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Of Heroes And Villains
In which a superhero meets his match, masks are uncovered and a mad scientist just tries to get some mad science-ing done without getting distracted by the antics of her magical minion.
Fanart by the talented Ian Samson, creator of City of Reality and artist of The Wotch
Diane adjusted her sunglasses, striding through the crowd of people like she belonged in public, and not sequestered away in some villain lair plotting to take over the world or something equally tedious.
She was even wearing clothes, today; slacks and a dark shirt. More skin of her body was covered than not. It was a very strange feeling.
First, she had just been numb.
Then she had cried for an entire day. The whole day. Ugly crying, with incoherent wails and gross amounts of bodily fluid. This wasn’t because she really truly couldn’t stop sobbing, but because it was what people in movies did when they were broken up with, and she thought she’d give it a try.
It had been sort of… cathartic.
But she also couldn’t really say she liked it. No, as she lay curled up in the fetal position – in the sun, naked, because Diane was a multitasker – she realized that moping just wasn’t her style. She was Dionaea. If life refused to give her happiness, then she dragged life into a dark alley, beat it up and stole it.
The day after that she had walked out of Amelia’s lair as if going for one of her heists. Amelia had watched her with hooded eyes and pursed lips. Diane hadn’t gone back since.
Diane had her life neatly sorted into what she wanted, obstacles she had to overcome to get to the former, and tools at her disposals with which she could crush the latter.
What did Diane want? Kara. She wanted Kara so badly.
What obstacles stood in her way?
Diane shivered.
Amelia. She hadn’t realized the extent of her insanity. Diane had always just rationalized her callous disregard for the safety of her test subjects as quirky.
Was that what Kara had seen when she’d first laid eyes on Diane? A monster like that? Or perhaps she’d seen the man in silver who’d so casually run her through.
Diane didn’t want to be like them.
She wanted…
She wanted to be the kind of person Kara would love.
What tools were at her disposal?
Diane raised her head and gazed at the entrance of the Talos Hospital.
***
This was a terrible idea.
Diane stumbled, her knees weak, and her back hit the wall of the long hallway. She slowly slid along it until she was sitting, drawing her knees up to her chest.
Diane hated hospital. Hated, hated, hated them.
Nausea rolled in her belly and she squeezed her eyes shut, willing it to pass.
The smell. She’d forgotten the smell. A thousand memories crashed over her, of having needles shoved into her arms, of the humiliation of her legs not even carrying her to the bathroom anymore, of the endless days of staring out the window, knowing she was going to die in here.
I don’t want to die.
Please, I don’t want to die.
“You have flowers in your hair.”
Diane grew still, then slowly raised her head. The high-pitched voice belonged to a tiny face frowning at her, just slightly above her eye level. She couldn’t tell if the child was a boy or girl; it was wearing one of those unflattering hospital gowns. It was also bald.
A small hand reached out and grabbed the largest petal, tugging at it. Diane winced.
“Ow.”
The child gasped, then grinned with delight at the realization that the petals were truly part of her. Then he – she’d just go with he for now; he had that mischievous smile of little boys – tugged harder.
“Stop it,” she snapped.
His face fell. And then his eyes grew large and pitiful. “I’m sick, you know.”
Diane looked at him dubiously.
“Very sick.” He reached for her petals again.
Amateur.
“That is the most pathetic acting I have ever seen. I’ll never let you touch my hair again if you keep carrying on like this.”
He froze. Then the pitiful look vanished and he dropped his hand. “But it works most of the time.”
“On idiots.” She sighed and shook her luscious head of hair. “You can’t just come right out and say that you’re sick. You have to make them feel clever for figuring out just how absolutely dire your situation is. Try random shivers.” She bit her lower lip and made it tremble. “Like this.”
Yes, as a child Diane had taken every hospital visitor for all the candy they were worth. She had walked up to complete strangers, gazed up at them with wide, innocent eyes and whined a little about the pain.
This kid clearly needed her help to fulfill his potential.
The boy seemed to be weighing her advice. Then he sniffed and whimpered.
Diane sighed. “You’re not looking precocious enough. Try harder.”
***
“Your eyes are wicked cool!”
“I know,” she said smugly.
“How do you get eyes like that?”
“By eating your vegetables.”
***
She watched him approach an elderly couple, dragging his feet as if he could barely stand. They cooed over him and he raised a shaking hand to point at the vending machine.
As soon as the couple was out of sight he ran to her, grinning gleefully, clutching several chocolate bars.
“You are learning, young one. Now let me tell you about the secret and ancient art of crying on demand.”
***
Perhaps hospitals weren’t the worst places in the world. Or at least Diane could make them that way.
***
Diane furtively glanced around. Their little hallway was empty. In fact, it had been deserted for quite some time. Hm. Still, it gave her the opportunity she needed.
“So where are you sick?”
He grimaced, lips still smeared with chocolate. Then he pointed to the back of his head.
She smiled reassuringly and laid her palm on his neck. “This might feel a little weird.” The crimson glow enveloped her fingers and she gently moved her hand higher.
He frowned and squirmed. “That tickles!”
“Just hold still and I’ll be done in a seco– “
“Step away from the child!”
The voice was a low, hateful hiss. Diane turned her head.
A heroine. She looked vaguely familiar, though Diane couldn’t quite place her. Red hair. White costume with a purple starburst on her chest. Miniskirt and knee high boots.
Diane really needed to learn to keep her sunglasses on. People calling the cops on her was getting beyond annoying. At least it explained why the hallways were so empty now – they’d evacuated because of the big, bad villain in their midst. Kind of flattering, really, to be judged that high a threat.
She sighed, and pushed one last pulse of healing into the kid before lowering her hand. She casually crossed her arms behind her head, hiding her thorns from view as they dug into the skin of her arms, drawing blood.
“Run along now, kid, the mean lady is here to arrest me for the crime of existing while fabulous.”
The heroine took a menacing step forward. The boy was looking between the two of them, confused. “Shoo,” Diane added, and laced her voice with a hint of venom to get him out of the line of fire. “I don’t want you around anymore.”
He drew back, hurt, then ran past the heroine, presumably into the arms of the cops cowering just around the corner as backup.
Said heroine was watching her with narrow eyes. “How low to go after children. What did you do to him?”
Blood dripped down her arms to the floor. Vines silently started writhing behind the red-haired woman, growing in size with every passing moment. Diane splayed her fingers, then raised her arms above her head in the universal I’m unarmed gesture. “Look, this is a misunderstanding. I wasn’t trying to harm hi–“
“Liar,” snapped the heroine. There was a manic gleam in her eyes that Diane found disquieting.
“Right. I’m not going to get a reasonable conversation out of you, am I?”
“You will get jail time out of me.” Her eyes glittered and an invisible pulse swept down the hallway. It made the hair on Diane’s neck stand up. “At best.” Then she raised her arm. When it came down the walls were torn away in a flash of purple light.
Diane yelped, barely able to evade. Just inches from her feet the floor was torn open, revealing the bustling metropolis outside the skyscraper. Diane tried very hard not to think about how high up they were.
Okay, civil discourse was over; it was time for her vines. Except they weren’t moving. And no matter how frantically she tried, she couldn’t get them to lash out. Diane could still feel them, like an extension of herself, but they were lying dormant behind the grimly smiling heroine.
And then Diane recognized her, and realized what her power was.
This was the heroine who had snapped a villain’s neck.
A villain like her.
Of Heroes And Villains
In which a superhero meets his match, masks are uncovered and a mad scientist just tries to get some mad science-ing done without getting distracted by the antics of her magical minion.
Fanart by the talented Ian Samson, creator of City of Reality and artist of The Wotch
Diane adjusted her sunglasses, striding through the crowd of people like she belonged in public, and not sequestered away in some villain lair plotting to take over the world or something equally tedious.
She was even wearing clothes, today; slacks and a dark shirt. More skin of her body was covered than not. It was a very strange feeling.
First, she had just been numb.
Then she had cried for an entire day. The whole day. Ugly crying, with incoherent wails and gross amounts of bodily fluid. This wasn’t because she really truly couldn’t stop sobbing, but because it was what people in movies did when they were broken up with, and she thought she’d give it a try.
It had been sort of… cathartic.
But she also couldn’t really say she liked it. No, as she lay curled up in the fetal position – in the sun, naked, because Diane was a multitasker – she realized that moping just wasn’t her style. She was Dionaea. If life refused to give her happiness, then she dragged life into a dark alley, beat it up and stole it.
The day after that she had walked out of Amelia’s lair as if going for one of her heists. Amelia had watched her with hooded eyes and pursed lips. Diane hadn’t gone back since.
Diane had her life neatly sorted into what she wanted, obstacles she had to overcome to get to the former, and tools at her disposals with which she could crush the latter.
What did Diane want? Kara. She wanted Kara so badly.
What obstacles stood in her way?
Diane shivered.
Amelia. She hadn’t realized the extent of her insanity. Diane had always just rationalized her callous disregard for the safety of her test subjects as quirky.
Was that what Kara had seen when she’d first laid eyes on Diane? A monster like that? Or perhaps she’d seen the man in silver who’d so casually run her through.
Diane didn’t want to be like them.
She wanted…
She wanted to be the kind of person Kara would love.
What tools were at her disposal?
Diane raised her head and gazed at the entrance of the Talos Hospital.
This was a terrible idea.
Diane stumbled, her knees weak, and her back hit the wall of the long hallway. She slowly slid along it until she was sitting, drawing her knees up to her chest.
Diane hated hospital. Hated, hated, hated them.
Nausea rolled in her belly and she squeezed her eyes shut, willing it to pass.
The smell. She’d forgotten the smell. A thousand memories crashed over her, of having needles shoved into her arms, of the humiliation of her legs not even carrying her to the bathroom anymore, of the endless days of staring out the window, knowing she was going to die in here.
I don’t want to die.
Please, I don’t want to die.
“You have flowers in your hair.”
Diane grew still, then slowly raised her head. The high-pitched voice belonged to a tiny face frowning at her, just slightly above her eye level. She couldn’t tell if the child was a boy or girl; it was wearing one of those unflattering hospital gowns. It was also bald.
A small hand reached out and grabbed the largest petal, tugging at it. Diane winced.
“Ow.”
The child gasped, then grinned with delight at the realization that the petals were truly part of her. Then he – she’d just go with he for now; he had that mischievous smile of little boys – tugged harder.
“Stop it,” she snapped.
His face fell. And then his eyes grew large and pitiful. “I’m sick, you know.”
Diane looked at him dubiously.
“Very sick.” He reached for her petals again.
Amateur.
“That is the most pathetic acting I have ever seen. I’ll never let you touch my hair again if you keep carrying on like this.”
He froze. Then the pitiful look vanished and he dropped his hand. “But it works most of the time.”
“On idiots.” She sighed and shook her luscious head of hair. “You can’t just come right out and say that you’re sick. You have to make them feel clever for figuring out just how absolutely dire your situation is. Try random shivers.” She bit her lower lip and made it tremble. “Like this.”
Yes, as a child Diane had taken every hospital visitor for all the candy they were worth. She had walked up to complete strangers, gazed up at them with wide, innocent eyes and whined a little about the pain.
This kid clearly needed her help to fulfill his potential.
The boy seemed to be weighing her advice. Then he sniffed and whimpered.
Diane sighed. “You’re not looking precocious enough. Try harder.”
“Your eyes are wicked cool!”
“I know,” she said smugly.
“How do you get eyes like that?”
“By eating your vegetables.”
She watched him approach an elderly couple, dragging his feet as if he could barely stand. They cooed over him and he raised a shaking hand to point at the vending machine.
As soon as the couple was out of sight he ran to her, grinning gleefully, clutching several chocolate bars.
“You are learning, young one. Now let me tell you about the secret and ancient art of crying on demand.”
Perhaps hospitals weren’t the worst places in the world. Or at least Diane could make them that way.
Diane furtively glanced around. Their little hallway was empty. In fact, it had been deserted for quite some time. Hm. Still, it gave her the opportunity she needed.
“So where are you sick?”
He grimaced, lips still smeared with chocolate. Then he pointed to the back of his head.
She smiled reassuringly and laid her palm on his neck. “This might feel a little weird.” The crimson glow enveloped her fingers and she gently moved her hand higher.
He frowned and squirmed. “That tickles!”
“Just hold still and I’ll be done in a seco– “
“Step away from the child!”
The voice was a low, hateful hiss. Diane turned her head.
A heroine. She looked vaguely familiar, though Diane couldn’t quite place her. Red hair. White costume with a purple starburst on her chest. Miniskirt and knee high boots.
Diane really needed to learn to keep her sunglasses on. People calling the cops on her was getting beyond annoying. At least it explained why the hallways were so empty now – they’d evacuated because of the big, bad villain in their midst. Kind of flattering, really, to be judged that high a threat.
She sighed, and pushed one last pulse of healing into the kid before lowering her hand. She casually crossed her arms behind her head, hiding her thorns from view as they dug into the skin of her arms, drawing blood.
“Run along now, kid, the mean lady is here to arrest me for the crime of existing while fabulous.”
The heroine took a menacing step forward. The boy was looking between the two of them, confused. “Shoo,” Diane added, and laced her voice with a hint of venom to get him out of the line of fire. “I don’t want you around anymore.”
He drew back, hurt, then ran past the heroine, presumably into the arms of the cops cowering just around the corner as backup.
Said heroine was watching her with narrow eyes. “How low to go after children. What did you do to him?”
Blood dripped down her arms to the floor. Vines silently started writhing behind the red-haired woman, growing in size with every passing moment. Diane splayed her fingers, then raised her arms above her head in the universal I’m unarmed gesture. “Look, this is a misunderstanding. I wasn’t trying to harm hi–“
“Liar,” snapped the heroine. There was a manic gleam in her eyes that Diane found disquieting.
“Right. I’m not going to get a reasonable conversation out of you, am I?”
“You will get jail time out of me.” Her eyes glittered and an invisible pulse swept down the hallway. It made the hair on Diane’s neck stand up. “At best.” Then she raised her arm. When it came down the walls were torn away in a flash of purple light.
Diane yelped, barely able to evade. Just inches from her feet the floor was torn open, revealing the bustling metropolis outside the skyscraper. Diane tried very hard not to think about how high up they were.
Okay, civil discourse was over; it was time for her vines. Except they weren’t moving. And no matter how frantically she tried, she couldn’t get them to lash out. Diane could still feel them, like an extension of herself, but they were lying dormant behind the grimly smiling heroine.
And then Diane recognized her, and realized what her power was.
This was the heroine who had snapped a villain’s neck.
A villain like her.
Comments
Thinking sideways
And no one will question the child's recovery. Kara is looking for Diane while she is that the one place Shade is avoiding. Still think it will turn out that Shade will save Diane, but will that made others think she is evil or will the public turn on the heroine more for excessive damage to a hospital? I thought the hint you gave in the last chapter was Diane at the hospital, and it was true. I liked that Diane is a multitasker with the crying and sunbathing at the same time that is true thinking, so who says Diane is not too bright?
uh oh, another cliffhanger!
wow, this is gonna be one hard wait till the next chapter!
Diane is not dim!
She simply focuses on different things that most people take for granted. It was all part of that living life thing she used to survive so many years of being terminally ill. She has the disadvantages of her strengths. People are important to her for all of her love affair with money. Even then I would hazard a guess its more for what money can do instead of money for its own sake.
This is the woman who was able to reach Mr. Congeniality himself, Shade! If that wasn't enough even MS. Life Of The Party herself, Cinder-Snow fell to the bubbly plant girl.
However, against a heroine who is trying to prove herself to the world, not so much. Amethyst has become something of a loose cannon.
Wonderful story!
hugs
Grover
Another line I really liked.
If life refused to give her happiness, then she dragged life into a dark alley, beat it up and stole it.
Diane was actually doing a good thing without damaging a thing, then the superhero showed up and promptly demolished part of the hospital. I think someone should really take another look at Amythest Star then find out what her problem is.
'Villainess' doing good things/'Heroine' endangering helpless people...
Let me think here...
Time for some re-evaluations, I believe.
Oh,yeah. Now would be a really good time for Shade to find her.
Great story.
Maggie
Called it!
Apparently I've read so much fiction that I can sense a battle coming from a mention of a hospital in a police radio. Sweet.
Amethyst really needs to get herself together. What is it exactly that drives her so hard against villains?
-Tas