My Dear Supervillain

Ladrona sat on the bed, chewing a pen as she figured in her expenses. Rent would be four thousand credits a month. Food would cost around two thousand credits, with the ridiculous cost of produce. Add in savings, car payments, all that other junk… Ron would need at least eleven thousand credits by tomorrow, and she only had a couple hundred left. Why tomorrow? Tomorrow she had to prove she could pay rent, so she could move in with this ‘Leo’ character. Ron wondered if he dyed his hair purple like his grandma did. Hopefully, he could handle the noise of monster movies in the middle of the night.

Hopefully, he'd be dimwitted, so Ron could easily hide her identity.

Ron tucked her paper in her pocket and left the shelter once more.

Leonardo Peller checked his watch with a frown. Ranvir would leave at three this afternoon. The young sidekick knew he shouldn’t waste a single precious credit, since Valerie’s need was a matter of life and death, but he couldn’t let his hero go without any sort of memento. A nice watch, perhaps, or a jewel to stick on his turban… Or a ring…

But that wouldn’t happen if he couldn’t even get to a jewelry store! Leo kicked his broken hoverdisk and sat on the curb. He’d bought the disk used. It was an energy-sucking, EM-pulsing thing that didn’t hover two feet up like it was legally supposed to. It was a miracle he hadn’t been pulled over by the cops about it yet. Leo couldn’t afford to get another one. At least it was light enough to carry onto the bus, which was running ten minutes late. Wonderful.

Things would get really lonely with Ranvir gone. Leo rubbed his watery eyes and tried to find a positive way to look at the situation. Nope… nothing. All he could do was hope that his new housemate would be cool.

Leo wondered if the new roomie would mind him watching loud monster movies at two in the morning. His grandma liked her, so she was probably a sweet little nutcase. She might even have purple hair. If he was really, really lucky, she’d be a comic-loving geek willing to swap books.

Hopefully, she's be dimwitted, so Leo could easily hide his identity.

The screech of big wheels rang in Leo’s ears, and he jumped aboard the bus.

The biggest, sparkliest jewelry store in Antiopolis was easily Jezebel’s. Case after case, section after section, it glittered like a field of golden wheat encrusted with diamond dew. Watches and bracelets of every breed, rings with jewels of every cut imaginable; they were all waiting for someone like Ladrona Mallow to come and steal them.

“That’s a nice one,” Ron told herself as she surveyed a diamond necklace. The platinum inlays holding the jewel in place formed a pretty little heart shape. The price was fourteen thousand credits. This one little necklace could keep her housed and fed and educated for a while, if she sold it to the right person.

“Looking for anything in particular?” the finely-dressed clerk drolled. The scent of Ron's poverty was irritating the clerk's delicate nasal passages. Were those shoes even worth five credits? The clerk had already decided this woman was a window shopper, probably without a hundred credits to her name. As far as she was concerned, Ron was loitering; but she didn't want to dirty her hands by throwing this urchin out of the store.

“Already found it,” Ron told her brightly. “I’d like this necklace, the matching earrings, and this ring… Do you do custom engravings?” The clerk jumped up to assist her. Perhaps this window shopper was richer than she looked! Ron ordered a custom engraved ring for her ‘fiancé’ Kanato Yuki, under the name Sayaka Mochido, fake phone number included. She wasn’t interested in the earrings and ring at all— it was all about the necklace, she had to have it!

“And how will you be paying this evening?” the delighted clerk asked.

“Cash,” Ron said, with an immensely smug glow about her. She reached for her purse, and… “Wha— where is my purse?!”

“You didn't have one when you came in,” the clerk informed her.

“Really? What if— oh, no, I did! I left it in the bathroom at the theater!” And without another word to the clerk, she fled the shop and went to the theater across the street.

She actually hadn’t brought a purse with her at all today. Now that she’d scoped out her sparkly prize, she just needed a secure place from which she could exert her power. From the safety of the theater’s restroom, shadows slithered under door frames, out of the lobby, towards the jewelry store across the street…

Leo dashed into Jezebel Jewelers, cursing like a sailor. Only half an hour before Ranvir teleported to the Ganymede Colony. It was a twenty-five minute bus ride between Jezebel’s and the TelePort. He had only five minutes to choose and buy a memento!

“Please help me…” Leo froze.

It took him a moment to take in the scene around him. Jezebel Jewelers looked like a tornado-swept hall of mirrors. Watches and rings lay all over the floor. All the necklaces, and a well-dressed clerk, were hanging from the chandelier. “What’s going on here?”

“G-get me down, please!” Leo looked around for a chair or anything that might help. There was none to found; the only possible things to stand on were the broken cases the jewelry had been in. They looked unstable, not to mention covered in sharp bits of broken glass. “It, it, it chased everyone out,” the clerk babbled. “It was a monster! This giant mass of wriggly snake-things came in through the glass door— through the door! It just went through the glass! And then there was smoke and I couldn’t see, and it grabbed me and—”

“Calm down!” Leo tried to think. How to get her down… ? His super-scream would be useless; he’d shatter what little hadn’t been broken before knocking down the chandelier and killing the clerk. A small crowd had begun to gather at the doorway. Maybe there’d be something helpful in the back room? He tiptoed through the broken things and tried the door— locked! “Is there a ladder anywhere around here?” Somewhere amidst the maze of words tumbling out of the clerk, Leo thought he heard a ‘no’.

A watch on the ground read 14:34.

“I’m really sorry, ma’am, but I gotta run!”

And out he went, despite the clerk’s predicament.

The moment he got out the door, Ron got back in it. “Alright! I found my purse and…” And she surveyed her handiwork with her own eyes. She’d expected to see the broken glass and the jewelry scattered, but the clerk! When had she thrown the clerk up there?! “Ahh! Hang in there! Are you hurt?!”

As Leo ran towards the bus stop, he noticed something shiny in the back alley. Deciding he had a couple seconds left to spare, he peeked in and got a better look.

There, sitting in the middle of an empty alleyway, was a diamond necklace with a platinum heart holding the jewel in place. Nobody was around. “Hallo?” Leo called uncertainly. “Anyone there? You dropped your… necklace…” It almost looked like a necklace from Jezebel’s, but why would anyone leave a necklace like that right next to the shop? “Anybody? Hallo?” The only response he heard was a bus approaching.

Heart in his throat, Leo took the necklace and ran.

“Careful, careful— don’t step there! Easy does it…” It took three people to achieve the task, but the Jezebel clerk was finally lowered to the ground. It was particularly hard since she was getting more and more panicked by the minute. Ron held the lady’s clammy white hand, listening as an innocent onlooker called the cops. “Isn’t it nice to be on solid ground, miss? Think you’ll be alright?”

With that hand trembling so hard in hers, Ron couldn’t help it but feel guilty. She’d only meant to scare away the other customers and throw her necklace into the alley. The clerk seemed unharmed, but that was pure luck. What if the shadows had hung her by the collar instead of her underwear? Ron tried to bring back a little cheer and sanity by laughing. “I guess I can’t get my ring today.”

At least she knew she had a necklace to collect!

Leo wasn’t coming.

Ranvir paced anxiously. He’d gone to so much trouble to find the perfect parting gift for his sidekick, and the little punk wasn’t going to show. There were only three minutes left until his expensive teleport halfway across the solar system, and he was almost ready to cry or punch somebody. He didn’t usually get this worked up. He’d never had so much trouble letting something go.

“One minute left, sir. Please board the launch pad,” a very bored-sounding attendant drawled. Then he looked back with wide eyes. “Wait, I know you! Aren’t you that hero guy that saves people and does heroic things?”

“… No.” And as of the incident with Nightshade, he really wasn’t.

“Ranvir!” The aforementioned former hero felt a blast of wind as Leo’s shout hit him, and within seconds his sidekick pounced him like a lovesick bunny. Ranvir laughed aloud and locked Leo in his sturdy embrace.

“Thirty seconds,” the attendant chirped.

Leo tearfully clasped the necklace around Ranvir’s neck. “For you.”

Ranvir pried Leo out of his arms and produced a ring from his pocket. “For you,” Ranvir breathed as he placed it on Leo’s finger. “Don’t do anything stupid when I’m gone.” Leo leaned forward to kiss Ranvir, but the man had taken a step backwards, onto the launch pad. There was a flash of light, a loud beep, a moment of silence.

Ranvir was gone. With him vanished Mystic, the city’s greatest hero. And Leo the fry cook, Leo the slob, Leo the sidekick would have to fill his shoes.

The alley was empty. There was no necklace to be found— not in the dust, not in the trash bins, nowhere. Ron tore the dirty alley apart, tore into newspapers that bounced along the walls. It was gone. Somebody must have taken it. That was the second time she’d been parted from her hard-earned money this week— and it was while she was committing a robbery!

The silent alley filled with shadows as Nightshade’s rage and despair consumed her. Holes were smashed through the buildings on either side of her. Trash bins were crushed like empty soda cans. She tried to contain the wave of darkness that tried to pour down the street, and failed; a homeless man downhill of her ran just in time to avoid it, and she pulled all the shadows back, only to lash out at a nearby fire hydrant.

The fire hydrant hit her back, hard enough to knock her into the wall and take the wind out of her. Who knew water could hit so hard? As her makeup dripped away, so did the psychotic rage. Nightshade took a deep, shuddering breath… and she was Ladrona once more. Just Ladrona Mallow, shivering with wet cold, poor as the dirt stuck to her knees.

Okay, so there was no necklace to secure her future.

Tonight, Nightshade would rob a bank.

But first, she'd do some good deeds to counteract her crimes. I need Ileana.

Leo always hated his work uniform. The smiley-face buttons, the green suspenders, the orange trousers and striped shirt… he looked like a pumpkin, disguised as a Christmas tree, with a sour disposition. Most kids thought Gwendy’s employees looked like clowns, and it was good for business, but terrible for morale. Leo's bright red face made the outfit look even dumber. He wanted to scream, but he held it in. He wanted to grab the nearest person and cry on their shoulder. He wanted to kick puppies. He wanted to sort out his emotions, figure out how he would go on living without Ranvir. But first…

“I told you, I want a cheeseburger without cheese! What's so hard about that?!” the customer demanded. His dentures kept trying to fall out of his mouth with every over-enunciated word.

“A cheeseburger without cheese is just a burger, and it's less expensive,” Leo pointed out with tightly gritted teeth.

“I know the difference! I just want a cheeseburger without cheese! That's all!”

A very irritated Leo called the order to the back. There was much giggling from the other Gwendy's employees. As Leo took the man's payment and handed him his 'cheesburger without cheese,' he couldn't keep his eyes off the clock. Ten minutes 'till break, ten minutes 'till break…

“Hello?” came a groggy voice from beneath massive blankets.

“Good morning, ILEANA!” Ron sang into the phone. The sound was somewhat muffled because of the echo in the phonebooth; oh well.

“Mmmrf…” the blankets wiggled as their captive sleeper attempted to get up. “What time is it…?”

“Almost noon.” Ron grinned at Ileana as she dug her head out of the sheets. She had a huge mess of tangled red hair, freckles, and a dumb look in her tired eyes. “C'mon, brush your hair and get dressed! It's a good day to go do some good, like the do-gooders we are!”

Ileana yawned and pulled her hair back as she crawled out of her cave of fluffy bedding. “Can't I just donate something to charity and sleep in today?”

Ron tisked loudly. “Nuh-uh, girlfriend. I won't let you sleep in when there are trees to hug and animals to save! Donations can only do so much. We have to BE the change we want to see in the world! Let's go get em!” Ron gave her friend two thumbs up.

Ileana stretched and fell over backwards. “… Okay… getting up. Yeah, I'll get right on that…”

“PELLER!”

“Huh?

“Stop spacing out and tend to the customers!”

Leo blinked. I only glanced at the clock for a few seconds, right? He glanced down at the shiny new ring on his finger. I shouldn't be flipping burgers or dealing with customers. I should be helping Ranvir fight crime…

“PELLER!” The manager, Kevin, screeched in Leo's ear.

Leo smacked himself in the face and turned on his microphone. He was on drive-through window duty, after all. “Welcome to Gwendy's! Make I take your order?” he asked brightly to whoever-it-was. Manager Kevin menacingly sharpened his prized cleaver at Leo, who only answered with an idle grin.

The customer's voice crackled into Leo's ear. “Can I get a laser grilled Berylliumburger meal, with a tofu patty and a side of biodegradable fries, and a shnozzberry soda?”

“Uh… That is…” Manager Kevin tested the edge of his cleaver on his pinky finger. It bled. Leo gulped. “Gwendy's is not affiliated with Berylliumburger and we don't have a laser grilling system or shnozzberry soda. Would you prefer a tofu Gwendyburger meal with furblefruit soda?”

“No more mines! No more mines! No more mines! No more mines!”

The chant was unending. With several hundred voices shouting in unison at the chambers of Town Hall #36, all other noise seemed to come from underwater. Ron raised her sign with pride; she felt that “Mines kill mammals!” was a memorable slogan to shove in the Enercrystal CEO's face. Her voice joined the others harmoniously. “No more mines! No more mines! No more mines!”

Ileana yawned. Her sign, “mines are murder,” wobbled and fell to the ground.

Ron shook her friend's shoulder. “C'mon! Stay awake! You still care about the environment, don't you?!”

Ileana's green eyes drifted open. “Of course I care, but… lately, I've been working on my own future. I have my own goals in life, you know…”

“Hey, you're the one that got me into the environmentalist scene!”

“I still want to be a part of that!” Ileana persisted. She cast a furtive look around her. All the others around her were lost in their chants. “See, I've found a better way to make a difference. Have you ever heard of… Magical Girls?”

Leo collapsed on one of the chairs in the break room. I'm useless without Ranvir. I don't even have the balls to cry! Maybe that wasn't true. Leo wiped his misty eyes on his sleeve.

“Hey, Lion.”

Leo jumped, but it was only his coworker, the very zen Bob. “Hi,” Leo said thickly.

Bob took a chair, dug around in his backpack, and tossed Leo a soda. “I've only got a minutes, but you look like you need to talk.”

“I need to kill something,” Leo growled in response. I need to kill Nightshade. Then Ranvir can come back and everything will go back to normal. Bob's stare was heavy, but Leo didn't want to talk to him. He was too similar to Ranvir, too calm no matter what storm approached.

“Violence never brings happiness,” Bob told him.

“Then why do villains laugh so much?”

Bob pondered for only a split second. “The hyena laughs because it is afraid. What's troubling you?”

Leo groaned. He sounds more and more like Ranvir… “My boyfriend dumped me.”

“Ahhh… You'll survive,” Bob said lightly. He adjusted his name tag. “You may not feel like it right now, but you're a whole person, and you don't need anyone else to complete you; but I'm sure other people will come into your life. You've got a nice roar and a cute mane, Lion.” Bob gave him a wink before heading back to work.

Now alone, Leo clutched Bob's soda. His hands shook. “I wish it were that simple…”

Ron stared at her friend Ileana in surprise. “Have I ever heard of what?”

“Magical girls,” Ileana repeated. She shook her head at Ron's dumb look. “I thought you'd know about em. They were originally a Japanese thing, after all.”

“So is tea, and I don't care about tea,” Ron pointed out.

“Actually, tea is Chinese.” Ron shot Ileana a warning glare. The redhead only tossed her messy locks and smiled. “Okay, so here's the scoop. Magical girls are artificial superheroes. They tend to be really super-flashy and skanky. They get their powers from pure Enercrystals, which they usually wear as jewelry or put into a wand. When they take off their jewels, they go back to being normal people —”

“— and what does that have to do with Enercrystal mines?”

“Everything!” Ileana whispered. “If we learn to use Enercrystals like the magical girls do, we might be able to drain all the energy from the mines and shut down the industry for good!”

Ron bit her lip. On one hand, Ileana's plan seemed ingenious, but on the other hand… “Do have any idea how much energy you're talking about?”

“Enough to power Earth's magnetic field for six billion years.” Ileana's smile was bright, but Ron's mind was abuzz with flaws in the plan. “Hey, I was just throwing my idea out there. We'd still need to find a magical girl to teach us, anyway. Just think about it. I'm sure there are other ways to save the world… but whatever happens, we gotta do it together. Deal?”

Ileana extended her pinky to Ron. The supervillain felt a stab of guilt, but she still grasped her friend's pinky and sealed their pact. “We'll make a bright future for all the creatures of Earth,” Ron promised. But I have to save myself first.

The full moon could barely be seen through the polluted haze of Antiopolis. The dull hum of hoverdisks and human voices had vanished, to be replaced by the sound of late-night drivers. The city grew quieter, but it would never be silenced.

The flash of the television was the only light in Leo's living room. The old news anchor, Miller, gestured towards a picture in the corner of the screen. “Environmentalists are pushing for a production halt in the EnerCrystal industry, claiming that mines are harmful to the—”

“I don’t give a damn.” Leo turned off the TV. He didn’t really care about nature, and the EnerCrystal industry was about to snap. His hoverdisk was expensive enough with EnerCrystals; he shuddered to think of what he’d have to pay to run it on gas. Leo couldn’t spend all his time walking to work.

All was silent. The house seemed so empty. When his parents left it to him, it had been a lively place; always full of rowdy guys playing rowdy games, and Valerie lit the place like a star. That was before the sickness… Once Valerie was hospitalized, there were no more parties. Leo worked every waking moment. When Ranvir came into his life, it almost filled the void; but now he was gone, and the house was as dead as Leo’s parents. The only sound was a leaking faucet.

Leo looked over his shiny new ring, the last trace of Ranvir in his house… and he buried his head in the pillows. He didn’t want to see how empty his house looked. “Damn you, Nightshade…” Ranvir was right. Leo may not care about justice or the greater good, but he’d jump at the chance to rip Nightshade a new orifice.

The very moment the thought crossed his mind, a dark shape moved past the window. What the—? Leo jumped off the couch and peered into the night outside his window. Nothing was there. Between the street lamps, Leo could see a few trash cans, a few cars parked in driveways… There was nothing moving out there. Did I only imagine it?

One of the shadows moved.

Leo squinted to get a better look, but it was impossible. It was a walking shadow— no shape or size could be made out clearly. Leo found himself holding his breath and suddenly unnerved. It was too big to be a cat. The shadow moved again, and Leo could see that it was a person… sort of. Standing directly under the street lights, they were as black as the night sky, form blurred by darkness. Was that a dress or a billowing robe? Was that hair or a hood? The stranger looked around furtively. Leo saw two eyes, glowing white, before the nebulous shadow tiptoed down the street.

“Nightshade,” Leo breathed. His fear was scrubbed away instantly by anger. “Oh, you’ll suffer for chasing Ranvir out of town!”

He hastily threw off his clothes and donned his super-suit. It was a sky blue leotard with music notes all over it, decorated by yellow knee and shoulder pads. He slid on his boots and gloves, slapped on his mask, snapped on his music-note codpiece, and his transformation into the Wailing Wonder was complete.

He dashed out the door just in time to see the shadow vanish around the bend. Thankful that Ranvir made him work out regularly, he cursed his broken hoverdisk and took off after the supervillain on foot. There were no people to get in his way, no cars coming along these hidden streets at night. The curfew made it a lot easier to catch any villainous activity at work.

Nightshade wasn’t tiptoeing anymore. She sped ahead confidently. Her goal loomed ahead of her. It was Triumph Bank, a titan of international money laundering and squandering; the franchise that drove many smaller banks out of Antiopolis and swindled away the money of locals with poor check-balancing skills. There couldn’t be a more deserving target to rob.

Nightshade smiled to herself. This would be a quick in-and-out job. Sneak in, pinch something precious, sneak out, and eat well for a month.

Nightshade stopped at the window and reached out with her powers, unlocking the place from the inside just as she’d done at her apartment. The bank opened itself to her without trouble, and in an instant she was in. Now, to find the money… The safe was a safe guess. She didn’t have to bother with the locks, since her shadow fist could easily tear in. She expanded her shadow hands again, raised them to strike—

“OW!”

Nightshade froze. Somebody had followed her in.

She turned to the trespasser, shadow hand still poised for destruction. She expected to see Mystic or some other mighty hero hopping around with a stubbed toe, but no! It was a scrawny kid in blue pajamas with his head mashed into the floor and his left leg caught in the window. A he extracted his leg from the window, Nightshade noticed his shoulder pads and mask. Lovely… a clumsy hero.

“Nice entrance,” Nightshade greeted him. “Very dramatic. You’ve really stricken fear into my villainous heart. Who’re you?”

The stranger jumped to his feet, thus activating the motion-sensitive lights. With his bright blue suit, glittery music note decor, and gushing nosebleed, the newcomer was a sight to behold. He took a deep breath and sized her up. She looked every bit as formidable as her reputation. He estimated her to be half a foot taller than him, but with her shadows swirling around it was hard to tell. He tried hard to look away from her glowing white eyes, and failed. He felt like a deer looking to headlights. “N-Nightshade!” he bellowed in a surprisingly nice voice. The act of yelling seemed to embolden him. “You dare show your face after shaming Mystic? As his loyal sidekick, I, the Wailing Wonder, will tan your sorry hide and drag you to prison!”

Nightshade was so busy staring in stunned horror at his musical codpiece, she misheard him. “… Huh? You hunt whales?! They’re endangered, you little prick!”

“Not whaling, WAILING!” His voice suddenly boomed like thunder. The entire bank rattled. He could’ve yelled much louder, but there’d be no sense in that. Nightshade got the point. Unfortunately for him, she couldn't care less. Wailing Wonder reached for his gun… then realized he forgot it in his rush to put on his super-suit.

“What? Aww, no weapon?” Nightshade guessed, with an invisible smirk on her face. Her shadowy fist vanished as if in a puff of smoke. She knew she should just grab the money and leave, but this Wailing Wonder character apparently wanted to put on a show for her.

“No matter,” Wailing Wonder told himself. “I’ll just blow you away with my awesome powers!” He took a deep breath and readied a scream…

And Nightshade burst into laughter. “Awesome powers?” she choked. “Awesome powers? Oh, kid, they only say that in movies! Didn’t Mystic teach you anything? Ah… awesome powers… Tee-hee! That’s great! Tell another joke, won’t you?”

The Wailing Wonder was miffed. He had expected a fight, perhaps to the death; he expected her to treat him as a threat, not a clown! She had the audacity, the nerve, to laugh at him?!

“SHUT UP!”

This time, he didn’t hold back. Windows shattered, papers scattered, and Nightshade was knocked into the wall. Her entire body rattled and a splitting pain erupted in her head. Not good! Wailing Wonder kept right on wailing, and Nightshade could feel the vibrations tearing at the fabric of her being… But she couldn’t go down like this, not to a pathetic punk like him! Not to the sidekick of a defeated hero!

Shadow whips lashed out and caught him by the ankle, effectively stopping his banshee wail. Nightshade moved to throw him out of the bank, but the shadows didn’t obey; they smashed him against the ceiling and let him fall to the floor with a dull thud. Oh well, it worked! The Wailing Wonder just lay there with a look of pain on his face; she’d knocked the wind out of him. He couldn’t scream. He couldn’t even breathe.

“You’ve got guts, kid,” Nightshade told him loudly. Her ears were ringing. “A mere sidekick, taking on a homicidal villain like me without your hero to help! Where is Mystic, anyway?” The Wailing Wonder managed to take a shallow, painful breath, but he couldn’t do more than glare at her. Nightshade had a gift for reading people, though. “Don’t tell me… He ran away and left you to clean up the mess after him?” Wailing Wonder coughed angrily and attempted to sit up. Nightshade actually felt a stab of remorse, but it was tainted with hatred. “I don’t believe it… I just don’t believe it! Running away, after all those speeches he made about never giving up? I thought he was better than that! That’s really depressing. He was the only respectable superhero in Antiopolis.”

The Wailing Wonder agreed with her, which only infuriated him more. Despite the pain, he stumbled to his feet and took a deep breath to wail.

Nightshade stuck her giant shadow finger down his throat. He gagged and tried to pull it out, but to no avail. That shut him up nicely.

“Use your head, kid. I’ve killed fourteen people. I beat up your hero, learned his most dangerous secret, and scared him out of town. I can do the same to you.” She released him. He instantly began to scream, but she expected it. Her hand moved to clamp his mouth shut, but instead it knocked his head back and shoved him. He cracked his head sharply on the wall, and he spun slightly, only to fall out of a broken window. There was a quiet thunk as he landed, and then silence. Oops. I’ll just pretend I did that on purpose… No sound came from the space below the window. None at all. “H-hey, Whining Blunder… Are you alive?” She peered out the window. The blond sidekick’s face was buried in the plastic pebbles by the sidewalk. He wasn’t moving. “Wailing Wonder… ?”

Through the ringing in her ears, Nightshade suddenly realized she could hear sirens approaching. An alarm must’ve gone off when Wailing Wonder wailed! With a colorful curse, she tore into the safe and took about half the credits for herself. She took another glance at the Wailing Wonder… He was breathing, so all was well in the world. She hopped out the window and stepped on the Wailing Wonder before making her getaway. She had what she needed to survive, and that was all that really mattered.

When the Wailing Wonder opened his eyes, he found a dozen dour-looking cops looming over him.

“I didn’t do it,” he said dumbly.

“See, dudes? Told ya so,” one officer chirped.

“Shut up, Simon,” the others groaned in chorus.

The Wailing Wonder noted that the sun was up. I must’ve been unconscious all night… He looked around in a daze. Shattered glass, curious onlookers behind police tape, and grumpy-looking cops were all over the place. Officer Simon gave him a hand up, and glared at the sizable lump on his head. “She got you good,” Simon whistled unprofessionally.

“Ah! YOU!” The Wailing Wonder jumped in shock as a massive man in expensive clothes appeared before him. This bear of a man was red in the face and bore a most venomous glare. “YOU!” He bellowed again. The Wailing Wonder thought he could see smoke wafting out from the man’s nostrils. “You tried to save my bank!”

The Wailing Wonder shrank away from the banker with difficulty; he seemed to have his own gravitational pull. “I tried,” the diminutive sidekick squeaked. He felt very small. The banker’s four chins trembled hypnotically. His face went from red to purple. The Wailing Wonder assumed he was angry.

“He’s very grateful,” Officer Simon said helpfully.

“So grateful,” another cop continued, “that he’s agreed not to press charges if you pay for the damages up front.”

Press charges? Damages? The Wailing Wonder looked back at the bank and felt his heart sink into his toes. Every window was broken. Furniture was toppled and cracked. One of the support beams had snapped and the roof now drooped slightly on the southern side of the building. “The villain only stole twelve thousand credits and damaged the safe. You managed to cause over twenty thousand credits of damage, and you didn’t even scratch her.”

So that’s why Mystic liked to avoid the cops.

Ron was in a very good mood by the time she reached her new front door. Twelve thousand credits! Twelve thousand credits to pay rent with, buy food with, pay tuition with… And a new house! She still felt bad about scaring Mystic out of town, and she’d barely pushed John’s fate behind her, but memories of knocking Mystic’s whiny little sidekick out the window brought a smile to her face. I hope he's alright. I guess this is how a dog feels after popping his favorite toy ball? All she had to do now was meet her new housemate, whom she hoped was as goofy as his purple-haired grandma. She whistled as she went up the steps.

This place was as ordinary as a place could be. White paint, simple lawn and garden, white fence, a tiny balcony. With a feeling of immense satisfaction, she waved her microchip hand in front of the scanner. “Ladrona is home,” Ron announced.

“Microchip data is now synchronized with new resident data,” the security system announced. “Welcome home, Ladrona!” The door opened for her, revealing a nice and clean living room. Well, almost clean. There was a big stack of comic books by the couch.

“Hello?” Ron called. “Mr. Peller?” No answer. That’s strange, he said he’d be here… Was this the right place? It had to be, or the security system wouldn't have registered her as a new resident…

“Ladrona?” Ron whirled around to see a young blond man in grubby clothes coming up the steps.

“That’s me. Are you Leonardo Peller?”

“Erm, just call me Leo…” He shook her hand briskly. Something made the hair on Ron’s neck prickle upwards, but she couldn’t help it but grin. He was younger than she expected, and he seemed painfully normal compared to his grandma. Scruffy, unshaven, and she couldn’t quite place his accent. “Is that all your stuff?”

Ron looked down to her suitcase and her purse… “How much did your grandma tell you? I’m basically running away from my boyfriend. I left everything behind.” There was no need to mention that her boyfriend was dead. Leo blinked at her with mild concern. Something in his wide brown eyes seemed familiar… “It doesn’t matter, really. You know, after knowing your grandma, I thought you’d have purple hair too!” Leo cracked a smile. Ron had been hoping for a laugh, but…

“I cut out of work because I thought you’d have furniture to set up.”

“… Oh.” Well, at least she’d placed his accent: Australian. “Well, at least you can give me the tour, right?” With a nod, Leo brushed past her and swept into the house like an icy gale. Ron shivered as he went by. Something was wrong. There was darkness in this scruffy man, all around him.

Ron's shadow was following Leo. She broke out in a cold sweat. Stop that! Stop that right now!

“Ladrona? Is something wrong?”

Ron shut the door and smiled broadly. “Just a bit chilly,” she giggled. Nevermind that it was 90 degrees out. Stupid, Ron, that was just stupid! But Leo only shrugged and led her into the hallway.

One bathroom. Three bedrooms. Ron’s room had a dusty old bed and a low desk, but it looked nice enough. She got a glimpse of Leo’s room— more simple furniture. There were some dark areas on the wall— places where things used to hang but had been recently removed. There was an empty shelf in the fridge for Ron. Leo made it clear that Ron needed to get her own dishes and bath-towel.

“Say, Leo… What’s in the other bedroom?”

“Not much. Stay out.”

Well, that was mysterious.

“It’s not your secret superhero base, is it?” Leo stopped in his tracks. Ron almost crashed into him.

“No, it’s not. Just stay out of there.”

“Oh, but you’ve made me curious! Now I just have to know.” With a growl, Leo punched the door button. Ron waited with anticipation as the door slid into the ceiling. What would it be— a secret disco dance room, or something equally embarrassing?

As the door finally opened and the lights clicked on, Ron saw the room for what it was— just another bedroom. The walls were pink. A tall twin bed with a lacy white canopy stood on the corner. A beauty desk, a closet overflowing with colorful clothes, boxes full of stuffed animals and little plastic toys… all covered with years worth of dust. The air was stale, but there was a lingering scent like perfume and nail polish. The curtains must have been closed for a very long time. Even the teddy bear on the floor looked as if it hadn’t been touched in years. Leo didn’t protest as Ron picked it up and dusted it off. The bear was well loved; it was missing an eye and its leg had been sewn back on more than once.

“… Who… ?” Ron whispered. “You’re too young to have had a daughter…”

“My little sister, Valerie. She’s been living at the hospital four years, three months and twenty-three days…” Leo glanced at the clock. “… Fourteen hours and sixteen minutes. Six seconds.”

Between the precise date and the dust in Valerie’s room… “That’s sad. And kinda creepy.” Ron suddenly felt that she was touching something sacred that she should never have seen in the first place. She regretted making Leo open the door. With a deep breath, she set the teddy bear on the shelf by the door and stepped back out. The lights went off. The door descended. Leo gave Ron a hollow smile.

“Well, since you don’t need to haul in any furniture, I’d better go back to work. You can set up your stuff.” Ron watched him drift away like a ghost that hadn’t finished dying yet. The house sounded painfully quiet when the front door closed behind him.

Ron didn’t really have anything to set up. She set her suitcase in her room and went out to sit on the couch. She didn’t know what channels there were on the TV or which commands to tell it. She didn’t have her music to listen to or her clothes to care for. She had nothing, really, nothing but the clothes she’d worn the last couple days and this strange ceiling over her head. The house seemed so hollow. Ron felt as if she was being watched and listened to. She sat there staring at the ceiling, waiting for the feeling to pass. It didn’t.

“Hello. Nice to meet you. I’m Ladrona Mallow.”

No answer. She didn’t expect one.

“So, uh… new house. You feel kinda haunted. How can you be haunted if your residents all still alive?”

The kitchen faucet dripped once, and the house was silent once more. The lights clicked off. “GAAAAH!” Ron sat bolt upright, instantly panicking— but the lights came back on. She groaned and fell back onto the couch. She’d been still too long, the motion sensors thought she was gone and shut everything off. No reason to panic… Ron put a pillow on her face and willed the place to feel like home. Give it time, Ronnie. It’s better than the shelter.

This class was taking forever. Ron was usually the best student in class, but today every word from the professor’s mouth sounded like gibberish. She was half asleep. It had been an exciting day, and an exciting night, and an exciting yesterday, and an exciting week… An exciting life, really. Ron yawned and tried to take in some of the professor’s words.

“And you take the height of the sun over the horizon, divide that by pi, add x plus the hypotenuse of cow… Set the temperature to that number and let it cook for 17 seconds…”

Am I dreaming? That makes no sense. What class am I in? Isn't that alchemy?

Ron's dumpy friend, May, gave her a sharp jab in the side. “Wake up!” Ron shook herself, but her eyelids remained heavy.

“Scrape off some of the burnt material and do a scratch test. Cadmium, see? Now, take the elemental number of Cadmium and…”

Ron fell asleep.

When she woke up, class was over. Everyone was gone.

Her new purse was gone, too. Her phone and all the money she’d stolen from the bank— it was all gone.

“This coffee is too hot!”

Leo imagined the customer being roasted alive, and he smiled broadly. “Have you attempted blowing on it to cool it down, sir?” The customer thunked his coffee on the counter, sloshing it all over the place. Leo met the man’s burning gaze. It was better to watch the eyes than the wobbling chins— this man was almost as fat as the banker.

“It burned me,” the customer persisted, as if Leo had maliciously planned the incident.

“The lid clearly states that the cup’s contents may be hot,” Leo said clearly. “Please be careful, sir.” It was hard to keep smiling when he wanted so badly to scream the man’s head off. Cursing venomously, the customer stomped out of Gwendy’s, coffee back in hand. The earthquakes caused by the giant’s stomping feet gradually stopped coming. Leo sighed and turned to the next person in line— a goth chick who would've been pretty if her clothes weren't ten sizes too small. Leo kept smiling, even though his face hurt. “Welcome to Gwendy’s. May I take your order?”

Thunk. Leo’s bag fell to the floor.

Thunk. Leo’s body fell to the couch. He missed having Ranvir to hold whenever he got back from a rough day at work. What a crummy day… He really wanted to be held, he wanted somebody to tell him it wasn’t so bad, but there was nobody here. Maybe he could watch a movie… No, that was no replacement for romance or even companionship. The room was just too empty without Ranvir. The coat rack looked so empty without a white cape dangling off it… So many of the artifacts Ranvir had collected, they’d been replaced with bare patches of wall. The shelf that used to be covered in ornate African masks was empty and dusty. All the little traces of Ranvir were gone, as if he’d never even been here… Except for the picture of them together at Pluto Park.

Leo couldn’t bear looking at it. A tear escaped his brown eyes. No, no, no—! Leo stuck his head in the couch cushions and tried not to scream. He'd only lost control once in his life, and he didn't want to repeat that disaster. He didn't want to hurt anyone ever again. His eyes burned with tears, his throat felt so tight, his lungs kept trying to suck in a deep breath— he whimpered and held it in, almost choking on his frustration. Ranvir…

The door beeped loudly. “Ladrona is home,” it announced. Leo extracted his head from the couch. He couldn’t scream now, especially not with Ron just coming home. He knew his face would be all beet red, but he dried his tears just the same. The door opened to reveal Ron. Her hair hung in her face, but she looked worn out and tears clung to her cheeks.

“Hey,” Leo croaked.

“Hey,” Ron replied. “Missing your ex?”

“Yeah. You?”

“My purse was stolen. I've been robbed three times this week, and it’s all I had left…” A distraction! Leo almost sighed with relief as he sat up. Anything to get his mind off work, and Ranvir… “I fell asleep in class. When I woke up, everything was gone.”

“Have you reported it?”

“Yeah.” No. She wasn’t that stupid. That would be like a drug dealer reporting that his drugs had been stolen, but Leo didn’t need to know that much. “I have some phone calls to make tomorrow during business hours, but I don’t think it’ll do me any good…” She hung her jacket and collapsed onto the couch beside him. They regarded each other dismally. Deep shadows hung under their eyes, and they both looked pretty sorry, with their unkempt hair and overworn clothes. “You look tired,” Ron observed lamely.

“You look like shit,” Leo shot back. “At least my boyfriend didn’t throw me out of the house like a sack of… of…” He fell silent. Nothing had changed on Ron’s tired face, and her posture was unchanged, but something made Leo erupt in goosebumps. Cold? Fear? But of what? It felt as if the walls had taken offense and the couch plotted his demise. “Sorry,” Leo muttered. “I shouldn’t take it all out on you. It wasn’t your fault.” The feeling dissipated like morning fog. Leo shook his head. Did I just imagine it all? He watched Ron’s eyes and hoped he’d evaded her offense.

Unbeknownst to Leo, Ron was kicking herself for almost losing control. Leo was asking for punishment, but no… that would be wrong.

Leo could bear her gaze no longer. “I didn’t mean that,” Leo continued feebly. Ron’s silence was growing thick. “Really, I’m sorry I—”

“I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“… Yeah.” Leo couldn’t meet her cold black eyes.

Ron bit her rosy lips. “Your grandma thought it would be good for both of us to get together, so let’s not bite each other’s heads off.” Leo nodded. Neither of them seemed to have anything more to say. There was only the leaky faucet to prove their hearing still worked. “… So, uh… Got any movies?”

Leo bounded to his feet and seized a nearby video cube. “This is a good one,” he announced.

Ron smiled slightly. “If it doesn’t have a giant monster smashing Tokyo, terrible things will happen to your comic books.”

Leo inspected the title. “My comics are in luck. Oh wait… No, the monsters fight in Osaka. There’s also a giant cat girl called—”

“Alura!” Leo hadn’t seen her move, but Ron was suddenly at his side, staring at the vidcube with awe. “Is this the original 2012 version? The one that was never officially released in America — 'Savor VS Alura'?!” The sparkle in her eyes was reflected in Leo’s. “How did you get this?”

“I smuggled it from Aussie. Hey, you’re Japanese! Couldn’t you just buy the Japanese version?”

Ron shook her head sadly. “I can't speak Japanese. Not enough to watch a movie and understand it, anyway.” Leo quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t ask any questions. He stuck the video cube in the reader.

Their troubles were soon smashed away by giant monsters and digested along with popcorn.

Another car at the window. Some fat lady with curly hair… Leo turned his headset on. “Welcome to Gwendy’s, ma’am. May I take your ord—”

“BURGER!” the customer barked loudly. The sound crackled painfully in Leo’s headset.

“Would you like to make that a combo meal?” Leo asked with false cheer.

“BURGER!” Leo took that as a no.

“Would you like to supersize—”

“BURGER!” Leo took that as another no, and punched it in.

“That’ll be seven credits. Please drive up to the second… window…” The customer was already driving. He accepted her payment and stood smiling as she honked in impatience.

“Where’s my BURGER?” she barked.

“Wait a minute, ma’am, it takes a moment to prepare… Oh, here it is.” He handed over her burger with all speed, then felt a twinge of horror as her face turned beet red.

“I wanted a supersize combo!”

Oh, it was hard to keep smiling through any adversity. “You only ordered a burger,” Leo informed her through tightly clenched teeth. “If you wish to order fries and a drink separately, you can drive back around and—” The fat lady and her car sped around the corner. Leo really hoped she was leaving.

Almost time for a break. Nobody had driven up to the drive-through just yet. Leo loosened his headset and rubbed his aching temples. Working at Gwendy’s was a real headache…

“Bad karma,” the zen co-worker Bob observed. “Were you a supervillain in a past life?”

“No idea, but it would explain a lot, mate…” Leo rubbed his red eyes and adjusted his green suspenders as another car came up to the window. It wasn’t the fat lady— thank God! The former sidekick put on his happy face. “Welcome to Gwendy’s! Make I take—”

“DONUT!”

Leo found himself really, truly, hating humanity.

“You’re LATE.” Ladrona set down her bag. Since her purse was stolen, she resorted to using a plastic grocery bag to carry her things — what few things she had.

“Sorry, Chad. Couldn’t find a parking space.”

“You’re NEVER late,” Chad pointed out as he guided her to her seat. “I got a call from Ileana; she was looking for you, but you disappeared after the protest. Is something wrong?” Ron smiled to herself. I killed my boyfriend, got robbed, drove the greatest superhero in Antiopolis away… Chad didn’t need to know these things, but as he sanitized her arm, Ron’s tongue loosened.

“I’ve been having a lot of trouble lately,” Ron whispered. “Problems at home. My purse was stolen. My textbooks are missing, I still can’t find a job, and… ugh, my life’s such a mess.” Not to mention the cops were fresh on her trail, and she was beginning to worry that she might've really hurt the Wailing Wonder. She hadn't seen or heard of him since the incident.

Chad definitely didn’t need to know that. He showed nothing but concern. “That stressful, huh? And you look so pale… Are you sure you’re up to donating blood today?”

“I’m sure. Needle me up, Chad.”

He would never know why she was so determined to do this so often. She refused to go to a center that would pay her, preferring to donate blood instead. And no matter how pale or stressed out she got, she always came in the very hour she was allowed to do so, and she always left with a blissful smile on her white lips. Chad would never know of her karmic debt… And Ron was fine with that.

“MILKSHAKE!”

“What flavor?”

“STRAWBERRY!” Leo almost laughed in relief at not having to make a ‘milkshake’ flavored milkshake. After serving the customer, Leo finally got to take off his headset. As per usual, his ear felt sore after wearing it for so many hours.

“Hey, Peller!” The skinny manager Kevin slinked out of the shadows, with greasy hair hanging all over his face. His clothes were falling off his skeletal frame. With a cleaver in one hand and his bloodstained smock, he looked fit for the star role in a horror film instead of a fast food joint. “You’re off. Get outta here.”

Leo was running for the door before Kevin finished speaking.

The sun was setting fast.

Ron loved the golden glow of twilight over the city, but she didn’t have time to enjoy the view. She had to get home before the night set in. She couldn’t quite remember the way back. Was it a left on 142nd street, or a right on 124th? She turned her hoverdisk up to speed 3 — still legal, barely. Right on 124th… Nothing looked familiar. The orange glow was dying. Despite the cold and the wind lashing through her hair, Ron began to sweat. Was it really 142nd?

“WORK, DAMN YOU!”

Ron jumped in surprise and banged the hoverdisk on the edge of the pavement. She pulled over in a hurry. Whoever yelled, they did it loud! Looking back, Ron saw some skinny young man shaking a hoverdisk. Wait, wasn’t he—?

“Leo!” Ron pulled over and skipped to her housemate's side. Boy, was she glad to see him! “Something wrong with your hoverdisk?”

Leo tossed it to the pavement. “Yeah. It’s a cheap Chinese piece of crap,” he grumbled.

Ron’s joy at seeing him dissolved a little bit. “You’re lucky I’m Japanese, not Chinese, or that hoverdisk wouldn’t be sitting idly on the pavement.”

Leo flushed slightly but made no apology. “Well, it really is a cheap Chinese peace of crap. I got this just two years ago, so it should still work, but… I swear, this thing’s trying to kill me. It keeps dropping out of the air and dragging on the pavement. I’ve stopped using the safety straps just so I can jump off when it goes down.” Ron noted the fresh rips in the knees of Leo’s pants and the lovely red color they'd become. “Can you give me a lift home?”

“Sure, if you can tell me which way to go. I’m lost.” The sun was almost down. Ron bit her lip and decided to speak faster. “It’s up 124th, right?”

“Left.” Oh. Well, duh. “Ronnie, are you feeling okay?” At her curious glance, he added, “you look really pale.”

“I’m a blood donor.”

“You’re sweating and shaking.”

“That’s… That’s because I overexerted myself, jogging over to you.” True, she was exhausted. She hadn’t realized just how exhausted until she spoke, but she was feeling somewhat light-headed. That wasn’t why she shook, but she didn’t have to tell Leo the truth. “Let’s just go home, okay? I wanna go lay down.” More than anything, she wanted to turn a light on and drive the shadows away. It was getting too dark, too fast…

“Are you sure you’re—”

“Just get on the hoverdisk, okay?”

Click. Ron sighed happily as the room lit up. “It’s so good to be home,” she told Leo brightly before collapsing on the couch.

“You’re not shaking any more,” Leo observed as he kicked off his shoes. “It’s like you were panicking earlier.” Ron refrained from answering. “There’s nothing scary out there except the dark.”

Ron turned on the TV and wished she could mute Leo. Well, she could, but he probably preferred having his tongue in his mouth.

“Are you afraid of the dark?” Leo asked.

Ron turned up the volume.

“Oh, jeez, you ARE! Why, did you have some sort of traumatic—”

“Goodnight, Leo.” The TV went off and Ron got up off the couch.

“It’s not a bad thing. There are plenty of reasons to be scared of the dark…”

“I said goodnight!” Ron vanished into her room. Leo almost wished he hadn’t asked anything at all.

“G'night, Ron…”