Big City Villain | BOOK ONE

Chapter Twenty-Three: Normal For A Day.

I continued to ignore my brother which, with the danceable beats blaring in my ears, was fairly easy.

"Coal..." His warning tone cut through my music making me frown and scowl at him.

"One hundred and twenty-three," I huffed, lowering myself back down then back up with a grimace. It is not easy to do sit-ups when you've been slacking off for as long as I have been. But with Ben conveniently standing on my feet it was getting better.

"You just added a hundred. You're only at twenty-three," he grumbled.

I hit the ground hard and stared at him. "Go away. Let me sulk in peace."

Ben shook his head and set his hands on my knees as he leaned forward to glare at me. "You broke your curfew again."

"Sorry, Dad!" I said, stretching out my legs quickly so he fell but my plan didn't work too great because he fell on top of me. I pushed him off me and rolled away.

He shot me another glare and got to his knees. "Mature, Coal, very mature." He jumped to his feet and grabbed my wrist. Ben very easily pulled me to my feet, but he didn't loosen his tight grip. "Listen, Coal and listen hard: I have been too lenient with this whole ban and Red is angry. He wanted to throw you back in the Solitary Bin for a few days to shape you up."

I grimaced and tried to get myself out of his grip. "I'm a super villain, Ben, why should I even follow the stupid Board anyway? Gust doesn't, and half the villains don't so why should I listen to you?"

He scowled and yanked me back closer to him. "Because we can take your powers away without any warning, permanently. Do you want that?"

"Catch me if you can," I said, grinning and trying to make a dash for my window.

Yeah. It didn't work. I took off running as fast as I could, but all Ben had to do was keep a grip on my wrist. My legs went out from under me, and I fell flat on my back. Ouch. I was definitely not expecting that.

"Done running, Coal?" he asked, bending down to my level with a cocked eyebrow.

"Shut up. So am I going back to the Bin or what?"

"I was able to work something out with him," Ben said, his look darkening. "Now you have two choices: Tell me what's going on or get a twenty-four-hour power disabler."

I blinked. This is almost too easy. I got to my feet and shrugged. "I've just been too careless. I'll be more careful from now on. This whole thing with City Sweeper and now Catastrophe has thrown me off. I forgot my place in trying to keep you alive. It won't happen again."

Ben shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I mean where have you been disappearing to every night?"

"I can't tell you that, not even a hint." I stuck my arm out. "Just get the shot done and over with, make sure it's only the twenty-four hour one and not the permanent shot, we don't want another Glitch glitch."

Ben groaned. "Glitch was an idiot, okay? Everyone agrees with that, even Glitch does. And that was a terrible pun."

"Regardless, just double check."

"I was trying to give you an easy way out, Coal."

"I'm not baited easily."

Ben gave me a sharp look for a long moment before taking something out of his back pocket. But it was no needle. It was a white mask with a thick red border around the edges. I looked from the mask to my brother with a frown.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"It was hidden underneath your mattress."