a muscle, but the ability remains constant.

“Can I take a closer look at you?” I asked.

“Sure. But, you said there were things coming out of me? Can you remove them? Cut them off?” Demon asked, hope in her voice.

Even if it had hurt her many times, I cringed at the thought of destroying a part of her. “I’m not sure.” I replied honestly.

Demon nodded vigorously and then froze, not sure what to do.

I smiled, slowly scooting forward, parting the mass of suckers coming directly out of her body to focus in on her super power.

The first thing I noticed was she had two powers, which wasn’t surprising given she was female.

But the odd part was that one of her powers was… leaking, for a lack of a better term.

“Hold on. Let me try something.”

The suckers had been attracted to Ki, and now that I saw this leak, I had an idea of why they were so hungry.

Drawing more Ki from the air, I gathered it in a big ball before pushing it up against Demon’s chest.

Every sucker in the room turned and dove at the ball of Ki I had created.

Like hungry little devils, they devoured the ball, but I kept pushing Ki into it.

While that was happening and they were distracted, I made a small sliver of Ki and covered up the leak.

Unfortunately, my distraction wasn’t enough. As soon as Ki touched the leak, a sucker came and devoured it too.

I grumbled. I hoped it would be that simple.

“What are you doing?” Demon’s voice was higher pitched and far smoother. “I… I’m going to kill you. This is what always happens.” She started crying.

“What happens?”

“People die when they get close and I heal.” She put her head in her hands, a rosy color returning to her skin.

Filling my voice with confidence, I said. “This doesn’t bother me one bit. I’m feeding you, you’re not feeding on me. There’s a difference.”

She peeked out between her fingers. Her eyes turned an almost electric blue as Ki pulsed faintly within them. “You aren’t dying?”

“No, but you might get better. Do you have a conditional way to restore your abilities?”

She blushed. It wasn’t common to share such things with people, but some supers could only restore their powers in specific ways. Some tabloids had hypothesized that Wrath restored her abilities through personal harm or pain.

“Yes, contact with people.” She said meekly.

Her skin continued to turn a healthy color, shifting from the almost rocky texture to old granny wrinkles. And soon it was like her skin was dialing back time, becoming fuller and plumper. Her body was filling out.

My hand hovered before her chest, and it rose, like it was going to meet my hand.

I smiled, amazed at how quickly her body was restoring itself.

Soon, the suckers retracted. The ones that had been questing outside the house sank back in through the walls, and the power rested just under her skin instead of spreading far outside the home.

Demon reached out and grabbed my hand. Little tingles where she touched me made my hairs stand on end, but it felt good.

“Thank you.” She started crying as she held my hand and continued to restore herself back down to a woman in her twenties.

Demon had rich black hair that fell down her back like a waterfall. It was parted around the two black horns curling out from her forehead.

As her tear-filled eyes peered up at me, I was struck by the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. Ki crackled behind them. Full pink lips curled up into a smile even as she continued to cry, but I knew the tears were shifting into ones of joy.

She filled out, and it became harder to keep my eyes on her face and ignore the fact that she was sitting naked on the floor, her body now sinfully curvy.

A little devil's tail whipped behind her before curling itself around her waist like a belt.

“I… I…” She looked down at her body, making me start to pull away, thinking she’d want some privacy. But as I drew away, she clasped me tighter, suddenly terrified of me leaving her and everything slipping back to how it was before I’d arrived.

I paused, letting her take a moment to breathe, keeping contact with her.

“Thank you.” She said, her voice filled with a hope that hadn’t been there a few minutes before.

“You’re welcome. I couldn’t watch someone go through that.” I replied simply.

“No really. Thank you! I feel better than I have in so long.” She tackled me, and I let her knock me back.

Demon wailed like a little girl as she buried her face in my chest and let it all out.

Everywhere she touched me, there was that little tingle. Contact with her seemed to drain a bit of Ki from me. But for me, it didn’t matter. My body was absolutely brimming with Ki. A little experiment of mine, I had tried to give myself another super power.

All I had accomplished was giving myself general enhancements, not enough to be a superpower. However, it appeared to slow my aging along with keeping my body healthy, so I kept it.

Demon was draining some of my Ki, but I could pack more in as soon as she did, keeping myself topped off.

I rubbed her back, letting her cry it out. When my shirt was drenched with her tears, she finally pulled herself together.

She pushed off my chest and stared at me with her enchanting eyes. “I love you.”

It was like somebody had just dumped a bucket of cold water on me and that moment. I pushed her away, scrambling to get my brain to work.

“You don’t love me. I was doing what anybody would do. You don’t even know me.” I quickly backed up, scooting away and looking for the nearest exit.

I’d done what I needed to. I could post the bounty and help BSH talk to her without anybody having to die to do it.

At least that’s how I tried to justify it to myself. Her professing her love for me was too much and I should create some space.

I looked back at her, making sure that she wouldn’t instantly start draining anybody. From what I could tell, the leak was still there, but it was draining slowly. It would likely be a few days before her wisps ventured back out.

“Wait, don’t go. I’m sorry. That was stupid. Just don’t go. I don’t want to go back to that.” She reached for me, but then paused and wrapped her arms around herself. “See, I told you I don’t know how to talk to people anymore.”

I stopped my backward steps, realizing that there was a chance she really didn’t know how to interact with others. And I knew I was likely the only person who could help her.

It went entirely against my isolated lifestyle I had built up around myself like castle walls. Yet the human part of me couldn’t walk away from a woman in this sort of situation.

“Do you have clothes?” Her naked body was distracting.

“I’m sure I can find something here.”

That surprised me. “This isn’t your place?”

“No, some asshole’s. He tried to kill me. Followed him back and just walked in, killing everyone.” She shrugged.

I added to what I knew about her. She wasn’t against taking a little slice of revenge.

“Get some clothes on.” I snorted, turning away from her, trying to create more emotional distance between us.

“There’s some in the next room.” She bounced away, pausing and looking back at me.

I sat down on the bed to make her feel comfortable that I wasn’t leaving.

It seemed to do the trick; she bounced out of sight.

I felt sorry for her. As far as I could tell, she’d been branded a villain when she wasn’t one at heart. But right now, her only solution was me, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to sign up for that.

The crackle of a wooden door splintering sounded in the next room, and I heard Demon curse.

“Don’t worry about the door. Clothes.” I reminded her.

She came back a minute later in a fancy cocktail dress that was too small in the chest for her; it barely hung off her nipples.

“No, get something casual on.”

Demon bit her lip and blushed as she hurried off again to the other room only, this time coming back in a pair of skin-tight jeans and a designer shirt, complete with holes that somehow made it cost more. Over it all, she wore a light tan leather jacket. “How’s this?”

“Good.” I nodded, getting up off the bed.

As I stood up, my phone buzzed, and I pulled it out. Ben had texted me.

‘Hope you’ll be here. I told your girls you would be, and they are so fucking excited. Would be a real shame if you let them down.’

I cursed at him. He knew just how to twist my arm. I’d given my word; it was important to me that I kept it.

“I have to go.” Stuffing my phone in my pocket, I got up off the bed.

Demon was there in an instant, crossing the room in a blink, and grabbing my hand.

The little tingles persisted where she kept contact. “Please. I’m pretty adaptable. I can fit into your life, I swear. Don’t leave me.” Demon peered up at me.

I sighed. “What’s your name?”

“Stella.” She smiled, clearly believing she’d won me over.

“Stella, I have no idea what your power is going to do in public. You can’t even stop from using it every time you touch me.”

Her smile drooped. “I can stop.” Her brow furrowed with concentration, and the tingles stopped on my hand. “See? Stopped. Now I’m not a danger.”

“You can’t come with me.”

“Then I guess I’ll go wander the city and if my power acts up again… well, it will be a shame that you aren’t there to help me.” She mournfully shook her head.

I raised my brow, making it clear with one look that I did not appreciate being manipulated. “You will not go out in the city on your own.”

“This is the first time I’ve been better in… in… a long time. I want to go out.” I noted it had been so long that she’d lost count. She had to feel so isolated.

“Look, I just want to live a little. Please?” Stella looked on the verge of tears again.

As much as I tried to keep walls up, I didn’t think I could walk away from her and let her go back to what she was on that bathroom floor.

I wasn’t a hero, but this was different. Any decent human being would help the poor woman.

“Fine. But you do as I tell you. And no using your super powers while we are out. I don’t need that kind of trouble, and I’m meeting up with coworkers.”

“Other heroes?” She asked.

Momentary panic shot through me. I was not a hero. And her saying something like that could break everything I’d worked for. “Never mind. Nope, you stay here.”

“No.” She jumped on my back and squeezed tight.

If I hadn’t gotten a barrier up in time, she might have actually hurt me.

“I’m sorry. I won’t say ‘hero’ again.” At least she had the presence to understand what set me off. She was actually pretty perceptive. The look she gave me pierced right into what was left of my heart.

There was a weak spot in my heart for women so unfortunately affected by their powers, not everyone understood the burden powers could be.

I was coming around to helping her still though. She’d be a pain, but maybe we could make some rules.

“Calm down. None of that. You need to act like a grown woman.” I pried her off of me with liberal use of my ability.

“Wow, you can see my ability, heal my ability, and was that telekinesis?” She popped off of me, landing on her feet with cat-like grace. “You are a guy, so you only have one power. What can do all that?” She mused.

I glared at her. “Rule number two. No trying to figure out my super power.” Turning and walking out of her place, I knew she’d follow me.

“What was rule number one?”

“Act like an adult, which includes no random use of your power and no harming anyone.” I decided it was time to help her understand boundaries.

A sinking feeling in my gut told me I wasn’t going to be rid of her tonight, or in the near future, as she bounced along next to me.