Chapter Text
Victor kept messing with his dress shirt, making sure the buttons weren’t too tight and that he wouldn’t choke to death just because it couldn’t contain his fur. Luckily, it could, and it was very comfortable. He then fumbled around the spacious bathroom for his tie. It was nowhere within sight.
“Fuck”, he muttered.
He then screeched out once. Twice. He bent down under the sink.
“There you are.”
Once he grabbed it, he stood back up and examined the bloody red article quickly. Still clean. Good.
He quickly began tying, which had almost become second nature to him at this point. Once he did, he dug into his pocket and found the tie clip, smiling as he looked at it. It almost glowed a deep, infernal gold, and it was completed with a small but noticeable engraving of devil horns. He then slotted it onto his tie before then digging into his other pocket for his cufflinks: dull, bronze teched-out birds.
As he put them on as well, he finally fully looked at himself in the mirror, examining his almost all black suit, minus the bloody red dress shirt and tie. His gaze then wandered immediately to the scar over his right eye. A reminder.
It was hard to believe where he was now.
Twelve years ago he was the Batboy Conman, a reformed villain turned hero with a coke addiction who didn’t even want to be a hero in the first place. A member of a group of former villains with no prospects and no expectations. Hell, he had sucked so bad he had gotten cut from that team, and…well, the scar told the rest of that story.
Now, he was CFO of Phoenix Technologies, one of the leading bio-tech and energy companies in America, and still growing into international territory. A company with all the members of Z-Team as its corporate superhero face. Of course, being so high up in the company never prevented him from getting down and dirty in hero work. He may have fit the criteria for slimy business exec, but he was always happy to let people underestimate him. At the end of the day, he was still a hero. He could still remember the early days, when Royd had announced that he could reverse engineer Shroud’s augment technology, and with enough time, could even recreate the Astral Pulse. When Sonar had suggested that they could sell this, it was a complete joke at best, and a pipe dream at worst. However, they all then unanimously agreed that Shroud had missed the bigger picture. The reality was, the villain’s tech could change the world for the better, more than any one of the Z-Teamers ever could. And so, a few years later, they founded Phoenix Tech, so named after where they all came from.
That wasn’t the only change in his life.
For ten years, he was clean. It took some time, especially after what was known as the Red Ring Rampage and the part he played, but he was finally able to break free of the hold cocaine had on him.
Of course, he couldn’t have done it without help.
As if on cue, the sound of high heels clicking behind him brought him back to the present.
He smiled as his red skinned, 6’6” demonic wife walked into view and draped her arms around his hairy neck and gently wrapped her tail around his midriff.
“Hey, Vicky”, she said, a smile on her lips as she rested her chin atop his head, in between his large ears.
“Hey, Mal”, he said, his own warm smile playing on his lips as his white eyes shone, “How do I look?”
He then turned to face her as she gave him a once over with her yellow eyes, removing the tie clip to adjust the article. As this happened, he looked upon his Devil from Down Under.
Eight years of marriage, and even longer of friendship, and she still managed to take his breath away, even when in her hero gear, which consisted of a black, spiked jacket with blood red devil horns emblazoned on her back, black and gold bracers, black croptop, cargo pants and heels, a far cry from the simple white tank top bodysuit and jean shorts, though she still had those. She shook some of her brown, slightly curled hair from her face as she straightened the tie to satisfaction and replaced the golden tie clip, a gift for their anniversary.
They then faced the mirror again. Victor Sonar Gibb was looking sharp.
Of course he had taken her name when they finally got married. His ‘family’ had disowned him long ago, and he hadn’t even thought about them since he had struck his original last name of Krieg from his name, making him just Victor. So yeah, he took his wife’s name. They were the definition of an odd couple, and so both had decided to, as Alice had once said, ‘full send’ the oddity.
“You ready for your address?” Mal asked, going back to draping her arms over him..
“Ready now”, he said, taking a deep breath, “I still hate that I gotta do this while you get to go after all the action. I also hate the fact that I’m the one doing this. I’m CFO, not a techie. This is Royd's territory.”
“Someone’s gotta pitch this to the public”, Mal reassured, planting a kiss on the top of his head, “Why not the smoothest talker this side of California?”
“An industrial sized Astral Pulse is pretty fuckin’ far from finance.”
“True, but you are a fast talker. Just stick to the teleprompters, love, and let your charm do the rest.”
“You’re the charming one.”
“Well, maybe if I had the patience for the corporate bullshit, I’d join you. Unfortunately for us both…”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Hey”, she said, making him turn towards her again, “You’ll do great, Victor. You always do.”
To add to this reassurance, she rested her clawed hands on his face and brought hers close. As Victor moved his hands up to her waist, they then kissed. To any outside observer, this looked strange, considering he was a bat from the shoulder up. Those outside observers, in his not so humble opinion, could lick his hairy ass. Hell, even his fangs weren’t an issue most times. Besides, it didn’t matter, because, human or bat, kissing Malevola always felt like the most magical thing in the universe, and she felt the same way, so oddities be damned.
They then broke away, with Sonar staring up at Mal, both smiling as they rested their heads against each other, enjoying the quiet, easy, soft and all-encompassing silence, with his ears twitching softly, and her tail swishing similarly.
Mal was the first to break this, however, moving her head away as her hand went up to her ear.
“Hey, Robbie, what’s up...shit, how bad…yup…yeah, on the way”, she said, then briefly chuckling as she said, “Yeah, will do. And give Chase a big hug from Aunt Mal, will ya? Alright, see you there, mate.”
Her hand then moved away from her ear, looking back down at Victor.
“Duty calls”, she said sheepishly.
“Yeah, I know. Go already”, he said, smiling.
They both moved out of the bathroom and into the bedroom of their large, lofty apartment.
“Oi, Vicky”, she called out as he made it to the entrance, “Don’t forget these.”
She tossed him two large, glowing blue rings at him, which he caught easily. He smiled a little more as he put them around his wrists. Power inhibitors. He didn’t need them most of the time, but they helped in controlling his transformations. It also helped that they were easily attachable and removable, at least these versions were.
“Good to go, now?” the demoness asked.
“Yup, now I’m good. Give ‘em hell, hotness.”
“You know it, darls.”
Malevola then opened a portal in their bedroom before turning back briefly.
“I’m off. Love you, Victor. And good luck!”
“Love you too, Mal!”
She grinned at him lovingly, then walked through the portal.
As he watched it close behind her, Victor’s milky eyes teared up a little.
Twelve years ago, he was nothing. The most immature, broken, messed up thirty year old the world had ever seen.
But now?
With the most beautiful partner and the best family he could ask for?
He was the happiest batboy in the world.