Chapter 251 Pain.

Chapter 251: 251 Pain.

"...and you’ve got a recipe for absolute disaster. The ecosystem fundamentally needs its villains. If guys like me didn’t exist to absorb the aggro, the capes would start leveling city blocks fighting over zoning disputes and bruised egos.

"The world will always invent a bad guy. So, I fill the niche. I provide a highly visible, highly manageable target for the good guys to punch while the truly dangerous heavy-hitters are busy licking their wounds."

"And you’re completely happy with that existence?" Vanessa asked, looking highly skeptical.

"Well, it gets complicated," I admitted, shoving my hands into my jacket pockets as we walked across the polished marble foyer of the Firefly lobby. "To be entirely honest, the bigger your brand gets, the more logistical problems you attract. You get a target painted on your back. But if I hadn’t gone into freelance villainy,

"I wouldn’t have my own fortified compound complete with an Octoporian. Not to mention, I never would have met Glacia, Psyren, and Rhea. Or if I did, it would have been from the wrong end of a jail cell."

Vanessa fell quiet, looking thoughtful at that.

"I suppose that may be true," she murmured.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Me?"

"Yeah," I said as we approached the massive revolving glass doors. "Why did you decide to put on a mask and become a hero?"

Her lips twisted into a bitter line. A heavy, suffocating shadow settled over her features.

"My father’s evil is unmatched by anyone operating in the modern era," she said, her tone dropping into something incredibly dark and hollow. "He is cruel. He is vindictive. He actively delights in the prolonged suffering of the innocent.

"I grew up watching him commit uncounted horrors. He is a monster, completely uncaring of anyone or anything but his own endless quest for leverage and power. I hate him, and I hate everything he represents."

"Let me guess," I said, stepping through the revolving doors and out into the crisp afternoon air. "You see playing the hero as a way to balance the cosmic scales? A way to atone for your father’s crimes?"

"And?" she demanded hotly, her defensive walls instantly slamming back into place. "Is that wrong?"

I held up both hands in a placating gesture. "Not at all. I am the absolute last person on earth who will complain about your origin story. The whole ’rebellious daughter of the supreme evil overlord turning to the light’ is an outstanding narrative trope. I love it to pieces."

"You do?"

"Why wouldn’t I?" I laughed shortly. "I love classic tropes. I love the theatrics. I love everything about this industry. Sincerely. But I am not a psychopath. I don’t actually want to hold city hall hostage with a dirty bomb or kick a civilian down a flight of stairs.

"I don’t want to torture animals or unleash a horrifying plague upon the tri-state area. But I love the idea of it. And that’s exactly what I do. I market the concept of evil without actually committing the atrocities."

Vanessa pursed her lips thoughtfully, processing the angle. "I... never thought of it that way," she admitted softly.

"Keep in mind, though," I added, my tone turning serious. "I am absolutely the exception to the rule. Very few villains in the major leagues are normal, well-adjusted people who just enjoy sticking spikes on their shoulder pads and trading punches with the good guys.

"The vast majority of them belong in a maximum-security ward. So, in my professional opinion, you’re absolutely justified in taking a stand. You should be a hero. I am completely on board with your whole crusade."

"I... see. Thank you, I suppose," she said, stealing a cautious look at me. "And you’re not just saying that because you’re terrified of my father?"

"Your dad completely terrifies me," I corrected her without a second of hesitation. "Given the option, I would absolutely want nothing to do with him, or the Council of Nine, ever again. Those people are utterly unhinged. No offense."

"None taken."

"But I can’t exactly avoid the contract now," I said, gesturing toward the street. "So the best thing for both of us to do is just execute this job, hit our marks to everyone’s satisfaction, collect the payout, and then never speak of it again."

"Of course," Vanessa agreed.

"Although," I added smoothly, fishing my car keys out of my pocket, "if you ever do find yourself lacking in quality villainy at some point in your independent career, I would certainly take a phone call to see what we could arrange together."

"You would, would you?" Vanessa asked, a single brow raising skeptically.

"Naturally," I said. "You seem incredibly competent with your hexes, and you are clearly willing to pull your punches in a staged encounter. Believe me, I’ve dealt with far worse scene partners in my career."

"Hm," she grunted, falling entirely silent.

It wasn’t a hard no, which counted as massive progress in my book.

We reached the bottom of the concrete steps leading away from the Firefly plaza. It was obvious we were heading off in separate directions.

"I’ll text you the encrypted details for the Intergate Arms walkthrough when I have them," I told her.

"I will be waiting," Vanessa said.

She raised her wrist, gesturing sharply behind her. One of the heavy silver bangles flared with a blinding, crackling light. A jagged, circular portal tore open in the air.

Without wasting another second, she stepped cleanly through the gateway. The portal snapped shut behind her with a loud, vacuum-like pop, leaving empty air.

Huh.

That was incredibly convenient. I might have to look into acquiring some localized teleportation tech for the organization down the line.

But not today. I still preferred the reliability of my armored Cruiser. With that thought in mind, I turned and headed across the plaza toward where I had parked.

I found someone extremely unwelcome standing right next to my driver-side door.

At first, I just thought it was an elongated shadow thrown by the massive decorative fountain in the center of the corporate lot. But as I closed the distance, the dark shape shifted, turning a narrow, gaunt face to fix me with an unblinking, dead-eyed stare.

Oh, great. Just perfect.

I grimaced, dropping all pretense of professional courtesy as I walked up to the impossibly skinny bastard.

"Get your hand off my car before I take it off at the elbow, Sleer," I warned, my magnetic field already humming to life under my skin.

Sleer sneered, his rotten teeth flashing in the afternoon light. "You could certainly try, Polaris."

"How is your shoulder holding up, by the way?" I asked dryly.

Sleer flinched visibly. His spindly hand dropped away from my door handle to ghost over his collarbone, his dark eyes glowing with absolute malice.

"That is of no concern to you," he growled, his voice sounding like dry leaves scraping across concrete. "I have come for a direct update on your assigned task."

"Then send an encrypted email like a normal contractor," I shot back, stepping into his personal space. "Everything is perfectly fine."

"Is it?" Sleer hissed. Oh, how I hated that twisted, arrogant grin he wore. It made my knuckles itch to shatter his jaw. "My master has localized concerns. He has heard whispers through the underground that there is a... complication."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. A certain parasitic demon apparently has a personal vendetta against your organization. Care to explain?"

"No."

His hairless brow furrowed heavily. "No?"

"No. I don’t care to explain," I said flatly, keeping my voice dead even. "Because one, there is absolutely nothing to explain. Some bottom-feeding demon got it into his head that a stage prop is an actual arcane artifact, and I am already handling the pest control. Two, it is none of your goddamn business how I manage my security. And three, I really don’t like you."

Sleer straightened up to his full, unnatural height, looming a few inches over my helmet. His left eye twitched violently as he glared down at me.

"If any harm comes to Vanessa due to your incompetence," Sleer whispered, "my master will ensure that you suffer torments that you cannot even begin to comprehend."

I looked up at him, utterly unfazed by the theatrics. A gaunt lackey was at the absolute bottom of my threat assessments.

"Cool. Are you done?" I asked, leaning closer. "Because I’ve got a roll of heavy steel dimes in my pocket, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to spend them. So unless you kindly get the hell out of my parking spot, I am going to beat you like a busted vending machine."

Sleer’s eye twitched again. He sucked in a sharp, ragged breath, his mouth opening to spit a retort, but after a long second, he snapped his jaw shut.

He gave me one final look of absolute, boiling malevolence, stepped backward into the deeper shadows of the parking garage, and simply faded away into the darkness.

I scoffed, shaking my head. I reached out and unlocked my car, pulling the heavy reinforced door open.

Absolute pain in the ass.