SSV3 Chapter 14 (Patreon)

I was invisible and hanging out near the shop when nine o’clock rolled around. “Velody, do you hear me?”

“Miles. Yes, I do.” She laughed. “Am I Velody permanently now?”

“Makes things easier in my head to think of you as a little different person for this, but I won’t keep it up. Alright, how are you going to smash this place in?” I asked.

She floated down from above. Her hair was flowing in the wind as she expertly controlled herself in the air with her new gravity power.

She was more powerful now than before. She’d had to reduce her own gravity before and drive her flight with pulses of energy from her hands. But now she was creating her own fields of gravity able to move herself any direction she wanted.

“With style.” Melody landed in the dark villain suit the military had put together for her. Then she threw her hands to either side.

Even from across the street, I could feel the pull of the two gravity fields, but it was the shop that was between them and taking the brunt of her attack.

The place was ripped apart at the seams, smashing the debris into the two neighboring buildings.

It was over in an instant.

“Not really that great. You should do the flashy thing after you have gotten everybody’s attention.” I looked around at the scene.

The building’s explosion and Melody’s dramatic waving in the street had caught people’s attention after the fact. They screamed and more than one had a phone to their ears as they called it in. But it was chaos and not a whole lot of them were watching Melody.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m going to do this.” She held up her right hand.

As soon as I saw her movement, I rooted myself to the ground.

A small black hole opened up in the center of her palm. Everything nearby bent towards her as a huge gravity well expanded around her hand. It drew in litter, road debris, and everything but the foundation of the wrecked shop.

The area around her stretched as objects were pulled into her open palm, disappearing into the small black hole.

About half the shop disappeared before she closed her palm and everything scattered over the road as the gravity disappeared.

“Stop right there!” A low grade super yelled. She had a cape, but she was on the ground and didn’t look like she could get airborne. I doubted she was even a registered hero.

I scanned the super’s power. They weren’t even a C grade hero. The military had promised someone that could take a hit, and this wasn’t it.

Rocksolid was supposed to be the one nearby and to respond first from the plans I had seen.

“Melody, they can’t take a hit from you.” I said into the comms, but it was too late.

She had her left hand out, and a white beam blasted out of her hand.

“What?” she said as the beam hit the wanna-be super and tore right through her chest. Melody twitched when she realized what was happening.

Her beam moved with her twitch and sliced through the low grade super’s shoulder and tore a chunk out of a building before it cut off.

That beam was the expulsion of the matter that she had taken in with her right hand. Only at such extreme speeds it became white hot particles of plasma.

“Miles… I… I just killed them.”

Rocksolid jumped over a building and landed in the street with an asphalt crunch. “Stop there.” He frowned.

Melody’s transformation wasn’t unknown to the people in the bureau; he had to recognize her.

“Melody, what are you doing?” The ultra dense super asked.

But rather than stick to the plan, Melody froze in shock from killing the vigilante. I had been expecting someone to die during her efforts to become a villain, but not so soon. This one was supposed to be a clean first step for her.

I reached out with my power and lifted Melody into the air again. “You need to talk.”

“I’m not Melody.” She stuck her nose up in the air. At least she could perform. “If you get in my way, I’ll crush you.”

Rocksolid shook off his surprise and picked up one chunk of asphalt from his landing before hurling it at her like a missile.

She opened her right hand and sucked it into the black hole without much issue. “Here, have it back.” She smiled.

With her left hand, she fired off another short burst of the white beam, but I saw the slight shaking of her hand. Despite her act, it really shook her up.

The white beam hit Rocksolid in the chest, actually picking him up and toss him a few feet back before he dug his feet into the street and stopped himself.

“You’ve done what you came here to do. Get out.” I told Melody. We needed to sit down and talk. And I wasn’t sure how much bravado she could keep up before she broke down.

“I’ll see you around Rocksolid.” Melody sent alternating gravity waves down the street, tearing it up and locking Rocksolid down for a moment before she shot off high into the sky.

Pausing for a moment, I saw Rocksolid’s team gather and check out the fallen wanna-be.

It didn’t look like good news.

I flew up after Melody. “Wait up. Let’s talk in the clouds.”

She slowed down marginally but shot up into the white puffs. I followed her a moment later, catching her and wrapping us both in a bubble to make us invisible.

“Miles, I killed her!” She wailed and threw her arms around me. “She… it wasn’t supposed to be someone that would die.” Melody started hyperventilating.

“I know. Shhh.” I rubbed her back. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out later. Just breathe.”

“We can’t undo that. There’s no way to make it right. I just killed someone trying to be a hero.” She was grabbing at her chest like her clothes were suddenly too tight.

I pushed my power around her and held her still. “Melody. Look into my eyes. Breathe.”

I mimicked deep breaths for her as her manic eyes met mine. But slowly she followed my breathing, and I could see the tension leaving her. The grief still remained.

“There. What’s done is done. General Pratt will pay their family to make it right. That’s the best we can do.” I told her, knowing it wasn’t going to be enough.

“But—“ She tried to argue. However, I put my finger to her lips.

“Breathe.”

She took several deep breaths, continuing to work to remain calm and process the kill.

“I’m not sure who that person was, but they weren’t powerful enough to be recruited by the BSH. We don’t know any of the details. They might have actually been a criminal.” I tried to smooth things over.

Melody paused, nodding a bit. “Maybe.”

“And, while I know that wasn’t how you wanted to do it, you did amazing. And holy cow, that power! You hit Rocksolid pretty hard. He’s tough.” I tried to cheer her up.

“Yeah.” She grinned. “That wasn’t even my full power. I bet if I really let loose, I could send him flying. Especially if I tried to manipulate gravity around him at the same time, so that he wasn’t so damn heavy.”

“He’s like a walking building.” I agreed. “How do you feel about doing another small job? Are you up for it?”

“After that, I don’t know…” she trailed off.

I nodded in understanding before giving her a bit more information. “The analysts found a jewelry store that we think is actually a money laundering operation. It would get you a lot of attention from the villain underworld if you robbed it, and then you really wouldn’t be doing anything bad.”

Melody perked up at the idea. “Yeah. I could smash some more things. I could operate more like Stella, smash and take what you want. And I do like pretty jewelry.” She flashed a grin at me.

I knew she was putting on a good front, but that was exactly what I needed. “Good girl. Come on.”

Melody held my arm, though. “I’m your bad girl now. Maybe when this is all done, you’ll have to save me from a life of villainy.”

I smiled at her. “Oh, my Melody is becoming a bad girl?” I cocked an eyebrow meaningfully.

“Rotten to the core.” She stopped holding back and flew with me down to the city again. I kept us invisible until we were in the alley behind the shop that the analysts had identified.

“Just walk in and look around. If you like something, just smash the case and take it. This is how you’ll give the villain underworld the first impression of you. It helps a little to seem unhinged.” I told her.

The crazy ones always got a wide berth. They were unpredictable.

Melody trilled her lips several times, shaking on her arms before she set a scowl on her face. “I’m Velody, the villain.”

She put on a bad news strut and walked out of the alley and into the shop.

I stayed invisible and stepped just inside the doorway to watch.

The sales clerks noticed Melody immediately, but they stayed where they were to let her browse the merchandise and find something that interested her.

Once she stopped at a case, the clerk stepped forward to engage with a sharkish sales woman grin that swept into a sweet nanna smile as Melody looked up.

“What are you here for today?” The clerk asked gently.

“This one.” Melody’s hand didn’t stop at the glass, punching right through it and pulling out a long necklace that had multiple strands that looked like they would rest on her chest.

The clerk, rather than panic, stepped back and picked up a shotgun with a snarl. “Get the fuck out.”

The second clerk had her own gun in her hands a moment later.

Melody just tilted her head like a confused kitten. “I wanted this one, but you are being so rude.” She shoved out her hand, and multiple gravity waves rippled out at several different angles.

The different gravity waves were disorienting, but they largely damaged stiff objects.

The glass cases around Melody shattered, and the guns warped.

Clerk number one dropped to the floor with a groan. Clerk two fired.

Melody whirled, her hand out, creating a black hole that sucked in the bullets, shattering the rest of the display cases. She pulled in the glass as well as a few loose pieces of jewelry.

“Fine. If you are going to be that way, then I’ll just take everything.” She shot one of her white hot beams, barely missing clerk two, and burning a hole straight into the back office.

“Now start bagging these before I get pissed.” Melody demanded.

The clerk was pissed, but she started slowly. Although I noticed she fumbled more than was necessary as she put items into a velvet bag.

“She’s stalling. I’ll bet you one or the other salespeople hit a silent alarm. Their employer is going to send over someone soon.” I whispered into the comms.

“Hurry up.” Melody shouted before pushing through some of the broken cases and picking out more pieces to wear, donning several necklaces and covering her arm with jewelry.

The clerk that had fallen over was stumbling to her feet. “I think you are the one that needs to hurry. Mickey owns this place; he’ll put you six feet under if you walk out of here with those.”

“Mickey?” Melody whispered.

“Mickey Hill. Behind the local mob. But he’s a ghost; we don’t have much information on him. He’s got some pretty heavy hitters, but he’s mob. He deals in standard drugs, gambling. He isn’t at a city destruction and world domination level. I’d wager he has some back door deal to not get the BHS’s attention. Very low loss of life around him, but not zero.” I gave her the basic details. “Probably too big to be interested in Monster Fruit. He’s smart.”

Melody raised her voice. “If Mickey knows what’s best, he won’t bother me.”

A motorcycle rumbled right into the store through the broken windows. “Is that so?” A man wearing biker’s leathers, but no helmet, came to a stop just inside the store. A helmet wouldn’t have fit, anyway. The head of a hatchet stuck out of his forehead, blade gleaming.

“Hatchet. He’s been in prison twice for aggravated assault. Thug for Hill.” I added. “Has a nasty record of women disappearing around him. More than a few domestic violence complaints that seem to have not been investigated.”

“Can I kill him?” Melody asked, seething at the idea of him putting women in the hospital.

“Yes.” I didn’t see any reason that anyone would care about two villains going at it.

“You crazy or something? Talking to yourself.” Hatchet swung his leg over his bike and stood tall. Even without the hatchet blade, he was well over six feet and built like a brick wall.

Melody splayed her arms, and Hatchet’s arms and legs shot to the side, caught between two very strong gravitational waves. “Oh. There you go. Let’s see how strong you are, or how well you hold together.”

She made a motion of slowly dialing up the strength of the gravity wells.

Hatchet grunted and grit his teeth as his legs stretched into an uncomfortable angle. His muscles bulged and veins looked like they were trying to wriggle themselves out of his arm.

But Melody didn’t stop there, pushing him further until he cried out.

She kept her face bored, but I knew she was probably freaking out a bit.

“This could get messy, and I’m currently wearing many pretty things. So let’s do this a little cleaner.” She held out her right hand and the black hole opened up.

Hatchet stretched out like a piece of dough pulled through a spaghetti press. His body swirled into her palm, disappearing.

Melody turned back to the two clerks. “I believe you’ve had enough time to bag all of my new jewelry? I’d hate to have to give you incentive beyond what you just saw.”

Clerk number two went into overdrive, pouring trays into the velvet bag and holding it out.

But the first clerk still wasn’t moving. Melody lifted her left hand and a white hot beam shot forward, melting the floor all around the first clerk until she stumbled forward, starting to bag up the goods.

I knew Melody was also trying to use up the power she’d stored. After using the black hole in her right hand, she had to do something about the matter she drew in.

If she took too long to get rid of it, it caused her physical pain, like she was constipated.

“Please come again.” Clerk number two said out of reflex as Melody walked out crunching the glass underfoot.

Melody got a few steps in before she shot up into the air. “Miles, how was that?”

“Perfect.” I followed her. “Now you just need to go to ground. Remember what Obsidian taught you?”

“Yeah. But I sort of stick out like a sore thumb. Purple skin and all.” She continued to fly through the city, holding onto the jewelry bags and all the gold on her person. “That was easier.”

“Killing Hatchet versus the vigilante?” I clarified.

“Yeah. It actually felt a little good.” She smiled.

I smiled back, glad she was settling into the grey space. “You did amazing. And if you go too far, don’t worry, I’ll pull you back.”

“Do you like me in any of the necklaces?” She asked, twirling around.

“Of course. That one you picked out at first was pretty.” I told her as I moved closer, extending my invisibility to cover her.

“Thanks.” She started taking off the bracers and necklaces, adding them to the bag until one was left. “Really, a lot of their stuff was too gaudy for me. I like simple gold chains the best. Or a big teardrop that draws attention to my chest.” She grinned.

“Oh, like the one you wore on our first date?” I teased her as she let me take over the flight. I headed towards the mall that held one of Obsidian’s new tunnels.

“Yep. It had you looking there all night long. That’s when I knew I could take you back to my place.” She blushed a little. “Maybe one of these jobs, I need to tempt you back to celebrate.”

I smiled, remembering Emma using a similar tactic. “Tempting to do that right now. But if I don’t get back to the bureau, someone is going to notice. I think I’m under a little more scrutiny than normal.” With Beatrix having looked into me, I needed to be more careful.

And the BSH was probably going to be going a little crazy now that Rocksolid had come up against a villain that could take him. Not to mention he was going to recognize her.

“Need me to do something about it?” Melody crossed her arms, looking intense.

I nearly laughed, raising my eyebrows at what she was insinuating.

But then Melody realized what she was saying. “Shit, not kill someone. Fuck. I’m not that bad yet, Miles!”

“At least you swear like a villain now.” I set her down at the mall. “Stay safe. We’ll talk tonight and continue project Velody tomorrow. But, you’re okay?”

She looked up at me, smiling as she nodded. “Yeah, I still need to process, but I’ll call Angelina if I need to. I think it was a good day… overall.”

I felt better knowing she’d have Angelina to lean on after that first kill.

Flying back into the sky, I headed back to the bureau.

There was about to be chaos that a villain who looked like Melody was wreaking havoc and taking down Rocksolid.

Although it really had been a pretty embarrassing fight for Rocksolid. A part of me was a little smug to watch the hero get knocked down a few pegs.