Spectacular World

The Homeless Man

"I heard your prison recently almost had a breach?" Ocean Empress questioned as she took a seat next to Boy Genius.

The child was in a spinning chair, playing around with some cube-like invention. Boy Genius reached up and messed with his glasses. "Yeah. Fairy Queen randomly tried to make an escape attempt. It was weird. She's usually just sitting in her room all day, not doing anything ever since she was captured fifteen years ago. It spooked me a little, to be honest. I told the Victorian to be on the lookout for anything bad."

"You think it could be related to the Emperor?" Ocean Empress asked quietly.

The Emperor's army had primarily consisted of monsters created by the villain. Some more beast than man. There were four villains, however, who served him, each said to be just as twisted as he was. Golden God, a demented cyborg created to wipe out planets. Fairy Queen, a Super that seemed to bend reality itself. Princess of Life, the heir to the Emperor. And, of course, the final member, his faithful Hell Hound.

Of the four, only Golden God had managed to escape. The others were either dead or rotting in Nightshade.

"Eh. I doubt it has anything to do with the Emperor." Boy Genius spun in his chair and tossed the cube away. "That guy is either long dead or so burned and plagued; he'll never be a threat to us again."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"What?"

"Nothing." Ocean Empress shook her head. "Let's change the subject to something less dark, shall we? Did you figure anything out about that man?" The woman asked, folding her arms.

"You're still on about that." Old Dog snorted as he stared up at the roof of the lab he found himself in. It wasn't in his majestic home city of Oleander, instead being in the filthy lands his ex-wife and daughter called home. It took everything he had not to curse at the oddly shaped buildings and weirdly spaced roads. "I thought you were interested in that fire girl, but now all you ever seem to talk about is that man."

"Dad." Ocean Empress sighed.

"Your father is right, for once." Boy Genius piped up. It was his lab they were currently in. Like Harrison Avalon or the late Mr. Sini, he had a lab in nearly every major city. He had tried to convince the Victorian to fly him to the moon so he could put one up there as well, but she had refused. His lab was wide and spacious, with dozens of desks filled with essential things, such as his video game collection or robots made for making bomb-ass ice cream. The important stuff. "You're a little obsessive with this man, you know. Is this what adults call love?"

"You stay out of this." Ocean Empress huffed and used her powers to play with her dress. She allowed it to flow over her body and freeze before breaking it back down into a liquid. It helped her to think. "Look. Slightly different or not, that's the Victorian's power. I think we should care about this a little more."

"Ya know, just because your husband went and got himself blown to bits in the last Calamity fight doesn't mean you can go looking for a replacement like this."

"Dad!"

"Oh, is that what she is doing? Ew. Adults are freaking weird." Boy Genius rolled his eyes as he booted up a game.

Ocean Empress gritted her teeth about to say more but was stopped by a loud buzzing. Her eyes widened for a second. "Something is going on in Oleander. I got to go check it out. Can you watch my dad for me while I'm gone?" She didn't bother waiting for an answer. The wall opened up, and she leaped out, her water forming into a board that allowed her to surf on the air itself.

The lab closed back up, leaving just the old man and the little boy. "Ya know." Old Dog set up on his bed, pulling some wires off of him. He had been brought here by his daughter, who seemed to think the world's most imaginative child could save him. "I was a member of the original Enforcers back in the day."