After School Villains Club (2)

Friends?

Claire Lutre

For a moment our eyes met. There she floated, her head five feet above me like a sun shining down, her lips pursed, a look of confusion, then of irritation crossing her face. She stayed floating and casually responded. "No. I have been on this planet only a few weeks and there are lots of places I haven't been yet!"

"Aaah." My brain responded without my permission, nope. Not doing this, I'm in control and I am not going to act like Penny at this moment. Time to put on the charm. I clutched my hands behind my back, tried to accentuate my curves, it was harder to do this when looking up, usually I would bend to be closer so instead I tilted to the side and gave her my best smile.

"Oh, Well that's a shame. You probably don't know anything about this place!" I suggested, "I noticed those guys totally ditched you and, well. It's not good for kids to get lost in places like this!"

Slowly, as though I was a tiger ready to pounce on her, the coral coloured alien dropped back to the floor, she was eyeing me with so much distrust! I brushed my hair away from my face.

"Um, that is okay right? You just, you looked lost and I might be able to help!" I had gone and read up on this place. I even had a map of the building - at least the public parts of it - on my phone.

After a full minute of searching my face as I not so confidently beamed at her with the best helpful expression I could muster, she asked me "You are not being villainous right now?"

I blinked. "I mean..." I looked around. Ah yes, I was a casually dressed girl in a place full of costumed villains and the occasional hero slumming it while off duty.

I puffed up my chest, trying to feign pride. "Yes, I am a villain and occasionally I do villain things. Today however I just have time to waste and felt like helping!" Pulling out my phone I flicked to the gallery and flipped open the map.

I danced to her side, holding it up and explaining; "The boys you were with probably heard something cool was going on. This is a map of the stalls, we can try and track them down."

"I see." Turning her head to look at me, she still searched my face. "Is it normal for villains to hang out with heroes after we fight?"

I stepped back, reflexively.

"What do you?"

"You are E-claire? We fought you yesterday and now you're here being friendly." Drifting off her feet she moved, circling around me like a predator. Defensively I moved to the potion shop, standing by the picture of a Goose holding a Glass.

Had I stuffed up earlier? Had she noticed me while my powers were on, her face was certain. "But, my face and hair change when I power up. How did?" I cut my words off.

"Oh, changing shape is not a problem. I would know you E-Claire if you were in a padded box in a back room somewhere, I can hear the heart of you!" She tapped a finger in the air, roughly in front of my chest.

If she could hear my heart, did she hear it skip a beat?

I was rumbled! If she could identify me somehow then would she tell her team?

Nope! Nope! I took a breath, a hand on the side of my head and went through what I knew..

"Oh, right. You're new to this planet. You don't know about the truce?" I asked, that got a curious look, she stepped around and leant against the sign beside me.

"You see!" I explained in confidence, "Back in the 90's there was this huge push for heroes to not have fake names, or wear costumes but that didn't last. There was a disaster just after the turn of the century. About a third of the planet was trashed, and during that time many of the old guard of heroes and villains lost everything. All their tech, gizmos, homes. We had to set aside the whole, right, wrong, hero, villain thing and just spent the next ten years picking up the pieces."

A complete look of understanding drifted across the alien's face. Followed by a pang of pain, but she schooled it, not saying a word.

I nodded. "Yeah. After that there were lots of people who'd tried to abuse the lack of identities to make things personal. Going after each other's families, that kind of thing. The old guard realised it would be impossible to keep our private lives separate from the job. So they made a truce!"

"We fight in costume, or not at all. We respect the right to retire and we never again make this personal!"

I nodded, Wonder Woman had obviously taught her the words but not the meaning.

"Right now, you and I are out of costume. That means we're not E-Claire and Starfire. I'm just Claire, and you are..." I hesitated.

Starfire looked down at her feat, she was standing there like I'd just called an executioner.

"I would not know what name to use. I chose Starfire when I got here to mock the people who I." a thought caught in her throat, choking up with eyes filled with tears.

I slipped an arm around her back, squeezed her in a sideways hug and she breathed.

"I see. So Starfire is a chosen name. You don't have to tell me any other names, I can live with that. Do you still want help finding the boys?"

Starfire flapped an arm down the west wing, "It sounds like they're that way. I would like your company though."