Villainous Us

Heroics

The Hauntress

There was a rapping on the window, and I nearly jumped off the couch.

It was only noon, and I wondered who the hell would use the fire escape to get to my apartment rather than the front door.

Who I found there surprised me more than anyone else ever would have. Sawyer J. Waters knelt on the other side of the glass, looking up at me in his full hero costume. He wore a blue, skin-tight suit with yellow accents on the cuffs and belt. He wore a blue mask that tied at the back of his head. On his shirt was the letter M, which stood for Materio.

My brother could materialize anything in existence right before him. The catch was he couldn't just create the thing by materializing it, but he stole it from somewhere else in the world. He didn't need a specific place he had to think of to snatch an object, but he only had to mentally picture the object for it to appear. A pretty cool talent, if I do say so.

I unlocked the window and pried it open, then asked, "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"I had to warn you," he answered, climbing inside.

"Warn me?" I scoffed, crossing my arms. "I can take care of myself."

He shook his head. "No, Shea. This is big. Bigger than you or me can handle. I'm worried for your sake."

I'd never seen Sawyer act this way. It was enough to make my heart beat twice as fast. "What could you possibly be this worried about?"

He grabbed my shoulders with a tight grasp. His blue eyes bore into mine, his face so close that I could feel his breath. "You have to stop. This game you play as the Hauntress has to end. The heroes have their eyes on you again, and this is a really bad time to be on their radar."

I stood, frozen. "What are you talking about?"

"They're planning a raid," he said in a hushed voice. "They're going to group up and take down every villain who comes in their path. They plan to put an end to the War Zone."

"They won't find me," I said, but maybe more to myself.

"They will. There's this new hero with super senses, and he can track you by scent. You're lucky you didn't leave a scent behind at the hospital, because he was there to see if he could follow you."

I only blinked. "Soy," I said, using his old nickname. I gave it to him when we were kids after he learned he was lactose intolerant. "I won't put the costume back on."

I knew it was a lie. He probably did too. However, the words seemed to have an effect on him, loosening his grip on my shoulders.

Instead, he pulled me into a hug. "I just need you to be safe."

I accepted the hug. It was something I hadn't done in years, not since the last time I saw Soy. "Why?" I asked, my voice muffled in his shoulder.

He pulled away and gave me a look like I was crazy. "You're my sister. I don't care if we're on different teams. I still love you, Shea. You will always be my sister. If the heroes come after you, I won't be a part of that. I will always protect you. Just..." He took a deep breath. "Just please make the right choices."

I blinked. His confession took me off guard. I'd never seen him act this way, so protective, so brotherly.

"Thank you for coming to tell me that, Soy," I finally said, squirming out of his grip. I looked at his costume once more, repulsed by how lame and heroic it looked. "I'd ask if you'd like to go out for lunch, but I could never be seen in public with Materio. It'd absolutely ruin my reputation."

He laughed. "I understand that we can't be seen together as Materio and the Hauntress, but even Shea Waters is too cool to hang out with me?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm trying my best not to draw attention to my everyday alter ego and doing a pretty good job of it. I'd rather not have cameras in my face asking me if my own brother and I were a 'thing'."

"Understandable," he shrugged. He went back to the window, but before slipping out he gave me one last look. There was a hint of longing, a bit of fear, and a lot of worry in his expression. "Stay safe, Shea."

It was more of a demand than a request. Nonetheless, I gave him a salute and a wink, and he was gone.

I knew damn well I couldn't just give up being the Hauntress. If I proved to the heroes I wasn't all bad, that there still was good in me and in what I was doing, then maybe they would leave me alone.

Iron Crisis would definitely be on their radar. He was strong, one of the strongest Supers I knew. But I wasn't sure he could hold up against an army of heroes. I'd seen him take on five heroes at once, but an army? How many were we talking? Twenty? A hundred?

I had to warn him.

_________
A/N
Hiiii, guys. First, sorry that this is such a short chapter, and second, sorry Megan and I have been temporarily off the grid, but we're back on the wagon now. We're hard at work on this story again, and hopefully continue to stick with it! Anywho, here comes Megan's chapter;)
- Stevie