Super

Chapter 5

[Matt]

         Being evil can be such a drag.

         I never used to have many responsibilities for the Villains' League, but ever since our self proclaimed leader, Vampere, fled after one particularly brutal whipping from Red Lightning, I quickly began to rise to power. I couldn't help but think Vampere would be proud of us for taking out that particular hero first. She always did have a vengeful streak.

         Aquakill did well, taking out that insufferable girl. Only seventeen, but the things she said as she was taken out...if I were her mother, I would have washed her mouth out with soap.

         Of course, she wasn't dead...yet. Aquakill very reluctantly kept her in one piece so we could eventually interrogate her. She was being held in our base, heavily sedated, but alive.

         Did I feel guilty? Not for taking out Red Lightning, no. But perhaps I did feel a little remorse for kidnapping her civilian form. She was probably in her junior or senior year of high school, still living with her parents. They probably had no idea what had happened.

         I shook my head quickly. I couldn't lose myself in thoughts like that, especially where I was in that moment. The villains' base was no place to show weakness. Luckily, though, I was alone. No one really came here; sure, we were evil, but we were normal humans most of the times, and the dark, gloomy rooms can really dampen one's mood. For some reason, whoever created the base decided it would be a great idea to seamlessly conform to every single villain stereotype out there: black walls that were dripping with moisture since it was burrowed underneath a lake, lights that were dimmed ominously, impenetrable iron doors, and of course glass tanks to store our victims. The latter had never been used, because we found them incredibly stupid and slightly offensive (We preferred to keep our prisoners comfortable, not standing straight up, thank you very much. We weren't monsters.) That is, until Aquakill demanded that if she couldn't kill our newest victim, then she could "at least make the little brat's sleep hell."

         Aquakill was one of those villains that was just as much of an asshole in everyday life as her villain life, if that wasn't obvious. We didn't really get along well.

         So there she was, Red Lightning, being draped over a steel bar to keep her upright in the glass container. She was grimacing, even in her unconscious state, and I couldn't help the slight smirk that crept its way onto my face. With her dark red bodysuit wrinkled and her blonde hair tangled in her face, she looked so incredibly powerless that it was almost laughable. She was such an arrogant hero that her silence was a pleasant change.

         But, of course, we couldn't strip away all of her dignity. Her red mask was left firmly stuck on her face, because none of the villains were willing to take it off. Not only did we have no reason to expose her to the world (that would simply allow everyone to shower her human form with praise on top of her hero form), but we all also had the underlying fear that she would somehow wake up and literally murder whoever touched the mask. We all had a hunch that the heroes' idea of "unconditional mercy" wouldn't quite extend to that situation. Red Lightning tended to do what she wanted, and we all knew that it wouldn't stop short of homicidal revenge.

         "Hey there, Mattie," a voice from behind me said, jerking me out of my thoughts. I whipped around to meet the gaze of a civilian girl with coffee colored skin and long curls tucked into a bun, her brown eyes holding a glint of amusement.

         "Kelly," I groaned. "Don't call me that when I'm wearing my suit! What if someone were to walk in and hear, or see you wearing that?"