33 Feelings For The Villain

I forced my jaw to close. I didn't want to make Allen feel uncomfortable with all the gawking I was doing.

"Well um, with that matter manipulating bombshell out of the way, I'm pretty sure I understand everyone's powers," I said, "Well, except for Wildthing. Those weird beasts she can turn into… does she have a limit on her shifting?"

The girl in question made snorted in disgust and all but threw her chair back behind her. I flinched and reached towards my gauntlet. If she wanted to attack me again, I was going to be ready this time.

"They're not just some weird beasts," She said, clearly incredibly angry, before storming off in the direction of the bedrooms.

"Becca can transform into five different creatures," Lauren said, completely ignoring her teammate's outburst. "She has a degree of control over which one she turns into, but for the most point, it's pretty reliant on her emotional state. The one that you saw last night was rage, the one you saw today was closer to sadness."

"I see," I said, it was a pretty interesting caveat to her power. It was equally interesting to know that she actually had emotions under that dour exterior.

"Also, Tristan, when we're not in costume try to call her by her actual name, Becca. If you go around calling her Wildthing when we're out in public without our gear on, you'll be outing all of us pretty quickly."

I swallowed hard. That was fair, and it made a lot of sense, but thinking of Becca by her real name was difficult. Wildthing seemed to suit her so much better.

"Sorry about that," I muttered, though the smile on Lauren's face implied that there was no real damage done. "Okay, so Greave can create some kind of projected shield wall that can stop any physical attacks, right?"

"Not just physical attacks," Greave piped up from the kitchen, after throwing something into a pan that started to sizzle nicely. "My power stops pretty much anything from piercing it. In all of my Powered fights, I haven't found a single thing that can take it down in one hit. But that doesn't mean that it's invincible. There's a damage limit depending on how much of my energy I put into it."

"Yeah, it can even stop things like Allen's reality pulses, it's practically invulnerable for at least one strike," Lauren added.

I nodded slowly. It was a seriously powerful ability, just like Allen's was. No doubt it could be used offensively too if he figured out some way to launch the field like a projectile or even enclose it around his fist like a boxing glove.

The food sizzled a little louder, the smell of bacon started to permeate through the room, causing another massive rumble from my stomach. It reminded me of my mum's cooking.

"Say, what time is it?" I asked suddenly.

"Why, got somewhere to be?" Allen shot back.

"Uh, Home, depending on the time," I said, "Mum'll be home from work eventually, and if I don't get there shortly after she'll start to freak out."

"Because of?" Lauren asked, not mentioning the events down in the river outright. I knew that's what she was referring to though. I shot her a nod.

With Wild… Becca back in her room, and not looking like she wanted to pick a fight with me any time soon, I felt a lot more at ease. The room felt a lot less threatening, and part of me genuinely wanted to stay. Not to mention the fact that if I stuck around for a little bit longer I might have been able to figure out a few more things about the group. More information I could hand off to the PHA and Quasar when it came to it.

I hated to admit it, but I'd missed socialising with people my own age, too. It was all well and good hanging out with my mum at home, she was great don't get me wrong. But just chilling out with a bunch of people who kind of knew what it was like to go through the things that I was going through? Even if one of them was insane, the rest of them were villains, and the whole thing was being done under false pretences?

Chilling still sounded pretty alright.

"It's about four-thirty," Lauren said, bursting my bubble of thought.

That settled it then, there was no way that I could stick around. Mum would be home in half an hour and it'd take a little bit longer than that to walk home, even if I left right away. In fact, I'd need to leave pretty much right away if I were going to make it on time.

"Look, I'd love to, I really would," I said, "Even with the whole Wild… Becca situation. Meeting you all has actually been pretty alright. But my mum… she'd worry so much. I really do have to go."

Lauren gave me a sad smile, as if she had known that I was going to give her that answer from the very beginning.

"Well, at the very least let me walk you back, yeah?" She asked, already making to stand up before I had given her a response. "You may have your gauntlet, but the area isn't exactly known for being full of upstanding individuals. They do all know me though, and if they see you with me they'll know not to do anything."

"I guess I can let you walk me back to the main quarter," I said, a shy half-smile forming on my face.

I didn't have feelings for the villain.

Definitely not.

That wasn't even something that be entertained.

Damn.

I might have maybe had feelings for the villain.

The walk back home was uneventful, to say the least. Lauren walked me back through the catacomb of the London Underground and back through the mostly abandoned streets of the northern quarter.

Before I knew it I was back to civilization, back to the world I knew.

And yet, as Lauren walked away, I'd never felt more alone.