#villain doc

[greenekangaroo]

Making an Omelet

Steven looks up from his evening paper at the man who has just walked into his house, breathing shallow and eyes wide. He sniffs. 

"I see," he says, touching the side of his own nose, feeling the tenderness in the sinuses there. "And how many times have you Looped me, then?"

"I believe you." 

"Oh?" Steven folds up his newspaper, sets it down on his table and steeples his fingers. "And why is that?"

"Because this is loop fifty and I can't find any proof you're lying." Singularity says. "So you didn't kill Scar." 

"HotGuy? No, HotGuy was not my work. And if this is indeed a Loop, then you know what I am going to say next." 

"Yes. I do." Singularity pulls out a chair and sits down which is bold of him, Steven thinks, but he'll let it slide. After all the man has proven capable of getting through several layers of security to make it here. He'll have to examine that later. 

"Where is he?" Singularity asks.

"Where is- oh. HotGuy." 

"YES HotGuy where is he?"

"Just because I didn't kill him doesn't mean he isn't dead, Singularity."

"Only he's not. I know he's not because last Loop we- you told me." Singularity's eyes don't quite meet his. 

"How strange it must be," Steven murmurs, "to live so many more lives than those around you. Very well. HotGuy lives." 

"Where is he?"

"He is safe, that is what matters. His partner has been informed of his survival."

"Gr- CuteGuy knows?"

"He does."

"...you know about them. About the Games."

"We do." A tit for a tat, Steven thinks, not his usual methods of operation- it's far more like Ren to give an enemy even an inch- but then again, enemy of my enemy. "A few of our own were also involved in the Games."

Singularity takes a deep, even breath. "Litch told me about you."

Steven tilts his head. "Oh?"

"I went down to the Archives. I was looking for something. They told me what I was looking for was before their time. It would have been when you were in the basement."

"And you want to know what I did." Steven says. "Does this have any relevance to current operations?"

"I need to know if they ever handed you a body," Singularity gets it out in a rush. "Six three. Caucasian. Brown hair. Probably woulda been long. Tattoo around his right bicep, tribal waves. Tongue piercing, maybe? Blue- blue eyes. Really blue."

He's shaking, Steven notes. Singularity is shaking like a terrified dog. The man doesn't even seem to know it's happening.

Hm, he thinks. Skizz does seem like the kind of man who had a tongue ring, once.

"I can tell you honestly no such corpse ever wound up on my slab." He says. "My projects were very limited, as you know."

Only ever had two successes, and Steven knows he can't count Etho as 'his' success. The man had come back to life all by himself, his meta ability finally triggering on death.

Singularity breathes in.

He breathes out.

He forces himself to calmness. It's as fascinating to watch as the shaking was.

"I believe you." He says.

"Did I beg for my life?" Steven asks.

"Wh-what?"

"In a previous loop. Did I beg for my life?"

"No," Singularity says, the word harsh and bitten off. "No, you didn't."

"Good." Steven looks out the kitchen window for a moment. "We accept your offer, and will share our plans. Our intention is to read in both HotGuy and CuteGuy, if they wish- or if they don't, we will find a way to get them out of Hermiton. I believe you will agree with me when I say they have suffered enough under the thumbs of the Watchers."

His gaze sharpens. "Our other intention is to blow the arena into the ground."

Singularity jerks. "But the contestants-!"

"We are working on that. Limited to no civilian casualties, if we do it right."

"That's a pretty big if, Doc!"

"It is. But in this particular case I have full faith in my associates. It will make life difficult for both Litch and Puppet, but," he shrugs. "eggs, omelets. You know how it goes."

Singularity takes another long breath. "Fuck. Do you have whiskey in this place?"

"I do. The question is whether I intend to share it. And I do."

"Good."

"Whatever would your fellow heroes think of you in this moment? Asking for booze from the notorious Doc."

"Don't know, don't care."

"Haha. Very well. Follow me, Singularity."

[nabanna]

Inktober Day 7 - Villain Actually used a prompt, but now it's not even in ink! I'm such a rebel. Anyway! This idea came about due to some chatting with, you guessed it, @undertalebrothertale, in which we came up with a scenario resembling the one between Wings and Lost back when Wings was Meanie Doc and Lost was Angel CP. Except! This is in a humanized hero/villain au! Long story short Villain Doc thought CP was dead, CP wasn't dead he just lost his memory and was trying to be a superhero, Hero CP stumbled upon Villain Doc's lair and a reunion was had after a bit of reminding. And then Hero CP decided to join his dad. Villain Doc of course had to acquire the proper sort of attire for him, then present him to the minions. All of them. Everyone must behold!

[greenekangaroo]

Parlay

Of all the places that Singularity figured he might meet the Goat for a face to face that DIDN'T involve him constantly looping time just to stop a doomsday bomb, the old Ironworks...weren't it.

"I mean it's sort of on brand," Teknician mutters beside him.

"Yeah for a dollar store knockoff," Singularity mutters back. Still, this was the time and the place, as stipulated by Mumbo K. Jumbo, fixer extraordinaire and inventor of more chemically unstable things than one could unwisely shake a stick at.

They have been waiting in the moldy old office block for a minute past their set meeting time when he simply appears, a horned man with a mechanical eye and arm, skin cast in a grayish green pallor. For the first time ever, he isn't in his labcoat and light body armor.

That should put Singularity at ease.

It doesn't.

"Gentlemen." He says, his metal eye telescoping and whirring as it glows gently red, reading the ambient temperatures of the room, the makeup of the walls, god only knew what else.

"Goat," Singularity says firmly as Teknician stares, mutters something to himself.

"I understand you wanted to talk."

"Yes." Singularity says. "The Life Games."

"Ah. You mean your beloved director's little death circus. A most convenient recruitment tool. For those who live."

Singularity drags in a breath. "They can't happen."

"And why not?" the Goat asks, spreading his hands. "Are you not heroes? Is that not a noble cause, worth the threat of death in any manner of unpleasant ways?"

"You know and we know that it's not recruits they want," Teknician snaps. "They want bodies. People to throw at you and your little club until they find your cracks."

"I am not so egotistical as to believe the Watcher Council has me or my 'club' as its primary concern," the Goat says. "And why should we be? You've a man who rewinds time. You, Teknician, could easily take this building around us apart. Stratos. Undertow, Whisper and his cohort. No they don't need anyone."

"The why doesn't matter." Singularity says.

"Doesn't it?" The Goat asks. "You are not an incurious man, Singularity. You surely have thought about it. Tell me. Why do you think they have bleached their dirty laundry? Do you think it merely to stop me and mine?"

Singularity is quiet for a long, long time.

"Imp?" Teknician asks quietly.

"They want more." He says hoarsely. "Having heroes isn't enough. They want control. They want a personal army and a reason. You're just a pawn."

"As are you," the Goat notes. "You do not strike me as the kind of man who appreciates being a pawn, Singularity."

"I don't." Singularity says flatly.

"Well, then. Perhaps we can work something out."

"Like what?" Teknician asks suspiciously. He's right to be suspicious. His meta abilities and the Goat's are very similar, almost the same. It would hardly be the first time the two came head to head if this isn't a trap- but Mumbo does not set up traps. People who have tried to compel him to do so disappear quickly and quietly.

"There is no stopping the first Game," the Goat says bluntly. "The recruitment numbers for contestants are already approaching a thousand."

"How do you know that?" Singularity asks.

"I have friends, Singularity, who find such things out for me. Do you?"

Singularity opens his mouth, closes it. Can they trust Whisper with this? Cute Guy would say no. So would Undertow.

"You could interrupt it," Singularity says. "Expose it. Bring all the Conflagration down in broad daylight with everything you know. It'll be broadcast all over the country there's no way people won't see."

"Oh? And then be summarily murdered in broad daylight as my colleagues and I are overwhelmed by every ham-headed idiot who heard an offer too good to be true and believed it? Sheer numbers would defeat even the Mountain and Symmetria, in time."

The Goat shakes his head. "You ask me to risk my friends- my King- on the off chance that she won't have a thousand killswitches."

"That won't happen." Singularity says.

"You cannot promise-"

"Not if I loop it."

Teknician squeaks. The Goat is quiet.

"I can't give you more than a day," Singularity says. "but I can give you that day a hundred times. A thousand. As many as it takes to get it right. I'll be there anyway. As long as the person I focus on is aware, she'll never feel it. They still haven't found a way to stop me."

The Goat murmurs something to himself that sounds a lot like 'he was right,' before he says, "You make an offer that is too good to refuse, but I must refuse it- for now."

"For n- we don't have TIME for you to be mysterious and villainy!" Teknician explodes, metal fragments practically dancing the charleston around his head.

"Time is precisely what we are being offered," The Goat points out. "I must speak with my colleagues. We are not a monolith, Teknician. Despite what some might claim, I do not simply snap my fingers and am immediately obeyed."

A pause.

"Well. Outside of certain parameters with the right safewords and after the bedroom has been properly set up-"

"Okay no thank you," Teknician says. The Goat shrugs.

"I can give you two weeks," Singularity says. "It'll take that long for the candidate list to be shaved down."

the Goat inclines his head. "I will be in touch with Mr. Jumbo," he says. then he tilts his head. "Is that a blue diamond in your ear, Singularity?"

the hero blinks, reaches up to touch the stud. He's in civilian clothes, so is Teknician; he'd forgotten about it.

Should have gotten rid of it years ago, when he found out it was bought with stolen money.

Yet here it is. Same as him.

"Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason," the Goat says. "You will have your answer, gentlemen. Two weeks."

There's a noise on the far side of the office, past the old milky glass. Both heroes instinctively look that way.

When they look back, the Goat is gone. There's nothing there but dusty desks falling into woodrot and tottering office chairs that list sideways.

"...he can't teleport, right?" Singularity asks Teknician.

"Not as far as I know. Frickin' weird."

"What's weird? This is all weird." And terrible and stomach wrenching and his job because he is a hero and this is what heroes have to do.

Teknician shrugs. "That." He points at the office chair nearest to them. "I coulda sworn that chair was there earlier. Only then he showed up and it was gone. Now it's back."

"What you think he swapped places with a chair?" Singularity asks.

The question hangs in the dusty air for long seconds as the two men stare at one another.

"Gem's bag of concrete." Teknician whispers.

"The filing cabinet," Singularity says.

"Symmetra's sword and the fucking wooden STICK in the Hall of Guardians-!"

"That entire cargo container of lightning rods."

"The gold in the armored truck on Sunset Impulse what the FUCK?!" Teknician's metal shards have become spikes he can grab and tug in lieu of doing serious damage to his hair. "Tell me they didn't, Impulse, tell me they didn't fucking take our friend and make a Mountain out of him-!"

The very idea- Skizz cold on a slab, brain being kept alive with the barest of electric pulses, his DNA being spliced and cut and put into something more biddable, more press-worthy-

No. No, no, NO-

---

Of all the places that Singularity figured he might meet the Goat for a face to face that DIDN'T involve him constantly looping time just to stop a doomsday bomb, the old Ironworks…weren't it.

Only they were.

Singularity breathes slowly out and this time he looks at the spot where the Goat will appear.

There is the chair, just as Teknician noted.

Then there is no chair.

There is only the Goat.

The conversation is fresh and Singularity goes through it again without issue. This time, when the Goat disappears, he doesn't let Teknician think about it too long.

"We have two weeks."

"We aren't gonna talk about how he just poofificated out of nowhere?"

"Tango, it's the Goat," Singularity says. "For all we know he's had a teleportation machine set up in here for weeks. Come on. We need to corner Grian and get some real answers."

And Singularity will need to spend a little quality time down in the archives. Voidwalker might listen to reason.

If he doesn't, well.

It's not like Singularity spent his first month after being officially made a hero looping until he could get into every off limits space in HQ.

A ghostly laughter follows over his shoulder as he and Teknician leave the old Ironworks.

Old habits die hard, huh, Dippledop?

Singularity gently turns the blue diamond stud in his ear.

Yeah.

Yeah, they did.

---

A/N: :D

[greenekangaroo]

I had a quick question about The House Always Wins fic! In Chapter 16 Tango says something about “them” making a Mountain out of Skizz. Impulse then goes to Doc for answers, so is the implication that The Mountain was the other one of Doc’s successes?

Yes indeed!

In chapter 16, 'Parlay' before Impulse loops time and interrupts his thought process, Tango suggests that maybe Skizz had become an experiment backed by the Watcher Council.

After that loop, of course, Tango has no idea, because Impulse redirected him before he could make the connection. Impulse remembers, though, which leads to his questioning of Doc in chapter 21, 'Making An Omelet'.

"I need to know if they ever handed you a body," Singularity gets it out in a rush. "Six three. Caucasian. Brown hair, probably woulda been long if they didn't buzz it- something like a mullet. Tattoo around his right bicep, tribal waves. Tongue piercing, maybe? Blue- blue eyes. Really blue."

Doc goes on to tell Impulse truthfully that no, he was never provided a prisoner or corpse with that description.

In number 10 of what will be the countdown chapter, we see Beef- the Mountain- and Doc working together to improve Beef's meta ability with a serum. They briefly discuss their history, where I essentially confirm that both Beef (alive at the time) and Etho (dead at the time) were augmented by Doc while he worked for the Watcher Council.

Fun fact: in the canon of House Always Wins, Doc lost his arm when Beef woke up unexpectedly from anesthesia during his forced alteration. The Mountain quite literally ripped the appendage off.

Obviously they got over their differences but there IS a reason the Mountain was the second member of the Conflagration ever scouted.

[greenekangaroo]

10

It must be noted for the record that the Goat's supervillain lairs have always been geared more towards the mechanical than the organic. That is where his passions have always been- despite a brief foray into the more splicy dicy what hath science wrought side of things, a somewhat disastrous personal and professional path that he had ceased walking just as soon as he'd recovered.

One of two products of that detour from his chosen scientific highway lays on a stainless-steel table that the Goat mainly uses to assemble his smaller machines, useful lab assistants and minor components destined for much larger devices. He seems perfectly comfortable there, huge hands behind his head, watching as the Goat finishes mixing up a brilliant green...something in a vial.

"Now," the Goat says, turning to look at the very much not automaton on his table, "as I have reminded you, this is an improved formula, but broadly untested. If things go south.."

"It'll be fine, Doc," the man says.

"You say that, Beef," Doc says dryly, "but I'd like to keep my other arm. I am still attached to it."

Beef snickers with an old, grim humor. "Tell you what, if I wake up in a blind rage I'll just tear up a creeper bot- you can leave one to babysit me!"

"I am not leaving you alone," Doc says sharply, and Beef smiles. It's a small smile but it's there.

"Thanks." Beef says and Doc grumbles and hands him the vial. Beef sits up and eyes it. "Is it at least flavored this time?" He asks.

"It was hardly flavored last time," Doc points out. "I injected it directly into your brain stem." a pause. "..and yes. Lime. Ren insisted."

Beef bursts into laughter and Doc can't help but laugh with him. Both men need it. This is a desperate move and they know it. For the plan to work, Mr. House isn't going to be able to clear the room, as it were. Even with the help of Stratos, Beef- the Mountain- is going to have to keep what's outside out and keep what's inside from getting too far in. The man's a juggernaut, but even juggernauts can be overwhelmed.

"Right." Beef says, and he drinks the contents of the vial. There is an immediate face. "You call that lime?"

"I'm sorry that my ethically dubious meta-ability enhancing fluid doesn't suit your flavor profile," Doc says, though he keeps his gaze firmly on the other man. "Any side effects?"

"You mean sudden blinding rage? No. I feel...tingly?"

"Tingly is good. Relax, let me get you hooked up."

Beef lays back on the table and Doc gets him hooked up to a series of monitors and machines.

"Don't suppose you brought anything to do while we wait?" he asks as the mad scientist pulls a cotton blanket up over him.

In response a deck of cards- blue backed with the insignia of a heart and wings- is thumped onto his chest.

"I was thinking go fish," the Goat says dryly, and the Mountain laughs.

[greenekangaroo]

So logic dictates that the Goat would immediately peg Cheap Trick as a vital part of hero operations and would spend a not insubstantial amount of time trying to take him out of play because hes not an IDIOT

Only it never works.

Ever.

Like for a little while the Goat is convinced that theres an element of reality warping to Cheap Trick's powers because how the HELL did that perfectly designed trap fail? AGAIN?

(There is no reality warping Skizz is just a javk of all trades with a criminal background that the Watchers hid and juuusstt ADD enough that anything the Goat makes can't hold his attention long enough to work.)

(Doc has a red string board and Skizz is playing cats cradle with the string.)