Page 2 of Villainous Intent

I vaulted over the jawless guy and threw myself deeper into the alley as the streetlight crashed down exactly where I had just been standing. The impact shattered the pavement, concrete dust and sparks flying out.

Out on the street, the training script had unraveled. Wildfire hovered higher, his flames shifting from a photogenic orange to a lethal blue. Surge struggled to stand, his left arm hanging at an unnatural angle. Bone poked through his scorched suit.

I dug out my tablet to file the emergency termination code before Wildfire ended up killing Surge. This wasn’t even a televised match, just a practice fight using real city terrain. There was no reason for Wildfire to treat it like a full on arena match.

A low, mechanical whine droned from over head as I hit send.

The sound intensified as massive shadows eclipsed the alleyway. I glanced up, squinting. Three heavily armored Alliance oversight cruisers were descending. They didn’t bother with a warning horn as the air pressure spiked, signaling that the power dampening field was now active.

Out on the street, Wildfire’s blue inferno snuffed out and he dropped from the sky, hitting the asphalt with an unceremonious thud. Surge just collapsed. The oversight committee had evidently reached the exact same conclusion I had. Any value to be had from the training exercise had expired.

I looked down at the two dead civilians. Their blood was already congealing, mixing with the concrete dust to form a gruesome sludge. Then I looked past the ruined streetlight to the cratered road filled with crushed cars. Shattered glass glittered everywhere.

By tomorrow, no one would even know a fight happened here.

Chroma Bay’s cleanup crews were a marvel in their own right. Within twenty-four hours, they would sweep up the debris, pour fresh asphalt, and replace the streetlights. All the damage would just be another line item in the Alliance’s monthly budget while the destruction was consequence-free for the people causing it.

I spent every second of my life policing my own existence. I measured every word, filed every report perfectly, and held my breath so I wouldn’t disturb the air around me. I owed the Alliance my safety, my entire existence and so I had to be perfect for them. I was trapped in a cage of my own endless gratitude and terror.

But these Supers? They threw fire and reduced city blocks to ash whenever their emotions got too big for their bodies. It was the ultimate indulgence.

I wanted to experience that freedom. Just for a minute, I wanted to stop being the perfect Keeper. I wanted to let go, indulge in the destruction, and finally break something.

Even if that something was myself.

The crunch of steps moving quickly toward me broke me out of my thoughts. A member of the Alliance oversight squad rounded the corner coming to a halt at the edge of the alley as his eyes flicked from me to the two corpses tangled by the dumpster. He wore the standard-issue matte black armor of the oversight squad, his visor pushed up to reveal a bored face.

He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Idiots,” he muttered, shaking his head.

The craving to shatter something evaporated. My brain seized that ugly urge and shoved it down, locking it behind years of conditioned obedience. I put on my Keeper persona with my entire body. My spine snapped straight. I unclenched my jaw and smoothed the tension out of my shoulders until all that was left was Keeper Bishop.

I was Havoc’s Keeper. I did not have violent breakdowns in blood-soaked alleys.

“You injured, Bishop?” the oversight grunt asked as he tapped a stylus against his forearm datapad.

“No. Just covered in collateral spray. These two breached the west barricade.”

“Figures. Clean-up is going to need a hose for this one.” He gestured toward the street with his chin. “Come on. They want to get this zone locked down. Transport is waiting.”

I stepped over the bodies, keeping my eyes fixed straight ahead. The medical team was already hauling Surge onto a stretcher. His ruined arm hung at a sickening angle, the exposed bone glistening under the flashing blue lights of the cruisers. Wildfire was being escorted onto one of the waiting aircraft.

I followed the oversight member toward the largest of the three armored aircraft idling in the intersection. The boarding ramp lowered and the sterile, climate-controlled air that wafted down was a relief after the stench of the street. The interior of the cruiser was metal and blue LED lighting, completely utilitarian, but compared to the destruction outside, it was fucking luxurious.

I found an empty jump seat and collapsed into it. The safety harness engaged automatically and the moment the buckle locked, my Keeper mask cracked. I slumped back against the bulkhead, letting my exhaustion envelop me now that no one was watching. I laced my fingers together to try to stop the tremor in my hands. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, letting the hum of the engines drown out the residual ringing in my ears from the fight.

I needed to get back to the Tower, to the quiet of the upper levels. I wanted to wash the smell of the fight out of my hair and bury myself in spreadsheets and scheduling. I needed my real work, where the rules actually mattered and the destruction was mostly kept on paper.

CHAPTER 2

ANNIE

I’d managed to scrub most of the blood off my hands in the cruiser’s tiny lavatory before they’d deposited me on the sidewalk outside the Tower. Washing my hands didn’t do a damn thing for the rest of me, but I took the small victories where I could get them.

I stared up at the Tower where it stabbed directly into the Circuit District skyline.

It was a one hundred and two-story middle finger to the League, goading Villains to try their luck at breeching it’s walls. From the top floor, you could see the entire bay and the glowing ribbons of the Phoenix Bridge. On clear days, you could also see the Alliance brass scratching their heads in their own headquarters, wondering why the hell they’d let a former Villain build a fortress right in the middle of downtown.

Most days, I felt a familiar excitement walking into the Tower. Today, I just wanted to slink to the executive floor without being noticed.