Hero stared at the coffee in their hands throughout the briefing, hoping it would go on just long enough for their drink to no longer be scolding hot. They’d only just finished their shift when the call came in, and Superhero, seeing Hero barely able to keep their eyes open, thought a quick dose of caffeine before the mission would be enough to keep them from protesting. And Hero didn’t protest. Or… more like they couldn’t. Words seemed to be a bit harder to come by now. And any arguing on Superhero’s end became impossible to retort.
Instead, Hero went through the motions, abandoning their coffee when it became evident they weren’t going to drink it, and following the lead of the rest in the hopes they could maybe figure out what was going on. They blanked out a couple of times during the briefing. A couple more times during the drive over.
They had hoped the chaos of the battle would hit them with enough adrenaline to see them through, but the sight of collapsing buildings and Supervillain’s robot army seemed to make everything blue screen.
Realising this was going to be a problem, Hero gathered up a little electricity in their hand and shocked themself. The jolt pushed the fog back a little. Just enough for instinct to kick in as they fell into formation, taking out a robot that had gotten a little closer than it should have.
Robots were tricky to fight, Hero found. Too little electricity and they unintentionally power them up. Too much and they were at risk of burning out. There was a sweet spot that Hero did not have the mental faculties to calculate right now.
Too much it was.
The next three robots exploded on impact with large bolts of lightning. A bit flashier than Hero’s normal techniques but they didn’t have the time or energy to care as a few more swarmed towards them.
They did the same again. Taking each of them out easily though with a high energy cost. And as the last one crumbled to the ground, they felt everything go blank. No sound, no vision, no… anything really. And as briefly as it started it was gone, and Superhero was there yelling in their face.
“Dammit, Hero! What the hell was that?!”
“I-“
“It’s clearly quantity over quality this time, so stop wasting your energy on easy prey. I haven’t got time to babysit you, so get your head in gear!”
“Sorry, I-“
But Superhero didn’t stay to listen to any excuses, and Hero didn’t have time to call after them as Partner was starting to struggle with their own group.
Hero ran over, firing another arc of lightning, though this time trying their best to control the output. It was a success, only slightly overkill this time. They tried the same with the next few though the output wildly fluctuated. It wasn’t until the last one that they messed up and instead super-charged the robot. With a sudden surge of energy, the robot flew over to Partner and landed a blow that sent them flying into a wall.
Hero cursed and fired another bolt, but the robot easily dodged and flew off, likely to launch a surprise attack on one of the others. They ran over to Partner to make sure they were alright, relieved to find them mostly just bruised.
“Hero, what the fuck?!” Partner groaned, trying to sit up.
“Sorry,” Hero winced as they helped them up. “I- I’ll go after them!”
They reached Superhero just as the robot knocked them into the ground, taking their normally resilient leader by surprise. Superhero took a few hits before their brain caught up and finally managed a dodge, kicking the robot back a few meters. The machine got ready for another charge but promptly burst to pieces as Hero got within range to hit it with a bolt.
Superhero turned to Hero, about to say something. Whether it was to shout a thanks or tell them off again they didn’t know. The words died on Superhero’s lips as their eyes widened in horror. They opened their mouth to shout something else, but it all fell on deaf ears as Hero was hit with another fog. The darkness suddenly all-consuming and oh-so-welcoming before they came to yet again. A figure stood flush behind them, one arm around their waist whilst the other hand tilted Hero’s head up to look at them.
“Back with us, are you?” Supervillain grinned, towering over Hero in all their mechanised regalia. Hero panicked, hand going straight to Supervillain’s arm and flooded it with a significant shockwave.
“You must really be out of it,” Supervillain cooed. “It’s been years since you’ve fallen for that.”
Hero flinched, releasing their grip, but the damage had already been done. The red lights of Supervillains augmentations grew noticeably brighter as hidden empty cores suddenly found themselves at full charge.
“God, you look awful though,” they continued, turning their gaze then to Superhero. “You really letting your people fight in this condition?”
“Let them go, Supervillain,” Superhero demanded. “Your fight’s with me.”
“You’re the one who brought a liability onto the battlefield. I’m simply taking advantage,” Supervillain replied casually before returning to examine Hero. “Seriously, when was the last time you got any sleep?”
Hero tried to pull their head out of Supervillain’s grip, only for it to tighten in return.
“None of that now, little spark,” they tutted. “I asked you a question.”
“Yesterday,” Hero hissed, continuing their struggle to break free.
“Try again,” Supervillain scolded. “And I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you, Superhero. Lest something happen to Hero here.”
Superhero stopped in their tracks, gritting their teeth as they tried to come up with a solution.
“Shall I run through the calculations?” Supervillain suggested. “The little spark just finished a twelve-hour shift. Before that, there was that emergency with Villain which took six hours to resolve. Before that was the press event which took four hours and let’s not forget those three hours you spent running errands for Partner who was stuck doing paperwork…”
Hero froze in their struggles. How did they-?! They thought, mind whirring and a dread beginning to form in the pit of their stomach.
“…food shop before that which took an hour and a half. Then there was all that general life admin which took four hours. Three hours visiting family, following the six hours you babysat your cousin for. And then another twelve-hour shift before that which ran seven hours overtime because a certain someone had a personal emergency,” Supervillain finished, briefly giving Superhero a pointed glance before looking back down at Hero. “Did I miss anything?”
“How- how long…?” Hero asked, horrified to hear the answer.
Supervillain only grinned in return, which Hero found far worse.
“I think we can both agree they shouldn’t be out in this condition. Right, Superhero?”
Superhero said nothing, though guilt hung heavy on them like a shroud.
“It’s not their fault,” Hero protested, trying and failing to renew their struggles. “They didn’t know.”
“Of course they knew,” Supervillain said, pulling Hero tighter against them and leaning in closer to their ear. “They all knew from just one look at you. And yet here you are regardless.”
Superhero took another step forward, and a nearby robot shot a blast at the ground just inches in front of them.
“I already said, didn’t I?” Supervillain warned, and Superhero was forced to stop again.
“What do you want, Supervillain?” Superhero gritted. “I doubt you’re here just to critique my methods.”
“True,” they answered. “I might have gotten a bit distracted when I saw my little spark fumbling about instead of back home in bed. Though I will admit, it is quite fun knocking you off that high horse of yours.”
Superhero’s jaw clenched, their patience finally reaching its end. They took another step forward.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Supervillain said. A giddy smile baring his teeth. “I still have a hostage, you know?”
“You’re not going to kill them.”
“You know that for certain?” Supervillain asked. Hero flinched as they leaned back into their ear, whispering frantically as Superhero sped up their advance. “You see how they treat you? Not a care in the world for your wellbeing. Can you see it, little spark? You’re nothing but a tool to them-!”
A robot jumped between them just as Superhero was nearly within melee, only to be knocked down instantly by Superhero’s punch. Their fist shattered the contraption in two as it crumpled into a jittering heap of sparks and machine parts. Another robot tackled them from the side, colliding into Superhero’s immovable frame. This one was grabbed by the head and flung into another advancing unit.
Before another one could get in their way, Superhero burst forward fist raised, straight towards Supervillain.
Supervillain grinned, and Hero had barely a second to get out a warning before Superhero’s fist flew… and met with Supervillain’s mechanised hand.
“My turn,” said Supervillain, as the red lights on their arm brightened and crackled. Superhero hadn’t recovered quick enough from the shock of getting caught before a blast of electrical discharge sent them flying backwards and into a building. Concrete walls exploding on impact as a cloud of dust obscured the air around the site.
Hero called out Superhero’s name as they tried to break out of Supervillain’s hold.
“They’re fine,” Supervillain chuckled, not budging in the slightest. “Something like that isn’t going to kill them outright. Which is why I’m really glad I had some good ones in reserve.”
Several of Supervillain’s better creations landed outside the crash site, weapons charged and preparing to go in. As quickly as they could, Hero charged up and fired a bolt of lightning directly at the robot closest to the entrance. Only for Supervillain to pull Hero’s arm up just as they released it. The bolt shot through the building instead, starting a fire on the upper floors. Hero groaned as a nauseating wave of dizziness ran through them.
“Well, that was fun,” Supervillain remarked. “Shall we try that again?”
“L-let go of me,” Hero cried, their vision blurring worse than it had done all day. “Need to help…”
“I know you do, you poor little workaholic,” Supervillain sighed patronisingly, leaning their chin on Hero’s head. “Tell you what, if you can stay awake for one more minute, I’ll let you join in.”
“Promise?” Hero asked, clinging onto whatever dregs of hope and adrenaline they could find.
“Cross my heart. Let me know when you’re ready to start.”
Hero wasn’t sure what Supervillain meant by that, but gave the affirmative as quick as they could, not wanting to waste any more time. The second they did, Supervillain placed their hand over Hero’s eyes.
“One, two, three…” Supervillain began slowly. Their voice soft and droning against Hero’s ear. Hero tried to shake them off, but Supervillain was having none of it. “Hold still now, or I’ll have to start the timer again.” Hero gritted their teeth but reluctantly stopped fighting, allowing Supervillain to continue their counting.
Supervillain stopped long before they reached sixty.
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