Of Heroes and Villains

Electric Shock Treatment

"We have to get down to the basement," Don insisted. "Those people looked half-dead. I'm not leaving without them."

Jordan was more than surprised by the bold statement. "And here I pegged you for the anti-hero type."

"Screw that grey area bullshit," replied Don, eyes burning with the intensity of a supernova. "We're going down there."

"No way to free them without going through that dimwit again, you know. He's gonna free himself as soon as he sees me."

"It'll be three-on-one."

"He might be armed."

"I've got that bit covered," said Sean, handing Don a knife. "All I could find on such short notice."

"I'll be sure to bleed on time in the future, sir."

This time, they had to go to the basement on foot, which probably meant they'd be forced to bust down many doors. As they got out of their corridor, they saw Dean chatting to one of the researches, a brilliant smile plastered across his face. The poor woman never knew what hit her, and wound up handing him her ID card.

Don ran up to them, now completely healed by his boss's blood. "If you don't tell Dean where the basement is, he's gonna be really upset."

The woman nearly started crying as she hurriedly explained how the building was structured.

"I-I don't have clearance for that level, though."

Don cursed. "We need to find someone else for you to charm, Deanie."

"Like who?"

"Like me."

They all turned around, and saw Erin standing there, bare feet playfully tapping on the floor.

"Great," muttered Jordan. "Boss, what's the game plan?"

Sean threw himself at the woman, slashing at her with his claws. Erin moved with speed so blinding that it had to be a result of her vapor, not that Don could figure out how. She dodged all of Sean's attempts to hit her, then roughly planted her foot into his face and sent him flying backwards. As he did, he ripped off her pocket and took it with him.

Erin charged, ready to deal with the others, but Sean was back on his feet in no time, and forced her to back away. He threw the ripped pocket over his shoulder, and Don caught it. As he removed the white cloth, he saw her ID card.

"Nice work, sir," he said, taking a step back. "Are you taking her on?"

"Yeah," Sean replied coolly.

Jordan looked worried. "But sit-"

"Don't worry," the man told her. "She's not strong enough to beat me."

Erin grinned wickedly at that. "Always so stupidly confident, aren't you? Guess I'll have to knock you down a peg or two."

She pointed a finger at Don, then fired a bolt of lightning at him. Sean stepped in the way, taking the full force of the attack. It scorched his shirt and his torso, but the latter healed almost instantly. "Told you."

"What's going on?" asked Dean. "Why are you two fighting? What happened?"

"She's experimenting on espers," Jordan answered.

"Yeah, we already knew that."

"What we didn't know was that she has a bunch of prisoners down in the basement. Their living conditions are inhumane, and I'm assume the rest of their treatment here is no better."

Erin's wicked smile faltered. "Don't listen to them, Dean. I don't know what made them think that, but-"

"Save it," the man told her. "You just tried to fry Don's face off. Should've used the bullshit card before that. Come on, guys; Let's go."