— Rob —
“Step back, loved one; I don’t wanna hurt you,” Léon drawled. His voice was different. It was dark, deep, and it reverberated like the sound of a thousand bells. He raised his hands like a maestro, and currents of purple energy followed to his fingertips.
It had been chaos after that. Léon’s power increased exponentially while his control faded. Fast.
Rob barely had time to protect the loot. The guards, upon seeing the purple devastation that swallowed the whole third floor, refused to fight. They froze at the door and swallowed their threats, then ran like the rest of the people in the club, gathering outside until a final explosion silenced Hurricane Léon.
When Rob could finally get a hold of Satina, they had to work together to pull Léon and all their loot from the debris. When they finally finished securing the goods inside the large minivan Mary had stolen, the police arrived.
One explosion, a truckload of guilt, and thirty minutes of car chase later, they were safe, heading for the most secure place they could think of. Mary’s place.
Loved one, Léon had said. He had remembered. And as much as he tried to avoid it, seeing Léon like that awoke something inside Roberto. Someone.
Anhangá.
“It’s good to talk to you again, bitter one. I was starting to feel alone,” Anhangá had said. “Did you finally stop listening to that lone, little man?”
Rob sighed and focused on the present. While Léon, Mary, and Satina talked to Doctor Brinn—the young doctor known all across New Continent for her brilliance—Rob stayed aside, drinking his tea.
This whole situation was so confusing for him. On the one hand, Rob felt bad for once again exposing Léon to the effects of a druidic necklace. On another, he had found what he looked for—a list of leaseholds in the name of the Heroic League.
Besides, Léon, Satina, and Mary looked so happy with their results! Maybe, just maybe, the necklace hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. Maybe unlocking Léon’s powers would make everything easier.
“See you all next week,” Dr. Brinn said.
Once the doctor left, Satina turned around and showed the message on her phone. There was a satisfied smile on her lips when she said, “We’re leaving too. It’s time to go back to Invidia and to receive our first bonus.”
***
He was uncomfortable, closed inside that tight elevator. Rob didn’t know what to expect, but he had a lot to fear from Invidia’s villains. They wanted his hide, and, strong as he was, he was no match for an entire organization. As the doors opened and a timid ring echoed in the basement, the dark hairs on his arms stood on their ends.
Léon slipped a hand on Rob’s left arm and pulled him down to whisper, “Don’t be afraid. Those hounds can smell fear.” As he let him go, Rob turned to face him. Léon smiled. “Just take a deep breath. Everything will be okay now… we’ve proven ourselves.”
Satina pressed a hand on the basement wall, the illusion flickered, and the Airlocks—already fixed after Fire Sapphire’s visit—opened, showing the entrance hall. They followed through the secondary set of airlocks and reached the main hall.
A shiver crawled up his spine. The place was eerily quiet, lit by the intense white lights of a chandelier. Spread on the tables were forgotten news pads, books, coffee mugs, and snacks.
But there was no one inside.
“This place is empty like a cemetery,” Satina muttered.
“And it smells like cat food,” Rob said.
“That’s probably Dark Keetten’s lunch.” Mary pointed at an abandoned backpack on the floor.
“What happened here?” Léon mumbled.
“Bureau, Warp, Bear, and Parfait,” a voice called, reverberating through the spacious hall. “Welcome back.”
The group turned around to find Anachronica. She curled her lips in a soft, contained smile and motioned them to follow her. The electrical sound of the air conditioning and the clicks of Anachronica’s shoes were the only sounds accompanying them through the corridors. They stopped, but not in front of Iara’s office.
The cafeteria was dark, dimly lit by torch-like lamps on the walls. The tables, covered with shapes Rob couldn’t identify, were pushed to the sides, leaving an empty space in the middle of the vast room. There, in the very center of the place, Iara turned around to see her protegés. She smiled, her luscious body being the only barrier between Roberto and all of Invidia’s villains, who stood behind her with violence in their eyes.
Without saying a word, Iara raised a hand. She balled her fingers, and the screens that simulated the windows on the walls changed to an image Rob knew well.
Iara raised her voice to say, “This, my darlings, is the result of Grizzly Bear’s first mission as… one of us.”
The screens on the walls lit up. On all of them was the static image of the explosion at The Hero’s Retreat. Fire tongues licked the building’s windows as dark smoke spiraled to the night sky. Through the Fire, the shaky shadows of Léon and Roberto stretched like scorched demons.
“They brought us hundreds of thousands of credits, weapon schematics, and more, much more,” Iara said with barely-contained gusto. “More important than any of it… ooh, the blow to the Heroes’ morale! To lose their sanctum. To see it in shambles, knowing nowhere is safe anymore!”
She turned around as some of the villains started to mutter. Smiles and eye-glints spread around Iara. In the crowd, Rob’s eyes met Ida, the teenager who had helped them in the club. Ida winked at him, crossing her lanky arms.
“Grizzly Bear assured me he could never have done it alone, of course,” Iara continued. “Parfait, Bureau Assassin, and Reality Warp were all instrumental in this victory. They. Were. A. Team.” Her vicious smile widened. “And they started to pave the road we’ll now follow, exploiting each and every weakness of the Heroic League. Together.”
The women, men, and creatures all cheered together, raising their fists. Iara chuckled, her eyes only slits in what seemed to be her first honest smile since Rob arrived.
She raised a hand, silencing them. “To celebrate, I prepared a little something for you.” She stretched an arm towards the cafeteria doors. They burst open, and a group of servants barged in, each carrying trays covered with glasses of champagne. The servants spread around smiling villains while a stunned Roberto was frozen in place. “Bask in the success while you can. More work awaits us.”
For a moment, the only sound in the room was the rustling of Iara’s dress and the sound of her shoeless feet on the floor. Then, when she left, a short teenager rocketed across the place. He pushed a long, white bang backward, and raised his hands, showing a small phone. With a tap of his thumb, music blared through hidden soundboxes, making the screens shake.
He shouted, loud enough to make a vein pop in his pale neck, “Mercurial Unicorn, you all!”
Léon grunted, rolling his eyes as the others cheered. He faced Rob, but before he could say anything, Invidia’s employees flooded around him.
“Grizzly Bear, any tip for my team’s mission?” or “If you ever need a hand around here, I’m game,” or—and this is what he heard the most—”If you’re not doing anything tonight, I’d love to show you around.” Ten minutes. Half an hour.
One hour.
Rob had a hard time fending off his new coworkers. The only reason he could get away was the screen that slid down from the ceiling, showing the update in the rank of villainy. The numbers increased from top to bottom. Somewhere in the crow, Satina and Léon cheered when their names slid a few positions up on the list. Rob, though, couldn’t care less about that.
Mary was nowhere to be seen, so he walked towards the rust-colored curls among the crowd. Satina was chugging a bloody bottle of whiskey between Ida and Vinda Tweedle. He grimaced.
“Blimey.” Rob rushed forward and held her arm. Was she even old enough to drink? “Oi, Bureau! You’ll pass out!”
Someone tugged on Rob’s shirt, making him turn around. Léon had a margarita in his hands, relief in his eyes, and a rosy shade on his cheeks. When a waiter walked by, he stretched an arm and fished a glass of champagne.
“She never drinks past the first half,” he said, jerking an index finger towards Satina. “And she’s a big girl; she can handle her spirits.”
When he said it, Satina choked and doubled forward, clasping a hand against her lips to try and hold the whiskey inside her mouth. Ida and Vinda clapped and laughed at her side.
Rob placed his hands on his waist. “Can she?”
“Don’t be boring,” Léon said, his words dragged and groggy.
“I’m not!” Rob raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. “And if I recall correctly, you don’t drink. You hardly have the right to make fun of me.”
Léon snorted and shook his head. “Well, this is a welcome-to-evilry party, so today I will.” Léon offered him the champagne. “This only happens when a villain is really accepted like you were.” He opened his arms, tilting his head back. His eyelids were heavy, his lips open enough to show the tips of pearly-white, slightly crooked teeth behind his lazy smile.
Rob gnawed on his lower lip. Léon was drunk.
“Com’ ere, Big Bear, let’s celebrate, you and I,” Léon said, clinking their glasses with a tad more strength than needed. Léon licked the rim of his glass, took a swig, and grimaced. “Take this too.” He gave him his margarita. “I licked all the salt already. Now it’s time to choose a decent song.” Léon pivoted around and walked away towards the sound boxes.
There was a broad smile on his lips as Rob sipped his champagne, then placed both drinks on one of the waiter’s trays. “Oi, wait for me!” He rushed, trying to dodge the people around them. Léon was drunk, and his legs were shorter, but his drunkenness seemed to make him slippery as an eel.
When Rob found him, he was in front of Vinda’s phone, ready to change the music. “Warp, wait.” Rob studied his eyes. There was something wrong. “What happened?”
Léon had his eyebrows furrowed. He puckered his lips. “There’s nothing here from the 2010s.”
No, it was not that. “What a crime,” Rob said with an ironic edge in his tone.
“Exactly.” Léon widened his eyes and smiled. “What a villain.” He grinned while his fingers worked fast on Vinda’s phone. “Wait, I’ve found something.” He tapped a button on the phone, and the new-meaty-synth was replaced by a strong funk beat. “Have you ever heard MC Tha? She’ll change your life.” Another waiter passed by, which meant another margarita for Léon.
“Warp,” Rob called, trying to snatch the glass from his hand.
“Nah.” Léon placed Vinda’s phone back onto the soundbox and spread a hand on Rob’s chest to keep him at a distance.
Rob clicked his tongue. Get out of here, his mind asked him. “Tell me what’s wrong,” he asked Léon.
Léon moved his gaze aside. He took his time to lick the salt in his glass, then sighed. “You are wrong. You should be good, not here. Here is not good. And you… change things.” Léon paused, the tip of his tongue collecting one more salt shard. “The rankings. The team. The missions. You said you were a bear, but you’re acting like a damned wolf. And the thing that happened with the necklace?” He blew a raspberry. “I don’t even know what that was. Like… was it all me? Was it… you? Was that my power?” His eyes lowered. “I hurt people, you know?” Léon ran a hand through his locks and left a trail of disheveled hair in his perfect braid. “If you know me… why are you doing all this? Why make me… hurt?”
For a moment, Rob did nothing but stare at Léon. He had been so caught up in his own mess that he never really stopped to think how that was affecting Léon. He tightened his jaw. Fuck this shit. Rob would tell him everything.
Now.
“Listen, Leo—”
A male voice interrupted him. “Warpie!”
Rob raised his eyes and found Red Menace approaching. His left arm was plastered, and the right side of his face was bruised, half-covered by a dressing.
“Your face! What happened to you?” Léon asked.
“To me?” Red frowned. “What happened to you, man?” He gestured towards Léon’s face. “I’ve… never seen you this hurt.” A glimmer of fury crossed his eyes. “I bet this is Bear’s fault. You should never trust him, Leo. Promise me you won’t.”
Léon rolled his eyes and stumbled a drunk step to the side. “Just tell me what you want. I know you, and I know you’re gonna ask me something. What is it?”
Red stared at him until the corner of his lips quirked up. “Okay.” His face hardened, and he bent forward to whisper, “My last mission went south. Fred’s in jail, Medusa and I are lucky to be alive, and I…” His lips twitched. Red grimaced as if the thought was too terrible to say out loud. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Shit, Phil. Sorry to hear that,” Léon whispered back. He supported a hand on his arm, patting it with more force than necessary. “But you’re a tough one, right? You’ll solve this.”
Red tried on a thankful smile. He took in a deep breath. “Listen, I need something for this.” He gestured to his arm and the deep wound on his face. “Hurts like a bitch, and I can’t go to the hospital. Maybe your Amma can help me.”
“I… I don’t know. Amma’s not exactly your fan.”
“Well… yeah, but I also know Kali would love to see me hurt like this.” Red took a step forward. “C’mon, Leo, will you deny her the pleasure?”
Léon rolled his eyes but couldn’t fight a smile. Red Menace was completely different than when they’d met in the cafeteria.
“Tell you what, Leo”—Red got even closer and slid a hand down Léon’s arm—”you convince your Amma to treat me, and I’ll train you in exchange.” Red’s hand closed around Léon’s wrist. “It’ll be like old times, minus the sex, uh? What do you say?”
Léon’s expression changed. Whatever had happened between them seemed to swing back with full force. When Léon tried to break free, Red tightened his grip.
“At least think about it. Please!”
“No,” Rob blared. He raised his chin and glared with enough violence in his eyes to make Red’s grip loosen.
Red staggered a step to the side, startled. His back hit one of the sound boxes, and it toppled over, crashing on the floor. The attention of all villains was now set on them. Red muttered something about sprouting idiots while he tried to regain composure.
“No?” Red seemed surprised at first, but it didn’t last long. He wore a smirk, but a small twitch on his lips showed how extensive was the crack on his carefully built facade. He looked around. A large group of villains watched the scene with cruel interest. “Why?” he drawled, taking a step closer to Rob.
“He’s going to train with me,” Rob said. He opened a smile. “I promised him that.”
“What can he possibly learn from you that he couldn’t from me?” Another step. “Are you implying the man who is second in the rankings has less to teach than someone like you?”
Rob gritted his teeth and forced a smile. He needed to stay calm. That ranking was the base of Invidia’s micro-society, and he couldn’t afford to disrespect that in his first week. His eyes wandered around the room as if looking for an answer. They stopped on the bald, smiling head that stared with intensity at something across the room. Rob followed Mary’s eyes and zeroed in on the ranking screen.
“Oh, Red. Never.” Rob pointed at the screen behind Red’s back. “But I’m saying both Warp and I will train under the woman who just bested you, mate. Parfait is second now.” He rested a hand on Léon’s back and brought him closer. “We’ll start right now if you don’t mind.”
Red’s face darkened, and the tips of his ears burned crimson as he let Léon go. His tone came drenched in violence when he answered, “Not at all, Bear.” He leaned in to whisper, “but you’ll pay for that.”
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