by Mia Archer
"Rex, what is she…"
Obviously Fialux was trying to break free. Of course she would. She was strong-willed, and he was trying to get her to do something she obviously didn’t want to. She was obviously confused. It’d be a hell of a lot harder for him to try and get her under control with that mind control pea shooter if he was trying to get her to go against her will.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head about what she's saying. Just let Rex take care of this."
"Fialux, he’s using a mind control device like what CORVAC used on us back in the lab," I said.
That got her attention. She turned and looked at me, her eyes lidded as though she was sleepy, though it was obvious she was trying to break through. "What are you talking about?"
"That box he’s carrying in his hand. It’s a copy of a prototype that I built when I still worked at the university in the Applied Sciences department," I said. “I don’t know how he got ahold of that design, but it’s obvious he’s been using it on you and Shadow Wing.”
That certainly explained how a sniveling weenie like Roth was able to get the attention of a goddess like Fialux.
Rex smiled and his hand moved from under Fialux's chin to her cheek. Her eyes closed and she was gone again. "Don't believe that my darling Fialux. This is Night Terror. Your enemy. A villain. Are you going to believe your enemy over me?"
"I…"
"In fact darling," Rex said. "Don't you think it's time we take care of Night Terror once and for all?"
Fialux started at that, but she was still standing there with her eyes lidded and her mouth hanging open. She looked at me, then back to Rex. This was definitely asking her to go well above and beyond what the simple power of suggestion would allow for. He’d need a mind control device powered by the sun to get her to do that.
At least I hoped he would.
"Can't, kill…"
"But this wouldn't be killing," Rex said. "It would be removing a dangerous criminal. A dangerous criminal who keeps coming back no matter what you do."
"He's trying to control you now!" I said.
Fialux shook her head and then she was back. Her eyes open completely. Her mouth worked silently but was no longer just hanging open like she was trying to catch flies. Rex's eyes narrowed and he turned on me.
"You just had to interfere, didn't you? And I made the mistake of trusting that damn computer, thinking it could keep you under control," he said.
"So CORVAC was in on it?" I said.
"Yes! And it would've been the perfect plan too, if that bag of circuits hadn't screwed up!"
I glanced at Fialux. It seemed to be working. She was looking at good old Rex Roth like he'd sprung a second head and fangs. Good. She was breaking free of the device. Apparently he didn’t know exactly how it worked. Now I just had to keep him talking for a little longer. Long enough to let him hoist himself by his own petard with a villainous monologue.
"So what? You keep Fialux and Shadow Wing occupied and CORVAC keeps me tied up? Was that your plan?"
Rex shrugged. "Close enough. I keep the two greatest heroes in the city under my sway, CORVAC keeps the city's greatest supervillainess in check and makes sure you don't get too successful. We maintain the balance, run the city from the shadows through you three, and no one’s the wiser. Until that computer decided he wanted to be more front and center. The idiot."
"You've got that right. CORVAC was an idiot," I said.
"And he'd never shut up! Always whining about wanting to attack the city!"
"Tell me about it. He wouldn't shut up no matter how many times I told him he wasn't suited for combat."
"You think you had it bad? He was just playing at disobeying your orders. He actually disobeyed..."
Rex stopped and his eyes narrowed. I shook my head. Huh. Apparently Rex Roth and I had at least one thing in common. Hatred of CORVAC. But it wasn't enough to save him.
He took a step towards me, his fist raised and I had to hold back a laugh. If he thought he was going to get me by getting physical then he had another thing coming. It’s not like he had super strength or anything that would actually be useful in a fight. Mainly because if he did have any of those powers then I'd have them as well, and I'd already tested that extensively.
No, he was just a normal who happened to have a machine augmented charisma score.
Then his fist loosened. He looked at it, then back to me. A smile broke out his across his face.
"But there's nothing saying I can't keep on with the original plan even if that damn computer managed to fail, right?"
I raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
He took a step towards me, that smile still on his face. It looked like he was trying to turn on the charm full power, but as I looked at him I still saw the same sniveling, skinny bag of slop that I hated so much. Was he really trying to use the mind control device on me?
"It doesn't have to be like this Night Terror," he said. "You could join in my little harem."
"Are you crazy?"
The smile slipped. Was he really expecting the mind control device to work on me? Hadn’t he noticed I was standing here talking to him, insulting him, rather than standing around slack-jawed looking at him like he was the best thing since the invention of subatomic matter teleportation? Which I invented thank you very much.
It appeared I was in luck. It appeared my assessment of Rex Roth was still very much true. He was an idiot. Of course I don’t know why I expected a journalist to notice subtle detail. Whatever. That was his mistake and not my problem.
He was good, I'll give him that. No sooner had his smile slipped then it was back in full force and he leaned down with his hands over his knees so he was on the same level as me.
"Not orders Night Terror. You'll want to do my bidding. You'll think it's the most wonderful thing in the world. Doesn't that sound nice?"
"So that's your plan for world domination?" I asked. "Take influential women under your control and force them to do your bidding?"
The smile slipped again. "Why isn't this working? Of course that's my plan! And it's not like I'm doing anything wrong. They're happy. Content. Right baby?"
He turned Fialux and I turned to face her as well. Damn it. She was standing there again staring at Rex with rapt adoration. I turned to Shadow Wing who was still floating in the stasis field, though she'd long ago stopped struggling and was staring at Rex with the same doe eyes as Fialux. They were too far gone, there was nothing for it.
"And now that CORVAC failed your big plan is to use mind control on me?" I asked.
"Of course," Rex said. "Why not?"
"There's just one little problem with that plan," I said.
His eyebrows lowered in a puzzled expression and he shook his head. He threw his arms out and let out a villainous cackle that I had to admire. At least he was going to go out on a high note. "What could possibly be wrong with that plan?"
“Haven’t you noticed how we’ve been sitting here chatting since you turned that thing on?”
“I…”
“You didn’t think it was odd that I’m standing here insulting you like always instead of bowing down to worship at your stinky feet the moment you hit that switch?”
“Um…”
"The only problem is you're trying to use your powers on the person who invented that. You’re using a second rate knockoff on somebody who has an immunity to that thing built right into her ear canals, not that you probably knew it used sound. You always were an idiot."
That got his attention.
I raised my wrist blaster. His head lowered from the cackle and his eyes widened, but it was already too late. Oh yes, he'd seen me use the wrist blaster countless times before. He'd seen exactly what kind of damage it could do. He was the great Rex Roth, the only journalist brave enough to cover supervillains and the heroes who fought them.
"No!"
He tripped over his own feet as he scrambled up and turned to run. Unfortunately he turned
to run directly away from me instead of jumping to the side.
“You should’ve paid better attention in Surviving A Heroic Intervention, Rex,” I said as he scrambled away. In a straight line. “Rule number one. You can’t outrun the speed of light.”
Rex’s final terrified cry still hung in the air as the disintegration beam shot out. The beam made contact with his body and a moment later there was nothing but disassociated molecules that used to be Rex Roth.
I stood and brushed off my suit just in case some of those molecules happened to get on me before they dispersed. The last thing I needed was Rex Roth molecular remnants getting on me.
Yuck.
Fialux might have a policy, but I wasn't above taking out the trash when it was obvious it needed to be done.
Fialux collapsed to the ground as Rex disintegrated and let out a cry. I crawled over to her and rolled her over. She was breathing heavily, her eyes were squeezed shut. Shit. Did taking out Rex do something to her? Was there something about his control that was going to screw her up now that it was dropped so suddenly? That hadn’t happened before when I used the thing, but I was using a Night Terror original and he was using a cheap knockoff no doubt made by whoever was passing around my old technology.
As I looked at her on the ground with her eyes squeezed shut I was thankful that my implants gave me immunity from his power. Otherwise I'd probably be standing here under his thrall right now as well.
Double yuck.
I shook Fialux. "Fialux! Wake up!"
Her eyes opened and she looked up at me.
She smiled. "Where's Rex?"
"Rex won't bother anybody ever again," I said.
Her eyebrows lowered. "No killing."
I put a finger to her lips. "That's your rule, not mine. I might be playing for the other team now, but that doesn't mean I'm going to play by all of your rules."
"What about Shadow Wing?"
I looked over to Shadow Wing who was floating in the air slumped over. Hurriedly I deactivated the stasis field and she floated to the ground. I ran over and checked her pulse, wondering if maybe the same thing that had just caused Fialux with her superpowers to collapse would be enough to completely incapacitate a mere mortal. But no, there was definitely a pulse there. At my touch her eyes opened and she looked up at me and smiled.
"Night Terror," she muttered. "Never thought I'd be so happy to see you leaning over me."
"Thanks. I think."
Shadow Wing squeezed her eyes shut. "Where's Rex?"
"He's a pile of Rex molecules floating on the breeze."
Shadow Wing opened her eyes and grinned, a predatory grin that had even me leaning back.
"Good," she said with a growl. "The asshole deserved it."
Shadow Wing sat up and her eyes narrowed as she saw Fialux standing only a few feet away.
"You," she growled. Apparently she was in a growling mood.
Oh shit. I’d been so preoccupied with finding Fialux’s secret identity that I forgot Shadow Wing seemed to hate her for some reason. Not good. Not good at all.
"Now hold on you two."
I held up my hands ready to pull them off of one another. Not that there was much I could do if they did decide to get into the world's most super powered fight with me in between them. I figured the only thing I could possibly do was make sure I was well out of the way while Shadow Wing took her beat down.
"You," Fialux growled back.
Okay, so it looked like Fialux hated Shadow Wing just as much. That sounded like something that went far beyond professional rivalry. Crap.
"Are you two forgetting the whole Rex Roth trying to take over the world by manipulating the two of you thing?" I asked.
Shadow Wing ran towards me and I dove out of the way with a yelp of surprise. I saw a green blur as Fialux moved into action. There wasn't a chance I was getting between those two if they were going to throw down. Sure I had my combat suit on and I'd already proven I could go toe to toe with Fialux no problem, at least for a little while, but this wasn't my fight.
I just hoped the damage wasn't too bad.
I hunkered down with my hands over my neck, not unlike those old videos you saw of people hiding under desks with arms crossed over their heads as though that was going to save them from an atomic blast, and waited for the fallout.
Giggling.
I opened one eye. That definitely didn't sound like the beatdown I was expecting. To say what I saw was surprising would be a mild understatement.
Fialux and Shadow Wing floated in the air, Shadow Wing's legs wrapped around Fialux's and both of them giggling with their arms around each other as they looked into one another's eyes.
Holy shit.
25: New Beginnings
I guess that explained why they seemingly hated each other so much. I thought it was a little weird they were so angry that they decided to split the city up rather than risk running into each other. But when you looked at it from the point of view of a nasty breakup rather than a couple of friends getting mad over someone poaching their man suddenly it made a lot more sense.
Fialux leaned in and planted a kiss firmly on Shadow Wing. I couldn't help but feel a stab of jealousy, though I suppose I didn't really have much space to be jealous. After all, I'd been with both of them at one point or another over the past few months. It's not like I was exclusive with either of them, or like I was a paragon of fidelity for that matter.
But still, it hurt a little to see them smiling at each other and kissing like that.
"You're a couple?"
Fialux’s face clouded for a moment. Hell, Shadow Wing even looked confused for the briefest of moments. As though a bit of the mind control Roth was using on them was returning. He must’ve really worked them over good.
“We…” Fialux started.
“I…” Shadow Wing said. She looked at Fialux as though seeing her for the first time again.
“We were a couple,” Fialux said. “But I couldn’t remember for some reason.”
“We are a couple,” Shadow Wing said. “I just hated her for some reason, but I couldn’t remember why. I couldn’t remember being with her.”
“Every time I started thinking about her, thinking about you,” Fialux nodded to me on that last bit. “I’d get a phone call or I’d get this weird fuzzy feeling in my head and suddenly I couldn’t remember anything. I couldn’t think of anything but Rex.”
Well that certainly explained why she was playing hot and cold the entire semester. No sooner would she start talking to me, flirting a little bit, than she got a call from that controlling asshole Rex for a little refresher on her daily mind control regimen. I’m sure he didn’t want her having any thoughts that he wasn’t putting in her head.
I got a chill thinking about it. Thinking about how horrible it was that they were obviously in love with each other and Roth made them forget all about it. He made them forget their entire orientation. And that explained why he was so annoyed with me. He had a perfect little mind controlled world and then I stumble into it and blow things up by inadvertently seducing one of his marks and trying my damndest to seduce the other.
It gave me no small sense of satisfaction knowing I was annoying Rex Roth without even trying, but this also put what he’d done in a horrible new light. If he was using his powers to break them up, to make them forget they were even in love with each other, well that made me all the more glad that I'd vaporized him. He was an even bigger asshole than I could've imagined.
“What an asshole,” I muttered.
They looked down at me. Fialux with a smile on her face, and Shadow Wing with that typical neutral look that I was starting to take for her normal expression. She didn't seem like one who smiled too often.
“Yeah, he pretty much was terrible,” Fialux said.
“Probably a good thing you vaporized him,” Shadow Wing said. That earned her a playful slap from Fialux.
“Of course we’re not exactly a couple,” Shadow Wing c
ontinued.
"Not exactly," Fialux said.
"Yeah," Shadow Wing said. "Not anymore at least."
“Not anymore?”
“Couple implies there’s just the two of us in this relationship,” Shadow Wing said.
Shadow Wing turned to Fialux and for a change she actually smiled. I have to say it was a gorgeous smile, though it did look a little odd after seeing nothing but glowering before. Well, glowering and of course her face screwed up in pleasure when we were together.
Fialux grinned. “And we’ve kinda found another girl recently who we really like. Who sort of just saved us from an evil supervillain which is totally heroic and hot…”
Both turned to look at me. A grin split Fialux's face, not looking out of place at all, and another grin crossed Shadow Wing's face. That did look a little out of place, but I'd take it.
They floated towards me and I smiled and blushed. Then they were on me and I was wrapped in their arms and it felt amazing. I felt tears coming to my eyes the emotion of the moment was so overwhelming. I squeezed them against me and wanted to hold them there forever.
Night Terror. Greatest supervillainess the world had ever known. And all I wanted was to be with these two heroines. All they wanted was to be with me. It’s amazing the twists and turns life takes.
We stayed like that embracing each other in the middle of that warehouse that was now nothing more than a tomb to Rex Roth's outsized villainous ambitions.
Only it wasn't just a tomb. It was also a beginning. The beginning of something wonderful between Fialux, Shadow Wing, and me. With these two in my arms I felt ready to take on the world.
26: New Sheriffs
The sun shone down on a bright day at the university. The sound of construction went on steadily off in the distance where the school was putting together some of the buildings CORVAC crushed on his rampage through the city. Luckily the University had a pretty hefty insurance policy in case of super powered disasters.
As I always did when I heard the construction I thought back to CORVAC. I wondered about that megalomaniacal computer. Sure he'd been a jerk, sure he'd been sarcastic, sure his last act had been to try and kill me, but there were still times I missed his sarcastic jabs. There were still times I wondered if he was actually really gone. Somehow it seemed too easy that a simple EMP blast was enough to take him out.