Villain's Coffee Shop

A Dark Secret

   Hero's brow furrowed in deep thought. “Must you really play silly games here, Villain?” She growled under her breath.
   Villain shrugged. “What can I say? It's entertaining to watch you struggle, to grasp for knowledge held just out of reach…” he tauntingly held up an invisibly prize between two fingers as a mocking ‘reward’, and Hero's scowl deepened.
   She stayed silent for several long minutes, before finally speaking. “Are you… can you control wind?” She guessed. “I've heard people with those powers can use them to fly if they're strong enough… it would explain how you could ‘disappear at will’, and be swift and silent since your feet wouldn't touch the ground.”
   “Good guess, but not quite. My abilities are far more… sinister,” Villain chuckled. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he lifted a single finger off the table.
   Suddenly, there was someone right behind her, roughly grabbing her shoulders and yanking her back hard. Hero yelped in surprise and fear, springing out of her chair hard enough to send it flying backwards as she whipped around to face her attacker, fists raised defensively.
   …But there was no one there.
   Hero's chest heaved with frightened breaths, heart rabbiting in her ribcage with adrenaline. Her huge eyes darted around the room, searching for something, anything that could have possibly–
   She flinched at Villain's sudden burst of loud laughter, spinning back around to face him. She was enraged to see that he looked absolutely thrilled by the whole situation, not concerned in the least about an invisible attacker. He had the audacity to find her terror amusing.
   White-hot anger flooded her senses, replacing the fear of moments before – and impulsive as she was, she lunged forward and swung a fist straight at Villain's smug face. No one toyed with her like this! And she'd make sure he knew it.
   Villain looked her square in the eye as she attacked… and didn't even flinch. Hero's fist hit an invisible barrier that felt like punching through thick jelly, slowing her momentum to a crawl before stopping her fist an inch from his nose, halted in its tracks. Hero instinctively pulled back in surprise, but her arm wouldn't move. Ice-cold dread and horror flooded her gut at seeing the wisps of black smoke-like energy wrapping around her wrist, holding her in place.
   An awful realization became frighteningly clear. She thought she'd been well-equipped for a meeting with Villain, considering her own fire powers were notably strong… thought she was capable of defending herself… but it was clear now that she was only alive because Villain was letting her be.
   “Shadowbender,” Hero whispered in disbelief, and genuine fear edged her voice, making it tremble.
   Villain grinned wryly. “Bingo. Truly one of a kind, I am. And that's not all I can do.”
   Hero gave her wrist another hard yank, but it didn't budge even an inch, held in place by shadows coiled tight around it. Shadowbending was among the strongest powers someone could be gifted with. No wonder Villain had been able to slip out of Superhero's grasp so many times, with powers like his. Shadowbenders could turn themselves practically invisible if they wished, bending darkness to conceal themselves. And more powerful ones like Villain could temporarily turn shadows into something tangible that could attack and restrain enemies, as Hero was experiencing firsthand.
   And not only that, but… Villain had to have time manipulation, too, to have been able to slow her down that suddenly and that fast before using the shadows to hold her still. Be able to create literal pockets of frozen time. Which meant… he had two powers. Something that should be impossible. Having two different superpowers?! It was unheard of. The ability to slow time down and even stop it altogether.
   That's why Superhero hadn't been able to catch Villain yet. With both shadowbending and time manipulation, Villain was bloody dangerous.
   “Let. Me. Go,” Hero growled quietly, but her voice came out shaker than she'd hoped, and Villain's eyes lit up at the blatant fear, like a shark smelling blood in the water. She winced as she felt the shadows tighten, pain starting to bloom as her bones creaked under the pressure. “Villain–”
   “What's the magic word?” Villain cooed teasingly, like this was all some sick, twisted game to him with Hero as the entertainment.
   “--Please!” Hero blurted, face coloring with shame. It hurt so bad, there was nothing she wouldn't do to break free – and she hated that Villain knew and weaponized that fact. Her hand was starting to turn colors with lack of circulation, and she fought to tamp down the rising panic clawing up her throat at how useless she'd been rendered. She could try to blast Villain in the face with her fire powers to get him to release her, but that would likely end in her own death, now that she knew what kind of powers he had.
   Villain tilted his head, pretending to think it over. “Hmm, I don't think that's quite convincing enough–” Mocha suddenly jumped from his lap to the table, surprisingly unconcerned by the noise from before and the chaos Villain had created now, as if it wasn't new to him.
   Hero's eyes were watering from the excruciating pain blazing from her captive wrist, but she watched in confusion as Mocha walked over and placed his single front paw on Villain's hand, looking up meaningfully into his face and letting out a raspy meow like he was talking to the criminal.
   Villain's jaw clenched, but his hand relaxed a moment later, and Hero stumbled backward as the shadows retreated back to the corners of the room, and the strange time-stop on her fist lifted. She clutched her injured wrist close to her chest, trembling all over and deeply rattled by her brush with death.
   Villain waved a dismissive hand at her like nothing had happened and that he hadn't been about to snap her wrist like a twig. “I'll think about your offer,” he said slowly, carefully. “I'll give you a call later with my answer of whether I wish to try my skills out as a hero like you. You may leave.”
   Hero didn't need to be told twice. She whipped around and rushed for the door -- when her body suddenly seized up, frozen in time. She was aware of it, which made it all the more terrifying. Her hand was an inch from the door handle, but she couldn't move anything more than her head.
   "One more thing before you go," Villain's voice called out behind her, "Don't tell Superhero about my powers just yet, will you? You won't like the consequences."
   And Hero believed him. The time stop trapping her in place lifted, and she stumbled forward, barging out the door, the cold air hitting her in the face as she ran off, putting as much distance between her and Villain’s shop as possible.
   Villain watched her go before turning his attention to Mocha, who was staring up at him with a worried expression – if a cat was even capable of making such a face. He sighed heavily, stroking his black fur. “Thanks for bringing me back, friend,” he murmured affectionately. “It's… easy to get lost in the darkness.”
   But it wasn't his powers he was referring to.