Intoxicating fear — part V
I’m not incredibly happy with this, but I’m trying to put out at least one post a week, maybe on Sundays? Anyways, enjoy
Superhero was standing in front of Hero, chatting, and Hero knew it was a dream. They were doing a mission report. Standard procedure. Hero had done them ever since they started working for Superhero, under the radar and acting as a vigilante in the city.
“And what about Villain?” Superhero asked, and Hero tilted their head slightly.
Villain was the source of Hero’s nightmares, they couldn’t even escape them in their dreams and they wanted to tell Superhero everything they were doing to Hero. Wanted to cry into Superhero’s shoulder, even if it was just a projection from Hero’s subconscious.
“Nothing to report I’m afraid,” said Hero, except… Hero didn’t open their mouth to say that. “Ever since the docks they’ve been MIA.”
Hero frowned, but their face remained neutral.
No, Hero didn’t know exactly where Villain was but they knew they weren’t MIA. Hero knew they was definitely some things to report such as Villain’s sadistic torture and humiliation in using Hero’s power against them.
Superhero shook their head, tsked and said: “I should have never sent you out there alone.”
“You couldn’t have known, Superhero,” said Hero, “and besides, I’m fine.”
Hero was absolutely not fine.
They couldn’t feel anything in their body and they felt far too far away to be talking like this in their dreams. Not when Hero was so aware of everything.
Aware of how clear they could see Superhero in front of them.
Aware of being in Superhero’s office to give their reports like normal.
Aware of the horrible smell of Superhero’s usual spicy tuna sandwich that they insisted went great with that vinegary BBQ sauce.
Hero frowned and blinked but their eyes didn’t blink. Their lips didn’t frown. They just stayed still and waited for Superhero to either reply or dismiss them. They wanted to pinch themselves to wake up, this dream was eerily realistic. Too much detail, it was making Hero anxious and yet their heart remained eerily steady.
“Right, well,” Superhero sighed, running a hand through their hair and shooting Hero a soft happy smile. “Thank you for the update, Hero.”
“I’m just sorry it wasn’t good news,” said Hero a little sadly. Superhero shook their head and put a reassuring hand on Hero’s shoulder but Hero didn’t feel it.
“Don’t worry, Hero. You and I together, we’re unstoppable. We’ll catch Villain before they strike again. Before they hurt anyone else. I pro—“
The world swirled and shifted and changed and Hero screamed. Hero gasped, feeling as if they had just resurfaced from underwater, all feeling returning as sudden as a tsunami.
“Annnnnndddd you’re back in the room,” Villain said, voice far too happy as it reached Hero’s ears. They could feel their body now alright. Feel the electricity buzzing through it and feel the ache in their arms and feel the tiredness of their eyelids.
They gasped in startled breaths as their body spasmed with the aftershock of whatever Villain had just done to them. Villain had reached up a hand and cupped Hero’s cheek in their palm, then gave it a light slap.
“You in there, little Hero? Or do you need another jolt?”
There was an unnatural crackle in the air, electric and fierce and loud. Hero flinched at the buzz of electric blue, nearly the same colour as Hero’s own electricity. Villain hummed, their dark eyes capturing Hero’s pained ones and locking them into Villain’s carnivorous gaze.
“There you are,” Villain purred, digging their fingers into Hero’s cheek. Hero wrenched their head back with an effort, their chest heaving heavy laboured breaths.
Hero only got their bearings then. They weren’t sitting down anymore, but this time Villain let their feet sit flat on the ground with no water. Their arms were dragged above Hero’s head, leaving them hang in a Y shape compared to their body. Hero pulled on them, feeling the rubber still sitting snug around their hands, testing the strength and Villain’s laugh followed the clack of Hero’s cuffs shifting.
“Yep. You’re there. Do you want another quickie?”
Before Hero could refuse the crackle filled the air and Villain pressed it against Hero’s ribs. Hero’s scream was sudden and torn from their throat in a strangled cry of shock. They squirmed away from the pain in a desperate attempt for relief but Villain just followed their movement with a smirk on their horrible red lips. Hero’s muscles spasmed and seized so hard it felt like they were about to burst from the pressure of the electricity coursing through their skin.
After what felt like far too much and much too long the crackle in the air died and Hero sucked in startled breaths.
Villain put their hand on Hero’s cheek again, steering their head to look at Villain, to meet their terrible dark eyes.
“I think that’s enough for now, Hero, don’t you?” Villain said sweetly. Hero let out a soft breath of relief. Villain tightened their grip on Hero’s face until Hero squirmed before saying: “aren’t you going to thank me, Hero? Did seeing Superhero not teach you any manners?”
Hero blinked, momentarily forgetting the pain of Villain’s fingernails biting into their skin.
“Seeing Superhero?” Hero asked, voice far too croaky and rough from the electricity. They flinched when Villain lit up the baton again and the air crackled with blue light before ushering out a sloppy: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Yes, that’s enough Villain. Thank you.”
Villain smiled, pleased and let go of Hero’s face before moving away from Hero altogether. Villain walked to a small table with a bunch of tools perfectly laid out on it and placed the electric baton down in it’s perfect place.
“It’s a cattle prod,” said Villain conversationally, keeping their back turned to Hero. “In case you wanted to know. Tricky thing to get ahold of, but… I’d do anything to see you in pain Hero. Especially at the mercy of the very power that makes you so special.”
Hero licked their lips, mouth dry. “What do you mean seeing Superhero?”
It was a dream. Hero had thought it was a dream. It felt like a dream, they couldn’t move or talk or breathe or speak and everything had felt far too far away. Dreamlike.
Villain let out a soft insidious laugh, more of a chuckle than anything, and Hero felt the familiar coil of fear wind deep in their gut.
Villain turned to face Hero, resting their hands on the table behind them. Villain was wearing their usual, dress shirt tucked into slacks and clean shoes shined to perfection. They smiled at Hero with their too red lips contrasting against their pale skin like blood on snow, and their dark eyes captured Hero’s in their snare.
“I mean seeing Superhero, Hero. Last time you begged me so beautifully I decided you deserved a little reward. You wanted to be awake, or well… to not go to sleep again,” Villain said easily, words flowing like highly pressurised water, cutting into Hero with every new one that fell so easily from Villain’s lips.
“So I let you stay awake, briefly when you reported back to Superhero for me. Tell me, how did it feel seeing Superhero? Being in your body, conscious, so close to being able to reach out and tell them all the atrocities I’ve committed against you, and not being able to so much as lift a finger?”
A lump formed in Hero’s throat as powerless tears started to well in the back of Hero’s eyes. They didn’t say or do anything, they just remained silent and still, not wanting to give Villain what they wanted. Not wanting to give them a reaction.
“Did the electricity seize your vocal chords, little Hero? Would you like it to?”
Despite everything in their body begging them to speak, to tell Villain not to shock them again, Hero remained silent. Just staring ahead.
“Hmph, silent treatment. Fine I can just put you to sleep again and let you wake up when you sink a knife into Supe—“
“No!” Hero blurted, then silently chastised themself, balling their hands into fists above their head and tugging uselessly on their cuffs. Idiot.
Villain crossed the room in two long strides and grabbed Hero by their chin, tilting their head to stare Villain in the eyes. Their dark eyes had a vile hunger in it, and a sharp anger glowered back at Hero for their disobedience.
“Then tell me how it felt.”
“It felt—“ Hero croaked weakly, hating themself for obeying and yielding to every threat Villain threw at them, like some scared child. “It felt like a bad dream, like a nightmare. I thought… I thought I was dreaming because I couldn’t do anything, or feel anything, until you shocked me back here.”
“Do you believe me now, little Hero, hmm? That nobody is looking for you? That nobody knows about our secret little meetings,” Villain asked, voice deceptively sweet. The weight of Villain’s words hit Hero harder than Other Hero’s blast of water. They weren’t lying. Hero was really and truly alone, nobody knew about Villain because Hero…
Hero had seen themself tell Superhero that it was alright. That there was no word of Villain. That Villain had disappeared after the docks, but they hadn’t because they were standing in front of Hero now, smirking at them with their horrible smile and their horrible eyes.
“Yes, you see now, don’t you?”
Frustrated tears gathered behind Hero’s eyes again at the utter helplessness of their situation. Of the complete powerlessness they felt trapped here with Villain.
Hero balled their hands into fists, tugging hard at the restraints keeping them chained to the ceiling.
“Don’t be so certain,” Hero ground out, their voice watery and weak but they didn’t care.
“Superhero’s still looking for you, and when they find you,” Hero continued, leaning as far forward as his restraints would allow, smile feral as they pushed Villain’s hand back, “they’ll find me too, and I’ll make sure you suffer.”
Villain’s eyes lit up with that. They laughed, taking their hand off Hero’s face and patting Hero’s chest instead. Hero rolled back, limbs aching as the chains pulled taut around their wrist and gritted their teeth.
“Promises, promises,” Villain hummed. “I look forward to seeing this vengeful side of you Hero. That was brave, to threaten me like that when you know there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop me.”
Villain shrugged, rolling their shoulders, grinning widely. “Maybe Superhero finds me, and maybe you do what you said you would. But as long as you’re here with me, I’ll make sure that you assure Superhero that all is well and that I’ve disappeared into the sunset. Keep that spark of defiance for as long as you can hold onto it Hero.”
“You see… the one little snag in your brilliant plan Hero, is that you forget I own you now. You’re like my own little puppet.”
“I’m not your puppet!” Hero cried, anger leaking into their expression.
Villain just smiled. “No?”
“Interesting,” Villain hummed, turning their back to Hero. They walked across the room back to their little table of horrors and then the world faded to an impenetrable darkness, as if Hero’s eyes were shut in a basement with no light or windows, but… but they were still in the same position. Nothing had changed.
Hero pulled on their restraints just to make sure and they were certain that they were in the same room, same position, same time but it was hard to know.
“Vi—“ Hero began then stopped themself. What were they going to do beg? Cry out? Make sure they were still there?
Villain was probably the one doing this to them.
“Hero?” It was Superhero who said that and Hero froze. Their heart thundering against their ears.
Did Villain make good on their promise?! Was Hero stabbing Superhero. Their blood ran cold, a shiver crawling slow and icy up their spine.
There was a hand on Hero’s wrist and Hero jerked back, not trusting any of this. Even if there was a small part of them that wanted to.
“Easy, Hero. I’m getting you down.”
“No…” Hero said softly. “No this is a trick. Don’t touch me! Villain!”
“Hero, shh, or they’ll hear us.”
“You can’t fool me, Villain,” Hero spat, voice poisonous and broken. “You’re not as good as you think you are.”
Or maybe I’m just going easy on you, Hero, Villain purred inside Hero’s head.
Hero shook their head, screwing their eyes shut trying to shake Villain out, but they knew it was useless. “Maybe I’m just going easy on you, you’re so brave when I can’t use my powers, Villain. You know that? We have a word for that in the Hero tower. Cow—“
It wasn’t a natural thing, more like they ran out of air and couldn’t make it with enough breath to the end of the sentence. Hero choked, swallowing and trying to start speaking again but they couldn’t.
“What was that Hero?” Villain asked out loud. The darkness bled away from the centre of Hero’s vision and they could see Villain staring at them with a sick sort of interest. “What was the word?”
Hero opened their mouth and tried again but nothing came out but a breathy wheeze, as if Hero’s voice was gone.
“Hmm,” Villain said, tilting their head. “Mustn’t have been important. Anyways, since a cat’s got your tongue let’s go back to my little puppet analogy, shall we?”
Villain started walking then. He walked around Hero, circling them like a vulture ready to pick the meat from Hero’s bones. Maybe they were. Hero followed Villain with their limited vision until Villain disappeared from Hero’s sight and the blackness screwed up the small tunnel of vision Hero had.
“Puppets can’t see,” Villain said behind Hero now. Hero turned their head to the side hoping Villain would let them see again even just a sliver. This was too much. This was too much and Hero couldn’t even beg for Villain to stop. “Puppets can’t speak. Remind me again, Hero, can you speak?”
Before Hero could do anything they heard the clack of the cattle prod and then it was pressed against Hero’s leg and Hero screamed but no sound came out. Hero’s muscles spasmed, their calf slipping out from under them and they cried as their shoulder took the brunt force of the pain but they couldn’t scream.
“If you’re not a puppet, Hero, tell me when it hurts and I’ll stop.”
Hero vaguely heard the words through their nerves lighting on fire and trying to scream as loud as they could, to get any air from their lungs and force their vocal chords to produce sound. To do something!
Stop! Stop! STOP! VILLAIN PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!
The electricity stopped cackling through the air and Hero sagged in their restraints, their legs going out from under them. They hung limply by their wrists, nerves still on fire on every point of their body. They swallowed weakly, snot and tears flowing freely in rivers down Hero’s face.
“See, Hero?” A hand was on their cheek, gently wiping away their silent tears as they sucked in heavy breaths and heaved out shuddering sighs. Hero couldn’t even pull away, they didn’t have the strength, so their cheek rested heavily in Villain’s palm. Putty in Villain’s hands. Their muscles still spasming from the aftershock. “A puppet can’t feel pain. I could give you that power you know. Turn off the nerve receptors in your brain, then you wouldn’t feel a thing for real.”
Hero shook their head, sniffing and sobbing silently.
“No? Then maybe you could actually rebel against me, hmm,” Villain cooed, running a hand through Hero’s hair. Hero flinched as Villain’s fingers pushed the stray hairs off of Hero’s forehead soaked in sweat, back out of their blind eyes that Hero couldn’t see out of.
Hero swallowed hard at Villain’s words, trying to steel themselves and make themselves impenetrable but they couldn’t help the dread dripping down from the lump in their throat and pooling into their gut. They were completely and utterly at Villain’s mercy. So powerless.
They couldn’t see if Villain didn’t want them to.
They couldn’t speak, if Villain didn’t want them to.
They couldn’t breathe, if Villain didn’t want them to.
They were choking on their helplessness and the realisation made a fresh wave of tears to pour down Hero’s cheeks.
Slowly, achingly slow, Hero’s vision returned to them and they recoiled slightly, squinting against the dim light of the room that was too bright after their bout of pure darkness.
“There. See, Hero? I can be merciful too,” said Villain, voice imperceptibly soft. Villain reached up their other hand, the cattle prod hanging from their wrist, and cupped Hero’s cheeks in two hands, wiping away the tears, forcing Hero to look into their dark eyes. “I just wanted you to understand exactly how powerless you are to stop me, so maybe I don’t have to punish you as much. Would you like that?”
Hero couldn’t do anything in reply, but they weren’t sure they even wanted to. What do you say to something like that? A promise to not hurt Hero was worth as much as a flammable fire extinguisher. Worth as much as a Hero with electric powers wrapped in rubber.
“You can talk, Hero,” Villain told them, with an encouraging smile.
Hero sucked in a breath and sure enough they could hear the pathetic gasp of air. Their eyes still shone with the hopelessness and pain of Villain’s latest attack, they didn’t even want to see how pathetic they looked… but they knew one thing for certain.
“D…” Hero rasped and then descended into a small coughing fit before composing themselves, swallowing and clearing their throat. They looked into Villain’s hideous dark eyes that were too bright at Hero’s misery. “Do… your worst, Villain. I’ll get out of here eventually, and you’ll… pay.”
Villain smiled, their red lips curling up at the edges into a smile sharper than a Stanley blade. “Oh I look forward to it, Hero. You are just so determined. So full of surprises, I knew it was a good idea to take you, and you just keep giving me more and more reasons to keep you.”
Villain dug their nails in Hero’s cheeks with a grin before letting go of Hero’s face and stepping back and raising the cattle prod like a sword and holding it up towards Hero.
“You have your little vengeance plot going on, and while it’s cute and absolutely adorable and delusional. I, can and will” Villain said, touching the cattle prod to each of Hero’s shoulders. Villain’s face got brighter when Hero flinched back both times, terrified, “do whatever I like with you in the meantime. How’s that sound?”
Villain held up the cattle prod and pressed the button down, watching as Hero flinched at the mere sight and sound of the electricity.
The Orphanage (plz lemme know if you want to be added or removed <3) — @nameless-beanie @andithewhumper @annablogsposts @whatwhumpcomments @whumpasaurus101 @0eggdealer @rejectedbytheempty @princess-bubble-blossom