There were few things more annoying than a posturing villain. It was something still alien to me, to a degree. Criminals usually went the most direct route to getting what they wanted. Usually because of desperation or the desire not to get caught. Even those with a little too big an ego knew when to be ruthless or efficient. Villains, however, were far too theatrical.

Maybe a side effect of the nature of Goldarch. They were allowed to stay in the city as glorified training dummies for the heroes here. Even those who wanted the downfall of the League were coddled and allowed space - provided they kept themselves to Goldarch.

It was sad, in a way.

Although that sympathetic understanding was nowhere to be found as I stepped out of the back of the Meteor to deal with the villain who had stopped our travel to the meeting with Kingston.

In fact, if he weren't standing in the middle of a populated road in broad daylight, I'd be pretty tempted to put a steel ball through his skull. Not really befitting a hero, even one of the anti variety.

I circled around the vehicle to stand at the front. The man was still standing in place, his arms outstretched, but now I could see the crazed grin on his face, and one of his eyes glowing beneath the shadow of his raven-skull helmet.

[What do you want?]

"Gunquake," he yelled, his voice shrill. "I am the true haunt of the twilight. He who walks with shadows. While we are brothers in the darkness, it is time I removed you from the equation."

The small amount of energy I had remaining slowly sank away.

[Do you realize it is morning right now?]

"What better time to catch you off-guard, then?" He flourished his arms into a combat stance. "Plus… if I could take out some of the other Natural Disasters as a bonus…"

I had to give him credit; he certainly had the insanity trait down. Challenging me to an open-air duel was one thing, but I didn't think there was a single villain who would normally willingly go up against a whole super team. With a sigh, I looked up at the information Clara had sent through.

//Clara: Uttershade. Rank A Villain. Solo. //Clara: Listed power is… shadows, which isn't too specific.

Chances were he was just a little too big for his boots, then. No actual plan other than to walk up to me this morning and put me out of action. My showing at the Arena clearly hadn't impressed how capable I was. Or perhaps that was a vulture skull on his head, and he saw me as easy pickings.

[I'll give you five seconds to get out of my sight.]

I withdrew the Nerve shot from my side pouch and opened up the chamber on my gun-arm.

"Grandstanding won't work against me!" Uttershade drew his hands back before lashing them forward. A swirling mass of purple bloomed and shot toward me like a missile.

My chamber clicked shut. The cast projectile exploded around me, clouding the area with crackling smoke in a slight lavender hue. I stepped out of the fading cloud, my Dispel still humming in the air as I approached the villain.

Rather than cast another spell, he withdrew something from his belt. An ornate flintlock pistol. He aimed it in my direction. My reactive helmet flicked out from the neck armor and covered my head, just as he fired. The bullet dinged off the plating, deflecting to the side. I continued walking toward him.

The man started to panic, dropping his spent firearm to the ground. His hands waved across horizontally, and the street beneath my boots softened, slowing my progress as if the asphalt was pulling me back. V-Force drives in my legs powered up, and I hopped from the sticky mire, landing a dozen feet from Uttershade.

He stumbled backward, and with a pulse of energy, whipped into the air with wings of purple flame. Eye watched him ascend briefly, to see if he was running or preparing an airborne attack instead. His hesitation as he turned to face me was his undoing. My grapple struck him in the upper legs, and the expanding foam solidified across his thighs.

With a whipping motion, I pulled him from the sky. Thankfully, the civilian car he landed on had already been evacuated, the area relatively secure as any soft targets had fled as soon as Uttershade had made his presence known.

He groaned and tried to push himself up from the shattered glass and bent metal roof. I was already there. Arm outstretched with my barrel pointing right at him. It wasn't good optics to seemingly execute him on the spot.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

[Resist arrest, and I will put a three-inch steel rod through your brain.]

There was some hesitation on his shadowed face. The problem with villains is they loved the cat-and-mouse chase just as much as the heroes. Children on a city-state sized playground. I resented them for it, even though I understood and accepted it as a necessity.

Eventually, he conceded. "You… have bested me, Gunquake. Even in the light of day, you- erk."

His sentence broke off as I leaned in close to him and slipped something from my pouch down the back of his neck. He shuddered at the uncomfortable feeling of it.

[Cause any trouble, and this will explode. Arms forward.]

Uttershade lifted his arms and allowed me to put handcuffs around his wrists. Crestfallen and unsure whether I would actually blow him up, he sided with self-preservation and played nice.

As I stepped away, I could see the flashing lights of police cars on the way back down the street. I didn't feel much like sticking around to chat with the handover team. Further delay was unacceptable. I furrowed my brow and looked back at the villain.

[Spend your time improving. If you want a round two, then let's do this properly.]

I stepped away before he could reply. Having an A-Rank nemesis would be good for my career. He wasn't really clued in on what I was capable of, but I was sure once he found out it was just a spare nutrition canister down his neck, he would seek to one-up me.

Just to be cautious, I left the Nerve shot in my arm and my metal headpiece in position until I made it back into the Meteor. Only to be met with a modest round of applause.

[Settle down. Let's get out of here.]

I waved them off as I went and sat at the front. Roxy was beaming at me, a fire in her eyes that told me she was more than enamored with my performance out there.

"The way you dismantled that A-Rank villain… very impressive." She eyed the noisy children in the back before leaning closer to me. "The hotel is no good; maybe we should go find somewhere in the wastes?"

[I feel as though I am barely held together. You might destroy me.]

"Yes," she replied. The super maintained eye contact as she sat back up straight.

The Meteor hummed into life and rolled forward. I didn't think it had been such a big deal. Desensitized. Uttershade had no killer drive. He wanted to defeat me, but murder was a step too far. My life had been on the line for the previous three days in a row. There was… potential there, though. Unlike most two-dimensional villains, he had brought several options to wield against me.

Futile, all the same.

Thankfully, the rest of our journey went unhindered. Clara confirmed that the handover team had taken the villain into custody. She also added that Uttershade had apparently sworn vengeance once the canister had been removed from the back of his neck. A little low-stakes conflict was nice. Something to keep me sharp.

It wasn't too much longer before we pulled up at the League of Heroes headquarters. Either the Arena turmoil hadn't damaged the large building, or it had been patched up in short order.

While usually I was a boost to everyone's mood, today felt the opposite. The Natural Disasters were in higher spirits by the minute, while my patience for the day sank down the drain. A spiral of melancholy that smudged through the motions of getting out of the vehicle and ending up in Kingston's waiting room.

I could feel Clara's eyes burning into the side of my head. She knew I wasn't being myself. I ignored her.

The truth of it was that I needed a day off. Nothing would soothe my soul more than kicking back in the garden with drinks and my friends. A peaceful existence, even if only for a while.

Salvation was hopefully ahead, as the doors to the Director's office opened up. The Natural Disasters looked to me to lead them, and I stood and did so.

Interestingly enough, Kingston hasn't used his sweeping control within the League to get himself a different office. Perhaps he preferred the familiar or had other reasons to stay put. The walls, covered with multiple monitors and screens, displayed information feeds or other data. Some even had live video of certain parts of the city. It felt more hectic than usual.

Director Kingston stood from his desk and looked every bit as tired as I felt. Overworked, but still with fervor in his eyes. He gestured to the semicircle of six chairs.

"Please, if the seven of you could sit. There's a lot for us to get through, and I don't want to bore you for hours."

I sat in the middle with Clara to my right and Roxy to my left. While there was a decent amount of tension in the room, the others waited for me to pop it. I gave Kingston the nod to continue.

He smiled and sat back behind the wide desk. Lights ran across his fingertips, and a sheen ran along the walls. Blocking outside communication. After shuffling several documents on his desk, he folded his hands together and looked up over.

"First, I should apologize to the three of you who went to the factory yesterday. I was not aware the problem was such a severe one. Otherwise, I wouldn't have thrown you in so blind. No pun intended."

[Were there any issues with the cleanup?]

"Other than finding another tendril of corruption within the city that needs dealing with?" His smile was strained. "Some waste management issues while the plant is condemned, but nothing that needs the hand of a hero."

I nodded, and didn't press him further about how bullshit of an errand it had been. With how tired he looked, there would be plenty of time to twist the screws once everything had been laid out on the table.

He leaned back and sighed. "But where to begin? Honestly, my heartfelt thanks to you all. Not only did your actions after the Arena attack help Goldarch, but you kept me safe. I was able to oust the bad actors in the League and take the lion's share of power here. That… will pay dividends for you as well."

[Do you want to hear our demands, or shall we wait for your prepared list before haggling?]

His smile softened, and he brought his hands up to steeple before his face. "I've been a very busy man, Gunquake. Let me tell you my plan, and anything I've missed can be discussed."

I glanced at Roxy, and she gave me a nod. The rest of the Disasters looked apprehensive, but willing to hear him out.

[Please go ahead.]

Kingston sat back up and hit a switch on his desk. Floating above his desk, a holographic image flickered into life, illuminating a wide grin across his face.

"Let's talk about a new home and headquarters for you all."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.