THE VILLAIN
After dropping Violet off, I went right back out in search of the crackhead.
He’d looked genuinely terrified at the prospect of going back to the police.
I’d heard whispers of something going on—an experiment full of people who wouldn’t be missed—but who was involved?
A branch of the police or the whole force? Only one way to find out.
Lucky for him, he had gone right for the train station, because if I’d found him anywhere else I would have killed him for swindling my girl.
Not your girl, a girl you barely know.
Semantics.
The guy was sitting in the far corner of one of the 24/7 fast-food places. He looked worse than he seemed on the street. His cheeks were hollow, with absolutely no colour in his face. His hair was reddish, thin, mostly falling out. Teeth either crooked or missing.
“Missed the last train?”
He jumped, spilling part of his drink over the table. His eyes darted around me, looking for escape. “I— What—”
“Take it easy,” I said as I slid into the chair across from him. “I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to ask you some questions. What’s your name?”
“Arthur.”
“What happened while you were in police custody, Arthur?”
“I…” His eyes were darting around the restaurant. “The girl… Are you with her? Not right now, in general.”
“Does it matter?”
“How do I know you won’t kill me if I give you all the answers you want?”
I sighed. “I’ll be honest, buddy, I thought about it. I really did. You pulled a knife on my girl, and I really hate to let that slide, but I have questions and you have the answers. It wouldn’t be right to kill a source. I have a code.”
“So you are with her?”
“Sure, now I’ve answered your question. Will you answer mine?”
It was so much worse than I thought. I’d been working through a list of people responsible for the incident for five years, two months, and one week. I’d gotten through 325 people. Only fifteen names were left.
Except I just learned there was a whole new experiment going on. Hundreds of people were being stolen from the “justice” system every month to be used as guinea pigs in an attempt to recreate the superpower results of the incident.
I had five associates I was working with. Eva and four others. Three I’d met—I knew them, they had faces. One was entirely hidden from me. They were only known as The Benefactor—the one who made the list and wanted everyone involved dead.
At first I didn’t give a shit. There was a chemical spill in the river, and anyone who came into contact with the water either died or got superpowers. It was a freak accident and I was lucky. Sure, it sucked that over 85,000 people died, but that wasn’t my problem.
Then I found out it was a test. Some kind of population control run by a secret organization that called themselves The Culling.
The hope was to wipe out the weak, leaving only the strong.
Something went wrong and it ended up killing way more people than they’d projected.
And it gave just over fourteen thousand people superpowers.
That wasn’t planned. Something got screwed up and the people in charge were scrambling to figure out what.
I knew that they were trying to isolate whatever killed everybody so they could find out if their plan had worked—everyone who died was the weakest of our population—or failed—it went after everyone.
But Arthur’s endless rambling pointed in one direction. They were trying to reproduce whatever caused the superpowers.
Did that mean they’d gotten the answers they were looking for? Or were they trying to isolate the superpower thing because that was what caused everyone to die during the incident? Or were they trying to reproduce it so that they could sell the formula to the elites?
Whatever was happening, I didn’t like it. I had to get this information to Eva and we had to set up a meeting with the others. I needed to go after that idiot judge again with a better plan this time.
“You let him live?”
I rolled my eyes, hitting my head against the wall behind me repeatedly.
“I tell you that The Culling is trying to reproduce whatever gave us superpowers and that’s your first question?”
It was 10 a.m., which meant Crossroads was closed and we could talk freely.
We were sitting at one of the tables in the back of the room because if I could see the bar I would be forced to relive the three and half hour of pure torture I went through watching Violet with Hemlock.
I’d sat in the back while watching the security cameras with Eva the whole night. She was relentlessly tormenting me.
“They’d make such a cute couple,” she said. “Aw! Look at her smile, doesn’t she look like she’s having the best time?” she said. “If she nibbled her lip like that while looking at me, I’d kiss the shit out of her. Wouldn’t you?” she said.
I broke six glasses. Crushed them, shards flying everywhere. Luckily, I healed fast so not a single cut remained by the time I walked Violet home.
“You left here looking murderous. Forgive me for wondering why the guy’s still alive. Especially after he pulled a knife on your precious Violet.”
I shrugged. “She handled herself fine. Plus, he had good, solid information. Information that we needed. We’ll need to push up the timeline.”
“I don’t know if a timeline push is necessary.”
“Not necessary? Eva, they’re trying to give crackheads superpowers!”
“Exactly. Crackheads. If they were close they’d be looking for normal people to volunteer. Well not normal, but people in their circles. The fact that they’re still working on nobodies means we have time. So why do you really want this rushed?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’ve been distracted all week chasing after this volunteer. I’ve never seen you like this, Matt. What the hell is going on?”
“Nothing. Mild curiosity.”
“Mild.” She scoffed. “You shattered six glasses last night. Because she was flirting with someone. You’re going to sit there and say mild?” She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Talk to me, please.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. I was curious. She found me in a couple of months, something the police haven’t been about to do in five years. And she wasn’t afraid, she stood in front of me demanding I meet this kid. It was interesting.”
Eva pulled away. She couldn’t stand to touch my skin for more than a few seconds, it was like touching frozen metal. That was why I hadn’t had skin to skin contact since the incident. Until Violet.
“That’s—”
My phone rang. I knew before looking that it was Violet, I gave her a special ringtone so I’d never ignore one of her calls. I held up my hand.
“You mind if I get this? You can scold me after.”
Eva rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“Hello?”
“Hey.”
I knew I was just giving Eva more shit to throw at me later but fuck, I couldn’t help smiling.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” I leaned back in my chair, grin growing. “No, let me guess. You couldn’t stop thinking about me? You want me to come visit? I’m flattered, truly.”
She sighed. “Never mind, I’ll just ask Hemlock. You’re insufferable.”
“Whoa, hang on, that was unnecessary. I’m plenty sufferable. I’m just teasing; what do you need?”
No chance I was letting that poisonous weasel spend any more time with her than he already had. Especially because he went around me to contact her in the first place.
“I… No it’s stupid. Sorry to bother you.”
“You’re not bothering me. Come on, it can’t be stupid, you thought of it.”
Eva rolled her eyes, giving me a look that said unbelievable. I ignored her.
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from your…
friends? At first I thought I could just remember the numbers because I thought it’d be two or three but…
I’m at eight now. I need to start keeping track, but I feel like maybe I shouldn’t just leave a bunch of villain’s numbers lying around.
I was wondering if maybe you could help me make up a cypher or something?
” She paused for half a second. Before I could even open my mouth she was rambling.
“Ugh, no, that’s dumb. I’m sure you have better things to do. I can do it myself.”
“That’s not dumb. It’s a great idea, I’m sure they’ll appreciate the diligence you’re taking to keep their information safe. I’d love to help.”
“Really?” Her voice perked up. “Okay. Cool. Um… Do you want to come to my place tonight?”
Did I fucking ever.
“Sounds like a plan to me. What time and should I bring food?”
“I’m off today so any time and yes. You should always bring food.”
“Always, huh? You want to make this a regular occurrence?”
She sighed. “Ah, there it is, back to insufferable. Let me know what time. I’m a picky eater, so I’ll order food if you can pick it up on your way?”
I looked over at Eva. She was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. The disapproval was practically oozing off of her.
“Sorry, can you just give me one second?”
“Oh, sorry! Did I catch you at a bad time? I should have asked. You can call me back.”
“No, no, not at all. Just give me one sec. I’ll be right back.”
“Sure.”
I put my phone on mute. “What?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. You’re just curious. I can see that now. Very clear,” she said sarcastically.
“Fine, yes. I’m more than curious. She… I don’t know, okay? I don’t know what I’m thinking. But she makes me feel like a normal person and that’s kind of nice. Can we not do this right now?”
Her face softened. “Aw, Matts. You could have just told me you were in love.”
I sighed.
“Are you seriously teasing me right now? I just met her, I’m not in love.” Maybe, probably not. “Can I get back to my phone call now?”
She grinned.
“You got it, buddy.” She hopped off her seat and pat me on the back. “This conversation isn’t over though.”
I waved her away and took my phone off mute.
“Sorry about that. Door to door salesman, you know how it is.”
Violet laughed. “I’m surprised they don’t run away screaming the second you open the door.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“The permanent scowl and obscene height. Scary combination.”
I grinned. “Didn’t stop you.”
“That’s because, deep down, I knew you were a big ol’ softy.”
I gasped. “You take that back right now. I have a reputation to protect here.”
“Nope. Never.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “I have picture evidence to back up my claim.”
“You’ll have to turn that over. Immediately.”
“Make me.” Her tone was playful, almost brat-like.
Which had my mind wandering to places it had no business going.
It was bad enough she’d been holding my curiosity hostage for sixteen days, I couldn’t let myself fantasize about her too.
It was hard enough when she looked like the woman of my dreams and had no trouble keeping up with my banter, even throwing me for a loop sometimes.
“You still there?”
Shit. “Yeah. Sorry, I was looking up food places.”
“Did you miss the part where I’m a picky eater? I’m ordering food, you’re picking up food.” She said the second sentence slowly like she was talking to a child having trouble understanding.
Damn it, she needed to stop that.
“I heard you. But I have amazing taste so I’m getting us some lunch and I’ll be over right after.”
“Being a supervillain must be pretty boring if you’re able to drop everything and hang out with a silly volunteer at a moment’s notice.”
“You call, I come.” I paused as she burst out laughing. “That didn’t come out how I meant it, but either way.”
“What if I want to come?”
I arched an eyebrow, leaning back in my chair.
“My, my. Miss Hayes, are you flirting with me?”
“If you have to ask, I guess I wasn’t doing a very good job.” She paused. “How do you know my last name? I didn’t tell you, did I?”
“I’m a supervillain. I have a lot of enemies, I had to make sure you weren’t one of them before I jumped into bed with you. Professionally speaking, of course.”
“Ah, yes, of course. Because everything about you screams professional.” She chuckled. “I should go. I wasn’t expecting you to be available immediately, I need to get my lazy butt out of bed. Call me when you get here, I’ll buzz you up.”
She hung up before I could say anything else.