The Good Life: Roll of the Dice (ch. 24) (Patreon)

I should be horrified. I should be terrified. Vought, the US government -- one or both of them had finally found me. I knew, in the end, my greatest asset was secrecy. It was the mask. I could put it on to become Heartless and I could take it off to become just another face in the crowd and, in the end, that was a power in itself. Losing that power would cripple me. It would limit my movements. There were a thousand and one reasons, each one better than the last, why it was a terrible thing to lose my anonymity.

Yet, my very first thought was…

"Finally," I breathed, yanking up my pants as Yoruichi hopped off my lap, transforming back into a cat with a single smooth motion  -- It was basically what I always imagined watching an Animorph transforming would look like based on the cover of those kid books. They had finally found me. Instead of horrified, I was ecstatic. I was excited. This was what I wanted. Not this as in being discovered, but this as in getting caught with my pants literally down. The give and the take.

I hit them and they hit back. I loved it. It made this whole thing worth doing. Was it Stan? I hoped it was Stan. He really was the gift that kept on giving, and I think I was going to enjoy taking him down every bit as much as I would Homelander.

My second thought, however, was far less happy than the first as I looked across the street to see a smoking and smoldering building that looked like it got blown up. "Those idiots. Can't they do anything right?! They missed me!" I exclaimed, rushing to the balcony, pissed to hell and back. Those absolute morons! How stupid do you have to be to blow up the wrong goddamn building?! I was right here! You were so close! What the fuck was this? Edging?!

"You weren't the target," Youruichi answered and I had to say, it was really weird hearing that deep manly voice when I saw the woman behind the mask. I looked at her in confusion a split second before something emerged from the smoke. It kind of looked like a soda can attached to some drones -- Future Industry drones.

That's when it clicked.

"Robin?" I sputtered, realizing that she had apparently lived right across the street from me. No wonder I was constantly in her range. What a con. That was hilarious, but there really wasn't any time to dwell on it. "How could they have found her?" I wondered, the soda can already well outside my range. It wouldn't have been an issue if they just went straight, but they were flying up too.

I found it hard to believe that Robin had slipped up so seriously as to get herself caught. She was a thousand times more careful than I was and I hadn't been caught yet. It just didn't make sense, everything about this stunk to high heaven. But that was a problem for later, "Don't suppose you have a trick up your sleeve to track her?"

"I do. But I don't think what you're planning is a good idea," Yoruichi remarked as I swapped a pen for my mask and slid it onto my face. As I did, three figures stepped out of the billowing smoke as a drone flew overhead, capturing footage.

Queen Maeve. Stormfront. Black Noir.

The scene was downright picturesque. Like it was ripped right out of a movie. If I had seen a shot like that a few months ago, I would have fallen head over heels in love. Swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker. Now, I was just impressed that they could make a very real capture seem so artificial.

Well, that and pissed off that they had dragged Robin away just as we had made the beast with… three and a half backs.

"Maybe," I agreed. "But the more focus on me, the better Robin's odds are." I replied, and that was that. Taking a single step forward, I swapped myself with a piece of rubble in the now bombed out apartment, idly aware that Yoruichi had disappeared in that instant. Robin's apartment had been a swanky place, I decided, my Room re-centering around me. I could feel the effort she had put into making the graphs, the web of information, the contingencies. All of it lined the walls, and I hadn't even noticed.

And for that I felt… guilty.

Guilt I hadn't felt for any of the murders, all the lives I had destroyed, or for bringing America to its knees. The only guilt I had felt since the start of this song and dance was from not appreciating the sheer amount of effort Robin put into the organization.

"Shambles," I intoned, striding forward and swapping Black Noir with the drones that made a wide bank to get a view of the three of them courageously looking out over the city. Superhero poses included. I knew I was going to see that snap shot in the magazines for weeks. Without so much as a word or a yelp, Black Noir swapped places with the drone and immediately began to plummet down a good fifty stories.

That got Queen Maeve and Stormfront to react. They flinched, whipping around to face me. The fire that surged around me offered a plethora of heat to use. Grabbing it, shaping it, I controlled the oxygen that fed it and it became a moving wall that was but a half step behind me that encroached further. It fed into the electric charge that I brewed -- it cackled around my hands then up my arms until it acted as a wreath over my shoulders and neck -- the volts increased with every second, becoming more dangerous and lethal.

"He's already here!" Queen Maeve exclaimed, leveling a sword at me as I calmly strode forward. "Someone catch Noir!"

I had to give her this -- she was brave. Queen Maeve lunged forward, her sword shining in the flickering flames as her expression was twisted into a fierce snarl. I'm pretty sure I had a wet dream that ran along this scenario at some point. It wasn't that long ago that Queen Maeve was the woman to have a celebrity crush on. At any other time, my heart might have fluttered at such a sight, but I was in the wake of post nut clarity. Meaning that Queen Maeve truly had no chance against me.

The sword itself was something of interest to me, though -- a longsword, but not just any longsword. One that was allegedly made for superstrength. The lore of it was that it was made out of a special synthesized metal that made it virtually indestructible. Probably horseshit. What I did know was that it was a great conductor because the lightning surged from my fingertips, launching a powerful lightning blast at her that struck the tip of the sword first.

I always thought it was a special movie effect when someone would get blasted away from an electric charge, but it turned out that shit was real, because  Queen Maeve was launched back, the blackened blade falling from her grip, as she went over the side of the building too. "And then there was one," I remarked, swapping a chunk of rubble with the sword so I could pick it up as I stepped by. While I couldn't tell if it really was some special metal, I did find that it was surprisingly heavy.

"Don't get your hopes up about sending me over," Stormfront replied, lightning cackling around her. It even sparked around her eyes. "I can fly. How about you?" She asked, launching a blast of lightning at me, filling my vision with it. I had to say one thing about her power -- it could pack a serious punch. It would take me twice what I had to reach half the power of her lightning's strength. It was just that impressive. However, it ceased being hers the moment it left her fingertips.

The lightning flowed into what cackled around me, augmenting it, and I saw an expression of surprise when the lightning flowed around me enough to reveal her bull charge. The lightning flowed to my hand, condensing into a palm that I shoved against her chest as she charged me. "Defibrillator," I decided to name the technique, the lightning flowing into Stormfront. She was resistant to it, but not immune because I heard her scream as she flopped like a fish on the ground, completely losing all fine control over her limbs.

"Nice," I decided, twisting the drone so it got a good look as I grabbed Stormfront by the cape. "So, how about you tell me where you took Devil's Child?" I asked her, dragging her to the ledge that overlooked the city. Now wasn't that a view? I could only imagine how many snipers were focused on me at this moment.

"Fuck… you," Stormfront managed to rasp out. Hm. Queen Maeve. Black Noir. This was a Vought mission, wasn't it? In that case, why hadn't Cinder given me a heads up? Was she kept out of the loop? Had her double dealing been discovered? Cinder was fun -- I would be hard pressed to say that I genuinely liked her as a person, but she was the right amount of sexy and dangerous that drew me in like a moth to the flame. So, I might need to do a double rescue. Provided that she was alive, of course.

"Hm. How about you tell me how you found her?" I asked, and I could feel my power growing stronger as I felt the pressure. This was what the dream was, but I couldn't say I wasn't feeling nervous. They had Robin. They might have Cinder. They were winding up for a big fucking punch and I knew it was going to hurt if Stan got a clean hit in. I was officially one wrong move from losing this game of ours, and the margin for error had never been smaller.

My power was responding to the pressure. As I thought, Shonen battles were by far the best way to improve.

"I won't tell you… a damn thing," Stormfront rasped, trying to look good for the cameras. "Plus… you'll throw me… no matter what…!"

"Ha. You got me there," I admitted, kicking over a rock and swapping Stormfront with it. She spun in the air, sparks gathering at her hands as she got ahold of herself. I stepped away from the ledge and I spared the drone a glance. There was an itch in my hand that I knew came as a result of the heavy sword I was holding. There had been an idea kicking around my head for some time now, but I hadn't ever been able to pull it off.

I raised the blade up, then I let it fall. The sword didn't touch the drone that zoomed in on me, yet all the same, it fell in two halves.

"Finally," I muttered to myself, leaving the bisected drone behind me as I prepared for the battle to come. I managed to do it. I could project the 'cut' of a sharp object. I got the idea from various video games or forms of media, where the protagonist could swing a weapon and project an attack. I spent… not an inconsiderable amount of time trying to do the same whenever I had a knife, but I could never feel the 'cut' of the blade. Now, I could.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone as I turned my focus to the fire around me. It would be a useful weapon here. It gave me heat and energy for my fire and lightning based attacks. So, maybe… I grasped around my Room, trying to grab hold of the fire itself rather than the air around it. It was slippery, almost like sand in a fist, but I was able to transport it down a floor below me.

It didn't take me long to receive an answer. "Heartless. You piece of fucking-" A-Train began but I really didn't have the time.

"I hear you've been looking for Popclaw. Would you care to learn where she is?" I asked him, spreading the fire and harnessing the heat. I was feeding it fuel, making the fire rage out of control as I kept the heat inside of my Room. This wasn't exactly what I had planned for A-Train. I was intending more of a… Romeo and Juilet type tragedy for him, but A-Train was a card I had up my sleeve and it was time to play him.

"Want me to rescue you? Fat chance," A-Train snarled at me, and I could hear wind faintly through the receiver. I think he was running back towards New York. At his top speed, it'd only take him a couple of hours to reach me, but that was also assuming no stops. I didn't exactly see A-Train as a marathon runner.

"Oh, no. I want you to rescue Popclaw," I told him, my tone not changing in the slightest. "The boys have gotten rather tired of her, so I was going to kill her. But, if you do one little thing for me, you can save your lady love," I told him. The heat was sweltering, I found. I harvested it all as I went down floor by floor, taking every spec of fire with me and leaving nothing but charred remains.

A-Train hesitated. "You're fucking evil, man. What the fuck did I do to you to deserve this?" He demanded, and I could hear the sob lodged in his throat. "Why are you doing this to us? To her?"

I don't think he would appreciate my answer. "Do we have an agreement or not?" I asked him, my tone never slipping. I rapidly made my way down to the ground floor and I could just feel that something special was waiting for me at the very bottom.

"We… fine. What do you want?" A-Train asked and I savored the defeat in his voice.

I told him and his despair was every bit as sweet.

"You… fine. I'll do it. But when it's done… I'm coming after you-" A-Train began to make an impotent threat, so I just hung up on him in favor of calling in reinforcements. The Supes that we had on roster, along with the Supes whose hearts I had stolen. The latter, I suspected, would be unreliable. Their allegiance would change the moment that they felt the wind blowing against me, but it would still be handy to have them. With both messages sent, I felt a little more confident as I reached the bottom floor.

I compressed the sweltering heat of a burning building into a ball, glowing orange like a miniature sun over my shoulder. On my other, I bounced Queen Maeve's sword. And, just as I suspected, I did have a special prize waiting for me at the bottom of the building.

The Seven. Well, the Six plus Stormfront. And a metric shit ton of military goons that were posted up behind cover, all of them aiming guns at me -- rifles, snipers, .50 cal machine guns. The works. All arranged in a half circle around the entrance with the Six plus Stormfront standing as the tip of the spear.

My gaze landed on Homelander, who stood with his hands on his waist. I saw that his expression was a little conflicted, but ultimately unconcerned. Cinder, however, drew my attention with an arrow aimed at my heart. So, she hadn't been kept out of the loop.

She was the one who told Voughthow to find Robin. I wasn't sure how she managed it, but I also wasn't sure how she managed to find me before. I didn't have hard proof that she did it, I just… felt it in my gut. That, I decided, deserved some punishment.

My gaze swept over all of them before it settled on Black Noir. My brow furrowed, "Uh… you want to sit this one out?" I asked him, kind of shocked that he was able to move considering that probably every bone in his body was shattered. It seemed that no one had caught him before he hit the ground. Queen Maeve seemed fine though, but she was also sporting some dust and scorch marks.

Black Noir looked to Homelander, who nodded. "You've given enough in this fight, Black Noir. You can trust us to take the rest from here," Homelander told him. Black Noir tried to give a thumbs up with a downright mangled hand before he started limping to the defensive line on a pair of broken legs.

"You can swap him out with Mirko, if you want," I offered, making Homelander tilt his head ever so slightly.

"Feeling that confident?" He asked me, a smile tugging at his lips. In response, I looked at the rest of the Six minus Black Noir and plus Stormfront. Cinder, Starlight, the Deep, Queen Maeve, and Homelander. Behind them were the odds hundred armed grunts, all waiting for shit to pop off.

I pursed my lips, "Yeah, kinda." I admitted, wiping the smirk off of Homelander's face. The last time we squared off, the only card I had up my sleeve was Shambles. Now, I had a lot more options to play around with. "How about this? Wanna come over to my side?"

Homelander sputtered, "You destroyed America!" He snapped at me, and there was some genuine heat in his voice. Seems like he really was a patriot. I figured the American flag cape was a corporate gimmick.

I laughed, "Yeah, that was fun. You should have seen the President's face. It was comedy gold -- fuck, I should have taken a picture." How was I the only not brain rotted young adult with a compulsion to record everything I saw? I looked down on them, but I couldn't say I didn't miss a giant opportunity. "Point is… Voughts done for, unless it can find a way to bounce back from most of its supes going on killing sprees. America is done for because you better believe I'm not going to stop at the federal government. So… what do you really have to gain here?"

Starlight stepped forward, "It's not about what we have to gain. It's about justice."

Right. "Pfft, sure. Yeah, okay," I replied, not buying that bullshit in the slightest. "The lot of you are clinging to the past when it's a brand new day. All you have to do is sieze the morning. Any takers?" I prompted, my gaze lingering on a few faces. Deep looked like he was willing to switch sides if it meant not having to fight. Actually, I'm not sure why he was even here. We weren't near the water. The others…

No takers. Though, I did get an idea on how I was going to punish Cinder for this.

"No? Good," I decided before I swung the sword and projected the cut. It raced forward invisibly where it broke upon the Six minus Black Noir and plus Stormfront. That wasn't too surprising. If Supes could tank bullets to the face, I hardly expected to just be able to chop them up into little pieces. What was behind them, however, was a lot more… malleable. Metal and plastics were relatively easy to cut. Steel was less so, I also discovered.

Kevlar, flesh, and bone? Well, that's what a sword edge was made for.

Along the path, men and women were cut in half, their top parts separated from their legs, some even losing their arms depending on where they stood. There was no big eruption of blood or spilling of organs. The two halves were contained by a thin membrane, just like the hearts I Scalpel'd out of people's chests. Meaning they were alive, even as they screamed in panic.

"Shambles," I intoned, swapping places with a grunt in the middle of the formation just as most of his comrades lit the poor grunt up. I lashed out with my blade again, the Seven forced to pivot as their backup became an obstacle. They couldn't massacre them to get to me. And I saw what it was.

I saw the invisible strings now

This was just another scheme. A display to the public -- to show that there were still heroes protecting them. That America wasn't destroyed just yet. So, they brought soldiers here for the sole purpose of including them in the shot, completely oblivious to the fact that they would just be deadweight.

The cuts sliced through the soldiers, turning wholes into halves, halves into quarters, and quarters into fractions. With each swing, I swapped places, going above and below as the trap became absolute chaos. A cruel smile tugged at my lips as the odd hundred or so soldiers were mostly floating around as odds and ends within my Room. I found myself standing on top of a streetlight, looking down at the Six minus Black Noir and plus Stormfront, all of whom had pale faces. They hadn't known about this trick up my sleeve.

What to name this technique, I wonder? How about… "Chimera," I decided as the floating body parts began to swirl around, guided by my unseen hand. The torsos were smashed together, legs keeping it standing like a millipede, while their arms interlocked and became two dozen long arms sprinkled with hands that still clutched their machine guns. But the cherry on top were the still screaming heads littered throughout the creature.

"Oh God!" "Help! Someone help!" "Save us!" All of the pleas intermingled into a symphony of terror.

"What the fuck…" I heard Starlight breathe, stumbling a step back.

That was a pretty reasonable reaction, I decided, because even I was getting creeped out by my arts and crafts project. "Don't you hear their pleas? Save them," I taunted the Six minus Black Noir plus Stormfront with a 'move along' gesture towards my set piece. As I spoke, I drew in energy from the burning sun over my shoulder and, almost in dramatic timing, the first initial burst was lightning cackling and striking the ground in powerful bolts. I might have underestimated how much heat energy had been generated because I nearly ended up zapping myself with the move.

That being said, it was totally worth it because the Deep did something I didn't expect.

He turned tail and ran.

Didn't hesitate. Didn't think about it. He just pivoted and started in a dead sprint down the road, fleeing as fast as he possibly could. I was actually a little stunned by the naked display of cowardice, to the point that I almost found it respectable. There was just something so genuinely honest about the reaction and I found it a little endearing.

"Is this little display supposed to be intimidating?" Homelander asked, the only one that could be called calm out of the superhero team. Queen Maeve looked like she was on the verge of vomiting, Starlight was openly disgusted, and even Cinder had paled at the rather macabre display.

"I'd be disappointed if this was all it took to scare you," I told him in complete honesty. This wasn't exactly what I envisioned. I had come a very long way since I was the starry eyed boy that could only see what I wanted to see. But, one thing hadn't changed, I found, smirking down at Homelander to find him smirking right back at me. I had thought I had lost it after all the punishing reveals one after another -- that Homelander was just another corporate hero, and that there was no such thing as genuine heroism in this universe.

But no, I still wanted to beat him. Not to tear him down or beat what he represented. Not even because of my broken dreams.

I wanted to beat him just to see if I could.

Then I became aware of a few figures entering my Room. Fewer than I had called, but more than I had expected.

Kimiko fell from above, landing lightly on her feet and ready to square up. She was joined by an Asian guy that I didn't recognize, but they seemed close. No idea who he was though. They were then joined by someone else that seemed vaguely familiar -- a white guy with curly hair, scrawny, but ready to throw some hands. I think he was one of the Supes from Sage Grove.

Technically speaking, it was five on five.

"Still don’t scare me, Heartless,” Homelander said, his eyes glowing red as everyone got ready to square up. That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I wanted this. The struggle, the give and take, the threat of losing it all…

And when he launched his heat vision at me, only for it to be met by a stream of lighting that led to them clashing between us?

This… this was what I lived for!