THE VILLAIN
I’d forgotten what it was like to be warm.
I couldn’t remember what the heat of the sun felt like on my skin.
I hadn’t experienced the feeling of a warm summer breeze, or the sensation of a hot shower, or the warmth of another human being in five and a half years.
Ever since the incident gave me my powers and I became Avalanche.
Then she came out of nowhere. Violet—a beautiful name for an equally as beautiful woman. A woman that tracked me down, stalked me for three weeks, and managed not to alert my shadows. My nosy, good-for-nothing, second power that was supposed to warn me about potential threats.
She could have been dangerous, she could have been trying to kill me.
Now she was dangerous. She discovered my secret, one I’d killed to keep from everyone but my best friend—a woman I considered a sister.
Violet had known what I really looked like for three weeks but she’d done nothing with that information.
She hadn’t even threatened to use it against me if I didn’t do what she asked.
If I had any sense, I would have killed her right there. But my sense tossed itself out the fucking window the moment my body pinned hers because, for the first time in five years, five months, three weeks, and three days, I was warm.
I thought creating distance would help me get my head on straight, then I got a good look at her and she was absolutely stunning.
Night-black hair, ocean-blue eyes, short and curvy.
It was like the universe was testing me or something, because I’d stepped back to find my dream girl.
I was dazed, confused, and amused as I watched her stutter out gibberish for a minute.
I hadn’t meant to tease her, hadn’t meant to enjoy the conversation, hadn’t meant to stay as long as I did.
But she figured out who I was and didn’t run in fear.
She was a little nervous, as one should be in my presence, but not afraid.
She didn’t look at me like I was a killer. A monster. A villain.
She was the first person to look at me—at Avalanche—like I was just another human being. And that made me curious. What kind of person volunteers to track down a murderous supervillain? Gives that same supervillain attitude?
I had to know.
Which meant I had to go meet this kid.
Four days later, I was making my way through the hospital.
I was engulfed in my shadows, hiding in every dark space I could find. (That wasn’t an entirely accurate description. I could actually morph into the shadows and travel through them like I didn’t have a body.)
It felt weird. I’d never used this side of myself in my current attire, the costume I wore as Avalanche.
I wished I had, because being able to use my shadows and my cold would have been extremely helpful in my mission to destroy anyone and everyone involved in the incident.
But alas, the universe thought being able to use both at the same time was too much power and cursed me to only use one at a time.
I couldn’t complain, though, the incident killed over 85,000 people, I was one of 14,000 who lived and got powers out of it.
The hospital was mostly vacant. Only a few nurses and one doctor. They cycled once per hour, unless one of the kids sounded an alert. By 11 p.m. they’d stopped cycling and stayed at the nurses’ station unless someone called.
Easy enough.
Almost too easy.
I waited over five hours; it was just after 1 a.m. when I slipped into room 408. A little girl, no older than eight, was hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor machine. She wore a cap over her bald head and slept deeply.
Seriously? 1 a.m.? You’re an idiot.
I turned to leave. It clearly wasn’t a trap; I could come back at a more decent hour. I shouldn’t be waking this girl in the middle of the night.
“You came? Miss Violet said she would try but everyone else said you would never come.” A weak and shaky voice filled the empty space.
I faced the bed again. The little girl had a wide smile on her small face and her thumb on one of the buttons controlling her bed so she could sit up more.
“I… She… Um… You…” I took a deep breath. Good lord I was no better than that stuttering volunteer. She had come off as adorable; I just sounded like an idiot. “Yes, she said you wanted to meet me.”
“Miss Violet is the best. She always sneaks me an extra jelly when she visits.” The little girl was absolutely beaming.
“I… Well, I’m new to this so I’m not exactly sure what to do,” I said rubbing the back of my neck.
What the hell was I doing here? She should be meeting someone good, not me. Not a murderer. Not a monster. Not a villain. I shouldn’t have come.
“That’s okay! I can help you. We start with pictures!”
I had no business having as much fun as I did. Scarlett was the most adorable kid I’d ever met. She was so strong and fearless. Spending nearly six hours hanging out with her was the best time I’d had in…well, in five and a half years.
I left just before 7 a.m. and nearly a hundred pictures later. She was passed out and smiling when I snuck out, then switched to shadows. She’d excitedly told me that Miss Violet was visiting in the morning and she couldn’t wait to tell her favourite volunteer that I had actually shown up.
I decided to stick around for a few minutes just to see how she reacted.
The volunteer strolled into the ward at 7:05. She had two trays of hot drinks in her hands, smiling as she greeted each nurse by name and handed them a drink each—two coffees, three lattes, and three teas.
“And Dr. King, one vanilla dip donut for you. They were out of your cappuccino, sorry.”
“V, you’re my hero,” the doctor smiled, taking the brown paper bag. “You’re my favourite part of this shift.”
Violet’s smile lit up her whole face. “Thank you, thank you. Any sign of Avalanche?”
Dr. King shook her head. “No, but everyone was sleeping pretty peacefully tonight. No one’s been by Scarlett’s room yet.”
Violet sighed. “I shouldn’t be disappointed. He’s like the scariest villain in the city, why would he grant a dying kid’s wish?”
I found myself grinning. I wondered what her reaction would be once she visited Scarlett and saw all those photos of me. If any of the others got a hold of them, I would have to go on a killing spree. For now I wouldn’t worry about the goofy and ridiculous faces I was making in most of them.
“Hey, don’t lose hope, V. You’re the most persuasive person I know, I’m sure he’ll come.” The doctor dropped her hand on Violet’s shoulder.
“Men only know how to disappoint.” Violet shrugged her friend’s hand off. “Having superpowers just makes them super disappointments instead of regular disappointments.”
A few of the nurses let a chuckle out. “Who hurt you?”
“Who hasn’t?” She sighed before laughing. “How would you like the list? Chorological or alphabetical? It might take all morning.”
I might—
No. You don’t know this woman, don’t get involved.
“Alright, let’s get the cynic to her favourite patient. Maybe this one man won’t be a disappointment.” Her friend chuckled leading her down the hall to room 408.
“We better hope not. I’d be liable to fall in love. The guy is smoking hot.”
That would go straight to my ego.
“He looks it. It’s a shame he wears a mask, honestly. Sometimes when I’m watching him on the news, I think maybe I wouldn’t mind so much being in his crosshairs.”
Violet’s laugh echoed through the hall as they stopped in front of Scarlett’s room.
“I’m saying this as your best and only friend. Amber, you need to stop reading dark romance.”
Amber punched her lightly in the arm.
“Do I need to remind you what your favourite trope is?”
Violet shushed her as she turned the most adorable shade of red.
“Who did this to you is not nearly as bad as let a man touch you and he dies. Or do I need to remind you of the frantic call I received after the last stalker romance you finished at 2 a.m.? You’re the reason my phone goes on do not disturb at 10. ”
Amber sighed contently. “He cut off the guy’s hands and shipped them to her.”
What in the what? What kind of books were these girls reading? Maybe that was why most of us villains had large fan followings… Was it all bookworms with a thing for morally grey? Or, more accurately, morally black. Cutting off a guys hands? Shipping them to her?
Violet laughed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You’re not listening to a word I’m saying, are you?”
“Nope!” Amber giggled before propping Scarlett’s door open. “Oh my—” She was greeted by a room full of ice sculptures and photos. “V, I think you might be in trouble.”
She stepped around her friend and her jaw dropped as she took in every animal ice sculpture.
An elephant on the windowsill, a zebra on her side table, a snow leopard on the floor by the foot of the bed, and a bear the young girl clung to.
A smile grew on my Violet’s lips as she looked at Scarlett’s happy face.
“I might be in trouble, indeed.”
“I heard an interesting rumour about you, Av.”
Yup. My trip to the hospital this morning was already in the gossip mill. Not just in my villain circles, but all throughout the city. I’d tried to get a drink in my bar upstairs and all anyone could talk about was me.
But the person in front of me now was someone that actually mattered. If The Blacksmith blacklisted you, that was it for your villain career. You lost access to every resource and protection. Not that I thought she would. She had a soft spot for me. I’d considered her my sister since we were ten.
“There are lots of rumours about me.” I shrugged as I leaned my left hip on the counter and crossed my arms. “You’re going to have to be a bit more specific.”
“Word on the street is you’ve gone soft.” The Blacksmith’s perfectly sculpted black eyebrow rose as she rested her tattooed forearms on the counter. “A little girl claims you spent six hours of your morning with her. Is this true?”
“It is.”
“Matt—”
“Wipe that disapproving look off your face, Eva.”
I was one of few that could get away with using her given name, and she was the only one who could get away with using mine.
We’d been friends nearly thirty years—long before everything got crazy and everyone in the affected area of the incident either got superpowers or died.
Lucky for both of us we were in the former group.
“I know what the rumour means, but I think it’s good timing. We only have—”
The shop door swung open revealing a middle aged man. His brown hair flew in multiple directions—in a stereotypical mad scientist fashion—his beady black eyes were locked on the stack of papers in his arms. The Weaver.
“Miss Blacksmith, I require your— Oh, Mr. Avalanche, I didn’t know you’d be here! Sorry, I can come back.”
The Weaver was polite enough, just weird. Even for a villain he did some fucked up shit—made worse by the fact that he didn’t even have superpowers. He was just a guy that was obsessed with veins. More specifically, removing veins.
“No, stay. We were just finishing up here.” I looked back at Eva to see if she would challenge that. She didn’t.
“If you’ll just give me one moment, I’ll be right with you, Mr. Weaver.
” She gave the man a warm smile before turning back to me and lowering her voice.
“This better have been a one-time thing. I would hate to see our hard work get ruined because of some silly notion of fun. Do we understand each other?”
“Perfectly.”
The plan was supposed to come first but I couldn’t just override my curiosity. If the volunteer tracked me down again, there was no way I’d turn her away, especially because of how much fun I had.
I turned to the door, but The Weaver’s voice stopped me.
“Mr. Avalanche, I heard a rumour about you today. Is it true?”
“Yes.”
He smiled. “You look like you had fun. Was it fun?”
“Yes.” I felt my own smile grow. “The most fun I’ve had in years. Why do you ask?”
“Do you know if anyone else might have been asked for? Maybe someone like me?”
I leaned back on the counter. “I only know what the volunteer told me. Which was the name of one little girl, her hospital, and her room number. Why? Did you want to be asked for?”
“Maybe.”