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It was a cool, quiet night. The streets of Tastyville were silent as its citizens settled in for the evening. However, for the informed, the city was far from asleep right now. The town's vigilante was currently combing the streets, preparing for her biggest mission in months.
Ninjoy was crouching on the roofs of the Pizzaria Apartments, overlooking the town. Tonight was going to be a difficult mission for her. She had received a tip involving a criminal group smuggling in an unknown drug into Tastyville, and she was going to take them down tonight. It was the first time in a while that she had dealt with a crime as serious as this.
It was rare for the city to be a hotspot for crime, because Ninjoy had always been there to stop it at its core. The most that the city got was a few robberies and the occasional arson- and 99% of them were committed by the same person. So for something this serious to happen was extremely rare. It was wrong to say, but Ninjoy had been craving something like this for some time. She enjoyed taking down the real, hardened criminals- not random wannabe supervillains who demanded her attention.
Ninjoy was just waiting for her tip-off to arrive. They had promised to give her more information tonight. Her guess was that it was some criminal involved in the group; she had come prepared if this was the case.
She heard the sound of the rooftop door being opened. She snapped around to see who had arrived.
Oh god.
"What the fuck are you doing here?!"
The Dynamoe was the last person Ninjoy wanted to see right now. A self-proclaimed 'supervillain' who spent 90% of his time committing petty thefts and crimes, he was currently leaning against the now-closed entry to the roof. He was nothing but a nuisance who distracted Ninjoy from actual criminals. There was no way she was going to dedicate any time to him tonight.
"Relax Ninjoy, I'm not here to hurt you," He had that stupid smirk on his face that drove Ninjoy mad. "I'm here to help."
"Well I don't need it," Ninjoy crossed her arms and scowled at him. "You better not have done anything to my tip-off."
"Oh don't worry, he's perfectly fine."
The stupid, smug grin on his face made Ninjoy's blood boil. He was so pretentious and unserious about everything. It was like he thought this whole vigilante thing was a game, and not something that kept the city safe.
With his smugness, it didn't take long for Ninjoy to figure out what he meant. She scowled.
"Oh no-"
"You see, it was I who tipped you off!" He flung his cape out dramatically, letting it flutter in the wind. "I was the one who discovered this smuggling scheme! And so I will-"
"Why did you tell me?"
The Dynamoe seemed offended at being cut off.
"Well, because, I also desire to take these dastardly criminals out!"
"Why?" Ninjoy held back the urge to just throttle the information out of him. "This seems awfully out of character for you, coming to me for help."
The Dynamoe paused for a moment before he sighed. He dropped the haughty act.
"Because if we let them into Tastyville, they're going to seriously hurt everyone here."
Ninjoy paused for a second, taking in his words. Then, she exploded.
"That's fucking hypocritical coming from you!"
"Excuse me?!” The Dynamoe was angry at her remark. “I might be a supervillain but I don't go around hurting innocent people!"
"You robbed the Fluffmart two weeks ago!"
"Yeah, but that was only financial hurt, not physical or mental! That's different!"
"And burning down the old warehouse wasn't?!"
"Was anyone in there when I did it!?"
Ninjoy gritted her teeth. This conversation was going nowhere. She didn't have time to figure out the inner workings of The Dynamoe's morals.
"Fine. If you're so adamant on helping, tell me what I need to know."
The Dynamoe smirked. "Only if you let me come with."
…
Ninjoy was thrown off from that request. This was very out of character for The Dynamoe. Unless this was a weird way of trying to gain her respect. She had to think about it for a moment.
On one hand, having The Dynamoe by her side wasn't the worst thing in the world. He was incompetent at her hands, but he wasn't stupid. He had a variety of gadgets and tools that Ninjoy could take advantage of. If they worked together, it could make taking these criminals out much quicker.
On the other hand, this could be a trap. The Dynamoe had fooled her before (she never forgave herself for that Cupid's Charity Ball trick), and this could be another sinister trap. For all she knew, he had connections to these criminals, and he was just luring her to them.
Ninjoy decided to take a chance at it.
"If you come with, it's for this night only," Ninjoy growled. "If you do anything out of line, I'm taking you out. And once these criminals are gone, this alliance is over. Got it?"
The Dynamoe's face lit up.
"Of course, I'd never betray an ally. I'll even let you take all the credit." He held out a hand for her to shake.
She didn't take it.
"C'mon," Ninjoy walked straight past him. "You better start talking about what the hell is happening."
===
Local hero stops arson attack on abandoned warehouse
Joy sipped her coffee as she read through the morning newspaper. She hated to say it, but she liked reading stuff about Ninjoy. Ever since the news finally realised she was doing something good in this city, the media has changed tides on Ninjoy's antics. It helped that she had a rival to play off of now, even if he wasn't exactly fantastic.
She skimmed through the article. It had all the basics- Ninjoy stopped an attack from The Dynamoe, he got away, but the building was saved from significant damage. The only error was the time it happened- but Joy always expected errors like that.
Someone shuffled in behind her. Joy stifled a laugh as her boyfriend leaned down to hug her, still half-asleep. He rested his cheek on top of her head.
"What are you reading?" Moe muttered sleepily, eyes still shut. Joy noticed he wasn't wearing his glasses.
"Just the news," Joy locked one of her hands with Moe's. "Did you see what happened last night?"
"No." Moe nuzzled his face into her hair.
"The old warehouse got set on fire."
"Oh did it?"
"Mhm," Joy took a sip of her coffee. "Ninjoy stopped it before it got too out of hand. They reckon most of the building is salvageable."
"Uh-huh."
Joy could sense Moe's tone shift to slight annoyance. She smiled and turned to look at him.
"You really don't like her, huh?"
"No," Moe stuck his tongue out at her. "She seems insufferable. And she takes everything too seriously. She could learn a thing or two from someone."
Joy laughed at that.
"Excuse me? That's rich coming from you."
"I don't know what you mean." Moe shifted so he was cheek-to-cheek against Joy.
"You think a discount Riddler is the greatest supervillain to exist in Tastyville."
"He's not a discount Riddler!" Moe retorted back. "He's much smarter, thank you very much."
"And yet he can't even burn down an old building without getting caught."
"Well that's because he let himself get caught! That's what supervillains do!"
This was Joy's absolute favourite thing to do in the mornings- rile up Moe whenever news about The Dynamoe came out. It was so cute watching him get worked up about this guy. Joy had no idea why Moe liked him so much, but he had always been drawn to villains in the comics that he read. Maybe that was why.
"Sure, sure," Joy gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I believe you."
==
The vigilante and the supervillain crouched side by side in a bush, watching people move out of an old building. It was an abandoned barn on the far side of town, a remnant of when Tastyville had been nothing but a small farm village. The barn had been modified over the years to a three-story factory, before being abandoned a good fifty years ago. Nowadays it was mainly used by people looking for a good scary thrill- it was common for teenagers to dare each other to spend the night in there.
But now it was being used as the base for a smuggling operation. According to The Dynamoe, the group had gotten a hold of pinkish crystals from the X Zone and planned to sell them as a new drug on the streets of Oniontown. Tastyville had just been a stopover; the city was so safe now that nobody would suspect a thing.
"Alright," Ninjoy turned to face her partner. "There's a back entrance to the barn. I suspect it's guarded, but if we're efficient we can-"
"Would you stop speaking like that?" The Dynamoe was fiddling with his sleeve cuff, although his voice was still as smug as always. "You're trying way too hard to sound tough."
"Shut up," Ninjoy growled back. "Just listen to me alright?"
Inviting The Dynamoe was proving to be a bit of a mistake. It wasn't because of his skill. The Dynamoe had actually kept up well with Ninjoy, and his gadgets had proven great at getting them here in record time. Without his vehicle, The Dynamobile, Ninjoy would've taken nearly an hour to get here.
However, he was proving to be extremely obnoxious. And it was getting on Ninjoy's nerves.
"Besides, isn't it better to have a distraction?" The Dynamoe had switched to fiddling with one of his gadgets, a taser. "Have one of us jump in to distract them, then the other can ambush them."
"We need to make as little of a scene as possible," Ninjoy continued to watch the group. "The last thing we need is for them to realise were both-"
Ninjoy suddenly got an idea.
"Dynamoe, do you know these people?"
"Kind of?" The Dynamoe turned to look at the group as well. "I've been watching them for awhile. They don't know me."
"Hm…" Ninjoy thought for a moment. "Your idea just might work."
"Really?!" The Dynamoe sounded way too excited at that. Ninjoy rolled her eyes and continued.
"If you can distract them by pretending to join them, I can take them out one-by-one. It’s risky, but if I’m careful, I can take them all out before they even realise what’s hit them. But do not, and I swear to god, do not actually join them. I will kill you if you do."
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," The Dynamoe put his taser back. "Let's go then."
The two quickly snuck around the building, making their way towards the back. As Ninjoy suspected, two men were guarding the door. They didn't look particularly strong, but Ninjoy knew not to judge strength just on looks. Her and The Dynamoe sat in the bushes on an angle to them. She frowned.
"Alright. Dynamoe, go distract them for me. I'll take the one on the right first. I’ll take him out from behind, so he should be out before the left one even notices. Then I’ll take the left one. Just keep them distracted long enough for me to do all that."
The Dynamoe nodded and left the bushes. Ninjoy watched as he approached them and began talking. She couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but the two guards seemed distracted.
Slowly, Ninjoy left the bushes and crept up behind the first guard. She noticed that he was carrying a baton- an unusual weapon for a guard to have. The boss must think they're disposable, giving them a weapon so small. She positioned herself behind him. The first thing she would have to do is find a way to get him down. Since she was from behind, she could try and knock him out with a throat stab, or simply pull him down to the ground.
Before she could make a decision however, the man stopped listening to The Dynamoe.
Shit. He knows I'm here.
Before the man could yell out, Ninjoy punched him in the jaw. A loud crack was heard as he fell to the ground. The second guard, realising he had been tricked, immediately pushed The Dynamoe to the ground, and pulled out his baton to attack Ninjoy. She swiftly evaded most of his attacks, dodging and jumping over his blows with ease. He clearly had little experience with the weapon.
She didn't have time to figure out where The Dynamoe had gone. She couldn't see him; all she could focus on was this guard. She tried to throw a few punches; despite his inexperience with the baton, the guard was quick and evaded her fists. The guard raised his baton again, ready to strike her in the head. Ninjoy prepared herself to avoid it.
Before he could, he suddenly twitched and fell to the ground. Ninjoy stopped to see who had attacked him.
To her relief, it was The Dynamoe, armed with his taser.
She huffed, catching her breath. The guards had put up more of a fight than she had expected. "And here I thought you were going to just leave me."
"I told you, I'd never betray an ally," The Dynamoe put his taser back on his belt. "I tried enticing them with my own deal, but I don't think they fell for it."
"I wonder why," Ninjoy felt around for any potential injuries- thankfully, she hadn't been seriously hurt. "Well, let's find a way inside."
The door was locked; thanks to The Dynamoe’s lockpicking skills, the duo easily made it inside. Peeking through the door, they noticed that the back of the barn, where they were, was shrouded in darkness. They both snuck inside, hiding under the stairs on the left. Ninjoy listened as people walked in and out. She noticed that none of them went up the stairs.
There was no way there was nothing upstairs. The boss was almost certainly up there, coordinating away from his workers.
"Hey Ninjoy."
"Quiet!" Ninjoy shushed her partner. "What do you want now?"
"How did you get so good at fighting?"
"That is a question outside of our alliance," Ninjoy continued watching, looking for a break in the delivery. "Why are you even asking this?"
"Curiosity." The Dynamoe shoved himself next to her, much to her annoyance.
"Is it curiosity, or are you trying to find a new strategy to fight me?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's both."
Ninjoy rolled her eyes at his obnoxious answer.
==
Joy did not like horror movies. She was the biggest Halloween fan that she knew and she defeated literal criminals weekly, and yet she was scared of a 2 hour movie with some ghosts in it. Whenever she watched a horror movie, it always ended in her staying up all night and barely sleeping for the next two days.
So why did she decide to watch The Grudge at 2am, alone on a stormy night? Well, she didn't have a good answer to that. It was October, and October was the spooky month, so why not watch a horror movie?
But now that it was over, Joy was too terrified to move from her spot on the couch. Curled up in a blanket, she shivered as she listened to the heavy rainfall. The screams from the movie were taunting her mind, keeping her awake. The only safety that she felt was that she was at her boyfriend's house. She always felt safe in Moe's apartment, no matter what.
Joy yawned. She tried to fight the tiredness, but it was no use. Slowly, she began closing her eyes, drifting off to sleep.
"Hello, Joy."
Joy screamed and turned around to punch whoever had said that creepy line behind her. Whoever was behind her stumbled back and groaned. Braving the dark, Joy looked to see who was there.
"Moe!"
Knowing that it was just him, Joy jumped over the couch to attend to him. Although Joy had pulled the punch, she had apparently still hit him hard, since he was bleeding pretty badly from his nose.
"Oh my god Moe I'm so sorry, I thought you were-"
"It's okay!" Moe waved off her concerns. "Sorry, I shouldn't have scared you."
Joy quickly left to go grab some tissues from the coffee table. She bought them back and gave them to Moe, who began cleaning up his nosebleed.
“What are you even doing up so late?” Joy asked.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Moe dabbed at his nose. “I just couldn’t sleep. The storm woke me up.”
“Ah.”
The silence was filled by the storm outside. Joy couldn’t help but feel guilty, watching Moe clean up the bloody mess on his face. She went to apologise again, but he spoke before she could say anything.
"I didn't realise you were so strong."
Joy paused at that. Her cheeks went pink.
"I- Yeah, I guess I'm pretty strong."
"It's, uh…" Moe's voice trailed off, but Joy was able to pick up what he said. "It's really attractive."
Joy felt her face heat up fast. She turned away to stare at the ground, praying that Moe couldn't see her face in the dark.
"...Thanks."
Joy didn't even tell him that she had pulled back on that hit.
==
Ninjoy was somewhat right. The head of this group was on the third floor. The two had made their way up to the second floor, which was completely unoccupied, save for one lone box of crystals. Despite being unoccupied, she hid herself under the stairs again, watching in case someone came upstairs.
Meanwhile, The Dynamoe was busy snatching a sample of crystals.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Ninjoy hissed in his direction.
"We wanna know what these are right?" The Dynamoe looked in her direction for a second before he scooped up a handful. He placed it in a small bag. "Best to get a sample of it."
Ninjoy rolled her eyes and returned to listening out. She could hear faint sounds of talking, but nothing much else. It was impossible to get a good look of the upstairs. She frowned, trying to think of what to do next.
"Hey," The Dynamoe slid in next to her. "What should we do now?"
"I don't know." Ninjoy resisted the urge to sigh from frustration. The only way up was the stairs. One of them would have to be a distraction again. But she had no idea how dangerous the leader could be. For all she knew, they'd shoot them on sight.
She noticed her partner placing something on the stairs. She frowned.
"What's that?"
"Infrared camera. It can penetrate walls and floors over 80 feet in length and height," The Dynamoe fiddled with a button before stepping back. "It'll scan all around so we can see the third floor. And the guys up there won't suspect a thing.
"...And you didn't think to bring this out sooner?"
"I know what I'm doing." The Dynamoe snapped back. A few seconds went by before a small red screen showed up above the camera. The Dynamoe typed for a few moments before a hologram of the third floor was brought up.
"Looks like there's four bodyguards up there too," The Dynamoe frowned. "With the way they're positioned, I could throw a lightning bomb at them, but it'd only catch two of them. Then we just need to take the other two and the boss out."
"We need to make sure the boss lives though," Ninjoy eyed her partner. "No doubt he's involved with other X Zone smugglings."
"Right."
Ninjoy watched her partner. He was thinking hard, fiddling with one of his coat cuffs. He looked back at her.
"If I time it right, we could take out all four guards," The Dynamoe pulled out two small, circular balls from his belt. "I can trigger these with a remote button, so all we have to do is wait for all four to surround them."
Ninjoy nodded. "Sounds like a good plan."
The two slowly moved out of the staircase. The Dynamoe took a second to aim, before throwing both bombs upstairs. He quickly grabbed the infrared camera, which was showing the four guards noticing the bombs.
The Dynamoe grinned manically. "Bingo."
He pressed a button on his belt, and the sound of electricity filled the building. The camera shut down before Ninjoy could get a good look at it. She turned back to the stairs as The Dynamoe put the camera away.
"Alright quick, let's go."
Ninjoy and The Dynamoe ran up the rickety stairs, being careful not to trip. The room was illuminated by pink crystals; there were boxes full of them that had been opened. The bodyguards were whimpering on the floor, unable to move. The boss was sitting at a desk directly in front of them. He looked surprised. Slowly, his expression melted into a sinister grin.
"Well, well, well. Isn't it the marvellous Ninjoy. I'm charmed you came here."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Ninjoy ignored the offended noises that her partner was making. "Did you really think you were going to get away with something like this?!"
"Like what- Ah, yes," The boss had a dark glint in his eye that made Ninjoy uneasy. "The crystals. You would be surprised Miss Ninjoy. I've been getting away with this for a very, very long time."
Despite glaring and standing her ground, Ninjoy felt frozen. There was something strange about this encounter. She could feel the hairs standing on the back of her neck.
"Do you understand the power that these crystals have?" The boss grabbed a handful of them. "So much power in these tiny little things. They destroyed an entire dimension, you know. There's infinite power in these, and I plan on extracting it all."
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Ninjoy noticed something. The Dynamoe had snuck away from standing behind her, and had made his way to the wall. He was creeping slowly towards the boss, holding something in his hands.
She realised what he was doing immediately. She needed to keep the boss monologuing.
"Then why send it on the streets?" Ninjoy growled, and took a step forward. "What's your real motive, huh?"
"Don't you think it would be interesting? To see what chaos such power will cause in people?" The boss laughed. "Not only will these make me filthy rich, but I get to watch the chaos that unfolds from them. Dealers are clawing to get their hands on these, and I'm their only supply."
The Dynamoe was closing in on the boss. However, the boss began to move. He stood up, and Ninjoy's eyes widened. In his hands were crushed up particles of crystal. He grinned wildly.
"Try and stop me if you can."
Right as he was about to take them, The Dynamoe hit him in the back of the head with a random plank of wood. It wasn't a hard hit, but it was enough to distract him for a split second.
And that's all that Ninjoy needed.
With the boss distracted, Ninjoy lept into action. She immediately threw a kick at his wrist, causing him to spill the powdered crystals onto the ground. As the boss cried out, Ninjoy took the opportunity to throw a punch, sending the boss stumbling back.
The Dynamoe did not join in her attack, however she could see what he was doing out of the corner of her eye. He was fiddling with some strange device whilst keeping an eye on the guards, who were slowly beginning to gain strength.
"What are you doing?!" Ninjoy yelled out as she stopped a weak right hook from the boss.
"Overriding the signal!" The Dynamoe yelled back. "It'll tip the police off that something's going on here! I'm giving them a location and everything!"
Smart. Ninjoy elbowed the boss in the jaw, finally causing him to fall to the ground for good. When she was confident that he wouldn't get up, she walked over to The Dynamoe. He was now in the process of giving each of the guards a swift kick in the guts.
"How long until the police get here?"
"10 minutes tops," The Dynamoe put his device away. "All of their systems just show this location. Nothing else will come up until I fix it. I'll reset it as soon as they arrive."
"Good," Ninjoy looked over the mess that they had caused. She sighed. "You know, you're a half-decent partner when you want to be. You'd make a good vigilante."
He grinned. "Too bad there's no fun in that."
Great. Already back to his usual self.
Ninjoy could hear the sirens approaching. She turned to her partner.
"Get out of here."
The Dynamoe smirked back at her. "Same time tomorrow?"
"Shut up and get out before I change my mind."
Without any hesitation, the supervillain was gone in the night, just as the police pulled up.
==
It was 4am by the time Joy returned home. The investigation had taken longer than usual. The police had given her a ride back into the city, but it didn't stop her from feeling exhausted.
Despite her exhaustion, she was careful to get back into the apartment. She quietly unlocked the door and entered, being careful to keep herself in the shadows. Her footsteps were quiet as she snuck into the hallway. Pulling off her mask, she quickly poked her head into one of the bedrooms.
She breathed a sigh of relief. Moe was still asleep in his room. He hadn't suspected a thing.
Joy very quietly made her way to her room, shutting the door behind her. As soon as the door was shut, she began changing into her pyjamas. She threw her Ninjoy uniform into the back of the wardrobe. She'd deal with it in the morning once Moe was at work.
It sucked keeping this a secret. If Joy had it her way, she would've told Moe about this by now. But she couldn't. It was too risky. She didn't want Moe to get involved in her nighttime prowls. And how would he react? Especially since he wasn't fond of Ninjoy.
How he didn't realise what was going on, Joy had no idea. But she wasn't complaining.
Once she was changed, she sat down on her bed and began her post-prowl examination. Despite the high risk, she had sustained few injuries. There were one or two places where she was likely to develop some bruises, but that was it. It was a great relief for her; it meant less stress trying to hide her injuries from Moe.
Joy thought about her mission. Working with The Dynamoe had been a surprise success. She didn't know how to feel about that. When he wasn't trying to commit petty crimes, he was actually a very competent anti-hero. And he had kept his promises to her as well- no tricks, no betrayals.
Perhaps one day she could convince him to turn around. One day.
Joy sighed. Usually she'd sleep in her own bed after missions, but tonight she really didn't feel up to it. For some reason, the mission tonight really had her craving to be with Moe. It was funny- whenever she encountered The Dynamoe, she always had the urge to check in on Moe the same night. She couldn't really explain why. Maybe just seeing a villain made her worry about her boyfriend.
Joy got up from her bed. Quietly, she opened the door and slipped out. She made her way back to Moe's room. She poked her head back in; he hadn't moved since she had looked 15 minutes ago. Joy quietly went into his room. As she approached the side of the bed, she could hear her boyfriend shifting around.
"...Joy?" Moe stirred from his sleep. He sounded exhausted.
"Sorry, I can't sleep." Joy whispered back. She crawled into bed next to him.
"M'kay." Moe pulled her into a cuddle before immediately going back to sleep. Joy planted a kiss on his forehead before slowly drifting off to sleep herself.
Maybe she'd tell him one day. But for now, she was happy to keep it a secret.