Supervillains 2 Chapter 19 (Patreon)

Stella lazily flapped her wings as she carried me on patrol. "So, are any of the newbie girls cute?"

I’d mentioned the new recruits, and it had apparently piqued her interest. "Stella, their attractiveness isn’t the focus. Besides, powers keep most people pretty attractive."

"I mean they could have muta--" she cut herself off mid-sentence and touched her horns, frowning a little. “I just thought…”

But the moment of hesitation cleared as Stella’s eyes lit up. She spoke into her comm. "Mona, was there one that he liked?"

"Don't just ask her." I complained, but it was useless.

Stella had found that Mona could give her more honest answers about my thoughts than I could. It was a little unsettling, but it seemed to help them bond. So I didn’t complain.

"There was one. Ivanna. She fit Melody's request and was quite cute. Her hair is mutated." Mona answered over the comms.

"Oh, she had something to immobilize people?" Melody perked up, joining in the conversation. "What's her power?"

"Water. Well, ice and water vapor control. She put Miles in a cage of ice instantly. We don't know her second power yet." Mona rattled off.

Melody was getting excited. "That's so perfect! We could get her to join the team."

"I was thinking we could get Obsidian to join the team. She'd be able to immobilize people with shadows." I offered. The recruits were full of talent, but I wasn't sure I wanted a team member that wasn't even old enough to drink yet.

"Because Obsidian is the perfect example of restraint." Melody was rolling her eyes; I could hear it in her voice.

"She likes restraints." Stella chirped.

I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"That was pretty funny." Mona agreed. "Make him laugh more."

Mona was like a sponge, soaking up my amusement and reveled in it. But in that moment, I caught what felt like a genuine smile on her face. She was happy to enjoy my own happiness.

Deciding to mess with her a little while she was in my head, I packaged up the idea of Obsidian tying Stella up in shadowy restraints while I pleased them both.

"Oh. OH!" Mona said over the comms. "I see. Yes, that would be fun." Her voice was a bit throaty.

"Ooh, sexy stuff?” Stella cooed. “What was it? I bet I was tying up Obsidian."

Mona snickered. "Something like that." She pushed a few of her own ideas into my head and delighted in my reactions.

"So, do we have any other hint where Antiope will be?" Melody asked, getting us all back on topic.

"Nope. But we are on patrol, and that looks like a problem." I pointed down below to a hardware where people were spilling out of every entrance.

Stella dove, pressing me between her soft globes and dropping me on a building across the street.

It was a rough drop, but I righted myself with my powers as she made a hero landing in front of the store where people fled.

I did a quick scan of the area. This store seemed to be a big box store. Not much appeared inside, just a bunch of orange racks holding everything.

But based on the frantic faces of the people leaving the store, something was happening. But Demoness' landing had garnered a level of calm as people slowed to gawk and to cheer.

Pulsar and Venus came down and floated next to her.

I smiled, proud of my superheroes for the public goodwill. But I had a job to do. Grabbing out my tablet, I started swiping to get satellite imagery of the building.

Thankfully, it was back in order.

"You have four heat signatures facing off in the back left corner. There are a few civilians hiding out nearby, so be careful. Pulsar, I need you to assess the situation when you get eyes on them."

"Me?" she asked, surprised by my pick.

"Of course, you are the one with the best judgment among you three. I trust your decision." Stella was impulsive, and Mona mostly made whatever decision I wanted. I didn’t have eyes inside, so I needed Melody. And while I loved her optimism and morals, I thought it might do her some good to experience the gray space that often occurred when you had to lead.

I tried to get better eyes on the situation, but for whatever reason, the building had no cameras with BSH access.

I frowned; the only time that had happened in the past was at a private residence. In the public sphere, we could access almost anything.

Something felt off.

As I raised my eyes up from the tablet, they locked on Antiope, who was currently muscling her way through the crowd holding a hard-shelled briefcase.

This was it.

"Girls, you are on your own. Melody, take charge." I leaned over the roof and followed Antiope as she rushed across the street.

She was constantly scanning the surrounding area, clearly anxious as she held the case close to her chest. But people rarely looked up, even with supers who could fly.

I jumped from roof to roof, pretending to make it hard as I assisted myself with my power. She wasn't hard to follow as she ducked into an alley.

And as she did, I smiled. I had the opening I needed.

Rolling off the roof, I landed behind her as I caged her in a kinetic prison. "Hello, Antiope, long time no see."

The villain did a double take as her eyes widened. "You."

"Me." I said cheerfully as I swiped off my comms and my tablet, setting it on a dumpster. I didn’t need our conversation being overheard. "I haven't seen you since Liberator's little pet got out."

Rolling up my sleeves, I was ready for a fight.

She strained in my power. Her arms glowed red like heated metal as her arms flexed and her biceps bulged. "Let go of me."

Instead, I slipped more kinetic energy between her fingers and pried them off the case finger by finger.

This was actually difficult.

Her fingers grew red hot as well as she resisted. I was actually a little impressed. It took some serious concentration to pry them off. I could turn her power off, but she didn't need to know about that.

"You can't have it." She fought me until her entire hand was bright red, almost looking like they were about to melt.

"Oh, but I like presents. This is the serum that Liberator used on you, isn't it?" I rubbed my hands together in anticipation.

Lachesis had given me quite the prize. I’d only asked for Antiope, but she’d given me the serum as well.

Antiope’s fingers finally gave way, and the case dropped to the ground. I caught it and floated it over until I could snatch it out of the air. "Such a prized possession. What was it you said to me as you ran away in that lab? 'Liberator's work will continue.' Sound about right?"

Antiope looked like a steaming teakettle, her entire body shaking. Her ki was like a bright sun. The only person I'd seen at that level was Stella.

I popped the case to take a look.

Nestled within foam padding were four vials full of pink liquid, along with an injector. "Oh, I thought you had been lacing drugs with the stuff. This seems pure? What a lucky day for me."

"Wait." Antiope stared at me with wide eyes. "You are going to use it?"

"Yes, on myself." I held up one vial. "Despite my own attempts, I've been unable to continue to grow my own power. With this though..." I trailed off, watching the bubbles in the vial as a grin spread across my face.

There had been a point in time where the rush of stealing valuable artwork had flooded my system. The current moment felt so much better.

Closing the case, I focused back on Antiope. "But there's a problem. I need to take this off the market. It’s too dangerous in the public’s hands. But we’ll continue to use it and study it. If it can fix the gender imbalance, it is valuable to society." I wasn’t completely self serving.

I flicked my finger and multiplied the force thousands of times over as it hit Antiope's arm.

To my surprise, it didn't blow off completely. Instead, it became white hot, and I felt her ki spike.

I cursed as she suddenly broke from my kinetic grasp and moved to lash out at me with a punch that I knew would shatter the surrounding alley.

I prepared to protect myself from the blast, but as her fist reached me, it did no more than a normal human.

Studying her once more, I saw that successfully dispersed her ki.

The heated glow on her faded rapidly, so I moved forward quickly, forcing her to her knees as I continued to suck the ki out of her. And I went the extra step of blocking anything from listening in on us.

"Wa--what did you do?!" Antiope's eyes were wide with panic.

"I took away your power." With a negligent wave of my hand, I let her ki return before I waved it away again. "You see, you were never a threat to me."

I opened the case again, gazing at the contents. "So, explain to me out to use this."

"You are going to kill me." Antiope realized. "Why should I--"

I snapped my finger and blew half of her hand off before cauterizing the wound with extreme heat, enough to char her skin. "Because dying can be quick, or so incredibly slow."

She held strong. And it fit. Antiope was the name of the god of war’s daughter.

Blowing off half her hand didn't even cause a whimper. "You inject a full vial into your heart. It needs to spread quickly for an even application. Though there are many whose power has been damaged by it."

"That's why I hunted down someone who could see the future to tell me how it would go. Good news. It's going to do everything I want. Now, is that department store your base of operations? What's the story with the conflict?"

Even as I asked, I already knew the answer. "Competition is pushing you out. The ones selling Monster Fruit are handing them out like candy and recruiting those who survive. Meanwhile, your supply is limited, maybe even finite."

The way her face fell was answer enough.

"Well, that answers my next question. You aren’t connected to the monster fruit ring. Can you tell me anything about them?" I asked.

She sighed. "Monster Fruit? The other enhancement drug that causes mutations? Clever name."

"Thanks. Came up with it myself. Now, details?" I wouldn’t let her distract me.

"The Monster Fruit comes from a super, I think. One that's been genetically engineered. Ramon is the distributor, but they have a growing number of dealers and muscle on the street. There are two in there that came to shut us down."

"Ramon's a seven foot tall, brown scaly bastard?"

Antiope chuckled. "Yeah, that fits the bill."

I nodded. "Does Ramon have a last name?"

"No, that's all I know about him. He's the only one that sees where the stuff comes from. How about I help you catch him?" Antiope tried to weasel out of her current situation.

Unfortunately for her, I knew her type. She had too much conviction to change. Antiope had put too much into her current course. She had convinced herself thoroughly it was the right thing for the world. It was almost like she’d brainwashed herself.

You couldn't save someone who didn't realize they even needed saving.

Antiope's power disappeared again, and I blew her away.

A slow clap startled me.

I spun, freezing the surrounding space.

Emma was leaning against the alley, a wide smile on her face and eyes shining like little gems. "I knew you hadn't gone completely goodie goodie on me. My baby could never do that."

Relaxing my power, I freed her and breathed out.

She had always been able to sneak up on me. I blamed her cat-like mutations and the subtle power that had come with it. Her first power was gems, but she had physical enhancement that went with her cat mutations.

"I'm not your baby." Snorting, I distanced myself before remembering Lachesis' words. I had to take the low road with her in order to turn her around. And what she’d just seen gave me a good opening.

Emma was on me before I could think of what to do next. Her leg rubbed against my hip as she pulled my head into her bountiful chest and ran her fingers through my hair. "Don't worry, I've got you. Do you remember all those times I used to soothe you when you woke up with nightmares?"

I felt myself flush at the memories. When I was eighteen and had lost almost everything, I’d been in a desperate state. I craved comfort so badly, and she’d provided that comfort. 

She didn’t ask questions, just trained and took care of me. "I remember those nights." She kissed my temple and my body reacted to the familiarity of it, relaxing in every place but one.

No, that place was rock hard in anticipation.

"Things have changed." I mumbled weakly.

"Not so much that some things aren't familiar." She ran her fingers through my hair and lifted my head to stare into my eyes. "You aren't as good as you pretend to be; you'll always be that young man that I found at my doorstep. The one that I molded into a fantastic villain. You went from being a young man into my partner."

Emma bent down and kissed my lips, and I savored it, closing my eyes.

Memories of being up late and walking the halls of her orphanage to see her in a tight green suit, masked and ready to steal.

First, she had just let me follow and watch on nights that I couldn't sleep. Then she discovered my power, and we started experimenting together as she cased places. It hadn’t taken long before I was joining her.

My skill in bending light had been invaluable to her. No matter how she used her cat-like agility and reflexes, or her gem powers, she couldn't evade cameras and lasers without me.

I remember the first time that I stole an enormous emerald for her. It sat as the center jewel for her Nine Lives last I had seen the piece.

She was so thrilled that she rewarded me in a way that brought me back from the dull, anger-filled life I had known.

Emma rekindled things I had thought were dead after Becks and her death.

She was my first. It was hard to forget it. My body certainly didn’t.

Emma hummed as she broke the kiss. "Yes, that's what I've been craving. I'll find you later, Miles. We will go on another theft, and I'll lure you back to villainy yet."

When I opened my eyes, a throaty laugh floated to me on the breeze, but she was gone.

And I didn't need to check. The case in my hand was lighter, but not empty.

I cursed. She always played me like a fiddle. And as much as I wanted to deny it, the reality was I cared for her deeply.

I sighed and floated my tablet back to my hand and turned it on, along with my comms. "Status?"

"Three suspects subdued. The fourth locked themselves in a secret room." Pulsar said over the comms. "We are using Venus to penetrate the door, but given the unknown behind the door, it is slow going."

"Understood. We found Antiope's hideout. I’m calling in backup to secure the location." I contacted Rocksolid and his team to come in and lock the area down in case the fourth had a bolt hole somewhere else.

They confirmed they were in route, and I considered it one problem solved.

We’d removed Antiope as a threat and hopefully taken down her remaining stock. But based on what she’d said, I had every guess that we’d see Monster Fruit Group grow more prevalent as competition ceased. 

If they’d been trying to get Antiope off the market, they had plans. And now that she was gone, they had the opening they needed.

I needed to get ahead of it before they spread too far to be able to cut off.