Villain Complex [NOW A PUBLISHED BOOK] [2022 WATTYS WINNER]

Chapter Four

Julian felt unstoppable when he returned to the Complex.

It was the morning after the fight when he walked in. He'd wanted to deal with his injuries on his own back at his apartment and take a few hours alone to relish his victory. The downside was that hadn't slept much, unable to stop his racing mind from wondering what Blazar's reaction to the news had been. What he would say when he saw Julian.

"Julian!" Blazar was waiting when Julian entered, leaning against the wall by the elevator with his arms folded. "You actually did it. I must admit, I'm—"

"Impressed?" Julian tried.

"Surprised."

Julian frowned. "What, you didn't think I could beat him?"

"Not by yourself." Blazar shrugged. "Don't take it personally. Storm Warning's been around for a long time. I was starting to think he'd never go down."

Blazar's strawberry blonde hair was long, for him—a couple of inches. It must have been a few days since he last shaved it for his villain persona. Most days he was Blake Sullivan, and his odd ability to manipulate his super speed into accelerating his hair growth provided a convenient addition to his civilian disguise. The nice suit also suggested he'd been at his day job recently.

"Well, he's down now," Julian said. The last of his stress faded away, the tension in his shoulders easing. Things were finally going his way.

Blazar stepped away from the wall and straightened up, reminding Julian that even with his above-average height, the older man towered over him. "I assume you found the stormoid?"

Julian frowned. "The what?"

The shift in Blazar's expression made Julian tense.

"The source of Storm Warning's power," Blazar said, his voice tinged with annoyance. "We don't know exactly what it is—yet—but we know it was inside of him. It usually showed up as a sphere in his chest on Saturn's scans. Sometimes it took on a liquid form in his blood, mainly when he was healing from bad injuries."

"No one told me any of that!" Julian forced himself to pause a moment and get his tone under control. Blazar didn't take kindly to being yelled at, even if he was the one in the wrong. "How long have you known?"

"Hm. Not sure. A couple years?" Blazar rubbed his chin. "I really thought we mentioned it to you."

"You didn't."

Footsteps sounded from the hallway. Lord Saturn and Damselfly emerged together and entered the living room.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Blazar said, not acknowledging their arrival. "We need the stormoid."

"What for?" Julian asked.

"To train a new villain, of course!" Blazar laughed. "Can you imagine if we had someone with Storm Warning's power on our side? We'd be unstoppable."

Of course it hadn't been enough to defeat the seemingly invincible hero. Of course Blazar would find some way to be disappointed in Julian's success.

Julian shook his head as if to shed his growing dismay. "Well, it must still be in his body, right?" he asked. "I can...retrieve it."

"You'd better hope you can," Blazar said. "We need to scare off any heroes who think they can take his place."

"I'll get it," Julian promised. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Where do you plan to find someone else to train?"

"Don't worry about that. I'll find us some candidates," Blazar replied. "Now, I'm off to work. You get this taken care of."