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


Kara paced the length of their hotel room, agitated.

Diane had left Cinder Snow.

She’d left the villainous sociopath.

For Kara?

Her gaze darted from the bed to the many bags of clothing strewn about the room. Diane had such excellent taste, carefully selecting items that made Kara look beautiful even when her body had still been all wrong. She wondered how much time Diane must have spent on finding such things for her.

Her frequency remained so infuriatingly silent, even as the need to talk to her was growing unbearable.

The muffled sound of an explosion reached her ear. Kara cocked her head, then strode to the window, brushing aside the curtain to peer into the approximate direction of the noise.

There was smoke rising from the nearby Talos Hospital. Kara could see news helicopters circling the tall building.

It had to be a slow news day; those rarely got dispatched for a single villain. Then again… Kara remembered the police transmission she’d caught. Child hostage. The citizens of Paragon were a rather apathetic lot, but even they could get themselves to give a damn when children were in danger.

Maybe Shade should go help. It beat brooding in a hotel room. Plus, she could keep her earpiece on the entire time, so it wasn’t like she’d miss a message from Diane. Then again, those cameras… she didn’t exactly feel ready to make her debut in public.

She turned away from the window and picked up the remote for the flat screen TV on the wall, flipping through the channels until she found the one streaming the live feed from the hospital.

What she saw took her breath away.


***


Don’t look down. Don’t look down.

Diane’s leg was bleeding, and it wasn’t healing, trapped under rubble. She couldn’t even try to put all her strength into freeing herself – if she struggled too hard there was a good chance she might slip and fall. The psychotic heroine had torn away even more parts of the floor with her energy blasts.

There was a news helicopter hovering not far from her, filming her desperate struggle through the broken walls as Amethyst closed in. Fuckers. She raised her middle finger toward the camera. She hoped they got hit by one of the purple blasts which Amethyst was flinging far too recklessly.

“Are you done running?”

“No, just thought I’d lie down for a bit. Nice view. Very picturesque.”

Amethyst’s lips curled into a sneer, and her palm glowed dangerously. “You know,” she drawled, walking toward her with deliberately slow steps. “I think it’s villains like you that I hate the most. The ones who try to be funny while they ruin lives.”

“Don’t have to try to be funny. It just comes naturally.”

“True.” She raised her hand, aiming at Diane point blank. “This is, after all, rather laughable.” Diane’s eyes widened in fear as the purple glow hummed while it grew in intensity, about to discharge–

Shade appeared behind Amethyst, a combat boot ramming into her side in a roundhouse kick. The heroine yelled in startled pain and stumbled, clutching her dislocated shoulder.

Diane’s gaze met beautiful blue eyes, hidden behind a domino mask, and suddenly it was not fear that made her heart beat painfully against her chest.


***


Kara could barely hear anything over the adrenaline rush, her heartbeat painfully loud in her ears.

Too late. She had almost been too late.

Amethyst slowly pushed herself back on her feet, glaring at Shade, lips pulled back over her teeth in a hateful sneer. Shade had never seen her look like that.

“I have no idea where you came from, but you are going to pay for that.”

Shade straightened her back and purposefully put herself between the villain and the hero. Siding with the villain. Some part of her was howling at this impossible situation, but Shade wasn’t listening. She didn’t know why Diane was here, though there was a niggling suspicion in the back of her mind which she ruthlessly stamped on in case it was false hope. She didn’t know what had started the fight. But it didn’t matter. Right or wrong, she would always take Diane’s side.

Here I stand. I can stand nowhere else.

“Amethyst, be reasonable,” she said slowly, even though she wanted nothing more than to lunge at the woman who had hurt Diane. Amethyst was, after all, her friend. Or something like it. A friend that could have been, though she doubted that their budding friendship would survive this. “Just arrest her; there is no need for such violence.”

The heroine narrowed her eyes. There was no recognition in them. She let go off the arm hanging at an odd angle. And then she attacked, three narrow beams of purple light arcing upward.

Shade dropped to the floor, dodging them narrowly. They hit the wall just above Diane, sending even more debris falling. At that, Diane renewed her efforts to free herself. Good. Shade couldn’t teleport her while she was enveloped by a solid structure, much like she herself had never been able to teleport out of the vines.

Now she just needed to buy time to get them both out of here.

Shade gazed at Amethyst, reviewing what she knew of her powers and fighting style. From what she understood Amethyst created a link between her and her target which syphoned their power to her. She could only create one such link, though Shade had heard rumors that she’d once managed to create two while sufficiently enraged.

Her effectiveness in battle was directly proportional to how many enemies she faced. She was almost utterly unbeatable in a one on one fight for obvious reasons; she was also quite valuable in team fights, able to neutralize the strongest opponent instantly. It was when she engaged multiple enemies alone that she quickly lost effectiveness.

So Shade had to make sure she kept her link on Diane. If she realized Shade could teleport, she could cut off her escape plan.

Which meant Shade had to fight without powers.

“Missed,” she said in a low, mocking voice, and broke into a sprint.

Amethyst let out a strangled noise of fury, and fired another volley of weak but numerous blasts, cracking the walls wherever they hit. Shade dodged them all, acrobatically and intuitively twisting her body.

Another volley, and it was almost like a dance, the ease with which Shade evaded them.

“Where did you learn to aim?” Shade was not one for banter, but if it kept Amethyst’s attention on her…

It didn’t.

Instead, Amethyst’s lips suddenly curved into a serene smile. Then she raised her non-injured hand and aimed at Diane who froze like a deer caught in headlines. Her bleeding leg was cleared from debris, yet she wasn’t getting up. “I can aim just fine.”

No.

Burning agony spread from Shade’s shoulder blade as she threw herself in front of the blast, gritting her teeth as she slammed her arms to either side of Diane.

“Are you free?” she gritted out. Her vision was blurry, filled with white spots. She couldn’t see anything but the beautiful face in front of her.

Diane nodded wordlessly.

“Good,” she rasped, and drew her into her arms, black miasma enveloping them.


***


Amethyst Star stood frozen for a long time after the pair of villains disappeared in a whirl of shadows. A very familiar whirl of shadows.

A very familiar fighting style, too. She’d seen it when the woman had dodged her blasts. Skilled and graceful.

Her fingernails dug into her dislocated shoulder. The pain was dull and familiar, nothing she hadn’t felt before. It was overshadowed by an entirely different anguish radiating through her body.

Betrayal.