Chapter Text
I laughed as I stood on top of the rubble. The screams were music to my ears, the smoke and blood smelling like roses, the harsh heat from the flames like a warm breeze. It was exhilarating. The civilians were running this way and that, trying to get out of my way and away from the chaos. The close together buildings were the perfect playing field, like dominos. It was always fun to knock one over and watch the rest fall after it. I liked to think of it as a game. How many buildings can I knock over before the heroes stop me. My record is 7. It was catastrophic and I loved every second of it. Everything was going fine until Mage showed up. I scowled at the memory. Speaking of the hero, I looked at the group approaching me. It was the ‘league’ of heroes, or whatever they’re called. Mage is usually near the back of the group, to the left. I searched for him but he was nowhere to be seen. He doesn’t always show up, so I thought nothing of it. One of the flying heroes, Stormwalker I think, dived down at me. I leaped back and landed behind the rubble. They landed on top and looked down at me with disgust. I shrugged it off and shimmered invisible. My power is…I don’t even know what it is. I just think and it’s there? I don’t know. My powers usually aren’t at the front of my mind. I focused and several versions of myself spread out around the heroes. One of the younger heroes took a swipe at one of the clones and their fist fazed right through. It grinned at the smaller hero and it punched the kid right in the nose. He fell backwards and a thud was the last thing heard before the fight broke loose. The heroes were losing of course, but I was having a difficult time with Stormwalker. It’s not that I had a hard time fighting them, but they weren’t responding to my banter!
“What kind of name is Stormwalker, huh?” I said, dodging a lighting strike aimed at my chest. They were aiming to kill. That’s new. “Couldn’t think of anything shocking?” A smirk spread on my face at my own joke. Stormwalker growled in annoyance and swiped at my legs with their staff. I huffed as I jumped out of the way and frowned. “What? Thunder stuck in your throat?”
“Oh my god! Just shut up! Why Mage just doesn’t end you is beyond me. You’re just so annoying!” They yelled over the chaos. I crossed my arms over my face as their staff swung at my face. They yelped as I kicked their legs from underneath them. Their back hit the ground and they immediately tried to get away from me. I stomped on their left ankle. Hard enough to hear a loud crack. Stormwalker yelled out in pain. I put my boot-cladded foot on their chest and leaned down. My eyes crackled with a foreseen growth in power.
“Speaking of the hero, where might he be?” I asked, leaning into the immobilised hero. They coughed and wheezed as I put pressure on their ribs. Spit hit my mask and I just sighed. I pulled a smaller knife out of my boot and held it to their neck. “Okay, that was just plain rude.”
“F-fuck you, Jester.” They wheezed. I sighed again and pulled off their mask. Panic crossed over her face and her eyes went wide. I grinned and moved my blade to her face. As I was walking away from the screaming hero, I wiped blood off the blade with a huge grin on my face.
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The next time I was out and about, doing villain stuff, only a few available heroes came to stop me. Neither Stormwalker nor Mage were one of those heroes. Only a few low level and one higher level came to stop me. I shrugged it off and dealt with the few heroes. As I sunk into the shadows, I couldn’t stop but miss the usual banter with the man. When I got home and cleaned up, I did a little digging. Honestly, I expected the hero commission to have a better firewall. By the time I went to bed, I had found Mage’s home address, and the last location the commission had tracked him to. I was getting a little worried.
What finalised it for me was when I had been out and encountered another villain. We were never on good terms, so a fight broke out. When Windshaker arrived with their sidekick, I grew increasingly worried for his safety. So worried that I stopped by his apartment. The building was raggedy and unkempt. It was pitiful. I would never admit it, but my heart hurt for this guy. I mean, he looked like he had everything he could ever want. With his flowy robes, his showy spells, and sparkly smile. As I walked up the stairs, I took a good look at my surroundings. I stood up tall and no one bothered me. I double checked the number on the door and my heart sank a little. The door looked like it had been forced open and then slammed shut. It looked torn and messy and is that a boot print? I poked the door and it moved. It moved open and it creaked open. One of the hinges was broken and part of the door frame was on the ground. The inside wasn’t much better. There were signs of a struggle. There were pieces of wood and shattered glass on the ground, the TV had a torso sized indent, so did the wall, and there were magic scorches on the walls and ceiling. Objects were scattered on the ground and the further I investigated the more alarmed I became. There must have been a tremendous amount of noise, why hasn’t anyone reported it? I looked through his closet and dirty laundry, trying to find a wallet or something to give me his name. I found a driver's licence under a pile of papers.
Micheal Alvez.
He looked like any other dude you would see on the street. Tan skin, brown hair and hazel eyes. According to his licence he was 5’6, but he was always 5’10 - 5’11 when we fought. I bit down a laugh. Did this guy seriously have platforms? Back to the matter at hand. I continued to look around, grabbing anything that I thought looked important. He has a fish that I fed and plants that I took. It wouldn’t matter if I didn’t find him soon. After an hour of searching and tidying, I found what I had been looking for. His laptop. It was inside a safe with all sorts of other classified files that I know had complete access too. I ignored them for now. The laptop needed a passcode to open. Now, I had just dug through his life and I thought I knew it. I tried his birthday. It worked. This idiot, I thought, shaking my head. As I looked deeper, I realised he had been reported missing. Over a week ago. He has been gone for over a week. No one even came to look at his apartment. If he didn’t have one of those automatic feeders, his fish would have died. I checked incoming emails and there was an email to the bosses literally labelled ‘Ransom money’. It wasn’t even opened. I clicked on it and there was a video. It started to play and I sat back.
Two men were on the screen. One was tied to a chair, a bag on his head. The other was pacing behind the chair. The wall was stone and cracked behind the two men. The man tied to the chair’s head was jerked back when the bag was torn off his head. A voice crackled through the broken speakers.
“We have the Mage. If you ever want to see him alive again, grant us one million dollars in unmarked cash. No trackers, no ink, no nothing. Just the money and we will give you your precious hero back. You have 3 days. And,” The man stopped pacing. “Just so you know we aren’t bluffing.” He grabbed a hot knife and dragged it across Micheals chest. His screams tore through the quiet room. His face was swollen, bruised and bloody. His clothing was torn and filthy. The video ended.
I checked when the email was sent. 7 days ago. He’s probably already dead. Crap. I restarted the video, looking at the background, paying attention to the details. There was a window at the top of the wall and I vaguely recognized the guy's face. When Micheal started to scream again, the camera shook slightly. Why did they have someone hold the camera? WHy not use a tripod? I shook my head and closed the laptop. A knock sounded from the open door and I spun around. There was a woman standing there, short black hair, hazel eyes, and pale skin. My twin sister.
“What do you want, Cleo?” I hissed, quickly gathering things into a pile before shoving them into my bag. She walked up behind me, stopping a few feet away. Her voice rang through the apartment, sharp. Clipped. Precise.
“What a mess. I thought someone would have gone looking by now. I guess they really don’t care, huh?” I sat straight up at her words. Something didn’t make sense. They should have found him by now. He was too powerful and knew too much to let die in captivity. Why didn’t they go looking?
“You knew? Why didn’t you tell me?” I stood up and looked at her.
“I was going to tell you at our weekly lunch today. But I went looking for you when you were late.” She shrugged, following me out of the apartment. I set a reminder on my phone to come back for the fish later.
“I’m usually late, why did you decide to come looking for me now?” I scoffed, closing the door behind us. The stairs creaked under our weight.
“You’re not usually 2 hours late without at least a text without being in trouble.” She stopped to think. “Or on the news.”
“Oh shit, what time is it?” I asked, walking to my motorcycle. A black compact car was parked next to it. The windows were tinted and it looked brand new.
“It’s after 4. How long were you here?” She asked. The car beeped as Cleo unlocked it.
“Hours. I need to go. I now have plans for this evening.” I said, putting the bag in the compartment under the passenger seat. A plan was already forming in my head and I completely missed what she said. Luckily I didn’t need to because one of Micheals neighbours opened her door and called over to us.
“Are you here to look for Micheal?” The old lady asked. I looked at her, wondering how she knew that. “I saw you come out of his apartment. Please look for him.”
“We will. What was he like?” Cleo asked, forever the extrovert.
The old lady thought for a moment. “He was the kindest person in this complex. Always busy but also very involved. He was always gone but also made every bake sale, yard sale, and cook out we held. I hope he’s okay.” She went back inside. I already had my helmet on and was starting up my bike.
“I hate that thing. I bet we’ll be seeing each other sooner rather than later.” She sighed, opening the car door. “I’ll see you later, Alex.” And with that, she got inside. I was already pulling away. The wind caught the ends of my longer dark hair and whipped them around behind my head. It was long enough for a half up - half down type style now. I might do that later. But for now, I need to focus on getting home and getting into costume so I can talk to my contact. Oh I hoped he would be at the pub today. He usually is on Thursdays. My apartment complex is only a half hour away from mine, shorter if you take back roads. I got home in about twenty minutes and pulled into my parking space. I kicked the stand out and looked at my building. It was a short building, only around 3-4 stories tall. There were buildings placed periodically around the building, the lobby’s forward wall being the majority. The sun shined off the higher windows and I had to squint at my floor. I lived on the third floor, in a 2 bed and 2 bath apartment. It was fairly big. I thought about the layout. I can totally fit a fish in my living room. I thought as I walked into the lobby. The receptionist was flirting with a repair man as I walked passed and clicked the elevator button. It dinged almost immediately and I gladly stepped inside. Pressing my floor I noticed the change in music. It was slow jazz this morning, but now it was Frank Senatras ‘Fly me to the moon’. I waited for the song to reach its end to see what was next. It was on a loop. Fantastic. If that wasn’t changed in the morning I am gonna have a chat with the person in charge of that. My door was a pale tan colour and it opened silently. A meow sounded from the couch, my cat acknowledging my arrival. She must be out of food. I locked the door and placed my helmet on the small table by the door. I had picked up my mail on the way up and it was mostly spam and a card from my mother. I put the mail next to my helmet. My cat rubbed against my leg and I bent down to pet her.
“Hello luna. Are you hungry?” I asked, scritching her head. She was a black cat with white paws. She also had a white spot on her forehead, earning the nickname cyclops. Her food bowl was empty as I walked by, I turned on the food dispenser. The walk to the couch and coffee table was mostly automatic and I flopped down onto my couch. I turned on the TV and was flipping through channels. The news popped up and there was an interview with Stormwalker.
“What do you have to say about Mage's disappearance?” The reporter asked the hero. Stormwalker had a new scar. It was bright red and showed signs of not healing properly. It started underneath her chin and went up past her eyebrow. Her eye was gone and there was a cloth over her mouth, hiding her missing cheek and teeth. I smirked remembering my handiwork.
“I don’t know where he is, but I don’t think he’s in trouble. We haven’t received a ransom note or video. Nor have we gotten a body. Mage, if you’re seeing this, please come back to work. We could really use your help.” And with that the news channel flipped back to the weather. I scowled at the blatant lies that the hero had spoken. Not in trouble? No ransom video? Bullshit. I thought bitterly. I changed it to a random show and opened the bag in my lap. I pulled out the files and laptop, sorting it into three piles. Burn, Useful, and Relevant. The relevant pile consisted of only the laptop and a few papers. I read through the files and frowned at how redacted they were. There was something about an experiment and something about needing more samples. I didn’t really care and threw them in the useful pile. I opened the laptop and started facial recognition on the man in the video. A noise attracted my attention and I looked over. My cat had knocked over her bowl and was laying on her back eating the food off the ground. I chuckled and shook my head lovingly. Cats are so weird. While I was waiting for the computer to work, I started to make myself dinner. As I was washing the dishes, it binged. I jumped over the counter to see who it was. I frowned at the result and tried to refresh it. That couldn’t be him, could it? I mean, I killed him myself!
“I guess I am going out tonight, luna. I better get ready then.” I said out loud, defeated. I need to find Micheal, he could be in danger. My bedroom wasn’t small but it wasn’t big either. My full sized bed was in the centre of the back wall, flanked by two night stands. My closet was to the left and a wall of windows was to the right. My closet was open and there was an outfit already thrown on my bed. I slipped into the black turtle neck, black pants, and trench coat. The belt clipped behind my back, with holsters for guns, knives, places for poisons and gases. There even was a notch for my mask. Speaking of my mask, it was an off white full face mask with black circles for the eyes and a wide black smile that curls up to end around the bottom of the eyes. I pulled my hair back into a half up and half down style and slipped my mask underneath and onto my face. I filled all the empty holsters and placements on my belt and put on my gloves. Before I left, I made sure my voice modifier worked and that no one was looking when I opened the window.
The bar door rang as I pushed it open. The noise lowered slightly at my entrance but it quickly rose back to its initial volume. I walked up to the bar and waved the bartender over.
“Hey Todd! How ya been?” I asked, leaning on the bar. He poured me a whisky and slipped it over.
“I’ve been great. Who ya lookin’ for?” he asked. A soft chuckle left me at that.
“A straw would be great, actually. And have you seen Ace? I need information on someone.” Todd laughed out loud at the straw comment and pointed at a table in the corner. He put a straw in my glass as I was walking to Ace’s table. When they saw me, they pulled out a deck of cards and started to shuffle. As I sat down, they were finished dealing a card game.
“What do you want, Jester?” Their voice sounded tired and bored. I sipped the whiskey and peeked at my cards. Not a bad deal. The seat creaked when I sat down and I leaned back in it.
“Oh, can’t I just play cards with a friend?” I asked, coating my voice in honey. I had to get this information.
“Okay, we aren’t friends. What do you want to know?” They asked, pulling a card.
“Elias Miller.”
“He’s dead, mate. Get over it.”
“According to technology, he’s not, Ace. You have to know something.” I was practically begging.
They sighed in defeat. “I fold. How much do you want to know?”
“All of it.” I started to clean up the cards. Ace leaned onto the table, grabbing my almost untouched whiskey. They downed the rest of it in one swig and I waited. “Well?”
My motorbike was whirring down the street and I had a specific destination in mind. Ace didn’t know much. They knew that he wasn’t dead and that someone else knew more. That someone was Roddy. We had a fall out. Gave him a pretty nasty scar, gave me one in return. I wasn’t happy going back to him for information, but hey, what can you do? As I pulled up to my destination, I was fuming. The longer I was gone, the higher the chance Micheal was dead. The door creaked open as I walked through and the pub went silent.
“I’m looking for Roddy. Is he here?” Silence. “It’s in your best interest to speak.” I hissed, allowing some magic to slip into my voice. The room went cold and everyone was put on edge. Someone pointed to the back room and I walked over to the door. Locked. Eh, no matter. A little magic flooded through my hand and into the handle. The lock clicked and I opened the door. Ruddy was sitting with his back to the door. Idiot. He was hunched over something. I closed the door behind me.
“Ah go away. I’m busy.” He said, waving a hand over his shoulder. I almost laughed at the irony. I walked closer. “What did I say? Go away!” He snapped.
“I don’t think so. Now, rat, tell me about Elias Miller.” I watched with amusement as his head shot up and he looked up at me in fear. I am a good few inches taller than him, so that height difference is always fun.
“What are you doing here?” His voice shook.
“Elias. Miller.” I repeated. He backed up as I stepped closer to him.
“I-I don’t know!” He yelled, sweating. His eyes flicked to the door and I flicked my wrist. The lock clicked. He gulped.
“Yes you do. Now,” I Stepped around the desk and grabbed him by the shirt collar. His back slammed into the wall and he gave a loud yell. “Elias. Miller. I won’t ask again.” He gulped.
“I-I really don’t...” His voice trailed off.
“Okay. But by the time I’m done with you, you’ll tell me everything.” I warned, pulling a knife from my belt and holding it to his left hand. It cut into his skin, red droplets dripping to the floor. It was a beautiful scarlet red, sadly it came from a rat. The knife cut a single rune into his palm before he broke. That’s too bad, I was hoping to have fun tonight.
“Okay okay! I know where he is and I know he has someone! That’s it! Oh god, please stop!” He sobbed. I put him down and brushed off his shoulders.
“There you go, now wasn’t that easy? Now, where is he?” I asked, sweetly. He took a shaky breath and his legs went out from under him. “Oh no. You don’t get to get out that easily.” I grabbed him underneath his armpits and dragged him back up.
“He-He’s in the old Williams Warehouse, off east I-70. Please don’t kill me.” His voice was quiet and very wet. I grinned under the mask.
“Thank you for your cooperation. But, since you didn’t just tell me, you need to learn a lesson. Wasn’t last time enough for you?” I asked.
“Dear god. Please don’t kill me. Oh god please no.” He begged, close to sobbing.
“There is no god here. But if you need to pray to something, you can always pray to me.” I grabbed his wrist and held it out. I brought my knife down and a spurt of blood hit me in the mask. I laughed over his screams and left the room. The pub was silent and fidgety. Roddy's screams echoed through the building and it wasn’t alone when I threw his hand onto the counter. No one could see my grin as I left the pub. My bike was still there, thank the lords, and it started up right away. I made a quick getaway and made the trip across town to the old warehouse. Wait. I pulled out my phone and texted my sister. Go back to the apartment and bring the fish to my place. You can put it on the spare bedroom desk so my cat can’t get to it. Sent. That would be a pleasant surprise for him. I started to speed to the old warehouse. An hour and a gas stop later it came into view. By now it was well past two am. I didn’t see any lights or movement. I swear if that rat gave me the wrong address, I’m going to take more than his hand next time I see him. I parked the bike and turned myself invisible. I said I was powerful, let's test exactly how powerful. There was an open window, but that seemed obvious. I checked it for traps or alarms but nothing. Either this was the wrong place or they were just really dumb. I climbed through and looked around. There were a few people sitting by a door. They were buff and sitting against the wall. The door next to them was locked on the outside. He was probably in that room. I walked silently up to the men. One was asleep and the other was on his phone. Was he really that stupid? I grabbed one of my knives and stabbed the guy on his phone in the neck. He quickly died with a wheeze and I slit the sleeping one's throat. This was too easy. What’s waiting for me behind that door? I opened it and there they were. Micheal and Elias. Lights turned on and Elias quickly looked up. He had his hand on Micheals face, squeezing his chin and forcing him to look at Elias. He let go and Micheals head dropped. He groaned in pain loudly. At least he was alive, I can deal with tortured. Elias started to clap.
“So, you finally came. And you made it past my guards, how interesting. What took you so long, hero?” He snickered cruelly. I turned myself visible and sneered. He paused and started to laugh. “You are not who I expected to walk through that door! Ha! What, missed your little hero too much? Little baby Jester, missing his best friend?” He mocked. In a blink of an eye I had grabbed one of my guns and shot him in the shoulder and left knee. He crumpled and stopped laughing.
“Nah, but he is mine to kill. Not yours. How are you alive, Elias.” I squatted so I was at eye level with the injured man. He sneered and spat at my face. I was tired of people doing that.
“Why do you want to know, clown?” He hissed, suddenly serious. I sighed loudly.
“So I can learn from my mistakes, obviously! I don’t have time for this. I’m just going to shoot you and take him home.” I stood up and aimed for the forehead.
“Wait! Wait, I'll tell you.” He huffed, panic filling his eyes. “You didn’t stab me in the heart, you missed. The doctors were able to save my life, sorta. Okay? We good?” He was desperate.
“Oh, okay thank you. And no. No we’re not, bitch.” I fired and his brains splattered onto the wall behind him. I took out my knife and carved a huge smiley face onto his face. It started to bleed, but not as much as it could have. Micheal groaned again and I remembered why I was here. I wiped the blade down and put it back in the holder. The gun was strapped back into its holster and I stood up. Micheal was restrained by chains attached to his biceps, underneath his elbows, and his wrists. There were also chains on his ankles and his arms were far apart. “Hey buddy. Let's get you out of here.” I muttered, breaking the cuffs and catching the weak hero in my arms. I spit on Elias and I scooped Micheal up, bridal carry. His head bumped into my chest and I walked out of the room to meet two new guards. They must have come for the new shift. My eyes glowed and they started to contort and scream. Bones cracking was all that I heard for a few seconds until their necks snapped and their screams turned into gurgles of blood leaking from their mouths. Their distorted bodies were all that remained from this kidnapping. I called 911 from one of the guards' phones.
“911, how can I help you?”
“There’s been multiple murders.” I said, putting Micheal on my bike.
“Where, sir?” The lady asked.
“The old WIlliams Warehouse, off east I-70. Come quick, I think Jesters here.” I said and then crushed the phone in my hand. I got on my bike, behind him and dropped the phone before driving off. I faced a dilemma and regret on living so high up when I had to get Micheal actually into my apartment. Until I remembered I can teleport. Then I realised he probably won’t be able to survive the teleport, and wasn’t the whole reason I did this was so he didn’t die? I eventually decided on doing tiny jumps from balcony to balcony until I got to mine. COnsidering it was only three, it went well. The other problem was opening the door. I decided to risk teleporting again and just appeared on the other side of the door. My sister was petting Luna on my couch and I nearly screamed when I saw her. “Jesus Christ! Hi! Why are you here?” I yelped, freezing and just staring at her. She blinked back at me with this deadpan look on her face.
“Why are you holding a dying hero in your arms?” She asked, sounding exhausted. I had forgotten about him and yelped, rushing to the bathroom. She got up and slowly followed me. He wasn’t in a good condition. I cut his shirt off and winced as the fabric tugged on the wounds. He woke up when the fabric pulled at a particularly big one. Well, he didn’t wake up fully but he was aware. A whine left his lips when I gave it a gentle pull.
“Hey, hey shh. I know it hurts, but it’ll be okay.” I said, gentle. I didn’t know how to comfort people but I’m willing to try. I haven’t healed in years. Healing hurts. Well, my healing hurts. It’s like the wound is getting reopened if I fully heal it.
“Jester?” He mumbled, confused on why I was there. I hadn’t realised I was still wearing my mask. It clattered on the floor when I tore it off. My sister was still there. A first-aid kit was placed next to me and I got to work. Cleaning out the wound, healing it so he wouldn’t die, and wiping the blood off his skin before bandaging. Repeat. When his chest was done. I took a wet rag and started to wipe the dirt off his exposed skin, having to rinse the rag out multiple times. When I had to cut his pants off, my mind wandered. I repeated the cleaning, healing and comforting as I fixed him up. I even rinsed out his hair and checked for head wounds. He had a concussion and a head wound that I fixed up. His arm wrapped around my neck when I picked him up and brought him to the spare bed. Cleo placed spare clothes on the bed and she left. I dressed him and tucked him in. When I cracked the door open, Cleo looked at me oddly.
“What?” I asked, suddenly exhausted. I just wanted to take a shower and go to bed. Was that too much to ask?
“What was that? What did you do?” She demanded, following me to my room.
“Your mom.” I replied, taking off my coat.
“Very funny. She’s your mom too, idiot. Now answer the question!” She demanded again.
“Look. I just want to go to bed. We can talk about it in the morning. The couch folds out, you can stay here tonight. I’m going to shower and pass out.” I waved her away and slumped to the bathroom. What happened after that was a blur. All I know is that I was taking a shower and then I was in bed. I was out before I hit the pillow. For the first time in years, I dreamed. I dreamed about death and blood. I dreamed about fish and friendship. I dreamed about love. It was so weird.
When I woke up, the sun was high enough in the sky that I jumped out of bed. It was 10:00 am. I’ve never slept that late. Not even when I was a kid. Okay, that was a lie. I slept that late once, but for medical reasons. Clothing was grabbed and I hastily brushed out my hair. I flung my door open and rushed to my kitchen. Cleo was standing there, making herself eggs. Or she was making me eggs, but that was unlikely.
“Morning sleepy head. I made you eggs, they’re on the counter.” She called and gestured to a fresh plate of eggs. “It’s not poisoned, I promise.” The plate was still hot when I grabbed it. My chair squeaked when I pulled it away from the counter and sat down. SHe threw a fork at my head and I grabbed it, not breaking my stare at her.
“What do you want?” I asked. She shrugged and turned the stove off.
“I want to know why. Why did you go through the effort to save a hero who nearly killed you every time you met?” She sounded worried. No, not worried. Annoyed. There it is. I let out a sigh and started to eat. If it was poisoned, that would be a good reason not to tell her. I shrugged. “Don’t tell me you fancy him. Alex! You could have been killed. Or perceived as soft!” She snapped, looking at me. The remote came flying towards us and I turned the TV on. The news was the first thing we saw.
“-arehouse. We found five bodies here. Among the bodies and wreckage, we found Elias Miller. He is a convicted felon and was on the FBI wanted list for years. An anonymous 911 call brought this to our attention. Storm-” I shut the TV off. She looked at me like I was insane.
“You killed five people! For him! He’s a hero, alex. He wants to kill you!” She started to yell. “Why did you even bother to look for him?”
“Because no one else was! Elias sent a ransom video to his boss and no one even bothered to look into it! He has no one, cleo! No one but me and a fish. He’s alone!” I snapped. The chair fell over when I stood up. It crashed on the ground and the room went silent. “No one else cares about him, Cleo. No one but me. So maybe I fancy him. He is attractive but I couldn’t just let the only hero who’s doing this for good reason die. He deserves to live, Cleo.” My hands were shaking and my eyes were burning. I didn’t want to say it. But I did.
“How do you know? How do you know he doesn’t have a family?” She asked, sceptical. I looked at her like she was insane.
“Did you forget I tore through his entire apartment? I didn’t find a picture of any family, friends, or any one. Just a framed newspaper article. That's it. Plus some paintings, but no one was framed but him and a dog.” I looked at the guest room. “I should probably go see that he didn’t die in his sleep.” I walked away from my twin sister. The door opened silently and he was still laying there. His face was pale and thin, but he already looked healthier than when I saved him. I checked and changed his bandages before cracking a window for air flow. Cleo walked up behind me and dragged me out of the room. She pushed me onto the couch and grabbed the remote. I flipped over the back of the couch, landing on my neck. I yelped and readjusted while she just laughed. A movie started to play when she curled up into my side.
“Ack! Why are you so boney?” She complained, shifting.
“Because I have dad's body. What are we watching?” I asked, holding my right arm out so she could get comfortable.
“The Bee Movie.” She replied. I groaned in protest and she just giggled.
“Why? You know I hate that movie!” I whined. She elbowed me in the ribs and I cracked a smile.
“Because you hate it.”
“There’s no reason a bee should get the human girl! No reason!” I ranted as the movie started. She laughed and threw the blanket over her legs. We were in the middle of the second movie when a thud sounded from the guest bedroom. I slipped out from under her and went to check up on the hero. He had woken up and tried to get out of bed. “Jesus Micheal! Don’t you know you shouldn’t try to get out of bed for the first few days after getting tortured?” I asked, grabbing his arm. He jerked it away from me and tried to get away.
“W-who are you-?” He stammered, eyes flickering over my lanky frame and towards the door. I ran my hand over his head to check for head wounds and tried to look into his eyes. He refused to meet my gaze, so I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me.
“Stop looking away, I’m checking for a concussion.” I ordered him. The muscles in his face and body tensed. It looked like he was going to try and make a run for it. I was tempted to let him try but then I would have to heal him again. That was too much of a hassle. “If you lie down and do what I tell you, then I’ll answer any of your questions.” His eyes narrowed with suspicion. I let go of his face and picked him up again.
“Put me down! What are you doing?” He yelped. His voice was hoarse from either misuse or screaming. Probably both.
“I’m putting you back on the bed.” It was a simple matter, he needed to lie back down if he was going to heal. “Cleo! Can you close the door?” I yelled out the open doorway. The door soon slammed shut. “Thank you!” When I threw the covers back over the injured man, I looked at him expectantly.
“Uh, why are you staring at me like that?” He asked, cringing away from me. I broke the stare and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions. I’m waiting for you to ask them.” I replied. He blinked at me.
“O-oh. Uh, where am I?” His hazel eyes looked around the room.
“My apartment.”
“Who-why is my fish here??” He finally saw the huge tank. I laughed.
“I,” I wheezed. “Went to your apartment and brought him home to feed.”
“Uh-Thank you. Now, who are you?” There’s the question.
I sat up and looked him in the eyes. “My name’s Alex. But, you might know me better as Jester. Nice to meet you Micheal.” His face paled further and panic flooded his expression. His mouth opened and closed.
“Don’t kill me please. I have a fam-” He tried to plead for his life.
“Don’t start. If I was going to kill you, I would have already. Honestly, I wouldn’t have saved you nor would I have healed you. And no, you don’t.” I cut him off. “It’s useless pleading for a life that’s perfectly safe. Waste of breath.”
“Okay. Why did you do it? Why did you save me from whoever that was?” I was dreading this question.
“Elias Miller. I saved you because no one else would. No one else was even looking for you. You’re a good guy, Micheal, you don’t deserve to die.” I looked away from him and got up. “I’ll leave you alone if you answer my one question, right now.” I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Sure. What is it?” He yawned.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“What did you do to make him go after you? He never targets someone unless they did something to him, or he’s being paid too.” Micheal’s face darkened. It was terrifying how quickly his face could change.
“You don’t need to know.” He said, avoiding the question.
“No, no I do. I need to know how much shit you got yourself into!” I demanded, stepping closer to him. “I can always find out a different way.”
“Fine. I…might have found and busted his gun and other illegal trading links.” He refused to look at me. I just looked at him.
A groan left my lips and I had to look away. “Fucking hell. You have so many people after you, I’m surprised you're not dead yet. I’ll need to make sure the others know you’re on my no harm list, fuck. I need to go fix the mess you put yourself in.” I turned to leave the room.
“You know, you’re more attractive than I thought you’d be.” A very sleepy voice said. I froze and felt my face heat up. The door closed behind me and I just stood there for a few moments. Then I got to work. I opened my laptop and opened the dark net. I uploaded a picture of Elias’s torn up face and added a caption. I clicked upload and got up to make some tea. A quiet Bing that no one heard sounded when it fully uploaded. Cleo looked at the open computer and frowned at the post. She closed the laptop and got up as well. It didn’t matter that she didn’t like Alex falling for a hero, but what can you do? She was worried that Jester would be perceived as soft. The caption? Well it was, Don’t touch Mage. See what’ll happen. She shook her head. A problem for another day. Not today.
“Cleo! I need help!” I yelled. The kettle was being uncooperative. She chuckled and came to my rescue.