Saving Supervillains 1 Chapter 24 (Patreon)

We traveled back to Point City, where Kim immediately began parading me around the Bureau. She checked in on everybody who had stayed behind, keeping me at her side and often asking for my opinion in front of others.

When she passed the medical wing, she paused, standing and looking at the wreckage.

“How powerful do you think this super would have to be to do this kind of damage?” Kim asked, touching the warped metal beam that had been in the wall of the medical room.

“S Class. They’d need to be a telepath strong enough to defeat Rocksolid, and that’s… very powerful.” I had read the report, noting how highly they had regarded my power.

Kim nodded, but her brow was furrowed. “Invisibility and telepathy. Rocksolid surprised them, but to out power his strength is something. Telepathy is inherently ranked than super strength because of how much more flexibility the power has, but raw strength like his should win in a straight up clash. I don’t understand how the barrier was strong enough to hold against him.”

A ball of dark red fire rolled off her hand in a familiar gesture of her thinking. “How have we not known about this villain?”

“What if they aren’t a villain?” I tried casually to work the idea in.

Kim gave me her full attention. “Not a villain?”

I nodded, deciding to at least weave in a bit of truth. “What if Omnigirl had the misfortune of picking up someone who was keeping a low profile?”

Kim tisked and nodded. “I could see that. She and her manager were too cowardly to go after someone they knew was this strong. I’ll have Beatrix expand the search to villains that have gone dark.” She smiled. “See, you are already making a great Deputy Director.”

“Speaking of that, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.” I started slow. “Mindfuck used to be a therapist.”

Kim raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to continue.

“She was a non-violent offender. Her power can be monitored with drug tests. I think she’s perfect to work with some of our non-violent offenders that have short sentences.”

I pitched my plan.

Kim turned away from the wrecked medical ward. “Tell me more.”

“She provides therapy sessions to them, and we do drug tests on her participants to make sure she isn’t using her power on them. We can have some BSH resources to confirm that she’s not trying to manipulate them as well.”

If this worked, I’d be killing three birds with a single stone. First, I’d make progress on my promise with Mindfuck. Second, I could keep an eye on her. And it also made progress on my personal goals. It improved how the system dealt with criminals.

After a moment of thought, Kim nodded. “Deal. I assume you were going to offer her a commuted sentence?”

“That and a small paycheck.” I confirmed.

“Approved. But if this blows up, it’s on you.”

She didn’t need to say it; I’d already assumed that was the case.

“Great. I’ll get it started.” I left the wrecked medical ward as Kim turned back to it. Me and Mindfuck needed to have a private conversation.

The back half of the BSH held a prison for hard to detain supers. There were long-term prisons for such supers as well, but Mindfuck hadn’t been transferred there yet. I had a feeling she was kept nearby for questioning.

I walked up to the security guard and waved my tablet over the scanner.

The guard looked at his desk before confirming it was me with a surprised face and waved me through. “Good to see you, Deputy Director.”

I faltered for a moment. Kim worked quickly. I had no idea when she had changed my profile in the BSH, but clearly my promotion had already gone through.

“Good job. Keep up the good work.” I waved at the security guard before heading into the high security jail and walking down the aisle.

As I walked, a number of strange villains pressed themselves up against the foot thick plexiglass.

One villain that looked oddly like a mantis blurred around his cell before stopping at the wall. Its mouth stretched open wide, a dozen barbed tentacles smacking against the plexiglass.

“You are a mess.” This was not the sort of villain that could be redeemed. It was more animal than anything else.

I kept walking. Eventually, I came to a cell that had a recognizable slime girl resting on her bed.

Knocking on the plexiglass, I tried to keep it polite.

Mindfuck, also known as Angelina, rolled over on the bed and looked at me with a bored expression that vanished the moment she recognized me.

“May I come in?” I asked.

She bobbed her head rapidly and stepped away.

I waved my tablet over her cell panel.

Her face shifted to shock as the cell opened, and she stared at the tablet. I stepped inside, and her eyes shifted to the large door as it closed behind me.

We both knew I wasn’t trapped with her; she was trapped in here with me.

“Hello, Mindfuck.” I stepped around her, using one chair in the small room. The room was decently sparse. It held a toilet, a bed, and two chairs.

Bunkmates may be more practical, but they tended to not work well in the prison with powerful supers.

“You…” She was at a loss for words.

My eyes flicked to the camera in the corner of her cell.

“I’m the deputy director of the Bureau of Super Heroes.” Taking a wide stance, I leaned forward. “We have met once before, when your accomplice, Omnigirl, made a rather egregious mistake. You might not have heard, but Omnigirl and her manager died in an attack on Bureau headquarters yesterday.”

Mindfuck’s eyes were wide with fear. I knew she was wondering if she would be next.

“So you are the last survivor from that night at the warehouse.” I leaned back, satisfied that she understood my message.

“Aren’t you also one?” Mindfuck asked. “Also, Omnigirl is a fucking bitch. Did she really kidnap the deputy director of the BSH?”

There was no reason to lie to her. “I was just a manager when she kidnapped me. The promotion is very recent.”

“What do you need from me?” Mindfuck realized she was trapped and, like that, she softened significantly as I held all the power now. “Like I told the others, I didn’t get a good look at the other super that was there. By the time I realized the other man had overpowered Omnigirl, I bolted.”

I was glad that she was following my subtle queues.

I appreciated Mindfuck confirming that she did what I asked and sold a different story, along with providing the details to me again.

She also knew she was screwed, because if she tried to change the story and point a finger at me, no one would believe her.

It was time to hold up my end of the bargain. “Good. You’ve been cooperative…” I pulled up my tablet and flipped through it. “Your crimes haven’t resulted in deaths, at least ones we can connect to you. So, I’d like to make you an offer.”

Pausing long enough to get a slow nod out of her, I continued.

“You see, my philosophy with villains is a little different. I think they can be redeemed. Even saved. But I need help with that. A former inmate therapist that has been a villain would be a wonderful partner for my project.” I set the hook.

Her body language was almost impossible to read given she didn’t have muscles to tense, so I just waited.

“What do I get out of it?” She asked, but she leaned forward enough that I knew she was interested.

“Consider it a small trial period. If it goes well, you’ll be given more freedom. We’ll commute your sentence if we can see improvement with the program. Results matter.”

Mindfuck bit her lip, a lingering tell from when she had a more normal body. “What happens if I say no?” If I didn’t miss my mark, she was enjoying it as I trapped her in my scheme.

I held up my hands. “No retaliation. You go to super max for your seven-year sentence.”

“Super max?” She sounded shocked. “You said it yourself. I’m not linked to any deaths.”

I shrugged; it was out of my hands. “It’s based on your power. Few places are equipped to deal with someone that has a liquid body. You are an extreme flight risk.”

Mindfuck let out a frustrated grumble, but a small smile twitched at the edge of her lips. “Fine. Anything else?” She was going to agree to this.

“Your ability to create chemicals on your… surface.” I couldn’t quite call it skin. “We’ll be drug testing any supers that meet with you to ensure you did not use it against them.”

“What if they get violent?”

I drummed my fingers on my tablet. It was a good question, showing that she was ready to do the job, but just wanted to work out the terms. “Sedatives only. Anyone demonstrating enough violence to get dosed will leave the program.”

“How much freedom will I get?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “If you run, Iwill hunt you down.” Wanting to emphasize my point, I wrapped her in kinetic energy, holding her still. “But we’ll loosen the leash as you show we can trust you.”

“Somehow, I thought I was going to walk free today.” She said it subtly enough for nobody to understand, but I knew she was talking about my original promise.

She thought I was going to break her out.

“I thought you’d enjoy not being hunted when you got out of here. This could give you a real chance to turn your own life around, fully in the scope of the law. I’m guessing there was something that shifted you onto this path. This is a chance to go back.”

I’d read her file. Angelina had disappeared a year ago without a trace. About two months after her disappearance, a very different person with the amorphous body before me appeared.

“There was a previous patient at my old job. I’d been naïve. I guess she told me too much.”

I let out an appreciative hiss of pain. “Guessing that didn’t go well?”

“No, not at all. They paid a good-looking man to ask me on a date. He kidnapped me when he took me back to his place.” She sounded more ashamed than anything. “They didn’t survive after what they did to me. Locking them up wasn’t enough.”

There wasn’t much I could say to salve that wound. It wasn’t on her record and I wasn’t going to add it. “You weren’t liquid before.” I changed the subject.

Mindfuck let some of her drip off her hand before she pulled herself back together. Becoming a woman in a very crisp office outfit.

She matched the image I had of Angelina on the tablet perfectly.

“It is harder to hold this form after what she did to me.” She slipped back into the green and purple slime girl. “She dropped me in a vat of acid.”

I used my power to probe her as she shifted into her ‘human’ form. She was still liquid. It only alluded to her natural body; her body was still heavily damaged from whatever had been done to her.

“We can offer to help speed your recovery. You are still injured from swimming in acid, even if your liquid body mitigated some of it.”

She broke eye contact either in shame or because she didn’t believe me. “I’ll do it. How many people do I have to ‘fix’ to get my sentence commuted?”

I shrugged. “I don’t have a final number in my head. Let’s get started and see how it goes before I make those sorts of promises.”

Mindfuck nodded. “So, if I do this, will I get out of here?”

I nodded. “We will get you a tracker. But if I find it lying in the middle of the street…” I let her imagination do the work rather than a specific threat.

“You don’t have to worry.” Mindfuck stared right at me. “I’m terrified of you.” There was a faint hint in her gaze that told me there was another potent emotion she had for me.

I gave her my best smile, but it did little to reassure her. “Most of your potential clients won’t be in this prison. We’ll get you set up with the closest jail and see what can be done.”

She nodded her head, and I motioned for her to follow me.

***

When I’d taken only a few steps out of the prison, I noticed Stella and Melody talking to the four from my office.

Ben was the first to see me, raising his arm and waving wildly. “Miles!”

“Friends?” Mindfuck asked.

A week ago, I would have denied having any friends.

“Yep. And I think I just found the people to help manage you.” I told her before focusing back on Ben and crew. “Ben!” I took two quick steps and gave him a big hug in return. “You sure got over here quickly.”

He scratched the back of his head. “You can thank Mary for that.”

I used that to segway to the three office girls. “Mary, Kate, Rachel, welcome to the Bureau. We’ll get all of you set up, but I have an urgent project.”

Grabbing Angelina, I pulled the slime girl forward. It was the first time I’d touched her since Stella had put all those thoughts in my head, and I tried not to think about how her skin felt.

But it was hard not to. I did find that her skin was extremely elastic. I had expected something else; it was like my hand sinking into her. It made me curious what sort of control she had around it.

“This is Angelina, also known as Mindfuck.”

There was a look of shock in some of their eyes. They hadn’t been expecting to be immediately confronted with a known villain. “Nice to meet you.” Rachel stuck her hand out first.

Angelina checked with me before grabbing Rachel’s hand and shaking it. “Pleasure to meet you. This one is loaning me out to do therapy sessions for inmates.”

“That’s a noble cause.” Rachel bobbed her head, making her fox ears flop.

“Glad you think so. I need to take Stella and Melody on a quick trip this afternoon. Your first project is going to be to set her up and go through the northern prison list of inmates. Find any that might be good first patients.” I saw the ID badges hanging on lanyards and assumed they had some level of access.

The three women glanced at each other before nodding. “We can do that.”

“Great. Katie and Rachel work on that. Mary and Ben, let’s get you set up in The Spine. Oh, and she needs a tracking bracelet.” I added the last bit as I walked away, leaving Mindfunk with the other two. She wouldn’t go far; she knew I’d find her.

I pulled Ben and Mary along, my two heroes following us.

“This place is so cool, Miles.” Ben kept looking around. “Heroes everywhere.”

“Uh, huh. I bet enough of them have super hearing, so try not to get too frisky in the office. You work for me now.”

“I’m surprised that you get this much staff as a manager.” Mary said.

I rubbed the back of my head, knowing I needed to start breaking the news of my promotion. “Actually, I’m the deputy director now.”

Both of them were suitably impressed.

“Damn.” Ben whistled. “I work for the big boss.”

I pushed open the doors at the end of the hall to the dark room lit by screens alone. “This is where you two will be working.”

Beatrix caught us as soon as we walked in. “Welcome. I have a small area setup for your team.” She stood up and folded her hand politely in her lap. “Your desk is up there, Deputy Director.”

I shook my head. Word was getting out a little faster than I’d expected, but it made sense that Kim had to informed her to make the necessary access changes.

I followed her direction; Higher up the spine was a new desk right next to Kim’s.

Ignoring it for now, I went down into the lower area where a set of four desks sat empty in a little square.

Ben hopped into a seat, his fingers dancing over the keyboard as his screen flashed, applications opening up.

He leaned back, his eyes wide. “What the hell is this connected to? It just returned this in a blink.” He pointed at the application.

I sighed. Leave it to Ben to do a speed test first. I looked at Beatrix, not sure how to respond.

“We are connected to a mad scientist modified PX9500 computing server. It runs at ten to the twenty-four floating-point operations per second.” There was a smug grin on Beatrix’s face.

I guessed that was a big deal.

My guess was confirmed by the way Ben practically melted into his chair before gently stroking the side of his monitor.

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t misuse it.” Mary quietly told me.

“Thanks,” I whispered back before raising my voice. “The two of you should get comfortable and get used to the system. Later today, Demoness and Pulsar will be out on patrol, and I’ll be on the ground with them. You two will be here helping us find the problems and know what we are walking into.”

“Yeah boss.” Ben absently nodded his head. “We can do that.”

“Great.” I stepped away.

As I walked away, Ben was leaning over his keyboard, his eyes fixated on the screen as he started clicking around.

Beatrix came up behind them and started pointing at things on the monitor.

I was glad she was going to onboard them. I had no idea how it all worked anyway, and I needed to get to training with Stella and Melody.

“Are you two ready to go on a small trip?” I asked as they followed me.

Stella was bouncing on her heels, excited, but Melody was pensive, watching me carefully.

I knew she was waiting for her answers. “Come on then. I’ll let you carry me, Stella.”

After we took a few steps out of the building, I powered down our comms and turned off my tablet.

This training was going to be off the books.