The call connected to the phone.
Beep.
… 'Yes, who is this?'
'... There is a bomb under St Mary's Hospital, which is going to explode in exactly thirteen minutes. If anyone tries to touch it, it will go off automatically. If any super goes within a hundred-meter radius, it will go off automatically. If anyone is told of the bomb or tries to escape, it will go off automatically. The only way the bomb will stop is if Iron Knight, and only Iron Knight, goes there to stop it. Do you understand?'
'Who-o is this? How did you get this number!? Do you understand who you're calling-'
Beep.
Sighing, I drew a cigarette from my trench coat pocket, lighting it and taking a puff. The sun's light on the river seemed too bright, especially against the twinkling yellow lights of the shops. But it was time for one more. Taking the phone, I tapped in another number.
For a couple seconds, a sweet tune, a pop song I did not recognize, played amidst the silence. My foot tapping did not mean I enjoyed it. After a while, it connected.
Beep.
'Who is this?! How did you get this number?!'
…
'Answer!'
I sighed. Sadly, he was all the brute I had gathered from my research. Sadness still, I had wanted myself to be wrong, though I never am.
'Big man, what is with the temper? Let's all cool down a little bit, strike later when it's better. Quench that fire of yours. Being too hard can get you killed, you know.'
'What-t, how…. How do you know me?!'
'You got that?' I nodded genuinely. I had expected him not to. 'Well, your time must be going well, Iron Knight.'
'... Who are you?
'Just your friendly neighborhood villain. Just passing by.'
'What do you want.'
'Nothing, nothin-'
'Shut up! Just tell me. How did you get this number?'
'Whoa, again with that temper of yours. Not pleased with our small talk?'
'...'
'Really, don't want to speak anymore?'
'...'
'Fine. Have it your way. If you want it, I'll give it to you. How is Tasha by the way? Doing well I suppose?'
'... Don't speak that name with your dirty mouth. How the he-'
'So, are all your needs met I'm sure? She is a very pretty woman from what I'-'
'SHUT UP! Don't you dare-'
'I have the videos.'
I took a puff from a cigarette. This was getting tiring. Throwing the still mostly good cig into the water, I continued.
'All the videos and pictures of you and those girls you bring to your house. I see some of them you took yourself! Very nice. But don't you think all those angles are a little unflattering to your image?' I paused, but only silence. 'I'm sure you're much more handsome in real life. Now, if you want these videos, you've got to come to me, which I'm sure,' I glanced at my watch. It had been at least a minute since our call started. 'You know where I am by now.'
Still, silence met my words.
'Well then, chou big man, expect you here in a couple minutes, otherwise, you know the internet is a dangerous place right?'
Beep.
And then I waited.
…
"FUCK! MOTHERFUCKER! THAT LITTLE COC-"
"Knight Sire, Knight Sire, what is wrong, wha-"
"Get out of my way."
Aram Fullblood, Unique super Iron Knight, shoved the servant to the side and stormed out of his mansion. There was another servant waiting in front of the cars who got pushed to the side as well, as Aram seized the keys from his poor hands and got into his Lamborghini. A few more moments later, he was speeding down the road.
"FUCK!"
As he stopped at a light, he yelled out once more and slammed his hands against the wheel.
"How? How?! HOW?! There is no-"
Beep. Beep. Beep
"If I get interrupted one more-"
As he looked down at his phone, his heart, along with his voice, dropped.
UHA? Why? … Do they know? He couldn't have… shared that right. Shit.
After hesitating, he answered the call.
"Is this Mr. Iron Knight?" an out-of-breath female voice questioned.
"Yes…"
"Sir, we have an emergency at the St. Mary Hospital. A villain has declared they planted bombs underneath the Hospital and is demanding that you be the one to come. The UHA needs you to come immediately to resolve the crisis. We can not risk the chance of the bombs being real."
As she continued to speak, Aram's face became more and more grave. "No, no, no, I can't come, it's impossible. You need to get someone else!" Aram yelled at the phone.
"... Sir, why? You need to come immediately, or the bombs will set off! The villain is requesting you and you only! We need you to come NOW!"
"NO! Get someone like Lighthand, or I'm sure you got King right? Get him!"
"No, sir, we can't risk it. The Villain requested you by name. We need you. Please."
"But… the call…"
Aram groaned. Why now? It couldn't have happened at a worse time. What was he supposed to do? If he ignored the call and went to the mysterious man, not only would countless die, not that it mattered to him, but the public and UHA would be outraged. If he didn't, the mysterious man would put the videos on the internet. He could think about how he got them later. If they were released, he would be finished. The Government, Public, UHA, and oh, Tasha. Tasha.
"SHIT!" He slammed his hands against the steering wheel again. This time, his power activated, and his hands turned to steel, creating an imprint on the soft metal.
Behind him, another car honked. The light was green.
Aram let out a scream, a guttural scream, one that did not seem too human. Perhaps that made sense.
…
Staring into the water, I continued to wait. It was more boring than expected. This was the first message of my story, and yet I had spent most of my time daydreaming about future plans instead of doing the stuff I had wanted. Next time, I should add more action. But as if my thoughts had been read by God, a red Lamborghini came steaming in from the road. I wanted one of those.
Out of the doors came the man I had seen only through pictures and my gift. It was different, I can admit, seeing with your own eyes.
"YOU!" As soon as he came out of the car and caught sight of me, he began to scream. Typical. "What have you done! How do you know about … how do you have videos?!"
Time to begin acting.
"Oh, those… I just stumbled across them. Nothing to worry about. You should be worrying about what I'm going to do with them. And by the way," I checked my watch for effect. "Don't you have somewhere important to be? I heard it was-a hospital?"
"It was you?! YOU did that!?"
Oh no, he was going to explode.
Without needing to use my gift, I saw his skin turn to metal from his feet onward, until all of his body had become steel.
And then with a scream, he charged.
This brute.
I used my gift, and in an instant, time seemed to stop . Of course, I wasn't stopping time, even my sight did not have that power, but I could use my gift to perceive everything in slow motion, therefore giving me the perspective of stopped time. The only downsides are that it takes massive amounts of energy, and my body could not keep up.
Then I used a simple application of my gift: Seeing the correct actions I had to take to beat him. In an instant, overlays of what I needed to do appeared in vision. After inspecting for a while, I returned to normal speed.
As he got closer, the ground cracked under his feet, his swinging arms like giant swords. But I knew from my vision.
When he came within a few feet of me, I ducked down and quickly rolled my through across his body. His attempts to grab me were futile due to his increased weight and idiotic, impulsive actions. As I did so, I forcefully grabbed his right ankle, latching like a koala. The effects were immediate.
While not heavy, his momentum wasn't too heavy for him to bear, and when I grabbed his ankle, he lost his balance.
With a thunk, he slammed his feet into the ground, but his body fell onto the ledge of the water. Though he scrambled to get up, a simple grab of his leg made him tumble into the war. He let out a yell, and with a giant splash, he crashed in.
I remained on the ground, coughing. I could feel the wetness of blood behind the blindfold. I had perhaps spent too long in the effects of slowed perception. But it was fine, my plan had succeeded.
I slowly got up, brushing the grass from my coat, before approaching the elephants in the water. His iron transformation had continued, and he was splashing about and creating a big fuss not to drown in the water. Pussy. He was too occupied to turn himself back into his normal self.
Iron Knight, are you happy?" My real personality was coming out. No matter. "Do you truly feel happy?"
"W-Puh-hat! Get me o-puh-ut!"
"Hah. Get you out? Is that what you truly want? What is in your heart, Iron Knight? Or, should I refer to you as, Aram. Your name is a special one, peculiar, perhaps too much of one for a man of your caliber."
He continued to suffer. Perhaps it was time,
"You know Aram," I kneeled on the ledge staring at his eyes. Eyes filled with anger. But more importantly, fear. Agonizing fear and confusion. They filled me with… Happiness. "Did you really think the videos were real?"
His eyes widened.
"You said it yourself. How could I get those videos? There was a chance, I knew, they did not exist in the first place, only, your reaction told me they were real. So, thank you."
I couldn't tell if it was the water or tears coming out of the corners of his eyes. Either way, I could see the fear turn into anger, more anger, in his eyes. Good, he could be more broken. As my cold eyes met his fiery ones, a pang of joy sprang into my heart. Two emotions now.
I needed more.
"So, Aram, what are you going to do?"
Only the sputtering of water answered back. This was getting boring again. I sighed looking at the river. What had I expected, after all? He was the human trash I knew, just much weaker. I clicked my tongue, watching him struggle in the water. A wonder how he had caught three villains.
I watched on for a couple of moments, seeing his desperation, but the feeling didn't come back. It was time to end things.
Looking around, I found a branch that had fallen from a tree, medium-sized enough. Grabbing and coming back, I extended it toward the thrashing iron man. He looked at me and the stick in confusion. His eyes took on a glint, I realized.
This idiot.
Grabbing the stick I had extended, he pulled fast on it to try to pull me into the water. Of course it didn't work, I simply released the stick, and he instead swallowed a mouthful of water, struggling even harder within the river.
"You fool, so why did you have to do that? See here, I'm going to give you another branch, but if you do that one more time, I'll have to punish you. Understand?"
My teaching tone obviously didn't resonate with him, as even as he struggled within the water, I could feel his glare. I don't think I should become a teacher. Anyway, I did the same process, grabbing another stick, and this time, he faithfully grabbed it. My words had worked. Perhaps I should rethink my teaching career. It was a bit of an effort to pull him toward the edge, but when he did, he pulled himself up and collapsed onto the ground.
Putting my hands in my pockets, I gazed upon his body. His iron transformation had only partially worn off, explaining his struggle in the river. He began to cough up water until finally, he shut his eyes and appeared dead on the ground.
"Yo, Mr. Iron Knight, you're not dead right?"
"..."
I checked with my gift and confirmed that he was indeed, not dead. But to go with his act, I leaned in, appearing to check his condition. In an instant, both his hands struck towards my throat, trying to grab it and ring the every living heck out of it. Of course, I simply slapped his cheek with the back of my hand, and he collapsed back onto the floor. I gave another on his other cheek for symmetry.
When his eyes did not open for a couple of more moments, I began to slap him again, his face beginning to turn red, of course, not from the cold.
"Mr. Aram, I know you're not dead, open your eyes."
I saw his eyes squirm before finally, they burst open. For a few seconds, we stared at each other, eyes locked. It was sort of weird. But it was time for the final blow.
"Hey, I have something to give, wait a second." He grunted in response, probably trying to say a curse, but too tired to do so.
"Here," I gave him the phone I had pulled out of my pocket, "look at this."
When I realized his hands were frozen, I awkwardly grabbed and forced it into his hands, raising them to his eyes. The first real reaction after I pulled him out of the water came onto his face.
"You recognize what this is right? A hospital. Specifically, St. Mary's Hospital. You know, remember when I told you about those bombs and how they were fake? Oh, I just realized, it had slipped my mind, that they were real! Cool right? Now if you look at the screen and see the timer," I glanced at it, and it read 0:11, "that's when the bombs are going to explode. Isn't this fun?"
His eyes met mine, and I saw the tears running down his face.
"Don't worry, don't worry, it'll be fine. Oh look! It's close. Five, four, three, two, ONE!"
As I looked at the screen, the white hospital, which stood stark in the background of the clear blue sky, remained. After a few more seconds of waiting, I snatched the phone from his paralyzed hands and began to smack it. Then, the explosions began.
"Ha! It did work, here, here, look." I shoved the phone into his face, and his tears began to stream more and more across his face.
"Wait, do you want to know something better?" Despite his struggles, he violently began to answer no with his head. But I did not let go. "You know, if you had been a better father, you would have known this. Be honest, did Renna ever even enter your mind?"
As soon as he heard her name, he collapsed for the final time, eyes rolling to the back of his head and foam coming out of his mouth. The tears continued to flow.
"Shit. Already? I thought he would last longer." I glanced at my watch. "I didn't even get to tell him about the videos. Sadness."
I stood up from the body and looked at the river. This had been fun, but it was now time for the next part of the plan.
Suddenly, a small shout from behind me brought me out of my thoughts.
A regular? There are no buildings nearby, how… I turned on my sight and realized. A super? That… wasn't in my plans. I began to rummage for answers. I scanned all the surroundings beforehand and made sure we weren't close to civilization. There are no UHA patrol routes in this direction either, not that it was time for one. Shit. He or she didn't attack me on sight. An unregistered. Or a newly minted Super. Luck, where are you when I need it.
As I turned around, my mind paused for a moment at her sight. She was a 10, a beauty even by my standards, I was a man after all. Clothes that hide her obviously toned body and long black hair. But her black office clothes revealed that my suspicions were right. She could be an unregistered or a new super. Not a hidden agent, I had scanned the vicinity for that as well.
"Yes, miss?" I asked, waving my hands. Perhaps she wouldn't notice the blood from my blindfold or the giant silver man on the ground nearby. "What can I do for you?"
She seemed out of breath.
"You-you, you Villain! What are you doing?"
"Me? A villain?" I pointed at myself. "I think you're mistaken young lady, I was just passing by. Do I look like a villain to you?"
Wearing an expression of disbelief, though still pretty, she began to scream back after a pause: "YES! Who wouldn't think you're a villain!" After an audible gulp, she pulled a knife out of her pocket, almost dropping it in the process, and began to wave it around. It was cute considering the circumstances. "N-now, put down the weapon and go away!"
I tilted my head in confusion. What weapon? Was she hallucinating? But more importantly, why wasn't she using her powers? I thought for a second whether to use my sight to foresee her power, but thought better of it. It would waste too much energy, and considering the fact that she hadn't used it yet, it was likely not very strong. Or she was stupid, either of which was fine.
"What weapon?" I said, pointing at both my hands, "Do you see any weapon? Or am I missing something?"
She blushed.
"N-no! Just. Get away or I'll attack you!"
"I mean. . ., by the way, are you a new Super? I don't think I've seen you around here."
"Ye-No! I'm a really cool and good super, so you better fear me. So get away." She glanced back at Aram, who continued to remain half dead on the floor, that bastard.
Hmmm, I could use a new super to target, and changing a new one could be fun.
"What's your super name?" I asked.
"Nebula. Now, stop making me say it, move before I use my power!"
"Fine, fine, I'll move. But" I turned and pointed to Aram, "I'll let you know, the person you're trying to save right now is a rapist, so, do with that what you will."
Her mouth opened like a fish, and I began to run away. Using my sight to look backwards from my head, I saw she had run up toward the embankment of the river and gone to save him. My words had no effects on her apparently.
I have to make a good plan to teach her, I thought, far too innocent. This will be fun.
…
"So- Mrs." The worker looked down at the clipboard. "Nebula. Special Grade. No affiliation. Medium level Flight and … unknown control of clouds?" He looked up. "Is this you?"
Melania, callsign Nebula, was getting interrogated by a UHA worker. They were next to the body of Iron Knight, where the incident had taken place.
"Yes, that's me." she replied.
"Okay. Could you then explain the situation and what exactly happened here?"
"We, we or I met a Villain. He was wearing a black trench coat and a blindfold. He seemed white but had black hair And, and …"
"And?"
"There was blood coming down his eyes. "
The worker jotted something down on his clipboard. 'Okay, was there anything else? Any indication of his gift or anything of that kind?"
"No…"
"Okay then, we're done here. A further and more thorough investigation will be done later, so expect to be called down to one of the UHA bases. Thank you."
Without listening for a response, the worker left, and Melania was left alone, standing near the trees. She thought back to the incident with the Villain. He was different from what she had been expecting from Villains. More, more intelligent and talkative than she imagined. He was just different.