#lucius smith

[marauders4evr]

When I first pitched Reputation (x), I was like, "This is set in The Abilities Universe but there will be no crossovers", and now I'm just sitting here, thinking of a scene that goes something like...

"Nobody is going to arrest Jack," Hari promised, seconds before Juniper Johnson and Ryleigh Ryder wheeled into the hospital.

There was a scramble of wheels and feet, as Jack dragged Cattie's chair over to sit next to his; he figured thirteen-year-olds and government officials didn't mix. He also pulled Tally close, knowing full well that the college student could teleport away, praying that she didn't. He should have been more concerned about her friend.

Jason stomped forward as if he wasn't scared of the two telekinetic agents who had the power to arrest people. "I swear, if you two even look at Jack, I will burn your wheelchairs to the ground!"

"Jason," Jack groaned. "Okay, is there anyone who can, you know, stop you from lighting the elderly on fire?"

"That would be me," said a man with a silver ponytail, walking through the sliding doors.

"Yeah, Sweater Vest has the best shot," Jason admitted.

"Then, go stand by him, and don't commit arson on the way," Jack said, giving him a small push. "Why are you two here?"

"If you're here to arrest Jack, I'll light your chairs on fire, mys—" Cattie's threat was concealed by Jack's hand.

"We're not going to arrest him," Johnson promised.

"Well, not today," Ryder said.

"We—" Johnson glared at Ryder before facing Jack. "We heard what happened. We're sorry for any part we played."

"Which was...pretty much every part, Johnson," Jason spoke up. "I know you like advocating for supervillains, but that doesn't mean you have to keep making them."

"Jas—" His guardian broke off. "No, no, he actually has a point."

"Speaking of supervillains," Johnson said, clearly continuing the conversation she constructed. "I want Jack to meet a friend of mine. She's like you. Someone labeled as a supervillain who only wanted to be a superhero, who is a superhero, no matter what people say."

A young black woman wheeled her chair through the doors. Jack had just enough time to admire the afro before flinching as Tally and Cattie screamed, in the way that only teenagers could.

"No way! No way!"

"It's The Wheeler!"

"Oh my god!" Jack screeched. "I don't know who that is!"

Tally did her best to explain: "The Wheeler is—"

"—an extremely annoying nickname, given to me by an extremely annoying man," the woman said with a grin. "Call me Minnie."

---

Something like that.

[marauders4evr]

So, I’m well-aware of the fact that when I pitched Reputation (x) a few weeks ago, I specifically said the words: “A few references aside, there won’t be any major crossovers with anyone from The Antagonists (…well…), The Defectives, One Day, etc.” I acknowledge that I said these words. I also acknowledge that I lied. Have an excerpt from the very end:

Jack stared at the long train that was going to take him from the city. He was somewhat disappointed at how modern it looked. He always thought that, when the time came for him to finally leave, he would board an old-fashioned machine with steam ominously hugging its large wheels. Admittedly, he may have romanticized the fantasy, a bit, but he did have to admit that his dream-self looked good in a Victorian cabbie cap.

His non-dream self, void of any caps, ran a hand through his mohawk. He continued to stare at the train, instead of attempting to board, though he also didn’t attempt to flee. He was proud of himself for that.

He was vaguely aware of someone coming up to stand next to him, their voice unrecognizable as they said, “Trains are a good way to travel, but wouldn’t you like to take the subway?”

Jack may not have recognized the voice but he did recognize the saying. His head turned so fast that his neck cracked. From his silver ponytail to his patterned sweater-vest to his kind smile, the man looked completely nonthreatening. Jack was completely threatened.

The man was at least half a decade older than him, and judging by his accent, he wasn’t from Some City. Jack started to access his memories, trying to place the face, but the man quickly said, “No, no, don’t get sick on my behalf. My name’s Lucius Kane. We’ve never actually met but, obviously, we have a few things in common.”

“You went to The Institute?” Jack asked.

"When I was in college,” said the man. “When I was legally old enough to consent. See, Ryder and Johnson, they’re sticklers about consent. Morals beaten into them by an old family friend. I heard Johnson really went out on a limb to accept you as a test-subject. You were only, what, fourteen at the time? You were just a child, but she felt bad, because you needed the money. She made you sign a whole bunch of waivers and make a whole bunch of promises that you wouldn’t end up losing yourself to your powers.”

“Yes,” Jack shortly said, “I remember.”

“Of course you do,” Lucius said. “So, what happened?”

Jack scowled and muttered, “I lost myself but—”

“You made Juniper Johnson cry, that’s what happened.” Lucius considered it for a moment before saying, “Okay, granted, not exactly a difficult feat, but you should still feel bad. She would’ve come herself, by the way, but she had to deal with a burnt down library. My son* burnt it down so I owed her a favor.”

“Gonna gloss over that last part,” Jack said. “Why did Johnson want to come here? Also, how does she even know where I am? How do you? I gave The Institute a fake address.”

“Yeah,” Lucius said. “You gave the government agency that monitors superheroes and supervillains a fake address.”

Jack flushed before asking, “So, they knew where I was, the entire time?”

“Of course they did, they were a government agency that monitors superheroes and supervillains! Ryder probably knows that your shoelace is untied.”

“Then why didn’t they ever—I mean—not that I wanted them to contact me, I didn’t care, but—?”

“They didn’t want to pressure you into making the wrong choice,” Lucius said. “They didn’t care if you became a superhero or a supervillain, so long as you were in control of your actions. Johnson’s biggest fear was that your powers would become too much, that you would lose yourself.”

“Well, good news, I’m not lost.”

“You said earlier—”

“You never let me finish,” Jack argued. “I lost myself but I found myself, again. More importantly, I found good people, who found me. And, somehow, I found a way to save them, and they found a way to save me, and we found a way to save the day. So, if the only reason you came was to check up on me, then—”

“It’s one of the reasons, but I also came to deliver this.” Lucius pulled a report from his pocket. “The Institute has a record of every official Super. Within their system, barring one exception, everyone’s eventually labelled as a supervillain or superhero. Johnson just updated your profile and gave you an official label.”

“What?” Jack nearly fell from his wheelchair. “Well, what is it?”

Lucius smirked and revealed the answer.

---

Like Lucius, I am smirking. Unlike Lucius, I’m not revealing the answer.

*Boy, those were two satisfying words to write...

[marauders4evr]

An excerpt from The Defectives 3:

"You’re really not gonna drop this whole ‘supervillains deserve rights’ thing, huh?” Ryder asked, looking more amused than annoyed.

Juniper shook her head.

“So, what, we should let ‘em get married?”

“Why not?” she asked. “If my parents could get married for money then why can’t supervillains get married for love?”

He snorted and said, “Okay, I guess I can’t argue with that. That said, I’m sure a lot of other people could come up with their own arguments. Let me guess, you also advocate for them getting houses like everyone else?”

"Of course,” she said. “They can’t raise a family on the streets.”

“A family?” Ryder still looked amused, though there was definitely resistance in his eyes “Kid, marriage is one thing, only two supervillains are involved in that. Do you really want more supervillains in the world?”

“Just because their parents are supervillains, that doesn’t mean the children will be,” Juniper argued. “My parents are horrible and look at how I turned out.”

“Yeah, you turned out that way because of me,” Ryder said. “No matter how you look at it, it’s dangerous for a child to be in the presence of a supervillain.”

“Are you saying that children are supposed to just suffer in orphanages instead of having loving parents who may have less-than-ideal day jobs?”

“That is exactly what I’m saying,” Ryder said. “Come on, kid, do you really think there can be a future where supervillains are legally allowed to adopt children?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said with a shrug. “You know, one day.”

---

*Grins*

[marauders4evr]

So, by now, it should be obvious that all of my characters from across the relevant books are going to come together in The Antagonists: Book Ten, and when that happens, by god, I want there to be a scene like this:

“The universe operates on the basis of consent, Arthur,” Perry dangerously said, balls of energy rising up in her hands. “To fail getting consent, to assume that your perspective is the most important, is to fail to understand everything and anything. You complete and utter---”

She paused as a hand tugged on her skirt. The energy disappeared as she kindly crouched down so that Tyler could whisper in her ear.

“Ah, I see!” Perry snapped her head up to stare down a startled Lucius. “Tyler, here, just told me that you grounded him from ice-cream, without his consent.”

“Literally not how parenting works,” Lucius said.

Victor smirked and Minnie snickered, until the other supervillain snapped, “What are you laughing at?”

“’Parenting’,” Victor teased.

“Oh, like I’m getting advice from someone who killed half of his kids.”

“Three-quarters,” Mortimer corrected.

Victor pointed to him in validation before saying, “Sure, but I never took away Mortimer and Dmitri’s ice-cream. There’s a line.”

“Okay, you know what?”

“I know that Tyler is getting some ice-cream,” Perry kindly said.

“Aw!” Jason cried. “What about me?”

“Well of course, you too, sweetie!”

“You can’t just co-parent my kids, Perenelle!”

“Hey!” Felix shouted. “Don’t tell her what she can’t do!”

---

Arthur and his army are just awkwardly standing there the entire time.

[marauders4evr]

I know what you’re thinking: “Jonah needs to meet Jason.”

I wholeheartedly agree and therefore you should consider this canon:

“I’m going to make some more cocoa. Let me know if Jason does anything villainous. He’s supposed to be on his best behavior.”

“’Dude acts like he’s raising a part-supervillain. Hey, hon, what’s wrong?”

“Dean, listen, Lucius is the best ex that one could ever ask for and he truly is one of the nicest guys I haven’t married. With all of that said, he’s not exactly---well---he’s a bit different than you and I.”

“Cedric, when have we ever cared about what’s normal?”

“No, I know, but he’s really not normal. Neither are his adopted sons.”

“Yeah, well, join the club.”

“What I’m trying to say is---”

“Hon, relax! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. He’s more than welcome in our house. So is his family. Speaking of weird adopted sons, where’s ours?”

“HEY, DEAN, JASON JUST DID SOMETHING REALLY COOL!”

“Oh boy.”

“Cedric, calm down. JONAH, WHAT IS THIS REALLY COOL THING?”

“HE SET MY BED ON FIRE!”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...What the fuck?”

“Language!” 

“Language!”

[marauders4evr]

The first excerpt from my upcoming book, Masked:

I was halfway up the pathway when my shoe caught my lace. I went down hard, landing on my stomach, somehow used to the sensation. Still, it took me a few seconds to look up. When I did, I realized that the door to the house had opened, and a man had stepped out onto the small ramp. 

“Are you okay?” he gently asked.

“F-fine!” I jumped to my feet, nearly tripped over my shoelace again, steadied myself, cleared my throat, and squeaked, “Is your son here?”

The man raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on my awkward attempt to not be awkward. Instead, he said, “I’m sorry, no. He’s at school. At least, he should be. Are you sure you’re all right? You’re shaking.”

“I can shake and be all right,” I said, causing him to chuckle but not necessarily disagree. “D-do you know when he gets out of school?”

“I suppose at the same time when you should be getting out of school.”

He was clearly trying not to smile. My cheeks became warm and I stared at the sidewalk. I tried (and failed) to sound natural as I said, “Right, well, um, I had a doctor’s appointment so that’s why I’m not in school. I have a note. I can show you---”

“I’m sure you could and I’m sure it’s impressive,” said the man, his smile growing. “I’ve seen my fair share over the years.”

I sighed and muttered, “Are you going to tell my parents?”

This caused him to laugh again. His eyes twinkled as he said, “I don’t even know who you are, let alone who your parents are.”

“O-oh,” I said. “Right. Um, I’m Simon. Simon---wait---if I tell you my last name, you’ll know who my parents are.”

“That does complicate this introduction.”

“Just call me Simon,” I quickly said. “I---um---have you heard of me?”

“Not at all,” he said. I squinted and realized that he was telling the truth. Still offering me a kind expression, he asked, “Should I have?”

“I guess not,” I remarked, looking back at the sidewalk. “I mean, they did say that it was confidential.” I heard my own words and my let out a small cry of horror. “I mean---I---I just came here to---I wanted to talk to him about---he said that if I ever needed to---but I---I can come back later.”

The man tilted his head and seemed to look right through me. I flinched, bracing myself for his reaction. Instead, he merely maintained his smile, his voice even gentler than before: “Listen, he should be back in about an hour. Why don’t you come in and hang out?”

I went to accept the offer but ended up hesitating. 

Sensing the pause, the man added, “Don’t worry; I’m not going to make you talk. Though I am a pretty good listener. Where do you think he gets it from?”

I smiled at that and meekly said, “You wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course not,” he cried. “I can make you some hot chocolate while we wait.”

“Wow, thanks---um---Ty’s dad.”

He chuckled, readjusting his ponytail as he said, “Call me Lucius.”

---

The real excerpt won’t play the pronoun game so much as the reveal already happens way before this. This was just for my followers who have read One Day and will appreciate the expanded crossover.

[marauders4evr]

Seeing as how it’s @islandbreezedreams ‘s birthday, have an excerpt based on One Day:

A distant ring caused Lucius to groan as he realized that he had left his phone in his bedroom. He was halfway upstairs when he spotted Jason leaving his room, quickly shutting the door behind him, before making his way to the bathroom. 

The weary and wary guardian paused, sighing, before continuing his ascent. When he reached the closed door, he heard a whisper:

“So we all shout ‘Surprise’ and you sign ‘Surprise’ and we give him his cake, which will already have the candles lit---”

“No, no!” Lucius shouted, barging into the room.  

Richard cried out and Lee leapt backwards into the wall.

“Wow I am so glad that was them and not you,” Lucius said, signing along, inwardly imagining the destruction that would have happened if the earth-shifting Super had hit the wall instead. He continued to sign as he said, “Okay, couple of suggestions. First suggestion: Don’t ever throw a surprise party for a pyrokinetic! Second suggestion: Don’t ever try to surprise a pyrokinetic at all. Third suggestion: If you are going to surprise a pyrokinetic, don’t make fire already available via birthday candles! Fourth suggestion: You. Know. Sign. Language. We’re. Signing. Right. Now. You. Still. Don’t. Have. To. Talk. It’s. Called. Stealth. And my final suggestion: At any point during your relationship with Jason, you could actually use my front door to enter this house instead of sneaking through his window!”

They had shuffled away until their backs were pressed against the glass of said window. They stared at him, hand-in-hand, evidently remembering that their partner’s guardian was a supervillain.

Lucius decided to leave them with that fear, turning on his heel and stomping past a returning Jason, muttering under his breath, “Planning a surprise party for a pyrokinetic, are you kidding me?”

He made it to his bedroom where his phone was sweeping across his bed, still ringing. He caught it just as it went over the edge. Swiftly answering it, he was met with Ryder’s growl:

“I’ve been trying to call you for five whole minutes!”

“Yeah, sorry,” Lucius said, turning to shut his door. “I was distracted by Jason’s partners trying to throw him a surprise party. You know, my hair didn’t use to be completely silver.”

“What’s wrong with surprise parties? I’ve thrown a bunch of those for Jude. Not for birthdays. Well, I threw one for her birthday once but after that, it’s not a surprise, you know? Her birthday happens the same day every year. So I just started changing it up and throwing her surprise parties for no reason at all. Now that’s a surprise.”

“And that’s---actually remarkably touching,” Lucius said. “We’re obviously throwing Jason a party. A huge party. I’ve got everything all planned out. I’m going to go over the arrangements with him tonight because it’s not going to be a surprise because we’re not surprising a pyrokinetic!”

Ryder burst out laughing. “Ah, I hadn’t thought of that.”

There was a pause before he mused. “Mm, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Anyway, what did you need?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing. False alarm.”

He hung up before Lucius could say another word. Shrugging, the supervillain went back downstairs to help a sleepy Tyler with his first-grade homework. At least there were no surprises in addition.

---

“SURPRISE!”

“Whaaaa!”

The shrill sound of the fire alarm hit Lucius’ ears. He didn’t panic. Instead, he let out an extremely long sigh, slowly opened his eyes, got out of be, went to his closet, opened the closet door, removed his bathrobe, closed the closet door, put on the bathrobe, opened his bedroom door, made his way down the hallway, and paused in the doorway.

A very flustered Jason was sitting on the edge of his bed, a laughing partner on either side. Tyler was standing several feet away, also laughing. Their laughter, however, was nothing compared to Ryder’s laughter, even though he was telekinetically holing a giant fireball that had clearly once been a cake.

Lucius let out another sigh before saying, “Happy Birthday, Jason.”

“T-thanks!”

Richard caught the responsible adult’s eye and said, “S-sir, w-we, Lee and I, we-we were absolutely listening to you but then Lieutenant Ryder calle us and said that he had an idea for a prank and he told us that he outranked you and that he could throw us in Guantanamo and---”

“Oh, what, you think I can’t?” Lucius teased.

Ryder snorted. “You don’t have the clearance to get in there.”

“If we’re talking about throwing people in there, all it takes is a good catapult and a good aim, Ryder,” Lucius said, smiling at Richard to let the boy know that he was joking. He turned to the wheelchair-sitting superhero and asked, “Let me guess, you covered the entire cake with candles?”

“Nooope,” Ryder said with a smirk. “I covered the entire cake with sparklers.”

“Of course.”

Jason, who had begun to laugh alongside his partners and brother, cried, “Best birthday ever!”

[marauders4evr]

An excerpt from Masked:

“That’s the third teacher who’s been arrested in the past five years,” Lucius said, shaking his head. “Tyler, I don’t know how I feel about you going there anymore.”

I froze, my mouthful of soup awkwardly setting as I stared at the family. Tyler’s eyes had widened and he trembled slightly as he said, “Wait, what---Lucius, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” he slowly said, “there are plenty of other nice schools in the area that we could potentially---”

My matzah ball ended up going down the wrong tube. Over my choking, Tyler shrieked, “Wait, what?” He leapt to his feet, startling Lucius and Mr. Kane. His cheeks darkened as he screamed, “Absolutely not! I can’t just leave!”

I swallowed the dumpling, hard, and went to repeat the sentiment. Sadly, my throat closed, until it felt like I was choking again.

"Whoa, hang on, hang on,” Lucius said, also standing. “Obviously we’re going to talk about this because this is a conversation we have to have. That school clearly isn’t---”

“Isn’t what?”

“Appropriate.”

Tyler threw his hands into the air. “It’s not like I’m sleeping with the teachers!”

“Tyler!”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Easy,” Lucius said as my breathing began to hitch. “You’re scaring Simon.”

“You’re scaring Simon!”

“Tyler.” His voice was firm and I winced, before realizing that he was still remarkably calm. “I know that you would never do anything, but the fact that the school would allow this kind of behavior is concerning.”

“Yeah, I gotta admit,” Mr. Kane said, “I’m not sure how I feel about any of my kids being in that environment.”

“Oh my god,” his brother said, doing a twirl for what I could only assume was dramatic effect. “First of all, I’m not your kid.”

He spun back around to face Lucius. “And I’m not---”

Once again, everything froze. I looked back and forth, feeling like I was at the worst tennis game in the world. Lucius, surprisingly, smirked as he sank back down into his chair, resting his elbow on the table, his chin on his palm. “Are you gonna finish that sentence?”

Mr. Kane---whose eyes had widened---slowly twitched his head.

I waited, absentmindedly kicking my legs, until I ended up kicking Lucius a few times. He didn’t seem to mind, too focused on Tyler, intently focused.

The teenager swallowed and said, “And I’m not---I’m not leaving the school.”

“Oh, good save.”

“I learned from the best.”

“Yeah, well, Ryder isn’t here which means I can actually catch you if you try to run up the stairs right now.”

“I actually meant you and I---I’m not gonna run away,” Tyler said. “Not from the kitchen and not from the stupid school. There are too many important things I’d leave behind.”

Still resting his chin on his palm, Lucius tilted his head and asked, “Too many important things or too many important people?”

His eyes flickered and I felt like I was choking again.