Luna/Cepheid quickie design, inspired by how fan artists tend to represent Shabranigdu in art as looking like Lei Magnus with red hair and eyes.
Cepheid is marvelling at how weird and small hands are at this scale. Off-screen, Lina is marvelling at how much less scary her big sister is when she's being possessed by a God.
Vigilante grimaced as Supervillain squirmed and whined pitifully, slurred words slipping past his cracked lips. The past two hours had been hellish. Cleaning his horrific wound, stitching it closed, and administering antibiotics.
Supervillain whimpered, whipping his head from side to side.
“Ssssssshhhhhh.” Vigilante soothed, running her hand across his boiling forehead, brushing his damp hair back. He flinched away from her touch, writhing weakly.
Once she had cleaned the blood off, she could see that the wound had been crudely stitched up several times before. He’d been kept alive, had his wound reopened again and again...
It made her feel sick. Despite everything he’d done, he certainly hadn’t deserved this.
Supervillain was breathing unevenly, his chest shuddering as he squeaked in pain.
For the first hour, he’d begged her for mercy in half-coherent pleas. Now he seemed too exhausted to even plead.
“Mnhhhh...” He groaned, squirming weakly in the sweat-soaked sheets.
Supervillain managed to peel his eyes open, not that it did much good. His vision was blurred from tears and heat. His whole abdomen was searing with pain, and fear gripped him so tightly he could barely breath.
He tried to struggle, but hands on his shoulders pushed him down. He gasped in panic, trying to resist, to escape. He heard a sigh from the blurry silhouette.
“Stop, you’ll tear the wound open again.” A voice- not Villain’s, as this was distinctly female- said, in a tone that was both gentle and firm, as the hands withdrew from his shoulders. But no matter how soft-spoken the words were, the meaning sent a spike of terror through him. He couldn’t take being cut open again.
He began to cry, feeling sick with fear.
“Hey-”
“No! Please!” Supervillain cried, jerking away when fingers touched his arm. “I can’t do this anymore! Not again! Please don’t!”
“Supervillain-”
He shook his head frantically, trying to squirm away. “Please- I’m sorry!”
“What?” The girl, who he could barely make out in the dim light, looked genuinely puzzled.
“Please- whatever I did, I’m sorry, s-so sorry. I’ll do anything- just- please!”
“Supervillain.” The girl said, her voice soft. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Th-then why?” He whimpered.
“Sssshhh, I found you, out in a shed-” Supervillain sniffled at the mention of his prison.
Vigilante half-wondered if this was a dream. Because she knew how lethal Supervillain was. She’d had encounters with him before now, back when he was still insufferably arrogant.
Nothing like the sobbing wreck sprawled out on her bed.
‘Give it up, darling, I don’t have time to play with you.’ That had been his bored remark the last time she tried to face him, as if she was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
She gently put her hand on his shoulder, wincing as he cringed away with a mewl of pain and fear.
She pulled her hand back with a sigh.
“W-where ‘m I?” He rasped.
“You’re at my place.”
He looked up at her with those scared blue eyes. “Who a-are you?”
Vigilante hesitated, but decided it was best to tell the truth now.
“It’s um... It’s me, Vigilante.” She immediately regretted deciding to tell the truth.
Supervillain’s eyes widened in panic, and he cowered away from her with a blubbering noise.
Vigilante grabbed his wrist, grimacing at how hot his fever still was, as she straddled his thighs to stop his thrashing.
“Don’t! Please, I can’t- I’m sorry! I-I won’t...” He whimpered, slumping down in defeat. “I-I’ll do anything you want. Just- please- don’t cut me again. I-I... Please, I...” He trailed off, hiccuping.
“I told you, I’m not here to hurt you. I found you and brought you back here.” She paused, noticing the fear on his face.
“If I get off of you, will you lie still?” Vigilante asked. Supervillain nodded quickly, and her heart sank as she realized he’d do anything she told him to, because he was terrified she was going to torture him the way Villain had.
“Do you want some water?” She asked him. His eyes flickered to the glass on the nightstand, and he shrank back.
“Supervillain, you need to stay hydrated.” She sighed, but he shrank back with a sniffle.
It struck her that Villain had probably drugged him at some point.
Vigilante sighed, picking up the glass. She took a swallow of the cold water, then held it out in offering.
Supervillain hesitantly took it, though he was shaking so violently that Vigilante ended up having to help him drink.
He was clearly already exhausted, eyes half-lidded, but they still held that look of terror.
Vigilante stood up, going to the bathroom to get a cold cloth.
When she laid it across his burning forehead, he moaned softly, leaning slightly into the touch.
