I Was Grateful For The Warmth Of My Horse's Neck. I Held On To Her As She Galloped Through The City,

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Concept #108

Villain knows what Hero looks like without their mask. They see them in the car park and 'accidentally' bump into them, so that they can get their details.

Scene Prompt

“Just sit down! I’ll bandage you up,” the ex-villain said, gesturing to the chair.

“I can do it myself,” the hero grumbled, swiping the first aid kit and grudgingly sitting.

The ex-villain pursed their lips. “Hey.” The hero ignored them, cracking open the kit. “Hey,” they said louder and caught the hero’s chin between their fingers, gently tipping it up so their gazes met. “Needing help doesn’t make you weak.”

“I can clean my own wounds.” The hero jerked their face from the ex-villain’s grip and began to swipe a disinfecting wipe along their arm, grimacing at the sting.

“That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.” The ex-villain plucked up the ointment and applied it to the hero’s scrapes in wake of the wipe. “Needing my help during the fight today doesn’t mean you’re any less capable.”

“I shouldn’t need anyone, and especially not you,” the hero hissed, fingers digging into the arms of the chair.

The ex-villain flinched at their harsh tone but began to wrap a bandage around the hero’s arm nonetheless. A trickle of guilt seeped into the hero at how their former enemy simply took their words and didn’t lash back, and the fire in their chest dimmed.

They cleared their throat. “I-I shouldn’t have said that. You were just trying to help. I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at me,” the hero confessed.

Smiling sadly, the ex-villain said, “I’m not new to self-loathing either, especially given my past, but that’s something we can both work through. Together, if you’d like.”

- Lynn

Request for “former villain taking care of the hero when a new threat is too much for them to handle” by mudnight_writer

Prompt by @gingerly-writing

“Run.”

“If the potion only makes you attack the people you love, I’ll be fine. I can stay here and stop you from attacking anyone you actually do love-”

“I love you!” the villain snarled, concrete fracturing under their fingers. “Now run.”

There was little for the hero to do to stop themselves from being horrified.

Up until then, the villain had refused to look the hero in the face, but now, the villain’s slow and concentrated fury was on full display.

“Before I kill you.” That was the final warning, the concrete that barely stopped the villain nothing more than dust.

The hero bolted, frantically feeling around their belt for anything that might hold the villain off. For the first time in a while, they didn’t want to use their powers on them.

Earth shattering footsteps pounded mere paces behind the hero.

There was a grappling gun, and while it couldn’t do much against the villain’s sheer strength, it might work in slowing them down.

Blindly, the hero shot behind them, hoping they hit somewhere around the villain’s legs. That’s when they stopped, and sidestepped, making the villain trip forward, charging into thin air.

While the grappling gun lay discarded a mere distance away, the hero still had their fists. They tackled the villain, straddling them on the ground.

The villain, in turn immediately tried to reach for the hero’s neck. Keeping the villain’s murderous hands away took far too much of the hero’s strength.

“Stop it!” The hero commanded. They hadn’t noticed the villain’s bloodshot eyes.

Whatever reply the villain did try to make came out more animalistic, a contorted face with a hoarse and frustrated voice.

The hero jolted when the villain tried to wrestle out of their grasp.

With limited options, and a villain almost free of their grip, the hero did the first thing that came to mind.

True love’s kiss was only for fairytales, sure, but who decides the difference between life and a fairytale?

The hero felt awful, because at first, the villain was frozen, making no effort to reciprocate or pull away. They did, however, try and pull the hero closer. The hero felt less guilty about kissing them with that motion.

When they parted, the villain managed to rasp out a few words

“Needs to be-” the villain stopped, their hands twitching in the hero’s hold. “Needs to be out of my system. Lab. Go.”

The hero felt questions bubbling out of them, but had no time, as the villain leaped forward with more strength than the hero possessed, breaking the previous hold.

Now, instead of looking down at the villain’s face, the hero looked up, wasting no time in kneeing the villain’s stomach, and grabbing the discarded grappling gun just inches from their hands.

Once again, the hero shot, hooking the grappling gun’s cord around the villain’s feet. They were behind the villain in a flash, one arm wrapped around their throat.

Three, two, one. The hero counted in their head, listening for even breaths. When they heard it, they finally turned the villain around, lifting them in their arms.

The villain’s tear stained face was on full display for the hero, stray drops leaking from their eyes. Gently, the hero wiped them away.

“You said a lab?” The hero asked, mostly talking to themselves. “We can work on your vagueness when you’re you again.”

“You shouldn’t trust me. I’ll make sutures out of your heartstrings and I won’t apologise when I use them to stitch myself back together.”

prompt from @gingerly-writing, which inspired this snippet!

The hero, seated in the chair before the villain’s desk, blinked. Neither said anything for a few, long seconds, then the hero cleared their throat. “That was dramatic. How long did it take you to come up with that?”

The villain’s lips thinned. Trust the hero not to take them seriously. 

“I am warning you,” they said tersely. “Stop asking me for help.”

“We’ve worked together before, and it’s turned out.”

“Not for the long-term. Not the way you’re describing.”

The hero leaned forward in their chair, their gaze too calm and steady and unafraid. “I never said I trusted you. I just need your assistance.”

“You never said you liked me either,” the villain said. “Yet I don’t see you denying that you do.”

This time, that got a reaction out of the hero. They leaned back, gaze flickering away from the villain. They cleared their throat again. “Yeah, so?”

“I have concluded that your mental processes are compromised. Very much so.”

A smile just barely tugged at the corner of the hero’s mouth as they glanced back at the villain, but the amusement was clear in their voice. “You have ‘concluded’? I would certainly be interested in seeing your research paper. How many pages is it? A hundred?”

The villain slammed their hands down on their desk and stood. Discomfort grew in their stomach as the hero didn’t flinch, just kept watching them as if they were no threat. As if they had never brought powerful men to their knees, as if they hadn’t overwhelmed the city’s police system for an entire month, as if they hadn’t fought the last menace who had resided here and won.

Two years ago, the hero would have had their weapons drawn in a blink of time. Today, the hero sat unarmed in their base.

“Let me make this clear to you,” the villain snapped. “This isn’t funny. Just because we don’t fight anymore, because I don’t send you home limping—”

“I think I sent you home limping—”

“Shut up.”

Slowly, the hero rose to their feet.

The villain continued, picking up momentum. “Lack of fights between us, this ‘peace’ you refer to, is all in your head. We are not allies. When you let down your guard you are giving me the opportunity to use you however I wish. I don’t know what you use to think, but it isn’t your brain. You’ve claimed I’m not as bad as the others, but do you think I won’t use the opportunity to claim more power?

“You give me your trust, your heart, and I’ll rip it to shreds. Do you know what I could do with you? What I could gain? Your body in my control could buy me a place within the Blood Stars. I could hand you off to a dozen different organizations and reap millions in benefit.”

“You could,” the hero said softly. They moved smoothly towards the villain, around the edge of their desk to stand before them. “But you won’t.”

The villain opened their mouth, and the hero pressed a finger to their lips.

Keep reading

P2 Obedience Without Rules

Part 1 here

******

“Why’d you do it?”

Hero was frightened at first, thinking the worse- that Villain was mad at her. And maybe he was, but not in the anger which Hero assumed. An anger which involved malice, hatred, and revenge.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it. I should have let him finish instead of-”

“Let him finish?” Villain squinted over at Hero, who wouldn’t face him no matter how gentle his tone was. Hero seemed- “Are you afraid of me?”

In response, the chains attached to Hero’s wrists clashed and jangled. She said nothing. Swallowed. Stared at the floor. Pondered whether this silence was a better or worse response than…than anything else. Maybe silence would upset Villain further.

Why exactly would he be mad with her? Well, it could have been for several reasons.

The first, Hero eliminated: Villain cared for her.

The second, infinitely more likely: Hero messed up, didn’t allow him to pass out- to avoid the pain which Supervillain caused.

The third, perhaps close to the first: Villain was annoyed by her self-sacrifice, only for it not to work. The stupidity of the act, the thoughtlessness.

“Hero.” Villain’s voice was more demanding this time- a mistake on his behalf. “You are afraid, aren’t you?” Even after that…scene. Villain felt bad, he did- though perhaps he shouldn’t have. He was truly a villain. Caring about whether or not some philanthropist was afraid of him might as well have been considered a crime against his own moral codes. And yet… “We’re- uh- we’re in this together, alright?”

Was such a simple statement easy to say? Not at all.

But was it necessary? Absolutely.

Truthfully, Villain wasn’t sure he would have survived had Hero not stepped in. Yes, he was upset- because he did believe Hero deserved better than to go through…through that. That, which Villain didn’t like to think of, even if it was over for the time-being. The torture.

In any way, Villain appreciated Hero for the help, but…but, it made him angry. Not at her. He couldn’t be angry with Hero, not for something that was so natural to her, and not when it saved him from more torment than he could handle. He was angry with Supervillain, for breaking someone not worth breaking.

It wasn’t that Hero wasn’t a worthy opponent. It was that she didn’t- again- deserve to be an opponent at all. She was kind, self-sacrificing, giving, thoughtful- in a caring way, not so much in a strategic one. Opponents were created with negative connotations, with spite and hate. Hero didn’t deserve that.

“What did you mean earlier,” Villain asked, “about letting Supervillain finish? Finish what?”

“Finish learning,” Hero said, voice almost quiet enough to miss. “It’s easier to let him finish the process, to- for you to sleep, so that it doesn’t- um- doesn’t hurt anymore. But I stopped him too soon and now-”

Is she sniffling? Villain couldn’t see her face anymore. She’d dropped it, letting her hair fall over her eyes and cheeks.

“-he’ll have to do it again. He’ll finish next time, have to do it all over again. I’m sorry.”

Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong, Villain wanted to say, but by judging the rest of this situation, saying anything would make it worse. Hero would view every word as a lie, or read it as aggravation, and fall further into brokenness. Not to mention, if Villain told Hero not to apologize, then she’d likely apologize again, feel bad for it, and then it’d become a cycle which neither party knew how to deal with.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Hero. It’s okay.”

‘It’s okay.’ Well, wasn’t that the biggest lie of all? None of this was okay, but it was all Villain knew to say. All he could do in order to give Hero hope.

That’s what she deserves.

Hope.

So, maybe it was a good thing, to say they were okay, that they would make it out. Because it was the only thing the two had left.

“It must be beautiful when you see the sky span out in front of you when you fly,” the civilian said, their eyes wide with wonder and awe. 

The hero smiled. “It is. Would you like to see?” 

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