#bills. i hardly ever text people either. and i haven’t spoken to half the people on the list in at least a month

[transmalewife]

rarely talked about Horror of modern life is the fact that holding your finger on a picture for too long pulls up a screen that encourages you to send whatever niche meme or weird porn you were perusing to a random collection of people seemingly chosen for maximum life ruining potential from your least used messaging apps. constant vigilance required at all times when scrolling. also i just checked and it’s apparently just tumblr? could have sworn it was other places on phone also

[rorynorth]

Supervillains weren't supposed to pay for coffee.

In fact, Julian Godfrey had come into this very cafe last week—in full costume—to demand a free latte on his way home from holding some CEO hostage. He'd already forgotten the man's name, but the ransom money was going to fund some lavish apartment upgrades.

But today, Julian wasn't here for a drink. He was here to sit in the corner of the cafe and send emails and read and, of course, finalize his plan to take an entire city block hostage. Rather than his villainous costume, he wore the clothes he wore to his day job at the library: black pants, a dark purple button-up, and a black blazer.

He did still want his coffee, though.

Julian ran through tonight's plan as he stood in line. He'd been preparing for this for months, and it had taken a lot of training to be sure he'd be able to pull it off. This would be the biggest demonstration of his power yet.

Most importantly, he'd be doing this alone. He had to. If he succeeded, the city would see him as a real threat. He was already feared, but maybe they'd finally regard him with the same awe as they did Blazar.

Julian planned to relinquish his control of the apartment block in exchange for a considerable sum of cash—not particularly original, but money wasn't his real goal anyway. He was going to lure in the city's biggest hero and completely destroy him. Or at least, kick his ass hard enough to keep him out of commission for a few months.

One of the cashiers waved Julian over. "Next, please!"

"Macchiato. Sixteen ounce," he told her.

"Great, that'll be five ninety-five."

Julian opened his wallet and pulled out a single five dollar bill. Damn, he'd thought he had more cash. "Hold on, let me find my card—"

"You're a dollar short?" came a voice from his right.

Julian glanced up. The girl who'd spoken pulled a dollar from her own wallet and held it out to him. He briefly considered turning it down. He had plenty of money to burn, after all.

But why say no to convenience?

"Thank you," Julian said, quickly looking the girl over as he accepted the dollar. She was nearly a foot shorter than him, probably around five foot three. Her skin was light brown, her eyes were a few shades darker, she wore a white flannel over an oversized teal New Atlas University tee, and—

"Your hair's blue," he noted, lifting an eyebrow. Her curly hair, pulled back into a ponytail, was dark brown for a few inches at the roots. The rest of it was a faded turquoise.

She laughed. "Yeah, I get that a lot. And it's no trouble, really."

While Julian waited for the cashier to finish up his transaction, he watched the girl walk away out of the corner of his eye.

"Here's your change, your drink will be ready in a minute." The cashier dropped a nickel into his hand. "Next!"

Julian stood at the edge of the cafe, debating approaching the girl. It was surprising that someone would offer a stranger a dollar without being threatened, wasn't it? Yes, sure, some people were just nice, but he'd already been reaching for his credit card.

The girl grabbed her drink and left before Julian could make up his mind. An employee called his name a moment later. He grabbed his coffee and found a seat in a corner of the cafe.

You don't take a free drink from a restaurant because you can't afford it, Blazar had told him once. If you're after money, you rob a bank. You take the drink to remind people you could be anywhere, at any time. You take the drink to remind people that they're never really safe.

Julian sipped his coffee. The block of apartments he'd be attacking in a few hours was a short walk from here. He'd pass it on his way to the Complex. The area was familiar. A few times a week, for the past month, he'd spent hours generating stone beneath the streets. Still, it would be nice to take one last look at the layout. He had a lot of asphalt to break through.

He closed his free hand into a fist and formed a single stone. When he opened his hand, the small rock rested on his palm.

That was all he'd been able to do as a child. It took a lot of energy to form matter, after all. But even before he'd fully developed his geogenesis powers, he was at least able to manipulate his creations. Thank god for that. Blazar probably wouldn't have kept him around if all he could do was make pebbles.

Julian pulled out his phone. He responded to a few scheduling emails from other library employees. Checked the time. Skimmed the news. Checked the time again.

It was nearly five-thirty when he finished his coffee. As he rose to his feet, he ran a hand through his dark hair. He was really looking forward to tonight. He hadn't been this excited about a fight in a long time. During the walk to the Complex, he assessed the sidewalk beneath him, searching for the largest cracks, the weak spots he could pull the earth up through.

Storm Warning would have no choice but to show up, really. This was going to be the biggest threat the city had ever seen. Except, perhaps, for a few of Blazar's stunts. It was hard to compete with some of the fires he'd started.

Another five minutes of walking brought Julian to the alley hiding the Complex's entrance. The elevator he took could only be accessed with a key, and the only floor it went to was the top.

A text from Blazar came in halfway up the building. When are you returning to the COVE?

About to walk in, Julian replied. He'd never dare say it to Blazar's face, but he hated calling it the COVE. Not the word itself, but the overly complicated acronym Blazar had come up with. Complex of Villainous Entities. Why make it more complicated than it had to be?

The name didn't matter much, anyway. There were only four of them left now.

The elevator door opened, revealing the open living area. At the opposite end of the space were the doors to the balcony, and a hallway leading to the living quarters. To the left was the kitchen, and to the right were the couches and massive monitor that Damselfly was currently using to watch reality TV.

"Hey, Julian." Damselfly looked up from where she was draped across the couch. Her vibrant blue insect-like wings fluttered as she twisted herself around to watch him enter, glittering in the light from the kitchen. "How are your books?"

She didn't really care. The others took any opportunity they had to make a jab at Julian's job. "Library's doing great," he told her. "Is Blazar in?"

"Nope."

"What about Lord Saturn?"

"Haven't seen her, either." Damselfly's head tipped to the side. Her short, dark waves of jet black hair shifted. "What are you up to?"

"I'm getting into a fight tonight," Julian told her.

"Ooh, Storm Warning?"

"Hopefully." Storm Warning was easily the strongest hero in the city. And the most charismatic. And he was the most fun to fight.

The other heroes who popped up enough to be a household name hardly did anything beyond fighting common criminals in alleys. The minor villains they used to fight had been driven out of the city years ago, or killed. Julian ran into the smaller heroes from time to time, as did Damselfly and Lord Saturn. But Storm Warning was the only one who ever dared to fight Blazar.

"Well, if you're looking for the mask that only covers the top half of your face, it's in the sink," Damselfly said.

"Why is it in the sink?" Julian asked. He frowned. "And how did you know I was looking for that one?"

Damselfly shrugged. "You use the full mask for missions. Half mask is for big public shows. Like fighting Storm Warning." She lifted an eyebrow. "And we were out of dishes and I needed something to put my nachos on."

Julian sighed as he picked his mask out of the sink. "Did the other two say anything about when they'd be back?"

"Nope." Damselfly folded her arms over the top of the couch and rested her chin on them. "Why, you looking for backup tonight?"

"I don't need backup."

"All right, well, I'm here if you change your mind." Damselfly thought for a moment. Her wings twitched. "On second thought, there's a new episode of Haunted Weddings tonight, so I probably won't come out."

Julian rinsed off his mask and wiped it dry with a towel. "Glad I can count on you." He'd been the youngest villain at the Complex, until Damselfly showed up. While Blazar had succeeded at hammering responsibility into Julian, Damselfly hadn't been so keen on establishing herself. She preferred to tag along on whatever plans the others came up with.

"I don't get why this girl is having her wedding at her university," Damselfly said, her attention back on the TV. She tossed a piece of popcorn into her mouth and continued speaking as she chewed. "I mean, I get there was a murder, but those buildings are hideous."

Julian considered asking what exactly the point of the show was, but he didn't have time to listen to another one of Damselfly's spiels.

"You gonna go to college, Julian?" she asked.

He'd considered it, but Blazar had turned him off the idea. You don't need it. You're powerful. You can take whatever you want. He'd tried to dissuade Julian from getting a job, too, but he and Saturn had day jobs. And Julian wanted something to occupy his time, even if he didn't need the money.

"I don't know," Julian finally answered. "I'm already twenty-four."

"That's young!"

Bold words, coming from a sixteen-year-old. "I guess," Julian replied. His mind jumped to the New Atlas University shirt that girl at the cafe had been wearing. He'd spent a fair amount of time looking at their website. Was she a student? Or did she just know someone at the school?

Julian shook off the thought. The sun was setting. It was time to get ready.

The pants and shirt of his super suit were a deep purple. And, like any decent suit, the material was sturdy enough to protect him from minor blows. Then there were the white gloves, white boots, and the collared gold cape that fastened at the neck. Julian liked it, despite Blazar's occasional jab—Still haven't gotten rid of the cape yet?—but he wasn't stupid. The fastener was easy to undo, so he could pull it off before any fight really got going.

The final piece was the metal mask, also gold in color, with slits for his green eyes to peer through. It was the most iconic part, too, the thing people thought of when they heard his name. There were five points at the top, the one in the middle being the tallest, that gave it the appearance of a crown.

Like Damselfly had mentioned, he had two: one that covered his entire face, and the one he'd be wearing tonight that left the bottom of his face exposed. It made conversation easier. And threatening people. A small device embedded in the bottom edge of the mask—designed by Lord Saturn—altered the sound waves of his voice as he spoke, deepening it just enough that only people who knew him well would be able to recognize it.

Julian left his room and returned to the living room.

"I'll watch you on the news!" Damselfly called as he headed for the door. "Well, when my show's on commercial, anyway."

Julian paused. "Don't we have every streaming service?"

"I don't think you know how TV works." Damselfly waved her tablet. "Besides, if I don't watch it live, I can't follow what's happening on social media."

"Blazar might want to use the monitor to watch me."

"I don't think he's coming by tonight."

"We'll see." Julian could worry about Blazar later. It was time to focus.

Right now, he was Citadel.

~

This is the first chapter of Villain Complex, which is available to read in full on my wattpad auroraanorth. It's also linked in my pinned post!